so what's SO drinking tonight?

[Redbeard]

It's been a long time since I've tried it, but I don't recall enjoying Wild Turkey that much. I've been meaning to try it again, but haven't gotten around to it. Also, Elijah Craig is under $20 for a small batch 12 year Bourbon. I am sucker for aged whiskey.

[tom502]

I got a 12 pack of Natural Ice for later.

[Ulsterman]

removed

[groverthesnake]

Cheap, nasty, disgusting (but really cold) beer. And lots of it.
Miller High Life Light.
And chasing those with Grov Original Portion.

[adm]

I'd like to comment on your stout gentlemen.
Guiness is (for want of a more polite word) total shite outside of Ireland. It tastes NOTHING like it tastes in Ireland. You cannot even get a pint that tastes anywhere near similar in London. I've tried it in Japan and nearly puked.

Pilsners (or lagers) are the best as they travel well or brew well in countries they aren't native to. Whilst stationed in Germany I enjoyed some of the most wonderful lagers I have ever tasted in my life - big litre glasses with a great head - but which also deliver a frig awful hangover.

I'm on the weaker alcohol these days - great taste with a nice buzz. That'll be Carlsberg - it's only 3.8% vol but doesn't leave me with a nasty after effect.

Well......you're kind of right on the Guinness. Although I spend about 1 week a month in Ireland (Cork & Dublin), so I KNOW a good Guinness from a bad one. And I can still put my hand on my heart and say that my homebrewed stouts beat the piss out of Irish Guinness. Basically because I brew for quality, not for price like brewery accountants do.

Good German Pilsners are a thing of beauty too. Although I do prefer Czech pils....and preferably at a brewery tap in Pilzen!

However, I'd say the best beer in the world is a proper India Pale Ale, preferably made with british Maris Otter Barley, a little bit of crystal malt and hops from New Zealand (yeah - I know I should say British hops, but I'm being honest here....)

Anyway - for those of you who like beer and have a halfway decent appreciation of it, plus a garage or kitchen and a few spare hours, you owe it to yourself to check out (home) craft brewing. Google or YouTube search for "all grain brewing". You can brew beer exactly how you like it...to the flavour or strength profile that suits you best.

It might sound a bit over the top, but it is easy and cheap to brew your own beer that is better than anything you will buy in the shop. Not just better than the mass produced chemical macro brews, but better than the expensive store bought craft brews too.

Carlsberg, by the way is horse piss of the first order! As is Bud, Miller and Coors.....and pretty much anything that comes out of any of the big breweries.

Brewing beer is one of the key things that a "man" should be able to do! Beer and tobacco (snus, now I've given up smoking).....add in knowing how to barbecue properly and you are halfway there.....

Good people drink good beer.

EDIT: By the way, if you have any interest in brewing your own beer, check out the best forum on the net for it: http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/index.php

[Redbeard]

adm, I must agree with you again, I love IPAs. Probably one of my favorite varieties of beer. IPA just seems to suit me no matter the season. I enjoy a good stout or porter in cold weather and good witbier in summer, but I love a good IPA in all seasons.

As for home brewing, it's one of those hobbies that I perpetually plan to pick up. The initial investment isn't particularly daunting, but I've been rather nomadic in the last couple of years, and haven't wanted to drag brewing equipment around. I will eventually brew my own, though.

[daruckis]

ipas are the best for sure. i dont care much for stouts, hate cheap american water beer, german pilsners are not much better than budweiser in my opinion. pale ales and specifically ipas are pretty much the only brews i drink. i make the occasional exception for sam adams boston lager or something different.

[badlands]

Whiskey sour, per usual.

[nathancipher]

Pumpkin stout I brewed myself

[justintempler]

paired with a prilla of homemade snus, Kentucky Dark Fired flavored with Bergamot

8)

[Redbeard]

JT, I can't wait to get back to the East Coast so I can get some Yuengling. I haven't been able to drink it these past couple of years living in the Midwest.

[Ulsterman]

removed

[adm]

Carlsberg, by the way is horse piss of the first order! As is Bud, Miller and Coors.....and pretty much anything that comes out of any of the big breweries.

Brewing beer is one of the key things that a "man" should be able to do! Beer and tobacco (snus, now I've given up smoking).....add in knowing how to barbecue properly and you are halfway there.....

Good people drink good beer.

EDIT: By the way, if you have any interest in brewing your own beer, check out the best forum on the net for it: http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/index.php

There's a lot of wine snobbery about yet when you go to France the French will drink anything - as long as it's French that is. This applies to people who drink beer. There is absoloutely nothing wrong with a lot of mass produced beers which is why they do very well in the market. I've tried home brews from people who 'knew what they were doing' and I hated it. I don't like 'real ale' so I suppose it's a matter of personal taste.
I also don't like a beer or a stout to make me feel like I'm eating a three course meal.
I like my light clean fizzy lagers for hot summers days and just about any time of the year.

Fair comment, but I disagree with you. I think that most people that drink wine like to know a little bit about it - such as the grape variety and country of origin. What's more, "the French" won't drink anything. They are just lucky in that they tend to have lots of local producers making decent table wine at a good price. It's not the same as drinking global macrobrews.... In this way, I'd compare it almost to snus vs. cigarettes. I used to be a big macro brew drinker (although more in the Stella & 1664 vein) and not a fan of ales either - to me, "real ale" was warm beer with twigs in it, drunk by boring people wearing thick sweaters. Personally, I think CAMRA can go **** themselves as their concept of "real" beer is extremely limited.

I kind of agree with you in that there's nothing "wrong" with fizzy commercial pisswater, and in fact it's actually VERY, VERY HARD to brew it as it's all about brewing a completely repeatable product to a very tight budget. In addition to this, in most of the big commercial crap lagers, there is absolutely nothing in the beer for any flaws to hide behind, so the process has to be perfect every time - when there's no flavour in the beer in the first place.

Contrast that to craft brewed beers, where there are deliberate and individual flavour components from the grain, the hops, and the yeast itself. I'll bet you that when you drink Carlsberg, you'd never have a clue what kind of hops or yeast or grain were in it - and that's EXACTLY the point of it. They just want to market it as a cold and refreshing alcoholic beverage.

But the main reason that these products do so well in the (UK & USA) market, is that the companies that own them have ruthlessly killed off the competition and spent billions of dollars on marketing (plus, in the UK, they've hoovered up almost all of the pubs so the choice of beer sold in them is fixed). The little guys just can't compete with the big boys anymore...if the customer wants a premium product, they have to seek it out and pay premium price. This is a bad thing. It's almost the same as if McDonalds and Burger King owned all the restaurants in the country.

I'm actually drinking a clean, fizzy lager right this second. But the difference is that it's bittered and flavoured with fresh whole flower Saaz hops from the Czech republic, and made from fresh German Pilsner Malt. The yeast is exactly the same yeast that the Budvar brewery in Pilsen use - and comes from their brewery in a kind of roundabout way. It was fermented for a month, then stored ("lager" means "store" which is something that NONE of the big "lager" breweries do these days) for another 3 months at 1 degree C to mature and smooth.

Your Carlsberg was made in massive steel tanks next to the M4 motorway, in about 6 days. It was brewed from pre-prepared malt extract, and bittered with hop oil extracted from a mix of hop dust, flowers and stems by supercritical CO2 extraction. They add various sugars and starches to the grain because it's cheaper than brewing with all grain and boosts the alcohol at the expense of taste.

If you like it, then knock yourself out. But you are missing out on far greater beers. As a perfect example, go to Germany and drink Pils. You won't really find a single national brand - almost every bar in every town will serve a regional or local beer. Purely because it's better, fresher and actually tastes of something. The Germans know their beer quite well. The really shameful thing is that the UK's beer heritage is at least as good, and we are still a world class centre of brewing. Yet somehow, we have let the marketing men convince us we should drink shit pretend European beer. The Germans wouldn't stand for it and nor should we.

Why do you think a pseudo Danish non-lager, brewed from fake ingredients by accountants on the M4 should be preferable to a British lager brewed properly by the likes of BrewDog in Scotland for example? It's nothing to do with your knowledge of beer, or any kind of beer snobbery at all - it's simply because you've been lied to for so long that you now believe the hype.

Sorry, but I'm kind of passionate about this. Rant over.

By the way.....Nick & Johnny Strong right now. Goes great with my real Pilsner!

[Redbeard]

At the risk of straying back on topic :lol: , Flying Dog Horn Dog Barley Wine.

[MasterGuns]

Burned through enough Yazoo Dos Perros and Pabst tallboys at the bar last night to make me think making out with my ex-girlfriend was a good idea. And it was at the time 8)
But as the song goes...then the morning comes...
One more tallboy and I prolly would've seen the inside of her bedroom for the first time in two years :shock:

EDIT: and as for great beers vs. crap beers...I'm a broke college kid. When I can afford it, I drink well. When I can't, I don't. Bottom line...when your end goal for the night is to wonder how you found your way your coworkers couch, and where in the blue HELL your undies went, a cheap beer that's not a light beer will work just fine :wink:
Now, if I'm just relaxing at the bar or at home after a long day, I reach for something really good. If my definition of "really good" differs from anyone else' definition, I don't care. My number one favorite beer: Draught Guinness. I enjoy lots of beers from the Sam Adams line, I loath most of the Flying Dog line, and Chimay makes me want to sing to the gods of all things that are good and holy (gotta love those Trapists).