Beer Discussion Thread

hmm sounds good, you'll have to save one for me. I'll bring you back a black ale if I can remember.

Had one of my favorites tonight:

My favorite is Fat Tire. I think it's brewed in Colorado. I really want to get some out here on the East Coast, I haven't had it since I was at home in Los Angeles.

I just got a gift set of Hobgoblin. Came with a pint glass. Couldn't refuse. I also got a case of Okanagan Spring Pale Ale. My quaffing beer, since classes end tomorrow.

I had a peach wheat beer tonight. Not bad at all.

I tried a ridiculous amount of new ones over the last 3-4 days. I will try to post about them later when I have time.

I still haven't been able to get my hands on anything by this brewery. The shops I went to in Wisconsin didn't carry them, and neither do the few I go to in Minnesota, though, there is this craft beer place I'm gonna check out here soon that I hope will carry some brews of theirs.

Had two good ones tonight:

Bell's Best Brown Ale
Bell's Two Hearted Ale

Two Hearted is probably my all-time favorite beer.

the two hearted is really good. it's my third favorite IPA. behind Victory HopDevil and Surly Furious.

I've had Hop Devil, and I like Two Hearted better.

As far as not being able to find Great Lakes Brewing stuff, that's weird. It's all over the place in Michigan and Illinois.

Allow me to blow your minds here for a moment - not everything out of Quebec is useless! Shocking words, I know, but...

http://www.unibroue.com/index_eng.html

In particular please try Maudite and La Fin du Monde. Allegedly Trois Pistole is amazing too, but I haven't tried it.

As per Beer Advocate, Unibroue have a whopping SEVEN beers in the top 10 Canadian beers, and La Fin du Monde is up there in #74 worldwide.

Plus the bottle covers are the best in the industry, bar none. Basically these guys are the only reason we can't allow Quebec to separate.

I've been pimping Unibroue for ages. Pity it is so expensive.

. all great brews

Unibroue beers are amazing. Even their girlie stuff like Ephimere is awesome. Trois Pistole is my favorite, so definitely try to sample it sometime.

Their bottles are quite awesome. They are the reason I started collecting bottles.

As far as the Great Lakes Brewing stuff, I think I've had two:

Burning River, which I thought was good, but wasn't crazy about; and
Holy Moses White Ale, which was bizarre but I liked well enough.

I'd like to try their Edmund Fitzgerald Porter. Anyone had it?

Damn, you've had their two worst. Burning River is their flagship but I don't like it very much, and Holy Moses is awful compared to most wheat ales.

Yes, that's one of their best. Along with their Dortmunder Gold (if you like golden lagers even a little bit, this is the best I've ever had), Christmas Ale, and Blackout Stout.

I'll have to try the Edmund Fitzgerald, then. I'm not a huge beer drinker anymore (scotch, now), but I still like a good brew once in a while.

I bought a bottle of Howe Sound Father John's Christmas Ale. I remember it being so tasty last year. Too bad it is $8 a litre.

Currently in my refrigerator:

Sam Adam's - Winter Lager
Blue Moon - Belgian White
Blue Moon - Full Moon Winter Ale
Guiness - Extra Stout
Smithwick's - Irish Ale
New Belgium - Abbey
New Belgium - 1554
New Belgium - Mothership Wit
New Belgium - 2 Below

Yeah, I made a run today. You can't go wrong with anything by Sam Adams or New Belgium, Flying Dog too, particularly the IPA and Porter. For those of you who are hops lovers have you tried the Sam Adams Imperial Pilsner? It's a special once a year brew and you don't know the meaning of hops until you have tried that. I like them hoppy too, but fucking Christ it almost killed me.

I've had the Imperial Pilsner; it was awesome, one of the few Sam Adams beers that isn't a watered-down version of its style. You really have to go to the "extreme" beers to get a Sam Adams that's better than "good."

Blue Moon Belgian White is actually one of my favorite American white ales, but their seasonal stuff (including Full Moon) is generally bad IMO. Can't go wrong with Guinness or Smithwick's. Never had New Belgium.

Haha. When is it brewed?

I think I had it in February or March. By that time it had been sitting in the store for a month or two though. In PA you can only get beer in 24-packs or greater, so we had to pay a shitload just to try Imperial Pilsner. It was worth it though.

My dad is apparently excited that I'm coming home so he has an excuse to buy and drink a lot of good beer. Oh, and they bought me some barley wine, just for me.

I actually liked Full Moon a lot the few times I have had it.

just cracked open a bottle of Sam Adams Cream Stout. I have to say its pretty good. I have not been disappointed by Sam Adams yet. Up next is a Stone Pale Ale, have had their IPA and Arrogant Bastard...

~ I love beer. It is my favorite beverage. Sam Adams is my favorite, but I enjoy many other brands too.

I had several Cream Stouts in my Sam Holiday pack. Pretty good stuff. Apparently you can buy it in 6 packs but I've never seen it. I still have not tried this year's Cranberry Lambic, Old Fezziwig Ale or Holiday Porter yet.

I picked up one of these the other day: http://www.rogue.com/beers/old-crustacean.php

It was 17 bucks, so I'm trying to save it for a special occasion, but it is tempting me every evening when I open the fridge!

I have advice for all of you. Do not make Lagunitas Brown Shugga' Ale a session beer. It will FUCK YOU UP in a hurry.

On a related note: it's highly recommended, so fucking good.

I saw it at the store a while ago. I thought about buying it, but it was so expensive. Tell me how it is after you've had it.

i really want to try some Sam Adams of some variety, because everyone hear seems to hold it in pretty high regard, and i've heard it's pretty good from elsewhere. they need to export that stuff.

Has anyone ever thought of homebrewing? I've thought about it for a while, researched it a bit. I came very close to buying some supplies a couple months back but chickened out. I think that getting the carbonation right would be the hardest part and I'm afraid that for at least the first few batches I try it wouldn't turn out, and then I'd be stuck having to drink a case or more of shit beer. It's definitely an art I would like to dive into though.

My dad used to brew his own beer. He had success and was part of a microbrewery. Beer is hard to brew compared to wine, but you can get excellent results for very cheap, if you do it right. And it is rather fun, if you enjoy creating your own beer.

As for me, I don't have the facilities to brew my own beer, so I went to a U-brew. For a total of about $130, I made about 80 or 90 cans of a pretty good lager. They were helpful. The only problem was that the beer went off before I had time to drink it all. But it still was a better deal for me than going to the liquor store.

I have had the Cream Stout twice and an Oatmeal Stout once, and I have to say right now, I hate the stout taste. Does this ever pass?

Try a normalish stout. I wasn't huge on the flavor until I tried a good, standard porter, which isn't far off from a stout.

you gotta get your hands on Left Hand Brewing's Milk Stout, it's killer, and definitely on par with the Duck Rabbit.

Awesome English beers-
Old Speckled Hen
Londons Pride

Awesome Lagers-
Millers

That is what I drink atm

Finally got a chance to have a barley wine: Dogfish Head's Olde School. 15% alcohol and very, very sweet. Definitely the port of beers. Very different than anything I've ever had.

I'm going to have to agree with you there, the Full Moon is quite tasteless, I didn't care for their spring or summer ales either, and that god-awful pumpkin ale....I shudder to think of it.

A week until I have some.

The best American white ale was Celis White, before one of the big three (Miller, I think) bought him out and now puts out crap under the same name. Celis is the guy who made Hoegardden, by the way.

Since then I really haven't been blown away by any white ales. I'll occasionally get a pint of Manekin Pis if my local Flying Saucer has it on tap.

Barleywine is awesome, Eric. You seemed to have gotten a great one to start off with. I have not had it personally, but everything Dogfish Head makes is great.

Has anyone had the Dogfish Head Midas Touch? It is supposedly a recipe found on a Summerian tablet, flavored with grapes and saffron.