Another Beer Thread

[Moros]

And you would think that most knowledgable brewers would know this. However, a majority of the Continental lagers are shipped to the US in green bottles, making them pretty much undrinkable. You have to search for a store that keeps them in the case boxes, picking up a six-pack just sitting on the shelves is a big mistake. Most British ales get shipped in brown bottles, and are generally free of teh skunk.

Sadly and strangely some people have the misconception that green bottles mean better quality. Hence some brewers specifically chose them even though they are aware of it.

[Centurion1]

any czech beer fans here?

[Fragony]

any czech beer fans here?

Yes, nobody makes better pilsner.

[Moros]

Yes, nobody makes better pilsner.

Indeed, Czech pils in general beats every other pils out there, whatever country it may be from.

[Moros]

Some of my personal favourites are:




Delirium Tremens: Strong pale ale (8,5%) voted best beer of 1998 and 2006, with reason IMO. It's the beer I usually drink when I want to spend a relaxed evening or afternoon or sometimes a few as starters for a good night out. It has a more rounder/smoother taste that as well has more depth than the usual duvel for example. (Don't forget to turn the bottle though before pouring out the last bit.) It's my favourite beer actually.


Gulden draak: Decent average strong dark beer. Has quite a high alcohol percentage 10,5%, which actually doesn't do the taste that good. Still a good beer.

Rochefort 8: Together with Chimay Blue it's my typical choice when in the mood for a standard trappist dubbel. Personally I think these two are the best choices when it comes to the trappist dubbel (well West vleteren is up there too, but it's just way too hard to come by these days, if you do get your hands on it, let it lay in your cellar for at least a year or two. Though let's not overreact, it's a bit like the dark knight or avatar more hype than greatness). While la Trappe and Westmalle are more than decent as well, I just can't understand why one would pay to drink an Achel or an Orval really. Both also make a cheese which goes along fine with the beer and a game of chess or a good conversation.



La Trappe Quadrupel: Yes it's a Dutch beer, but this is a really good beer. But then again it's part of the typical Belgian trappist history (though this has been contested, which caused the beer not to be recognised from 2000 to 2005 or something). If you try a dutch beer, avoid the pils, this one should be most definately it.

Rochefort 10: Stronger variant of Rochefort 8, with a stronger taste and alcohol percentage of a little over 11% IIRC. Great beer, but you might not want to drink to many of it at the same time.

Westmalle trippel: My first and usually only choice when it comes to blond trappist. The taste is full and has more than depth enough and yet for a trappist amazingly refreshing. If it's hot or feel like a refreshing drink, but don't want to go for the sissy gueze or pils, this is the way to go.



Tripel Karmeliet: A newer beer, that taste like an old traditional abbey beer but then made unique by it's use of Oat and Wheat. Has been voted the best beer of 2009, if I'm not mistaken, and it's popularity and fame has grown immensly since. I've always tasted it from the bottle but soon my bar will put it on the tap and I can't wait to try it out. A great beer that everyone really should try. Probably the single best thing that originated from the 90's, well except for the.org that is.

Geuze Boon: personally my favourite geuze, forget about those sweat candy like commercial ones. Geuze has to have sour refreshing taste. Other recommendation is 3 fonteinen. You should also try out Kriek (Lambic) from Boon, which still brew Lambic as it should be, not like soda or Bellevue.

Brugse Witte: Personally I'm not a fan of 'wittekes', white beer, but if there's something most people agree on, who know a bit about beer, it's that this one is rather better than the more famous Hoegaarden.



Rodenbach: Dubbed as 'the most refreshing beer' by Michael jackson (RIP), no not the singer, is definitely one of the most unique beers from Belgium. It's a you like it or you hate it kinda beer. Personally I like it. It's something one should have tasted just because it's so unique, though it might not please you at all.

Deugniet: Comes from a small brewery and isn't that much known it is however what you expect and want from a strong pale ale, but with a hint of apple. I've been to the Horecabeurs two years in a row know (where most breweries come to promote their beers) and both times it was voted by me and my friends/companions as the best beer. My personal tip for everyone to try out.

Hertog Jan: The second Dutch beer in this list, which is not really included for it's outstanding taste or for it being better than other Belgian beers of it's kind (de oud bruin family), but to demonstrate that in fact there are decent beer in the Netherlands as well.



De Koninck: a Speciale Belge beer, a tradition that started as a counterreaction to the importation and increase of popularity of Pils. Universities of Belgian held a contest with the goal of making a new beer back then and this was the deserved winner. In style not unlike oud bruin, but like pils a more refreshing lighter taste. So one could call it a pils-oudbruin hybrid.

Standard Abbey beers: Maredsous, Grimbergen and Leffe are probably the most known of these. Technically though Leffe isn't an Abbey beer any more as it is brawn at the Stella brewery at Leuven and not much of the original recipe is left either. (If there's one thing I hate more than those idiot Brazilians in the Inbev grou it's their recipe changing and commecialising ways). Grimbergen is my personal favourite here by far.

Cristal 1928: Of the bigger, more commercial pils from Belgium only one brand actually dares to use some more flavour and that is Cristal Pils. While the other big brands like Stella, jupiler (both using the same recipe these days thanks to Inbev), Primus and Maes are practically the same and ones preferance would be more psychological or based upon cleaner taptubing, Cristal has a more bitter and fuller taste. Cristal 1928 goes even further, it goes back to using muck of the original old recipe and hence moves away from the more modern commercialising recipe's. While it isn't the greatest thing, it surely is fun to try out and not bad for to use for spending a night out without having to go over to flavourless pilsner.



Moortgat: known for their commercial hit Duvel and their cooperation with the Nazi's, but it's actually their rather unkown Pils that is actually worth it. While Duvel and 'groene' or 'kleine' Duvel is much more known, both being good beers in their own right, the Bel pils might actually be the best Belgium Pils. Perhaps the only one who could dream of competing (not winning though) with Czech pils.

La chouffe: Great, great beer, blond and 8%. I'm getting lazy so I'll just leave it at that.

Beers one should avoid:


Hoegaarden Rosé and Hoegaarden Citron: worst things ever to come out of a brewery since guinnes

Achel: It's not because you are a trappist, you're necessarily any good. There are 6 other brands to choose from that produce better beer...well except Orval.

Barbar and Orval: two beers that have more aroma than taste. While I don't mind the first, I really need some of the latter as well.

sweet Geuze or Lambik: liquid candy, yuk!

[AlexanderSextus]

I Love BEER! I even brew my own. My latest was an English Special Bitter. My friends literally JUST tried it and by all accounts it was a great beer. In a 5 gallon batch, I used 2 cans extra light malt extract, a half a pound of Aromatic malt, a half a pound of crystal 40L malt, a half a pound of victory malt, a quarter pound of special roast malt, and a quarter pound of crystal 60L malt. I used an ounce of East Kent Goldings hops (kentish hops are a MUST for english ales) for flavor and an ounce of Fuggle hops for aroma. I used a London ESB liquid yeast. It came out a nice pretty amber color. Bottled with 4 ounces of corn sugar for carbonation.

My Favorite Beers:

Yuengling Lager. It's not the BEST beer out there, but it's FAR better than the standard CRAP beer we have here in America. It's also quite affordable. This beer represents what was brewed in the US before Prohibition. Prohibition caused the smaller breweries that made good beer to go out of business. Only the crappy breweries, Anheuser-Busch, Miller, Pabst and Coors survived.

Originally, American beer was characterized by the fact that we had inferior malted barley compared to Europe, so we would add just enough corn to lighten the body of the beer and create enough enzymes to ferment the barley. We made good beer from crappy ingredients.

Nowadays beers like budweiser (yuck) use RICE as the main ingredient and pabst (meh) uses up to 75% corn in their beer. No wonder they suck so bad. Even Japanese rice lagers use more barley.



Czechvar is the American name for the original Budweiser Budvar brewed in the Czech Republic. Stupid greedy American beer companies prohibited them from using the name Budweiser in the US. This is one of the best beers I have ever had. Great smooth lager taste with a nice malty flavor and strong Noble Hop taste upfront. I encourage everyone to try this one. Not Cheap in the US.



Sam Adams Noble Pils is an American made version of a European Pilsner, and uses the same Noble Hops, imported from Europe. It's definitely up there with Czechvar, Although being an American version is much Hoppier than would be expected of a European beer. This one has a kick. It's not the same as Czechvar, it's less malty but it's a very drinkable beer. Strong Tettnang hop flavor throughout with some maltiness in the background.



I Love Love Love Love Guinness. This is what i mostly drink in the wintertime.

We've all had guinness, I would think. Super strong roasted malt taste, with noticeable hop flavor. Creamy head with a thick mouthfeel.

[Ice]

I Love BEER! I even brew my own. My latest was an English Special Bitter. My friends literally JUST tried it and by all accounts it was a great beer. In a 5 gallon batch, I used 2 cans extra light malt extract, a half a pound of Aromatic malt, a half a pound of crystal 40L malt, a half a pound of victory malt, a quarter pound of special roast malt, and a quarter pound of crystal 60L malt. I used an ounce of East Kent Goldings hops (kentish hops are a MUST for english ales) for flavor and an ounce of Fuggle hops for aroma. I used a London ESB liquid yeast. It came out a nice pretty amber color. Bottled with 4 ounces of corn sugar for carbonation.

My Favorite Beers:

Yuengling Lager. It's not the BEST beer out there, but it's FAR better than the standard CRAP beer we have here in America. It's also quite affordable. This beer represents what was brewed in the US before Prohibition. Prohibition caused the smaller breweries that made good beer out of business. Only the crappy breweries, Anheuser-Busch, Miller, Pabst and Coors survived.

Originally, American beer was characterized by the fact that we had inferior malted barley compared to Europe, so we would add just enough corn to lighten the body of the beer and create enough enzymes to ferment the barley. We made good beer from crappy ingredients.

Nowadays beers like budweiser (yuck) use RICE as the main ingredient and pabst (meh) uses up to 75% corn in their beer. No wonder they suck so bad. Even Japanese rice lagers use more barley.



Czechvar is the American name for the original Budweiser Budvar brewed in the Czech Republic. Stupid greedy American beer companies prohibited them from using the name Budweiser in the US. This is one of the best beers I have ever had. Great smooth lager taste with a nice malty flavor and strong Noble Hop taste upfront. I encourage everyone to try this one. Not Cheap in the US.



Sam Adams Noble Pils is an American made version of a European Pilsner, and uses the same Noble Hops, imported from Europe. It's definitely up there with Czechvar, Although being an American version is much Hoppier than would be expected of a European beer. This one has a kick. It's not the same as Czechvar, it's less malty but it's a very drinkable beer. Strong Tettnang hop flavor throughout with some maltiness in the background.



I Love Love Love Love Guinness. This is what i mostly drink in the wintertime.

We've all had guinness, I would think. Super strong roasted malt taste, with noticeable hop flavor. Creamy head with a thick mouthfeel.

AS, how are you doing? I see your enthusiasm for beer is as strong as your love for the herb. :)

Not to downplay Moros' review, but being a European I'd expect such ;). It's nice to see an American who knows his beer. Yiengling and Guinness are two of my favorite, generic American brews. I'm not a huge fan of Sam Adams, but I'll have to try the boutique beer you mentioned above. Czechvar intriques me because of its history.

[Fragony]

Indeed, Czech pils in general beats every other pils out there, whatever country it may be from.

Try Brand, it's Dutch but Chech-style . With Hertog Jan the best Dutch beer.

[Moros]

Try Brand, it's Dutch but Chech-style . With Hertog Jan the best Dutch beer.

Didn't try out Brand yet. I know Hertog Jan and while it's more than decent, I'm of the opinion that La Trappe Quadrupel is much, much better.

[Reverend Joe]

I'll vouch for Yuengling as well; it's a remarkably good beer considering the size of the brewery.

What I'm wondering, though, is how you guys (my fellow Americans, mainly, as I imagine the Europeans have much easier access to a wide variety of beers) have so much money to blow on all these expensive beers. Do you guys never drink, or just stick to liquor to get drunk, or what?

Oh, and one other thing:

And you would think that most knowledgable brewers would know this. However, a majority of the Continental lagers are shipped to the US in green bottles, making them pretty much undrinkable. You have to search for a store that keeps them in the case boxes, picking up a six-pack just sitting on the shelves is a big mistake. Most British ales get shipped in brown bottles, and are generally free of teh skunk.

I thought that foreign breweries just brewed all their beer over here, specifically because it's so hard to ship.