What BEER(s) have you been drinking?

Shiner Bock is just about the most perfect summer beer.

Of course, it was fucking snowing here again today, so I'm a bit confused as to when summer is.

We've got some great brews here in the Pacific Northwest, but most of my go-to beers are international. After a long love-affair with heavier, darker beers, I've been turning my attention to brighter beers with solid flavor. My current favorite is Spatten Premium, which barely edges out Pilsner Urquell, but I love both. Another I'm taking a shine to is Stella Artois. With spicy food I usually go with Pacifico, and with Japanese it's Asahi Super Dry. In the winter I go back to the dark beers with a preference for nut brown ales like Rogue Brewery's Hazelnut Brown, or sometimes Moose Drool. I don't like Guinness as much as I once did, but it'll do. When I can't make up my mind, I go for Widmer Heffeweizen, which puts even my favorite German heffeweizens to shame.

These days I've been dazzled by the big jam & pepper flavor of a good red zinfandel to wash down steak and burgers from the grill, but I reckon that's a different thread.

Ooh, I do not like Dead Guy. I had it on draft last year at Dragon Con and thought it was pretty good, I bought a six a couple of months ago and I couldn't stand it. That "Pac-Man" yeast they use gives all of their stuff a really, really heavy yeast taste that doesn't agree with me.

Yeah, about that. Fuck you, Barnes. I never really noticed the heavy yeast taste until you mentioned it to me, and now it's all I can taste when I drink that beer, so you've almost completely ruined it for me.

Hey, I don't brew their beers pal...their Mocha Stout is still pretty good, doesn't quite taste like sourdough bread.

When I can't make up my mind, I go for Widmer Heffeweizen, which puts even my favorite German heffeweizens to shame.

Widmer isn't bad for a macro Hefe...sometimes, it is better than the German stuff mainly because it's being brewed thousands of miles closer to where you're actually drinking it. I love Ayinger, Weihenstephaner, and some of the Belgian brews but sometimes they're pretty stale- they fly thousands of miles here and sit in warehouses, trucks, and shelves for quite a while.

Michael Barnes wrote:
Widmer isn't bad for a macro Hefe...sometimes, it is better than the German stuff mainly because it's being brewed thousands of miles closer to where you're actually drinking it. I love Ayinger, Weihenstephaner, and some of the Belgian brews but sometimes they're pretty stale- they fly thousands of miles here and sit in warehouses, trucks, and shelves for quite a while.[/quote]

First, Dead Guy is an awesome beer, and yeah it's heavy. Personally I prefer Bachelor Bitter though. I like my beers pretty hoppy most of the time.

As far as the Hefeweizens, as a many-times traveler to Munich and stationed for a stint in Augsburg, I still think Widmer outclasses most german Hefeweizens. That said, you (somehow) make a point Barnes: the freshly minted beers taste better closer in time to the point of origin. I've never had an Erdinger Hefeweizen here that's tasted remotely as good as the one's I had in Bayern.

Now that summer is right around the corner, I figure that it would be a good time to mention one of myfavorite summer brews: Taiga. ( www.bieretaiga.com for those of you that read French)

Taiga is a blond lager brewed in Amos,in the Abitibi region of northern Quebec, using what- according to the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting Award- is the best water in the world.

Taiga is, light, clean, malty lager, with backnotes of apricot, and a subtle bitter finish of a floral/grainy quality.

If hops are your thing this is not your beer.

Definately worth a try if you can get your hands on it-- I don't know if it's even sold beyond the borders of Quebec.

Ha! Funny you mention Taïga, just bought my first 12-pack of that last week. Pretty refreshing, but not my favourite.

Also bought the Alsacian Boris in 250 ml bottles for the first time, the girls love it as it's not as much to drink at once. I preferred its taste to Taïga's.

Been drinking a whole lot of Mikkeller single hop series as it's springing up on draft everywhere. Amazing beer. Also had the 1000 IBU and while good, it's not amazing.

Also really digging the Ranger IPA from New Belgium, so much better than Fat Tire.

And the Schneider Brooklyner Hopenweiss. It's a team-up of German and American breweries hopping up a traditional German wheat. Damn fine, great fresh taste.

Yeesh, Fat Tire SUCKS. I can't believe its popularity. It tastes like stale, burnt nuts.

Tried the Butternuts Moo Thunder last night. It was pretty darn good, a little tinny tasting but a strong chocolate/coffee nose with mild smoke and a good mouthfeel. Heavily carboated for a milk stout, but I didn't mind. It was much thinner than I expected too, no motor oil-like consistency here.

I've decided that Butternuts is probably the most fun brewery out there. Their beers aren't the best, and they simply can't compete with the really top shelf microbrews out there, but I'll be damned if they aren't completely solid, accessible, and easy to drink. These are the beers I would likely give to a friend just graduating from "college" or grocery store beers. Or to a seasoned beer drinker looking for some good DRANKIN' beer. The pleasures they offer are simple, the flavors are mild but distinguished, and it isn't a bear to enjoy a couple of them on a work night.

Is Butternuts available in Georgia? I can't get anything useful out of that flash atrocity of a website they have.

Yeah, it's just started showing up here recently...I got the variety box at Decatur Wine & Spirits, Whole Foods also carries it.

Thinking back on it, Taïga kind of reminds me of O'Keefe or Labatt 50, maybe that's why I wasn't that impressed with it. Still good beer, but doesn't really offer anything more than the better macros.

Columbob wrote:

Thinking back on it, Taïga kind of reminds me of O'Keefe or Labatt 50, maybe that's why I wasn't that impressed with it. Still good beer, but doesn't really offer anything more than the better macros.

Really?! Okay, i can get te fact they're all malty lagers but there's no way Taiga taste like fucking 50! In fact te reason I like it so much is that fruity quality it has. That and the fact that it tastes clean as in no nasty ass, preservative laced, aftertaste I commonly associate with any of O'keefe's or Labatt's offerings.

Tried the last of the Butternuts beers last night at Swamp Castle- the Heinnieweisse. It was definitely the weakest of the lot, at first I didn't like it at all but it grew on me. All of their beers say "farmhouse ale" on it which just isn't true, but this one was at least close to that style. It was very, very milds. It definitely had a Hefe taste, but it wasn't nearly as pronounced as you'd normally expect. It was almost like a Hefe flavored beer, that's the best way I can describe it. Light phenols, light spice notes...oddly, it's a Hefe that would be really good when ice cold on a hot day.

Lots...no change that...Lots + 2...

Go Habs Go.