Beer in the new era

I am beginning to love the nation of Belgium. I just had Duchesse de Bourgogne reddish-brown Flemish ale. Wonderful woody sick-sweet rotting ciderness. I've also started trying the Norwegian Olfabrikken porter, which the ratebeer.com folks rank as the best on earth. It's good but I'll need a bit more time before I know exactly where to place it. I've noticed with Scandinavian porters that you need to pour them like wine to get any real head at all?

You know, it's a bit sad: Sometimes I suspect that I take more pleasure in beer than in music these days.

Guys if you can get it drink A) BELL'S AMBER ALE or B) ST PETER'S GOLDEN ALE. The first is more affordable, both are freaking flavorload.

Dieu Du Ciel is bottling now!! I had a six-pack of Fumisterie over the course of the week, it was lovely!

Bell's Amber is certainly a wonderful drink. I had pints aplenty whenst in Michigan a month and a half ago.

Is the Dieu Du Ciel seasonal? I might have to visit Montreal soon!

Shipwreck beer?

my corner store now stocks both SAKU ORIGINAL and OB
needless to say my interest in imports from other countries is in the toilet
I will probably go have a TROEGINATOR at the bar today though

Saku is nice, real nice.

TROEGINATOR at the bar today though

TROEGNATOR IS YUM-O

Shipwreck beer sounds pretty interesting.....

Just went on some brewery tours last weekend, actually. Went to General Lafayette brewpub/inn in eastern PA, it was fantastic. The Chocolate Thunder cask porter was incredible, served at 57 degrees. Awesome.

Also went to the Victory brewery in eastern PA. Victory's been my favorite brewery lately, especially their Hop Devil and Hop Wallop, both obnoxiously hopped pale ales. Their Imperial stout is fuckin' great, too, but the weather's been too warm for stouts recently.

I was a Le Coq man in my Tallin adventure.

Currently enjoying my local Tesco, which had Sierra Nevada Summerfest until last week, when I bought their remaining stock, and big bottles of Tyskie and Zywiec.

I'm really liking Bitburger lately. store by my place sells 6 packs for
under $7.

Zywiec is damn good

I'm trying this soon...

La Neuvaine - Absinth and fennel ale, 8.5%

wooh, fennel ale. that sounds interesting.

has anybody tried any of those weird beers that Rogue offers in the 22 oz. bottles? i.e. juniper ale, the morimoto soba ales? i've been dying to try them, have never gotten around to it.

though i have tried the chipotle ale. quite interesting, it did actually have a smoky spiciness to it.

err, i should probably clarify that it's, like, <absinth and fennel> ale and not <absinth> and <fennel ale> :)

Anybody ever had the Heavyweight brews from Ocean City, NJ? Some excellent stuff

ohno like Dieu Du Ciel like down the street from me is bottling?

i searched for beer threads yesterday (b/c i am ahead of the curve obv) and decided on a nb one but pretty much the thing is that i've started not just drinking beer when out but buying it for home, entirely b/c i started working full-time and haven't figured out new yoga schedule and so beer seems like a necessary (and delicious) drug

i like zywiec too but only in poland

well, they bottle in st. jerome, but yeah, those dudes are bottling :)

My local has Stiegl 22oz drafts for $5, and I've been imbibing way too many of those of late...

Right now I am working on 12 of these things: http://boakandbailey.com/?p=228

"these things" being Boheme 1795, which seems to be a Tesco-rebadged Budvar (but not _the_ Budvar).

i liek the name.it would get drank

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/4765/photo42gc8.jpg

ONE BERE. GET DOWN MY MOUTH.

Label is cheap and nasty and knuckes are hairier than I remember them being.

http://www.thatsfit.com/2007/11/04/after-a-workout-beer-is-best-not-water/

lol i am ahead of my time!

Just what America has been clamoring for (or is that clamatoing for?).

http://beeradvocate.com/im/c_beer_image.gif

Nothing goes with a beer like tomato and clam juice.

or try this.

http://agencyb.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/08/15/bud_clam.jpg

yeah micheladas are great. the way i learned doesn't use clam juice; just v8, a dash of salsa inglesa (worchestershire sauce) and black pepper.

So essentially a Bloody Mary with beer instead of vodka? Seems like the result of got-no-vodka desperation.

I think Sam Adams' Honey Porter is the first bad porter I've ever had. (I suppose Saranac Caramel Porter might be wanting as well.)

xp personally, i can't stand vodka but you're probably right.

Sam Adams is generally dud.

To Mark upthread, the Rogue Morimoto is quite fine, very similar to a black ale like New Belgium's 1554. I have a bro who drives forklift for them and he brings all kinds of Rogue goodness to this festival we do every summer.

Also on the airplane this monday I saw a TV thing with a BEERAMISU dessert made with Rogue Old Crustacean barley wine and tiramisu.

In the fridge now for turkey day is Starr Hill, a local Virginia brew, and some Yuengling Black & Tan. I get spoiled living in Oregon but these are both turning out to be pretty good.

labatt makes a porter that i randomly picked up on a cheap-beer night. i've not really had porters before, and i know that some garbage labatt stuff shouldn't turn me off a type of beer entirely, but CHRIST. IT WAS AWFUL. there are only about 5 beers i won't drink if they are put in front of me, and that is one of them.

I just found this, which was interesting: http://appellationbeer.com/blog/the-best-selling-us-beers-circa-2007/

(I knew about the overall top 10, thanks to the ILE poll, but the list of just craft beers is interesting. I don't think I've ever heard of Deschutes or Alaskan Amber.)

Sierra Nevada being #1 is no surprise, but the nice thing is that it's actually an excellent beer.

BEST SELLING CRAFT BEERS
1 Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
2 Samuel Adams Boston Lager
3 Blue Moon White
4 Samuel Adams Seasonal
5 New Belgium Fat Tire
6 Samuel Adams Light
7 Shiner Bock
8 Widmer Hefeweizen
9 Samuel Adams Brewmasters Collection
10 Redhook ESB
11 Pyramid Hefeweizen
12 Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale
13 Redhook IPA
14 Alaskan Amber
15 Deschutes Black Butte Porter

Kinda interesting, Sierra Nevada outsells Sam Adams Lager? Wow I never would've guessed that. Not surprised in general though that Sam Adams accounts for nearly a third of that list. It's weird, I don't even think of Sam Adams as a "craft brew" at all.

xpost- yea I really like Sierra Nevada, it's a perfect standby pale ale. I love how it's so widely available, too.

Blue Moon does not belong on that list. Also, WTF to #s 4 and 9, aren't those comprised of more than one variety?

Alaskan Amber is everywhere in, well, Alaska (and the greater Pacific NW IIRC).

those beers are like the major label beers of US craft beers.

I've always thought of Sam Adams as the Sub Pop of beers.

And yeah, Sierra Nevada is excellent. If I'm in a bar without much selection, SNPA is often my default.

yeah that works, sierra nevada is the touch and go or the matador

wait now i am destroying my metaphor.

lol

they don't even have snpa in montreal :(

The Alaska Amber was pretty good for a while there. Haven't had any in probably 10 years or more. Hell, I remember when it was called Chinook Amber!