15 Comments on “Beer, Glorious Beer!”   rss feed

1. Josh on Mar 27th, 2007 at 11:16 pm

   I’ll put in my two cents on American beer. Budweiser and other American beers that you’d see advertised on TV are plain terrible. But there are some fantastic beers made by smaller breweries. As a native Delawarean, I have to promote Dogfish which makes perhaps the greatest IPA I’ve ever had.

2. Arun on Mar 28th, 2007 at 1:08 am

   The Beer Industry killed the (hard) Apple Cider Industry (through the usual means, differential regulation and taxation).

   Three cheers for the Free Market!

3. bswift on Mar 28th, 2007 at 1:20 am

   Mmmm. I opened a delicious bottle of homebrewed milk stout just seconds before browsing over here.

   Three cheers for homebrewers!!

4. Charly on Mar 28th, 2007 at 1:25 am

   beer makes the world go round

5. glenn on Mar 28th, 2007 at 1:43 am

   You should try the best beer in the Philippines: San Miguel Beer.

6. rod. on Mar 28th, 2007 at 2:20 am

   I have to agree with Josh: mainstreamish American beers taste like horse piss…

   The good ones can be found in Europe, namely in Denmark, Belgium and Czech Republic.

7. mclaren on Mar 28th, 2007 at 5:31 am

   Of course, some of us judge alcoholic beverages to taste like raw sewage regardless of their putative vintage or brewing methods. By comparison with the true elixir of the gods — cherry cider, or a good stout home-made ginger ale.

8. adam on Mar 28th, 2007 at 8:54 am

   My biggest concern is that I can’t buy Fuller’s ESB around here anymore (some change of distributors, I am told). Godamnit.

9. Binh on Mar 28th, 2007 at 9:46 am

   Corporate America’s beer is terrible. However a lot of Europeans seem to like it.

10. jackd on Mar 28th, 2007 at 10:25 am

    Arun, the hard cider industry isn’t dead, just kinda weak. But you probably already knew that, I’m offering this for The Lurkers.

    At my local bottle shop I can obtain four or five different brands and several varieties, plus some flavored stuff and a couple of pear ciders (perry to the cognoscenti).

    Common brands around here: Cider Jack, K, Hard Core, Woodpecker, Hornsby’s, and my favorite, Woodchuck. Some places carry Strongbows. I recommend avoiding the ‘regular’ version of Hornsby’s. Tastes like apple-flavored Jolly Rancher candy.

    I’ve kept my eyes open for real artisanal ciders, but none of them seem to be distributed here in Georgia (USA), alas!

11. Lord on Mar 28th, 2007 at 12:47 pm

    Anchor Steam is a wonderful find.

12. tyler on Mar 28th, 2007 at 12:51 pm

    When you move to Oregon you are required by statute to begin brewing beer within 1 month or you must move back to California.

    Europe has excellent, in some cases masterful, traditional beers. American corporate beer is like having sex in a canoe: f*ing too close to water…

    But the finest American craft beers are of a quality equal to or greater than at least those European beers which are imported to the US, and they are much more innovative. The craft beer rennaisance blossomed in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest and is now spreading across the country, with hotspots in the same semicountercultural regions that are also ahead of the curve in organic foods, etc - pretty much every funky college town has a craft brewery now. Here in Portland (oregon) it seems like there’s a new one every week. Some are quite abysmally bad, most are decent to good - certainly better than any corporate beer - and the best are simply beyond description.

    A big part of the reason is simply that we grow hops here, including organics, so it’s very fresh…

    Rogue brand, led by famous innovator John Maier, is somewhat widely distributed, and is well known for its unique and sometimes very complex flavors. If you get a batch brewed by Maier these are perhaps the finest commercially available, bottled beers in the world, if you like nonstandard beers that is…but even a generic batch of Rogue is excellent. I favor Dead Guy Ale. If you want a speaker for your Science of Beer thing, get Maier to come. The guy’s a freakin’ genius.

    I think Fat Tire is very overrated, but a lot of ppl like it…

    Sierra Nevada is a large-production craft brewer whose product has remained consistent. Same for Anchor Steam.

    But of course if you want the best you have to come to Oregon and tour the pubs. The best stuff is always made in small batches and rarely publicized. A good time to come would be in July - it’s lovely here then, and there’s the Brewer’s Festival…http://www.oregonbrewfest.com/

    BTW we also have the best coffee on the planet. Bite my used grounds, Seattle! Stumptown Roasters has started a new revolution in micro-roasting and ultra-fair-trade single-origin coffees that make existing “gourmet” coffees taste like Folger’s. You’ll need the coffee, too, after spending a night or two sampling the beers.

    Oregon: home of the finest biochemistry-altering agricultural products on Earth. *ahem*

13. Duncan on Mar 29th, 2007 at 6:55 am

    I’ve thought about emigrating from the UK once or twice but the fact is, there is nowhere else on earth you can get a proper pint of Fullers beer on draft, served at room temperature. My aunt moved to Ireland and even there she struggles with chilled “extra smooth” stuff

14. The Mighty Biff on Mar 30th, 2007 at 9:49 am

    Goodness me. Warm beer. You Southern Softy, Duncan ! I expect you like it flat too.

    I was astonished to find Newcastle Brown on tap in San Francisco a few years ago. Very good it was too and the local Anchor Steam was excellent. Why do you chaps only export the rubbish ?

15. adam on Mar 30th, 2007 at 11:08 am

    Duncan 13: until a couple of years ago, you could get Fuller’s ESB, cask conditioned on draft and at room temperature in the Alchemist and Barrister in Princeton, New Jersey. Alas, they eventually stopped doing it, the swine. The Triumph normally has one of their own brews that is English-style, but they serve it cold, which is a shame.

    Jackd #10: Woodchuck isn’t bad, actually. I’d take it over strongbow or woodpecker, which is damning with faint praise, but also over most other ciders I’ve had.

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

You can use these HTML tags: <a href=""></a>, <em></em>, <strong></strong>, <blockquote></blockquote>. You cannot use  and , even if they appear in the preview. Use "&lt;" and "&gt;" for "<" and ">".

1. You are Saying:
   October 6th, 2008 at 14:55

Trackback URL for this post: http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/03/27/beer-glorious-beer/trackback/