The beer topic

[smkranz]

I love good beers from around the world. But I must also say that right now, the American micro-brewery scene is the best it has ever been. The variety of beer styles, and the quality, that is available now either at the brewpub or on store shelves, is just beyond compare.

With that, I'll start the topic off with a list of my favorites:

Favorite every-day beer (other than my own homebrew): Clipper City Gold (Baltimore, Maryland). Call me a "homer", but this beer is IMHO one of the finest beers of its style (American Pale Ale).

Favorite winter beer: Delirium Tremens (Belgium). This beer just sends me...

Favorite winter beers (US): Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale...followed at close second by Pursuit of Happiness from Clay Pipe Brewing Co (Maryland)

Favorite beer to pound at a bar: Guinness Draught. An easy beer to pound because it's soooo smooth, and fairly light on alcohol. Plus, it's really cool to watch that cascading head after you've had a couple of them.

Favorite Pilseners: Pilsner Urquell (Czech Republic) - (what an outstanding beer...), Warsteiner (Deutschland), or Prima Pils (Victory Brewing Co. - US)

Favorite underdog beer: Czechvar (Budvar - the original Budweiser). Fighting off Anheuser-Busch in every court on the globe for the right to use its own name. Darn good beer, too (look for it as Czechvar here in the U.S.).

Favorite beer I hate to love: Dixie Lager - Dixie Brewing Co., New Orleans. I lived in New Orleans for 10 years and got to drinking Dixie primarily because it was brewed there and I liked the name and logo...at the time, they had a Confederate battle flag in the middle of the label. For marketing purposes, they ditched the flag and went with a generic "D". Dixie has seen moderate success with its other beers (Blackened Voodoo, Crimson Voodoo...), but they rarely make it outside of Louisiana markets. For years (decades?), the brewery has been a marginal operation putting out a marginal flagship beer, but I still drink it when I can for old-time's sake. God knows what the hurricane did to the business.

Favorite beer I love to hate: Budweiser. I hand it to them for putting out a remarkably clean (but tasteless) and consistent (but tasteless) product, and for their marketing ability to convince Americans that Budweiser is what they want to be drinking. And I despise A-B for its world-wide crusade against the Czech brewer of the original Budweiser (Budvar)...which is happily available in the U.S. as Czechvar. Try it...you'll like it.

Favorite movie about beer: Strange Brew. No pretense, just stupid and funny. Still makes me laugh after watching it 50 times...certain to drive the kids out of the living room every time.

Favorite web site about beer: http://users.adelphia.net/~smkranz/index.htm

[akijikan]

Wow, you just upped my anticipation of my 21st birthday.

[greenmachine]

Not really being into legal drugs myself, i adore your dedication.

[Jacques]

Favorite winter beer: Delirium Tremens (Belgium). This beer just sends me...

New pub (change of ownership) just opened up around here in Sierra Madre, CA. Delirium Cafe, so of course I had to try their namesake! Excellent indeed.

Edited December 19, 2005 by Jacques

[The Low Volta]

In Belgium it's legal to drink alcohol at 16, but lots of places don't really check... so I actually started on kriek (cherry beer, pretty sweet/sour) and palm (amber ale) at 13... been 'developing' my taste ever since (for another 13 years) and have passed through almost all (idiotic?) stages of alcohol (ab)use. Still I have always had a love for slightly bitter tasting, strong(er) beer, like Duvel, Westmalle or Orval (not really strong that last one) but nowadays I'm talking about a 'heavy week' if I had more than 3 'units' spread over the entire week ah, the joys of getting older/more serious and having a g-friend that's pretty anti-alcohol

[Bananatree]

Some favs I have, and being a college student, it's an interesting list.

Premium favourite: Guinness Draught. This beer is nice, although heavy and is set apart from boring beer that tastes like water.

Cheap Favourite: Classic Pilsner. Apparently only available in Alberta, this super cheap beer isn't bad for the price. Better than any domestic beer I've tasted (Molson Canadian, Budweiser, Coors light) and cheaper than some of my normal picks (Stella, Heineken)

Middle of the Road Favourite: Tuborg. The beer of danish kings has a nice European taste to it. It's cheapish but not very accessible.

Dinner Favourite: Heineken or Stella Atrois. Both of these beers aren't strong on alcohol, but wipe your pallet clean after each drink. The only down fall is the cost when drinking at a fancy place.

Lately I've been drinking to get drunk, rather than tasting/enjoying the beer, so I haven't tried any new beer as of late.

[Richard]

Hmm well let's see:

I have to agree with Volta, that Duvel is probably my all-time favourite Belgian beer, but there are just so many good Belgian beers including the trapist ones brewed in monasteries, white beers like Hoegaarden (in several varieties) that you are spoilt for choice.

I also like english bitter's like Boddington's, and some other of the other local ones you can find in smaller pubs.

General supermarket beers I buy are either Heineken, Kronenbourg 1664 and then sometimes some German beers like Warsteiner.

Whenever I travel I always like to try the local beers, things like Chang beer in Thailand or "Simba" in Africa have both been good.

Edited December 16, 2005 by richyhu

[Bananatree]

I wish there were places around where I could sample all these nice sounding beers.

I'm always afraid I am going to drink imported swill that is pricey because it is imported.

[smkranz]

Wow, you just upped my anticipation of my 21st birthday.

Funny, ain't it, that our government(s) entrust the safety and security of the world to 18 and 19 year-olds, and send them all over the world with automatic rifles and bazillion-dollar weapons systems, but don't let them to have a legal beer until they're 21. I guess they want those kids to be able to shoot straight . When I was in school in New Orleans, the legal drinking age there was still 18 or 19 and the campus Pub actually served Dixie beer in bottles. But the pressure was on from the Feds to up the drinking age to 21 or risk losing federal highway funds. Louisiana was one of the last hold-outs, but even they eventually caved.

Richyhu mentioned Boddington's. Another good'un, for sure, but I don't think I've ever had it on draught. Maybe some places have it, but here in the states, it can be commonly found in cans with the little nitrogen widget inside for that pub-like pour.

Damn! So many beers...so little time.

[Killroy]

Well, did you ever hear about this story?

Once, the CEOs of three major European breweries met by accident in a pub. They recognized each other and decided to sit down together, have a drink and talk about their business in a relaxed manner. As the waiter came to get their orders, the first of them ordered a pint of his company's beer, the second - of course - a pint of his own brewery, and the third a glass of - Cola. Asked, why he does not prefer to take some of his own beer, he answered like this:

"Well, if you guys don't drink beer, I don't like to do so either!"

Insert CEO and brewing company names as you prefer and tell your friends the next time you meet them in your favourite pub!

Cheers & Beers - Killroy.

[MusicBringer]

>>>This is an old one that I think is worth repeating here>>>

A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, rocks about 2" in diameter. He then asked the students if the jar was full?

They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks. He then asked the students again if the jar was full.

They agreed it was. The students laughed.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

"Now," said the professor, "I want you to recognise that this is your life. The rocks are the important things - your family, your partner, your health, your children - things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The >pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car.

The sand is everything else, the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first, there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give

a dinner party and fix the disposal. Take care of the rocks first - the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

But then...a student then took the jar which the other students and the professor agreed was full, and proceeded to pour in a glass of beer.

Of course the beer filled the remaining spaces within the jar making the jar truly full.

The moral of this tale is: no matter how full your life is, there is always room for a BEER.

Cheers

[Hombre]

I couldn't resist this one here. I love beer.

Cheap Beer: Old Style, Milwaukee's Best, PBR

Stout: Bemish (one of my top five), Rouge Chocolate Stout and Shakespear Stout, Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout.

Brown: Avery (Boulder, Colo.), Stone (Calif)

IPA: Racer 5 & X (Bear Republic/Calif), Arrogant Bastard (Stone/Calif), Avery (Boulder, Colo)- this what a IPA should taste like.

Pale Ale: Mantorville (the best I have ever had) In the Rochester,MINN area and can be found in Rochester bars. (Mantorville,MN) {Hopualia (My personal favorite which I drink every day) (Cortland,NE) *it is a dry hopped beer, a good all around beer for all seasons}, Point Pale Ale (Stevens Point, Wis)

Bitter: Marstons Pedigree (England), Addams Suffork SSB (England)

I could go on and on the are so many styles so I just touching on my favorite styles.

Others would be New Belgium "Abbey Grand Du Cru" (FT Collins, Colo) Warsteiner Dunkel (Germany) Monshol Schwartz Bier (Germany) Bitburger (Germany) Fisher's (France)

There are so many great beers out there I wish I could live long enough to taste them all. Right now I am drinking a Avery IPA and I follow up that with a Thunderhead IPA (Kearney, NE) If you ever travel down I-80 through Nebraska, I recomend that you stop there. I do every time I pass by there.

Maybe in the future I will run down German, Chech, and Polish Beers.

I couldn't resist this one here. I love beer.

Cheap Beer: Old Style, Milwaukee's Best, PBR

Stout: Bemish (one of my top five), Rouge Chocolate Stout and Shakespear Stout, Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout.

Brown: Avery (Boulder, Colo.), Stone (Calif)

IPA: Racer 5 & X (Bear Republic/Calif), Arrogant Bastard (Stone/Calif), Avery (Boulder, Colo)- this what a IPA should taste like.

Pale Ale: Mantorville (the best I have ever had) In the Rochester,MINN area and can be found in Rochester bars. (Mantorville,MN) {Hopualia (My personal favorite which I drink every day) (Cortland,NE) *it is a dry hopped beer, a good all around beer for all seasons}, Point Pale Ale (Stevens Point, Wis)

Bitter: Marstons Pedigree (England), Addams Suffork SSB (England)

I could go on and on the are so many styles so I just touching on my favorite styles.

Others would be New Belgium "Abbey Grand Du Cru" (FT Collins, Colo) Warsteiner Dunkel (Germany) Monshol Schwartz Bier (Germany) Bitburger (Germany) Fisher's (France)

There are so many great beers out there I wish I could live long enough to taste them all. Right now I am drinking a Avery IPA and I follow up that with a Thunderhead IPA (Kearney, NE) If you ever travel down I-80 through Nebraska, I recomend that you stop there. I do every time I pass by there.

Maybe in the future I will run down German, Chech, and Polish Beers.

Edited December 20, 2005 by Hombre

[MusicBringer]

[eriktous]

I don't really mind what type of beer, as long as it's cold:

[attachmentid=1252]

[smkranz]

I don't really mind what type of beer, as long as it's cold:

There is merit to what you say. I'm probably a beer snob, but at the Ravens/Packers MNF game I paid $7 for a plastic bottle of Coors Light ('cuz I was too lazy to trudge down 29 rows to go look for something better). I was freezing but wanted a beer...any beer. The beer was cold, and it tasted enough like beer that I actually enjoyed it. It's all a matter of context.

[smkranz]

Disturbing...

[attachmentid=1260]

[Bananatree]

Awful, worse case of Alcohol Abuse I've ever seen.

[MusicBringer]

Awful, worse case of Alcohol Abuse I've ever seen.

they look like crates to me..!!

[smkranz]

On Christmas night, I finally broke open the bottle of Sam Adams Utopias I had bought several months ago. A friend stopped by with an (unexpected) gift of a Crown Royal set (bottle and two glasses), and a bottle of wine. So to return the favor, I went down and retrieved the $115 bottle of Utopias (2005) which I had been saving for...I'm not sure when, but always afraid of physical harm from the Spousal Unit when she found out what I paid for it. I figured on Christmas night, in the presence of company, I'd be safe. Plus by then, we had already killed half the bottle of Crown. In light of the circumstances, her reaction to the Utopias was mild in comparison with some of my other expenditures.

It is drunk as a cordial rather than as a beer, so at $4.80 per ounce it doesn't sound as bad as "a $115 bottle of BEER?!?!" But in addition to the contents, it is one fine-looking bottle, in the shape of a brewing kettle complete with copper-cladding.

Utopias is billed as the world's strongest beer...25% ABV. It is non-carbonated, and brewed with special high-alcohol yeasts including a strain of Champagne yeast. It has a subtle maple syrup component which comes through nicely. More like a brandy than beer.

We each had a little bit, maybe an ounce or two. It'll come out again on New Years Day, when a couple of other friends come over to brew our first batches of homebrew for 2006.

[Damage]

Favorite every-day beer (other than my own homebrew): Don't drink beer everyday, but if I had to, I wouldn't mind drinking Pilsner Urquell, or Asahi.

Favorite beer to pound at a bar: Guinness Draught. Newcastle Brown Ale in close second.

Favorite Import: Guinness, Newcastle, and Boddington's Golden Ale.

(I guess I'm more of an ale guy)

Favorite Pilseners: Pilsner Urquell. Groslch occassionally.

Favorite underdog beer I love to try: Czechvar, my friend

Favorite beer I love to hate: Bud Select. Heineken.

Favorite mass produced beer: Michelob's Amber Bock.

Favorite non-alcoholic beer: Virgil's Root Beer and Henry Weinhard's Root Beer/Cream Soda.

Can we get to the favorite hard liquor (Meukow Vanilla Cognac) ?

Edited December 30, 2005 by Damage

[MusicBringer]

Hey smkranz, nice write up about yer posh beer. I could taste it as I read about it. Wonderful stuff.

[jonny mac]

I like Nastro Azuro (Italian) as my beer of choice for drinking on a hot summer day. Glass (not bottle), ice, beer garden and good company are obligatory.

[The Low Volta]

I have been sick all through new years eve and went to bed at about 23.15 hours

... so I had something to make up for today!! I had a big bottle of DEUS: brut of Flanders = beer brewn in Belgium but "post-processed" ('remuage' and 'dégorgement' like champagne) in France. It's 11.5% strong and must be drank in a flute or a coupe...and it tastes pretty good (but do not really expect a real beery taste, it's really more a champagny/beery mix but honestly as it costs like champagne, I had better real champagnes, but it was a nice surprise anyway)

I had actually been sick for about 4 days now I had quite a bit of catching up to do so afterwards we opened a "small" (=1.5l ) bottle of Duvel which I got for my b-day 5years ago and which we had left to ripen (fermenting further in the bottle... since the euro-laws one cannot buy Duvel of 5+ years anymore since the brewery is obliged to put an expiry date on the bottles and shops nor bars are allowed to sell them past their expiry date which is actually b-crap as it is bottled with yeast and can 'ripen' for years without going bad) and that one tasted better than any champagne I had all year

so indeed, beer can make life better... it has today!!

[smkranz]

Volta, your patience is remarkable...aging a bottle for 5 years would make my head explode. I'd love to do a side-by-side comparison of a 5 yr. old Duvel next to a fresh one. The longest I've ever kept a bottle of fermented beverage was about 3 years for a bottle of mead (a wine of medieval origins made from honey instead of grapes) from a local Maryland winery ( http://www.linganore-wine.com/homepage.html ). Their mead is too sweet for my taste, but after 3 years on the shelf it was very different, and much for the better.

And now, I'll have to scout around for a bottle of Brut...never heard of it before so I have you to blame when it comes time to reconciling the bank account. There are a few reviews of it here:

http://www.ratebeer.com/Beer/deus/18912/

[Bananatree]

Hey Smkranz, is Crown pretty highly regarded in the US? I have never drank any in quantity, as my taste for hard alcohol isn't refined yet, and the most I ever drink of rye whiskey is in cola.

My grandmother used to live in Gimli Manitoba, where Crown Royal is exclusively made. My mom even did a factory tour once when I was a young pup.

[smkranz]

Hey Smkranz, is Crown pretty highly regarded in the US? I have never drank any in quantity, as my taste for hard alcohol isn't refined yet, and the most I ever drink of rye whiskey is in cola.

I don't consider myself a whiskey connoisseur, but based upon my pedestrian consumer impressions I would say that Crown is considered tops in its field of blended whiskeys. It is billed as the top selling Canadian whiskey in the U.S.

I drink it in Manhattans or Old Fashioneds (both very medicinal drinks), or on the rocks.

Cannot drink scotch...for some reason, even 25+ years later (a clue to my age, there), it still makes me want to hurl .

[The Low Volta]

it's not as much the question "what I have been drinking today"...more "how much"

no, really, had a 0.75l bottle of Duvel first, then a 0.75l bottle of Saison Regal (an amber beer like Palm but slightly less sweet) and now topping it off with some 33ml's of Jupiler (used to be my fav pils, but then they had to go and sweeten the taste to suit the general public)

[Bananatree]

Last can:

A large can of Sapporo Draft. Not bad, but very cheap and probably some of their "off stock".

Lately I've been drinking this "Brewhouse Pilsner" which has an almost creamy taste. It clocks in at about a dollar per can, which is rock bottom for any Canadian beer.