man, i'm wanting to drink now...... i hate the american market

I want to hit people who say this over the head with a hammer. There are probably states and counties in the USA where it might be difficult to find a proper liquor store and good beer, but man, in most states you have it made with your vibrant scene of microbreweries and low alcohol taxes. Try coming to Norway or Finland and try our stores with our artificially jacked up prices and insipid selections.

True words, it truns out there's a liquor store that has an amazing selection of basically everyithing, including beer. They have a huge array of microbrewery stuff, and the best part is about this place is that it's right in town. Imagine that, a decnt Liquor store in a college campus town.

The only beer I like is Strongbow because it's a lot sweeter than most beers. I'm more of a wine and rum kind of guy, because I like to have a balance of good taste (99% beers are simply too bitter for me) and strong alcoholic content. I'll go to friends' houses with a bottle of wine in hand, instead of a can of beer. Kind of queer, I know, and not very metal.

I wish I could enjoy wine, but I have yet to find a wine I really like. Most red wines tastes the same (watery at first and then very dry after taste) and white wines are either too dry, sour or just work as a filler to sweet drinks. Of course, I haven't tasted any expensive or investigated wine very much, but stick to beer. However, just a year ago I did not like beer that much but starting university and being able to buy a wide selection of beer for a very cheap price at the student pub (compared to other bars), I realized beer is so much more than the generic piss that Carlsberg and Heineken are selling as "beer".

As far as red wines go, i really love a good cabernet, Even the ones that are from the early-mid 2000's are pretty enjoyable. When I feel all classy wine and cheese really is a great combo. I've never had a white white that i've enjoyed, but that's just preference really. In fact, I think I might get a nice bottle of cabernet tonight, maybe cook myself and the lady a nice dinner.

Here's a fun fact: Strongbow is a cider, not a beer. Hence it is much sweeter. But I love wine as well. It's just a lot more difficult to enjoy, because one bottle contains so much alcohol. It's too much to drink a bottle of the same wine in an evening when you've got work the next day.



You should try some Australian or South-African shirazs for red. A lot of dark berry bite at the finish and rather warming and strong palate. Or New Zealand pinot noirs for their superbly crisp sour cherry taste. And you know, white wine too dry or sweet? Well, try to find something inbetween. White wines easily run the whole gamut. I'm not an expert on them since I mostly prefer reds, but I suppose since they're usually drunk with either fish (which need something quite dry) or as/with dessert (which demands a lot of sweetness as your wine should always be sweeter than your dessert) they tend to be one or the other. Brown Brothers' Muscat or Chenin Blanc aren't dry or too sweet. Well, to my palate at least. Good thing about them (well, depends on who you ask) is the twist cork: You can close them up again so you don't have to consume the whole bottle in one sitting. Or again New Zealand for their sauvignon blancs with their exotic fruit flavors. If that's your kind of deal.

MacMoney, I feel you on drinking a whole bottle of wine. It's just not a good idea unless you've got at least one other friend/lover/family member to share it with. On a side note, I got into rum because my dad, who underwent throat cancer treatment a few years back, has somewhat strict limits on what he can eat and drink. Because so many taste buds were destroyed, beer tasted like shit to him for awhile, so he started drinking rum. It's Colombian, not only because my mom is from Colombia but because Colombian rum is fucking delicious. I also like an occasional glass of Bailey's Irish Cream, yum.

That's a cider sir.

Favorite beer : Timisoreana,Servus & Dark Silva - all Romanian.

And not a very good one at that.

Anyone ever sampled Sahti? It's somekind of finnish traditional beer and apparently it's the closest thing to what the babylonians brewed. Always wanted to drink one but never could of found any...

LIES! maybe I'm just a massive boozehound, but I drink a bottle of red with dinner most days and get up fine for work in the morning. Over 4 hours or so its not that much at all, certainly no more than 4-6 beers.

Truth! This one however is a damn fine cider.


Currently right at this moment I'm drinking this:


This gorgeous Pale Ale has been mentioned in this thread briefly before, but who cares, it's just so fucking good! The full, rich flavour rolls around on the palate deliciously. And made right here in Australia

Had an Innis and Gunn yesterday when it was my 20th birthday, and it was amazing - it tasted like a hybrid between a whiskey with a strong vanilla and toffee flavour and a good ale. More breweries should let their beer mature in oak casks!

I'd really like to try one, too. The only one I know I can really get my hands on around here is the Dogfish Head version but it sounds like it's pretty far from "normal" sahti so I want to wait on trying it until I know what the real deal tastes like. I'd also like to try a real braggot, as the only one I've had was a one-off thing Brooklyn did. It was very very tasty, but also dry-hopped so probably quite different from traditional braggot.

yes, but when its all made by anheuser-busch (notorious for the budweiser, michelob, natural light, etc) it aint much to brag on.

i did get to try some guiness draught though... don't know what to think of this stuff. its good and smooth, but at the same time its kinda heavy.

To other Aussie fans of Little Creatures beers, have you tried this one?


The Bright Ale. A bit lighter on the alcohol content, but still delivers on flavour.

Anyone else here try Southern Tier's Unearthly Imperial IPA? As always, they deliver delicious brews. Their Krampus isn't too shabby either.

go cheap, or go home



'Cold as a mountain stream. Smooth as it's name'

I just got back from Firestone Brewery in Paso Robles, CA. I tried 5 of their beers. Their Hemp Ale and Pale Ale were both okay, a little boring. I liked their Union Jack a fair amount. Their Unfiltered DBA was pretty great. I absolutely loved their Velvet Merkin Oatmeal Stout. I also tried a taste of a couple other beers my friends got - Parabola, which was quite good, and their DDBA which was very high alcohol, and tasted like a halfway point between a beer and a whisky.

People wanting to taste Sahti should try to get an invitation to a Finnish wedding.

A couple of new ones for me were Old Dominion's Hop Mountain pale ale (not amazing, but better than their English pale ale in that the extra hops sort of cover up the slightly lacking malt profile) and Sam Adams' Double Bock. The bock was pretty good, but the alcohol could've been better hidden I think. That stuff's pretty dark and dense, though, nearly a stout really.

Also gonna be a BEER PARTY this weekend, but I don't want to give away the identities of the beers involved in case partygoers might read it.

I must say I'm finding myself a bit off the Little Creatures. Mostly because Matilda Bay's Alpha Pale Ale is just so much better.

Still a good drop though, got a couple of pint bottles in my fridge ready for drinking.

A week or so ago I had Berkshire Brewing Company's Maibock, which was absolutely delicious. Had a nice sweetness to it. It's possibly my favorite BBC offering, although I've never had a bad beer from them.

For anyone in the western Massachusetts/New England area, make sure you try some of their stuff. No six packs, sadly, only growlers and 22oz bottles, but the BBC Steel Rail (their trademark brew) is on tap in a fairly large amount of restaurants in the area.

EDIT: Actually, now I'm not sure if what I had was actually the Maibock, because it was a fair deal darker than what the picture on their website shows. Methinks it might have been the Raspberry Wheat instead. That actually makes sense, because I thought the beer was rather powerful and the Maibock is only 6.5% ABV, while the Raspberry Wheat is 9%. In any case, the Raspberry Wheat is quite tasty, given that most of the fruit beers I've tasted have only been okay.

Also, can anyone recommend a good cider? I've had Original Sin, Harpoon, Woodchuck Amber, Woodchuck Granny Smith, and Woodchuck Dry 802. I think my favorite is the 802, although Original Sin is good as well.

I'm cheap and don't have very discerning taste so I usually drink PBR and Steel Reserve.

Yeah, the 802 is a damn tasty cider. I also like drier stuff like Strongbow from time to time. Magner's is also decent. I thought K cider was pretty good, but you can't get it in the US anymore, sadly.

Strongbow is hardly a dry cider.

Compared to most American ciders it is. Ours taste like more like alcoholic, fizzy versions of regular apple cider (i.e. very sweet and sort of thick and sticky) while imported ones tend to be a hell of a lot more dry and champagne-ish.

Ah, I forget the US gets a different version of Strongbow. You guys get some crazy canned version right? Australia has four (no, five now if you count their probably horrid attempt at perry) versions of Strongbow, most of which are just sugar water bar "Strongbow Dry". Even that isn't exactly a quality beverage. Regardless when it comes to cider, I'm much more of a perry fan.

Now let's start talking about BEER again people.

Lately I have been reduced to VB. Which took sometime getting used to but, you know what? It ain't a bad beer at all. Also been drinking a fair bit of Peroni lately.

We get it in both cans and bottles. I don't think I've noticed any particular difference between the two, though. The stuff we get here also tastes pretty much the same as the Strongbow I had in the UK.

Beer talk: had a couple brown ales from local brewery Hook & Ladder last night, as well as a bottle of Heavy Seas' Dubbel Cannon, which is their Loose Cannon IPA brewed with Belgian yeast. I think they turned down the hops a bit. I was sort of fearful that it would be too similar to Flying Dog's Raging Bitch. I love Raging Bitch, but there's no need for another beer just like it! Dubbel Cannon's a bit more tame and fruitier. Good stuff. ortab also brought me some Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald which is a very tasty porter.

Has anyone had Sam Adams' Wee Heavy? I really enjoy the style, but 10% does seem a bit high and I'm a bit nervous about how they plan to cover up all of that alcohol with a wee heavy type flavor profile.

Well, it's not like most wee heavies made by American craft breweries are much lower in ABV. A bit, but not by much and stuff like Alesmith's is equal to that. I'm no expert in the style, but I don't really mind in strong ales if the alcohol is slightly detectable. A slight whiff of it in the aroma or a slight tang of it in the taste, and especially if it shows up a little warmth in your mouth, throat and stomach. Better that than going overboard with cloying sweetness.

On reference to the first paragraph, have I mentioned before how I loathe and despise you yanks for your craft brewery scene?

It's a shit beer man, but it does the job brilliantly in summer. No reason to have it in winter though. Currently, drinking a lot of coopers sparkling ale, rather tasty!

Cooper's Sparkling Ale is a decent beer, never seen it in Sif Africa but was buying it a lot in China of all places - 9RMB a bottle at the foreign food store, 35RMB at an Aussie-owned bar up the road from where I was living, the hell?!

I dunno, to me the jump from 8 to 10% is often pretty significant in terms of alcohol presence in the flavor, especially in beers that don't have things like huge hop profiles or loads of burnt malt to cover it up. The backbone of a wee heavy is the nice, slightly sweet and biscuity malt, which alone can't really do much to hide alcohol once you get into those sorts of ranges. Anyway, it's all just speculation really as I haven't actually tried the beer just yet. I'll have to drink what's in my fridge first before I even have room!

Righto!! Tried this one?



This also happens to be one of my firm winter favourites. Truly wonderful, slightly burnt caramel tones (which comes from the roasted wattle seeds), with a delicate bitterness, which doesn't overpower and rounds out with a chocolaty finish. Damn good drop.

No, but I've been meaning to try it. Might have to pick up a six pack when I return from my next field excercise. Pretty sure there's a bottle-o in the city that I can grab it from.

I really need to make it down to Archive again though. Bar entirely dedicated to craft beer (predominantly Australian) - it's GLORIOUS.

BE-EAR!

I had a bottle of bitter that was brewed in my hometown last night. I had no idea there was a brewery here but I now will make it my quest to try all of its beers. Must've popped up recently.

Does on my current budget . That being said, I found a pub that serves Tooheys Old for $3.50. I was a happy man.