the "post your thoughts/review on the alcohol you have been drinking" /thread

KillerGremlin · 01-17-2011, 04:35 AM

So lately I've been sucking down a lot of beer. Nothing too fancy since I am on a college budget. I've been dipping into a lot of Sam Adam's brews as they are cheap and readily available.

(sorry for the hot linking in advance but....)

I am by no means a beer expert nor a stout expert. But I tried Sam Adam's Imperial Stout:

At 10 bucks for a 4-pack you expect something pretty damn good. I feel that this stout should come with a bold disclaimer: MADE FOR PEOPLE WHO ENJOY SWEET BEER. This is one of the most fruity, sweet stouts I have had. I much prefer my staple Guinness or the bold and complex Old Rasputin:

I picked up the Sam Adam's holiday pack and their Autumn pack. I think these are cool mixes of beer with a nice variety. The autumn pack was mostly average with some average Pumpkin Ales and a very average Irish read. What was pretty sweet was the Sam Adam's Dunkelweizen:

The Dunkelweizen is a dark, unfiltered wheat beer. Unfiltered wheat beers rank among my favorite styles of beer so this was a really pleasant surprise. The Sam Adams Dunkelweizen had a good flavor and a nice refreshing finish.

Also impressive from the Sam Adam's holiday pack was their Chocolate Bock. This was my first dabbling with a Chocolate Bock, and I was impressed. Like the Sam Adam's Imperial Stout this one was on the sweet side of things, but that is expected with the implicit "chocolate" in the title.

I picked up a 12-pack of Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale:

I've honestly dabbled the most in pale ales the past few years. I've had pale ales from a lot of larger micro breweries, including Dogfish Head, New Holland, New Belgium, and Stone Brewing. The Celebration Ale is like drinking a Christmas tree. It has wonderful pine notes. It is extremely bitter and dry as a good IPA should be. It has a malty mouth feel, especially at first taste, but it really hits with dry and bitter. I actually am quite impressed with this little bottle of hoppy goodness.

Some other excellence was New Belgium's Hoptober. This is another bitter, citrusy IPA style beer.

.

On the other end of the spectrum, I tried Annheiser Busch's Shock Top:

.
This is an insanely bland macro that is supposed to compete with Coor's Blue Moon. Honestly, Blue Moon is much better and has become my staple Belgian White (aka macro watery goodness) that I order when I go out to a burger joint to wash down my burger and fries. Also good is Coors from the bottle. If you need a 6-pack of something light, watery and cheap, go with Coors.

I was ultimately unimpressed with Budweiser's American Ale. I think there are better cheap alternatives. I get it though...it has hops, it is kind of a real ale. It is Budweiser's answer to Sam Adams. But Boston Lager is such a good, readily available brew, I feel that it is too little and too late.

Anyway, that's just some of the specific beer I've been drinking lately. I've had many more.

I figured it would be interesting if everyone posted some of the their hard liquor, wine, or beer experiences here as a reference for other members. You don't need to write an elaborate review or anything, just mention what you have been drinking and maybe mention if you'd recommend it or if you think people should stay away from it!

manasecret · 01-18-2011, 12:45 AM

Ok sorry in advance, but the beers I am about to mention are all from Texas. I know we have a few texans here, and everyone else ought to visit at least once. This is a good way to spend such a visit.

For my birthday last august, my girlfriend and I did a brewery tour of Texas. We did five brewery tours in four days. Best. Birthday. Evar.

This actually takes a bit of finesse, since two of the tours only run on weekdays.

We started driving out to Shiner, Texas early Friday morning at about 8:00 a.m. to get to the Shiner brewery tour at 10:00 a.m. They are best known for their bock, which is fairly well known throughout the u.s. and is the only one of the following beers you can get outside Texas.

Shiner is a good gateway beer. They are very tasty, but are on the light end of craft brews. They have been dabbling in other styles, and I had my first shiner Oktoberfest at the tour. A tasty but lighter version.

After shiner we drove to Blanco, TX for the Real Ale brewery tour at 2:00 p.m. This turned out to be my favorite. A great, informational tour and all the free tastings you want of their many varied and strong beers that you want. I didn't have it there, but their coffee porter is awesome.

We then stayed the night in Austin, TX at the historic Driskill hotel downtown. Beautiful place to say the least.

Saturday morning we got up, and after eating went to the Live Oak brewery tour -- my second favorite. (Humongous live oak trees are all over Texas, thus the reference and their tagline, "made in the shade.") They recently hired a true German brewer recently, who has been refining some of their recipes with great success. They make an excellent hefeweizen, a very cloudy, fruity beer the type of which I love. He explained where the fruity flavors come, namely the banana flavor. Turns out, a certain yeast produces the same enzymes that also help give bananas their flavor. So it's not just beer knurds being snooty, it's science!

After that, we went to 512, named after austin's area code. This was the first one that was a humongous party, because as it turns out it was their anniversary (just like me!). It was also miserably hot and outdoors, in the middle of august in Texas. Immediate swamp ass. Their beers are tasty and strong, but not quite what I was looking for in that heat. They are also keg only at the moment.

We stayed one more night in Austin, then headed back home to Houston on Sunday and rested. Monday morning we then went to the oldest and greatest craft brewery in Texas, my old favorite -- Saint Arnold, the patron saint of brewers. They just moved to their newery closer to downtown Houston, and Jessica hadn't been yet. They make amazing beers which have won many numerous awards at the great American beer festival. They were first introduction into good beers, so they will always be my first love.

And many more. They're most fun to find and to try is their divine reserves. Each one is unique and only produced in very limited quantities. My favorite so far is the pumpkin Imperial stout (DR9), the ONLY pumpkin beer I've had that actually tastes like pumpkin. YUM.

So for those that love beer and are in Texas, this was a great trip. If you can't make it to the breweries, then get to either the Gingerman pub or the flying saucer pub, both of which are in a city near you, and ask for one of these true domestic beers.

gekko · 01-18-2011, 01:28 AM

My favorite beer, ever. Randomly decided to check the Twitter feed of my local beer shop and saw "The Abyss IN STOCK" posted 30 minutes ago. Ran out the door and bought my limit of 4. The 2010 did not disappoint. I considered hyping it, but I'll just let it speak for itself:

#5 overall on Beer Advocate
100/100 on RateBeer

Also finally picked up a bottle of Laphroaig 10 year. Started with the 15 year, and since picked up the Quarter Cask, Cask Strength, and 18 year. Always avoided the 10 year since the Quarter Cask is only $5 more, and while it's still pretty good, I prefer the Quarter Cask for the price.

Jason1 · 01-19-2011, 06:01 PM

you people and your sophisticated beers...I enjoy drinking the cheaper / more common / American college beers. Some of my favorites:

This was a favorite in college. I dont drink it as much anymore, but on occasion I go cheap and pick me up some 'stones.

I also enjoy a High Life on occasion(the champagne of beers), but never Miller Light. It sucks.

manasecret · 01-19-2011, 10:13 PM

I love people who get snooty about which watered down near-beer is better or worse. If you're going to be snooty about your beer, at least drink good ones.

Jason, for you I recommend blue moon, a very tasty gateway beer.

KillerGremlin · 01-20-2011, 03:28 AM

Nothing against Macro brands. Sometimes you need something cheap and light. Or...on a more depressing note...sometimes all you can find at the local Jewel or 711 is something macro.

Like I said, bottled Coors transcends. I don't know what the fuck they do, but they do it well. I have many fond memories of getting shit-face-plastered off Coors back in the day....but that was from canned Coors. I think that stuff came in a 30-pack. Anything in a 30-pack is asking to get you intoxicated (please drink responsibly, YEAH RIGHT).

I also enjoy Stella Artois as a good example of a quality macro. And of course, Blue Moon is my go-to when I am ordering a high calorie burger/fry meal and still want my beer. Plus Blue Moon is at like EVERY restaurant in the midwest.

Also formidable is New Castle Brown Ale and Guinness, but both of those blur the echelon between macro and what you can get in the micro world.

KillerGremlin · 01-20-2011, 03:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by manasecret

Immediate swamp ass.

I have cousins in Texas. If I ever get down there I will check out the local beer and see if I can bring some back. I plan on doing a roadtrip someday once I get my shit in life together. I would like to head that way. Someday.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gekko

My favorite beer, ever. Randomly decided to check the Twitter feed of my local beer shop and saw "The Abyss IN STOCK" posted 30 minutes ago. Ran out the door and bought my limit of 4. The 2010 did not disappoint. I considered hyping it, but I'll just let it speak for itself:

Ah...The Abyss. With a name like that how could you go wrong? I added it to my list, I will keep an eye out for this.

Jason1 · 01-21-2011, 07:57 PM

Yea, ive tried Blue Moon. Its pretty good I guess. I dont really have anything against the "trendy" beers, but what does bug me is people that all of a sudden get done with college and get a real job and suddenly they wont go anywhere near bud light, even though its all they used to drink. Suddenly their opinion changes to "I dont drink that watered down crap." Just shut up, your not better than anyone else just because you enjoy Newcastle, get off your high horse and have a fucking Bud Light.

Combine 017 · 01-21-2011, 08:34 PM

I am currently drinking...

Its all good, lots of different kinds of drinks to be made.
The only thing I need that im missing is vodka.

Fox 6 · 01-21-2011, 09:11 PM

Admiral Nelson and Sailor Jerry's. Fuck Captain Morgan

Professor S · 01-21-2011, 11:06 PM

Probably the best scotch on the market for ~$20 US for 750ml.

The Germanator · 01-21-2011, 11:47 PM

Drinking Maker's Mark tonight, but I actually devote a blog to this kind of thing...

http://thisiswhatidrink.blogspot.com/

I haven't updated in over a month which is a damn shame, so I don't have the recent stuff, but maybe this will inspire me to do more.

BreakABone · 01-22-2011, 01:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Germanator

Drinking Maker's Mark tonight, but I actually devote a blog to this kind of thing...

http://thisiswhatidrink.blogspot.com/

I haven't updated in over a month which is a damn shame, so I don't have the recent stuff, but maybe this will inspire me to do more.

This is actually a good idea... would you mind cross posting on NoTR as well?

Actually could probably steal the content of this thread, we don't do enough articles on purely booze.

manasecret · 01-22-2011, 01:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason1

Yea, ive tried Blue Moon. Its pretty good I guess. I dont really have anything against the "trendy" beers, but what does bug me is people that all of a sudden get done with college and get a real job and suddenly they wont go anywhere near bud light, even though its all they used to drink. Suddenly their opinion changes to "I dont drink that watered down crap." Just shut up, your not better than anyone else just because you enjoy Newcastle, get off your high horse and have a fucking Bud Light.

I got no problem with macros as KG calls 'em and getting the most bang for your buck. But if you're going to go super cheap and still drink beer, why not just go all out and drink some forties?

It's malt liquor, so not technically beer, but close enough. And will fuck you up for the low low price of $3.

Also, let's not forget who was just on his high horse about which near beer was better.

For me, it's about the taste. Going to a bar or pub with tons of beer options and getting a near beer is like going to a steakhouse and ordering a hamburger steak.

manasecret · 01-22-2011, 01:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gekko

My favorite beer, ever. Randomly decided to check the Twitter feed of my local beer shop and saw "The Abyss IN STOCK" posted 30 minutes ago. Ran out the door and bought my limit of 4. The 2010 did not disappoint. I considered hyping it, but I'll just let it speak for itself:

#5 overall on Beer Advocate
100/100 on RateBeer

This looks amazing. Will have to try it soon.

Btw, to follow up on places in texas to find all this good stuff, the best place to find any beer or liquor in Houston and texas in general is Spec's.

Also, I scrolled through the top beers list, and wouldn't you know -- the Live Oak Hefeweizen I mentioned made the list.