The Great Beer Thread

[Patrick Murtha]

Oberon is back. Best summer beer for this guy.

Very much agree. It's a great summer beer.

 

[anon`]

Speaking of beers coming back... Deschutes has released Cinder Cone Red again! Just as I was beginning to despair that they'd done away with it forever, I found a whole shelf of it at my friendly local grocery store. This makes me happy, as Cinder Cone is perhaps my favourite ale, ever.

 

[feltfan]

Some great beers and ales discussed here.

Where I live we have a fine new pub featuring,
but not limited to, Belgian ale on tap and in bottle.

Check out this (ever changing) tap list:
http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dhcx95f3_3ckxs5ngp

And this bottle list, as a spreadsheet!
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p6IlV8a_GeB24bIXqkrDvTg

The pub:
http://www.thetrappist.com/

 

[SpitfireXIV]

Anyone here like The Bishop Finger? Spitfire? Any other of the Shepherd Neame brews?

would like to try Spitfire, but alas, no distribution to the States

but, it's a short trip across the border to Wisconsin; a few local breweries come to mind: Lakefront Brewery, Sprecher, Water Street & New Glarus.

good beers all around!

 

[Helen Troy]

Anyone here like The Bishop Finger? Spitfire? Any other of the Shepherd Neame brews?

I love Spitfire! And Old Speckled Hen, that is somewhat like it.

 

[airforceindy]

Thought this might be a fun one to resurrect. I could really use a nice, cold, tap-drawn Sam Adams right about now!!! Or a Guinness, or a Murphy's, or even a Killian's! But a Sam sounds particularly good right now...

Regards, Andy

 

[airforceindy]

Here is my favorite Brew Pub, they make great beer!!! Anyone have photos or links to their favorite micro brewery in their area?

http://www.themenupage.com/blackdiamondbrewingco.html

Don't have a link, but if any of ya'll ever find yourselves in the Black Hills, check out the Firehouse Brewing Company in Rapid City. Smoke-Jumper Stout, Chukkar Ale, Brown-Eyed Girl, Wilderness Wheat, Firehouse Red, to name a few of their varieties. Great beer, and amazing tavern food, too. This is a place that you DON'T go if you're on a diet! It's heaven! Back home in Maine, we have the Atlantic Brewing Co and Casco Bay Brewing Co; both are around the Bar Harbor area where my dad's family is from. GREAT brews up there!

Disclaimer: Now that I think about it, the Smoke-Jumper is one of the thinner stouts I've had. You don't have to 'chew' it like a Guinness. And, it's got a bit more 'fizz' than i care for in a dark beer. But... the taste is great, and so long as it doesn't say Miller or Budweiser on it, I'm a happy camper!

 

[KY Gentleman]

I grew up close to Cincinnati and there used to be a bunch of small brewers there. Schoenling, Weidemann, Hudepohl, etc. There is still a strong following there for Little Kings Creme Ale. Anyone ever tried it?
There was a micro-brewer named Oldenberg in Fort Mitchell, KY. also.
Good stuff.

 

[Mojito]

I have a great mate from Kent, who cultivated my affection for local ales when I lived in the UK. He would speak with such raptures of the beverages, holding them up to the light to demonstrate how they 'lived', and speaking of their respective qualities with such reverence that I was quite lured away from the usual stout (if I was drinking beer at all). I love Guinness, but only in Ireland or the UK, when it's on draught. There's something about the distance it's drunk from the Liffey that seems to affect it in adverse proportion - the further away, the less fine it tastes. McCaffreys will do as well.

 

[Lancealot]

My new favorite is ST. Pauli Girl Special Dark. It's got a great taste.

 

[Lancealot]

Thought this might be a fun one to resurrect. I could really use a nice, cold, tap-drawn Sam Adams right about now!!! Or a Guinness, or a Murphy's, or even a Killian's! But a Sam sounds particularly good right now...

Regards, Andy

You ever try Sam Adams Ocktoberfest?

 

[Fletch]

I'll have what he's having.

"Breakfast in the Free State! (signed) H.L. Mencken"

 

[dnjan]

Here is my favorite Brew Pub, they make great beer!!! Anyone have photos or links to their favorite micro brewery in their area?

Hales Ales
My first-choice brewpub. As far as what I drink there, it depends. First I'll see what is on the "pump" (british-style pump for cask-conditioned ale). Next, if it is warm out, a kolsch. Or not. Sometimes the bartender just fills my mug and tells me I'll drink it and I'll like it. It is up to me to identify what he poured.

When I can't make it to Hales, I usually either have a hefewiezen (on tap at Shultzy's), or a Mac'n'Jack's African Amber (doesn't that name just roll of the tongue!) at an Irish pub (Finn's) close to work.

The Mac'n'Jack's is an interesting beer. Basically a dry-hopped amber ale. Considered a "chick-beer" among the local hop-heads, but a very unique flavour combined with enough body to taste good without exhausting the palate.

 

[rumblefish]

I went to the beer distributor to drop off the empties...Since I was already there.....

To the left is Legacy's Hoptimus Prime, a double IPA. I'm not passing up a new DIPA.
Next is Brooklyn Brewery and Schneider Brewery's (Germany) collaboration, a Hopfen-Weisse. Touted as a heavily hopped weissbock, it should be interesting. This is Brooklyn's label, Schneiders label is below. I think it's a good idea, Germany contibuting their weisse and the USA hopping the heck out of it. Let's see how it tastes.
Then two from Norway's Nogne O; Brown Ale and an IPA. The few I've had from them have been great. These two are new to me,,, I think.
,

 

[SpitfireXIV]

Ooh. On a cold day like today, the Water Street Brewery "Irish Stout" would be perfect; the aroma of coffee first entices you, and then you take the first sip and you know you must be in Wisconsin with such a remarkably well-crafted brew. You have to love a state that has a "MICROBREW" tent at their state fair!

Could go with the Goose Island "Oatmeal Stout" or the Sprecher (or Sam Adams) Double Bock right about now... When it's warmer, the Great Lakes Brewery "Burning River IPA" with its wonder citrus flavour will do quite nicely.

edit: And when I crave something red, Bass Ale, or a less bitey version: Rogue Brewery's "Dead Guy Ale."

So many beers, only one liver. Somehow seems unfair.

 

[Dr Doran]

In Berkeley: Jupiter Red Spot. I don't know where else you can get it or even if they bottle it at all. Jupiter's is a lovely pub near campus. In addition to their Red Spot, they do many more such as an IPA, a double IPA, a honey wheat, and something black -- either a stout or a porter. It's dry and not sweet -- I think it's a Porter.

 

[Dr Doran]

So many beers, only one liver. Somehow seems unfair.

Oh, that's nice.

 

[Josephine]

I like a dark beer. I also like Yuengling, esp their lager, and their Black & Tan. Don't care for beers that are hoppy. Too bitter for me.

 

[GreyHat]

If you just go by the name “Arrogant ba***rd Ale�. For flavor… I would say one of the hoppier beers at the Blue Corn (a local microbrewery here in Albuquerque). I my choice would be limited to larger breweries, I like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale or Guinness.
Cheers!

Amen on the Arrogant ba***rd Ale.
And there are a couple of decent places in ABQ for microbrews.
I have heard good things about Blue Corn
Ever tried Turtle Mountain up in Rio Rancho?

 

[Custom79]

Sketchy...

The only pubs we have here in The Peg are sketchy ones. No one drinks Canadian beer from a tap. I was a bartender for a very long time and don't remember anyone wondering out loud how long it had been since the lines were checked for bacteria, etc.

C79

Guinness for me, and little else. It seems to be the type of stout that you either love and defend to the death, or you hate it and the slightest drop on your palet makes you spit. I'm in the latter group, of course.

However, on occasion, I have indulged in a can of Kieths--I do not care for it drawn from the tap, but I can stomach it quite happily in the can. However, I had it from the tap in a very sketchy Winnipeg pub, and I think based on the opinions of many others, that it is a very good draught beer as well.

And, of course, let's not forget the good ol' Labatt Blue, which is always a good standby (and reasonably cheap too, if you must provide a lot of it for some thirsty college kids)

Smithwicks is a nice beer too, but I rarely indulge in it.

Regards,

Craig