It's friday afternoon (as if that matters to someone on rotating shiftwork) I just got off of 32 hours of work, the sun is shining, it's 67 degrees F and clear, and my ex-gf is coming over to drink beer with me on my porch.

I love beer, a momentary respite from sometimes unpleasant reality.

What's your favorite beer?

Me, I just picked up a six-pack Sam Adam's white Beer: I'd never tried it and Sam usually doesn't stray too far from good. I just finished my first, it's sort of like a Belgian spiced wheat beer, perhaps a little lighter, and not as spiced. Similar to Allagash White or Blue Moon.

I also got a six of Molsen Canadien. For whatever reason, i've liked this beer ever since I tried it in Labrador City, Newfoundland. It's very drinkable, though it probably doesn't fare well with the beer "snobs".

My favorite beer of all times is Schneider Aventinus. It's a German wheat dopplebock, very sweet and dark.

I'll never turn down a Guiness or most stouts, or anything YOU'RE buying.

I generally like most Belgian beers...those people know how to brew. Even better than the Germans, I think. A Lambic is a nice tart diversion from beer if you want to get someone who doesn't like beer to try a malty beverage...sort of like cider.

Anyway, I'm always up for suggestions, if you've got one, let me know.

Good list, especially the Belgian beers. Those are really good, but really expensive as well. One domestic beer that I really like is Gennessee Cream Ale, but that's almost impossible to find on the west coast. Back when I was working for Lockheed and we were doing flight testing on the L-1011, we used to make a beer run to the east coast and load up about a 100 cases of Gennessee. Those were the good ole days!

the best beers I have ever tasted were new belgium brewing companies' beers. of their beers, I have tasted sunshine wheat, fat tire (which is imfamous in colorado, anyone else ever hear of fat tire) and 1554. I also think heinekin is pretty decent. I'm not a big beer drinker however, and tend to stick with hard alcohol.

I do beer. Here in alaska there are so many micro-breweries, plus a lot of people brew their own beers and wines (21% raspberry wine will knock your socks off and tastes great)

From more known and what others have mentioned, Ive had Fat Tire and I too like Molsen but I drink Molsen Ice, it has a faint banana flavor to me, weird huh?

One of my favorites is Sierra Pale Ale. I also tried their Celebration Ale, that was good too and supposedly sells out right after release. In the summer I like an ice cold Hefewiezen with lemon. In winter I like heavier beers, a Guinness on draft is always a treat and I drink Alaskan Amber more regularily.

I havent tried Belgians yet, mostly because its cost prohibitive. We already pay $4.50 a pint for beer here. I think Belgians are ten bucks.

Bud Light. I can't stand anything else. Well, except for maybe regular Budwieser.

In a bottle without a glass.

I know - I have no class.

I'm partial to Deschutes Quail Springs IPA and Deschutes Obsidian Stout. I have very little brand loyalty and love to experiment, so I'm always trying new stuff.

I brought home some Lobkowicz Knight yesterday, and it was a traditional Czech lager, quite tasty.

I'm not the beer fan that I used to be. Beer bellies and diabetes will do that to a guy, but I do like Michelob Ultra. It's the first light beer I've ever had that actually tasted like it was still related to beer.

A Bud Light will do in a pinch. I used to like Lowenbrau until Miller bought them and they turned it into dishwashing liquid. I'd rather have a nice glass of wine all things being equal.

But if you're buying, I'm drinking.

Wow I thought this thread might have been closed. I'm West Indian so I started drinking early in life. I don't drink beer much but when I do its Heineken, Corona, Guinness, and Mickeys. I miss the old big mouth 40 oz Mickeys, ever since they switch the mouth is just don't taste right anymore. When I'm out with Jamaicans I'll down a few Red Stripes. And if all else fails Budweiser will do, Because U Deserve What Every Individual Should Enjoy Regularly. Like I said though I'm usually a hard liquor person. I started with Long Island Iced Tea's as I got older I ended up drinking Rum and Cokes, like my dad. I have had lots of rums, including West indian bush rum, but the best by far is Bacardi 8 Years Special Reserve. It mixes perfectly with coke and not too harsh on the rocks. Cheers!

As Artemise said- very nice micro breweries up here- I am partial to the grizzly stout- but mostly I make my own- an oatmeal stout as well, though normally I pretty much make wine out of the natural flora we have up here- dandelions, berries, and my best, a best of show at the fair winning sparkling white rhubarb wine. I make a huge amount of meade though, since I have several hives every year, and we have the best honey in the world up here, we have pretty much won the best honey competition at every major event in the world for about 30 years or so going, with the exception of losing to Alberta once. I make mine mostly from a darker honey than the fireweed honey though, and it is very good, takes 2 years to make.

Oh! Here's a fun subject! Though I rarely drink anymore (occasional beer or wine), the beers I enjoyed were Red Tail Ale, Sierra Nevada, Harp's, Samuel Adams (original), and I'm sure there were many others, but I [hic] don't remember. Back in "the day", out on the river partying hearty, Miller Genuine Draft was good for chuggin'.

I was never a fan of the stouts - yeah, I'm such a girl.

I'd like to try a beer I saw advertised on a truck...just because of the funny name: Arrogant Bastard Ale. Anyone tried it?

Daffy Ive tried Arrogant Bastard, the reason its named that is for the high alcohol content. Its a brown ale, heavy-ish in taste, thick ya know?

I don't drink beer much anymore (Hey, wait a minute, I am supposed to be a redneck........).

I lived for awhile in Wisconsin and fell in love with Walters beer. They sold little bottles of it on certain nights and called those "little wally" nights.

A Gin & Tonic is all I need anymore.

Red

Red Stripe or Guinness. I don't drink much these days. I'll probably be a complete straight edge fairly soon. I prefer my beer with a huge helping of chicken wings from a local set of pubs called the The Vine and Tap here in Arizona. I prefer Bourbon Teriyaki wings with my beer and lotsa celery and ranch dressing. Was my usual survived the week friday release.
If its gotta be plain beer Miller Lite, although I have a soft spot for my high school days score Busch
Hard liquor was either Johnny Walker BLACK or Bushmills or if I can find it Black Bush.

Bottled Beck's for me.

Ooh! Where to start... It's probably easier to list the beers I'm not a grea tfan of.

Top of the list is USA Budweiser (not the Czech one), I'm afraid. The idea that a beer needs to be "fresh" to taste good is superficially attractive, but it mitigates against any kind of flavour or character. Try drinking lukewarm Bud, rather than super-chilled stuff, and you'll begin to appreciate how nasty it is. Like drinking warm, flat Coke, the temperature and the bubbles are the main attractors.

After that, the beers I like least are the peculiar British "headtap" ales - cheap nasty chemical-ridden beers that are injected with nitrogen bubbles to make them taste smoother. Surely all that technology and expense would be better employed brewing better beer in the first place.

People criticise the British for drinking "warm flat beer", but in this regard, it's a bit like red wine. Very few reds benefit in flavour from being chilled - most traditional ales are the same. The fad for "micro-breweries" in the USA is laudable, and there are many very fine beers and ales to choose from there now, but this situation only really mirrors the many regional breweries that the UK has always had.

My current faves:
- Brains Dark (Cardiff); being a Cardiff boy, this stuff is like mothers' milk to me. It's such a pity it doesn't travel well.
- Dublin Guinness; a different animal from the sour London stuff - that Liffey water really makes a difference.
- Archer's Best; (brewed in Swindon) as served in the Smoking Dog in Malmesbury, an excellent session beer; light and hoppy with a pleasantly malty finish
- Usher's Best; (Trowbridge) Another good session beer, this time with more hops and a characteristic finish of Marmite (=yeast extract)
- Adnam's Broadside; (Southwold) A big meaty ale that comes over all friendly then wallops you when you aren't looking.
- Meantime's Chocolate Beer; (London) Just found this one this week - a dark ale made from very dark-roasted malts that tastes so reminiscent of chocolate and vanilla you'd swear it was made from them. It isn't, of course - it's just evidence that a master brewer can pretty much do anything with malted barley, hops, and water, given time and experience.

Which brings me on to another question - nobody acts surprised when a wine buff says wine tastes of blackcurrant or tar, so why do they raise eyebrows when beers taste of chocolate or mint? I think it's just snobbery. Beer is somehow just cheap stuff to keep the lower orders docile, while the upper, supposedly sophisticated echelons sip wine and pretend it is somehow a loftier beverage. Bad wine is every bit as bad as bad beer, and just as commonplace. Leibfraumilch, anyone?

My favorite beer these days is Boddingtons, from Manchester. It's wonderful. I also like Guinness stout, when I'm in the mood for it.

I don't like alcohol very much. Very, very seldomly I will indulge in a Red Stripe or a Heinekin. I just don't care for the taste, and I get drunk way too fast. I really lament the fact that marijuana is illegal, because now that I am an EMT, and subject to random UAs, I can't smoke. So it's been over six months since I have altered my consciousness in any way. Truthfully, I don't really mind. But I will be starting to work on recording a new album soon, it sure would be nice to be able to crank up a few spliffs!!!

I have a general distaste for American Beers (with the notable exception of Sierra Nevada), but I am Canadian, and hence greatly biased toward our own domestic products. Alexander Keith's and Moosehead are my fav's. On vacation I may have a Corona and Lime.

I prefer Corona with lemon or lime and usually drink it when I am at the beach. When I go out I drink vodka and cranberry juice with a splash of pineapple juice - it's called a Bay Breeze down here in the panhandle.

Sounds like a cape cod to me. Do you like any particular vodkas or whatever is on the bar? For me I prefer, Grey Goose or Belvedere with my screwdrivers. I had a bad hangover on Smirnov once, so I tend to avoid vodka if its possible. I also had a very bad expirence with Tequilla in Mexico, I can't even stand the smell of it anymore. Not even in Margarita's.
When I travel I always hit up Hard Rock cafes for the Hurricane glasses as a momento. I've got about 10 in my collection and and 1 from Planet Hollywood. (I was already drunk and it looked like a Hard Rock)

I am not a heavy beer drinker. At most, I may go though 3 or 4 pints in a typical year.

There are a couple of major Restaurants in Frankenmuth, MI. Zehnders is one of them, and Bavarian Inn is the other. They are across the street from each other, and at one time were featured n the Guinness book of World Records as having the world's largest serving. (They may still be. I used to have a friend who purchased that book every year, but he passed away a couple decades ago.) As both their all-you-can-eat chicken dinners are essentially the same, it is hard to remember which restaurant I was dining in on a given trip. Unfortunately, neither seems to list their beers on line.

I had always had the Frankenmuth Dark Bavarian beer recommended to me, but on one of my last trips there, I noticed an interesting little import on the menu. A wheat based beer, its claim to fame was that it was the longest continuously brewed beer recipe in the world. I recall that it was from Germany. It was delicious.


Memories...

I had a journeyman I trained with who always packed 8 cans of Bud in his lunch. If he ran out, he would simply clock out and go to the bar. I recall that he once tried to show me how to walk across a suspended ceiling. His friends tell me that he retired, cashed in his empties, and quit cold turkey.

My next door neighbor in Midland was a mason, who built us a beautiful fireplace. "My dad taught me that every good fireplace needed a few empty beer cans in it." His three passions were excellent workmanship, Red Wings and Budweiser.


The references are in a couple of books I have somewhere in my office, written before I was born. The first minimum wage laws, as it were, stipulated that every slave had to be paid a loaf of bread and a bottle of beer daily. Both were produced at the same factories. So yes, it was used to keep the lower classes docile. Eventually, Roman citizens demanded of their government the same pay as a slave, and welfare was born. History may have been rewritten since, as both of these texts are from the early 1940's.

When I drink (which is not all that often), I tend to prefer bourbon or tequilla. I've never been much of a beer drinker, though when I lived in Ireland I did have the odd Guinness (the stuff they sell here is just awful) and I don't mind Boddington's. About the only lager I can tolerate is Stella Artois, so I guess I'm in with the Belgian crowd. In a pinch (if there's nothing else available), I'll have a Carlsberg or maybe a Sam Adams.

I would rather swallow crushed glass than most American brands. Beer should be made with hops, barley, water, and yeast - not adjuncts like rice or corn as found in "beers" like Miller and Bud.

It's a bit off topic, but Rev. DelFuego mentioned vodka. I'm a HUGE fan of Ketel One, served chilled straight. Yum!

And Julian mentioned "beer snobbery", but I found a website called beeradvocate.com that rates beers, and uses terms such as "flavors roll between caramel and grapefruit", "sweet finish", "mouth feel" and the like. A truly good beer can be analyzed just as well as any wine, and just like there are plenty of bad wines, there are plenty of bad beers (such as ye olde Bud, and most other domestic brews). Personally, I'd rather drink a good beer than a bad wine.

Rev_DelFuego Apr 17 2004, 06:22 PM


Im going to take a wild guess and say Cabo San Lucas?

Vodka drinkers, for me Grey Goose and Belvedere are the smoothest around. A bartender once gave me a straight up taste testing of vodka's, the only way to make comparisons, needless to say I never have had another Smirnoff since.

Rev a Cape Cod is just V/cran with a lime I believe.

If it is an extremely hot day, and I am very very thirsty,
I can tolerate a beer. Otherwise, I just don't have a taste
for it. It is amazing how many beers and breweries are
in existence. (Perhaps I haven't indulged enough to
develop a liking.)

The last time I had a beer was probably before I had
my first son (over 6 years ago). I think it was a
Corona. When I was a kid I used to take sips from
my dad's bottles of Michelob.

Not liking beer is un-American. I drink beer at least every other day. Drinking a Molson right now (Yea, I know it is a Canadian beer), I like Heineken, Budweiser and most brown and red ales.

I cracked open a bottle of 5 year meade today. Delicious. Warms the cockles of my viking heart LOL

Just go to Kansas or Oklahoma and buy 3.2 beer, I guarantee you won't get drunk. It is blasphemy to call that crap beer.

Yay for beer!

I'll drink any type of beer, from lager to bitter. Although I am more of a whiskey fan.

My favourite beer is probably Stella Artois, and I know nobody else who likes it as much as me. I don't know if they sell in the US, but its a sweet Belgian beer in cute little bottles

I also like my Bud (and I too drink out of the bottle) and Guiness, and amongst other beers I prefer are Tennents, Grolch, Kronenburg and Miller.

Became a huge fan of Shiner Bock which at one time had limited distribution in the state of Texas and from what I gathered was made in micro brewery style. Since they’ve expanded their capacity and distribution it doesn’t quite taste the same, although it’s still a good beer. Usually a Bud Light or Mich Ultra (and I prefer it iced down in a cooler).

Started spring training by trying to acquire a taste for Guinness in preparation for the trip abroad later in the year. Have never been a huge fan of the heavier beers.

Poison of choice is a Makers Mark, over ice, splash of water. Kentucky bourbon at its finest (Woodford reserve is an excellent alternative).

I LOVE this thread...Cruising Ram and I finally have something to agree on

[QUOTE]but mostly I make my own- an oatmeal stout as well, though normally I pretty much make wine out of the natural flora we have up here- dandelions, berries, and my best, a best of show at the fair winning sparkling white rhubarb wine. I make a huge amount of meade though[QUOTE]

It's been awhile since my beer making days, but oatmeal stout was also one of my favorites. CR--if you want to try something really good--throw some hops and some of those berries in with the meade. We did this several times, and absolutely everyone who tried it just loved it. Received an e-mail just a few weeks ago from one of these tasters--hadn't heard from him in years, and he was basically lamenting how much he missed that meade we made.

Interesting meade factoid: the term 'honeymoon' comes from meade. Apparently the honey has some chemical effect on the liklihood of having a male child. Vikings discovered the link, if not the reason, and liked to drink as much meade as possible in the month following marriage--hence the term.

For domestics, whatever's cheap. If I'm looking for something above that, I've always liked a good wheat beer--hits the spot on a hot summer day. Ditto for any of the Octoberfest beers. I don't mind the stouts, but usually have to be in the right mood.

Once again I prove myself possibly the least patriotic citizen of the USA on this board.

I loathe even the smell of beer. It makes me sick. The closest thing to it I have ever even slightly enjoyed was Zima, and I wasn't that crazy about it. Some ciders are OK. Give me some white Zinfandel or a Gewurztraminer or a Tuscan red, or a nice liqueur.

I've been a fan of Belgian style for many years. Sam Adams White Ale is very good if you can find it.

My overall favorite beer has to be Bass Ale with UFO a close second.

I have a question that I want to hear people's opinions on. Is there such a word as "beers?" Or is it like deer, where beer is applicable for singular or plural?

My personal taste for beer is not too particuler. There is a lovely local brew made with orange peel (you cannot really taste it) called Oberon; it is a pretty thick ale. I also enjoy Fat Tire, a red ale from Colorado. The wheat ales and Belgian beers are definitely tasty, and I have had some very unique beers in Germany.

The answer is both. Just depends on how many you've had.

well, ill have to tell ya. im 18, go to alot of fraternity parties here in texas, and the beer of choice is keystone light. now, believe me, i do not drink it for the tatse, but other reasons :wink:

if i am to drink for taste, the absolute is a brew here from texas called ShinerBock. great beer. i also like coors light (due to peter coors being a stud).

i like cheap whiskey as well. just fyi.

Yes of course.
Consider:
"Budweiser and Miller are both beers." Perfectly fine.
"Budweiser and Miller are both beer." Factually correct, but tends to indicate you're talking about the substance, rather than brand, colour, taste, etc.
"Would you like to come out for some beers?" indicates more than one glass and/or type will be consumed.
"Would you like to come out for some beer?" indicates only that beer will be consumed, perhaps as little as a mouthful.

Actually, I find this post kind of funny because I was just thinking about that yesterday afternoon. And I have discovered that I, even being Canadian, don't drink a lot of beer. So I asked myself, and I found that the only beer that I really like is this one type of beer that I had during my stay in Toronto, Ontario. I can't even remember what it is called! Oh well, I like budweisers, but Kokanee is way too bitter for me.

So, summing up---unnamed brand and Budweisers. Rock on!

I drink an occasional beer. I like J.D's Honey Brown the best, and I tend to drink that at home, but if I'm out for dinner or at a club, I usually order a Bloody Mary or a Tequila Sunrise.

After giving this some serious and long thought, my answer is yes. I like beer. Haven't met a beer I didn't like, just ones that I didn't like as well. Except for Buckhorn, but that's formaldehyde, not beer.

Sam Adams put out a triple bock in the mid-90s that was great, more like a barley wine than beer. The double bock is good & guess I do like the thicker stouts & porters over thinner stuff. Canned Guiness is a treat.

Haven't tried making my own for various reasons, among them resistance from my other half. It's the smell.

Bitter beer over sweet, thick head over thin, reds over coppers, grains over fruits.

Sometimes we have beer tasting festivals. That's a lot of fun! Variety - love variety. One of the liquor stores lets you take a variety of imports and domestic microbrews to make a sixpack. That's fun too.

I even like the chili pepper beer, in moderation (one). As a cooking ingredient, it can't be beat.

The Buds and Millers are best when ultracooled in ice water. If brought to crystallization in a freezer, that is the ultimate on a hot day. It's just hard to time it just right.

My first beer was a Hamms offered while taking a sauna with my cousins. Ahhhhhh! Nothing has been as good since.

If you crossed a bear with a deer, do you get a beer? Sorry, old joke.

I just got back from a tour of the new belgium brewing company's factory, which included at the end a beer tasting. they had three new beers I had never tried, and I got to try (most of) the rest of their beers as well (go to new belgium's website and click on "our beers" for a full listing) out the beers I tried the best were easily "loft" beer, "transalantique" kriek beer, which has the taste of cherry, (AWESOME BEER!!) and "la folie" which is a special release (only 3000 bottles at this time as far as I'M aware) which has a sour, yet good) taste to it, and is very interesting, if ever in fort collins, I suggest stopping by the brewery and trying some (sold ONLY at the brewery, limit 2 bottle a customer) my least favorites were "blue paddle", "trippel", and "abbey"

if ever in fort collins, I suggest stopping by the brewery and taking a free tour, at the end of which you get a free tasting of their beers (with the current exceptions beng beire de mars, and frambrozen) If you find some, I definitly suggest picking up the transalantique.

Not liking beer is not only un-American; it is uncivilized. Whatever brew you favor, just remember, you are partaking of a social ritual that has been enshrined with an aura of importance since the earliest days of civilization.

The oldest surviving recipe in the world is for beer - on a 3,800 year old clay tablet, as part of a hymn to Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess of brewing. The seal of Lady Pu-Abi, Queen of the City of Ur around 2800 B.C.E, shows her drinking beer. Beer rules and regulations made up a not-insignificant portion of Hammurabi's Law, back in 1720 B.C.E. - the penalty for a tavern-keeper overcharging in those days was drowning.

There is a school of thought that truly believes that beer was the foundation of western civilization....Jonathon Sauer - an American botanist - has put forward that the original motivation for domesticating cereal crops (and thus moving humankind from a nomadic to a settled way of life) was to make beer, rather than bread. It is still an open scientific question as to which came first - beer or bread...

...but it is thought that beer was first discovered in an attempt to make wild barley edible by mixing it with water and fruit. The thick beer that would be produced in this manner would be just as nutritious as bread, in addition to being slightly alcoholic.

So, drink up, and spare a thought for your ancestral bretheren, who paved the foamy road for you to sit back and drink at your leisure - while providing the impetus for the establishment of human civilization.

I have been having a "belgian ale" run lately, with some Kriek Ales thrown in there. Anybody know what happened to St Sixtus? The label of St Bernards sure looks the same?

I started baking bread circa 1950, and started a serious look at its history in early 1966. Most of the older cookbooks I own or referenced, claimed that bread was discovered by a "careless housewife in Egypt."

I read a brief synopsis in a newspaper story once, of a biography of a man who had spent his life researching the history of beer. He found housewives in all primitive cultures brewed some form of beer. Putting a broom on the roof, he said, was a universal indication that it was ready to drink.

Of the cereal grains, only wheat and rye contain glutens, and both originated in Egypt. Gluten is necessary to bake bread, but certainly is irrelevant to the beer making process.

"Sourdoughs." the men who went panning for gold in California and Alaska. (according to what I have read) kept those cultures going as a cheap source of booze, and did not spend their days baking bread.

Recipes for homemade bread really don't seem to predate prohibition. The combination of brewers selling yeast to keep their cultures alive while they fought congress, the invention of white flour, ranges with thermostatic controls, cookbooks, and housewives stretching every dollar to get through the depression would seem to argue that housewives probably didn't make bread until the early twentieth century.

Bread was baked exclusively in bakeries for millennia. The earliest bakeries were temples in Egypt which produced both bread and beer. The earliest breads baked in Egypt were poured as a liquid into hot molds, and then baked.

I have always felt that the logical conclusion to be drawn from these disparate facts was that a frugal priest in Egypt discovered that his waste stream, the discarded slush from the beer, could be made into a usable product. If any accident was involved, it was likely that a fire went out in the process of incinerating the waste from the beer making process, and it was discovered that the partially incinerated waste was edible.