Beverage: Beer (favorite brands & articles about)

[MidasKnight]

yes, hops are what give beer that biting flavor.

Try Blue Moon with an orange slice for a nice warm weather brew.

or ... try a good Hefeweizen with a slice of lemon.

Ales tend to be more bitter (hoppy) and color is misleading. Some brews (not just ales) can be dark but smooth with some can be light but harsh.

One of my favorite ales (although it is mass produced) is Newcastle Brown Ale. Fairly dark but smooth without being bland. More of a cold weather brew though.

[Darb]

Ah yes, newkie brown. Great session beer. It's aka "Dog" in part of the UK.

[daetara]

i like blue moon...haven't had hefeweizen or newcastle.

i'm not sure about putting fruit in beer. do the brewers intend that fruit be added when they're making the beer?

[Darb]

Fruit is just another flavor palatte to paint with. I occasionally used fruit when I made beer ... although thematically, fruit is generally better suited to wine and cider (which are purely fruit based beverages) whereas beer is grain based, but it's still a perfectly valid technique. There are honey ales, fruited wheat beers, braggots, etc ... all have their fans.

[daetara]

sorry, that was vague of me...i meant putting fruit into your bottle or glass when you drink it.

[Darb]

That's a distinctively German serving technique. When I worked with fruit, I prefered to incorporate it right into the manufacture stage, not in the glass.

To me, putting fruit in the glass is like using training wheels ... you're trying to correct a poorly made beverage. If it was made right, it wouldnt need such tweaking after the fact.

I never take lime with my corona, nor orange/lemon with my wheat beer.

[Omphalos]

Im not a great fan of fruit in my beer, but there is a brand of lambic from Belgium that is really, really awesome. Its the only kind of beer I can get my wife to drink, so we keep a lot of it around. Lindeman's its called, and I love the raspberry.

[Darb]

I'm familiar with lindemans frambois. In it's original belgian incarnation, it was a thing of beauty. Unfortunately, the version made in recent years for the american market bears little resemblance to the original ... it's sweetened heavily with fruit syrup, whereas the original was drier and the lflavors better incorporated.

I also used to love their cork finished peche, but the modernized american version is overflavored and cloying ... ick.

[Omphalos]

Ive never tried the Americanized stuff. Or if I did I didn't know it. You can get the good stuff from a website that sells Belgian beers.

[The Egoist]

By your logic Brad, a twist of lemon in my Bombay rocks is just an attempt to correct a flawed beverage. And, by extension, adding dry vermouth and a cocktail olive must mean Bombay is nigh unpallatable.

The fruit in the beer is pleasent to some and adds complexity and enjoyment. And while I loathe wheat beer (particularly the repellant Blue Moon) many enjoy it. But most do not enjoy it without the garnish.

Beer and wine, in my opinion are subject to the same rules as base liquors (gin, rum, whiskey) when mixing drinks; in other words, as long as the final outcome is a pleasant drink, the fact that you are mixing the products is not a bad thing.

[Darb]

Call me a purist, but IMNSHO beer is a BREWED ready-to-drink as-is beverage, not a mixed drink. If it doesnt taste right, it's because it wasnt designed or brewed right, or was damaged somehow. Adding slices of fruit to a beer is, to me, low class ... a sign of either a poorly made beer, or a consumer with unrefined tastes or who doesnt like the product as is.

[soabbox]

I find adding lemon or lime, or fruit syrup, or woodruff, or whatever, to beer every bit as pretentious and gauche as hoi polloi who slather otherwise beautiful fresh raw clams and oysters on the halfshell with heavy gloppy cocktail sauce, because they're incapable of admitting that they dont like the more delicate taste the creator intended ... and if the beverage maker recommends adding such things, it's a sure sign they're catering DOWN to a lower class of consumers.

One doest add strawbewrries to vintage bollinger, or grape juice to a glass of Lafite, or citrus wedges to beer, or cocktail sauce to clams ... it's a disservice to the product and a public admission to having unrefined taste buds ... but I digress ...

[/soapbox]

Mixed drinks are a completely different animal, because they are, by definition, mixed and garnished to each consumer's individual preference.

[BlackBearForge]

Just wandered in and couldn't resist a beer thread! By chance, since Hefeweizens have been mentioned, I just finished a six pack of Sierra Nevada's new Kellerweis Hefe and I have to say I'm sold now. I've been drinking craft beer for some time now but I haven't dabbled in the wheat beers yet. The first few were a little funky, but I'm ready for more now. I can't imagine putting a slice of orange or lemon in it, it's about perfectly balanced as it is.

I will however add one thing to beer, and that the occasional shot of rum in a nice English style pale ale. Our forefathers back in Colonial America new a good thing and called it a Flip. They added sugar and stirred it with a red hot poker too though. I skip the sugar and the red hot poker and just add a nice gold rum.

Lets hear it for good beer! Here are a few of my favorites: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Sierra Nevada Torpedo, Sierra Nevada Anniversary Ale, Sierra Nevada Celebration, Sierra Nevada Summerfest, Bell's Amber, Full Sail Pale Ale, Stone IPA, Dogfish Head 90 MInute IPA, Dogfish Head Punkin Ale, Dogfish Head Indian Brown, Kona Fire Rock Pale Ale, Smuttynose IPA, Smuttynose Old Brown Dog, Avery's Ellie's Brown Ale.... sheez I could go on and on. I didn't realize how many Sierra Nevada beers were my favorites!

Now though with summer nearly half over, my thoughts are turning to the Oktoberfest beers which we should start seeing in September. I can't wait! Sam Adams Octoberfest, Brooklyn Brewery Octoberfest, Hacker-Pschorr, Paulaner, Sprecher just to name a few. I can't wait!

[hiram]

I agree with everything on your list except:

Sam Adams Oktoberfest: I find it zymurgistically boring because (a) instead of proper German style triple decoction mashing, they use infusion mashing (hand in hand with that - they add too much caramel malt to correct for their infusion mashing's insufficient melanoid development), and (b) because they use an utterly bland lager yeast strain instead of a true bavarian yeast strain.

Brooklyn Oktoberfest: Generally the same comment, only (if I recall) more added caramel malt, and less cardboard notes.

Havent had a chance to try SN Torpedo, or SN hefe yet. Looking forward to them.

I'm a big fan of Stone IPA ... my only nit is that it's ever so slightly past the ideal balance point of being a bit heavy in the finish. If they'd shave just 0.003 specific gravity off the finish, it'd be perfect.

[BlackBearForge]

I will agree that Sam Adams Octoberfest is a rather run of the mill offering. I like it however because it is widely available, often on sale and I find it goes very well with food and while not overly remarkable in it's flavour profile, it is tasty enough. There are better Oktoberfests certainly!

I'm hoping to get my hands on some Victory Festbier this year as Victory is now distributed to neighboring Georgia (and hopefully here in Florida soon).

I don't think you'll be dissapointed in either the Torpedo or Kellerweis! The Torpedo has the nice piney hop flavours I prefer balanced with citrus and while I'm not very familiar with Hefeweizens the Kellerweis stikes me as a marvelously balanced beer.

We've only recently received some beers from Stone here but I'm very glad we do!

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

adapted from rockingmtranch

A 2006 study found that the average Belgian walks about 900 miles a year.

Another study found that Belgians drink an average of 22 gallons of beer a year.

That means, on average, Belgians get about 41 miles per gallon.

Or 5,74 liters per 100 kilometers. Not bad, Eh?

[Darb]

I'm a little slow after a few pints (at a friend's tavern), but here I am having a taste of Lagunitas Wilco Tango Foxtrot, and I suddenly got the joke. I'd take a picture, but the lighting here is poor.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

I'm a little slow after a few pints ... I'd take a picture, but the lighting here is poor.

You mean you get camera shake blur after a few pints, right?

[Darb]

No, I meant a little slower on the mental uptake, and that the lighting was too low to get a picture of the taphandle.

Wilco Tango Foxtrot is military radio-speak for WTF?

[MidasKnight]

The real question is ... does it taste in a way that makes you look at your beer and say 'WTF?'

[Darb]

Not really, no. It was drinkable, but otherwise undistinguished ... a bit dark for style, as I recall.

I found it more of an "eh, WTF ..." than a "WTF?!" sorta beer. If that makes sense.

The name on the tap handle was more interesting than the beer itself.

[Echus Cthulhu Mythos]

I have recently discovered the delights of dark beer (especially Guiness). What are some other tasty dark beers out there?

[voralfred]

I don't know muc about dark beer, but....
WELCOME BACK, ECM!!!!!
Where have yo ubeen hiding, all this time?

[laurie]

I have recently discovered the delights of dark beer (especially Guiness). What are some other tasty dark beers out there?

Well, there's Guinness, as opposed to 'Guiness', for starters.

Other than that... haven't a clue! (I don't drink beer.)

Glad to see my favorite Navy man back!

[Darb]

I'll be happy to post a few tomorrow, but in the meantime, given your HPL inspired moniker, I have to share with you the inscription on one of my numerous pint glasses.

"Innsmouth Stout - Taste the Taint !" (black print on a clear glass ... a reference to the story "Shadow over Innsmouth".

I'll have to see if I can post a pic or something.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

I have recently discovered the delights of dark beer (especially Guiness). What are some other tasty dark beers out there?

Belgian Golden Carolus .

American Christmas Ale .

English Bah Humbug (Wychwood's December beer) .

The hard-to-get champion , Westvleteren 12 .

To find a pub that offers at least 60 different Belgian beers,
see http://belgianbeerboard.com/index.php?o ... d=88889033 .
Auckland, New Zealand, appears to have three such pubs.