telekinetic

What beers does everyone love? I'm talking GOOD beer, and for today, for me, good means strong. If it is available in a can (Guiness gets a free pass), this thread is not for you.

I just hit up BevMo, and picked up bottles of:

Delirium Tremens (8.5%)
Gulden Draak (10.5%)
Double Bastard (10.5%)
and Chimay Blue (9%)

Delirium Tremens has been ranked the #1 beer in the world several times, and I tend to agree...delicious and a very complex yet a drinkably smooth 8.5% abv. Gulden Draak beers you good...it's like drinking Brandy, if brandy were made by Chuck Norris. I love arrogant bastard, and they had Double Bastard by the register...it's not cold yet, but if it's a bastard that's as strong as Gulden Draak, it should be a hell of a ride. I don't know anything about the Chimay Blue, except it was reccomended by the clerk after seeing my cart of strong brew.

(If this thread is less coherent than most I make, take note that I've already had several glasses of high abv delicious brew)

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twisted no more

Psycho Dad

Right now I'm enjoying a home brewed pumpkin spiced ale I made for this fall. I also tapped a keg of wheat that I brewed a while back tonight.

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Don't always trust the opinions of experts.

Bear Cub

I miss this the most about Pennsylvania.

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Living in the United Socialist States of America.

inBOIL

If you like dark beer, try Paulaner Salvator. It's not actually dark, but tastes like it is.

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And you believe Bush and the liberals and divorced parents and gays and blacks and the Christian right and fossil fuels and Xbox are all to blame, meanwhile you yourselves create an ad where your kid hits you in the head with a baseball and you don't understand the message that the problem is you.

robodog

If you like those you should enjoy La Fin du monde. This summer I brewed a Belgian tripple trying to emulate it =) Right after bottling it was a pretty close approximation, but I apparently got some rogue strain of yeast involved somewhere because it has slightly soured as it's aged so now it's like a cross between a tripple and a Saison. Btw I personally think Unibroue is currently the #1 Brewery in the world and that comes with a lifetime experience of over 1,000 unique beers tasted from all over the world =)

ratbastid

I was going to say Fin du Monde. Drank one last night. It's certainly among my favorites, although like most trippels, I find it gets a bit cloying after the first one. But there's a LOT going on in it. Amazingly complex. I'm a big fan of Unibroue--a local restaurant here does beer tasting dinners, where they pair courses of a five-course meal with various beers, and they did an all-Unibroue night that was outstanding.

I pretty much like any Oktoberfest-style beer. Even plain old Sam Adams Oktoberfest is quite good.

We have a local brew-pub that cask-aged a few casks of its double IPA, and opens them periodically for special occasions, and every time I can get myself around a few pints of that, I'm happy.

I'm not a style-snob--I like malt, I like hop. I'm about variety.

ktspktsp

Another vote for Unibroue . I like both La Fin du Monde and La Maudite, a red ale.
Best thing about going back to the US in a month and a half? All the great beer I can get!
I'm a fan of the slightly spicy saison style too. I've very much enjoyed Saison Dupont and Fantome Saision.
Other favorites also include the 90-minute IPA from Dogfish head and the Rochefort 8.

/6 more weeks!

dlish

non alcoholic Almaza malt

couldnt be left out. do i still count?

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Psycho Dad

If it includes water, hops, barley and yeast I think you can be in. Your sobriety I don't think will be held against you.

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Don't always trust the opinions of experts.

snowy

I tend to stick to beers brewed in my own neck of the woods. This isn't to say I haven't tried some of the beers listed above, because I have, but I just prefer the taste of many beers from Oregon and Washington. Plus, there are so many damn good micros and craft beers to choose from here. We were well-represented at the Great American Beer Festival.

Lately we've been drinking a lot of this:


And a bit of this:


If I'm not drinking a dark and spicy winter ale I like beers on the hoppy side of life. Double Mountain Brewery in Hood River makes a spectacular beer using fresh hops called the Killer Green. Double Mountain is a small brewery that doesn't bottle, so it's only available on tap at one tavern in town.

I don't drink ambers, generally; they're usually too sweet and too malty for me. I prefer strong ales, porters, stouts, IPAs, IRAs, and the like. I do enjoy a good wit in the summer; luckily we have a very good craft brewer here in town that makes an amazing wit. Kolsch is also a good summer beer.

I love beer.

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SabrinaFair

I'm a microbrewery fan myself, on the rare occasions I drink beer (I'm primarily a bourbon drinker). For me, it's BBC (Bluegrass Brewing Company) all the way. They have a number of different brews, including a wonderful Bourbon Barrel Smoked Porter and a refreshing Summer Wheat. Those are my two personal favorites; they also have a Christmas brew called Ebenezer I really like. It's got a very complex, almost spicy flavor.

PLUS, BBC has a wonderful tradition of selling 10-cent beers for an hour on the anniversary of the day Prohibition was repealed.

I really miss Portuguese beer, though....I can't find Sagres here in Louisville.

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Ratman

When I was in the Army I was at a multi-service installation. There was a Navy chief who told me "If you have to choose between buying food and buying beer, always remember: Beer has food value, FOOD HAS NO BEER VALUE!" Of course, he also held that if you have to choose between buying a house and buying a car, you can always live in your car.

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genuinegirly

My husband's all-time favorite is Stone Ruination IPA

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vanblah

My current favorite:

Maredsous

snowy

That's a really fine beer. TT has good taste

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Poppinjay

The store we now shop at is one of those that has the giant walk in beer cooler. I like to call it heaven. If I ever get stupid rich, that will be the first frivolous thing I will purchase. I will call it my grotto.

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samcol

I'm addicted to a local micro's IPA at the moment. Generally I like anything pale and the more bitter the aftertaste the better.

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Baraka_Guru

There is a microbrewery/pub about a 5-minute walk from my place. You wouldn't know it was there at first glance, as it's in an unassuming place shared with a sushi place and a cheese shop. (It's also across the street from a school. )

Granite Brewery makes some great stuff, and it's brewed onsite. Now, I'm a man who likes variety, so I will list the ones I particularly like from this place alone:

• Peculiar (5.6%): a dark ale with a slightly sweet but dry palate.
• Keefe's Irish Stout (4.5%): A black bitter stout with a buried hint of sweetness and a creamy head.
• Ringberry Ale (5.0%): a Raspberry-flavoured blended ale.

Oh, and they have good food as well.

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Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
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robodog

One of my other top 3 brews just came out on Sunday and the wife was kind enough to get me a 6-pack:
Great Lakes Brewing's Christmas Ale.

If your able to get some I highly recommend it, be fast though because like eggnog once new years hits the government takes it away until next year =)

Italianman137

Samuel Adams Oktoberfest

CinnamonGirl

mmm, beer. There are some suggestions here that I definitely need to try out, but as of right now, my absolute favorites are Smithwick's, Stella, and Guinness. Certain styles of Sam Adams are pretty good. There was one Ukrainian beer that I don't remember the name of that was kinda like Stella that I really liked.

I'm not a fan of German beer... I don't like that bite in the aftertaste. If it's English or Irish, I'll probably like it. If it's English or Irish and dark, I'll definitely like it.

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"...for though she was ordinary, she possessed health, wit, courage, charm, and cheerfulness. But because she was not beautiful, no one ever seemed to notice these other qualities, which is so often the way of the world."


"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

MSD

You want strong? Try Satan.

Baraka_Guru

You have a lot of taste!

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

roachboy

here is the list of official trappist breweries from the international trappist association website:

#
Achel in Belgium: for beer
#
Orval in Belgium: for beer and cheese
#
Scourmont-Lez-Chimay in Belgium: for beer
#
Rochefort in Belgium: for beer
#
Westmalle in Belgium: for beer
#
Westvleteren in Belgium: for beer
#
Koningshoeven in Tilburg, the Netherlands: for beer, bread, cookies/biscuits and chocolates

in my humble but on this point wholly doctrinaire opinion, these are the best ales in the universe.
the fortified ales are less complex in exchange for being more--um---efficient, particularly if the Goal is on the order of dressed up to get messed up.
any of these on tap is a lovely lovely experience.

others that i like, but am less doctrinaire about (there really is no ale but trappist ale---everything else is just, well, less):

la chouffe
la duchesse de bourgogne...this stuff i love (on tap--bottles are good, but kegs are better. not pasturized. all bottled beer coming into the states has to be pasturized. it's ok until you find out there's a difference)
Duchesse De Bourgogne from Brouwerij Verhaeghe

st. bernardus abt 12
Sint Bernardus
yum.

saison dupont is a bit more a country ale, but helps you figure out that beer really was food.
Brasserie Dupont

i like jenlain too.
Brasserie Duyck, the beers : Jenlain, J Absinthe, Gingembre, Torra, Catch the cat, Saint Druon, Frache de l'Aunelle, Spring beer, Christmas beer, Bionelle

for fake belgians, ommegang's abbey double is quite good.
Brewery Ommegang. Belgian brewing in America.

and if you're around philly, monk's cafe makes a sour cherry ale:
Monk's Café Flemish Sour Red Ale - Brouwerij Van Steenberge N.V. - BeerAdvocate
but this really has to be on tap.




but here in tiny town, it is a fallen world. few and far between are the belgians. so one settles for decent local fare. like ipswich ale.
Mercury Brewing Company - Ipswich, MA

but any of the above will prompt you to forget stuff like that exists.

ok enough thinking about beer.

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spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite

ktspktsp

Abaya is a huge Duchesse fan, and rightly so
And Monk's and Eulogy are the best thing about Philly . I once went to Monk's with a Belgian friend, he got us a couple of free beers by chatting with the owner

roachboy

monk's has achel beers, which are really pretty amazing. i haven't found them anywhere else, not even at chicago's fabulous map room or the hopleaf.
philly also has grace's tavern at around 22nd and south, which has a great (though smaller) selection of fine beverages and the monk's sour ale is usually on tap. when i was teaching nearby, i went there pretty often--it's far enough away that undergraduates are unlikely to go, and nothing sez buzzkill quite the way running into students of yours at a publick house does.

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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite

guyy

Something we agree on.

I drink Tyranena IPA because it's brewed just down the road. New Glarus is a local favourite, but most of their stuff is too sweet for me.

In fact, a lot of small scale brewers make their beers too sweet. Unibroue isn't that small, really, but i find them too sweet. Je n'aime pas Unibroue. I go to the Dieu du ciel in Montreal when i have the chance.

CinnamonGirl

Why, thank you



Also, I was curious about that Ukrainian beer that I couldn't remember, so I looked it up: it's Obolon. Not bad.

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"...for though she was ordinary, she possessed health, wit, courage, charm, and cheerfulness. But because she was not beautiful, no one ever seemed to notice these other qualities, which is so often the way of the world."


"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"