I have sworn a blood oath against Wacko as it replaced the previous seasonal, Hocus Pocus, that I would buy and drink by the case.

I've been fairly apathetic about a lot of Magic Hat's selection since they discontinued Heart of Darkness. That was a fantastic American Porter. Now they have a bunch of variations on pale ales and IPAs.

I think the most recent commercial beer I've had is Straub, which is an older PA brewery. It's a Light American Lager, but it doesn't have any adjuncts and it's fresher, so it tastes more like an actual Pilsner than a Bud. It's a pretty good summer beer, if I were closer to PA I'd probably buy it more often, rather than just on trips to visit family. The real reason for buying it is that it comes in 16oz bottles that use a regular crown cap. Half as much work when I need to bottle homebrew!

So up until yesterday my fav brew was shiner bock but after discovering this thread last week I decided to see if I could find some of the more regularly brought up beers in here. Grabbed a six of yuengling's (sp) black and tan and I now have a new fav beer. Oddly enough it tastes just as good if it sits and gets warm as when it's ice cold. Never had a beer like that. Can anyone recommend something else along the same lines as that one?

Also, is it snobbish that when I noticed it was a twist off top that I momentarily thought less of it? Lol That thought completely faded once i tasted it though.

So I'll be going to Europe for three weeks on August 31st. I'll be going to London, Paris, Normandy, Brussels, Amsterdam, and ending the trip in Munich for Oktoberfest.

I'll be keeping a little log of my beer journey, and I'll post it when I get back. That being said, are there any brews in Europe that any of you are curioius about? Let me know, and you can live vicariously through my taste buds.

^^ amazing avatar/post combo here. I've been to Munich though not during Oktoberfest. One thing that amazed me was that it's almost impossible to buy a bad beer there. Any random bar you walk into will have a house helles (light lager) and dunkel (dark lager). There may or may not also be the best hefeweizen you've ever had, or radler (50/50 lemonade and helles) on a hot day. I couldn't recommend a specific brewer, in part because there are hundreds, but you'll be hard pressed to fuck up and order something bad.

It's also impressive that beers are served by the liter unless you request a "small", yet the city still manages to function. Can't wait to go back there

I'd advise on trying any German brews that you enjoy stateside if you get the chance, then compare the difference. While doc is correct, some big names you might want to make sure not to pass up would be Warsteiner, Weistephaner, and Ayinger.

Then drink as much funky Belgian ale as you can stomach.

La Mort Subite in Brussels is pretty awesome. I'd definitely recommend a stop at their pub.

Yeah, I'll have no trouble in Belgium; I'd list belgian golden ales as my favorite in the world. Additionally my hotel is directly across from Café ‘t Arendsnest (350 beers on their list.) Though I'm not sure what I'll be doing in Munich. I mean besides drinking at the different tents at Oktoberfest.

For London I'd recommend The Market Porter around London Bridge (regular brewery is Meantime) and The Harp (regular is Darkstar / Sambrook) around Covent Garden, both keep their ales well and rotate their pumps round a lot, usually with various types of English Ale and are generally happy to give you some tasters to help you decide. The Harp has a great upstairs seating area. I've heard Ye Olde Mitre around Holborn is also great, but haven't been there yet.

Westvleteren can be picked up in Amsterdam for an extortionate amount, something in the region of 14 Euros for Westvleteren 12 although since you're going to Belgium guess you can get some there too.

Ok, let me try to get back on the beer reviewing horse. Last night I sampled:

Sierra Nevada's Black Barleywine - had it on tap, loved it. It's not a characteristic barleywine, but it's sweet and delicious without being at all cloying. I've got a bomber waiting for me tonight.

Victory Golden Monkey - Solid brew, but it was my first time having it on tap. The fruity character really comes out. I'm curious to see if I can drink the bottled again without wanting it on tap. It's so good, I doubt I'll have a problem.

Green Flash IPA - I don't recall the exact name, but it's a good one. Solid IPA along the lines of a basic Stone IPA. Light and the hop flavors had a great balance.

Flying Dog Nitro-pour Double Dog - holy shit. Nitrogenated double-pale ale (not DIPA). It was a remarkable experience. I've only had nitro stouts and porters previously, so it was quite a treat. I'm making it a point to have a few more pints of this before it rotates off the tap.

Also had some Red Racer 5 (Bear Rep) and Stone Old Guardian, each of which is a tried-and-true example of the respective style for me.

Are you referring to Green Bullet IPA from the very-new Asher Brewing Company - Organic Brewery Colorado? I've been meaning to try out their beers, but they're a bit hard to find on tap without really going out of my way to visit a restaraunt I typically frequent.

I have mixed feelings on "Organic" beer, in general though. Maybe it's an unfair stigma, but I seem to remember every organic beer I've had as being extremely heavy on the aromatic hops (e.g., the beer tastes too "flowery").

DuganA IPA - Avery Brewing Company - BeerAdvocate
Another Avery IPA. Quite distinct from the Maharaja in my opinion - it's piney and bitter with less of the citrus and little residual maltiness. Good stuff.

Relwin has the right brewery. I think I've had Le Freak and the West Coast IPA, but I'm not 100% sure.

Speaking of "Organic" beer I had the Chateau Rogue First Growth Organic IPA and it was great. I'm interested in trying the single malt first growth now.

Sometimes "Organic" beers can be pretty decent. Otter Creek makes an excellent Coffee Porter under their Wolaver label that uses real vanilla beans in it. This is a very good thing, as I find synthetic vanilla a bit bland compared to the flavor that comes from the actual orchid.

Now I did manage to have that DuganA last year. I remember it turning out much better then Avery's Maharaja in 2009, just cause that batch was just not very good. I'll try to pick up another bottle, but I have not seen the DuganA since last November.

Speaking of which, the Fall beers have started hitting here big time, and as such, I am forced once again to stock up on them now so I can enjoy them during the proper time of the year. It seems to be getting worse and worse they way these are shipped out in the Summer, and then are pretty much gone almost as soon as hitting the shelves. Almost done getting the stuff I really wanted, other then Southern Tier's Pumpking, so I can now start looking at some new stuff to try. Also looks like my area is not getting Gritty McDuffs Halloween Ale again this year, which I am very sad about. That's a great little ESB right there. Started trying to look online to see if I can get any that way, and nada.

Picked up a Red Ale from Legacy I have not tried and will be sampling tonight. Hoping it is up to the same quality as their Hoptimus Prime IIPA.

I picked up a six-pack of Bridgeport Hop Czar (to compare against Imperial IPAs in my area like Maharaja) last night that really impressed me--it's rare to get an Imperial IPA that doesn't add a lot of flowery aromas or citrus to cover the hops. It rather reminded me an imperial version of Upslope's IPA.

Maybe I misunderstand the interaction of beer flavors - aren't the citrus and perfume flavors/aromas from differing hop varieties?

Yeah, that's pretty much what I was getting at, but you're right that I phrased it poorly enough to just make myself look like very ignorant. I guess I was more hinting at a "a lot of Imperial IPAs go too heavy on aromatic hops relative for my tastes". But you're right, I do prefer straight bitterness, so I have the mentally lazy tendency to describe beers in terms of "adding aromas or citrus" instead commenting that the hop(s) themselves are aromatic.

Crazy Bitter Delicious IPA= Ruination

Crazy Resiny IPA=DuganA

I could keep adding but my beer budget is so low this summer I've stuck to more affordable session beer.

Had Abita's Save Our Shores (SOS) last night. It's a wheat pils. Very session-able, extremely light color with a good pils flavor on the lighter side. Not a bad pick for its price point and I can't complain that $0.75/bottle goes to Gulf Coast cleanup.

Also I'm really enjoying Left Hand's Milk Stout. I'm normally of two minds with Milk Stouts. duck Rabbit makes a good one, but it's so heavy. On the other hand (the Left one), these have been very tasty and just enough on the light side to be drinkable. They're still not a very 'entry level' stout, but there's a nice smokey note that puts me in mind of bacon. The milkiness is at just the right level to taste it without pushing the beer into a creamy territory.

Someone made an actual Bacon Stout that I tried at last year's ECBF. I cannot recall who though. Founders maybe?

Sounds right. Was really smoky if I remember.

The bacon stout was good. The bacon ale was NOT. Similarly, I only liked one of the garlic infused ales.

Last night I had some barleywine to sample (along with Stoudt's Trippel - delicious). Southern Tier's Barleywine was absolutely horrendous. I poured most of it out. It tasted strongly of nail polish remover above and beyond the 10% ABV. I also had Weyerbacher's barleywine. Also bad, but at least it was a good effort. The flavor just couldn't stand up to 11.1%. I'm going to toss the remaining 3 bottles into a cool dark place and see what happens.

My flying Mouflan should be hitting its recommended age soon, so hopefully that makes up for last night's disaster.