How could the forum have come this far with no discussion of the nectar of the gods [goats.com]? There's a discussion about alcohol [goats.com], but that seems to have included far too much liqueur.

So. Beer.....topics.

Personally, I don't have a favorite...I drink (obviosuly) Weihenstephaner Hefe,but also really like my IPAs....Brooklyn East India Pale Ale springs to mind, as does everyone's favorote Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

What do others look for in a good beer? What obscure beers from strange parts of the country can you recommend?

My friend makes a home brew we like to call Erdinschnauzer. It's kinda like Erdinginer (hence the similarity in name). Beer in general is good, but let's not forget stout, and in particular, Guinness.....

"Here's to beer, the cause of, and solution to most of life's problems" - Homer "The King" Simpson

In Response to evilaltor (#650):

Actually, I'd rather forget Guinness.

Guinness is for folks who are just graduating from Budweiser into the larger world of beer. Visually, it's intriguing and tantalizing, but the taste is rather bland. It lives mostly on reputation.

Give me something with a goodly amount of hops any day.

jon, you are a man after my own heart. a beer with full hop flavor is as tasty as it is intoxicating. India Pale Ale is quite possibly my favorite form of intoxicant.

unfortunately for the rest of my college cohorts, busch light (please don't shoot) seems to be the favorite beer around here. i consider it to be absolute sludge. i don't understand these people.

In Response to jon (#651):

I mostly agree, although I do like a good Guinness now and then. Depends alot on where you get it. My favorite stouts though are Red Hook Double Black Stout and Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout. Both very good stouts.

Other favorite beers include Newcastle, a local microbrew called something like Broadripple Brew Pub Wheat, Franziskaner, Dos Equis Amber, Hacker Pschorr (spelling? a great wheat beer)... There are more but I'm in a work induced haze today and can't think straight.

In Response to jon (#651):

I have to disagree...while agreeing.

Granted that the taste isn't too intense, but that's not really what Guiness is about.

Personally, I like it because it has a texture and creaminess that you really don't get from any other Stouts. It's not an every-day beer, but it's good to have every once in a while.

I think that there are few beers that distinguish themselves in any particular way...Guiness does so with texture to the same extent that something like the Brooklyn EIPA does with its extreme hoppiness.

mmmm......beer......

Amongst my favorites I would have to list:

Grölsh blonde (in the glass bottles w/ the old fashioned cork contraption for a stopper)

Guinness extra stout(yes jon we know what you think about it ).....to me its the beer equivalent of a nice rich dark creamy coffee....probably why I like it so much - its only good on tap or out of those "draught" cans.....the bottles are just plain nasty - and its hypnotizing just watching the beer cascading instead of the head rising

Sierra Nevada.....i don't like it.....its better than some of the alternatives.....but I just don't care for the stuff

Oh, and one of the local breweries has a yummy heffe.....mmmmmmmm (thanks for tipping me off to the beauties of that)

unfortuneately, my beer knowledge is somewhat limited, being a wine-drinker formost, and not particularily enjoying the club/bar scene in Los Angeles. Granted it doesn't help that most of the time at bars I get a wiskey/scotch/cognac on the rocks......but I cant afford to get drunk at bars, having a high tolerance suckx

In Response to Dynedain (#679):

I agree with you whole heartedly about the perils of high tolerances, er...not that I'd know, being underage and a law abiding citizen and all.

Obscure beers from strange parts of the country?

New Glarus Spotted Cow [newglarusbrewing.com]

Just remember kids, Wisconsin is not just the land of cheese, it's the land of BEER and cheese.

In Response to evilaltor (#650):

...is Yuengling Lager, brewed in Pottsville, PA. Or about an hour away from where I live in the Poconos. A darker lager, without being too heavy, and an all around good, slightly nutty taste. I've never been a fan of the IPAs, I guess they're an acquired taste I've never bothered to acquire. I prefer darker lagers (Bud is right out), stouts, or wheat beers. There's a good chance I'm going to be going to Oktoberfest in Munich this year, so I'm hoping to broaden my horizons a bit.

In Response to Incarnadine (#728):

The Oktoberfest is ulheimlich gut! I went there for the last weekend of it last year, and am certainly going back again this year (hopefully for longer).

There are massive beer tents (I'm talking 5000 people under one roof) filled with rows of tables with legions of brave soldiers slaughtering litre (yes, litre) after litre while the brass band plays cheesey tunes and the bier-wenches gleefully import the steins to you. The tents tend to fill up quite early too - fabulous. Each brewery sponsors a tent, so you are limited to one kind of bier per tent.

There are also some carousels and other fair ground attractions to help evacuete your insides for more beer, wiener schnitzels, giant pretzels. Just make sure you don't ask for what the guy in front of you had - I ended up with a raw fish and onion kind of bagel thing...

Im not really too big on beer, but i do enjoy a Andechser Doppelbock from time to time. Very rich taste. Sweet and powerful.

In Response to Incarnadine (#728):

I'm a big fan of Yeungling as well. Their beer is good, and varied, which is important. If Bud had spent the last 100-odd years making a variety of ales, stouts, etc, it's more likely that I would find something there I'd like. Instead, they package the same (tasting) damn beer under 15 different names (Bud, Busch, Michelob, etc.).

Yeungling Lager isn't a favorite lager of mine, but it is good (much better than Bud, not even in the same class), and some of their varietals are really nice when you can find them. They're also, like one of my favorites [saranac.com] a small, pre-prohibition brewery that takes their heritage seriously, and I respect that.

In Response to zamphir (#694):

and Jeffery Dahmer [crimelibrary.com]

In Response to Incarnadine (#728):

curiouser and curiouser....

My friend (from PA) just told me today about Yuengling (she pronounced it yingling - is that right?)

She said it's the oldest operating brewery in the US...true?

I'm curious.....anyone know of any chains that carry their stuff? or is it only sold locall? it sounds like it might be a tough thing to find on the west coast.

In Response to phillip (#737):

took a look at Saranac....I see that they have a blended "black and tan"....seems a little weird to me, I thought the whole point of a black and tan was the layering....

have you tried it? what do you think?

In Response to the_fetus (#738):

And Ed Gein.

And John Wayne Gacy, pretty much. (At least as much as Jeffrey Dahmer, who was raised in Ohio).

In Response to Dynedain (#740):

I'm a bigger fan of their Pale Ale. It's not as good as the Brooklyn EIPA (not as hoppy), but it's up there with the Magic Hat [magichat.net] Blind Faith [magichat.net] and Sierra.

I don't remember the Black & Tan well enough, off hand, to describe it , but I remember liking it. I'm not, generally, a big fan of porters and stouts, they're not drinkable enough for me, but the blending here makes it much easier to handle. It's a flavor you can't really get from either style alone.

I seem to remember having one in the fridge (I only had two, and the other went towards some cooking purpose.)...maybe I'll refresh my memory later. :)

In Response to Dynedain (#739):

Yes, it's pronounced "yingling". Yes, it's the oldest operating brewery in the U.S. As an intersting side note to that, they were sued by one of the Canadian breweries... I think Beck's... over their motto "America's Oldest Brewery", and Yuengling won the case. The motto is still printed on their labels. And it's really only available in the northeast (PA, parts of New Jersey, Delaware, New York, and Maryland), and also in Florida now, since they just opened up a new brewery down there. As far as finding it on the west coast goes, I'd get your friend to ship you a case.

In Response to phillip (#737):

FWIW, AB does make a few different kinds of beer under the Michelob label. The most obvious (around these parts, at least) is Michelob Amber Bock. I'm told they have a hefewei[ss|z]en as well, although I've never tried it.

But, for the most part, what they're known for are the ones you mentioned, which I agree aren't terribly distinct (although I know people who swear they like one but not the others). (Then of course there's stuff like Doc Otis and Bicardi Silver, but I don't think that counts if the topic is "beer".)

In Response to the_fetus (#733):

they have those out here?

I visited the Andechs monastary the last time I was in Munich, but haven't ever seen their beer here.

On the other hand, I had the Aventinus Doublebock Hefeweizen, probably around 4 or 5 years ago, and it confirmed my opinions about all doublebocks, most bocks.,and most Scottish Ales. I'm not a fan of the maltier beverages.

Hops == good, but high alcohol => lots of malt => really syrupy/sweet. I've had a few beers in these styles that disprove the rule, but in general, I found them disproportionately malty, and not well balanced.

In Response to zamphir (#694):

As far as obscure beers from strange parts of the country, nothing beats sitting at a bar in Idaho and saying to the bartender "I'd like another pint of Moose Drool, please." Very hoppy, very tasty.

In Response to moses_murphy (#825):

Moose Drool? I've had Moose Drool, and thatis precisely what i think it tastes like. Needless to say, I wasn't too impressed.

Indeed a right proper topic for discussion on an internet forum, and not enough of them around given that status. I notice that there are as yet no direct replies from across the pond (at least no-one admitting to it) so here we go. The Scottish take.

I live in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland and homeland of the trendy bar. For some reason these bars for the most part deem it unneccessary to serve good beer. There is one place just near where I work (conveniently) which brews it's own beer. Damn nice it is too.

I must agree that a pint of IPA in most places is going to be a sound investment. Just the right balance of light and dark, flavour and refreshment.

Generally, though, I'm just glad to find a bar up here which serves proper beer, not the sh***y mass produced lagers that publicans seem to think folk love.

We have good names over here. More in England, but still; Waggledance (made with honey,) Black Sheep, Hobgoblin. All very nice. You should all come over. You can stay at my place and we'll have some beers.

Later

Andy.

In Response to Ruarl (#876):

Okay another cross ponder with a more English perspective... Shepherd Neame produce a fine range of bitters from Masterbrew (what my boss describes as 'driving bitter'), through Spitfire to Bishop's Finger (what I describe as 'falling over bitter') all are consistantly fine examples of the bitter art in the right pub. In terms of ordering what can beat asking for 'a master, three pints of Spit and a Finger'? Black Sheep is indeed a wondrous brew but with the family history involved cannot be mentioned without comparison to Old Pec itself.

In Response to Menippus (#877):

True. I was too young to sample (or indeed appreciate) Old Peculiar before theakstons went all commercial, so I have no means for comparison. On the Black Sheep note, Have you tried the special, which is one percent stronger and an awful lot tastier?