What beer are you drinking (or rating) II: second bottle

[Stubb]

Bayern Doppelbock.

I've got a few Santa Fe Brewing Chicken Killer barleywines coming up in a trade to go with the Big Sky Brewing Olde Bluehair barleywine for Thanksgiving. Also possibly an Oskar Blues Ten FIDY imperial stout.

 

[zuma]

Currently enjoying Newcastle Werewolf. I have always liked regular Newcastle and this one doesn't disappoint when you're in the mood for something light with a nice flavor.

 

[zuma]

just finished a Fuller's ESB. they're not fancy or hard to find (in the UK), but i've come to realise that Fuller's are one of my favourite brewers...

Agreed on this...I just tried the "red" Fuller's and that completes the three kinds of Fuller's I saw at BevMo. I think I dig the "blue" one the most but I really liked the "red" one.

90 minutes IPA Dogfish head, bought 12 of them and planning to drink the most I can tonight...3 so far

Oh man, two of them would finish me. You have some tolerance.

Just got in from an early gig and am about to have another Sam Adams black lager. Got some Great Divide Yeti on the slate for tomorrow night. Or maybe Duck-Rabbit porter. Or maybe Hooker porter. Life's good.................

I got a couple of those Sam Adams Black Lagers in a variety pack and I was pleasantly surprised. My favorite of that sampler.

Ive not been a fan of Newcastle for a while. It was probably the first "good beer" I started drinking and I wore myself out on it long ago. I'll drink it if its the only beer better than the swill. THEN, a few months ago, they released the Werewolf Ale. Anyone try that? It was like Newcastle, with a bit of a fruity taste, but was quite good. <snip>

I bought a 12 pack of the Werewolf and I'm not sorry.

In regards to the Dogfish talk...I thought I had found my dream beer with the Midas Touch but then I tried the 90 minute IPA. Damn that's good. I wasn't too crazy about the Palo Santo and I really tried to like it. The 60 minute is nice when you can't have the punch of the 90. Anybody try the 120? That must really whack you!

 

[ThatGermanDude]

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Hops. EVERYWHERE.

This. So good.

 

[Martin89]

Widmer Brother's Hefeweisen was most recent beer, very good by itself or with a meal.

 

[Icey101]

becks

 

[MatticusMania]

Vons got some of the Limited Edition Firestone Velvet Merlin Oatmeal stout in, so I picked up two 6packs last night!

 

[UncleFluffy]

Vons got some of the Limited Edition Firestone Velvet Merlin Oatmeal stout in, so I picked up two 6packs last night!

That sounds like a winner. Please let us know how it goes.

 

[MatticusMania]

Oh, its delicious! I mentioned it earlier, but didnt go into detail.

If you like stouts you'll probably enjoy this one. Its got a bit more bite than, say, a Samuel Smith Oatmeal stout. Also, a hint of smoke. Id recommend it to anyone who likes dark beer.

 

[StipeC]

I'd have to say my favorite has to be Brooklyn lager by far.

 

[RS]

12 Dogs of Xmas Xmas Ale. There is a little debate in these parts over what is the best Xmas in town. To be fair, I bought a 6 of it to compare to the reigning king Great Lakes Xmas. Well, I am not impressed. Lots of ginger and cinnamon but floral hops? Lighter than expected. I'll stick with Great Lakes. I thought Bell's was better also.

 

[Herrick]

Well as of this moment, Herrick is drinking Samuel Adams. I drank Heineken for years and years but I've grown tired of it. Sometimes it tastes good and sometimes it's really bad. For a short time, I drank Budweiser & Coors because it was so cheap. I find it odd that people say those beers taste like piss. The problem isn't that they taste like piss but that that they have no taste at all So either Guiness of Sam Adams is my beer of choice...for now.

 

[spade2you]

If you keep drinking the stuff we drink, Guiness will soon be like water as will some Sam Adams varieties.

 

[Gard]

...but have had quite a few interesting ones, so I'll hit the high notes...

Weyerbacher Pumpkin Imperial Ale:

I've tried several pumpkins this fall, and by FAR, this one killed 'em all. Good pumpkin flavor, nice and smooth, and good body.

Aventinus:

Wheat doppelbock. Nectar. Of. The. Ghodz. Not your daddy's wheat, lots of body, brilliant combination of fruit and spice flavors, and 9% ABV.

Mikkeller Geek Brunch Weasel:
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Imperial Coffee Stout. Y'know that coffee that they get by letting civets eat the coffee cherries, then picking the beans out of their poop? Yeah, they use THAT in this stuff. Crazy. Amazing tasting stuff!!!

Brooklyn Brewery Chocolate Black Stout:
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Nice, chocolatey stout, hint of hops, but still nice and STOUTY.

Lagunitas Little Sumpin':

American Pale Ale, nice and crisp, hoppy but not BITTER.

Winner of them all is the Aventinus, just amazing stuff...they have it on tap at my favorite local Irish pub, and I will probably cry when that tap runs dry and they switch it out for some other, almost certainly inferior keg.

 

[Gard]

If you keep drinking the stuff we drink, Guiness will soon be like water as will some Sam Adams varieties.

Let's not get TOO carried away, Guinness will always be GUINNESS, and some of the Sam Adams stuff is pretty decent...



...I mean, none of it is Bud or Miller, or any of that junk!

 

[UncleFluffy]

...but have had quite a few interesting ones, so I'll hit the high notes...

Sir, you have excellent taste.

 

[Gard]

Sir, you have excellent taste.

When it comes to beer, I am still only a student of the art. I'm fortunate that within my dinky little town, we have a first-rate Irish-style pub (with good food on top of it!) with some amazing taps, and a first-rate sports bar with a 300+ beer list and a few waiters that KNOW their stuff, and aren't afraid to make recommendations.

One of those recommendations was this:

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This beer made me PROUD to be 25% Polish...fabulous, it's available in yet another of our little town's jewels, our locally owned grocery store with a beer aisle the entire length of the building. They have this (and hundreds of other!) incredible brews lined up and waiting for me to pick up, not 5 minutes from home.

 

[The BurgerMeister]

this is a recent favorite of mine. it's a simple, nice and clean lager:
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and this is in the fridge, too:

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at my son's first birthday party, several guests (the adults, of course) were imbibing this wonderful brew, too:

all tasty!

 

[spade2you]

Let's not get TOO carried away, Guinness will always be GUINNESS, and some of the Sam Adams stuff is pretty decent...



...I mean, none of it is Bud or Miller, or any of that junk!

Getting carried away is half the fun!

Sam Adams makes some decent stuff from time to time. As a home brewer, I was especially impressed with Noble Pils and the Latitude 48 Deconstructed. Some of their stuff is a little bland. A few are a little tough to drink.

Guinness is a good gateway beer. It's many leagues ahead of American Domestic swill, but after a few more aggressive stouts, it seems a little pedestrian. I forget who owns Guinness, but nowadays it's brewed more outside of Ireland than in it. Ultimately, many of the more popular beers well their recipes to the likes of InBev and who knows how authentic it eventually becomes.

 

[Gard]

Getting carried away is half the fun!

Wise words, I cannot argue with them.

Sam Adams makes some decent stuff from time to time. As a home brewer, I was especially impressed with Noble Pils and the Latitude 48 Deconstructed. Some of their stuff is a little bland. A few are a little tough to drink.

Absolutely agreed, they can be very hit or miss, even within a particular style. I've had the Noble Pils and loved it, then a few months later had one and thought it was "off". Overall, I give them props for having the stones to try things, and for helping to get the ball rolling on rescuing actual BEER in the US.

Guinness is a good gateway beer. It's many leagues ahead of American Domestic swill, but after a few more aggressive stouts, it seems a little pedestrian. I forget who owns Guinness, but nowadays it's brewed more outside of Ireland than in it. Ultimately, many of the more popular beers well their recipes to the likes of InBev and who knows how authentic it eventually becomes.

Oh, no doubt, there are far superior brews to the Guinness that is out now, and for precisely the reason you have outlined. The concept is watered down (literally & figuratively) when the conglomerates get ahold of a brew - they begin to treat it as a commodity instead of an art. Fuller's London Porter is far superior for example, IMO, and there are some fabulous varieties that are made in the states, such as the Brooklyn I put in my post earlier today.

Daddy LOVES him some porters & stouts.

Oh, and while we're at that, here's a killer that's brewed here in NC that I just LOVE:

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I keep a 6er in the fridge at all times.

They also make Momma's favorite brew:

...it's good to live in NC if you're a brew fiend, we have the highest number of breweries per capita in the US, and most of 'em are really good!