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We tried a few new (to me) beers while on vacation, a couple of which are worth mentioning. I finally tried Moose Drool brown ale (brewed in Missoula MT). Good solid beer, very drinkable, not too complex. Light bodied for a brown ale. I had not heard of Bitch Creek ESB before, but that was probably the best beer I tried on the trip. Brewed by Teton Brewing in Idaho, it's very well balanced, with the hops apparent but not dominating.

Anyone seen Dogfish Heads' Liquor de Malt? I don't know how new this beer is, but it's new to me. I pilfered this description from RateBeer: A 40-ounce, bottle-conditioned malt liquor brewed with Apache Red (red), Hickory King (white), and Taos Blue (blue) corns. The "All-American" malt liquor is packaged with a hand-stamped, Dogfish Head brown paper bag. Scheduled for a 6/15/04 release. (limited availability, 300 cases) Bottled in 40 ounce bottles. Yes, it comes with a hand crafted brown paper bag!! The shelf tag is even better: a graffiti-styled cartoon of a kid with baggie pants and a boombox downing a 4-0 street side. Advocating artisanal public inebriation? Obviously tongue in cheek ... having both grown up with hip-hop and drowned on my share of 40s, I guess I'm part of the target market. The "Billy D. Williams-burg" kids. This may be a remedial question, but what makes "malt liquor" malt liquor? Is it the use of corn? Is anyone else making decent malt liquor? Is it possible to sell it on the quality of the product and not it's uncanny ability to "work every time?" rien

This was mentioned casually as a traditional way of fortifying hard cider in the Midwest in a memoir with recipes I'm reading (Stina the story of a cook by Herman Smith, 1942, M. Barrows and Co. Chicago.) The author equates it to Calvados although its not distilled. This seems like an obvious and often naturally (in northern climes) ocurring method to fortify brews of all sorts but just havent heard of it being done before. Has anyone tried this? and at what concentration of alcohol is freezing stopped?

Today I tried a bottle of the PHI series rocket fuel from New Holland. A pleasant nose, a rich mouth feel and then blast off: I think I liked it- I think! It's quite dark but not a porter or stout, more like a Paulaner Salvador on steroids with a soupcon of crank thrown in for good measure. It's only about 10% ABV. I think I'm too old for this shit. I think I'll run out and get some more before they're all out at the store (very limited production). WOW

Want to get the full effect of drinking beer without drinking beer? Try these. http://www.fatalvision.com/fv/home.php

The mead thread makes it sound as though there is both interest and experience in mead brewing to be found here on eGullet. Why don't we try to get together a communal meadmaking project sort of like the Chef's Beer thread from last winter? Mead is a lot easier to make than beer, though takes a long time to be ready to consume. I've brewed lots of beer, but have not even tried mead. I'm curious, and I know that I can get honey at reasonable prices around me. My inexperience, however leads me to want to try a sampler batch of a number of different styles, rather than a five gallon vat of one thing I might not even like. Anybody else up for taking part in this sort of experiment? The Chef's Beer thread worked out pretty well, I think, despite the fact that we never got around to swapping tastes of each others' brews.

Given the enervating (well for Vancouver) heat of late this may just be the ticket-an event I've missed far too many times-perhaps this will be the year I finally make it. http://www.autumnbrewfest.com/

Could not locate one but there is this: I didn't stop to consider that the wine quiz was so heavily in favor of the females who took it ...And there has been a bit of discussion on the lack of something appropriately masculine ... hence the new thread .... new quiz ... special thanks to tanabutler for offering the URL ... So, without further ado, and seeing how much people here seem to enjoy the art of the quiz, here is the beer quiz, for anyone who wishes to give it a try ... the beer quiz If you get this message, don't despair, simply try again later .. it does connect on occasion!

I wondered if anyone had any thoughts on Mead? Specifically its origins in England? I wondered where it originated, and what its connection to the 16th century?

What if Bud/Bud Light, with its massive brand loyalty and ad campaign, suddenly changed their recipe to add flavor? What if Rolling Rock, MGD, etc., did the same, backed by their ad campaigns of scantily clad nubile women and the "drink me and you'll get laid" message? What if Miller and its "we have taste" ad campaign actually backed it up with taste? Would they lose market share because a significant percentage of their drinkers really don't like "beer", or would people throughout the country open their eyes and say, "hey, this stuff actually has taste, and it's good?"

Met up with a few eGulleteers at the S.I.B. We went on Sunday, which isn't ideal, because a lot of the beers were already gone, even though we got there at opening time. We shared, in an attempt to, 1. taste as much as possible, and 2. not get too blasted. Hitachino Nest - Japanese beer, belgian wit style. I really like this, and this was the first time I had it on tap. Not as much spice as what I remember from the bottled version. Still, very nice. Leavenworth Blind Pig Dunkelweizen - This used to be my absolute favorite local brew. It looked like muddy water and tasted like heaven. I can still remember the first time I tasted it 11 years ago in Leavenworth at the brewery, that's the impact it had on me. Well, Leavenworth has changed brewers multiple times and I believe they've also changed owners. But I thought I'd give it a whirl. IMO, it was a mistake. I want to believe that this keg was mislabeled. It is so dramatically different that what it used to be. It might be truer to a real german dunkelweizen, but damn, I still miss the old BP. Rogue Morimoto Imperial Pils - We really liked this one. Apple-y flavors, clean, crisp, bright. I'll seek this out again. They also had the soba earlier in the weekend but were out Maybe that's an indication of how good that one is...? Lagunitas Sirius Cream Ale - YUM, very slight spice, creamy. Really liked this one. (ok, you might notice that we were sticking to the "american imitation of international styles" side of the table, but hey, we eventually worked our way down) Salopian Entire Butt Porter - Leave it to the Brits to come up with a name like this, apparently its a term used for a porter blended from a variety of ales, this one uses 14 different malts Dominant flavor: chocolate malt and coffee. I liked it, but not everyone at our tasting table did. Porters always make me think of ice cream floats especially the roasty, toasty ones. Okocim O.K. Bohemian Pils from Poland - soft and light. Not much body. Nice, not remarkable. Urthel Triple: huge contrast to the Okocim! sweet, full bodied, full alcohol, but nicely balanced. 9% yippee! Regenboog t'Smisje Calva Reserva - WOW oh wow. This one was fabulous. Fruity, big round flavors. Almost wine like. Aged in calvados casks for 6 months. I need to taste this one again. Would be magnificent with food. At a wopping 12%, its a sipper. Gouden Carolus Grand Cru of the Emperor - Candy-ish, with an alcohol burn, this one was lost on me following the Reserva. Or maybe it was the Kerkom Bink Bloesem that I found so cloying. Things were a bit fuzzy at this point. Maredsous 8 - on tap! Slightly sweet, but plenty of toasty malt. Seemed less intense than the bottled versions I've had. Alpine Pils - a local brewery's take on a Czech Pils - MsRamsey thought this one was skunked. It tasted and smelled fine to me, if a bit unexciting. North Coast Pranqster - mild version of a belgian golden. almost lemony. I liked this one. LaChouffe Golden - what's not to like? Kastelanski Polish Mead - a honey mead. Like dessert wine. Thick. Tasted like baklava. Really not bad at all, but very sweet. Beers they were out of that bummed us out: Belzubuth, Yeti, Monty Python's Holy Ale, Wye Valley Buddy Bach, Regenboog t'Smisje BBBourgondier, Cantillon Fou'foune, Dogfish Head Midas Touch, Riva Lucifer, Fantome Pissenlit, Ridgeway Bad Elf, and a few others. Our fine panel of tasters took this opportunity to discuss & plan to attend the Cask Beer Festival, coming up in October. We'll be posting notes on that one, you bet.

the article on beer Validation on this change, beer drinking enthusiasts? Have the microbreweries made this a reality? Thinner, but more satisfied? True for you and your friends?

Is this normal: I was over at my favorite beer connection in DC this evening picking up some Brooklyn Lager and Shelter Pale Ale and a guy walks in and asks for a case of Heineken, cold. They fish it out of the cooler and ring it up: "$28 please." He balks and points to the clipping of their weekly WashPost column ad taped to the counter that has Heinies at $20 a case. "That's for warm," he's told. "What do you think pays for the refrigeration?" Granted, it's 100 degrees in DC right now and we're sweating under Orange Alert and all, but this is a new one to me. Anyone else been surcharged for dipping into the cooler rather than shopping off the shelves?

I got bombers of all of the following from State Line Liquors in Elkton, MD: Avery 11th Anniversary Ale - imperial IPA. 3 Floyd's Gumballhead - beer made with red wheat and loads of Amarillo hops Dogfish Head Liquor de Malt And from a new brewery for me, Cisco Brewing (Nantucket, MA): Whale's Tale Pale Ale Summer of Lager Bailey's Ale Moor Porter

Just TWO WEEKS from today, those of us in the Philly area (as well as truly dedicated beer trekkers from literally all across the country this year) will get to enjoy Philly's best beer event, this year's second FRIDAY THE FIRKINTEENTH on Friday Aug 13, at the GREY LODGE (www.greylodge.com). I will attempt to get the beer list for this go-around (or hope that owner Mike Scotese will post it here), but if it is anything like previous FTFs over the years, expect some awesome firkins of gravity-poured brew, 15 in all. Don't know when they'll open the doors this time around, but I'll try to get that info as well. If you want to experience a truly great, unpretentious night of carefully selected (and often rare, one-off) beers, this is the place to be in Philly on August 13. For me, these are the beer highlights of the year in Philly. And the next one isn't until May 2005!

Just returned form 4 great days in Portland, OR, to attend the Oregon Brewers Festival, Jul 23-25, the best run beer fest I've ever attended. Forget that everyone in Portland in unbelievbably friendly and helpful and welcoming, and that the setting is charmingly beautiful and clean, this year's OBF took place in 103 degree heat, as an outrageous heat wave hit the PNW. But not a scintilla of friendliness was lost, and the beers I sampled were all top notch, with some unusual offerings, from 72 different craft brewers. I'll post TNs shortly, as I sort through my notes and receipts, but, for now, some pics of the OBF, and a visit to the hop-strewn Bridgeport Brewery and Brewpub, as well as some of the, ah, colorful native artwork in town (well one example for now): The welcoming sign, map and menu The early crowd on Friday; the total attendance topped 80, 000 over 3 days One of the two massive beverage tents The Bridgeport Brewpub The Bridgeport brewpub menu; ironically, our bartender during our visit had just moved there from the Philly area; small world. Yes, those are hops, draped everywhere. The local, ah, art scene. This thing seems to be known as "Art Car". More to come, including a visit to Edgefield, the Mcmenamin-owned country resort that used to be a mental hospital, including its homages to Jerry Garcia no less.

at last night's colorado egullet dinner at the excellent da-lat in denver a bunch of us had a vietnamese beer called export 33 or something like that--i'd have remembered the name but i also made the mistake of eating whole a raw bird chilli and many of my memories have been wiped. but that is neither here nor there. what i do remember is that i liked the beer, that it was a lager, and that it was a little sweetish. anyone ever drink this or any other vietnamese beer? are these common characteristics?

I wasnt sure where to post this but i figured the beer forum would be the best spot I found this at the liquor store today and i couldnt resist the urge to pick up a bottle and try it The label says its brewed and bottled by Hanssens Artisanaal Dworp Belgium. Mead provided by Llurgashall, Petworth, West Suffex UK Thw label says its 70% malt liquor and 30% mead and its corked like a champange bottle. Im going to give this a try tonight and i will post what i think of it

Full story here. Now, I don't drink much beer. And I gather that Coors and Molson are not necessarily the favorites of the discerning group that populates this board. Still, there are aspects of this that will likely ripple through not just boardrooms in Toronto and Golden, and throughout the industry, but they bring up cultural and nationalistic issues that echo those caused by other food and beverage mergers: Can you really buy market share like this? I'm sure it's been tried before. Presumably a big reason for the merger is to cut costs (a later announcement mentioned the figure of US$ 175 million). I've been through a few of these, and my experince is that the expected savings rarely materialize. Both of these are iconic brands. In the case of Molson, there is strong national identification. Will this be a factor in approving the merger? Again, it seems to me that this has been attempted before. Is the Molson family going to argue over this? Ian Molson supposedly was preparing a bid that was 30% higher.

I just spent a week about halfway between Redhat and Kenora, Ontario. One of the major decisions among my happy band of Southerners was the decisions that we had to make at the incredibly efficient Beer Store in Kenora (I love the way that you hand over your money and the beer comes flying out on the roller table! Kind of like a giant, magic, human operated beer machine). The stuffs not cheap, but what the hell, you guys get health insurance with the proceeds. These choices were not taken lightly,as we only had one shot at making the right choices! A 200 mile round trip on a float plane would have been needed to rectify poor choices. I was stunned by the number of Canadian Brands available and the interesting package sizes available (I really liked those manly liter cans-conveniently designed to cure the thirst of even someone as large as Husky the Muskie). My gang decided on a wide selection, with Molson Canadian as the base brand. They also enjoyed a fair amount of Keith's India Pale, a brand that none of use were familiar with prior to the trip. Rickard's Honey Brown met with a bit less enthusiasm, but was consumed nonetheless (hell, they would have sucked down anything by the end of the week and liked it ). Trying to save weight on the trip back, seemed to be the general excuse. What are your favorite brands? Are there beers that are available only regionally? How do you Canadian's feel about Nationally regulated beer sales (I have an opinion on this, but will hold it until for a while to keep from influencing the discussion). Canadian Beer. You guys drink enough of the stuff! What do you think about it?

The article from MSNBC so yet another major EU concern .. and we are still focussed on national security?? not GM foods?

He surely was a visionary, a true beer enthusiast, a proud bearer of his family name, and a rascal, but he is also gone too soon. Poor Henry's, his brewpub, was a stop, and dramatic dinner location, for several of my beer tours a few years back. Seems like yesterday. http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/o...ggnlnjhg|Rich|Y

Has anyone tried this stuff?

Be sure and celebrate the diversity of American beers. Check out American Beer Month for more information.

We're right in the damn middle of summer now, and the good beer is flowing . So what's been tantalizing your taste buds this summer? Give us your reviews. For me, this summer has meant savoring each of the 9 different hop varietal IPAs from Philadelphia area micro Sly Fox, to celebrate their 9th anniversary. So far, they've issued: Centennial IPA, Target IPA, Cascade IPA, Styrian IPA, East Kent Golding IPA, and 4 others are yet to be issued (Amarillo, Fuggles, Simcoe) including their Imperial IPA in December. All delicious, puckery wonders. The most recent, Target IPA, is wonderfully tart, yet has a very nice malt counterpart that really surprises, and gives the beer amazing balance. So let the tasting notes begin!