The Beer connoisseur thread

[natedogg]

Quality beer is clearly the neglected bastard stepchild compared to quality wine. And it's unfortunate. I find that good beers can contain rich and sophisticated flavors in variation just as wines.

With that said, here's some great beers I recently discovered. Please share, i'm always looking for great new beers.


1. The Delerium Noel, which is the christmas brew from the same belgian brewery that makes Delirium Tremens. I found a pace with the Delerium Noel on tap and it was heaven. This may have been the best beer I've ever tasted. I cannot recommend it enough. Less sweet than most Belgians, it was rich and heavy, but not tart. Absolutely the perfect winter ale. And strong too, which is important. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

2. A long time favorite of mine, I just have to mention it: The Russian River's "Pliny the Elder". This is probably the best microbrew IPA in the world. If you like your IPAs, hoppy, strong, and bold with a flavor you can smell before you even taste it, this is the one for you. It is a double IPA, and has an alcohol content of about 10% so be careful, because it's so damn good you'll want to drink more than one. And then you're ruined.

I'm not a big fan of lagers and pilsners but please, recommend your faves of any kind.

natedogg

[El Diablo]

nate,

February is strong beer month!

For anyone in the Bay Area, these are some incredibly delicious and very strong beers. So far the Diesel Imperial Smoked Porter and Blind Lust (strong Belgian with a hint of Framboise flavor) are my favorites (haven't been to Magnolia yet).

Wookie has a great beer thread over in the lounge, but as far as I'm concerned, the more discussion about beer the better.

My favorite beers are rich and dark porters and stouts. I'll write up a couple of reviews here.

[Rupert]

Greene King IPA brewed in my town Bury St Edmunds here in England has won many awards including bitter of the year last year (I believe). It has become very very popular in England in recent years for being both hoppy and aromatic in taste and smell. I highly recommend it if you can get hold if it in the USA

[chezlaw]

[ QUOTE ]
Greene King IPA brewed in my town Bury St Edmunds here in England has won many awards including bitter of the year last year (I believe). It has become very very popular in England in recent years for being both hoppy and aromatic in taste and smell. I highly recommend it if you can get hold if it in the USA

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Does it travel well? Well kept Green king is awesome, used to work in a pub that sold the finest Abbots, huge volumes and a great celler-man were vital.

Courage Directors is wonderful when kept well, even the bottled stuff is good. Fullers are my local: London pride is fussy but suprisingly good at its best, ESB is outstanding.

The older I get the more I appreciate Youngs.

chez

[Rupert]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Greene King IPA brewed in my town Bury St Edmunds here in England has won many awards including bitter of the year last year (I believe). It has become very very popular in England in recent years for being both hoppy and aromatic in taste and smell. I highly recommend it if you can get hold if it in the USA

[/ QUOTE ]
Does it travel well? Well kept Green king is awesome, used to work in a pub that sold the finest Abbots, huge volumes and a great celler-man were vital.

chez

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Not entirely sure, although I managed to get a pint in Edinburgh which I admit was awful but it was in a 2* hotel in the rougher end of the town which wasn't particularly well kept so could be a poor reflection. My dad had a pint in Wales once and said that it was excellent and just like at home. Abbots too is nice but in general I prefer the IPAs to the real ales since they are a bit easier drinking for me.

[Cornell Fiji]

Rogue is awesome.

I was happy to see three of its beers on the top 100 list.

[FatOtt]

I had a Goose Island Bourbon County Stout during the superbowl. Reviewers at Beer Advocate rave about it, but I thought it was one of the most revolting things I've ever tasted. I didn't even finish it. The bourbon is not subtle at all - one sniff and you know this is an unusual beer with a strong alcohol in it. It did get a little better after I let it sit for awhile, but even after 2 hours or so, I still found it undrinkable. Huge disappointment because I paid almost $20 for a 4-pack. I don't know if this is widely available outside of Chicago.

Goose Island Bourbon County

Beer Advocate thread

I also had a Young's Double Chocolate Stout which was pretty good - hard to say whether it was more coffee or chocolate.

In IPA news, I only recently tried a Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA. It may be my favorite beer I've ever had and I'm disappointed that it took me so long to try.

[ethan]

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nate,

February is strong beer month!


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Feb 10-25th is also the 8th Belgian Beer Festival at Lucky Baldwin's in Pasadena. 51 Belgian beers on tap at once, and they'll offer more than 80 over the course of those two weeks. Not one to miss if you're in the area.

[kidcolin]

[ QUOTE ]
nate,

February is strong beer month!


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I completely missed El D's link in his first post. I've only been to Magnolia's once, but their IPA was one of the best I've had. I think I'll be in SF in a couple weeks so I"ll definitely try to check this out.

[kidcolin]

Maybe I should give Dead Guy Ale another shot. I thought it was pretty mediocre. I liked, didn't love, the first 6 pack I tried. I got really sick of it when I tried another 6 pack. It was too syrupy to me.