Beer! Glorious Beer Thread!

[pahnphoenix]

Going to second this. Girlfriend turned me on to it a few years ago. The distributor near our school carried it so we snagged some. Dark enough, but not too heavy. Plus the bottle is awesome.

nice. i had some delirium tremens on tap today (also houblon chouffe and scaldis noel). throwing back good, expensive belgian beer while getting nowhere hitting on a beautiful woman is bittersweet(:.

i wonder if i can guess what the too mild tripel was. tripel horse is possibly my least favorite beer. hmm. allagash tripel kind of lacks punch, though i like it.

[snowtoday]

tripel horse is great for sure.

[Norellicus]

How is the tremens compared to the nocturne?

I'll have to ask what the tripel was, gonna bother me now lol.

[Zoolander]

Tremens is way better than Nocturnum imo, but then again I really wasn't all that impressed with the Noct. Can find Tremens on tap fucking everywhere these days, this shit sports bar (Peabody's for Tampa ppl) has it on tap.

I went to the Delirium Bar in Brussels on my eurotrip actually, since we're talking about them I'll toss in a couple pics we took there. Easily the best day of drinking in my life, I had somewhere around 14 different beers that day (not just trying, but having a full one). We wrote the list down somewhere of what we tried but hell if I know where it is...I should look that up sometime.

I think the one thing that stuck with me more than anything about drinking beer in Belgium is how fucking serious they are about the beer's head there. There has to be the right amount and all the bar tenders we saw used this straight almost knife like thing to swipe the head off the top of the glass.

Spoiler: show

Crazy setup they had on the first floor bar, was all business and ton of shit on tap. http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-a...66270_9059.jpg

The Beer Menu haha
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-a...66272_9451.jpghttp://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-a...566276_226.jpg
My eyes start to close when I get drunk :/
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-a...566278_612.jpg

[Darlantan]

Tremens is way better than Nocturnum imo, but then again I really wasn't all that impressed with the Noct.

I also feel this way about them. If you enjoyed Nocturnum, I would definitely give Tremens a go, Norellicus.

[Tricen]

So, I have never really liked beer but I feel like I never really gave it a chance. I was told yeingling would be a good start, but I didn't like it too much. What would you guys suggest I should try?

[Norellicus]

What didn't you like about it? May help steer suggestions.

[Tricen]

It was to musty for me, I think.

[Norellicus]

Blue Moon and Stella Artois are both easy in that regard, imo; I haven't tried a yuengling to compare but those are two easy to find options that you could try. By my (limited) understanding of manufacturing processes, if the "musty" was what turned you off then as a rule you should probably steer more toward ales and away from lagers, as the latter tends to produce that particular attribute more often.

[isladar]

I think the one thing that stuck with me more than anything about drinking beer in Belgium is how fucking serious they are about the beer's head there. There has to be the right amount and all the bar tenders we saw used this straight almost knife like thing to swipe the head off the top of the glass.

I fucking hate getting served beer in the States. One of the first things my father taught me how to do (he was a terribly smart man, I'm just now realizing) was correctly pour a beer. I try not to be a horrible snob, but I've made plenty of >:/ faces when served weisse beers in the wrong glass, with a 1/4" of head.

[Tokitoki]

I fucking hate getting served beer in the States. One of the first things my father taught me how to do (he was a terribly smart man, I'm just now realizing) was correctly pour a beer. I try not to be a horrible snob, but I've made plenty of >:/ faces when served weisse beers in the wrong glass, with a 1/4" of head.

Thats one of the good things about the bar near where I went to school. Half the bartenders are European of some kind (Scottish, Irish, etc) and know which glass is for which beer and how to correctly pour a beer. One of my favorite things they do is pour a Smithwicks and finish it with a Guiness head. Not an uncommon practice, just nice.

[Darlantan]

So, I have never really liked beer but I feel like I never really gave it a chance. I was told yeingling would be a good start, but I didn't like it too much. What would you guys suggest I should try?

I think I would have loved my first beer was a Hoeegarden. But maybe not, its a little hard to figure out what is the best way to get into them. I guess take a few of the recommendations of not particularly strong/flavored ones and see how it works out. Sometimes you have to teach your palate by drinking before you enjoy a drink greatness.

[Zoolander]

Thats one of the good things about the bar near where I went to school. Half the bartenders are European of some kind (Scottish, Irish, etc) and know which glass is for which beer and how to correctly pour a beer. One of my favorite things they do is pour a Smithwicks and finish it with a Guiness head. Not an uncommon practice, just nice.

oh my, I've never had that before and I love Smithwicks. Gunna have to try that asap.

[Ashmada]

So, I have never really liked beer but I feel like I never really gave it a chance. I was told yeingling would be a good start, but I didn't like it too much. What would you guys suggest I should try?

Really depends:
- If you like smooth and sweet-tasting drinks, White beer (Hoegaarden was mentionned, it's a good one) or Mead/Braggot might suit you;
- If you like really like bitterness you want Irish Stout;
- If you love cherries, you really ought to try Kriek (or the variety of other Lambics, but Kriek is the classic one);
- If your thing is subtle spicy flavours, get some Tripel (beware the high and well-hidden ABV, don't guzzle them down like Lager);
- If you really really really love stuffing your face with rice, there's even rice beer. Can't say I've tried those, but I've only heard ill of it, anyway .

Lager are usually a bad place to start, because, while some are decent, most aren't very good.
The best thing to do is to stop ordering "a beer" in bars and restaurants, if there's a beer menu, try some you don't know or ask the barman/barmaid for advice and so on.

I think the one thing that stuck with me more than anything about drinking beer in Belgium is how fucking serious they are about the beer's head there. There has to be the right amount and all the bar tenders we saw used this straight almost knife like thing to swipe the head off the top of the glass.

They have to be. If the beer is improperly poured, the customer is allowed to turn it down and ask for another.
You guys don't have that custom?

[Zoolander]

They have to be. If the beer is improperly poured, the customer is allowed to turn it down and ask for another.
You guys don't have that custom?

Fuck no, and a lot of places seem to intentionally serve beer with zero head which annoys the shit outta me. Its a vital part of a beer and so many totally miss that part. The only beer that is even attempted to be poured right is Guiness and even then compared to how I had them poured in Ireland bars here fail fucking hard. I mean if you're gunna put in the extra effort then do it right, its not hard.

I love Kreiks but for some reason Framboise is the only Lambic bars serve in the US, makes zero sense to me. Kriek was way better imo.

Lagers are boring, I'm starting to get to the point where I hardly even consider it possible for a beer to be labeled as a lager and be good. There is a shit ton of good beers in this thread, pick a page and try one. First page prolly has the most suggestions that you can easily find.

[Tricen]

Alright cool, thanks for the suggestions

[pahnphoenix]

with cigar city and i'd imagine others raising the profile of florida in the beer world and beer in florida, i'm sure you'll start seeing some bars that serve lambics and wild ales soon. in boston you can go to several places and get a world class wild ale from cali or oregon or NY or MA or belgium (eg lost abbey, cascade, ithaca, cisco, cantillon). NYC is still a bit behind the times, but they're getting there.

tricen beer recommendations... hard to say. you don't want a musty beer? hmm. you're in florida? i'm not sure what breweries distribute there. i bet dogfish head does... try 90min IPA? maybe cigar city jai alai IPA too. one eye opener is to try a really good belgian beer like chimay blue (my "craft beer" eye opener actually). nothing like what you expect from beer.

edit: p.s. yeah i like tremens a lot more than nocturnum. they're pretty different though... and i like a lot of other breweries belgian strong dark ales more than i like tremens.

[Tokitoki]

If he doesnt drink beer I wouldnt suggest the DFH 90 minute IPA. I'm sure he'd find it too bitter.

[pahnphoenix]

maybe. it has a lot of malty sweetness to balance it though; it was actually the beer that made IPAs in general make sense to me. (shrug)

duvel's another beer that's usually very palatable no matter how into beer you are. not the cheapest beer around, but also pretty easy to find.

[isladar]

Lagers are boring, I'm starting to get to the point where I hardly even consider it possible for a beer to be labeled as a lager and be good.

Hey now. I know this thread is turning into the most obscure crafty-type beers out there, but there is definitely a place for lager. Maybe it's the beer-equivalent of a coca-cola, as opposed to champagne, but sometimes you just want a soda, and it tastes great for that. Spaten Oktoberfest! if you wanna get Euro-fancy. I love lager, and there's good lager out there.