The Beer Thread

[The Brave Little Toaster Oven]

I can give you specific West Coast recommendations if you tell me what your favorites are and what styles you like.

by Portland, I meant Portland, Maine

[d0ublestr0ker0ll]

Has anyone tried the new Sam Adams Latitude 48? Its their new IPA and I think its pretty damn good!

I haven't even had their regular IPA yet, but around a month or two ago I had the Longshot Double IPA from Sam Adams and it was very good. All four beers I've had from their Longshot series have been very tasty. The Old Ben Ale is still my favorite Longshot, but the DIPA is right behind it.

[d0ublestr0ker0ll]

Picked up the Lagunitas IPA and Rogue Dead Guy Ale today. Was tempted to spend $9 on a 12oz bottle of the Orval Belgian but chickened out. Anybody think it's worth it?

[GoSkins561]

Picked up a mixed case on Sunday, 12 pack Brooklyn Variety, 6 Peroni, and 6 Raging *****. The Brooklyn Brown Ale is very tasty, so is their Lager. The ***** is the *****, but my new favorite beer is Peroni. I love knocking back some Miller Lites on a hot summer day, but Peroni has this crisp cleanliness to it, that's really nice. I'm looking forward to a few of these on the beach in a couple of weeks.

[carolyn.brown@isd.alabama]

bottle, imported, Beck, Lowenbrau, Heneiken (in that order) ice-cold

[Skinsfan1311]

I'm currently enjoying a pint of Heavy Seas Loose Cannon.

[Sebowski]

by Portland, I meant Portland, Maine

I knew Shipyard was from Maine, but always assumed Allagash was Oregon.

Just take a plane to Oregon then

[d0ublestr0ker0ll]

Having a Heavy Seas Peg Leg Imperial Stout...my lord. This is one hell of a tasty stout.

[CoolUsernameHere]

I've only just really gotten into beer, being a youngster and all.
So far I really like Yuengling traditional.
I've never had dark beer of any sort, but I'm very interested in the idea.

What's a decent dark beer that's pretty easy to find?

I'm also wanting to try Newcastle, anyone got a strong opinion on it?

[d0ublestr0ker0ll]

I've only just really gotten into beer, being a youngster and all.
So far I really like Yuengling traditional.
I've never had dark beer of any sort, but I'm very interested in the idea.

What's a decent dark beer that's pretty easy to find?

I'm also wanting to try Newcastle, anyone got a strong opinion on it?

I've never had Newcastle because it's in clear bottles. That's a red flag right away, as sunlight can really effect the quality of taste. Brown bottles and cans are the best way to package beer, the stuff in clear bottles (Newcastle, Miller High Life) is just a marketing ploy. They sacrifice all preservation to show you the color of the beer.

I digress...there are different styles of "dark beer", from Black & Tans to Imperial Stouts. Guinness has two common beers called the Draught and Extra Stout. I dislike the Draught because it has a dry (flat) feel to it. The Extra Stout is very roasty, think burnt marshmellows.

Since you're just starting out, perhaps just go with the Yuengling Black & Tan right now. It's half of their Traditional Lager mixed with half of their Porter. For the price it's excellent.

If you're still tempted to get the Newcastle, I'll just tell you now that it's a Brown Ale and Dogfish Head makes one hell of a tasty Brown Ale. You'll have to throw down about $10 for a six pack but it's about 7% in alcohol and tastes like Caramello candy bars. It's their "Indian Brown Ale" and it's sold all over the place around D.C. If you get the Newcastle let me know how it is!

[Sebowski]

I've never had Newcastle because it's in clear bottles. That's a red flag right away, as sunlight can really effect the quality of taste. Brown bottles and cans are the best way to package beer, the stuff in clear bottles (Newcastle, Miller High Life) is just a marketing ploy. They sacrifice all preservation to show you the color of the beer.

Newcastle also puts their beer in cans. Just remember to always pour into a glass for the full beer drinking experience.


..and Guinness isn't flat, it is perfectly carbonated by nitro instead of being overly soda-like carbonated like the beers Double likes

It took me a long time to start loving dark beers. I always associated the taste with coffe, and I don't like coffee. Then on a tour of Stone they passed aroud the different malts and I got to try a bunch in succesion. When I ate the roasted malts used in dark beers I started to disassociate the taste of raosted with the taste of coffee.

Anywho, if you are very anti-coffee I suggest trying the "lighter" dark beers. Heineken dark and Becks dark were a couple I liked before I really got into beer. If you are a coffee drinker then you are used to raosted flavors. Just dive right into the good stuff.

[CoolUsernameHere]

It took me a long time to start loving dark beers. I always associated the taste with coffe, and I don't like coffee. Then on a tour of Stone they passed aroud the different malts and I got to try a bunch in succesion. When I ate the roasted malts used in dark beers I started to disassociate the taste of raosted with the taste of coffee.

Anywho, if you are very anti-coffee I suggest trying the "lighter" dark beers. Heineken dark and Becks dark were a couple I liked before I really got into beer. If you are a coffee drinker then you are used to raosted flavors. Just dive right into the good stuff.

I'm actually a pretty big coffee fan. So I might just, as you say, dive right in.

I'm also very interested in Black & Tan. I've heard lots of good things about it. I'll probably check that out some time next week.


I also tried Blue Moon for the first time last night. I've never had something that different before. I liked it alright, but I feel like it's something I gotta be in a mood for.

[AsburySkinsFan]

I've only just really gotten into beer, being a youngster and all.
So far I really like Yuengling traditional.
I've never had dark beer of any sort, but I'm very interested in the idea.

What's a decent dark beer that's pretty easy to find?

I'm also wanting to try Newcastle, anyone got a strong opinion on it?

Newcastle is a good brew about on par with Sam Adam's Boston Lager...get them on tap if you can (avoids the clear bottles).
Guinness draught dry, light bodied feel without the ripping hops of the Extra Stout.
Smithwicks is a good dark(er) ale with a smooth flavor easily handled by those new to dark brews.
If you're going to get into dark brews you have to start playing with the stouts, if you do you will have entered a whole new world of flavors you never thought possible in a brew...say good bye to the yellow water. I suggest a reading through this thread, and a tour of beeradvocate.com.

[#98QBKiller]

I picked up a Sam Adams Harvest Collection last night. It's a twelver with six different beers:

Octoberfest

Irish Red

Dunkelweizen

Black Lager

Harvest Pumpkin Ale (new)

and of course, Boston Lager



I've had all of these before except the Pumpkin and the Dunkelweizen. The Octoberfest is probably Sam Adams most popular seasonal beer, people go crazy over it and I think it's good but personally, I prefer the Winter Lager over it.

I popped open the Pumpkin Ale first because I wanted to see how it stacked up to my favorite pumpkin ale, Buffalo Bill's:



(which is already on the shelves BTW)

The Sam Pumpkin Ale was very comparable to the Buffalo Bill's. It has a rich, spicy flavor similar to what I like so much about the winter lager, and the pumpkin is very noticeable. It almost tastes like pumpkin pie.

The Dunkelweizen was next, it tasted very similar to Allagash White, a Belgian Wheat style beer. I was a little surprised because I usually equate Belgian Wheats with spring/summer. Either way I wasn't disappointed, the beer was delicious, it had that wheat flavor that's refreshing on a hot day. I checked Sam Adams web site and saw that it is indeed made of Bavarian Wheat which is pretty close.

I'll review the Irish Red, Black Lager sometime tonight when I get to them...I'm guessing everyone's had Boston Lager and Octoberfest

*Note: the Sam Adams pic is mine, the Buffalo Bills' came from google image

[GoSkins561]

Picked up a 6er of DFH 60 Minute, Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA, 6 Peroni , and 4 DFH 90 Minutes.

Currently sipping the 90 Minute, what a great beer, now I know why they sell it in 4 Packs. It's very good but far from being a "session beer". Very very tasty. A very solid A.