The Awesome Beer Thread

[Mithas]

$10 for six pack of Shiner Bock? I just bought some for $8. I love me some bock beers, just doesn't seem like there are a lot of breweries putting them out. I have not seen any Genessee here.

[Sky]

Warning: Genny is a cheapo brand around here, hipsters and old alcoholic uncles only. But the seasonal Bock is the exception, oddly. It's not as good as Shiner and definitely not as good as Celebrator, but for the price it's amazing. As far as expensive Shiner, we had no Shiner a couple months ago.

Dopplebocks and dunkels are my favorites. I dig a Warsteiner Dunkel, not sure I've had a good american dunkel. Sam Adams did a Dunkelweizen I've only found twice that was nirvana.

[Mithas]

I'm big into the traditional German styles too. Could be because the first beer I had other than the Bud Light's of the world was Hacker Pschorr Weisse. It was a "Holy shit beer can taste good!?" moment for me.

i don't mind old alcoholic uncle beer, I end up buying Hamm's all the time because it is cheap and after I have 3 or 4 of the good ones I can't taste it anymore anyway so why not switch up to something cheap. $15 for a 30 pack.

[Hawkbit]

My neighbor just shared a http://www.spencerbrewery.com/ with me; the first and only trappist ale made in the US.  He spent a bit of cash getting it shipped here, so it was a nice treat.

It was pretty good, very Belgian-like but a bit dryer than I expected. 

[Teleku]

Fellow beer lovers, I seek your Wisdom!

In two days I will be traveling to Belgium.  My intention is to drink as much beer as possible over the course of 3 days.  Please, give me suggestions on awesome Belgian beers I should try while there, as well as bars to go to (or any beer themed activity really).  I mean like, harder to find Belgian beers I should take advantage of getting while I'm in country.  Not good ones I can easily buy at any decent beer store.  And before you respond, the local Foreign Service co-worker whose house I'm staying at has already purchased a case of Westvleteren 12 which he promises to have on ice and ready for us as soon as we walk in the door.   

Also for that matter, if anybody here as any suggestions on things to do or see on this trip, I'd appreciate it.  Going to spend about 3 days in Brussels (but planning on taking the train out to visit other cities during that time for day trips), 3 days in Amsterdam, and 3 days in Berlin.  Beer, Food, and attraction suggestions for any of these cities is welcome, as I've only ever been to Berlin before this.

[Ruvaldt]

You're on the right track with Westvleteren.  St. Bernardus Abt 12 is also outstanding.  Drink a lot of it.

Here are a few other breweries to try:

Brasserie Cantillon - If you like lambics, these are the champions of the style.  If you're in Anderlecht you can visit them for a fun afternoon.  It's next to Brussels.
Dupont - If you like saisons, it doesn't get much better.  Their Vieille Provision is unmatched.
La Trappe - They're in Netherlands, but still making great belgian style beers.  
Val-Dieu - They produce a great quad named Val-Dieu Grand Cru, and a Tripel as well.  
Brasserie Lefebvre - They make some good beers.  The Floreffe Prima Melior is supposed to be amazing, but I have sadly never had it.
Brouwerij Van Steenberge - Wonderful brewery.  Gulden Draak, Piraat, and Augustijn are standouts.
Affligem - Anything Affligem is good.
Brasserie St. Feuillien - They're doing great work and they are a smaller, independent brewery producing abbeys.

The Zythos Bierfestival is also taking place from April 26 to 27 in Leuven: http://www.zbf.be/index.php?lang=UK&page=1, which is right outside Brussels.

If you like gin, don't forget to drink some Jenever.  It's tough to find outside Belgium and Netherlands.

Edit: added the Bierfestival mention.

[Engels]

I live 3 blocks from the Elysian, and its beer used to be shitty. Well, not shitty, but definitely not something to make a trip for. Nice to know that's changed.

[Ingmar]

Fellow beer lovers, I seek your Wisdom!

In two days I will be traveling to Belgium.  My intention is to drink as much beer as possible over the course of 3 days.  Please, give me suggestions on awesome Belgian beers I should try while there, as well as bars to go to (or any beer themed activity really).  I mean like, harder to find Belgian beers I should take advantage of getting while I'm in country.  Not good ones I can easily buy at any decent beer store.  And before you respond, the local Foreign Service co-worker whose house I'm staying at has already purchased a case of Westvleteren 12 which he promises to have on ice and ready for us as soon as we walk in the door.   

Also for that matter, if anybody here as any suggestions on things to do or see on this trip, I'd appreciate it.  Going to spend about 3 days in Brussels (but planning on taking the train out to visit other cities during that time for day trips), 3 days in Amsterdam, and 3 days in Berlin.  Beer, Food, and attraction suggestions for any of these cities is welcome, as I've only ever been to Berlin before this.

Tell him to skip the ice, a quad should be like served at like 55-60. (Or ~15 degrees C for there I guess.)

[Furiously]

I live 3 blocks from the Elysian, and its beer used to be shitty. Well, not shitty, but definitely not something to make a trip for. Nice to know that's changed.

I  their Men's Room Red.

I am also  about Strongbow dropping their traditional dry.

[Ozzu]

Another delicious beer made its way through my fridge:



A really rich flavor and very smooth. I'm definitely going to be drinking more of it in the future.

Also gave this one a whirl:



Also very tasty, but I don't think I like it quite as much as the Oatis. It's a totally different style, but I'm finding myself drawn to oatmeal stouts and milk stouts recently.

[Hawkbit]

Rogue beers are really sweet to me.  They all taste sickly sugary.  I recently had one of their 7 hop IPAs which was the only beer I've liked from them.  Try that one if you can. 

Seattle beer week begins tomorrow. 

[Samwise]

That Oatis is good stuff.  I don't like most of the Rogue beers, but their Shakespeare Stout is good.  I have a hard time finding a stout I hate, really; I go for roasted barley like hopheads go for hops.

Discovered this recently at a local Nicaraguan restaurant; there's one beer store in SF that carries it, thinking it might be my new lager of choice at home:


And on a recent trip to New York I discovered this, which is amazing but I still haven't found a local source:

[Mithas]

I'm probably going over the top on this, but I don't drink Rogue beers anymore. After I heard how shitty they were to their employees, I decided to not waste my money on it. Plenty of good beer to drink elsewhere.

Article on their shittiness:

http://weirdtv.blogspot.com/2013/07/rogue-brewery.html

Apparently they are even up front about how shitty they are in their job postings:

http://www.reddit.com/r/beer/comments/1geunk/rogue_is_hiring_for_a_new_it_manager_expected/

[Paelos]

That job posting is insane.

[schild]

Hahahah lol, they think they're doing something special. How adorable.

They make beer. Retards with a garage or messy living room make beer. It isn't rocket science.

[Ozzu]

Jeez...

They seem annoying enough to avoid at this point. Good to know.

[Chimpy]

Their beer is overpriced anyway.

[Sky]

TIL rogue and douchebag are synonyms.

[Bunk]

Just did my first ever brew pub craft brewfest. After nine, got hard to tell them apart. Still, was fun. Words having a friend, er wweird, driving my car home right now. Now we shall stop at the store for veggie pakora, cause it's the best drunk food ever. Wait, my first ever drunk post. Err, mean woot.

[Bunk]

Yikes. I think there was a point to what I was going to post earlier in the evening, something about the absurdity of trying to identify a mystery beer's content by taste, but I didn't end up getting around to posting until about 7 samples later. Please ignore me.

[Salamok]

A few weeks ago I got a taste of Karbach's Sympathy for the Lager and I found it to be extremely tasty, never thought I would think of Houston folks as lucky.  

I also recently tried an Austin local brew (Twisted X's Fuego) that I am at a loss how to describe, it was as close to a journey as drinking a beer can be I suppose.  The first sip had me thinking oh shit I bought a six pack of this when I doubt I can finish the bottle.  Before I knew it I was reaching for another and by the end of that second one I was singing its praises.  I wont say it is the best beer in the world but I've never had a beer alter my palette so quickly or profoundly.  If you have a chance to try it commit to an entire bottle and don't throw in the towel after the first sip.

[Furiously]

I've been struggling to find a decent cider since Strongbow changed their formula. 2 towns ciderhouse brightcider isn't too bad I'm looking forward to their seasonal English traditional.

[rattran]

Strongbow went to super-sweet, Blackthorn Dry is now unavailable for Herns. Kinda sucks that so many ciders are too sweet alcopops now. Once I finish this bottle of Woodchuck Dry Hop, I may just give up cider for a bit.

[Mithas]

It's my favorite time of year for beer. Anyone have an Oktoberfest/Marzen that is a can't miss?

So far this year I've had:
Spaten
Sierra Nevada
Schell's
Hofbrau

As far as how good they were, I would put them in that order. My favorite is Hacker Pschorr Oktoberfest, but I believe that is available year round. I also had Anchor Brewing Big Leaf Maple and that was pretty good as well.

[Sky]

The local beer guy who refills growlers didn't bring enough Marzen to the farmer's market. I'm going to have to run out to his place and get one.

[Teleku]

It's my favorite time of year for beer. Anyone have an Oktoberfest/Marzen that is a can't miss?

So far this year I've had:
Spaten
Sierra Nevada
Schell's
Hofbrau

As far as how good they were, I would put them in that order. My favorite is Hacker Pschorr Oktoberfest, but I believe that is available year round. I also had Anchor Brewing Big Leaf Maple and that was pretty good as well.

I love Oktoberfest/Marzen beers as well!  I prefer Paulaner's Oktoberfest over Spaten's, but I prefer Spaten's version of everything else over Paulaner's.

Really bummed I spent two years over here and didn't get a chance to make it to Oktoberfest.  Was going to do it this year, but I've just run out of time to sqeeze it in.  Also, the amount of money I'd have to pay even just for a few days to stay over there...... 

[Mithas]

I've never actually had Paulaner's which I should probably rectify. I also have some Left Hand Oktoberfest waiting at home. Marzens don't seem to get great reviews which baffles me. It is my favorite style.

[sickrubik]

I figured I would just bump this instead of continually shitting on the Job Thread with this stuff.

Here we go again: http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0U11ZM20151218

[KallDrexx]

*Edit* Clicked the wrong thread :(