Your favorite beer

[jeff]

As I sit here with my glass of Old Forester 86, I somehow can't get my mind off of beer I am wanting to know what the bourbon experts out there are drinking when they aren't drinking bourbon? My favorites include: Guiness Draught, Beck's dark, Dixie's Blackened Voodoo, Samuel Adam's Boston Lager, Bass Ale, Amber Bock and an assortment of other dark beers.

[Guest **DONOTDELETE**]

OK Jeff! I like Pilsner Urquel the best, but it's nearly impossible to find. Beck's blonde, & Saint Pauli Girl. For American beer I like good ol' Old Milwaukee and plain old regular Coors. I like a beer that drinks easy. Porters; Stouts and heavy ales aren't my style.

[texascarl]

Guiness Draught Stout in the fridge. I'm on a diet and Guiness draught is relatively low-carb, thanks to it's nitro-can...more carbs than Miller Lite, but worth every one of 'em.

For the past year or 2 I've limited my beer drinkin'...in that spirit I really like BIG cold 20 oz bottles of Pilsner Urquell or Fishers La Belle, or an ice cold oil-can of Fosters Bitter. "Hey, I only had ONE beer". One great big giant beer.

[bluesbassdad]

Life is ever full of wonder.

I would have bet just about anything that no self-respecting bourbon drinker would go for the lighter beers, especially not Colorado Kool-Aid. I'm just glad I didn't have the opportunity to bet. I might be without a house and a dog by now.

Personally, I don't stick with any one beer very long at one stretch, but there are a few that I keep coming back to, Bass ale, Guinness (draft only), Anderson Valley Boont Amber, Eye of the Hawk ale and Black Hawk stout (Mendicino Brewing Co.), and Hazelnut Brown Nectar (Rogue Ales).

If someone else is buying, I like 'em all. Well, almost all.

Yours truly,

Dave Morefield

[Aahzz]

I vary a bit, but I tend to like English/Irish/Scots Ales and Stouts. Some favorites include Bass, Guinness, Hobgoblin, Bellhaven Wee Heavy, Old Speckled Hen, Newcastle, and Tanner's Jack. Currently, as I'm on a diet, I'm mostly drinking Sam Adams Light, as it's the only light beer I've found that tastes somewhat like a real beer.

[Winslow]

I also like Sam Adam’s Boston Lager, Jeff. I used to be able to get Adam’s Scotch Ale, which was all I bought when it was on the shelf. Adam’s Cream Stout is wonderful. It is one of the few stouts I'll drink. I find most, particularly Guiness, to be just too flat which is, I know, how they're supposed to be. Adam’s Cream Stout almost reminds me more of a Porter, which I really like. Sierra Nevada Porter is one of the best. Chicago Honkers Ale is good. I had a Dixie something or other at a bar several years ago and liked it. I also like a lot of the Red Hook ales. God, I used to be able to get Red Hook Double Black Stout, which was made with Starbucks coffee. MMMMMM good. That was another stout that I liked.

I find most American beers simply unpalatable. After you've experienced good micro brews, it's impossible to go back. If I must, it's usually good old BUD!

[jbutler]

I'm real fond of Heineken as my "daily drinker". I've got 2 cases of it out in the garage refrigerator. Every time it goes on sale I buy some. The problem is that I don't drink it anywhere near as fast as I buy it ... it's just too hard for me to pass up a cheap 12 pack of that stuff. What the hell, I suppose I could have much more serious issues

Overall, my tastes are much like Linn's in this regard. Pilsner Urquell, Heineken, St. Pauli Girl, etc.

For an IPA, I usually choose Mendocino Brewing Co's Blue Heron. Yumm!

[ratcheer]

My very top favorite is (usually) Bass Ale. I also enjoy Sam Adams, Pilsner Urqell, and Dos Equis. Hell, I even enjoy Coors and Budweiser.

My favorite Ben Franklin quote: "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."

Tim

[texascarl]

I really enjoy Blue Heron Pale Ale, wish they sold it out here.

[MurphyDawg]

Top 10 Beers:

1) Cadillac Mt. Stout (Bar Harbor Brewing, Bar Harbor ME)

2)Harpoon ESB (Boston, MA)

3) Honker's Ale (Goose Island Brewing, Chicago ILL)

4) Otter Creek Octoberfest (Middlebury, VT)

5)Oatmeal Stout (Mill City Brewing, Lowell MA)

6)Guinness Draught (On Tap Only, the canned stuff is BAD!)

7)Nut Brown Ale (Columbus Brewing Co., Coulumbus, Ohio)

8)The Eliot Ness Lager (Great Lakes Brewing, Cleveland, OH)

9)Old GollyWobbler Ale (Sea Dog Brewing, Bangor ME)

10)Old Brown Dog Ale (Smuttynose Brewing, Portsmouth NH)

I am a bit of a beer buff along with liking bourbon

TomC

[MurphyDawg]

Do they sell that nationally jim?? the only IPA I have tried is Harpoon IPA and I want something to compare it too. . .

TomC

[MurphyDawg]

Dave Says : "especially not Colorado Kool-Aid"

Shit man i about fell out of my chair laughing!! thats the funnies way I have ever heard anyone refer too that stuff!

TOMC

PS I am so jealous, I have been wanting to sample the Rogue Ales line for awhile now but they don't sell them this far east.

[jeff]

Second that on the Guiness. Its like it isn't even the same beer. I do prefer the bottled stout to the canned draught though.

[jbutler]

Looks like they sell it in Ohio Tom. Have a look here: http://www.mendobrew.com/cgi-bin/mendobrew/locator.cgi?state=OH

[bluesbassdad]

At first glance it appears that you and I each show a strong regional bias in our lists of favorite beers. All of my US-produced choices are made on the west coast; all of yours are east of the Mississippi River. These facts caused me to go limping down another trail of nostalgia.

I'm guessing that the real reason for our differences is that specialty beers just don't have the national distribution that would allow Old GollyWobbler Ale from Maine and Eye of the Hawk Ale from Mendicino, CA (Why is it that I love all drinks with a bird on the label? Gobble, gobble!) to compete on the same shelf in, say, Topeka KS.

Back in the day, before widespread consolidation within the industry, regional beers were the rule. As late as 1973, while on a field assignment at the Chrysler Tank Plant in Detroit, I drank beer with the locals, and I drank what they drank mainly due to social pressure. No one said, "Let's go have a beer"; it was always "Let's go have a schooner of Stroh's". After only a few weeks on site I actually developed a taste for the stuff. I later realized that it was draft beer that I had fallen in love with, not the Stroh's brand; I had always thought of draft beer as cheap swill, to be ordered two pitchers per person and chugged as quickly as possible. (In Kansas, where I first drank lots of beer, that was largely true; it was all of the 3.2% variety.)

Further back, as a 17 year-old, hick-from-the-sticks freshman at MIT, I discovered that I didn't really like the taste of beer... except for one brand, Genesee. Later in life I tried it again and found it almost flavorless. Did it change, or did I? (In case you're wondering, I was way overmatched at MIT. I left after one semester -- at their request. )

As a youngster, growing up on the prairie of southern Illinois, I loved all of the beer commercials on our 17 inch, black and white TV. A sample of catch phrases and tag lines follows:

1. "Hey Mabel! Black Label!"

2. "From the land of sky blue waters (waters...), from the land of pines and lofty balsams comes the beer refreshing. Hamm's, the beer refreshing" -- accompanied by cartoon beavers that beat out the rhythm with their tails on a hollow log.

3. "I'm from Milwaukee, and I ought to know..."

4. "Mr. Magoo for Stag brew"

5. "Schlitz, the beer that made Milwaukee famous"

6. "Blatz, the beer that made Milwaukee change its mind"

7. Falstaff -- I can't remember any of their adverstising, just that I was surprised to learn later in life that Falstaff was a famous character in opera

8. Griesedieck Brothers, no TV ads that I recall, but famous St. Louis Cardinal announcer Harry Carey personally endorsed it during the broadcasts of Cardinal games. My grandfather, a teetotaler in his later years, loved the Cardinals but would turn down the radio when Harry started singing the praises of Griesedieck Brothers beer.

9. "What do you say? Pabst Blue Ribbon!"

10. Wiedemann -- I can still picture the close-up shot of the beer cascading into the glass, the bubbles erupting, the foam overflowing -- made me want to dive in to get cool on a typical midwestern 90/90 (that's degrees and % humidity) August day.

11. "Miller's High Life, the champagne of bottled beers"

12. Budweiser -- Yes, it was still a regional brand when I was a kid. My favorite commercial, which may have come much later, was a low shot of the famous Clydesdale horses pulling an old-fashioned beer wagon, while a brass band played what sounded like a continous fanfare.

I find it ironic that the regional breweries of days past served mainly the common working man; whereas the modern version sells mainly to upscale yuppies (no offense intended, anyone ), and it's the nationals that sell the stuff that goes for ten bucks a case.

Ah, nostalgia... Even it isn't what it used to be.

Yours truly,

Dave Morefield

[bluesbassdad]

One advantage, maybe the only one, of being old is that I get to spring old lines on young'uns and get a laugh.

IIRC, I actually stole that expression about 25 years ago, perhaps from a country song (Charlie Daniels, or Hank Jr., ... someone like that).

Yours truly,

Dave Morefield

[MurphyDawg]

heh! i guess I gotta get myself to a bigger city then!!

TomC

[MurphyDawg]

Yeah that pretty much covers it, I grew up in Massachusetts and when I vaccation now its mostly back east so thats the only time I really have a lot of money for "good" beer, so the brews tend to be from the east. (that said anchor porter, sierra nevada pale ale & flying dog tire biter ale are all good beers I have had from mountain or pacific time zones). I dont keep beer at home that much anymore because

1) the local stores have crappy variety that is usually stale

2) I think bourbon is a better bang for the buck, and thats whyI post to this forum instead of a beerlover's site

3) even if that whiskey has been on the shelf for 11 YEARS, It will still taste how it should.

I agree that it is a shame that most of the locals cant afford the microbrewed beer in their area anymore (including me), I must say that the Mill City Brewing in my hometown of Lowell, Ma is an admirable exception, selling their 20oz on site brewed drafts for $1.50 last time i was there, cheaper than any other stuff they sold!!

Gotta love folks who cater to a working class crowd!!

Tom (BeerBoy & Bourbon Lover) C

[jbutler]

On a sort of tangential note, when I first started drinking beer in the mid 70's, Coors was $1.29 a six pack, and Heineken was $5. I remember splurging for a case of Heineken when I was 17. Damn thing cost $16.99 and that was a quite a bit of money then. Now Coors and heineken are about the same price, and on sale, Heineken is ~$19 per case. So at least in this case, that snazzy imported stuff has actually gone down in price over the years.

BTW, I happen to like Coors. Some of my fondest memory losses were made with it. The real problem with the stuff is that it goes down like water. You and a friend get hold of a 12 pack, and an hour later you're talking out the sides of your faces, and out of beer!

[MurphyDawg]

I should say that I agree that there is nothing bad about coors, in the same way Dave says there is nothing bad about Makers Mark, there is just nothing exceptional about it either. I am living in a part of ohio where your beer choices are Bud Miller Coors and their light counterpart when you go to a bar, (you cant even find Sam Adams some places) and when I go out it is usually Coors Original for me ( I am not a big fan of its "Silver Bullet" counterpart).

TomC

[ratcheer]

I remember Falstaff mostly from the Saturday Major League Baseball national TV broadcasts announced by Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee Reese. I was a kid during the late 50's and early 60's and I loved watching them more than anything. The advertising was pretty much personal, although there were regular "produced" ads, as well.

When I was older and started trying beer, I wanted Falstaff. It never really cared for it after actually drinking it.

Tim

[kitzg]

Since I've been offline for four days I'm catching up and found this thread really interesting. Since I lived in Germany a couple of years during the long time working for a German company I really cut my teeth in experimentation on better beer there. Since then I've come to enjoy many types and styles of beer.

I drink more beer in volume each month than bourbon. I live in a college town so when we want to go out for pizza and beer it's Bud at $4.50 to 5.00 per pitcher.

As Dave said, when someone else is paying I can help them run up their tab quickly with many choices. I've brewed beer (homebrew) and belong to a club where folks bring their homebrew or their regional favorite. Wherever I am I usual try a local beer. So.... I don't have a favorite at all. I really enjoy the variety and the differences!

I collect beer memorabilia and yesterday I picked up a Wiedemann sign. It was brewed in Newport, KY and was the popular drink of my inlaws. I appreciated Dave's post which took me down memory lane. Those represent some of the signs I have or will pick up when I can find them cheap.

I try not to let anything with the words "light" attached to it touch my lips, though!

Your subject "your favorite beer" led everyone to beer while your question was, "what are (you) drinking when not drinking bourbon. My other favorite spirit is tequilla. But I won't lead us into that discussion... And I only drink 100% blue agave.

-- Greg

[Guest **DONOTDELETE**]

Greg,Why is it blue? What is agave? Where can I get some pull-kay? Is it really that sexy?

[kitzg]

Linn,

Yep, you've read some of my writing elsewhere.

Life is so full of choices. Do I go home and have a bourbon or a tequila?

Simple rule. When in Mexico drink tequila. When in Kentucky drink bourbon.

When at home drink what you feel like and see what happens to your pants.

[kitzg]

Speaking of blue beer....

unlike some of my friends I don't want colored "beer."

Fruit and beer don't mix.

Now chocolate.... that's another matter.