I've come to the decision that there's just too many breweries out there to spend a lifetime and a decent liver tasting them all, so I'm just gonna stick with anything Founders or Dogfish head makes as a go-to when I want something other than liquor.

True, but the grapefruity tinge was gross and actually overpowered the fact that it was skunky. For something "locally brewed" it sure must have sat for a good while.

Wow, I really lucked out. I went to the grocery store that carried that Hoegaarden Verboden Vrucht to buy out what stock they had left (they had nine) since it was only about $1.60/bottle, and to my surprise they also had since added Hoegaarden Grand Cru to the lineup at the exact same dirt-cheap price. Grabbed all five of those. I've now got a well-stocked fridge and did it on the cheap!

lucky you. I'm drinking cheap, high alcohol lagers.

Question: What is malt liquor? Wikipedia tells me its pretty much up to interpretation. Is it pretty much just cheap, strong beer?

Yeah, basically just a shitty adjunct lager on massive steroids with even shittier ingredients if you can believe that.

It's what big beer companies brew originally and the water down to make the regular beers. See high-gravity brewing.

I don't think that's accurate. Light ("lite") beers are sometimes diluted versions of the regular macro beers, but those aren't made from diluted malt liquor. Most beers sold as "malt liquor" are their own thing from the beginning. And as batman intimated, they're pretty much just strong cheap bottom-fermented beers with a whole lot more adjuncts added in. They vary in flavor between inoffensively bland and tasting like malted plastic.

The confusion here is that the term is used in two different ways. There is a style called malt liquor, which is what batman and I are talking about---and what people normally mean when they talk about malt liquor. However, some states have legal definitions based on other factors, which they will apply to any beer that meets those factors. Alcoholic strength is often one of them. Because of this, you can find some fancy strong imports labelled "malt liquor" sometimes. For example, Samichlaus---a pretty expensive Austrian doppelbock---is almost always labelled malt liquor in the US because of how strong it is.

It's similar to the whole "Ale in Texas" problem. Texas law defines "ale" differently than everywhere else, such that beers not considered ale anywhere else in the world (like Boston Lager) might require an "Ale in Texas" bottle label if they want to sell it there.

I personally enjoy an ice cold colt 45 or Olde English 800, makes me feel like I'm a gangster in the 90's or a homeless person in 2015. Sucks that they went over to plastic on most of the OG brands (Olde English in particular.. I've yet to find St.Ides anywhere, maybe it's been banned?), It's hard to look bad as fuck with a plastic 40.
The 40 ounce is the perfect amount of malt liquor. It is quintessential for the drunk on the go, I wanna get a pretty good buzz on, but I also need to go do shit later, maybe pick up some groceries or weed, play craps in a sketchy apartment complex, or just chill on the porch and sip on my 40 ounce in a classy and stylish brown bag.

Not only is the 40 ounce the perfect amount of alcohol on a budget of under $3, it is also an invaluable tool for urban self-defense wherever the travelling drunk may find himself. If cornered by street punks, juggalos, gopniks, gypsy or what have you, simply crack a bottle of Colt 45 on the nearest hard surface and you have yourself the ultimate equalizer to any fist fight you might encounter.

Oh, and E40 supposedly has his own 40 coming out soon, apparently infused with honey (sounds pretty awful, but if it ends up on the bottom shelf at the very back of a gas station freezer near me, I'd still try it)

That was a highly informative post, OneSizeFitzpatrick. You are a man who truly knows about beer and its uses.

OK. So I getting that the term "Malt Liquor" is more sometimes misused, rather than so much open to interpretation. I wondered, because Godfather Strong, a pretty ghetto strong lager, is listed as "Malt Liquor" on untappd (add me on untappd!) and it got me wondering if thats all that the fabled 40 really is. I guess malt liquor just isn't really a thing we have here. The Deros instead favour cheap watered down vodkas and bourbons (the legislation behind these is a long story). I think the closest thing I've probably drank to malt liquor would have to be the Oettinger extra strong lager, somewhere around 10%. Absolutely foul stuff.

Recent things I've drank:

Ballast Point - Sculpin
BP - Habenero Sculpin
BP - Grapefruit Sculpin
Three Floyds - Artic Panzer Wolf
TF - Moloko Stout

Was not impressed at all by the straight up sculpin, like I'll never buy that again, the other two varieties are better though. The grapefruit is ok, needs further evaluation, but the habenero is fucking killer y'all try it if you can find it. Artic Panzer was a let down as I've heard great things about it before but I found it to be rather unremarkable. Now the Moloko on the other hand was one of the best things I've drank in a long ass time. So dark and chocolaty and it went down really well, surprisingly I wasn't bursting at the seems after downing a bomber like I would be normally after drinking such a heavy beer.

Rodenbach + Grand + Cru.
More likely to slam your nuts than the Duchesse de Bourgogne due to its acidity, but still awesome.
My mum said it tasted of (used) underwear. Oh, well. Can't teach everyone to play the game.
Oh, and Barbar Bok. Aromatic yet surprisingly lacking depth.

Man, InBev-Budweiser-AOL-TimeWarner-Blackwater is trying to buy SABMiller-Daimler-Boeing-Tesco. If this deal goes through, a single company will make one third of all beer consumed on the planet.

That Hoegaarden Grand Cru was pretty tasty stuff. Basically what you'd expect: a big version of the regular Hoegaarden, darker, more complex and generally just a lot more enjoyable to drink rather than just a standard wit. I still prefer the Verboden Vrucht more as that's more in line with my taste but I'll be buying more of this as well. $1.60/bottle for this stuff is almost too good to be true.

Yeah I just heard that news on the radio. It seems pretty fucking shady to me, talk about a monopoly.

What about Heineken getting a 50% share in Lagunitas?

WAT?

So I recently had the chance to try Avery Uncle Jacob's Stout, which is more or less Avery's answer to Goose Island Bourbon County Stout. Except stronger, closer to 17% than 15%, and aged in bourbon barrels for a shorter time period. Dark chocolate, cookies, caramel, some vanilla. Lots of hot alcohol, much less smooth than Bourbon County. Perhaps it would benefit from some age, but it's not exactly cheap. Definitely worth a try but I wouldn't go hunting for it.

So Brussels tomorrow with Zwanze Day on Saturday and a Meet the Brewer/Tap Takeover for the weekend at Moeder Lambic with 20+ Cantillons on tap. Should be a good one though unfortunately Zwanze Day attendance is with pre-sold tickets so not sure if I can get in at one of the Moeder Lambics for that one or not.

Zwanze Day has always looked like an expensive why-bother-can't-get-in-anyway deal to me. Though the prospect of obscure Cantillon bottlings is always nice to think about. I still daydream about trying that cloudberry lambic sometimes.


Which reminds me, I'm annoyed there aren't more lambics or sours with wild berries or lesser-common berries. It's always the same three: raspberry, cherry, and (in the US at least) peaches. It's not like huckleberries, black raspberries, elderberries, strawberries, pears, blueberries, or blackberries are hard to acquire in the US.

I suppose they can be that in the States, I imagine. The ones I've attended (mostly in Finland, once in Netherland) were free of charge other than the beer of course, which was the price of a regular beer. So those ones haven't been costly or anything. I'm not sure how it'll be in Brussels, but we'll see.

People are stuck to their tastes, I suppose and tradition is a strong power. Those three are tried and true flavors and peaches, I imagine, can be fairly cheap at the right time of the year? Strawberries, pears and apples are hard to incorporate into a proper lambic, I think. At least I don't think a proper lambic brewery has ever made anything with those.

It was last year, I saw a German beer in shop. And I said, "this is German, and that why it's probably fine beer". But when I tried, in a few seconds, it was bad. After that I learned Oettinger is the cheapest beer in Germany.

Weihenstephaner is fine.

Just picked up a 4 pack of Sierra Nevada Narwhal for $9.99 at the Safeway down the street. It poured dark as fuck, but isn't over the top in alcohol taste even though its a 10.2%. Good amount of carbonation too. Definitely will be picking this up again and since it is Sierra Nevada, it should not be too hard to find.

Germans have crap beer just like anyone else. Just look at all the varieties of adjunct lagers they export. Also, while German beer is usually pretty consistent otherwise, it is also pretty conservative, meaning it's rare you'll taste something and be really blown away by the flavour (thanks purity law...).

Oettinger do a couple of alright brews in my experience, but are also responsible for producing one of the most vile things I ever tasted, in the form of Super Forte. Avoid that shit.

Solid, though I think Founders wins for me for best regularly-available imperial stout.

Currently drinking a Lollipop by Pit Caribou, a very refreshing berliner weisse brewed with fresh lemons, raspberries and strawberries. Too bad it's a limited batch

Finally trying out Founder's Breakfast Stout. It's like a wet dream for mah mouf.

Wicked Elf Porter
Monteith's Black Beer
4 Pines Stout
Grand Ridge Hatlifter Stout

Trying these out tonight after a particularly long and stressful day at work. Just had that "I wanna drink a fucking STOUT" feeling as I knocked off. The Wicked Elf jobbie is from my hometown, and it's really good. This is a bit of a boast, but I made a home brew stout once that tasted a LOT like it. Nice and syrupy, with a lingering, licoricey aftertaste. Haven't tried the others yet.

Been testing my alcohol dependency lately by drinking light beers. Some of them are OK, but they're always just lacking. So far Mac's "Mid Vicious" has been the tastiest.

i've personally never had beer before, basically skipped straight to harder drinks. whats a good beer that still affordable and actually tastes decent. i can't even get past the smell of regular shit i live down the road from a fucking busch factory and it's hell, but I'm still down to try something not from the big beer companies

Depends on what you like. Safe bet I'd go with something by lagunitas, their stuff is relatively cheap and I've never had a beer of theirs I didn't enjoy. If you can find it go with Hop Stoopid, Little Sumpin/Little Sumpin Extra, or their standard IPA. If you like it dark they also make good stouts.

I dunno if I'd suggest someone who has never even had beer to go straight into an IPA. I've found a good way to introduce people to beer is with Belgian stuff. Maybe something by Ommegang? Fairly easy to find and usually not too expensive.

This is probably a good idea, especially for someone like WillyB who is probably used to spirits etc. I reckon start with something like a Duvel. I will be having one myself tonight, its been years since I had one, so will be interesting. La Trappe is probably another good start. It's annoying, it doesn't seem to be available anywhere here anymore. Used to be able to get it from supermarkets, etc. Almost half the price of Duvel and Chimay and all those other ones.

TBH i'd steer away from the Belgian ales if you've never had a beer before. I'd be trying something fairly inoffensive yet of high quality; you might want to check out the higher-end German pilsners. Weihenstephaner would be my first recommendation. There's an Austrian pils called Gösser that is really good, and Lasko from Slovenia is pretty top-shelf too. Make sure to try and get them all (bar the Weihenstephaner) in cans, too. Something about the taste of so many bottled pilsners....

Oktoberfest is next weekend so if I want any German beers it would have to be there. Thanks yall

Well, I imagine lemony, not too spicy, wits like Hoegaarden might be good for someone just getting into the stuff as well. Or clean, inoffensive Belgian blondes like Grimbergen and other macros like it.

Actually, nevermind Duval. Turned out to be average as. I can see why I never bought it on the regular. You'd probably be better off with just a Pirate instead

Yaaaaaargh!

Soooooooo Three Floyds has a new beer called Permanent Funeral that's a collaboration with Pig Destroyer. Needless to say I picked up a bottle and will be drinking it tonight once it gets cold. I will post the results accordingly.

Y'all heard that Labatt has bought Mill Street? Seemed to me they had decent enough distribution already, so I question the need to sell. Some good stuff made by Mill Street too: the Cobblestone Stout most of all.

Ok; the new TF is great. Nice fruity aroma with a strong punch of hops yet not at all bitter, surprisingly since it's IBU is 100. Reminds me a lot of Dreadnaught. Strong too over 10%.