Beautiful Ambrosia

[Munkay]

Alright, this is the deal. I've come to realize that drinking from kegs full of lukewarm light beers that resemble the taste of watered down urine, is far from a great time. But I've always loved the sweet nectar that is a good beer.

Overall I'm inexperienced in the 'finer pleasures' of the higher beers. So this is the question to old skallywags and scurvy pirates a like, whats you're favorite beer? Why?

I want a knock list of 'must tries' by the end of this post. Show me you're expertise!

-Munk

[Bolty]

Where's Occhi when you need him...

-Bolty

[FunkyfooKarate]

I always thought Crona was good, but thats just me.

[ShadowHM]

Crystal !

Ok...maybe not Crystal. I am, I admit, sunk deeply into a rut. It is just easier to order Crystal when I walk into The Beer Store. (Although not all Beer Stores carry it. :( )

I admit to preferring beer over ale. Pilsener style beer suits my taste buds the best. I like a Guinness now and again, but it is not the nectar of the Gods that Occhi would suggest, were he here.

I like a Corona with a wedge of lime in it on a hot summer day. :) Otherwise, I drink the Crystal and enjoy it.

[DeeBye]

Labbatt 50 if I have a few bucks.

Lakeport Honey Lager if my wallet contains moths.

If I find phat lewt in my couch, I enjoy a Heineken or two.

[pakman]

Well, most American beers I detest. There is a wheat beer called Blue Moon. It has a slight hint of blueberries, I think, in the aftertaste. There is another called Black Beard Ale that was really cheap, but do not associate cheap beer with bad taste. Unfortunately, it is no longer sold in stores, but you can order it by the case from the Virgin Islands. I like Guinness now and then, but I equate that to drinking a loaf of bread, you get very full after having one of those. One very good commercial beer is Warsteiner. I like what the bottle says, "Because life's too short to drink cheap beer." A beer that I have heard rave reviews about is Fat Tire, I have never had it though, comes from a brewery in Colorado, I think.

[Jester]

There's a Quebecois brewery called Unibroue that puts out some fantastic beers at high alcohol percentages. Maudite (8%), La Fin Du Monde (9%), Trois Pistoles (9%), and Terrible (10.5%) are my favorites, and taste little, if anything, like piss-beer.

They also put out some nice beers at lower percentages, for those who prefer not to get drunk after one beer.

I would definitely recommend them, they're always around my house.

There's also a funky heather ale called "Fraoch" that's worth a try if you want one.

Guinness, of course, solves all arguments.

Jester

[Nicodemus Phaulkon]

Unibroue out of Quebec makes some (which I consider to be) wonderful Belgian style brews with a punchy hit and excellent taste. My favorites are "Trois Pistoles" and "Maudite".

Both are punchy (9% and 8% respectively), and have the look and consistency of swamp water; very dark, very un-lagerlike. They are both "beer on lees" which refers to the fact that after bottling they have yeast added to the bottle for refermentation. This leads to the punchy percentage, the scary appearance and some of the absolutely most wonderful tasting beer I've ever had.

My recommendation, your mileage may vary.

*tips helm*

*edit: I see you snuck in there while I was typing, Jester. Good to see the taste is shared. ;)*

[Lord_Olf]

Hail Munkay,

I must say I don't really have a favourite beer, lots of them are so good! As with wine, I like different beers for different occasions.
For example, the best beers for a barbecue are either an ice beer (for example the aforementioned Labbat's) or a nice Koelsch. Koelsch (which you will probably only be able to get near Cologne) is an extremely smooth beer, with a light taste. It doesn't ruin the food with a too strong taste, but rather works on your thirst. Pilsner beers or good exports should also work fine here. These are what I would call "summer beers". And if you happen to like this taste, give Japanese beers a shot. They aren't bad, my favourite here being Asahi, especially out of a can.

In winter, when you don't want to drink very cold beer, I rather like beers that have a stronger taste. During that time, I like to go to an Irish Pub to hoist a Guiness or three, and Alt Beer also comes to mind. This is a darker beer with a stronger taste and a little more "oily" than a Pilsner. Again, this beer originally comes from the Lower Rhine Area in Germany, so good luck on finding any outside Germany. Also, a local brewery has a special version of Alt Beer, called "Ur-Alt", which roughly means "very old". It is an unfiltered version of Alt, and is, in my opinion, even better, if a little more expensive. Also, Schwarzbier (Black Beer) is very nice during that time. It has been described as "A black beer with a blonde soul" and the taste is somewhere between a Guiness and a Pilsner, I'd say. Tastes a bit similar to A "Tall Ship Ale" I remember having had in Vancouver, once upon a time.

Other beers one can always give a shot:

- Weizenbier (a Bavarian beer, rather strong, but after two, I feel like having eaten a whole cow, it fills me up too much, but to each his own)
- Newcastle Brown Ale (also a rather local speciality, with a rather unique taste)
- Foster's (also a nice summer beer, comes pretty close to Koelsch)
- Heineken (it don't like it that much, but it's almost anywhere in the world, so at least you know what you're getting)
- Malzbier (a non-alcoholic beverage, like Root Beer, rather sweet, but a nice thirst-quencher)

And as a bonus, a short list of beers you should steer clear off in Germany: Traugott Simon, Öttinger, Wicküler Pilsner, Küppers Kölsch (avoid it like the Plague!) and Hansa Pils.

Well, hope that helps!

Take care,

Lord_Olf

PS: I'm off to buy a case of Koelsch, this writing made me thirsty!

[Zarathustra]

I'm going to throw another vote in for Guinness here. Recently I've grown rather fond of a good black & tan.

[Artega]

I'm not much of a fan of beers, but I've found that, when hard liquor isn't available, I favor MGD, Guinness, and Samuel Adams.

[Walkiry]

Afraid I can't help.

I live in Germany. Here I just have to order a beer from the "tap" and anything they pour will taste great ^_^

[TaiDaishar]

I live in Germany. Here I just have to order a beer from the "tap" and anything they pour will taste great ^_^

Or else...?

[Tal]

I'm a fan of Guinness as well but can't drink a lot of them. On a daily basis I drink:

Sam Adams
Sam Adams Cherry Wheat (Yeah its a fruity beer - but I likes it)
Various seasonal beers by Sam Adams
Yuengling Pale
Yuengling Black and Tan
Killians Irish Red

[Moldran]

Warsteiner ? Yuck ! One of the worst beers ever ! Oh, how I hate that stuff :P

My favourite is Stauder Pils, but that is a local beer, you probably won't find it outside of Germany. A very good beer that is sold over-regionally is König Pilsener. I think you can buy that one in most parts of Europe, if you look for it - don't know about the US.
If I am in Prague, I like to drink Staropramen. No idea how hard it is to find that one outside of CZ.


Edit: Nice "blacklist", Lorld Olf. My one looks like this:

Traugott Simon, Öttinger, Wicküler Pilsner, ANY Kölsch (avoid it like the Plague! - hehe ;) ), Hansa Pils, Paderborner, ANY Weizen, ALL beers from the 'Sauerland' region (Warsteiner, Krombacher, Veltins, Iserlohner - they all taste #$%&ty. I don't know why, but that region obviously is absolutely incapable of producing any decent beer. Selling that stuff is a criminal act !). Also add all that crappy 'mixery' stuff that some people dare to call beer.

The advantage of Öttinger and Traugott Simon of course is that they cost less than 50% of the price of most other beers in Germany. Considering that, they are not THAT bad (better than Warsteiner for example, and very cheap in comparison), but I must say I only drink them when I have no other choice ;) A beer that is often very cheap and tastes somewhat OK in my opinion is Kronen Pilsener from Dortmund.

[kandrathe]

The best beer I ever had was the first; It was hot, and I mean really hot. Like 101F with 90% humidity hot -- I was out in the fields loading hay bales onto the back of the wagon all day, with punctuated breaks to unload the hay bales into the hay loft. I got the job of being in the 110F loft catching the bales, and packing them into the loft. Anyway, it was the kind of day where you sweated just standing still.

My mom brought out a bucket of icy cold Budweisers (IIRC) and mmmm they were just what the doctor ordered.

For the best beers I think one must sample the local fare from Germany. Almost every town has their own label. Some American and Canadian micro breweries are getting closer in making a passable beer.

[Fragbait]

Hi,

Gotta throw my 2 cents in:

To drink:

o Steiner Export (simply the very best)

o Augustiner Export Hell (not bad either)

o Augustiner Edelstoff

o Rotkäpple (not Bavarian, but not bad surprisingly)

o Erdinger Weißbier or Franziskaner Weißbier or Paulaner Weißbier

Not to drink:

o Öttinger (cheap and it shows)

o Guinness (you can hardly call that liquid 'beer')

o Jever

o any beer that's advertized as 'crystal' and its consorts

o in general every beer that was not brewed in accordance with the Bavarian commandment of purity (if we're good at one thing, this would be brewing beers)

I'm aware that that probably doesn't help the topic starter much, but maybe (if god wants) he is lucky!

Greetings, Fragbait

[Saxywoo]

One quick response to the comment about the kegs of lukewarm light beer - ummm.... never had to try or have urine. I'm not that much of a survivalist anyway... If I can't carry it, I didn't need it.

Good idea for a post though - how else can you get an overview of beers from around the world, without drinking a single drop? But you are going to have to eventually try them for yourself and make your own distinction. Hey - one man's "keg full of lukewarm light beers that resemble the taste of watered down urine" is another man's nectar of the gods.

Though I don't have a drop of the Irish in me (which would explain the terrible luck I always got from monster drops), I love the Irish dark beers. Guinness - Resembles coffee, with a hint of tree bark. It's good and heavy, so you don't really want to drink a lot of it, and thus, you have just enough to have a nice warm feeling, and without drinking bottle/can after bottle/can. I prefer the canned persuasion of this though - with the little nitrogen capsule in it, since it makes it taste like it's from draft. Murphy's - Resembles coffee, but it's so smooth it's like drinking a milkshake. I love this stuff. It, like Guinness, will keep you feeling good, without emptying your wallet, and is always good with just about any pub food. Again, preferred in a can. But regardless, I prefer my beer to be cold, and frigidly so. If a beer gets too warm, I think that it ruins the whole experience. I like my food piping hot, and my beer frigidly cold - makes perfect sense to me...And don't ever come between me and my black and tan.

I've tried the whole Busch Light, Budweiser, Miller, and that family of cheap and crappy budget beers. One thing that I've noticed is that those beers would get me "feelin' good" really quick, but would churn my stomach.

Malt beers, like Rolling Rock, I personally think is the worst stuff on the planet. It's what got me to start drinking Guinness. What can I say, I had my choice of Guinness or Rolling Rock. One sip of the Rolling Rock and I was a Guinness fan after that. Now granted, that all happened about the time when I was having...oh... my third beer. Though, even after saying this, I did like one called "Devil's Mountain" which almost seemed like a cross between a malt beer and regular beer.

The more "flavored" beers, like Woodchuck, don't float my boat. I had a roommate once that loved Woodchuck. Just the smell made me think that there was something wrong with it. And the taste wasn't too much better.

Now there are all these other drinks, like Mike's Hard Lemonade and Bacardi Silver that I like. I think of those to be at a point where hard liquor meets beer. Good stuff here, though I don't care for Mike's Hard Cranberry Lemonade. Just pick a flavor that you like, and go to town...

However, you can make your own hard lemonade, which I thought was suprisingly good. Get some Countrytime Lemonade, mix it into a large glass, but make it strong - should look like it's about the color of anti-freeze. Then pour in vodka. The vodka will take out the really sour bite of the super-concentrated lemonade.

Now, the more "normal" beers, in my eyes, are things like Grolsch, Heiniken, St. Paulie Girl, and the like. I like them all. Especially since Heiniken and St. Paulie Girl both have a dark persuasion, as well as the regular kind that is so popular. I think that these are good, but they can be hard to find the right "fit" if you will, depending on your own preferences for the personality of a beer.

You have these other beers that come out with a dozen varieties, and those I just don't get... Primarily Samuel Adams. Hey, if you're ever in the Chicago area, and up in the Northwestern suburb of Long Grove, there's a restraunt there that considers Sam Adams to be an import.... that's right boys and girls.... imported all the way from that distant land known as Boston. What's the point in having so many versions of the beer? I personally think that when there are as many vairation on the beer, it keeps the beer from being good, because they don't improve it, at all.

But anyway, that's my take....Drink up, but do so responsibly.

SaxyCorp

[eppie]

I think it depends a lot on the situation you're in. Drinking the local or national beer is usually the best for me. I would never (well almost never) touch a Guiness, except when I'm in Ireland. Same for the english bitters, the half warm light brownish stuff with usually only 3 to 4 % alcohol, absolutely disgusting, but when I'm in a pub in london I drink that, and no Heineken.

Anyway, if you're in the US you have to rely a bit more on imported beer, so I will not give a list of small brewery's of which you will not find the beer anyway.

For pilsener, I would go with dutch or german stuff. Dutch is usually easier going, german often more bitter, but much more character. (for dutch try Heineken (everywhere) Grolsch, Brand, Hertog Jan))

On warm days I like Ice-beer, we don't have it a lot, but in the US it is very popular, it does not have a lot of taste but drinks away very easily, and is very refreshing, I also like Miller (MGD) which is cold filtered so a bit ike ice beer (I believe).
In winter it is more time for the bit heavier ones (especially with cold weather). Here we have a lot of belgian and dutch "special" beers. Things like "trappist" beers (there are 5 belgian and 1 dutch official brewerys) very high quality, and going up to 11.5 % alcohol (look for that name, if you find it, buy it). And than other "abbey" beers. Most of them are brewed in a big factory nowadays, but date back to 100s of years ago, just try them and see for yourself, you are bound to like a few of them at least. :P
Nowadays you have literally thousands of small breweries and brands of beer just in Holland/Belgium/ Germany. I often go to "beer cafe's" where they sell 30 to 40 different kinds and depending on my mood I will pick my favorite of the night :D
Cheers.

[Vornzog]

Got to put in a second for some of pakman's votes here, but also expand on his list a bit. I won't drink most *American style* beers - they just don't taste good. There are quite a few beers made in America that are quite good, however.

Blue Moon - had my first (and second...) just a couple days ago - quite good with an orange. I don't usually like wheat beers, but I've been finding out that this is because most Americans think they need to heat them up and filter them like crazy, which is when things start to taste like piss water.

When in Ireland, do as the Irish. The Guinness they get over there is incredible, and I thought I liked it in the states. Turns out we usually only get the Foreign Extra Stout version over here. One of my favorite beer memories is being on the 7th floor of the St. James Guinness Brewery for my complimentary pint after the factory tour. Mmm - Guinness - the beer that eats like a meal! Other Irish stouts, while less well known, are just as good.

On the same trip, we went all over England, too. I got a pint of the local bitter wherever I went - and liked it. Don't think I've ever seen a good commercially available one, though. Don't bother with the beer in Scotland, but the whiskey was quite good there...

Edit - just read Eppie's post. The problem with English bitters in London is that you don't get the good local stuff. I drank it anyway, because I wanted a beer, but you've got the find the pubs that sell the stuff that they brew just down the road, and that means getting out of London. The things you have to do to make beer commercial kill the best of the taste.

Same story with the Germans. I have some fond memories of dark German beers, despite not really being legal to drink them when I was there.

Fat Tire is my default beer when ever some place doesn't have anything more interesting. It is good, but it is not worth raving about. The problem is, being from Colorado, it is very easy to be a beer snob. There a quite a few good microbrew type places around that can do better than Fat Tire, but don't operate on a large enough scale to be commercially available like Fat Tire and other New Belgium products. If there are many New Belgium products around, give the 1554 black ale a try - that's about my favorite. But if you are in Colorado (or other region with lots of good microbrews), ask around for the best place in town.

My favorite place has a nut brown that is to die for, and you won't find it in stores.

-V-