based on my cider samplings in Europe, I can say that even the worst, most awful cider you guys have is a good deal better than anything Strongbow have ever made. It's the carlton midstrength of cider.

I've been repeat-buying Golden Monkey Ale lately. Can't beat 9.5% alcohol. I got trashed off of three of them.

While Strongbow isn't really good or cider, it's miles ahead of Kopparberg or most Finnish ciders. As was already pointed out, they barely taste like apple (or pear in case of "perries") at all and are usually stuffed with loads of artificial flavorings. Crap is as crap does, sir.

Golden Monkey is awesome. Would love to get some for a decent price in a bottle.

I am not an experienced beer king, but as long as I keep up at my current rate I'll be there in time. I'm a Maryland guy, so my cheap beer of choice is Yuengling -- great lager and it's $17 for a 24 pack at the fine wine shop near my apartment. I'm also happy to have the Brewer's Art right down by my old college campus, so I go there and get their godlike Resurrection and Ozzy ales.

Right now, I really, really like Delirium Nocturnum and a lot of other belgian ales - gulden draak, piraat, chimay, duvel. Also, my hat goes to the Canadians at Unibroue and my fellow Marylanders at Flying Dog, the Delaware guys at Dogfish Head, and the california guys at Stone.

One of my favorites is Leffe, but I recognize that Leffe is a pretty mainstream beer - it happened to be my introduction to ale, though, so I dig it a lot.

So far, I stay away from hefeweizen and barley wines - I am not down with those beers, but I generally like everything else that I've tried. Maybe you guys can suggest some great ones that I can give a try?

I think that beer is pretty much the most interesting drink around, as there are so many kinds and every brand brings something different. I try not to go totally alcoholic, but I spend a significant portion of my discretionary income on beer, especially on beers I haven't tried yet.

I couldn't staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand Leffe Blonde, but maybe I'm just ignorant.

You mention a lot of good stuff there. I'm not a big fan of Leffe - or at least the ones I've tried, Brune and Blonde (both alright for drinking even if dull compared to others in their respective styles), but being mainstream is not a bad thing. Tasting bland, dull, boring or bad is, and this is done by both mainstream and underground beers, craft and commercial beers, micro- and macrobrews.

Well, since you're in America, I can't really give you that many good recommendations on hefeweizens, not because American hefes are necessarily bad, but they don't make their way across the pond so I haven't tasted any. I've mentioned a bunch of Germans here before, but again, these are the best ones: Weihenstephaner, Schneider's TAP7 and Ayinger's Bräu-Weisse. Note that they all do have that banana-phenolic, sour wheaty and clove-filled taste. So if that's not your thing, I wouldn't bother with them and instead look up some more hopped hefes from your neighborhood. As for barley wines, well, there's always Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot and Anchor's Old Foghorn, both a lot more hopped than barley wines usually, though I suppose not so in America.

Brun is definitely far superior to the Blonde version. Less chemical/stomach acid tasting.

Another IL'er in the house^

I love Sam Adams. I hate lite beers, but their's could be the best lite beer that's made.

I'm not quite sure. Koff is great, from a bottle or a can. Grafenwalder's also good
Can't really say what's the best beer I've ever had since I haven't drank so many different beers (and I usually drink for intoxication purposes so the taste is secondary).

I like Karhu although it´s considered a crap beer by most. Koff is not really my thing though.

Have another beer festival on in my city this weekend, of course, a lot of my beer nerd friends are going.
http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=37428

I've been to these sorts of events before and they're just not really my cup of tea and end up being quite expensive. I'd rather just a pint or two at one of the cult beer bars in town, rather than the whole crowd, plastic cup, tokens, ticket buying steez of these things. Still, i'd go for free.

Had some NY-produced pear cider the other night. Weird stuff...pretty gross, actually. Tasted and smelled like olives.

So has anyone tried the new Stone Vertical beer, the one with cinnamon and chilies? It sounds like an absolutely epic fuck-up to me. May have to try it.


In other news, I will soon be opening a year-old Deschutes Abyss and a two-year Dogfish Old School.

Love the new Vertical. Goes great with my pipe tobacco. Sits well on its own, but definitely meant to be enjoyed with a strong tobacco of sorts methinks.

1) Perry should most definitely NOT taste like olives.

2) GET OUT OF THE BEER THREAD.

So it needs something to wear down the palate a bit first? Hmm. What's stronger in it, the chilies or the cinnamon?

Here in Denmark we have some pretty good beers. Tuborg and Carlsberg are both great breweries and you can never really go wrong with a regular beer from any of those companies. The Tuborg Classic is a personal favorite of mine although I often find myself enjoying a Royal Export, a Carlsberg Elephant Beer or a Vestfyen Pilsner.

not a beer fan, for one. but-
Wheach. it's peach wheat beer, from o 'fallon brewery. if your store has it while it is in season, get it!

I'm a big fan of all of Sierra Nevada's brews; their fall seasonal "Tumbler" was most excellent.

Weissbiers are always good too, Franziskaner's brews are tasty, and Konig Ludwig's are top-ranking in my opinion.

You've also got Mikkeller which for my money is one of the top breweries around right now.

Cinnamon. Although I've read reviews where people say the chilis, I s'pose it depends on where it hits your tongue, but consistently, I tasted cinnamon.

Currently enjoying a Monteith's (NZ brewer) Black Beer. Quite a nice brew, pretty much what you'd expect from a dark (roasted malts mmmmmm). A bit on the light side in terms of the power of flavour, might be a good beer for someone trying to get into the darker side of beers...

it's still a pretty solid drop though, between the black beer and the cider they make they're fast becoming the brand I go to when I'm in a shitty bottle o

Yeah. But since the local stocks Cooper's Best Extra now, I think I'll be grabbing that for my dark brew needs.

Their cider is nice. Definitely better than most of the drivel stocked.

The only real is:
EINSIEDLER DOPPEL BOCK

Two beers I'm trying tonight.



Both of these are Australian as well. The Mildura Honey Wheat beer is not bad I guess but a little light on flavour, with an extremely subtle undercurrent of honey, not bad, but nothing spectacular either. Looking forward to the stout though...

I'm a cider/dark rum bloke myself. Green Goblin is a winner. It tastes great and after a good few it gives to me an excellent and hangoverless drunk. I also have myself a jug of Weston's traditional cloudy scrumpy, incredibly fruity, great balance and taste.
As far as dark rum goes, I tried a lovely one the other day called Stroh. It's 80%, so obviously has a kick to it but aside from that I've never tried anything better.

Really? You like Stroh? In Sweden young teenagers drink that shit to get shitfaced fast and that´s pretty much it

These are fucking ace.

Figures. But yeah, I'm sure Austrian teenagers do the same. It sure gets the job done, but I can't say that I ever tried it. I still have some compassion for my liver left.

EDIT: Well, actually I'm sure I've had Jagertee, so I've probably also had Stroh.

Well I live in SE PA so we got tons of microbrews and brewpubs as well as Beer bars. Myself, I'm more into the Euro Lagers like Heineken and Carlsberg. They are easy drinking, they go well with shots and food. If I do drink mircos I like anything from Yards, Philly brew, Sly Fox (my local), and rouge. I'm also into mixed drinks and wine, but I guess that's not too metal...

I live in Slovakia now so alcohol is cheap as fuck compared to Sweden. It's about 1/4 of the price compared to Sweden when you go to bars. Unfortunately, the only decent beers I can get hold of are Leffe and some beers brewed by Primator. It's basically only lagers people drink here, and I don't like those, so I drink cocktails or shots only.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1549/61100




If you can get this, do it. You will not regret it. For someone who normally won't touch a barleywine without some serious age on it (years, not months), this is damn near flawless right out of the gate. I have a second bottle for the cellar but I might not bother aging it beyond a few months, I can't see how it could improve. Just an explosion of vanilla, caramel and toffee flavors with only the slightest hint of heat. They've made this on-tap a few times in the past, and it didn't really get stellar reviews, but they changed the barrels for the bottled version. Instead of 12-16 year Heaven Hill (Evan Williams/Elijah Craig) barrels, it was aged in 23-year Pappy barrels. For perspective, a bottle of Heaven Hill bourbon costs between $12 and $30 depending on the brand; if you can even find Pappy bourbon, the 23 will cost you upwards of $150.

That clearly makes the difference here. Absolutely zero of that cheap Jim Beam burn in your mouth from King Henry. It's totally unlike any other bourbon-barrel-aged beer I've had.

This is my current favorite;

Forgot to post about it: had a few interesting beers at my company's Christmas party last Friday. Had this year's Winter Hook, which was tasty. Really warm flavors, with the spice mixture taking the lead but managing not to be overbearing, but with a solid biscuity malt presence to keep it fairly straightforward. Also tried Sam Adams' Chocolate Bock from their holiday sampler. Nothing mind-blowing, but it was definitely nice to get some good chocolatey flavor going on in a beer other than a heavy stout. I had a couple of sips of the Black and Brew, which is a coffee stout. Again, fairly mild for the style but it's sometimes nice to have something a little lighter than the typically murky, thick-as-hell-and-darker-than-night richness you usually get with those sorts of beers. Finally, I had Rogue's Santa's Private Reserve. Pretty tasty, somewhat comparable to Sierra Nevada Celebration, if maybe slightly less hoppy. Still a high-end pale ale or mild-ish IPA, but with a little holiday spin to it in terms of spicing.

Man, I love winter beers. Really looking forward to all of the barleywine releases coming up.

Some of what I've been enjoying:

People's Pint Slippery Slope: This drink is dangerous. It's a braggot brewed with apple cider and ginger, and it tastes like candy. It's got enough of the beer flavor to make me say it doesn't really taste like a cider, but it goes down like soda. The reason it's so dangerous is the 9% abv; one 22oz bottle and I'm pretty much done for the night.

Magic Hat Howl: My first experience with a schwarzbier is a good one. For those who are unfamiliar (it's not exactly a common style afaik), this tastes like a porter but is much lighter-bodied, due to its lager-ness. I enjoy the taste of dark beers but don't drink them often because they're often heavier, so this was a nice surprise.

Notch Session Pils: More or less a typical pilsner, and a pretty good one at that. Decent hop character, goes down very easy. I've only seen it on tap at one bar in the area, and was very happy when I found it bottled a few days ago. This would be my go-to beer, if not for its rarity and price.

All of these are New England brews. The Magic Hat should be readily available pretty much anywhere, but I doubt you'd find the People's Pint or Notch brews very far away.

Where in the country do you live? The only braggot I've ever had was Brooklyn's small batch Buzz Bomb, but from what I understand that was substantially hoppier than a typical braggot. It was incredible, though, and had a really unique flavor that was a lot more than the sum of its parts (ale + mead). I'd really like to try another, more authentic one. I'd drink Buzz Bomb all the time, as it is.

Pretty much anything by Victory is worth buying. I got some fresh Yakima Glory today and it was great. Currently drinking a bomber of Sierra Nevada Torpedo - I love this stuff, it's basically 1.5x strength SNPA, and I use the bottles for homebrew.

I have a funny story of getting trashed off of Golden Monkey. I'm friends with the owner of a local pizza place that specializes in craft beer - he pushed his co-owner to put in six taps when they opened, and I became a regular pretty quickly because they had good food and beer. There's no non-craft beer other than an occasional keg of PBR or Stella being rotated in. They're up to 20ish taps now and they're upgrading to nearly 60 (for bragging rights, and because they have a hoard of good kegs). Anyway, towards the end of a homebrew night, we were invited to try making some dough with our beer and a few they had - the dough takes three days to rise (insert sacrilege here) so we came back for lunch a few days later. We assembled four large pizzas to try to compliment the beer-dough, and we each had a few pints. We even got to try some nachos they were working on as a football-night promotion (damn good nachos). To top it off, we were given a pitcher of Golden Monkey, along with the check, which was for 4x kids pizzas and a single pitcher. Of the four people there, two had to get back to work and had already stretched their lunch breaks, my friend who had driven wasn't a fan of Golden Monkey, which left me with 72oz to myself. That was a hell of an afternoon!

Drank a six pack of Guinness Foreign Extra Stout tonight. It's the best Guinness I've had so far, and I am definitely a fan of most of the stuff that Harp puts out. I'll say that it drinks as smoothly as the regular Extra Stout, but the alcohol hits a little harder. Not sure if it is a higher percentage or just the fact that I don't drink like I use to. Feeling pretty good, though. Actually about to go to bed I think haha. Goodnight MA.

Beers sampled over Christmas:-

Rosey Nosey Holiday Ale - Very nice
HSB (Horndean Special Bitter) - Possibly the smoothest ale I've had in Years
Piddle in the Hole from Wyre Piddle Brewery - Nice little pint