International Beer Night

[Mithrandir]

Over the course of a few rather strange events, Thursday nights have evolved into our local "International Beer Night" where we take a break from our normal Coors, High-Life, Busch, Guinness, etc. and make an attempt to broaden our horizons with some rarer fare.

This past Thursday was Red Stripe (Jamaica), Newcastle (a brown ale from England), Tsingtao (China), Mickey's (a malt liquor from the USA, but we had never seen it before so it received an exemption), Amstel Light (Amsterdam), and Molson Canadian. The Molson isn't exactly "broadening our horizons", but we felt that our neighbors to the north had to be respresented :)

The experience went over quite well: all were quite surprisingly good (the Tsingtao was especially surprising, I was expecting to have to choke that stuff down). Now our dilemma is to keep finding unique and/or international beers to keep trying, and I was curious if there were any suggestions from the brew connoisseurs out there.

(The single restriction is that it can't be *too* expensive. I don't mind putting money down on a good drink, but we are a bunch of college students afterall.)

[DeeBye]

The Molson isn't exactly "broadening our horizons", but we felt that our neighbors to the north had to be respresented :)
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For a great Canadian beer, check out Alexander Keith's.

On a related note, my brother took me out to a pub a couple of years ago where they specialized in making a wide variety of international beers available. My brother urged me to try a beer from Belgium, and I CANNOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME recall the name of it. It was a really awesome beer. I'm hoping someone here can help me out. It was a very bright yellow colour, and was really crisp and refreshing. There was a distinctive citrus flavour to it, almost like someone squeezed half a lemon in my pint. I know I'll remember the name if someone posts it.

[Count Duckula]

This past Thursday was Red Stripe (Jamaica), Newcastle (a brown ale from England), Tsingtao (China), Mickey's (a malt liquor from the USA, but we had never seen it before so it received an exemption), Amstel Light (Amsterdam), and Molson Canadian. The Molson isn't exactly "broadening our horizons", but we felt that our neighbors to the north had to be respresented :)
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I'm sure DeeBye can offer other (or better) but Labatt Blue is pretty nifty, and this is from someone who drinks girly beers.

Sapporo (Japan) is something to try if you can get it.

[Assur]

The experience went over quite well: all were quite surprisingly good (the Tsingtao was especially surprising, I was expecting to have to choke that stuff down).

Hi

Tsingtao, the town from where the beer is was a German colony until 1914 :P

From a German perspective I would suggest Tannenzäpfle from the Rothaus Brauerei, but since it is difficult to get in Germany, I don't think that it you will be able to get it. I think I'll have a few tomorrow and think about you :rolleyes:


good karma

[kandrathe]

Remember the Alamo, or south of there as well. I like Negro Modelo, and a Brazilian beer made by Ambev called Antarctica or Brahma. You might think of the parched boys in the middle east and crack open a bottle of Maccabee.

edit: 2c's 1b

[Armin]

*evil grin*

During my University days, some of the most fun we had was introducing American students (yep, there were always a few in Freiburg...) to "Salvator" beer, a seasonal specialty from Munich:

The Paulaner Salvator with its strong,typically malty taste is the original Paulaner. The bottom-fermented Doppelbock-Bier unites the finest hops and dark barley malt. The Paulaner monks served Salvator as a replacement for food at Lent. Their most famous brewer was Brother Barnabas, who was the head of the Paulaner monastery brewery starting from 1773. Its original recipe is today almost the same as it was in Barnabas' time. In order to protect the original recipe, Paulaner had the trade mark "Salvator" patented in 1896.

http://www.paulaner.de/index_frame.htm

Folks that were raised on Budwater (and have 5 years to catch up, as in Germany it's legal to buy beer at age 16) usually tended to be VERY happy after the first and pass out after the third.. :lol:

Note that it has 1.5 times the alcohol content of a regular Bud (twice that of Dud Light) and almost twice the calories.

I saw it in a rather well-stocked shop in New York City last time I visited the US, but I gotta admit it was obscenely expensive there...

[eppie]

For a great Canadian beer, check out Alexander Keith's.

On a related note, my brother took me out to a pub a couple of years ago where they specialized in making a wide variety of international beers available.  My brother urged me to try a beer from Belgium, and I CANNOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME recall the name of it.  It was a really awesome beer.  I'm hoping someone here can help me out.  It was a very bright yellow colour, and was really crisp and refreshing.  There was a distinctive citrus flavour to it, almost like someone squeezed half a lemon in my pint.  I know I'll remember the name if someone posts it.
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Well Deebye you narrowed that down a bit.....now we only have 1453 beers to chose from. :D (do you mean Leffe, Stella or Maes?)

Seriously as I said in a beer-thread a few months ago here on the lounge, the best is to drink the beer from the region your in. So that means that even if I visit France, I drink french beer.
The big international brands often have breweries in different places and often the beer does not taste the same (like Heineken export for example).
So my advice: save your money for now (so don't buy these expensive foreign beers) and in some time go on holiday to europe. :D
It may seem as a bit of a stupid advice, (and I must say I also often drink foreign beers) but for example a Guinness tastes a lot better in a pub in Ireland. Plus you can often get more beers from the "thingie that pours beer but I don't know the english word" which is usually better than from bottles or cans.

If not..I liked Moose Drool...a beer they make in the area of yellowstone.

[JustAGuy]

DeeBye mentioned Keith's already, so that's already out there. The other Canadian beer that you should give a try is Sleeman's Cream Ale. There are other varieties of Sleeman beers, but that one is my personal favourite of the bunch.

Our beer is good, but Molson Canadian is middle-class in Canadian beer, hardly representative of the overall quality of brew. It's good, but not the best (most Canadian's will agree). As far as beer goes, I'd have to say Keith's is my favourite, and Sleeman's is solid second.

[Phyloxerra]

For a great Canadian beer, check out Alexander Keith's.

On a related note, my brother took me out to a pub a couple of years ago where they specialized in making a wide variety of international beers available.  My brother urged me to try a beer from Belgium, and I CANNOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME recall the name of it.  It was a really awesome beer.  I'm hoping someone here can help me out.  It was a very bright yellow colour, and was really crisp and refreshing.  There was a distinctive citrus flavour to it, almost like someone squeezed half a lemon in my pint.  I know I'll remember the name if someone posts it.
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DeeBye,

Would it happen to be Vuuve? It is an excellent Belgian white beer that has a wonderful orange/citrus aftertaste to it.



Scotty

[DeeBye]

DeeBye,

    Would it happen to be Vuuve? It is an excellent Belgian white beer that has a wonderful orange/citrus aftertaste to it.
                                                                  Scotty
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Last night I just remembered the name -- it was Hoegaarden. You Belgians sure know how to brew great beers.

[Nicodemus Phaulkon]

Our beer is good, but Molson Canadian is middle-class in Canadian beer, hardly representative of the overall quality of brew. It's good, but not the best (most Canadian's will agree). As far as beer goes, I'd have to say Keith's is my favourite, and Sleeman's is solid second.

Coorsnadian? :blink:

Since the Molson/Coor's "merger", Sleeman's is also the largest wholly-owned Canadian brewery.

I'd mentioned this one in the other thread, but Unibroue from Quebec makes some (which I consider to be) superb Belgian-style brews with HIGH punch and scary appearance (Dark brew with lotsa floaties). "Maudite" is my favorite, followed closely by "Trois Pistoles". These are beers that'll sit you down and make you take note; tons of fruit present; very different stuffs.

Enjoy!

[Jeunemaitre]

Now our dilemma is to keep finding unique and/or international beers to keep trying, and I was curious if there were any suggestions from the brew connoisseurs out there.
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Not sure of your location Mithrandir, but if you want a compendious list of options, check here.
This list is one of the backup pages for The Brickskeller which is a slightly small (read: cramped brick basement), but amazing location to sample the beers of the world just off Dupont Circle in Washington DC. As a recommendation, Abita Amber (an ale from somewhere near New Orleans) is a great compliment to the Brickskeller's buffalo burger. A friend of mine goes there regularly and spends all night squeezing lemon into pint after pint of various heffeweizen (forgive the poor spelling) brews, and always asks for the buffalo stew, but they tend to run out of it early, and he never get there in time to get a cup.

edit: spelling

[apandapion]

Sapporo (Japan) is something to try if you can get it.

Yes, but never try to crumple a Sapporo can on your head. There's a story floating around this area where a bunch of guys were having something like this "International Beer Night" we are discussing. Story has it, this local comic book store owner was having a rough day so he was crumpling the different beer cans on his head. He went and tried it with a Sapporo can.

It's worth having a can of Sapporo - just to look at the can. I don't know if every can of Sapporo is like this, but all the ones I've seen - and the one that our store owner in question encountered - are made out of something at least ten times as sturdy as the average can. Is it steel? Wouldn't suprise me. I couldn't deform it with my hand, or by stepping on it, or by hitting it against the curb - and as our comic book store owner learned, one's head is also a poor canidate. Poor guy stunned himself something horrible.

I should probably bring up a beer. Personally, I have a thing for Sierra Nevada.

[eppie]

Just to let you know. the 1st of oktober is the start of the Bokbier (bockbeer) season here in Holland. And my favorite bar, where I always go with colleagues thursdays after work, has a selection of around 30 different kinds of the bokbier.
It is darker (lots of different gradation from amber, oranje red, to almost guinnes dark), can be filtered or unfilterd and has an alchol percentage of around 6 to 8 %.
(in europe % means gallon^2/sqrt inch :D )
Tastes can be sweet, bitter, sour..etc. almost everything)

I don't really know how they make it but it is very good. If you see this stuf once try it. (as I said, it is a typical autumn beer)
cheers

[kandrathe]

Well Deebye you narrowed that down a bit.....now we only have 1453 beers to chose from. :D (do you mean Leffe, Stella or Maes?)

Seriously as I said in a beer-thread a few months ago here on the lounge, the best is to drink the beer from the region your in. So that means that even if I visit France, I drink french beer.
The big international brands often have breweries in different places and often the beer does not taste the same (like Heineken export for example).
So my advice: save your money for now (so don't buy these expensive foreign beers) and in some time go on holiday to europe. :D
It may seem as a bit of a stupid advice, (and I must say I also often drink foreign beers) but for example a Guinness tastes a lot better in a pub in Ireland. Plus you can often get more beers from the "thingie that pours beer but I don't know the english word" which is usually better than from bottles or cans.

If not..I liked Moose Drool...a beer they make in the area of yellowstone.
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Oranjeboom bier?

[jahcs]

Smithwicks Irish Ale is a great choice.

Moose Drool was mentioned, and Fat Tire Ale is also something to try (if you're willing to accept things brewed in North America).

[Ajax]

Funny that you mention beer, Mithrandir, but I have spent the past month and a half introducing the freshmen in my dorm to the wonders of beer. Guinness is the standard for me, but if a beer from California isn't proscribed by the intenational rule, another of my favorites is Red Tail Pale Ale from Mendicino (sp?) Brewers.

Newcastle is already mentioned, but it should be noted that back in Endland where it is brewed, it is not bottled in anything smaller than a pint. So those puny 12oz bottles are something of a joke to Brits. I knew an exchange student from Leeds, near to Newcastle apparently, and she had never seen such a small bottle of Newc, she though it "cute."

Another option is to brew your own. My froshies and I recently went out and purchased a brewing kit and ingredient packet, came out ot about $140. Once our technique gets pretty good, we'll be sitting pretty. It brews 5 gal. and the cost comes out to be about $1/12oz. beer (once the startup costs are taken care of). The downsides to brewing your own beer are 1) the smell cooking and fermenting, 2) the learning curve (it takes practice) 3) sediment at the bottom of your brew (just don't pour the whole bottle out).

Hope this helps.

[Mithrandir]

A couple of my friends tried to brew their own beer. Unfortunately, they were drunk when they did the original steps and, needless to say, screwed it up very badly. The brew ended up tasting horribly and one of them got sick the next day.

I didn't get to try out anyone's suggestions this Thursday, unfortunately. I ended up just drinking some Jack while playing cards with the buddies since no one really had the willpower to go out and get the beer.

Next weekend I'll try to procure some of the suggestions, I swear!

[Magicbag]

A couple of my friends tried to brew their own beer. Unfortunately, they were drunk when they did the original steps and, needless to say, screwed it up very badly. The brew ended up tasting horribly and one of them got sick the next day.

I didn't get to try out anyone's suggestions this Thursday, unfortunately. I ended up just drinking some Jack while playing cards with the buddies since no one really had the willpower to go out and get the beer.

Next weekend I'll try to procure some of the suggestions, I swear!
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http://ratebeer.com/

This is a great source for info on a bunch of different brews, from local brews newar you that you may not have heard of to interesting imports from all over the world.
-MB

[LavCat]

In 1996 I was in Minneapolis on business, and a friend and I had Sir Freddy's India Pale Ale from England. I tried to get some here, but as far as I could find out it was not available.

Anyone know anything about Sir Freddy's or its availability?