I hope this isn't against the rules to talk about beer, but I know a few people on these boards have expressed their enjoyment of fine beers and microbrewing, so I though I would solicit some opinions.
I personally am a dark beer drinker. My faves are Guiness and Newcastle, although I recently got into New Belgium's 1554, which is yummy. I love Sam Adams, too.
There is a milk stout out there called Snow Plow, I think by Sam Adams, that you can get only seasonally and that I greatly enjoy.
Other people here have favorites? Recommendations? Free beer (j/k[kind of])?
I homebrew beer, if not campaign settings, because I enjoy flavorful dark European style ales and I don't like to pay through the nose for them. They're also not as fresh as I'd like, so homebrewing hits the spot. It's not very difficult, about as complicated as cooking a fine meal and takes about 3 weeks from start to finish.
I also make mead, because you can't find good commercial mead very easily.
Commercial beers? I like so many, it's hard to pick. Consistent beers that I go back to time and again include:
Samuel Adams, Shiner Bock (right now I'm drinking Shiner Koelsch--and yes Lilith, I e-mailed you a picture of the frosty cold Shiner Koelsch because I'm pure evil, I wouldn't dare taunt you so if you actually lived nearby), Thunderhead India Pale Ale, Amstel Light (for light beer days, which aren't many), Guiness Stout and Foster's Bitter.
However, the list of other beers that I like is large and has been discussed at length in other threads. Beers I dislike:
Anheuser Busch products except Amber Bock, because they use rice, which leaves a hot taste on the tongue and makes it taste like formaldehyde. Amber Bock is okay, not great--I'll only drink it in those places that have nothing else.
Most other American light lagers. Exceptions: Ice, ice cold Coors Original when it's very hot outside and I'm on the golf course. I hate Coors Light. I loved Coors Extra Gold when they used to make it.
I used to like Strohs and Mickey's Malt Liquor...won't touch 'em now (my palate and pocketbook expanded). Red Dog gives me huge headaches.
Beer that was surprisingly excellent the first time I tried it: Peroni (Italian) and Kingfisher (Indian) which I tried after someone on these boards suggested it.
I hate Corona--I love Bohemia....viva Mexico!!!
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Yeah, that Kingfisher is pretty good, isn't it? Get some lamb curry and a naan, and you're all set...
The Belgians make some of the best beers out there - Stella Artois might be the big name, but Duvel is just as good. And you've gotta love Delerium, if not for the taste (which is really good), then for the pink elephants on the cans... I also like most Kronenbourg variants, as well as the lighter German and Czech beers. Sapporo is another surprisingly good beer - light, frothy and refreshing.
Strangely, I was unable to find a British brew I actually enjoyed during my two years living there, though that could be because I don't like ales particularly much. I don't really care for most American beers - while Sam Adams is a pretty good one, it leaves an aftertaste I don't care for. Most of the American beers are bland and unrewarding, rather than really bad. I think the worst beer I've ever tried is a Swedish brand called Blue Falcon - it is so nasty you can't even give it away on student parties...
You big blue meanie...:P
Loves me a good 'brew. My particular love and one I make really well is a Belgian Abbey Ale. Beautiful, crisp and clean. The "Enunciator Terminator" is a clear blood red with a clean foamy head. My favoritest beer. My other half makes a really kick-ass Oatmeal Stout that's so thick and dark that if you put some of it in a shot glass and put a MagLite up to it, you can't see through the glass. It's not bitter at all, like stouts can be. Definitely at the top of the list.
Likes:
A good ale. Rogue has a Hazelnut Brown Nectar that's very tasty and smooth. If I'm going local ('cause in Bend, I can), I like Bend Brewing Company's Outback Old Ale or Silver Moon Brewing's Hounds Tooth Amber.
A pilsner or lager. In the summer, I really like a clean, smooth beer. Skinny Dip by New Belgium Brewery is very nice and fits the bill.
Dislikes:
India Pale Ale. Blech - waaaaaaay too hoppy for this girl.
Any Michelob, Budweiser, Coors, Corona, Pabst, Schlitz, or any mass-produced beer. Yuck. Keep it the hell away from me. The only time I've been able to tolerate it at all is if I've been working out in the sun all day and it's reeeeally cold and I drink it so fast so I can't taste it.
Fruity beers. Just...too...odd. The Bend Brewing Company did a Raspberry Hefeweizen a few years back and the beer was PINK. I'll keep the fruit for my cordials, thankyouverymuch.
The Belgians make some of the best beers out there - Stella Artois might be the big name, but Duvel is just as good.
Both of those are really tasty. Trois Pistoles is also very good. Particularly with fresh hot buttered bread and a pot of homemade halibut chowder.
~sigh~ I wish I liked to drink. I guess I am stuck as the Genetically Designated Driver.
Edit - After all those typoes, maybe I ***SHOULD*** start to drink so I can blame them on the beer!
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I don't do too much fancy drinkin' cause I had some BAD beer in the past and I hate trying to get rid of a horrible after taste.
I drink Michelob Ultra. Nothing special, just goes down well and I like the flavor. VERY low calories, so I won't lose my girlish figure.
I like White Russians and usually use Smirnoff Black and Kahlua.
I like mostly mixed drinks.
Hey F2K, how hard is the process for making mead and how much $$$ would the start up be (approx)? I have been trying to find a decent mead for a while.
I have some family members who do their own wine but I was never interested in the wine process.
FH (a man of simple tastes)
...I drink Michelob Ultra...
Fine by me bro.
Ultradan
Some great quebec micro-breweries (brewers... brew...), ah heck, there's great beer to be tasted in Quebec. Almost all of them are great. (so many)
Of commercial beers, I like Rickard's Red and Heiniken.
Ultradan
Hey F2K, how hard is the process for making mead and how much $$$ would the start up be (approx)? I have been trying to find a decent mead for a while.
You boil some water and add the honey. When it cools, pitch the yeast. That's it - it's not hard. It's waiting for the fermentation to be done that's hard! If you're making a five gallon batch, five to fifteen pounds of honey is good. GotMead.com is a good place to start.
I recently found a bottle of two and half year old mead and it's niiiiiiiiiice...
I was about 8 when my mother had her 50th birthday party and it was HUGE. We had friends and family show up from every corner of the country (and beyond) that I hadn't ever seen before. Someone set up the beverages as follows: on one card-table there were sodas...on a card-table of the exact same size and shape right next to the aforementioned table, there were canned beers.
Halfway thru the party I picked up a can in passing, cracked it open and took a swig and WHAT??!! Not my familiar loveable and sweet soft-drink but this nauseating pit-spawned concoction!!?? I immediately spit out the beer and haven't been able to even sniff a brew ever since. I'm sure that beer is great stuff, just not for me.
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Hey F2K, how hard is the process for making mead and how much $$$ would the start up be (approx)? I have been trying to find a decent mead for a while.You boil some water and add the honey. When it cools, pitch the yeast. That's it - it's not hard. It's waiting for the fermentation to be done that's hard! If you're making a five gallon batch, five to fifteen pounds of honey is good. GotMead.com is a good place to start.
I recently found a bottle of two and half year old mead and it's niiiiiiiiiice...
Dank you. I will be trying to find some mead to try at some local specialty liquor stores to find out what I want in a mead and go from there.
FH (The Fake Brewer?)
Vattnisse--that was you that suggested the Kingfisher? Awesome--it's really good, I finally found some after keeping my eyeballs out for it.
Mead is easy to make, as Lilith said, just time consuming. After the initial fermentation you have to transfer it to another 5 gallon glass jug and repeat until there's no sediment at the bottom of the jug...then you can bottle it.
I bottled a batch of dry mead about 4 months ago that will be just about perfect at Gencon 2007, which I plan to attend.
"The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" by Charlie Papazian is the definitive beginner's bible for homebrewers. It includes mead recipes and very easy to understand and read instructions, plus lotsa practical advice.
I've found that by experimenting with additional ingredients and finishing hops you can make really, really good beer by using the Munton's canned beer kits, combined with malt extract syrup and finishing hops--I'm particular to Cascade and Willamette hops, which adds great character to your homebrew. Canned kits are the looked down upon stepchild of homebrewing, but if you don't use corn sugar as a boost and use more unhopped malt extract instead of corn sugar, the results are awesome.
Homebrewing is really easy once you get past the initial factor of trying something new that's kind of "not mainstream"....but hey, we play D&D right!!
I keep teasing Lilith because she can't get Shiner Bock up in Oregon and she used to live in Texas. A couple of weeks ago I used three Shiner beer bottles as a gaming prop on the battlemat and I snapped a picture with my cell phone camera and e-mailed it to her. I hope she forgives me....tonight I sent her another picture of a Shiner specialty beer--Shiner Koelsch, which is just awesome as hell and reminds me of the bars in Koeln. Come back to Texas, Lilith--we got a spot in our gaming group for you and your significant other!!!
I'm something of a dark beer man, myself. Newcastle and Guinness are up there on my list. I got hooked on Yvengling while going to school here in New York, and it really frustrated me that it's only available in states bordering Pennsylvania, where it's brewed. I'm not the biggest pale ale fan, but Sierra Nevada is pretty good. Magic Hat is also pretty darn good, especially during the summer when you can get the variety packs.
I cannot stand mixed drinks, though. Never tastes right to me.
Did anyone ever seen the Canadian sketch comedy show The Kids In the Hall, where they had "The Girl Drink Drunk"?
"Waitress, another Chatanooga Choo-Choo! And no giggling this time!"
Director of Game Design
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Finally, a topic I really care about. :)
Coming from Milwaukee, beer is practically tied with water on my list of yearly liquids consumed. Back in Milwaukee, I was quite taken with a local brew called Sprecher and a few others like Riverwest. Since these are not really exported (and Sprecher cannot be due to it not being pastuerized), I cannot get them out here in Seattle. However, I currently enjoy a good bottle of Moose Drool from Big Sky Breweries whenever I am able.
To be honest, there are few lagers I don't enjoy (although the really cheap ones I generally pass on.. except Miller.. got to support the hometown Macro). I like most imports, but the heavy stouts and bitters are usually a bit much.
Don't even get me started on other fine alcoholic beverages.
Jason Bulmahn
Managing Editor of Drinking
Used to work in a liquor store
FH,
Start up cost to make mead is about $50 in hardware (carboys, bottle capper, fermentation locks, equipment etc) which will last for many years.
Beyond that all you need is 8 to 15 lbs of honey per batch and wine or champagne yeast. Figure about $25 to $35 per 5 gallons of mead--which is about 2 cases of 12 oz bottles.
There's also some minor ingredients which don't cost much, such as acid blend, yeast nutrient, etc.....it's not expensive and it is an awesome beverage.....although I get weird urges to sail longships and sack monasteries.
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.....although I get weird urges to sail longships and sack monasteries.
Hey! Sailing longships and sacking monasteries IS NOT WEIRD!! So there...
I actually joined a group at the University of Oslo called the Church of the norse gods for a while back in 1994 or so, because they had old-school mead and authentic old norse cuisine, not to mention that I love the old norse myths and culture. However, I never quite developed a taste for mead- too sticky and sweet for me. Turns out the guys running the show were really pissed that so many nonbelevers had joined up for mead and parties, so they disbanded the whole thing shortly thereafter. A couple of them are still in prison for church-burning and sacrificial-style murder (hung a homeless guy in a tree and pierced him with spears); it was probably a good thing I didn't stick around...
Really sweet mead is not that great either. I prefer dry mead. Not all mead is sweet--it just depends on the recipe used and the ingredients, just like wine.
The mead that I gave Steve Greer and his gaming group to try was a recipe called "Nectar of the Gods" mead, which was fairly sweet and not my favorite, unfortunately. I got the kit from www.homebrewheaven.com The mead I made after that only used about 8 lbs of honey and dry champagne yeast and is very dry.
Next time I go to Vegas, the Greer group will get some better mead. That stuff I made was the first batch I had made in about five years and the first (and probably last) from a kit.
...although I get weird urges to sail longships and sack monasteries.
Me too. :D
The best honey I've found is from a roadside vendor. We usually get alfalfa and wildflower honey up here, so YMMV. The type of honey you use has an impact on the flavor of your mead too. There's a melomel I'd like to make, with prickly pear and mesquite honey. I love mesquite honey in the first place, so this particular recipe intrigues me greatly.
Ten gallons of mead at an SCA event (AnTir/West War) will make you a lot of friends.
Agreed that the mass produced American beers are mostly poop. Coor,s bud, etc. all suck the fat one.
I enjoy Rolling Rock now and again, even though I usually don't care for pale beers in that genre usually.
I spent 5 weeks in Italy and I'll tell you what: Peroni is not that good; passable, but not special. While there, though, I had Guiness Foreign Extra, which was more of a porter. I generally can't do porters every day, but it was nice.
I have had Kingfisher, too. Bleh. Nothing special. I'm not really a big lager fan anyways, but that was crap.
Mexican beers: I'll drink Dos Equis. They do pretty good. Corona only when it is real hot out and the beer is real cold.
No other Newcastle enjoyers? Here in Central/Southern California, everyone loves that stuff.
Stouts of all kinds are always nice. I especially like my local microbrewery/eatery's oatmeal stout.
ALSO! I have had Fishers, which si apparently French and come sin a cool bottle with a crank like opening device. I like it too. And when Sam Adams puts out their holiday variety I like to stock up on their variety.
Contributor
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I really like Porters and Stouts
Smuttynose Porters pretty high on my list and I can't believe nobody mentioned Mackeson Stout XXX along with the other dark stuff. I also like Newcastle, and for Belgian ales, I'm partial to Corsendonk.
As far as the cheap stuff goes, Mickeys will always be up there on the list, as is a wide array of malt liquor (the exception being Midnight Dragon, which I don't recommend as its strangly salty and comes with extra-headache).
For some reason I can still drink schlitz, should the need arise.
Wasatch micro (IN UTAH) has the best medium light ale called the cutthrought that is way good.
Just my two cents.
Later
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When my wife was pregnant with my first, she had to have her gallbladder out. Then the day he came, on the drive in, she said she could only see out of the side of her vision, the middle was gone. I thought she was having a stroke.
So both of these occurrences led me to spend both of her pregnancies in 100% complete sobriety.
Now I'm a cheap drunk, but that's cool.
Ah a liquid bread thread; cool
My favorite beer is a Pirmanator; from Pirmasans, Germany; prolly spelled it wrong; havent had one is over a decade though, but remember it as being the best I had and drank a lot of it when I lived in Germany.
There are very few American beers I like; some special micro brews are ok to good; like Duke City Amber; brewed in Albuquerque and has won several awards; I like amber beers so that is a really good one for me. I come from a long line of brewers, but my brother has really taken it to the next level; he like dark beers, but my favorite he brews is his Atkins beer; which is a very tasty amber low calorie beer that you can have just one if your doing the Atkins thing; I dont so I drink a lot of it.
My normal drinking beer for football and hockey games and whatnot is Negra Modelo; a dark ale brewed in Mexico; when I have a Michelata, a Mexican beer drink; I have it with Bohemia.
I am not to much into Guinness; it is ok; but I really like a Black and Tan, which is a specially poured beer drink, and that is what I drink if I go to a pub or whatnot.
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I can't believe I got a light hangover from 2 beers.
Musta hada silversheen to em'. Pansy.
FH (yust yoking, I love ya, man!)
You best to watch out. I could go (whoosh) Diamond Nightmare Blade on you in a heartbeat. Or...(gigigigigigigigeee-yow-wow-wow!)enter the Raging Mongoose. Nine Swords Posse on Wax!
I'm the Magic Man! There's something up these sleeves, baby!Now you see it....now you don't!
Lol that was funny Heathonson, but I have no idea at all what you meant in that last post.
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OH Lillllliiittttthhhhh! Guess what I just picked up from my liquor store 3 miles from my house. Wait for it. .............
SHINER BOCK! I picked up 2-6 packs! The guy at the counter said that they have stocked it for as long he remembers.
Delaware startin' to look better and better ain't it? I will be cracking open a few in T-minus 5 hours.
They also had another Shiner product. Lager, I think?
T-minus 5 hours.
FH
I don´t need to tell anybody about german beers, right ? :-)
I recently tasted a Beck´s Green Lemon - awful. Count youself lucky that this crap is not exported...
I favor a local beer from the Einbecker Brauerei, it has a quite tart taste. And they make a hellish bock beer, called Einbecker Mai-Ur-Bock, its a seasonal beer (springtime, of course). It is rather sweet, but has a high alcohol content (around 6,9%). You get drunk in no time, and it can get you a serious hangover next day.
I like Kilkenny very much, and have an irish pub nearby :-).
Stefan
OH Lillllliiittttthhhhh! Guess what I just picked up from my liquor store 3 miles from my house. Wait for it. .............
SHINER BOCK! I picked up 2-6 packs! The guy at the counter said that they have stocked it for as long he remembers.
Delaware startin' to look better and better ain't it? I will be cracking open a few in T-minus 5 hours.
They also had another Shiner product. Lager, I think?T-minus 5 hours.
FH
You guys are TERRIBLE...but I love ya anyway! :P
I actually joined a group at the University of Oslo called the Church of the norse gods for a while back in 1994 or so, because they had old-school mead and authentic old norse cuisine, not to mention that I love the old norse myths and culture. However, I never quite developed a taste for mead- too sticky and sweet for me. Turns out the guys running the show were really pissed that so many nonbelevers had joined up for mead and parties, so they disbanded the whole thing shortly thereafter. A couple of them are still in prison for church-burning and sacrificial-style murder (hung a homeless guy in a tree and pierced him with spears); it was probably a good thing I didn't stick around...
Interesting. I wrote a sociology paper on the Norwegian death metal scene and their penchant for arson and murder back in '97. Did you actually know Varg Vikernes personally?
But back to beer... I prefer ales and stuff made by micro-breweries. Used to brew my own when I was a student, but haven't made anything since, oh, 1997 or '98?
Dislikes: most Molson, Labatt's, Coors, Bud, etc., or any other industrially mass-produced stuff that all tastes the same. While Stella isn't bad, Stella is effectively Belgium's answer to Budweiser or Molson. There are way better brews to be had in Belgium. I'm not a big fan of Beck's, Heineken's, or Warsteiner's, either.
Likes: Guinness, New Castle, Steinlager, most Big Rock beers -- especially Honey Brown(yay for the locals)--, Sleeman's, Granville Island, Svyturys (Lithuania). Odds that I'll like it are better if it's fairly dark...
Worst of the worst... the Danish Aargangsoel ("year end beer", which comes out in time for New Year's--each year they up the % by 0.1... when I had it in 2000-01, I think it had approximately 11.1% alcohol, and totally burned your taste buds)... I accidentally bought 24 for a New Year's party when I lived in Copenhagen (it was dirt cheap, and I didn't check the label), and most of my local guests laughed their ass off when they saw that in my fridge (and swore that it tasted like s**t, which it did)... Fortunately, a few of those good souls were compassionate and helped me polish them off... The stories from that evening have become legend. :-)
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OH Lillllliiittttthhhhh! Guess what I just picked up from my liquor store 3 miles from my house. Wait for it. .............
SHINER BOCK! I picked up 2-6 packs! The guy at the counter said that they have stocked it for as long he remembers.
Delaware startin' to look better and better ain't it? I will be cracking open a few in T-minus 5 hours.
They also had another Shiner product. Lager, I think?T-minus 5 hours.
FH
Wow. The Seven Eleven by my house has Shiner. Wow.
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Wow. The Seven Eleven by my house has Shiner. Wow.
Yeah, this stuff is made down the road from you in Texas. I live in Delaware (much further away from Texas than Lilith), let me rub it in!
BTW, I am on my third and I love it. Great flavor, great after taste, the early stages of a buzz (usually takes 1-2 more brews to reach this stage). Great stuff.
Prosit!
FH (you feel compelled, as if by some magical force, to move to Delaware, Lilith)
lol; the Germans make some terrible beers to; in the city lived they made swabenbrau; not sure on spelling; but that stuff was bad; real bad; we had lots of colorful names for it; but hehe that didnt stop us from taking tours of the brewery and drinking their free beer.
dont like Heineken or Rolling rock very much; I really like Bass Ale but it is very expensive. I keep trying to brew an ale to be like it; that is my goal anyway; hehe my favorite beer is root beer; lol; drink it all the time and dont have to worry about driving. You can use your brewing kit to brew lots of good cola very cheap and have them on tap for the rest of the family.
lol; the Germans make some terrible beers to; in the city lived they made swabenbrau;
Surely there are beers tasting just plain bad and guaranteed to give you a headache. Keep your hands off Oettinger Pilsner, it´s one of the worst IMHO.
Herrenhäuser and Gilde (from Hannover) are bad as well, the breweries are rumoured to be situated near cemeteries...Perhaps I should make a list of bad german beers. :-)
Stefan
Ok; Raise your beers on high for the Crock Hunter; poor guy; is poor kids; may he rest in piece. Anyone know a Australian beer other than Fosters; I hate that stuff; the fermalidihide they use as a preservative gives me a wicked headache. Toast him a pint if you can.
Anchor Steam, all the way. And for those, who, like me, enjoy that hoppy ale flavor, Red Tail Ale. My two favorites in all the world. (Yes, I'm a Northern California chauvinist, no apologies!)
Michigan Brewing Co. in Kalamazoo makes a good hoppy ale as well: Two-Hearted Ale (an allusion to Hemingway's favorite trout stream in the UP). It's good, but not recommended for those of you who aren't fond of hops.
Here in Utica,NY, Matt's makes a whole series of good beers under the brand name of Saranac.
I've not been treated to too many German beers, but last time he went to Germany my dad brought home some Kulmbacher Reichelbrau (sp?). Wow was that good stuff.
In China the beer is a bit spotty for those of us who like good ale, but there are several decent pilsners. Yanjing beer was my favorite. Qingdao (aka Tsingtao) is OK, but not worth the price you pay for it in the US. Ran into a couple of other good local beers, but I've forgotten the names--you won't find them unless you go to some fairly obscure places in China, anyhow.
I've never tried mead. If I ever visit El Paso I'm stopping by to try your homebrew, F2K! (Same goes for Bend, Lillith--and that's a much more likely scenario, as my old fishing partner lives over the hill in Albany).
I've never tried mead. If I ever visit El Paso I'm stopping by to try your homebrew, F2K! (Same goes for Bend, Lillith--and that's a much more likely scenario, as my old fishing partner lives over the hill in Albany).
I'll keep a bottle handy. Mead only gets better with time.
yep that Saranac is good stuff; my wife and I sometimes vacation in the attorondaks or however its spelled. Have some Anchor steam in the fridge just waiting for me to come home.
Anyone else out there try beers based on cool labels? hehe, the Alien Brew had a cool label, very Roswell, and wasn't bad; the wilder the beer name and label the more likely I am to try it; esp if it is an amber.
Mead is the drink, Meade is a telescope maker. ~GRINS~