Since beer is one of my favorite things in the world, I wonder how this thread escaped me?
Ales > Lagers. Always.
Belgian beers are the best. My favorite are the pale ales, like Abbey De Leffe Blond or Delirium Tremens. I also like Hoegaarden, Duvel, Delirium Nocturnum, Chimay, Maredsous, and Corsendonk (although I haven’t found it in a long time).
Some German beers are good, but most of them are lagers. Paulaner Salvator and Paulaner Oktoberfest are good, but I’m not a big fan of any hefeveizen beers.
Scottish/English beers are good. I’ve seen some love for the Belhaven Wee Heavy on here. Twisted Thistle IPA is good, too. I’ve never really found an Irish beer that I liked, including Guinness.
Being a beer snob, it’s kinda hard to go to a lot of bars. When I go, I usually first ask for Newcastle or Bass Ale. Those are the “staples” of premium beer. If they don’t have those, they don’t have anything good.
I refuse to drink domestic piss water under any circumstances.
You know, I was a believer in this for several years. But I’m growing less convinced. There are a number of great lagers out there now, and I find I can tolerate them a bit better these days than a heavy ale in my old age.
This is true. Went to Belgium a couple years back. Tried all sorts of local brews and some of the bigger names. Fantastic beer over there.
That’s unfortunate. I love hefeweisen, and I also have a fondness for a dunkel. The two best German varieties right there.
American beer is the worst in the world. Thankfully, up here we have some good local brews. Big Rock Grasshopper is a great wheat ale, for example. Their “Traditional Ale” is probably up your alley as well from what you’ve said here. If you’re ever up this way, give any of their line a try, some great quality product.
There’s a deli in Orange, CA – Hollingshead’s – that stocks hundreds of varieties of beer. Every three weeks or so I pop in to get a mix: half hefe, half Berliner. The Berliner is generally 1809; the hefes run the gamut: Weihenstephaner, Ayinger, Erdinger, Franziskaner, Schneider Weisse, Aktien, Benedikliner, Innstadt, and others.
Earlier this week my wife and I drove up near Yosemite for a few days. At the Tenaya Lodge (highly recommended, if you’re in the area), I got Hoegaarden hefe: good stuff.
I’m all about lagers. Especially dark lagers like bocks.
You should try Gulden Draak, it’s a dark tripel. Trader Joe’s has a Golden Ale made by Unibroue which is much cheaper. New Belgium has a pretty big range of belgian styles, cheaper than the $10+/bottle Trappist ales.
Personally, I don’t like Belgians, just can’t stand that initial nose on them. (except for Gulden Draak). German beers are awesome, big fan of german hop flavors versus american hops.
IMO American craft brewers go overboard in creating random hoppy ales, which all taste the same to me.
