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i tried it and it tasted completely bland. almost like water and a touch of bitterness. what gives?

thoughts on how kronenbourg stacks up against comparable beers?

We've been enjoying Hazed & Infused, a dry-hopped ale, for the past week or two since discovering a package store near our home that actually has a half-decent beer selection. The Boulder Beer Company has a new website, so I thought this would be a good time to start a discussion about the beers. The store we found has a couple of other Boulder Beers, including the Mojo IPA, and I'll certainly try that. Impressions?

In this morning's Washington Post (you can register for free) Click They also blame the boomers..... I'm not much of a beer drinker, but I found this article very interesting. Thoughts? -Linda

Add Saranac to the list of microbreweries that are dabbling with pumpkin ales this Fall. Saranac Pumpkin Ale, with a big bright jack o'lantern on its black label. But this newcomer rocks! Good pumpkin meat flavor, restrained use of spices (fainter cinnamon, nice hint of nutmeg. Next to the standard against which all others are judged, Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale, this one is a keeper! if you can obtain it, GET IT. A terrific beer with grilled bratwurst, and still my favorite pairing, nachos (yes, I tried both pairings tonight--oofah!)

Places like Trader Joes and Cost Plus often have some interesting beers I'd like to try, but they are never in the fridge but out in the isles. This makes me suspicious and I don't know if I'm just fooling myself thinking that all the beer I buy in the fridge actually came trucked that way.. Does it make a difference in taste? Do you all buy beers from these stores?

I was just shopping in Tuesday Morning and ran across a "Beer Cooler". It is similar to a beer "huggie" except that it is filled with whatever the liquid that is in ice packs. You put it in the freezer and it keeps your beer cold. It also says that it will chill a beer in 5 minutes ... just in case you don't have any cold ones ... and that it lasts for hours. Has anyone ever seen these and, if so, how do they work? Of course, I bought 2 of them to try myself but, alas, I'm still at work.

Less than a week into October and Steams Works Brewpub is pumping out alot of it's pumpkin ale. Alot better this year! less sweet and great balance of spice, fruit, and malts. Anyone else tried anyother seasonal beers? Cheers, Stephen

Hiya folks: Just wanted to place a link to the results of the 50 Best Brewers poll that was conducted by RateBeer.com. Seems the folks in San Diego have a lot to be thankful for. 3 of the top 10 brewers are in San Diego or the environs. I'd like to give a shout out to three of my favorite local breweries in PA whose products I've featured in restaurants I'm buying for. Victory Brewing Co. of Downingtown, PA came in 14th, Stoudt's Brewery of Adamstown, PA came in 24th and Troegs Brewing Co. of Harrisburg, PA came in 26th. Not a bad showing for the PA brewers in the top 100. The poll claims to be the world's largest, with some 30,000 beers from 4000 brewers eligible. Voters from more than 65 countries participated. Full Story Here Seems the USA has a wealth of riches to be proud of in the brewing arena.

Oh Shiner Bock... you made the in-laws tolerable and now you're here. Sigh. A few weeks ago my new hubby and I went to our local beer haus to tip one before picking up said in-laws at the airport. I ordered a Dortmunder, he ordered a Guinnes. As I was looking over the taps, one of them caught my eye. Big. Yellow. My eyesight is terrible and the joint was a little dim, but I thought I saw "Shiner". I asked my hubby to translate. Oh yes. It was true. Shiner Bock. Highlight of family vacations to Granbury Texas. Coveted Christmas gift. I killed my Dordmunder and ordered the serving wench to draw me a Shiner Bock. (Pronounced Shiiiiner Bock... little bit o' twang there.) Oh... it was beautiful. The bars' distributer happened to be sitting next to me and informed me that he had just installed that tap days earlier and that I should start seeing it in my supermarket within weeks. Sure enough... here I am, a month later, enjoying a cool Shiiiiner Bock right from my own 'fridge and some brats are enjoying a nice Shiner Bock hot tub. It's gonna be a great night.

Last night my husband and I were trying some of his most recent batch of home-brewed beer (very nice, by the way) last night and somehow the conversation got around to hard cider and whether or not it would be worth making. Anybody with any experience making it at home? My ideal is normandy-style cidre bouché, brut. I should be able to source some interesting apples later this summer.

I have been able to get high alcoholic content beers, usually in cans, in Ontario, ever since Crest (10%) arrived two or three years ago from the U.K. It was joined by Faxe (8.4 to 10%) and others from the Netherlands , Alsace, and Ontario. A couple actually taste quite good: Faxe 8.4 and Bavaria 8.6. Does anyone have experience with these? Like them? How are they made? How can a content of 10% be achieved? Just wondering...

John's post about Christmas in July at the Grey Lodge Pub reminded me that we are over a week into this special beer time of year, and we haven't had any discussion about observances other than that thread. I haven't even had a Christmas beer yet this month. Back in the day, on the Prodigy Beer Board, we had great celebrations of Christmas in July. I'll be keeping an eye on that thread already in progress, to see a report back about the Christmas beers Friday night at the Grey Lodge, and meanwhile look for what we have put away to taste throughout the month. Troeg's Mad Elf Holiday Ale is one of them, and we have a few different years of Anchor OSAs. If you have any Christmas brews in your stash at home or can get your hands on beers of holidays past, please join in on the tastings and share some notes here! Do any of your local beer bars or pubs have CIJ offerings, as mentioned by John and Rick in the above linked topic? All are invited and welcomed to share your impressions... from you experts at beer tasting notes, to those of us who say something like "this was really good!" Merry Christmas in July, and Cheers!

Jibjab vs Budweiser

For anybody who missed this in the Heartland Forum, here's a link to a post on this festival held in Omaha, including tasting notes. Good stuff!

Here is another post of beer interest on a different forum.

Ok, I'm on childminding duty for the holidays, six glorious weeks of domestic bliss! I've a few plans, cooking as a (basic) science and maths primer, we plan pasta making, rolling our own couscous, more breadmaking than you can shake a stick at and perhaps building an outdoor brick oven (though that may be shelved for next year) I thought a nice complement to our cooking activities would be homebrewing. We made wine at school as part of a chemistry lesson, fascinating stuff, but not drinkable at all! last summer I made mead, accidental mead, lol, I bought a bottle and air lock, boiled some honey and water, dropped in some wine yeast and hoped for the best... it's certainly alchoholic and pretty tasty. however, I'd like to approach this in a more organised way. child is seven and enthusiastic, not because she likes beer, but because she loves making things. so, I fancy making something which is easy, tasty and will be ready in time for halloween. beers I've drunk and loved include hobgoblin ale and oatmeal stout, chocolatey, toffee and fairly smooth. so, I need some help, some really easy to understand help. I have a hydrometer, some demi johns, an airlock, siphoning tube and a lot of interest in learning more. I need a big bucket I guess. then, grains? hops? how much? and once I have it what do I do? I've read threads here and elsewhere, but all are too technical (or sound like they are) for this first timer! pictures will be posted as we go.

Tomorrow night (7/8). The beer lineup looks great: Troegs Mad Elf, Victory Resolution Porter, Rogue Santa's Private Reserve, and Sly Fox Christmas Ale (and maybe a barrel of a Manayunk Christmas beer). We will also have bottles of Mars Christmas Bock, Camerons Christmas Ale, Stoudts Winter Ale.

I never thought I liked beer. But it occurred to me recently that I had never really had any good beer. I think perhaps I might have had a sip or two of someone's beer in college, but that's about it. Last weekend we had company and went out to a local microbrewery here in Omaha (Upstream, for those familiar - I'm new to the area, so I'm not). Anyway, they have a beer called Honey-Raspberry Ale and it sounded good, so I tried it and much to my surprise, I enjoyed it!). The description says they use raspberry puree when making the beer. So now I'm on a mission. I've recently learned to appreciate and enjoy red wine. We're headed to Germany (northeastern if it makes any difference) in late August to visit the in-laws. I would really love to be able to drink some local beer and enjoy it, if only to impress my father-in-law. :) I tend to prefer sweeter drinks - I like hard cider quite a lot as well as the Mike's brand hard lemonade, etc. But as I said, I've learned to enjoy red wine as well, so I think I can learn to enjoy a good beer as well. Here's where the question comes in -- I've heard that German beer is quite a bit different (in what sense? I don't know). I'm looking for suggestions on beers I can easily find around here to sort of work my way down on the sweetness level. But I know nothing about picking out beers... Can anyone offer suggestions? Does this make any sense? thanks! nan

Danish students have created an open source beer recipe. The idea is similar to open source software. The recipe is freely available. You are welcome to make your own and sell the product. However, the recipe will always be freely and publicly available. Also, if you make any changes to the recipe, you must share your recipe. Finally, if you sell this beer, you must attribute the recipe to the original author. Here's a link to the website... Vores Øl I like the idea that people around the planet will be evolving the recipe and sharing the results. I've never brewed a beer before, but I was going to give this a go. Is anyone else interested? What are your thoughts on the idea?

Hi all: A friend emailed me a link to this and I just about fell out of my chair. It takes a while to download and you have to be patient but stick with it until the end and you will not be sorry: Carlton Draught Ad Now there's an ad that makes me remember the product being promoted!

had it recently, [finally]. at times i thought i was drinking 9% shoyu here's a bigger image for SusanFL

What's the best way to clean a growler? I ran mine through the dishwasher, which seemed to do a good job, but when I went to get them just now to head out to Old Dominion to have them filled, I checked and the seals were moldy! So, I have to call off the run, but what should I do to cleanse the growlers for the attempt tomorrow? Fill them with dilute bleach for the night then put them in the diswasher again?

I discovered this beer a few months ago and have been keeping my fridge stocked with it ever since. It is by far my favorite brown/nut brown/ red beer that I have tried. It is especially friendly with BLTs, fish and chips, and curries. When I invite friends over to eat I introduce them to this beer and most people seem to like it. And the label is really cool as well. I think it is currently my favorite beer. If you haven't tried it, you should. Although it may be difficult to find where you live. any other fans out there? North Coast Brewing

Does anyone else have an interest in beers from Denmark? We were first introduced to them when our "Danish son" Morten first came to live with us about 10 years ago as an exchange student. We bought Carlsberg by the case and drank it regulary for that entire year. It pretty much became our everyday beer, as distinguished from the microbrews and homebrewing we were trying at the time. At some point in time, what we bought started coming from Canada, and what a difference it made. ...Not good. Recently, we learned that Carlsberg didn't renew the contract or whatever, and when we can find it now, it is made in Denmark again. We're on the lookout! From the last time Morten was in Denmark he brought us some other Carlsbergs, and we enjoyed tasting these. Still, I think my favorite is the standard that is sold here. Another we are enjoying now is Tuborg, apparently brewed by Carlsberg, especially during the hazy hot and humid daze of Florida summer. I love it. We're finding it pretty regularly in our area. The only problem is that it's often Tuborg Gold, and we don't like that nearly as much. When we were in Denmark, we tasted different kinds, including the Christmas Brew and the Royal Danish Strong. I'll try to remember to write some tasting notes next time.