Beer! Glorious Beer Thread!

[Norellicus]

Anybody been to/heard of these guys? Are they any good?

http://www.capcitybrew.com/index.php

[Tagus]

First beer I had in my life. Had one the other night and I swear I heard angels singing... it's still the perfect dark beer imo.

[Darlantan]

... hoegaarden is eclipsed by better instances of the style though it isn't terrible...

Hey Pahn, could you please say some of those beers that share style with Hoegaarden but are much better? I am a big fan of this one, and would love to try any of those other great options. Preferable if they are crafted in EU, as sadly I cant get a hold of most beers you guys talk about where I live.

[Moss]

Yea that draft list was really a big head scratcher. It seems like such a waste to have such a huge amount of beers on draft and end up with that list. I figured you would be able to tear it apart better than I would so didn't reply first lol. I'm guessing all the Abita is because of being in Louisiana...they're not amazing, but Turbodog is pretty solid as is some of the others.

Make sure to try the Rogue Dead Guy Ale, and the other Rogue beers, Moss. If you liked Tremens then Dead Guy should be right up your alley.

Yeah, I have had all of the Abita offerings multiple times since they have it everywhere, so knowing how you guys feel about those is good for a frame of reference.

Thanks for the suggestion, will check out the Rogues for sure.

[Konohamaru]

Hey Pahn, could you please say some of those beers that share style with Hoegaarden but are much better? I am a big fan of this one, and would love to try any of those other great options. Preferable if they are crafted in EU, as sadly I cant get a hold of most beers you guys talk about where I live.

Where do you live?

Hoegaarden was a gateway beer for me. Should probably be able to get a hold of Allagash White. It's pretty popular most places so it shouldn't be too hard to get a hold of if you can get Hoegaarden.

[Darlantan]

Spain.

I will try to find or maybe order that one, I dont remember having seen it but then again I might see it everywhere now that someone has pointed it out for me. Most of the stuff you can easily find here are european beer, and even there, it seems like its always the same few good beers that get exported here, not really enough variety when I know for sure there is much more out there. I have got dozens of american beers' names now in my mind but will never see them around, will have to save up and order a bunch sometime.

[pahnphoenix]

Hey Pahn, could you please say some of those beers that share style with Hoegaarden but are much better? I am a big fan of this one, and would love to try any of those other great options. Preferable if they are crafted in EU, as sadly I cant get a hold of most beers you guys talk about where I live.

infuriatingly, i wrote a big reply to this last night, then lost it due to some sort of stupidity / mixup. apologies that i'm just writing a list this time [edit: well, i was going to just write a list, but settled on just pasting out huge links instead...], falling asleep:

st. bernardus witbier, http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/259/7879 , sounds like the most likely candidate.

there's also a chance you get japan's hitachino nest witbier, http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/697/2013 . good, but overpriced here in america.

allagash white and southampton double white are the first witbiers i think of, but they're both from the US. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/4/59 , and http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1628/9755

you should probably also look into weizenbocks and hefeweizens from germany. they might swing more toward banana / clove, but they're also wheat beers and they have some of the refreshing citrusy flavors like belgian wheat beers like hoegaarden.

3 top weizenbocks
vitus http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/252/35625/?ba=Pahn
aventinus http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/72/224/?ba=Pahn
ayinger weizenbock http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/39/37192/?ba=Pahn

chances are very good that hefeweizens by the same breweries are equally good, though i've not tried any of them actually (eg i would imagine this one is especially good http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/252/731 )

i don't think hoegaarden is a bad beer by any means, just that it's a little bland... it's kind of like leffe blonde http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/470/2137 in that it suggests some of the great flavors of other beers in the style, but then holds back on them. also, while i can't rattle off too many world class belgian-style witbiers from the USA, they're pretty common in brewpubs or even from homebrewers, so i've had a lot that make me not really pine for hoegaarden (which i did once like a lot more). i hate "i grew out of X" type comments when it comes to beer though; maybe you'll love hoegaarden forever, which is fine. (: what i'm saying is already annoying me.

re: leffe blonde, if you've not had it, you should try it. i think it's really mediocre, but it's pretty accessible (i think it's common all around europe, no?), and it's a good gateway to a great style ("belgian pale ale" and "belgian strong pale ale", http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/54 and http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/55 , which predictably have lots of great exemplars coming from belgium).

another style of beers to look into might be saisons http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/129 , which are often as refreshing as witbiers. saison dupont http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/637/1717 and fantôme saison http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/738/5057/?ba=Pahn are about the best i've had, which is a pretty mainstream-y opinion to adopt... though in this style, the beers vary so wildly that you never know which you might prefer.

a lot of saisons use the wild yeast brettanomyces ( http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/ind.../Brettanomyces ) , which is also used in the belgian trappist beer orval ( http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/37/129/?ba=Pahn a "belgian pale ale" that's really just a beer in its own category, occasionally imitated-- http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1549/4318 --around the world, and totally different than like leffe blonde), as well as in lambics or wild ales. lambics have kind of elaborate brewing processes, but the relevant fact about them is that they're usually spontaneously fermented, meaning that instead of putting brewer's yeast into the pre-fermented beer ("wort"), you let wild yeast and bacteria in the air infect the wort and ferment its sugars into alcohol. this usually yields all kinds of weird, funky, sour, tangy flavors. if you develop a taste for that kind of beer, cantillon http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/388 and drie fonteinen http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2216 , both from belgian, are probably the most popular breweries to look into (not sure if they'd be exported to spain or not, but at the very least i'd expect maybe you can find lindemans gueuze cuvée rené http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/187/6104/?ba=Pahn , one of the more accessible lambics).

really not sure what the availability of these beers in spain is like... i'd bet a lot of trappist beers at least are there. tripels http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/58 could be another style to look into (characterized by kind of light, refreshing flavors, belgian yeast and the fruity esters it often imparts in beer... lots of tripels have kind of an apple flavor along with various other yeasty/fruity things going on). i'd bet you can get chimay white http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/215/1346 or westmalle tripel http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/208/646 or achel's tripel http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/922/2948 .

final shot in the dark, maybe look around for some italian craft beers (i haven't had any, but i've heard they're good), like from baladin http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1675 or maybe del borgo http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/14046 . not sure about that, but could help. even more random shot in the dark, i wouldn't be surprised if you can find brewdog http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16315 from scotland, who make a range of very american-style craft beers.

hope this helps. sorry i don't know about any beer at all coming from spain, though here's the beeradvocate link to breweries and brewpubs in spain: http://beeradvocate.com/beerfly/list...id=0&brewery=Y

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edit: if you want to order some fancy beer but not pay shipping all the way from america, try some stuff from de struise in belgium perhaps (i'm just assuming the shipping is lower when it doesn't go overseas), here: http://beerinvest.eu/

struise makes great beers. incidentally, they make a beer the same style as hoegaarden, http://beerinvest.eu/index.php?main_...&products_id=1 . they also sell some other belgians, like de dolle stille nacht http://beerinvest.eu/index.php?main_...products_id=35 , which i just had http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/201/817/?ba=Pahn (didn't love it, but saw that it could be great to many people...). not sure what the prices are like; have to log in to see, and i don't have an account. i know a lot of americans use de struise's websop though.

i've apparently not reviewed any of struise's own beers, but i quite like pannepot http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/15237/34312 --which, by the way, USA residents, you can find in MA and maybe a few other states... probably NY and mayyyyyyybe CA... not really sure. would have to look up their distributor i suppose)

[Darlantan]

Wow, thank you very much for the nicely detailed answer, sir, and for daring to write it twice.

I will surely follow your advice and see where it takes me. Will get back to you when I start finding and trying all these beers that are new to me. Of all you mentioned, I have only had several belgian strong/regular pale ales, trappists dubbel and tripels, dunkelweizens, hefeweizens, kristalweizens (Duvel, Delirium, Leffe, Judas, La Guillotine, Trappist and la Trappe stuff, Chimay, Grimbergen, Franziskaner, Erdinger, Weihenstephaner, Paulaner, Hofbrau, ...) most of which are kind of common to see here, as you guessed, although I know I am missing some of the best on their categories, but that means it can only get better as I go deeper in the beer world.

[Zoolander]

Every time I start thinking I'm the shit when it comes to beer within my group of friends (which I am), I just check out a post by Pahn & remember I have so much further to go. You are what I imagine I'd be like if I had disposable income of any kind lol.

[pahnphoenix]

haha, thanks... just trying to spread the word about good beers. also, love BSing about beer and hearing about other beers from random people. i'm not rich or constantly drinking or anything, just have kind of an obsessive personality...

[pahnphoenix]

tonight's beer: Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen,

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/134/3...52a1fcab2b.jpg
(pic not taken by me ._.)

personally prefer this one by the same brewery. mentioning them both since rauchbiers are an interesting style, and incidentally should be easily available in the EU.

probably will continue the night with lagunitas imperial stout.

[Pirian]

That was a really good beer. My roommate and I have used it in cooking everything from burgers to pork chops, too

[Sirbacube]

Has anyone tried the Blue Moon Brewmasters Sampler? I've taken a strong liking to the Spring Blonde Wheat Ale but I wanted to see how these others stack up to it.

[Shiroikage]

tonight's beer: Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen,

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/134/3...52a1fcab2b.jpg
(pic not taken by me ._.)

personally prefer this one by the same brewery. mentioning them both since rauchbiers are an interesting style, and incidentally should be easily available in the EU.

probably will continue the night with lagunitas imperial stout.

Might have to check it out. I saw it at the liquor store today when I picked up this: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/285/776/

[Pirian]

Might have to check it out. I saw it at the liquor store today when I picked up this: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/285/776/

I liked that one, but it is very liquory. Definitely a sipper

[Shiroikage]

I liked that one, but it is very liquory. Definitely a sipper

It's a bit too sweet for my tastes, but it's certainly top notch.

[Tekki]

FML I bought the wrong case of beer tonight. 24 case of 16oz of Heineken LIGHT........ Trying to off this on craigslist now....

[Pirian]

FML I bought the wrong case of beer tonight. 24 case of 16oz of Heineken LIGHT........ Trying to off this on craigslist now....

Oooh you!

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gKAp88JBcL...lling-eyes.gif

[pahnphoenix]

suggestion to anyone who lives somewhere to which founders distributes: buy KBS when you can, and as much of it as you can. it's probably the best bourbon barrel aged stout i've ever had. puts bourbon county stout to shame.

[Pirian]

Roommate bought 2 six-packs of that when he randomly found it while we were out on St. Patrick's day, lol