What BEER(s) have you been drinking?

Mad Dog wrote:

Grudunza wrote:

Root... Mug or A&W.

:oP

Barq's has bite.

And caffeine.

Michael Barnes wrote:

I like the hops, but the ridiculous "oh my god can you believe how many hops we use!" IPAs don't really appeal to me.

The more inaccessible they make it, the more the elites flock to it. Where have we seen that before?

You really see this kind of attitude in some of the breweries like Stone that tout the extreme bitterness of their IPAs as a selling point. I mean, their ultra-hopped IPA is called "Arrogant Bastard" for a reason. I mean, you've got to be a true beer conniseur to like it, right? Sorry, I'd drink a Bud light over a Stone IPA. It at least tastes somewhat like a beer.

A-fucking-men. It's basically IMHO a way to sit down and drink a beer that someone who is new to the beer drinking scene won't like. Then you can sit on your high horse and chuckle to yourself about the newbies.

Gary Sax wrote:

Michael Barnes wrote:

I like the hops, but the ridiculous "oh my god can you believe how many hops we use!" IPAs don't really appeal to me.

The more inaccessible they make it, the more the elites flock to it. Where have we seen that before?

You really see this kind of attitude in some of the breweries like Stone that tout the extreme bitterness of their IPAs as a selling point. I mean, their ultra-hopped IPA is called "Arrogant Bastard" for a reason. I mean, you've got to be a true beer conniseur to like it, right? Sorry, I'd drink a Bud light over a Stone IPA. It at least tastes somewhat like a beer.

A-fucking-men. It's basically IMHO a way to sit down and drink a beer that someone who is new to the beer drinking scene won't like. Then you can sit on your high horse and chuckle to yourself about the newbies.

Because Michael Barnes and Gary Sax don't like hoppy beers, those who do are elitist snobs looking down on those poor slobs who don't have "refined taste". What a bunch of crap.

Yeah, last night my wife, who I've been married to for sixteen years, and I were trying to impress each other over who could actually stomach a Sierra Nevada Torpedo, all the while laughing at those who were drinking Keystone Light.

I'm going to go to Redrum Burger this afternoon so I can chuckle at McDonalds' customers.

Actually, I'm a newbie to beer...I've had a strange past with liquor of any kind. From 15-22, I was totally straight edge. I didn't wear a hockey mask and I never did like Slapshot (although I still love SS Decontrol and Minor Threat), but I was all about the no booze, no drugs thing. I ignored the no sex part.

Then, from 22-28, I drank a lot. Mostly "gentlemen's liquor", like brandy and whiskey. Somewhere in that period I also got into those suicidal, sobriety-annihilating drinks like liquid cocaine (Jager, Goldschlager, 151) and Mind Erasers.

From 29-33, it was back to straight edge. Drank almost nothing except for a rare snifter of really rare brandy or something.

But I never liked beer. But then, for some reason, about six months ago, something clicked and I really, really wanted a beer. Now, I try to have a different beer 4-5 times a week. Something about my taste has changed.

BTW- whoever it was that was talking up Brooklyn Brewery's varieties- _well done_. I picked up their Brooklyn Lager over the weekend, and I think it's the best lager I've ever had. _Perfect_ mix of malt and hops.

I do think that the ultra-hops beers are kind of status thing...I don't doubt that some folks really like them, but they're marketed toward beer snobs. If you go on any of the beer review sites, IPAs carry the day over most other styles. Because they're harder for the average beer drinker to drink. And some of them, even the top rated ones, taste _awful_. When maximum bitterness is advertised as a selling point, that's kind of weird to me.

IPA is a traditional style, sure. But it's kind of been abused, I think. A standard, stock-in-trade IPA can be good. But "Big Hoppy Monster", "Hopicidal Maniac", "Hopocalypse Now", et. al...that's not very much like what an IPA ought to be.

Of course, I am the newbie, the amateur here...correct me if I'm wrong.

Brooklyn Brewery makes some good stuff. I enjoy their Monster Ale and I believe they make a chocolate stout I recall was pretty good.

Barnes, Beer is a slippery slope. First you're tolerating Lite Beers. Than you'll move up to Regular Beers and some Micro Brews and Imports next thing you know you'll be getting free Super Hoppy IPA beers in the mail to review.

Cheers

BTW- whoever it was that was talking up Brooklyn Brewery's varieties- _well done_. I picked up their Brooklyn Lager over the weekend, and I think it's the best lager I've ever had. _Perfect_ mix of malt and hops.

That was me.

I thought the Brooklyn Lager was OK. It's good, but basically not anything I don't get from the Boston Lager. Try their Pennant Ale '55, the Brooklyn Brown, or their chocolate stout if you want some really good brews.

Usually I have something more interesting to drink, but tonight we just had some Busch...it has such a, shall we say, distinct taste.

Space Ghost wrote:

Usually I have something more interesting to drink, but tonight we just had some Busch...it has such a, shall we say, distinct taste.

Keystone. The beer in a can that tastes like beer in a shoebox.

(gawd no, I haven't been drinking that stuff. But "distinct taste" reminded me of being poor.)

Michael Barnes wrote:

Of course, I am the newbie, the amateur here...correct me if I'm wrong.

That does it. Gamefest in January is being renamed to fucking BEER-WITH-OCCASIONAL-GAMINGFEST.


Book that shit, Barnes.

Count me in! I usually buy, y'know.

Pabst blue ribon for me


LOTR Freak )

It's tough getting good work with this economy. So sometimes you have to thing at work you'd rather not do. Today, I had to drink flavored beers.

Yesterday, I received this email at work:
Please indicate if you can taste flavored beer tomorrow.
List the Flavored Malt Beverages and Flavored Beer you drink and how often.

So today I had to drink 8 shots of flavored beer at 1:00 and 8 shots of flavored beer at 2:00.

You may have summer off, Steve "I wish I could drink beer for living but instead I have to teach brats how to figure paint" Avery but at least I get to drink beer at work.

Are IPA's the new Danny Choo? I wonder if the breweries would send me free review cases of their beer I would like them better. I dunno, I've been drinking beer for over ten years. I find that simplicity is what I prefer. Not that my preference is weighted more than anyone else. If I wasn't dead broke I wouldn't drink Hamm's and Clan MacGregor Scotch. But light skunk ale's like Beck's and St. Pauli's are pretty good. Gouden Haven is also a nice simple drink.