Beers of the World
 

AH! A drink section. Celebrating the magic that is BEER.

We just enjoyed a pack of Abita Turbo Dog (As part of the Louisiana themed meal) Its dark and has an interesting hint of, like coffee or chocolate. Now that may sound horrible, mais NON! Quite tasty, but then I like dark beer.

What beers have you found worth a try? Any brewers out there?

Well until september 21st sadly I'll have very little to add to this great thread, but I'll add my one known beer that's worth a try. If your ever to montana and have a chance to try Moose Drool give it a try, it's a dark beer, not something to drink in mass quantities but certainly an enjoyable one.

A friend just brought me some Wild Goose from Maryland a few weeks ago. Good stuff. He's a Budweiser fan (yecch!), and he decided to expand his taste to another pilsner. Fortunately, this one wasn't made with rice (to my knowledge).

I always look forward to Old Stock Ale from the North Coast brewery in CA. It's a seasonal ale, but you may be able to find it if you have a local specialty beer store. Most of those guys like to keep some stashed away in the back of the cooler. Since it's seasonal, the recipe is never quite the same from year to year. I hightly recommend searching for some. Beware - it's a little strong. One bottle will do ya just fine.

I'm a big fan of Samuel Smith's of Yorkshire, especially the Oatmeal Stout and the Imperial Stout.

Okay, and the Nut Brown and the Taddy Porter ... ;)

pretty much any dark will do me, just so long as there isn't much in the way of sweetness involved. MMMMmm rich creamy dark beers ...

I liked the Blackout Stout down out Capitol City Brewing in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, but they don't have that all the time. Sometimes I have to settle for the Prohibition Porter, which is still tasty, but doesn't have the roasted chocolate goodness of the Blackout.

Awwwwwww boy. Once Griff finds this thread...

wringing hands in glee

Beamish Stout -way back when Sneaky Pete and I did our bike tour of SW Ireland this was part of a daily intake of necessary nutrients. Sweet and fresh it really was a lovely compliment to the normal luncheon pub fair of barley soup and sandwiches. Since we were riding every day, it didn't acheive the potential downside normally associated with high calorie "training drinks" but I'd be careful about making it a steady part of a sedentary lifestyle.

Three cheers for warch!

You know, I could never quite get into Beamish...it's just not Guinness.

There is a local beer here in St. Louis called Schlafly that has been rapidly growing in terms of popularity. They make a Pale Ale and an Oatmeal Stout that is just fabulous.

I would think that would be a quality to recommend it highly.

(I will drink guinness only in the absence of nearly all other darks and full-flavored microbrews. I KNOW that guinness is good for you, but like many things that are good for you, it hasn't the best taste.)

i love new belgiums sunshine wheat. im not a big fan of putting a slice of either lemon or orange into any beer, and despite what some say, i dont think this beer needs it.

their most popular brew, fat tire, is great too. if you can get ahold of either in your neck of the woods, i suggest you do so. :)

~james

Thanks Perth. I'm looking to taste some more chilled wheat beer as the heat gets cranking. I'm a fan of the lemon slice. I'm daydreaming about a cold one after mowing the lawn. There is that grass smell, youre a bit hot, you can grab a lawnchair, there is a game on the radio...Ah, summer.

My favorite wave watching summer type beers are pale ales. Anybody else have a favorite India Pale Ale Sierra Nevada makes a nice one as does Saranac.

Saint Paul, Minnesota offers Summit beers

Their India Pale is very good, and the Hefe Wiezen. All their brews stand up well. Yum.

Oh, I forgot to mention the Summit Maibock- malty with a high alcohol content. the Mr. affectionately calls it "Mindblock".

I'm not a beer connoiseur by any stretch (I get the first sip of each cold one) but I gotta get me somma dat Moose Drool just for the name. Tried some Impaled Ale recently. Again, I can't remember if it was any good but I love the name.

I like reading the histories of some of these small breweries linked here - New Belgium, Summit, Saranac...You got to love the dreamers.

SN's green-label pale ale is the best out there!! I buy a case every time Sam's Club stocks it.

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be
happy. - Benjamin Franklin

I'm a big fan of LaTrappe, a Belgian Trappist ale. It's very smooth and VERY potent (it comes in 9%, 11% and 13.5%, I think). And, it comes in neat little brandy snifters.
For Warch (and anyone else in the Twin Cities): the Town Hall on West Bank and the microbrewery in downtown St. Paul (I'll edit if I can remember the name) are both EXCELLENT places to get good beers. The one inSt.Paul has an ale named O'Brien's (my roomie's last name) that is advertised to have "A high poundability factor." You know what? It does.

Belgian beer is magical.

St Paul: Hmm, are you thinking of that newish brewpub on West 7th? I forget the name of that one, too. Ive never been in there, only peered in the windows at the purty copper tanks.

Also: If he's O'Brien, does that make you Dillon Murphy?

Beer drools......Bourbon rules. :p

Oooh beer! :D

The single best beer I have ever had was at the Augustiner biergarten in Munich. Aaahhhh...

I also like Tsing Tao, Oak Creek Amber (Sedona AZ), Full Sail, Bass (fresh on tap), Riverhorse... The Milk Coffee Stout at Princeton's Triumph Brewery is also tasty.

Blue Moon and Celis White are two great beers for Indian food...


- Pie

Sweet sweet beer....

aussie beer called "Toohey's" is really nice. Try the Old (dark ale) and the Super Dry (very crisp)

In the Seattle area, there's a beer called "Fat Tire" that just seems to hit right when you're watching the Seahawks drop 28 points to the Raiders.

smooth,

if you can get fat tire, i suspect you can get sunshine. try it, you wont be disappointed.

~james

Hey, Celis brewery out of Austin!- I remember the White- very good for hot Texas summers, for some reason I was under the impression they folded? True?

The bastids at Miller Brewing bought the Celis plant in Texas and closed it down. As of December 2002, it was once again being produced (and trucked back down to Texas, where it had developed a loyal following) by the Michigan Brewing Company, who purchased the Celis equipment, the trademark and the rights to brew the beer.

http://www.michiganbrewing.com/press.asp

Whether we'll ever see it again in my part of the world, who knows, but it's good to see that at least some folks aren't being deprived. Since I can't get my hands on any of the new stuff as yet, I don't know if it is as good as the old, but IMHO the original stuff was one of the best craft beers being made in this country. I'm biased toward Belgian beers, though. I love them all, and to have such a faithfully rendered version of the Belgian white style made in this country (some of the other Belgian styles would simply be impossible to reproduce anywhere other than Belgium) is quite an accomplishment.

I think you'll be liking Ommegang Brewery from up in Cooperstown, NY. Strong Stuff.

I found the Moose Drool in the cooler on Friday, but couldnt pull the trigger, just had to go with a Belgian White- Blue Moon, was the name, and quite refreshing in the backyard, with a lemon twist.

Was it the name or the fact that I recommended it. ;)

Woopsie, I guess it wasn't clear I was responding to Windhund. Ommegang is a Belgian style brewery. It is most excellent.

I'm having a Saranac Black Forest. Itsa Bavarian style beer not real strong but nice.

Griff, I hope I get to try some of that Ommegang some day (heh - husband loves baseball - maybe we can do a road trip; he can go the the Hall of Fame while I hang at the brewery).

Unfortunately I'm in the South, where Belgians aren't real popular (we do have one bar that has lambic on tap, though). I'm working on the local wine/beer store to bring in more Belgians, Rodenbach in particular. The best beer in the world ...

Yes.;)
Nah, it was too dark and heavy sounding, didnt seem to fit my sandals and shorts kinda weekend.

wind, I will see if I can spot any Rodenbach...hum.

They have some Southern distribution but few and far between.

It's everywhere around here (naturally). Great stuff, and a girl I know from the PR group that's marketing the stuff says it should make its way to other parts of the country sometime soon. Keep looking.

I'll keep nagging the local beer n wine guy. A road trip to DC is probably in order - you can get dang near anything up there.

So Monday night was the monthly beer tasting down at the Gingerman. The first Monday of every month is devoted to a themed beer tasting/discussion. November's is always my favorite -- that's when they break out the Belgian ales. There's usually 5 rounds of 2 beers each, and although they're not full pints, we tend to walk away a little slower that when we walked in. They usually have a beer-companion sampler plate on each table as well.

This past Monday was devoted to Northwestern and Colorado ales, most notably New Belgium and Rogue. Next month was discussed, but we can never remember what was said by the end of the evening, which makes for a pleasant surprise.

Because of the connections that some of the people that participate and run the show have, we are able to acquire certain resources and sometimes rare knowledge from within the brewing community. We were some of the first in the country to try the newest batches of Celis brewed by the MBC. We have had several high-profile guests, including many brewers, come through without hesitating to give out free product. Two of the most memorable ones were just within the last year: our local Chimay distributor attended the aforementioned November tasting, and brought along some of his private stash Chimay Grand Reserve '95, '90, and even a bottle or two of '87. All three were quite pleasing (who knew that these monks had such a handle on the whole liquid-bread thing??). The other notable guest was Greg Koch from Stone Brewing Co. (Arrogant Bastard anyone??). He was an extremely nice guy, and was not the least bit arrogant when pouring away a nice portion of his own stuff. I also met a guy from Kona Brewing that night who brought in a small batch of his own stuff, which was extremely delicious.

If anyone is ever near this place on a first Monday, let me know. I'll save you a seat.

I'm drinking this nice little beer calls itself a Belgian White so I figure google the thing and read a nice feel good story little guy takes on the tasteless superpowers, yadda. So this yummy spicey little beer is Blue Moon from Adolf Hit er Coors freaking company. That is a kick in the pants.

if i remember right, blue moon use to be a little independent brewery that coors bought out so as to compete with the more popular microbreweries. but i could be wrong. it is pretty good stuff though, for a coors product.

~james

I'm not surprised...Miller handles Sam Adams, and A-B has an interest in Red Hook, IIRC.

If the big goons can widely distribute with out ruining the product...and can make the startup visionaries boo coo bucks... I'm over it. (Perhaps its just the idea that I could get some Celis someday soon, and that Blue Moon was tasty.)

http://www.newbelgium.com/coasters/loft.gif

I had some just the other night. It's a special release, so I figured I'd drink it as quickly as I could, making it possible to go and buy more before it's all gone.

If the ocean was beer
and I was a duck
I'd swim to the bottom
And never come up.

This weekend a beer from Munich Paulaner Hefe Wiezen. Very crisp and cooling, especially with the lemon slice thing.

Even though I'm 15 would NEVER :rolleyes: touch alcohol at such a young age due to it being illegal :D The best beer - I "hear" ;) is Tooheys Extra Dry - It's an Australian full strength beer and "apparently" it tastes really good ;)

Yeah yeah, we hear you, KingofTheWorld. You know, when I was a young'un in North Carolina, they raised the drinking age just ahead of me--it was phased in. When I was 17 they raised it from 18 to 19; then the next year from 19 to 20, etc. Very obnoxious.

Anyway. On my expedition to Delaware I acquired some Sierra Nevada Wheat Beer and Flying Fish ESB Ale. The Flying Fish was good, but I was especially taken with the SN Wheat Beer. (Oh, not beer, but I got some Hornsby's Hard Cider just because it sounded interesting. Seems like a nice refreshing drink for a warm spring day. Now all me need are some warm spring days!:rolleyes: )