ONE WEEK. BLARGH.

Just picked up some cheap-o beer (MILWAUKEE'S BEST, YO) to stave my appetite. Spent my real money on scotch.

Picked up a six pack of New Holland Ichabod and a six pack of Rogue Dead Guy tonight. Had the Ichabod last year for the first time and thought it was awesome. I know I've had Dead Guy before too, don't remember what it tastes like though. Also got a bottle of Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest. Trying it for the first time. I've never been disappointed by Sierra Nevada. Never.

Drank a bottle of Waldhaus Schwarzwald Weisse for the first time. Good, if pretty standard weissbier.

Anyway finally managed to drink something after a whole month without touching alcohol and that's all that matters. I feel rejuvenated!

Picked these up yesterday, will try them tonight:



From left to right: St Peters Ruby Red Ale, Grand Ridge Brewery Moonshine (a dark scotch ale), at 8.5% it's fairly heavy, but I dead keen on trying this, and the last is a Delerium Tremens, triple brewed which is also 8.5% ABV. On paper these all sound and look delicious, so I'm looking forward to sampling.

Delirium Tremens is one of the best beers in the world! Good choice! Also the bottle is worth keeping, the sick pink elephant is awesome.

I finally found a place here with Pabst Blue Ribbon

I know it's not much to celebrate about but it's really the only cheap beer I actually enjoy.

HEINEKEN, FUCK THAT SHIT! PABST BLUE RIBBON!!

Saint Peter's Ruby Red is a pretty nice bitter, very quaffable. I'm not too keen on Delirium Tremens, though those blond, strong Belgians aren't really much to my liking, even though tripel is probably my favorite style. Usually the regular blond & strongs are just a bit too alcoholic and straightforward without the yeasty and sour curveball that tripels tend to have. Which reminds me, had a few great ones again in Amsterdam this year: Berghoeven's Verre Vriend, Beiaard's Manke Monnik, De Prael's Sjakie and of course, the classic Tripel Karmeliet. A great city for beer, Amsterdam. Both Dutch and Belgian of course, but also international. A lot of Danish and US craft beers making their way to that place. I concentrated mostly on the Dutch ones though so didn't really get a lot of good ones out of those except for Against the Grain's Inappropriately Placed Ale, an excellent IIPA.

Good to hear.



Well this is pretty heavy on the palette, with a strong alcohol kick at the end. The flavour is quite good, without as you said, any surprises in the aftertaste. Not bad though, not bad at all.

Delirium Tremens is a crazy name for a beer I would be tripped out if I got a bunch of it and planned to get drunk off it.

Can anyone recomend any really good pumpkin beer?

Wow. This is delicious, it's almost like a fortified wine in flavour, with very little carbonation. The colour is gorgeous in the glass too - a deep, almost burgundy colour. I will be buying more of this.

Southern Tier's Pumpking and Dogfish Head's Punkin Ale generally get high marks. I enjoy Brooklyn Brewery's Post Road Ale and New Holland's Ichabod. I also found Sam Adam's Harvest Pumpkin Ale to be pleasant but I think it's only available as part of their Harvest Collection mix pack this year. Sam Adams also has a new double pumpkin ale called Fat Jack out this year. I picked up a bottle but haven't tried it yet so I can't comment.

Here's my favorite brand.



I prefer wheat beer. It tastes refreshing without resorting to being watery.

I usually like all beer though. Except American watery beer and the dark beers like Guiness.

Edit: Thanks to this topic I had to get some pumpkin beer. Good stuff.

I wouldn't drink Hoegarden like I would craft beers(slowly, over cigarettes and chitchat), but I love having towers of it when drinking fast and furious with good friends, because as you mentioned, it's really refreshing and easy to down mugs of that shit.

Admittedly (from what I have heard...), this brand is owned by a large supermarket chain, but they do make some good beer fro time to time, so we'll see how this goes, as I have never tried a Pumpkin Ale before...

because sometimes, good beer isn't available/is JUST NOT MANLY. Export: the choice for all discerning western australians, or violent drunken aboriginals.

I think the most interesting beer I've had recently is Blue Mountain's Local Species. It's pretty hoppy but aged in white oak whiskey barrels which turned out to be a really cool combination. Troegs Flying Mouflan has been a favorite as well, which is unfortunate at $10 a bottle. From their website: "Cellaring the Flying Mouflan in a cool dark place at 50 degrees for a minimum of four months will mellow out the hops and wash away the heat. If you can resist temptation you will be rewarded with two memorable beers in a single bottle." I think I'm going to do this soon, though I'm not sure what they mean by two beers in a bottle.

And I figured I'd ask: I'm looking for a good chocolate stout or porter to make an ice cream float with. Any recommendations?

I also just bottled a vanilla porter (top) and a honey amber (bottom) that I made and I'm super excited to try them. I wasn't expecting the amber to be so dark based on the color of the grain I used.

With the exception of Astra (which should just plain be BANNED), 5,0 is hands down the worst beer in Germany. Jever's my beer of choice if I'm drinking pilsners.

My latest try was the not-so-creatively named Icelandic lager Víking. Good for a macrobew - surprisingly full-bodied, perhaps a little too much of an alcohol flavour for a 5% drink, but had the sort of taste you really warm to after half a glass.

AMERICA BITCHES.

I'd say my favorites are tied up between Newcastle Brown Ale (thanks for the tip, Christian Alvestam!) and Innis & Gunn. Although, I've only had Innis & Gunn once, I think it may actually beat now Newkie.

Hang onto yourselves.



Gives a whole new meaning to "I swear I only had 1 beer, ossifer...."

Meh. A publicity stunt - a bad beer.

Not bad for a macro brew. Not really picking up on the 'Chili and Spice' they're talking about, though. Tastes more like a porter, but that's definitely not a bad thing.

Enjoying my first oatmeal stout, a Samuel Smith. Wow, this is delicious. I've been drinking mostly really heavy, hoppy IPAs lately, Stone IPA, and Arrogant Bastard and stuff, so it's not as strong as I'm used to, but very good.

A friend came back from Passau recently (a Bavarian city right at the Austrian border) and brought various Bavarian beers she got recommended there with her. So we had ourselves a little tasting trial. I'm not really an expert on all the qualities of beer and correct terms for judging it, but I can do some heuristics.

From left to right (we ranked them afterwards, best beer on the left):

Andorfer Weizenbock: 6,6 % vol., which is above average for beer around here and in Germany, but it's still a bit low for a Bockbier. Nice, full taste and pretty much no drawbacks that I could detect.

Hacklberg 375 Jahre Jubiläumsbier: 5,5 % vol., advertised by the guy recommending the beer as one of the best in the area, and indeed, one of the best "regular" beers I've had in a while, slightly sweet and a palatable taste overall. The Weißbier from the same brewery to its right wasn't bad either, but I'm not that much of a fan of it in general. At least not in larger quantities.

Andorfer Weizen: 'twas alright, but somehow the taste is shallow. It was too watery, i.e. like many Austrians picture German beer.

Innstadt Neues Helles: Somewhat nutty taste, it least that's what I thought, it was peculiar in any case. Alright overall.

Löwenbrauerei Passau Urtyp Hell: The stinker of the bunch. Literally. It smelled like it had had a good helping of urine during the brewing process and tasted only slightly better. No thanks. Yuck.

I like to try new beers when I go to the liquor store. I tend to gravitate towards the darker ones or the wheat ones although I do like the lighter ones on occasion if they're good ones. I admit, though, that I've made purchases based on the fact that the bottle looks cool. Especially anything from Wytchwood Breweries in England. Got little witches on brooms embossed into the glass and every damn thing.

Right now, that's my poison:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubbel
http://www.trappistwestmalle.be/en/page/dubbel.aspx

Trying another Samuel Smith, the Imperial Stout. Bitter, hoppy, tasty.

Oh, and I'm thinking of trying Fat Tire and Shock Top. How are those?

Ha! I'll do the same thing. And that's actually the reason why I got into Wychcraft. Cool bottles, great brews.

Badger is one of the best popular breweries in the UK - Fursty Ferret in particular is a favourite of mine.

Westmalle Trappist. For the discerning, cragged-with-beer-concentration mature gentleman.

Shock Top is great if you like "sweet" beers. Almost tastes like fruit.

I'm surprised it's been that hard to come by.

Hobgoblin might be my favorite beer. It's the only Wytchwood brew that I can generally find, though.

Dogfish Chicory tonight. Deeelish

Two beers on the menu tonight:


Ballast Point Porter, and Black Giraffe Black Coffee Lager. The porter I have already had quite a few of and like it immensely, with it's rich flavour and caramel/coffee tones. Damn good quaffer. The Black Giraffe is a newbie to me, so we'll see how we go. Weird kind of lager blend...

Fat Tire is a good beer, something you can drink a few of and its both flavorful and very drinkable. I can't get it in this state but I appreciate it when I can. Craft beer nerds sometimes bash it for being "overrated" but its one of those beers that everyone can enjoy and its not overwhelming. Very solid beer, very drinkable.

Shock Top is sweet and fruity while still being a beer, sort of like Blue Moon but fruitier. The creamy light malt taste is a bit too sweet for me and the fruity/sweet tastes are a bit too much like artificial flavorings that might be found in candy or soda - not what I like in beer. I'll drink it occasionally when nothing else is available, but its not a very beer beer, its more sweet than bitter and I prefer a standard beer to be more bitter than sweet. Try it, it's $7 for a six pack and anyone can finish it. If you're not acclimated to bitterness as much, then you may like it.

Can't stress enough how much I fucking love Wychwood. And I always return to the Hobgoblin.