Topic: Nectar of the Gods

For those of age 18+ (or whatever the relevant age minimum is in your territory), let's talk beers of the world. I consider myself a bit of a beer fanboy. By that I mean I've downed beers from all over the world, and I'm always on the look out for new flavours to experience.

So to open up what will be a insightful and deathly serious conversation, I have a request to make of the fine Americans on this forum. I'm still on the hunt for a genuinely good American beer. I understand the microbreweries do the good stuff, which is just as well because other than Sam Adams I would sooner drink my own vomit (and in the case of Bud, I'm pretty sure it is vomit).

Does anyone know of some good American microbreweries to recommend. I shall import.

And on another note entirely, anyone tried making their own beer? It is an awesome project!

im under age but my brother say this is the best beer he has ever tasted im 18 i got 3 more years to be 21 so i can drink
[its a american beer]

I'm 21, just old enough to drink here in the U.S., but have yet to do so

Sorry I can't be of any use.

EDIT: actually, I remember hearing in the news, that some brewery, in Texas I believe, has came out with Nobama Beer (or Nobama Brew). I have no idea whether or not it's good.

BTW, I'm in no way trying to make some sort of political statement at all, it's just something I remember hearing in the local news a few days ago.

I demand you start drinking so you can report back to me.

I love Australia.

/me hugs everything alcoholic.

Back in Black from the 21st Amendment Brewery is pretty great.

Matt from Hair of the Dog brewery is also pretty swell, although they always seem to be on back order. If you can't find that particular beer pretty much anything they offer is a good choice.

Hadn't you already made a beer thread?

Oh awesome, I hadn't even heard of this one.

Thank you very muchly!

The latest not-your-average beer I remember drinking was Murphy's Irish Stout. It was okay but nothing too special. It's hard to find special beers here in Finland. My brother is more of a beer man than I am actually. Heard from him that Neuschwansteiner was pretty good. There was also this one raspberry beer that I have always wanted to taste. Can't remember the name though.

Oh, I shoulda said. No Stouts pls <_<

The darkest beer I can stomach is dark ale. I'm more a pilsner kinda guy overall.

AND NO THAT DOESNT MAKE ME A GIRL

my other borther says this is the best beer ever

Here's a beer really popular where I live, it's called blue star

My favourite Aussie beers are James Squire Golden Ale and Cooper's Pale. I'll drink most things apart from XXXX Gold, but those two are definitely my favs. The McLaren Vale beer company (in SA) does one called Vale Ale, which I had when I was back last week (I'd tried it a while ago and wasn't a huge fan, for some reason) and it was fantastic. Apart from that I haven't tried many Aussie microbreweries, as growing up I'd just drink the usual stuff - TED, West End (SA beer), Tooheys New etc., which are all fairly average.

Oh, I'd also recommend a Czech beer I had when I was in Prague called Pilsner Urquell. Very tasty - I think it's the beer that everyone drinks in the Czech Republic, like their equivalent of Budweiser (although far, far nicer!)

Since I've moved to the US, I've found several new beers I like. These include:

• Yuengling Lager (not a microbrewery, but it's brewed here in Pennsylvania and is hence pretty much the cheapest beer. It's also pretty damn good).
• Sam Adams: Boston Lager, Noble Pilsner, perhaps a couple of others I can't remember
• Blue Moon (a decent wheat beer if you like that kind of thing. I prefer Hoegaarden, but Blue Moon's not bad either)
• Magic Hat #9 (it's available in Australia apparently - when I was back last week a mate said he managed to get some at a local bottle-o. It actually does taste a bit like nectar - an unusual beer, but nice)
• Dog Fish Head (I think it was the 90 minute IPA I had)
• I've tried a couple of beers from the Kona Brewing Company which were nice. I had the Longboard Lager and the Wailua Wheat, which has a hint of passionfruit (real passionfruit, not like that Miller Lime artifical flavour crap).
• Capitol City Brewing Company from Washington D.C does some nice beer - I've tried the Capitol Kolsch, and I think the Hefeweizen. I don't know if they distribute their beers outside restaurants, though.
• There's a brewery in my town called Otto's that do some nice beers. Again, I don't know if you'd be able to get your hands on them though.

That's about all I can think of at this stage - I'll let you know if I try anything else. Some beers I really wasn't a fan of were from Founder's Brewing (brewed in Michigan), although their beers have an excellent reputation. I bought a sampler carton and struggled to get through it. A local supermarket does a 'craft your own six-pack' thing where you can pick any 6 beers (from a range of 40 or 50) for $12, so that's a reasonably cheap way for me to try a bunch of different ones.

Keep in mind though that I've found that I'm not a big fan of the big American ales that many microbreweries do here - they're extremely hoppy, to a point of being overpowering to my tastes. I quite like the milder ales and many of the lager/wheat beers, which is probably a result of the Aussie beers I've grown up drinking. IPAs are huge over here, although I'm not a huge fan of many of them. On the upside, the beers really do have a nice variety of tastes, so you can certainly find something you like.

Let me know if you want me to try anything in particular and report back - the local shops have a pretty good variety of beers from all over the country, and if I can find it I'll give it a go!

This is how you know you can trust this.

U MAD???

@bezerker99: that doesn't really count as beer, though, does it?

@Wheels2050 i guess not

Adam's Ale is very good.

Bet you don't know what that is

OK, I've since had a few more beers. Bought a mixed 6-pack (that I could choose myself) so tried a few new beers:

Troegs Troegenator Doublebock:
Not bad, a bit different to what I've had before. Felt almost 'thick', which I suppose is why it was drunk during periods of fasting (as the website told me). It probably wouldn't be my first choice, but I thought it was above average.

Brooklyn Pilsner:
I really quite liked this one. Then again, I'm a fan of pilsner style. I'd definitely have it again!

Penn Pilsner:
Very much a local beer, this one. It wasn't bad, but wasn't a standout either.

Kirin Ichiban:
For something different, I also grabbed a Japanese beer. Not bad, but I didn't think it really stood out either.

The other ones I had were a Belgian White (US brewery, but the name escapes me) which was decent, and something else I can't remember (I managed to knock off one too many...)

Also, I bought a Sam Adams seasonal pack:

It has 2 of each of the listed beers.

My thoughts:

Boston Lager: Yummy. I've bought another carton, and am drinking one as I write this. Recommended. (It's got a touch of the strong hops that American ales seem to have, but not enough to overwhelm my taste)
Octoberfest: Not bad, a darker beer. Has hints of toffee and caramel and all that, which I'm not a huge fan of but I didn't mind this one.
Harvest Pumpkin: This is the beer I really bought the pack for. However, it just tasted like water. I didn't dislike it per se, but it kind of just tasted like nothing.
Hazel Brown: I'm not a huge fan of darker ales, but this was OK.
Latitude 48 IPA: I'm not a huge IPA person either, but this was drinkable. I'm certainly not someone to listen to on this one, though.
Dunkelweizen: A dark wheat beer, I honestly can't really remember what it tasted like. It can't have been bad, but obviously wasn't a standout either.

That's it for now, I'll update when I've tried some more!

Werewolve killaz......Silver Bullets