Beer Thread

[el_chode]

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2009/11/the-25-best-american-breweries-of-the-decade-2000-.html

[mjkoehler]

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2009/11/the-25-best-american-breweries-of-the-decade-2000-.html

That's like porn for boozers, present company included. I MUST HAVE DOGFISH HEAD WORLD WIDE STOUT. A brew with that high an ABV is a must try.

[el_chode]

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2009/11/the-25-best-american-breweries-of-the-decade-2000-.html

That's like porn for boozers, present company included. I MUST HAVE DOGFISH HEAD WORLD WIDE STOUT. A brew with that high an ABV is a must try.

I had it at the brewery. I liked it, but it's somewhat unique. Still can't do their Aprihop or Punkin though

[Ghosts_on_TV]

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2009/11/the-25-best-american-breweries-of-the-decade-2000-.html

I'm happy Sam Adams is getting some love here, also Victory. Sam Adams makes great beer, although I could picture some beer snob not feeling that way. Victory does as well (Golden Monkey really does suck though).

[el_chode]

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2009/11/the-25-best-american-breweries-of-the-decade-2000-.html

I'm happy Sam Adams is getting some love here, also Victory. Sam Adams makes great beer, although I could picture some beer snob not feeling that way. Victory does as well (Golden Monkey really does suck though).

Are you taking jabs at my love for Golden Monkey? First, it must be had from a tap, not bottled. That's the starting point. I get a sixtel of it for my birthday every year and we all drink, dance, and black out. This year it was apparently dancing to Get Down On It and Bohemian Rhapsody.

Second, Sam Adams doesn't count, but most snobs do poo poo it. It doesn't count because to be a microbrewery you need to do less than 15k barrels a year and Sam does about 1.5 MILLION barrels/year.

My thoughts were that Sierra should have been higher by virtue of the fact that the list most likely would not exist without their contribution + Anchor

EDIT: For some reason I assumed it was best microbrews, but it's just breweries, so Sam does count.

From Beer Wars: Stone and Dogfish Head combined only compose about .007% of the market share for beer. AB/InBev ranks with about 73%, and MillerCoors comes in at around 23% (combined).

For this reason alone I do not support anything brewed or distributed by AB/InBev whenever possible. If I do, I try to stick to AB/InBev distributions because it's sort of not the brewery's fault - they need distro somehow, ya know? It's also hard to avoid - anything from Guinness to Bass to Modelo are all tied up in the AB/InBev monopoly.

[Ghosts_on_TV]

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2009/11/the-25-best-american-breweries-of-the-decade-2000-.html

I'm happy Sam Adams is getting some love here, also Victory. Sam Adams makes great beer, although I could picture some beer snob not feeling that way. Victory does as well (Golden Monkey really does suck though).

Are you taking jabs at my love for Golden Monkey? First, it must be had from a tap, not bottled. That's the starting point. I get a sixtel of it for my birthday every year and we all drink, dance, and black out. This year it was apparently dancing to Get Down On It and Bohemian Rhapsody.

Second, Sam Adams doesn't count, but most snobs do poo poo it. It doesn't count because to be a microbrewery you need to do less than 15k barrels a year and Sam does about 1.5 MILLION barrels/year.

My thoughts were that Sierra should have been higher by virtue of the fact that the list most likely would not exist without their contribution + Anchor

EDIT: For some reason I assumed it was best microbrews, but it's just breweries, so Sam does count.

From Beer Wars: Stone and Dogfish Head combined only compose about .007% of the market share for beer. AB/InBev ranks with about 73%, and MillerCoors comes in at around 23% (combined).

For this reason alone I do not support anything brewed or distributed by AB/InBev whenever possible. If I do, I try to stick to AB/InBev distributions because it's sort of not the brewery's fault - they need distro somehow, ya know? It's also hard to avoid - anything from Guinness to Bass to Modelo are all tied up in the AB/InBev monopoly.

I have friends that love Golden Monkey. I however, do not. At all. And I've had it both bottled and draught.

Second, I was going to correct you on the micro brew thing, but you beat me to it.  ;)

Third, I agree completely about Sierra and Anchor.

[el_chode]

How dare you have a differing opinion than me on something. I am disgusted that people have opinions different than mine.

My complaint about Sam: Cherry Wheat tastes too chemically.
My love: It is extremely hard to break into this market and they did it. And their surplus offerings to homebrewers during the hops shortage was uber-generous

[Ghosts_on_TV]

How dare you have a differing opinion than me on something. I am disgusted that people have opinions different than mine.

My complaint about Sam: Cherry Wheat tastes too chemically.
My love: It is extremely hard to break into this market and they did it. And their surplus offerings to homebrewers during the hops shortage was uber-generous

Yeah, Cherry Wheat sucks. A minor misstep, as most (if not all) of all of their other offerings vary from good to great. I don't care if they produce 10 billion barrels a year, good beer is good beer. And them offering their hops was an amazing thing to do. They didn't have to, but they did.

[mjkoehler]

Sam's Adams Black Lager is excellent. Most of their "sweeter" varieties suck in my opinion.

Also, InBev had nothing to do with Guinness. InBev does have some excellent brews however.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InBev_brands

[Jaimoe]

I've had some of the beers on the list. Brewery Ommegang from Cooperstown has good beers and I do like Sam Adams; Dogfish Head IPA is excellent. I had some nice pints of Brooklyn Lager in a pub near where CBGB used to be - thankfully there was a happy hour at the pub.

Upstate New York makes great micor brews, even though the urban landscape is depressed.

[el_chode]

Sam's Adams Black Lager is excellent. Most of their "sweeter" varieties suck in my opinion.

Also, InBev had nothing to do with Guinness. InBev does have some excellent brews however.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InBev_brands

I thought Budweiser was the distributor for Guinness, no? And since they were bought by InBev, I assumed that they had the distro deal. Same with Bass - they obviously don't brew them, like they do now with Rolling Rock

[el_chode]

Also I swapped out Bud heavy for Sam October at my wedding next year, which is one of the few Octobers I can drink. Kept the Bud Light as the lite option though

[mjkoehler]

Sam's Adams Black Lager is excellent. Most of their "sweeter" varieties suck in my opinion.

Also, InBev had nothing to do with Guinness. InBev does have some excellent brews however.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InBev_brands

I thought Budweiser was the distributor for Guinness, no? And since they were bought by InBev, I assumed that they had the distro deal. Same with Bass - they obviously don't brew them, like they do now with Rolling Rock

Nope, Guinness isn't tied to Bud. Bass is.

[Jaimoe]

Also I swapped out Bud heavy for Sam October at my wedding next year, which is one of the few Octobers I can drink. Kept the Bud Light as the lite option though

Guinness is part of the Diageo alcohol conglomerate. However, given Ireland's love of Bud - which shocks, saddens and disgusts me - I can see how the two seemingly could be linked.

[el_chode]

Well, I stand corrected then! Good to know!

Bass is the first non-pilsner I liked. Sort of led me down the craft road by learning that I was an Ale person, not a pils/lager dude.

[Jaimoe]

Well, I stand corrected then! Good to know!

Bass is the first non-pilsner I liked. Sort of led me down the craft road by learning that I was an Ale person, not a pils/lager dude.

When I was in Germany in September, I drank tons of the best non-pilsner beer I've ever had. I'll argue that Germany and in particular Bavaria make better ale than pils, or at least just as good.

[el_chode]

Well, I stand corrected then! Good to know!

Bass is the first non-pilsner I liked. Sort of led me down the craft road by learning that I was an Ale person, not a pils/lager dude.

When I was in Germany in September, I drank tons of the best non-pilsner beer I've ever had. I'll argue that Germany and in particular Bavaria make better ale than pils, or at least just as good.

I am a slow drinker (usually) and usually my beers end up warm. Lagers don't do well warm. Sometimes I don't even wait for them to chill. I also just find Ales to be fuller in body and flavor.

When I was in Germany, I remember being "tested". I was near Bonn/Cologne and with a bunch of locals and they took me to the bar and said "pick something" and translated for me. I forget what I ordered, but I passed the test and ordered a "man's beer".

Best beers I had though? In Amsterdam and Belgium. Amsterdam I was low on funds and ended up just smoking and drinking the heaviest belgians they had (that's what I told them) and they came in unmarked, Orval shaped bottles.

In Belgium, most of my drinks were bought by my tour guide people, and I got so sloppy I broke 3 or 4 glasses because my hands are the first to go.

[mjkoehler]

Ireland's love of Bud

Really? There is something so wrong with this. I cannot stand Bud, Bud Light, Bud Light Lime.

[Ruckus]

Ireland's love of Bud

Really? There is something so wrong with this. I cannot stand Bud, Bud Light, Bud Light Lime.

I went to a tiny village pub outside of Courtmacsherry, SW of Kinsale, that sat about 6 people.  The elder local sitting to the left of me continued to order Coors Light ON ICE! :-?

He said he loved it

[Jaimoe]

Ireland's love of Bud

Really? There is something so wrong with this. I cannot stand Bud, Bud Light, Bud Light Lime.

I went to a tiny village pub outside of Courtmacsherry, SW of Kinsale, that sat about 6 people.  The elder local sitting to the left of me continued to order Coors Light ON ICE! :-?

He said he loved it

Bud is all over Ireland - it's one of the country's best selling brands... for some unknown reason. I asked one of my Irish friends about this and he told me that drinking Bud is seen as cool amongst a certain demographic. Overall though, Ireland's beer brand choices are pretty predictable. I travelled all over Ireland two years ago - including the north - and drank every day in pubs and was underwhelmed by the brand choices. Oddly, most wine was imported from Chile.