Beer Snobs Unite

[kmccoy90]

So since I've turned 21, I've been on a search for some of the tastiest beers available (much to the dismay of my wallet).

I'm a huge fan of the wheat beers, Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat being my favorite. I was a bit upset when I found out that Blue moon is a Coors beer, mostly because Coors tries to hide that fact to present the beer as a microbrew. I'm also a big fan of the pale ale/ipa variety. I recently tried Dogfish Head's 90-minute and was thoroughly impressed. I'm trying to get my hands on Stone's Ruination ipa, but the local market hasn't been too keen on restocking it. Truth be told, however, I've hardly found a good beer I haven't liked.

Anyone else a beer snob? Anyone have some nationally-available suggestions to whet my palate? Edited August 26, 2011 by kmccoy90

[joytron]

Paging Wade....

[cotsi95]

Im a huge beer snob. But I live in Fort Collins, CO so its to be expected here. We have 13 microbreweries in my town and were known as the "napa valley" of beers. Btw blue moon is a micro it was started in the brewery inside of coors field (where the rockies play) and it is still brewed there. Coors just sells it nationally for them since they own the company. But it is still brewed in the microbrew way. If you can get New Belgium (I dk if you can) try their sunshine wheat its very good. As for IPA's the best one arguably is Piney the Elder by Russian River Brewing.

[Arcane]

take your pick.

[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7c/De_zeven_trappisten.jpg/800px-De_zeven_trappisten.jpg[/img]

[Hassouni]

[quote name='Arcane' timestamp='1314405335' post='521527']take your pick. [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7c/De_zeven_trappisten.jpg/800px-De_zeven_trappisten.jpg[/img][/quote]

Except the unmarked one is nearly unattainable unless you visit the monastery in Belgium. That would be Westvleteren, often considered the best beer in the world (the strongest one they make anyway). After that, Rochefort 10 is said to be the best (I listed it). I also like Chimay. Orval, Westmalle, and Achel are good, but one of them, I forget which (Orval perhaps?) is very funky and distinctly different than the rest. La Trappe is not nearly as good as the other Trappist beers

[AraratHookah]

I too have a sensitive pallet when it comes to the juice of the barley but I hardly think that beer snobs so spread apart can have a discussion on the best beer. I think we can all agree the best beer can not be found on the shelves of most grocery chains. where ever i go I always have to have what ever the micro brew is and I'v had ALLOT of beer but I don't know if I can definitively say one beer is best. I can say that I enjoy IPAs most and our local San Fransisco micro brew "Speak Easy" I feel is my favorite over all and then the one here in town Lagunitas makes, in my opinion, the best IPA.

[Bornluckee13]

[quote name='Hassouni' timestamp='1314405999' post='521528'][quote name='Arcane' timestamp='1314405335' post='521527']take your pick. [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7c/De_zeven_trappisten.jpg/800px-De_zeven_trappisten.jpg[/img][/quote]

Except the unmarked one is nearly unattainable unless you visit the monastery in Belgium. That would be Westvleteren, often considered the best beer in the world (the strongest one they make anyway). After that, Rochefort 10 is said to be the best (I listed it). I also like Chimay. Orval, Westmalle, and Achel are good, but one of them, I forget which (Orval perhaps?) is very funky and distinctly different than the rest. La Trappe is not nearly as good as the other Trappist beers[/quote]

You are correct about the westvleteren, of course I may have a few I'm my fridge... I may also have been to a few of those amazing trappest abbys as well... Correct again on the Orval, distinctly different and just happens to be the first Trappist monastery I visited and my favorite beer to date. FYI, Orval also makes cheese. good cheese. Mmmmm, I miss Belgium! Try a Ranger IPA or Big swell IPA, Good stuff!

[Chreees]

Oh god, I want to try all of those in your pic, Jay.

I usually just go with Guiness or Yuengling, as I really like both. I need to start trying some of the local or non-local microbrew stuff, though.

[ntur]

you know Leinenkugel is also a MillerCoors brand. I had an internship there this summer. sorry to burst your bubble there, but its true. so if you dont like MillerCoors brands you may want to steer away from the following brands:

Miller
Coors
Leinenkugel
Blue Moon
Peroni (imported)
Grolsch (imported)
Pilsner Urquell (imported)
Colt 45
Mickeys
Molson
Fostors (imported)
Schlitz
Olde English
Pabst
(i may have forgotten some brands here)

anhueser busch inbev owns most of the other brands in the US. so check out their website to see what they make if you dont like large commercial brands.

sam adams and yuengling are their own comapnies, but they make up like 5-10% if the beer market. MillerCoors and ab inbev make up the other 90% of the us beer market.

hope that can help out in any way.

[Click]

I'm the biggest beer freak I know. I hate getting invited out to bars only to find out the place has BMC and Corona shit.

I happen to have a Westvleteren aging in my closet. I brought it back from Brugge last summer.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/ztZRO.jpg[/img]

I wasn't overly impressed by Pliny the Elder. Don't get me wrong, is it damn good, but I do have a few other IPAs I rank above it. It depends on what you want from an IPA. I thought Dogfish Heads 90 minute and Stones Ruination were better.

Try some St. Bernardus if you find it.

[Bawhee]

We should have a HF beer gathering. Everyone brings their own favorite beer! in large quantities)

[kmccoy90]

I was under the impression that Leinie's was merely distributed by Coors, not brewed by them. I know all about the politics of beer, as my dad worked for A-B for 11 or so years. Any brewery that wants to distribute their product nationally almost HAS to go through a major distributor.

It's also a balancing act, because micros don't have to be independently owned, but are required to jump through certain hoops to make sure their particular brand doesn't produce more than the specified number of bottles to legally qualify as a microbrewery.

And my gripe isn't with Coors beers, mostly the fact that they keep that little nugget of info on the down-low to try and increase their cred with aficionados. Anheuser-Busch, for instance, doesn't hide the fact that they brew Shock Top, which is a pretty comparable beer to Blue moon. Edited August 27, 2011 by kmccoy90

[Hassouni]

Hey Click how did you bring the Westvleteren back? Doesn't it pop in the plane?

[cotsi95]

Had an Odell's Mercenary IPA and a DFH 90 minute IPA for lunch today at The Mayor of Old Town. A local bar that just opened up that has over 100 micros on tap. When one keg is gone they replace it with another beer. This is what heaven looks like.

[img]http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q268/cotsi95/photo-2.jpg[/img]

[Click]

[quote name='Hassouni' timestamp='1314479991' post='521614']
Hey Click how did you bring the Westvleteren back? Doesn't it pop in the plane?
[/quote]

I thought it was going to, but surprisingly it and the other beers I brought back were all fine. I was expected my clothes to be covered in beer when I opened my suitcase.

[Big Boss]

[quote name='Click' timestamp='1314420501' post='521556']
I'm the biggest beer freak I know. I hate getting invited out to bars only to find out the place has BMC and Corona shit.

I happen to have a Westvleteren aging in my closet. I brought it back from Brugge last summer.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/ztZRO.jpg[/img]

[/quote]


Ok. My interest is piqued. Where can I find this stuff here in the States?

[Epoch]

[quote name='cotsi95' timestamp='1314491740' post='521633']
Had an Odell's Mercenary IPA and a DFH 90 minute IPA for lunch today at The Mayor of Old Town. A local bar that just opened up that has over 100 micros on tap. [b]When one keg is gone they replace it with another beer[/b]. This is what heaven looks like.

[img]http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q268/cotsi95/photo-2.jpg[/img]
[/quote]

That idea is borderline genius. I wish more places did that!

[cotsi95]

Its pretty cool since the beer list changes daily. They use projectors to show the list above the bar.

[Click]

[quote name='Big Boss' timestamp='1314579297' post='521707']
Ok. My interest is piqued. Where can I find this stuff here in the States?
[/quote]

The place to "legally" buy the beer is directly from the brewery. The beer is produced by monks in an abbey and is not sold for profit. The proper procedure is to call the beer hotline to place an order. One is allowed only 24 bottles a month per license plate. The used bottles have to be returned or you lose your deposit. Now, I got the beer at a beer store in Brugge and it was super sketchy. I asked the guy if he had Westvleteren 12 and he murmured something to me. He waited for everybody to leave the store and went to the back. He brought out a bag wrapped up and sealed and wouldn't let me open it. I bought the bag and didn't get to open it until I left the store.

You can buy the beer "illegally" for about 40x the price online - http://shop.belgianshop.com/acatalog/info_Buy_Belgian_Beer_Shop_Westvleteren_12.html

[SaintPendulous]

ya know, a nice Guiness Draught does it everytime for me

[Arcane]

[quote name='Epoch' timestamp='1314592768' post='521731']
[quote name='cotsi95' timestamp='1314491740' post='521633']
Had an Odell's Mercenary IPA and a DFH 90 minute IPA for lunch today at The Mayor of Old Town. A local bar that just opened up that has over 100 micros on tap. [b]When one keg is gone they replace it with another beer[/b]. This is what heaven looks like.

[img]http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q268/cotsi95/photo-2.jpg[/img]
[/quote]

That idea is borderline genius. I wish more places did that!
[/quote]
i'm more interested in the girl...

good ol' sobriety. Edited August 30, 2011 by Arcane

[Chreees]

So I bought some new glasses and wanted to grab some beer to try them out with. Was on TC with Jay discussing my possibilities and anyway I just ended up texting him when I walked next door to the gas station. He recommended I get both Black Levitation and 1554. Tried the Black Levitation last night- really good. Will definitely buy from now on. Going to try the 1554 tonight.

I also like that these two are made in San Diego and Fort Collins, places where two of my favorite people are from!

[Arcane]

it's actually called Levitation Ale (no black). Stone Brewery is good.

Although, I admit it...if it wasn't from San Diego county, I wouldn't as highly of it.

[Cp44]

There was this local microbrewer called Old Dominion, my favorite beer was Oak Beer Stout and Dominion Lager. That was probably the best stout I've ever had, it was made with coffee and vanilla beans too in an oak barrel hence the name. They also had a restaurant in the brewery and the food was pretty damn good too and cheap. Then Annheiser Busch bought them out and shut down the restaurant.

[Chreees]

[quote name='Arcane' timestamp='1315347519' post='522783']
it's actually called Levitation Ale (no black). Stone Brewery is good.

Although, I admit it...if it wasn't from San Diego county, I wouldn't as highly of it.
[/quote]

Whoops, my bad. Guess I couldn't correctly remember the name, haha. Either way, this is the stuff for those interested:

http://www.stonebrew.com/levitation/

And here's the 1554:

http://www.newbelgium.com/beer/detail.aspx?id=5ac72c92-fd87-4ec7-858d-3380c8d465d8

I guess I got black from the 1554's black ale description or something, lol. Really I barely looked at both packages/bottles after I drank the Levitation yesterday. I'm hella anxious to try the 1554 tonight. I'll report in my thoughts.

[quote name='Cp44' timestamp='1315347627' post='522785']
There was this local microbrewer called Old Dominion, my favorite beer was Oak Beer Stout and Dominion Lager. That was probably the best stout I've ever had, it was made with coffee and vanilla beans too in an oak barrel hence the name. They also had a restaurant in the brewery and the food was pretty damn good too and cheap. Then Annheiser Busch bought them out and shut down the restaurant.
[/quote]

Damn Annheiser Busch... I hate Busch, Bud, and all that crap...