Favorite brews?

[N80]

I like them al....well, not PBR....that stuff is nasty.

But I drink beer for different reasons, none of which is intoxication, and the reason for drinking a beer determines what I like.

When I'm just thirsty and want a beer I drink Corona 90% of the time. Throw in a Bud or Coors for the other 10%

When I want a beer with a meal, the beer will depend on the type of food I'm eating.

In cold weather, or sometimes as 'dessert' I like a good thick stout. Guiness is fine but Mackeson is my favorite by far. It is a bit sweet and has an almost dark chocolate-like flavor to it. I like a number of the Sam Adams beers to.

But most of the time its Corona.

[Runner]

I toured a local brewery recently (Boulevard) and it was the only place I've ever been where they encouraged their employees to drink on the job. Seriously.

House fridge, I keep St. Pauli Girl, Guinness, regular Bud, and some kind of light beer, usually Milwaukee's Best or Natural Light (hey, when I want light beer, I want it LIGHT).

The shop fridge usually just has regular Bud and maybe a bottle of Wild Turkey. Nice to be able to just grab a cold one and have a seat in the shop in a lawn chair after mowing or other tractor work.

As for the hard stuff, I like Canadian Mist for mixing and single malt Scotch for sipping. Not smart enough to know what kind of single malt is the best, but if it burns going down, it's got to be good, right?

[dmccarty]

I'm surprised none of you guys mentioned apple cider as a favourite brew?

You won't see many ciders in the US. And what you will find in most stores I have been in is super sugar saturated cider. The stuff makes me sick it is so sweet. There some good ciders over here but you have to hunt them down. And they are expensive. They are not in the mainstream grocery stores at all.

Cider used to be The American Drink in the 1900s. I'm hoping that there will be a good apple crop this year in my area. We got hit with a freeze in the spring of 2007 that took out many of the fruit tree crops. I wanted to get some cider from a local orchard and make my own cider. Maybe this year.....

I would like to grow my own apples and make cider. Have to win the lottery to have the time. I always wanted to make my own beer but nowadays there is such good beer even in the rural grocery stores that I'm not sure its worth the time and expense. We even have a local brewary in my little town. They make some danged good beer.

I don't like the Bud/Busch stuff. To light for me. Might as well carbonate some water. Yuengling is ok but I prefer Saranac or Sam Adams. My store has Becks, Stella's, Fosters(really cheap lately), Guiness, St. Paulis, Brown Ale, etc. They have a danged good selection. I was at the check out and somehow me and the cashier started talking beer. I said the store had a pretty good selection. They guy in front of me said they had a poor selection and was adament about it. They guy must be spoiled because I can remember when stores pretty much had Bud, Busch, Shaffers, etc. MAYBE you might have a Hienikan.

Can't remember if it was Saranac or Adams but they hvae a Summer Ale or some such that is really really good. I wanted it and they wife brought home Yuenglings which is ok but I really wanted that Summer brew...

Later,
Dan

[ragkar]

Hard apple cider

[N80]

You know, I often hear people say that 'American' beer is too thin compared to English and German beers. Obviously, this is true in many cases, but it just seems to be different beers for different reasons, as I mentioned above. I love to sip a good thick stout with friends, especially on a cold day. But I can't imagine swigging a big thick foamy glass of Guiness after hopping off the tractor when its 98 degrees outside. That job is for a cold thin pilsner.

And I think pilsners and lagers were designed to be served cold and quiching a thirst.

To me, its a matter of selecting the right tool for the right job. All tools are good, but you still want the right one for the task at hand.

[JDGREEN4ME]

Molson Golden Ale and/or Crown Royal "on the rocks"

[dmccarty]

Originally Posted by ragkar

Hard apple cider

Yep, that is what I'm talking about.

Later,
Dan

[dmccarty]

I just don't like the Bud/Busch beers. Never have even when I was a wee lad and my dad let me have a sip!

But if someone likes it they should drink it.

I have to say one of the best beers I have had was a PBR.

I was 15 or so, paddling a rented canoe at a spring in FLA. Someone had tipped a canoe over and lost some PBR. We found a can floating, cooled by the spring water. Good stuff for a 15 year old.

Later,
Dan

[dbdartman]

I've pretty much stuck with Sam Adams Pale Ale for the last 8 or 9 years. Light, yet flavorful. Between my brother & myself, we go through about a case a year. For "sippin'" I'll have a Glen Livet single malt, neat, please! Been a while though. Last fifth I bought cost $20.

[Chuck52]

The local brewpub makes good stuff. I especially like one of their two versions of IPA....one is really hoppy, which I like, while the other is less so. Their chili beer is good, too. For bottled beer, I usually buy Boulevard out of KC or Shlafley from St. Louis. One or the other is often on sale, and all their brews are OK. The Shlafley APA is a favorite again because of the high hop content. Pyramid's IPA (Thunderhead?) is good, too. I really don't care much for stouts, but Boulevard's Bully Porter is a good sub for me.

I made some decent cider a couple of years ago, but last year the late freeze did in all the local apples. I have about 14 different apples and crabapples in my "orchard", and several of those were selected specifically for their cider potential. In a few years I should have enough of a crop to start making cider every year....at least that's the plan. SWMBO even says I can buy a cider mill and press when that time gets here! I agree that the common supermarket ciders available here are way too sweet. My own cider was about right as to sweetness, though it tended to go very dry in the bottle, and get very, very carbonated. It is difficult to get the sweetness and carbonation unless you keg.

Chuck