Microbrew or Import suggestions

[MMC]

i really haven't drank much since my lung issues back in '06 but lately i've been thinking about grabbing a sixer sometime. dating to when i worked in a liquor store at 17 i constantly tried new beers whenever i saw them, but since i've been out of the game for 5 years i walk down the beer aisle now and don't recognize a lot of the shit i see! so i ask of you to provide some suggestions for good & flavorful beers.

i've been called a beer snob, but honestly i enjoy budweiser, high life, and pbr. my favorite beer at the bar i used to frequent 3x a week was boddingtons on a proper nitrogen tap. if only they had guinness on the same system! other than that i always enjoyed hefeweizens like paulaner, or i also enjoyed doppelbocks like celebrator.

after writing that up i guess i prefer maltier beers over hoppier ones. not that i don't like hoppy beers though! one that i would like to have again is bells hopslam. it's only released for a very short time (which happens to be right now), is very hoppy, is 10% abv, and is also like $16 for a sixer. not going to happen right now.

anyway, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. now just if i could get to the store that lets you make your own six packs from a bunch of different beers......


btw - anyone try samuel adams' alpine spring? it's their brand new spring seasonal but has been on shelves for like 2 weeks at least. it looks pretty good as it's an unfiltered lager with citrusy notes. if there's an open six pack i might have to grab one.

[hansardo]

For me, beer doesn't get much better than Newcastle or Rogue's Dead Guy Ale.

Arrogant Bastard is a favorite, too. Only seen single big bottles of that, though.

[thatoneguy]

Mac & jacks african lager is hands down my favorite never seen it bottled only on tap at the bar

[jibthis]

Some of my favorite beers:

hoegaarden (One of the best beers I've ever had!!!)
Bells - Winter White ale
Blue Moon (orig)
Blue Moon - Winter Ale (Not sure on exact name but it is seasonal.) I like this one better than orig BM
Oberon Ale

Can't think ATM will post more later

[MMC]

Oberon Ale

are you old enough to remember when it was named Solsun? they were sued by some company and changed it to Oberon back maybe 15-17 years ago. i kept an old Solsun bottle for a while but eventually left it at the house in the hood my buddies & i abandoned really quickly after some bad shit went down about 14 years ago. damn did we have an awesome bottle collection. :(


thanks for the suggestions thus far. i've actually had most of them except for that Mac & Jacks and the Blue Moon seasonal.

[SeVeN]

Malty beers...........St. Bernardus and Chimay (blue is my fav) are both trappist beers that are delicious (and kinda pricey too tho). Fat Tire, Ayinger Celebrator < pretty much any doppleboch or dubbel in fact. Scottish ales and brown ales also.

Its early and im sure i can come up with better examples instead of just styles, but im tired.

Good luck, there are certainly lots of great beers available these days.

[MMC]

^^ i really want to try Fat Tire again as i had one when i was out in vegas one of the years i went to ces, but of course i was either hammered or on my way to achieving that state and don't remember anything about the taste. unfortunately michigan is one of the states they don't distribute in. bummer.

yeah celebrator is pretty damn fine. i love the little 'necklace' of the ram hanging on the bottles!

i've tried a couple of the chimay brews, but never got into them that much due to the pricing. instead of buying those beers i would just buy maudite or la fin du monde.

i haven't had any in a minute, but when i was drinking all the time i also enjoyed products from both sierra nevada as well as anchor brewing. of course those companies put out some rather hoppy beers, but i liked 'em just fine. :)


damn, it's like 9am but i really didn't sleep last night and all this beer talk has got me craving a nice beer right now!

[PaininAlabama]

For me, beer doesn't get much better than Newcastle or Rogue's Dead Guy Ale.

Arrogant Bastard is a favorite, too. Only seen single big bottles of that, though.

Funny you should mention that one^, just watched a show on brewing last night and the $50 bottle was one of the featured brews. Effing HUGE bottle! And they were talking like they wanted to do a bigger one!
I love my imports, Heinies, Fosters, St. Paulies. I don't drink any more but I used to looove to try as many as I could. There was an Italian brew I tried at one time and it was the single most disgusting beer I had ever had. But other than that the rest were always good. Enjoy your cold one and enjoy one for me too MMC ;).

[jill]

^^ i really want to try Fat Tire again as i had one when i was out in vegas one of the years i went to ces, but of course i was either hammered or on my way to achieving that state and don't remember anything about the taste. unfortunately michigan is one of the states they don't distribute in. bummer.

Really?

Obviously, I don't drink much (any) beer, but I see that everywhere here, never thought about it being a regional thing.

[hella]

Anything from Sierra Nevada
My favorite is old chico(it was called crystal wheat when all they had was kegs) its one of they're lighter styles
They have a lot of ales but everything from them is pretty good
I'm kinda biased tho cause they're from my hometown ;)

[Bartholomew]

Anything new glarus puts out is pretty fuckin bomb, with spotted cow being the standard. Idk if they distribute outside WI tho.

Had some beer called 'moose drool' just recently that was pretty good.

Of course blue moon and fat tire.

I LOVE good beer, but haven't had the money for any in a few weeks. I ended up stealing a case of beast (milwukees best) which is just about the most cheap and awful beer available. It's like the taaka vodka or fleischmans of the beer world.

Now I'm trying to figure how to not only my get dope, but enough for a 6 pack also :) I'm tired of the beast :(

[jimmyfingers]

I thought you were a kingpin making 'tens of thousands of dollars' every day and now you are stealing cases of the beast.

[Bartholomew]

I thought you were a kingpin making 'tens of thousands of dollars' every day and now you are stealing cases of the beast.

Lol u troll hard.

A) never did I say I was a kingpin
B) yes, I did make tens of thousands of dollars (which you DONT need to be some kingpin to do if you've got half a brain.
C) I HAD plenty of money until everyone got arrested and the people above me shut down. Then my heroin habit kept going while the money stopped coming. I'm sure even someone as thick as you can guess what happened to the money, right?

So, yes, I had plenty of money. And yes, I'm now reduced to stealing 12 packs of beast and
Middle-manning to get my fix.

As I said in the LAST thread, why would I lie about the best time of my life? Was the point of the thread not to relive great memories that are long gone? Fuckin hell, I guess my story is just THAT unbelievable. That I made a years salary at a decent job from a couple years at a great 'job'. It's just IMPOSSIBLE, right?

[miked138]

i havent drank much beer in a while, but always liked microbrews over most imports, i mean a few imports like sammy smiths, chimay, are top notch, but in most cases there are better microbrews,, microbrews dont suffer the abuse of overseas travel and are much fresher, not to mention cheaper for better quality.
here on the east coast,(mid atlantic) victory, weyerbacher, triumph, stoudts, are some kick ass breweries that rival any import., and summertime microbrew fest are so much fun,, 30-40 breweries with 2-3 beers each, and all you can eat and drink for like 20-25$

[MMC]

well, i ended up picking up a six pack of Samuel Adams Alpine Spring. ever since i saw it in the store last week i've had it in my head. it's an unfiltered beer so it poured a nice cloudy amber color with a small head comprised of small bubbles. taste was decent but it reminded me of a beer i'd had before but couldn't figure out what beer that was. it had a more pronounced hop flavor than i was expecting even though they specifically mention tettnang hops on the label. yesterday i thought it was just ok, but today they seem to have grown on me and in fact i just called to see if my corner store was still open so i could grab a few more, but unfortunately they close at 9 on sundays. oh well, i still have a molson ice 24oz can i bought for nostalgia.

i remember the ice beer craze that happened a long time ago and even though i worked at a liquor store i wasn't of legal drinking age and had to get a coworker to buy me molson ice all the time. i thought it was a fad and that it wouldn't last but yesterday i saw that at least molson & labatt are still making them.

when i was at the store yesterday i was tempted to try one of the new generation of alco-pops but in the end the molson ice won out. i'm sure if i was still drinking like i used to i would have tried one of them by now but these days if i want to drink i have such a limited budget that i don't want to waste it on something like 4 loko.

i did happen to see that they had a few sixers of bell's hopslam, bur they were charging $19.99 for them. fuck! i thought the $16.99 i saw at the grocery store was bad but this is just crazy. i love beer, but no beer is worth $20 for a six pack. none.

[Lopossum]

I live not far from Philly, which is near Downingtown, PA, which is where Victory Brewing Company is located. My absolute favorite beer ever is a Belgian they make called Golden Monkey, infused with Asian spices. It's absolutely delicious. I also enjoy it mixed 4:1 with orange juice and a dash of sparkling wine - the perfect breakfast beverage.

[thatoneguy]

well, i ended up picking up a six pack of Samuel Adams Alpine Spring. ever since i saw it in the store last week i've had it in my head. it's an unfiltered beer so it poured a nice cloudy amber color with a small head comprised of small bubbles. taste was decent but it reminded me of a beer i'd had before but couldn't figure out what beer that was. it had a more pronounced hop flavor than i was expecting even though they specifically mention tettnang hops on the label. yesterday i thought it was just ok, but today they seem to have grown on me and in fact i just called to see if my corner store was still open so i could grab a few more, but unfortunately they close at 9 on sundays. oh well, i still have a molson ice 24oz can i bought for nostalgia.

i remember the ice beer craze that happened a long time ago and even though i worked at a liquor store i wasn't of legal drinking age and had to get a coworker to buy me molson ice all the time. i thought it was a fad and that it wouldn't last but yesterday i saw that at least molson & labatt are still making them.

when i was at the store yesterday i was tempted to try one of the new generation of alco-pops but in the end the molson ice won out. i'm sure if i was still drinking like i used to i would have tried one of them by now but these days if i want to drink i have such a limited budget that i don't want to waste it on something like 4 loko.

i did happen to see that they had a few sixers of bell's hopslam, bur they were charging $19.99 for them. fuck! i thought the $16.99 i saw at the grocery store was bad but this is just crazy. i love beer, but no beer is worth $20 for a six pack. none.

Wow where do ya live with them prices that's nuts most I've seen micrpbrews for is like 11 bucks

[paups]

Lagunitas, Hitachino Nest (japanese), Brooklyn Lager makes a whole variety, Magic Hat, Double Bag makes a nice IPA..
When I was in MI I tried a few different things.. Bells was my favorite. I think Kid Rock has an MI brew called "american badass" I don't even know if it tasted right or not I was too busy lol'ing at the branding..

I drink shitty beer these days to save money but I love trying new things..

Also Heineken, Fosters, Stella, etc. "imported" that you get in the US is not actually so. Most are made by anheiser-busch and have no relation in taste to the real thing. Ugh.

[justdavid]

I'm a little of a beer snob but my favorite home drink is pbrs or beast ice.

If I got the money ill buy the Sam Adams variety packs as well as the flying dog variety packs. I'm a sucker for a good ale with solid ibu.

If you want to brew yourself and have the patience for the fermenting and conditioing time I'd look into Mr.beer. their basic store pack is soso but if you hit up their website they have a nice selection plus you could join a forum and get a crapton of recipes.

I forgot a lot of my favorite beers but ill look into them.

[fearofnormalcy]

I like my beers like I like my women: Dark and thick.

Sam Smith's Oatmeal Stout
Mackeson Triple Stout (it's the lactose that makes it tasty....)
Yuengling Porter (nice and cheap here, as the once PA only brewery opened a second site here in Tampa)
Dragon Stout

The wife loves those fruity Lambics from Belgium, particularly Lindemann's Framboise. We polished off a shitload of them while perched on our barstools at Bukowski in Boston. Twas epic.

[SeVeN]

Wow where do ya live with them prices that's nuts most I've seen micrpbrews for is like 11 bucks

Nah, its more that it HopSlam is why the price is so high. They only make a limited amount every year and that beer developed a major following so in this case the beer is really expensive. Other micro's are not cheap but usually dont cost that much.

Hopslam is a great beer, but unfortunately its kinda like Pogs(lol) or whatever huge fad you can think of. I do one of the sixers each year but i usually go half with a buddy ,a s its truly not worth it.

(^^^^ FoF) Lambics can make for some great breakfast beers. They go awesome with about any sweet breakfast food.

[elbowguts]

Fat Tire is way overrated. If you want the finest beer brewed in Ft. Collins, then you should be looking for O'Dell's 90 Shilling. Fat Tire has the flash and the wide distribution, but 90 Shilling has the flavor. Best beer I've had outside of the British Isles.

[borohydride]

http://www.aolnews.com/2010/04/11/liquor-like-scottish-beer-heading-to-us-shelves/

Tactical Thermonuclear Penguin - 32% ABV

If you read the article, you will see that they now make a stronger one. Stronger than most spirits, in fact.