It's okay Wodin, I'm an uncultured swine who likes Strongbow too. Although oddly enough the first time I had it was in England...hm.

Back at college the only cider I could get my hands on was Woodpecker, which has absolutely no taste whatsoever to it.

Oktoberfest can not come soon enough. Sam Adams and Pete's Wicked are my personal favorites. No matter what I do, I can't seem to keep enough in stock to last past Christmas.

I've always lived in or close to Pennsylvania and always had Yuengling in my fridge, but can't stand the Black and Tan. I think it's because I'm spoiled by a real Black and Tan (Guiness/Harp)

I was lucky that my roommate's father was the Vice President of a Beer Distributor during our senior year. Everytime he came to visit us at State College, he would bring all the damaged inventory

Rolling Rock is another beer worth mentioning from Latrobe, PA.

I just paid $9 for a six pack of Sam Adams Cherry Wheat and I must say it was worth every penny.

My newest favorite beers are the Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock and the Spaten Optimator . There's a cafe/pub just up the road from me that has like 100 different imported bottles; its a really cool place to go chill.

I've known about these for, well... optimator for a bit over a year and the celebrator since gamblor told me about it. They are amongst the best that I have had, and are easily worth it.

edit: tangentially, I'm quite surprised that Gamblor hasn't found this thread yet. I suppose there's no "BEER" flag to it, I'm sure he would have quite a positive contribution to this thread. His taste is superb.

Mm. Spaten. Try the Helles Bock if you can find it; I'm blessed with a couple German pubs here with quite the variety. (And a Belgian brewpub with ~50 imports.)

triple (and double) refer to production processes, double initially meant that they used twice as much raw resources as for a normal brew, and even more for a triple. this results in higher alcohol levels and a fuller taste
some well known belgian triples are and

theres a wide variety tho :)

There are hundred's of awesome Belgian beers,if you ever get the chance you should go there and drink every last one of them. Each town has its own signature 'bier' and often have the same name,but are always distinct and not sold outside those towns. I worked in a Belgian restaurant under a Belgian chef (but in Canada lol) and ive only seen it once but Kriek is an awesome dinner beer,but NOT something you drink more then 1-2 of =P its very very strong and filling. Much like Honey Porters (English heavy lager). Leffe is another fine Belgian beer worth trying,but be wary its very smooth tasty drink that hides its over 7% alcohol VERY well. Tripel karmel and Trappist beers are all good beers,but knock you off your feet in a hurry.

Corona is worthless,no one in Mexico drinks it. Pacifico is however an awesome 'BBQ" beer great for sunny days and getting loaded before work. Kirin and Tsing Tao are a couple of the very few good asian beers (Japan and China respectively). And their awesome chaser beers (Ie if your getting drunk and mixing your poisons,their great after a glass of scotch)

Although its a mass market slew from Interbrew,Stella Artois is my oft favorite,although only from bottle. Stay away from the draft unless their doing the whole Belgian glass washing routine,that goes for most Belgian beers.

It might seem like a bit of needless theatre,but it makes a huge difference especially when you wake up next morning ;)

I have to second whoever mentioned Boulevard. The Pale Ale is a personal favorite, but the Unfiltered Wheat is great, and the Zon is a pretty good Belgian white. If you're anywhere near Kansas City, give it a shot.

http://forums.elitistjerks.com/viewt...184648#p184648 for Kaubel.

Also, I agree with the recommendation of Magic Hat. Another New England brewery to check out is Wachussett (www.wachusettbrew.com). Take a tour if you are in the area, it was started by a bunch of engineers who basically rebuilt a bunch of equipment that wasn't designed for what they ended up using it for. Fun tour, great beer!

Well done. Send me a PM with your new title.

I took a gamble on a six of Long Trail Limited Edition Hefeweizen, and it's glorious. It's richer and darker than your standard Hefeweizen, but still has the characteristic taste with a hint of different spices. Really, really excellent beer.

Long Trail is never a gamble in my book - everything they make is great but especially their unfiltered IPA this past spring.

So where does IPA fit in with everything else? So far, I think my favorite "style" of beer is wheat; although, I don't dislike a good bock either. Is India Pale similar to a beer like Fat Tire or are they virtually the same thing?

There are two basic types of beers, depending on whether fermentation takes place on the top or bottom: Ales (top) and Lagers (bottom). Fat Tire is an Amber Ale, so I guess it's sort of in the same family as an IPA. IPAs tend to be hoppier (and more alcoholic). A bock is a strong, dark lager.

EDIT: also, wheat beers are ales.

The specialty beer store near my house was selling 12-packs of Optimator for ~$13. It was glorious.

If anyone here lives near Montana, I recommend a nice dark beer called Moose Drool which is brewed in Big Sky. Good for 30-hour bus trips back to the Midwest =\

Oh my, you folks have stumbled upon a topic near and dear to my heart. I used to have a group of friends at Ohio State and every week for about 80 some weeks we had a club we called Beer of the Week. Every week, 12 of us got together and drank a beer. It was a different beer every week and we had two man rotating teams who would provide the beer for everyone.

It was an awesome idea and made sure that we managed to get together to hang out every week. School is always a busy time and often, if it wasn't for our club, we wouldn't make it together to see everyone. We even used the club as a platform to visit a brewery, The Great Lakes Brewing Co. If you haven't had any of their beers I reccomend you give them a shot. All of them are first rate.

If you have a close group of 6 or 12 friends. I reccomend you try the same thing.

Some good ones to try,

Xingu, a black beer from Brazil. Dark as night but light and refreshing, very hard to find though.

Anything from Bells Brewing company out of Kalamazoo Michigan.

Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout, good stuff, nice and meaty

Arrogant Bastard ale, can't remember the brewing company myself, but the bottle is hysterical, and the beer is actually pretty good.

and a nasty but fun beer.

Chili Beer, actually has a chili pepper floating in it, burns like hell going down, but its actually kinda fun

This person mentions another awesome beer. One of my favorites.

Cave Creek Chili Beer is the worst beer I have ever had. I couldn't even finish it the second time I had it (it was my roommate's fault there even was a second time).

also, I highly recommend this IPA:

My current favorite is Younger's Special Bitter from Rogue. Sadly its only on draft and only at one bar in Des Moines that I've found. Some of Rogue's other stuff has started popping up in my usual store. The Dead Guy Ale is my favorite of the stuff I've tried.