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Lugaru

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Ok, I really have never properly educated myself in wine tasting as Im much more of a beer and spirits guy. Also I dont do mixed drinks much... my philosofy is to accentuate the spirit instead of burrying it.

Any ways this is about beer so let's get this show on the road! Post your favorite beers with a brief review, Im always looking for new stuff to try! (Me and Cat used to do beer tastings... we would buy 4 to 6 large cans and bottels of different varieties).

Negra Modelo: my favorite, usually in the upper range of price. I like to call it the champagne of dark beers. Despite it's full body and dark color it's surprisingly crisp and refreshing, definatly a great way to start the night and goes nicely with seafood and spicy food (especially chopped fruit in hot sauce).

Dos Equis: especial and lager are probably the lightest beers that dont taste like water. Great, super refreshing stuff which can be used to acompany a more subtle dish. Also it's available everywhere and usually pretty cheap.

Vorlfstiner: A "so cheep it's good" german beer, what budwiser would be had the US tradition not been interrupted by the prohibition. Great, light and flavorfull stuff.

Tsingtao: as with many of the best beers it was founded by german settlers (this time in china) and it has a very flowery (as in wheat) taste and goes great with whatever you order at a chinese restaurant. There's a reason it's chinas #1 beer.

Hakim Stout: a beer I tried at an ethiopian restaurant which I hope to revisit soon. It was surprisingly light and fruity, almost like a mix of beer and sparkling white wine. Very interesting stuff and it went well with the injera (a tart flat bread used instead of forks and knives).

So what do you guy's have to share?
 
I have, no joke, tasting notes on about 15 beers from right before we moved. Had a bunch of friends over, handed them each a notepad, and told them to scribble down what they thought of each brew.

I can't find the stinking things!! I've been looking all over for them for a month now! *#*@^@%^!!!!!!!!!!!!! :x

John
 
Round 2... fight!

Honey brown: a nice honey kissed dark ale that is neither too sweet nor too bitter for my tastes. Also the stuff is cheap and makes a great, relaxing "end of a long day" drink with nuts and pretzels. It's identity might be too strong to go with most meals though.

Cerveza indio: I dont know if it's imported into any part of the united states but maybe in the south or L.A. It is a stronger than usual (alcohol wise) tart and refreshing beer with a taste that even non beer lovers can agree rules. Also they tend to be really cheap, so they are best ordered "by the bucket" at bars (bucked filled with ice and bottles).

Steel reserve: Ok... your broke and your trying to get drunk on beer... try steel reserve! Unlike most beer that comes in 40's this stuff is pretty drinkable, it has a crisp, icy taste with a slightly alcoholy aftertaste (it has a higher than usual proof). Good stuff but serve it in a glass and keep the bottle refrigerated and tightly closed, if you drink one of these 40's too fast who know's where you will wake up.
 
My absolute faves

In sorta order:

1) Sierra Nevada Pale Ale - Cliche, yes, I know but I'm a huge hophead and absolutely love the stuff - quite bitter with a very hoppy (cascade) nose. Epidomy of the American Pale Ale

2) Budweiser Budwar (or any Czeck pils for the most part)- not the American stuff but the Czeck stuff. Fortunately I tried this stuff in Prague and it was wonderful. Unfortunately it doesn't make it accross the ocean too well. This is one where it's very important to find cans or dark bottles (Pilsner Urquell is in green bottles :( )

3) Alaska Ale Alt beer - can't find it much east of the rockies but you can get it mail order. Not as...pungent as a true German Alt beer but in my opinion that's a good thing. Very malty & yummy stuff.

4) Any German Volksfest beer (often called Octoberfest or Maerzen beer out here). This is another one that gets lost in the translation - in Germany the Volksfest beer is lighter in color (but not as light as a pils) but big in malty flavor (from the Munich Malt). The stuff that gets imported is a bit darker, has more alcohol but is still good if it hasn't seen too much sunlight.
 
i was at a friend's recently, and was given a "steel reserve". it was pretty nasty. very strong stale alcohol aftertaste. it was like a vodka boilermaker, made with really cheap vodka.

for japanese beers, i like asahi. nice and crisp, light on the hops. it advertises itself as extra dry. i don't know about a dry beer, but it does have a nice clean finish.

for thai beers, i like singha. also clean and crisp with a slight hoppy/maltiness to it. matches perfectly with spicy and sweet thai dishes.

fir indian beers, i like kingfisher. just enough hops to be on the bitter side, but not overdone.
 
beerco you just made me think of Sierra Nevada Wheat beer. It is unfiltered and one of my favorites. At least one of my favorites that my local store carries. I also really like the Longtrail beers, just about all of them. Do you guys have Longtrail where you are? It is brewed in VT and until recently I have even had a hard time finding it here in MA.
 
long trail is awesome gb! i've been to the brewery near killington. i think i've told this story before, but when dw and i went there on a day off from skiing, she was yammering away when we entered the brewpub. i dropped to a knee a shushed her saying "quiet woman! we've entered a holy place!" the bartender laughed so hard we got a sampler tray for free. (of course dw returned the comment when we went to bloomingdale's a few weeks later).

i love their double bag, and the pollenator, and the regular lager. fortunately, a few liquor stores by me carry it now. i used to have to stock up when we went skiing.

another local favorite, from west central joisey on the delaware is river horse beer. very good lager and amber beers.
 
Hmm... VT should be close enough to MA for me to find longtrail... Ineed to look into that.

About pilsner... yeah the green bottle is such a turnoff! I've bought it on two ocations and both times the beer was skunked, probably from sunlight.
 
buckytom said:
i was at a friend's recently, and was given a "steel reserve". it was pretty nasty. very strong stale alcohol aftertaste. it was like a vodka boilermaker, made with really cheap vodka.
If I'm not mistaken, bucky..."Steel Reserve" is a malt liquor. I see at the convience store across the street usually sold in the 40 oz. bottles for $1.29. No wonder why it wasn't very good.
 
Bucky that is a funny story. I have been to their brewery as well and had a great time. We actually got pulled over on the ride home from there. Thankfully we had a designated driver, but the cop didn't believe us cause the car wreaked of beer from all the drinker who were piled in the back. They made out driver do some field sobriety testes which she passed with flying colors. She did end up getting a ticket though :(
 
Lugaru said:
Hmm... VT should be close enough to MA for me to find longtrail... Ineed to look into that.

About pilsner... yeah the green bottle is such a turnoff! I've bought it on two ocations and both times the beer was skunked, probably from sunlight.

Yep!, and if not sunlight - then flourescent lamps that almost all stores use (some even have them in the COOLERS!!! ARGH!!) will do it just as badly. Even the good beer store here in town has them, frankly, I don't think they make commercial coolers without them...

Went to the drugstore the other day and was shocked to see they had started carrying Pilsner Urquell! Sadly, it was in the cooler right behind one of those flourescent bulb. I passed.

John
 
Erik said:
If I'm not mistaken, bucky..."Steel Reserve" is a malt liquor. I see at the convience store across the street usually sold in the 40 oz. bottles for $1.29. No wonder why it wasn't very good.

i had it in a can, and it was pretty bad. not sure if it's a malt liquor or not, but i'm not gonna bother to try it again. there was an equally bad high alcohol beer called camo 24 that i tasted. yuk.
 
BATF Designations

buckytom said:
not sure if it's a malt liquor or not,

Just an FYI, AFAIK when written on the label, the words "Beer" "Ale" and "Malt Liquor" are simply BATF designations for alcohol content and really have nothing to do with brewing techniques etc. In fact, if you look at the small print on any Dopplebock or even most Oktoberfest imports you'll see "malt liquor" in small letters some place because of the high alcohol content.
 
I don't drink much beer but when I do I like Fat Tire Amber Ale. The best thing is my dad, who normally drinks Budweiser, yuck, likes Fat Tire. So, I don't have to have that other beer in my refrigerator. This has been a very interesting topic.
 
I'm a simple man when it comes to beer. Just give me a pint of Guinness straight from the oak cask.

In Colorado Springs, there was one place that served up a good Guinness. Where I live now (Port Huron, Michigan), I can pop over the border to an Irish pub in Sarnia, Ontario and enjoy the goodness.

Someday, I will try making my own beer, and a nice, creamy stout is on the list.
 
Rather wasted as I am now let me ad what I was drinking tonight: blue moon. It's a rather thick pale beer made from wheat which I found particularly satisfying. I love "grain" tastes but not when they overpower the beer, so this one has a perfect balance for me. Now if you exuce me I must go pass out.
 
I tried this beer, yesterday. It was very good. I liked the carmel taste. A friend of mine bought it with him from Portland.



The first Unibroue beer to be released in Ontario (in late 1995) and the beer that made me a fan of the brewery was Maudite. The name translates into "damned," and possesses a story based in Québec folklore. The label (all of Unibroue's labels are great - see some Unibroue artwork throughout their profile on The Bar Towel) is primarily orange, yellow and black, with a canoe flying through the air in front of a bright sun, with a smirking devil beneath them in the foreground. The label depicts a scene from a French-Canadian legend in which a group of impatient woodsmen, late returning home during the holidays, enter into an agreement with the devil. The devil agrees to fly their canoe home if they do not speak. If they are unable to fulfill their obligation, the devil gets their souls. They remain silent until, at the sight of Montréal's Notre Dame cathedral, they all cheer. They realise their fate, and all scream "Maudite!"

This is a beer with personality. At 8% alcohol, Maudite is an interpretive Belgian Strong Ale. Being bottle-conditioned, it is more aromatic and spicy than most standard ales. It is dark amber-ebony coloured, with hints of fruit and caramel in the flavour, and a wonderfully lingering finish. I immediately loved it the first time I tried it, and it remains one of my favourite beers. Unibroue itself proclaims that Maudite is "one great beer," and this is a sentiment which I wholly agree. Maudite is an extraordinary beer and one I am proud to call Canadian. Maudite is regularly stocked in six-packs in select LCBOs and Beer Stores.

http://www.bartowel.com/qc.phtml
 
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