I can back that Bear Republic makes some good stuff. Their Hop Rod IPA is a fantastic Rye based IPA, I have not had anything like it, and happily I can get it year round by me.

Stone is great too, and thanks to them both openning a new plant, and increasing their distribution, you can find there stuff all over these days. I am eagerly awaiting the chance to finally be able to get some Double Bastards here.

Only thing from Green Flash I have had so far was their Imperal IPA, and it really did nothing for me. Just too bitter, and I like bitter beers. Maybe I just got a bad one.

Never seen Lost Coast out here, have to do some beer hunting maybe I can fidn some of their stuff.

Speaking of doubles, Rogue has now bottled their Double Dead Guy. I figured I would never have the chance to try that one, so I'm pretty psyched to crack open the bottle I got.

Hey I have a question, does anybody know of any other IPA's that are really citrusy in taste? I tried out Ninkasi's Tricerahops and Deschutes' Hop Henge which were both very similar, but both are Oregon local beers and hard for me to get here on the East Coast. I really enjoyed both of them, they have to use the same type of Hops, taste was very close for the pair.

Had lots of good IPA's, but nothing like those two so far.

I've never had either of the two you mentioned, but you may want to try:

Avery Maharajah (the most citrus ever)
Three Floyds Alpha King
Stone Ruination
Southern Tier Unearthly
Bell's Hop Slam

Some of those are kinda hard to find, but all are worth it!

Maharajah is indeed good. Found out about it lurking here actually. Ruination as well, but I didn't like the Unearthly actually. Odd thing about that is I like a lot of Southern Tier's specialty stuff, but didn't like that one.

The two I had were even more citrusy, almost like a lemon, with a good bitterness too. It was a very unexpected taste, and I pretty much picked both beers randomly.

I'll keep an eye out for some of the others, thanks!

As far as citrusy IPAs go, it doesn't get any better than Smuttynose Finest Kind IPA. I noticed you said you're on the east coast, so it should be no problem getting ahold of it. You'll thank me!

I noticed this week at the store that the fall seasonal beers are startng to get distributed again. I picked up some of Sierra Nevada's Anniversary Ale, which I hadn't gotten to try last time around. It's a pretty tasty IPA. Here's hoping I can find some oktoberfest beers soon... yum.

Sam Oktoberfest is hitting stores (incoming rant from Maligne), though I always liked Harpoon's better anyway. Now that I am living in Colorado, I am looking forward to getting to try some new fall seasonals. Does anyone have any noteworthy west-of-the-Mississippi Oktoberfest or other fall seasonal brews I should keep an eye out for?

Oktoberfest beers are big money maker for a lot of the craft breweries. That and the pumpkin beers, which have really taken off in the recent years.

This is pretty much my favourite beer season of the year. I love a well made pumpkin beer, but it unfortunately is a style that is really easy too mess up, and there are a lot of "false" pumkin beers out there that are not made the right way.

The really bad thign about both styles getting a boost is that it gets to be really hard to find them when it is the proper time to drink them. It's getting so bad by me that you can't even find them in October now. I have to stock up on them at the end of the Summer and store them till the proper time.

Now decent Pumpkin Beers on the East Coast is something I know about! Well Weyerbabcher and Southern Tier both make a great pair of Imeprials. For normal ones, Brooklyn, via the Post Road brand, and Smuttynose both have decent ones too. Dogfish Head have one as well, but I have not tried it yet, it's sitting in storage in my cellar right now.

I bought a bomber of the Stone vertical epic tonight after I read the description - extremely hopped belgian tripel. It was very good, although it reminded me a lot of the Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel with a less impressive head.

I absolutely love beer, but I just can't get into Oktoberfests. I really don't care for the style.

Oktoberfest - Overpriced boozing party with bad bavarian (not "really" german) folk music and "pseudo techno dance house folk music".

And the strees around the Festwiesen smelling like Urine for about 3 weeks.


Anyway, I dont really like those Pilsner beer or whatever ist called in English; ... Lager ?
My favourite clearly is Köstritzer Schwarzbier; hum ... black ale, black beer, strout or dark beer.

Or as the Hessian who i am just Äppelwoi (kind of "cider").

I'm talking about the oktoberfest style of beer, at least as it's marketed in the US, not the actual party. Oktoberfests aren't pilseners (which is just a type of lager), but rather a amber or brownish colored beer with pretty strong malty flavor. It's one of my favorite beer varieties-- I think the refreshing quality of a malt flavor sometimes gets overlooked with all the emphasis on hoppy beers. Don't get me wrong, I love IPAs, but sometimes a great malty beer is just the right drink.

Spaten Oktoberfest was pretty excellent last year, so I'm gonna try to find some of that again. Football starts, baseball gets to the playoffs, and fall seasonal beers are out. It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Had that as well about a month ago. Was pretty decent, but I got the feeling it just wasn't fully there yet, needs to age a bit. It is one of the few things that Stone does that bottle ferments. I made sure to grab another one which I threw into storage in my cellar so i can try it a few years down the road.

It depends on the year and the style. They pick a different style each year, and not all of them are meant to age.

They are all designed to be opened on or after December 12, 2012. So yes, they all are meant to age, just for different periods of time.

Stone Vertical Epic Ale

Managed to try that Double Dead Guy this weekend. Great looking bottle on this one, going to be keeping it. Pretty obviously based on the original Dead Guy, but much stronger and hoppier. Pretty well balanced too. I'd say it's one of Rogue's better efforts.

Pretty pricey though.

I'd say this, their Smoke Ale and Chocolate Stout are the beers I have enjoyed the most from them.

If someone of you ever is visiting Würzburg in Germany.

Haus der 150 Biere ( House of the 150 Beer )

Menu ( inc. List of Beer)
They have very "special" Beermixes on the Menu :|

I've you're around give it a Chance.

Dogfish's Punkin is way too spiced for my tastes. It could just have easily been called "nutmeg: the brown ale in an orange bottle that we call pumpkin." It's still pretty tasty, I just can't drink more than one without getting a bit of heartburn.

Southern Tier's Pumking is in an entirely different class, excellent balance between hoppiness and savory pumpkinosity. Not so crazy on the spice and there's a significant brown sugar character in the front. If you can get one pumpkin ale and you can't get smuttynose's get this.

I had some New Holland that was surprisingly good. I also tried the Southern Tier Pumpking - much like the Creme Brulee Stout you pretty much have to have food with it. Otherwise it's just too much flavor and I can't see drinking more than one at a time regardless.

The local ale House here had a huge Octoberfest party last weekend - they gave away Paulaner liter steins and of course had the beer to match. I had one-and-a-half and was pretty floored. I have no idea what I'm going to use this thing for, it's huge and weighs a ton!

If you want a really strong Oktoberfest, Avery has one out now called The Kaiser. It is from the same beer series as the Maharaja Imperial IPA. This one has an ABV of 10%, that's almost double the normal range for Oktoberfests.

I liked it, but it wasn't something I was able to drink fast. A little odd having a beer in this style that you drink like a Barely Wine. This beer does have some variations each year, I know the ABV does have some variace between batches, so each year it should end up a little different. Worthwhile to try it again next year.

Meanwhile a friend of mine I grabbed one for now loves this beer to death. I'm going to have to snag a couple more for him when I can, as he just can;t get it where he currently lives.

Been trying a few different Oktoberfests this year, but out of them all, Harpoon's still comes across as anice all round one. For some reason, it was really hard tracking some down this year, but I did manage to finally find some!

Also, Elysium has got distribution in my area now, so I will be trying some more of the beers they make. Now if we could only get Ninkasi or Midnight Sun stuff over here...

Beer forum, I come to you in a time of need! I've never been a beer savvy guy, but unfortunately doing research on the subject has only managed to confuse me more (you'd think I was drunk!). For a while, I thought I didn't like alcohol, but then I found myself with the urge for a beer upon coming home...the problem was I wasn't particular fond of what my roomates or family [depending on the situation] kept around. I soon figured out why: my sweettooth. And by sweet-tooth, I mean "Oh, yum, sweet goodness, ack, that's bitter! Kill it!" taste-buds. Mountain Dew is my non-alcoholic choice of beverage (this next part is important) because I prefer the taste to other sodas, as an example of just how sweet I'm talking and that bitter acid turns me off.

So I gravitated towards things like Mike's Hard Lemonade [my current after-work booze], where I still get my kick without the bitter. I realize this makes me something of a wierdo in a beer community, but it's the basis of my question. As a side note, flavors that are NOT bitter [sour, most fruity or nutty flavors, spices] are good and things I'm looking to try.

So, the question: For someone where the sweet/bitter ratio is so crucial, what specifc beers [or ales, or meads, or whatever] do you recommend where the other flavors, be they malty, fruity, sour, or herbs and spices overrides the bitter to the point where it's not noticable [or nearly so] or doesn't exist? I've noted various meads, ciders, and seasonal beers, and have access to a World Foods [and am mid-north/south on the east coast], but it's really important there not be a conflicting sweet/bitter and I haven't seen much about that dynamic even when discussing the nuttier, fruitier, and sweeter varieties.

Or, for the drunk: "I need sweet! No bitter! What I dree...I drinn...consume?"

If you want, please do it by PM an I'll compile a list in say, a week or so, and post here with the breakdown by YOU, the boozers. And a plan for getting my hands on the trying these for review to help any other sweet nuts out there.

Spaten Optimator is incredibly sweet, rich and creamy. It almost tastes like the beer incarnation of chocolate milk. There's pretty much zero bitter taste and it's delicious.

Hops lend a bitter flavor to any beer, which is part of what makes many beers an acquired taste. There are plenty of styles that are not strongly hopped: wheat beers, witbiers, and even some Trappist styles come to mind.

For instance, I had some St Bernadus Abt 12 on tap the other day and I swear I tasted notes of Starbust candy in it. It's not nearly as sweet in the bottle, but is still one of my favorite beers.

Witbier is another Belgian beer style. Instead of barley, it uses lightly-roasted, unmalted wheat, and is typically spiced with coriander and orange peel. Your local Whole Foods will almost certainly have a six-pack of Hoeegarden in stock, which gets very wide distribution and is pretty emblematic of the style.

You can get some decent domestic wheat beers, but my very favorites are the true-blue German weiss beers, or domestic brews that use an imported yeast from Germany. That yeast strain gives the finshed beer an incredible banana-bread type of smell every time you stick your nose in the glass for another swallow. A dunkelweiss is a very similar style that uses a much darker roast, which can sometimes lend choclate notes along with the banana. These beers are often strongly carbonated to help offset their mild sweetness and lack of hop bitterness.

So basically, try wheat beers (witbier, weiss, dunkels) if you want a sweeter beer. Stay away from IPAs and pale ale styles. Belgian Tripels can be sweet but can also use quite a bit of hops, so they might be a nice bridge style if you wanted to get used to a bit of hops in your beer. There's a whole world of great, hoppy beers out there and it would be a shame to miss out on them just to satsify a sweet tooth!

Thanks, this is definitely what I was looking for and I'll be sure to check it out!