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for those who like the darker stuff, McEwan's Scotch Ale is quite good... looks like diesl fuel, tastes wonderful.
For a while there was a retro-themed burger joint called "Rooty's" that made their own root beer and it was fantastic.... like liquid velvet.
Posts: 121 | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:Vonk, if you like Newcastle, I think you'd enjoy shiner bock.
yeah, i think i've had shiner, one or two or eighteen million times. i used to love it and drink nothing but, but after you start getting into the different kinds of beers, shiner doesn't really compare. the last time i was at the St. Arnolds Brewery (seriously, everyone try it now, call you local distributor and demand it) the Brewmaster was talking about shiner. apparently it isn't actually a bock, but a german style lager with food coloring. who knew.
i'm gonna have to print out this thread and take it to the local Spec's Warehouse and if they don't have the beers, i will make them order them.
i'm particularly interested in the Rogue Brewery, that Hazelnut Brown Ale sounds mighty yummy. I'd also like to check out Moose Drool, it's got a great name and if it can be classified with Guinness it's got to be good. I'll ask about the Stone Brewery too.
Mike - I agree, the Trippel is great, but it is hard to find around here.
As for Mexican beers, i love Bohemia and Negra Modelo (whats with the mixed genders?). i don't really like Corona at all. When i went down to Montere all of the street signs had a Carta Blanca logo on them, it was great. I heard that the guy that started the university there also started the beer company and funded most of the city works.
quote:I found out this summer that Scotts actually look down on Newcastle, its like their Natty ice (or insert cruddy beer).
yeah, i've heard this too, from a british friend of mine. they apparently don't like it much over there. but it is made differently in both place to accord with the local alcohol laws, so it tastes different. when my british friend tried it in the states, he said it was much better.
golly i could talk about beer forever.
is anyone into homebrewing?
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
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BTW, I did a net search, and the Okicim Porter is back! It's only for export (sorry Kama, you can't get it in Poland itself). Stawski Imports, out of Chicago, is the current importer in the US. I recommend every try some of it, particularly if you like dark beers. Beer Advocate users have very favorable reviews of the Brew.
I also have to add that any of Harpoon's "100-Barrel" series is quite good.
Stouts: Guinness - obviously, but it's better if you get it in Ireland. Taaffe's Pub in Galway, specifically.
Orkney Dark Island - I've only seen it in bottles once, in NYC, but it was better on tap in Scotland.
Terminator X - A Portland, OR microbrew by the McMiniman Bros.
Heart of Darkness - Magic Hat Brewing Co., Vermont.
Sam Smith's Oatmeal Stout - Just good.
Ale-type-beers: Fuller's ESB - An English import.
Belhaven Scottish Ale - A Scottish import, as you can tell by the name.
Circle Master Organic Ale - In this country, I think they call it Scarecrow. It's by Wychwood Brewery in England.
Sam Smith's Nut Brown Ale - For lovers of Newcastle, this is a must try.
Wheat Beer: Hoegaarden - My first intro into weisbier, and it's still good.
Blue Moon - Another good staple.
Widmer Hefeweisen - From Porland, OR area.
(Lots of others, but their names are too hard to remember)
Miscellany: Rogue Mocha Porter - The only chocolate-esque beer I like (it's great). By contrast, I hated Young's Double Choclate - tasted like baker's chocolate mixed with Guinness.
Sam Adams Winter Lager - Seasonal, but awesome. My roommate and I buy two cases at the end of the season to get us through White Ale and Summer Ale seasons to Octoberfest time.
Negra Modelo - Sit down in a good Mexican food restaurant, get a big Margarita and a Negra Modelo with it, and order yourself up some good eats. mmm....
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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I'm more with the "Killian and Honeybrown if they're free" mindset, and Corona only if it's free, it's cold, there's lime, and I'm outside on a sunny day.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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hell, if it's free i'll drink alcoholic piss. well maybe not, but free beer is good beer to me. i'd drink Steel Reserve if it were free, and if any of you have had that, you will know what i mean.
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
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Hefeweizen! Pyramid if I can afford it, Henry Weinhardts(?) if not.
I find I like most mexican beers also. Though I haven't tried negra modelo yet. You put de lime in da beer and den you drink em both up.
Of the cheapie beers, I usually prefer budweiser. As long as you're not reaching down to the depths of the unholy trinity: Natural Ice, Miller High Life, and their infernal ringleader, PBR. Most anything else is fine.
Posts: 2907 | Registered: Nov 2005
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In principle I agree with free beer=good beer idea, however in practice it just doesn't work for me. I've had people buy me Corona or Beast or other beers that I refuse to spend money on and I still can't stand them.
I do remember that I once had Corona that was palatable - even good, but it doesn't really count since it was mixed with pureed fruit - mango and peach were the best.
Posts: 959 | Registered: Jan 2002
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In the late summer and fall, when my chiles are ripe and fresh, I love to drop a slice of jalapeno in my beer. It tastes best with a cheap, light beer like Bud Lite.
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under $3 for a six pack! where do you live, heaven? the only thing around here that is anywhere near $3 a sixer is Old English.
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
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Does ANYBODY out here like non-alcoholic beers of the O'Douls variety? eg. the ones that are supposed to taste like beer?
I'm just curious. Never really understood the market as the beers, to me, don't even compare with mid-range alcoholic beer.
Posts: 484 | Registered: Feb 2006
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It's been a LONG time since I've seen Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve... like 15 years or so...
Posts: 121 | Registered: Jan 2006
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Only thing I know about homebrewing is from the Good Eats episode. Looks a little too involved for me. Though if you're interested there are tons of enthusiasts on rec.crafts.brewing.
Posts: 1810 | Registered: Jan 1999
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thanks Mike. and from what i've heard, homebrewing isn't all that hard to get started in. It is just a matter of boiling a bunch of water and hops and barley extract for a while and then pouring it into a big steel contrainer, adding some yeast, and letting it sit. i met a guy that was big into homebrewing and that is how he said that he started. he may have been oversimplifying it a bit though.
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Kristen, my father had a laryngectomy and was told he couldn't drink alcohol anymore (it posed some risk). He was an avid beer drinker (Budweiser, blegh, but he liked it).
He switched over to nonalcoholics and found Haake Beck and Kaliber to be the best.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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on the topic of beer: i am about to go to the first St. Arnolds Brewery Pub Crawl. I'm excited.
no one has mentioned St. Arnolds. I love them, please, someone else say that you know who they are... i'm begging you. and if you don't, go to your local Spec's warehouse and beg, nay, demand that they provide you with the best beer to come out of Houston for 12 years running.
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
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There are many good Mexican beers. Corona and Dos Equis are not among them.
-o-
Among pilsner beers, I like a Dominican beer called Presidente. I don't know if it's available where you live. They import it into areas with a lot of carribean latinos, like Florida and New York. The imported stuff is not quite as good as what you can get in the D.R., but it'll do.
Among ales, I like Bass, but only on draft. I can't stand it out of a bottle. I also like Killian's.
I like Guinness, but I don't go out of my way for it. I do like black velvets, though.
If I'm drinking inexpensive American beer, I prefer Michelob Light.
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Guinness Extra Cold, from what I remember from over there, was dreadful.. but the commercials were hysterical.
I would like to add Smithwicks Ale (pronounced Smiddicks) to the list, too. Glad they're finally importing it to the US.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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I love having a local like you around here, pH.
I'm not a big beer drinker because I drink white wines to relax and hard liqour to get drunk at parties. However, my boyfriend lives in Abita and has some hardcore pride when it comes to the local breweries. Since that's the only beer he'll let me drink in his presence (haha) I've developped a liking for it. Purple Haze is good and there's on other that I LOVE but I always forget what its called, I'll have to ask him. But I can say I've not tried one and not enjoyed it.
And yeah, lighter is better for me too.
Posts: 1733 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Shanna: I'm not a big beer drinker because I drink white wines to relax and hard liqour to get drunk at parties.
I know alcohol percentage is alcohol percentage, but it really isn't, is it?
I also have a glass of wine to relax. Even when I have significantly more than a glass, I am still mellow and relaxed, and tend to wax philosophic. (philosophical?)
Beer is more of a loud laughter kind of thing.
Tequila? You really don't want to know. Had to stop drinking that stuff.
Is there any real study of this? Of the effects of different types of alcohol? Is it a placebo effect? Do I thik wine is relaxing and mellow, so it makes me feel that way?
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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quote: and from what i've heard, homebrewing isn't all that hard to get started in. It is just a matter of boiling a bunch of water and hops and barley extract for a while and then pouring it into a big steel contrainer, adding some yeast, and letting it sit. i met a guy that was big into homebrewing and that is how he said that he started. he may have been oversimplifying it a bit though.
You are. It has to be boiled for a certain length of time in such a way that it doesn't boil over (harder than it sounds). And wort isn't that fun to try and clean up off a hot stove. Then the hops have to be added at specific points during the boiling process for flavoring, aroma, etc.
Everything, and I mean everything, has to be completely cleaned and sanitized. Any dirt, bacteria, etc. that gets in could ruin the taste and you won't know about it til you try it several weeks later.
I haven't done it in a few years, but I'm considering starting back again. If you decide to start, find a place that sells the stuff and knows what they're doing. Find a place that will happily take your call when you have to ask something right in the middle of your first batch. Most places should do so because they love to get people into homebrewing.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Icarus, probably not. By the time they connected you to the right department and someone actually picked up, primary fermentation would probably be over.
Elizabeth, of course you are. If you're not boiled long enough, you might not be cooked thoroughly and give us some kind of food poisoning. We can't have that!
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Personally, I really like Red Stripe. And their commercials just seal the deal. Any type of Hefenweizen is good for me too.
Posts: 168 | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Elizabeth: [QUOTE]Originally posted by Shanna: [qb]
Is there any real study of this? Of the effects of different types of alcohol? Is it a placebo effect? Do I thik wine is relaxing and mellow, so it makes me feel that way?
I've been told it doesn't have a huge effect what kind of alchohol you drink, its the other stuff in the glass that changes the experience.
For instance wine also has other non-alchoholic agents, sulfers and different sugars, in it which are calming to some people. They make my eyes itch.
Its the same for hard alchohols and beers, the amount of sugar and other non-alchoholic elements is different, so the body metabolizes the whole thing at a slightly different rate. Its also harder to break down a big beer with 6% alchohol than it is to metabolize a shot of vodka, because vodka is more pure. Also for whatever reason, I've heard people's problems with tequila often stem from the way it gets broken down; it actually takes the body longer to metabolize it completely, so it "sneaks up" on the drinker.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:I really want to try my hand at homebrewing, but am a little nervous about getting started. anybody have any advice?
If you make a really dark beer, with a foamy top that looks like pepsi when it is in a tumbler, do not leave a glassful on the coffee table where an unsuspecting non-drinking relative might take a big swig.
quote:Oh, yes, I was going to say: if you prefer the root variety, do yourself a favor and try Henry Weinhard's root beer. Sadly it's only available on the west coast.
Not so. It is available in Minnesota, but only in liquor stores, which means you can't buy it on Sundays.
Posts: 9866 | Registered: Apr 2002
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I like : Anchor Old Foghorn Spaten Optimator Chimay Blue Sam Smith's Imperial Stout Grimbergen Dark Urthel Tripel Sam Adams Cream Stout
Posts: 5 | Registered: Apr 2006
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Tagging on to what Orincoro just said, Gin is made with juniper berries, which, like corn kernel skins, aren't as easily dealt with by the body.
That said, the alcohol from gin stays in your system longer without being sent through to the kidneys (and drinking lots of gin apparently gets built up in your system over a night), which supposedly can lead to worse hangovers.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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My favorite American beer is from the Anderson Valley Brewing Company in Hopland CA. Boont Amber Ale or Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout. Very delicious stuff.
Posts: 38 | Registered: Oct 2005
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Never, ever drink gin and Sprite, even if everyone else at the party is already drunk because they finished off all of the liquor before you got there.
My nextdoor neighbor has been teaching me about homebrewing. We've made cider, 5-6 different beers, and some mead.
Posts: 872 | Registered: Mar 2002
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I changed my mind. I think. I really like the NCAAle I had at a local brewery tonight - enough so that I may, in fact, title it my favourite beer.
Posts: 3932 | Registered: Sep 1999
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Hey Sarah! Flemish reds are a pretty unusual choice for a favorite beer! Have you tried Rodenbach, Echt Kriekenbier, or Zoetzuur? The first two have started to show up in our local distributors in the last 6 months, and if you like the Duchess... Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Have you tried Rodenbach, Echt Kriekenbier, or Zoetzuur? The first two have started to show up in our local distributors in the last 6 months, and if you like the Duchess... 
