Beer! Glorious Beer Thread!

[Ashmada]

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.

Yeah, no head at all, we'd turn that down, no question.
In Ireland, they exagerate a bit. Some barmen there will go as far as making a shamrock pattern on top of the beer for tourists.
Adds nothing to the taste, obviously, it's just there to look pretty.

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.

As a metalhead, I tend to view Lager like I view Metalcore (and other -cores): mass-produced half-assed products that are aimed for mass consumption in large gatherings.
They're not very good, but they do have a niche to fill: you can't serve Chimay in a big party for the same reason you can't blast Lykathea Aflame; that's where Budweiser (for you; Jupiler or Stella for us)/Lamb of god come in.

As long as it's not a light Lager/UK Lager (those 3% ABV watery abominations), it shouldn't be too offensive, though.

[Norellicus]

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.

Yeah, the 90min IPA had a pretty good flavor. I think the finish would turn him off though, but I guess that depends on how you process flavor profiles. For me, a wide swing from one to another doesn't work, especially if the swing goes into the bitter aspect like the 90min does (compared to something like stella, which hits you with the bitter punch up front and then evens out).

[Zoolander]

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.

I should have qualified this a bit I suppose. I will say I do enjoy Oktoberfest/Marzen style beers just fine, assuming they are done right. They are grouped with the lagers but meh...I just don't even think of them as such. I'm not really a fan of the Sam Adams Oktoberfest but Spaten/Hofbrau etc Oktoberfests are nice.

I drink plenty of lagers like Miller Light, Yuengling, etc, but that is because I am a poor college student who goes out & gets drunk 3 times a week. If there is a drink special I'm taking it. Doesn't mean I was enjoying them though. $15 for a pitcher of Arrogant Bastard at a local dive bar has gotten me pretty trashed a few times though, talk about an awesome beer to have at a small unassuming bar.

Edit: I'd probably wait on diving into any IPAs until hes developed his pallet a little more, although suppose it wont kill him. 90min is my go to beer for introducing people to IPAs.

[isladar]

Don't ask me why, but I love Molson Canadian. I know it's mass-produced, but sometimes that's exactly what you want. Kind of like getting a craving for junkfood. There are different beers for different kinds of drinking. My best friend loves Lambics, but I'll sip them like a cordial. Weissebiers for when I want to do nothing but enjoy the taste. I know everyone is all horny for darks and stouts, but I swear, good Bavarian wheatbeer is the best thing on the planet. And then there are times when I want to watch some hackey and drink a cuppatchree berz.

[Tokitoki]

I should have qualified this a bit I suppose. I will say I do enjoy Oktoberfest/Marzen style beers just fine, assuming they are done right. They are grouped with the lagers but meh...I just don't even think of them as such. I'm not really a fan of the Sam Adams Oktoberfest but Spaten/Hofbrau etc Oktoberfests are nice.

Edit: I'd probably wait on diving into any IPAs until hes developed his pallet a little more, although suppose it wont kill him. 90min is my go to beer for introducing people to IPAs.

I agree with the Oktoberfest statement, as well as the opinion of Sam Adams. Sam isnt my favorite, but Spaten does it well. Theres an Oktoberfest at a state park near me where they serve Spaten for $9 a liter. Not horrible price. Always go with the Oktoberfest.

Also, some people just dont like IPAs. My girlfriend is a beer drinker, but she doesnt like IPAs. I think a lot of people are turned off when they hit the bitter end of them. Some come on much too strong.

[Pirian]

Coors Light is my guilty "pleasure" haven't actually drank it in close to a year, but if it's really late at night and we have to go to a gas station to pick something up, that's the thing we get. Like I said though, that hasn't happened in a long while because we've made stockpiles.

When I started drinking beers, all I tasted in an IPA was the bitterness. Now I've basically come to a point where my pallet is accustomed to the bitterness, and I get the whole range of flavors in the beer

[Norellicus]

This will probably not come as any surprise to the connoisseurs here, but fwiw

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale: MEH. It's a get-drunk-beer. Nothing remotely interesting about it.

[Pirian]

The only good beers I've had from Sierra Nevada have been their seasonal's:

Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale
Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere Harvest Wet Hop Ale
Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale


Now when I say these are good beers, I mean they are good. It's funny how it works like that, but despite the lackluster quality of their year-round stuff, these seasonal's are 'top in their class' good

[Ohemgee]

Trying out Doghead Fish for the first time. Not a fan.

[Viq]

Speaking of seasonal beers, anyone else can't wait for Halloween because of this stuff?

http://www.hairofthedogdave.com/wp/w...umpkinhead.jpg

[Zoolander]

Which Dogfish Head? 90min? There are a ton of good DFH beers of various types, gotta be more specific. Some people just straight up don't like IPAs, but most people I know just don't have any sort of pallet developed. Just thinking about the Palo Santo mmmm...blah, I want one.

Don't think I've ever had a Sierra Nevada seasonal, just stopped drinking them after having their mediocre year round beers which are just expensive enough to never be worth my time really. Guess I'll have to give em a shot sometime, although I've never been that into the usual seasonal beers (especially winter beers, fuck that noise). I don't recall being all that into the Shipyard Pumpkin...I know I've had it before but could be mistaken. Pretty much every pumpkin beer I've had has been a disappointment and doesn't taste like friggen pumpkin, which is annoying because I love that flavor.

[Pirian]

Oh speaking of seasonal beers!

Bells Hopslam! GET IT! The time is now :D

http://amm002.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/dsc04016.jpg

http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/bells-hopslam/35488/

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/287/17112

[Zoolander]

lmao funny coincidence, I actually typed out asking if Hopslam was out yet in my above post and just deleted it because it reminds me of the now ex that introduced it to me. Imma have to go get some, forget her lol. Total Wine better have some. The Oracle was good, but not quite the same as its big brother.

Any of you beer drinkers who sit at the grownups table should definitely have it. 10% abv Double IPA, so freaking good and generally pretty reasonably priced for a 6 pack.

[Darlantan]

Here, I can only find european beers. Of course, they are not bad at all, but it kind of sucks I now got all these nice references to american beers you guys made in this thread every day, and cant find them anywhere. Guess I will have to make a better research, or have some of them shipped.

[pahnphoenix]

i'm having my first hopslam tomorrow actually. this guy at a local shop shares various trades with me and alerts me to new releases (he's getting hopslam from a trade; bell's doesn't distribute here in CT). i get him back with shit i find in boston and NYC when i can.

re: sierra nevada, bigfoot is the shit, especially with some age on it (i think stores are just getting 2011 bigfoot now). was disappointed with their 30th anniversary grand cru, but i liked the bock, liked the barleywine more, and loved the stout (which is probably mostly gone from stores now, but a sierra nevada rep i talked to told me they're probably going to rerelease it since the response to it was really strong). all 4 bottles are "30th anniversary" beers, and they're difficult to tell apart from the labels. i also like glissade, but i suspect it's a little tame for many of you. bigfoot is the beer though. try it now, and you'll probably like it... but put away a few bottles in an at least somewhat cool and dark place, then try it in 1 to 2 years and be amazed at how it's turned into an entirely different beer. fresh it tastes like a somewhat malty double IPA. aged it tastes like a barleywine deeper and richer than old ruffian or hog heaven (but not as deep as hair of the dog fred, probably my favorite american beer). it's great.

never been a big fan of shipyard (to be honest, i usually refer to them as "shityard"), but if you like something that's all that matters. if you like their pumpkin beer, you might want to try dogfish head's punkin, or southern tier's pumking if you can find it. can't think of too many other good pumpkin beers, though pumpkin isn't really my thing anyway.

re: lagers and oktoberfests/marzens, there's good and bad, mild and bold. i'm not usually into lagers i guess, but i also lean strongly toward belgian and british ales (shrug). incidentally, i like sam adams octoberfest. as for guilty pleasure beers, i don't have any i'm afraid. red stripe isn't bad with food sometimes. i don't mind some mexican beers (with limes, which would make most BA users gasp, though so would drinking most mexican beer in the first place), best probably being negra modelo. shit like that usually goes better with food than on its own. really though, if i'm not drinking "craft" beer, i'm drinking either coffee or water. don't usually have occasion to really want the light adjunct lagers... if i'm just trying to get drunk, there's liquor for that (or cheap red wine, probably the best taste + alcohol content + price combo you can find).

[Norellicus]

BA confuses me sometimes. I had some Bell's White Winter Ale and it was basically water with alcohol...yet they rate it B+. It totally doesn't taste anything like the descriptions they put up for it...

[pahnphoenix]

BA confuses me sometimes. I had some Bell's White Winter Ale and it was basically water with alcohol...yet they rate it B+. It totally doesn't taste anything like the descriptions they put up for it...

BA is often pretty inflated, and this is doubly so for hyped/beloved breweries like bells, founders, russian river, etc. the beer you mention actually averages a B currently, which in most BAs' eyes is more like a C-. it's kind of like grad school, where a straight B may as well be an F.

(my own ratings aren't like that; a C might be decent, and a B might be pretty good, but i do generally rate kind of high. i also don't buy many beers such that it's unlikely i'll enjoy them though. shit's expensive, i'm not going to pay $5 for a bomber of brewery-i've-never-heard-of's take on style-i-don't-like. it shouldn't come as a surprise that when i try brewery-i-love's take on style-i-can't-get-enough-of, the score turns out high).

[Eratosthenes]

I just purchased a six pack of Hopslam because you guys were raving about it. For $17, it better be awesome.

[pahnphoenix]

I just purchased a six pack of Hopslam because you guys were raving about it. For $17, it better be awesome.

you won't be disappointed. if the price is killing you though, notice that you paid 23.6~ cents an ounce for that beer, the equivalent of a $5.20~ 22oz bomber. if you're drank a fair amount of craft beer, i'd say the chances are around 99% that you've paid more than $5.20 for a bomber of worse beer than the hopslam you just bought.

[Eratosthenes]

Yeah, but I don't usually drink IPAs. I just opened one; it reminds me of grapefruit and isn't really as bitter as I thought it might be.