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Well I figured I would make my first post a useful one...rather than the normal first post dribble I am sure everyone is used to. Anyways, I managed to get my hands on a 6 pack of Sierra Nevada BIGFOOT ALE and wanted to share my opinion and maybe get feedback from other who have tried it or would like to. I have had some Barley wine style beer in a local brew house (Dr. Dremo)here in Virginia but was not to impressed....the Dr. Dremos eally tasted strictly like a mix of Barley and straight alcohol...hopefully this is not their intended taste..but it is none the less. So when I saw that Sierra Nevada was making a Barley wine style beer I was hesitant to try it in fear of discrediting one of my favorite brewers. I was pleasantly wrong....The Bigfoot ale was excellent. It provided a refreshing fruity flavor while still incorporating the deep malty/nutty taste you would expect from such a heavy malt..but enough bitter/sweetness to create a wonderful blend of flavors and richness without leaning to much to one flavor. very balanced for such a potent brew. So thats my first post...hopefully one of many for my beloved suds.

After about an hour of calculations I was able to reverse engineer an approximate carb count for my favorite beer, Anchor Steam: 15g +/- 1g. No wonder why I love the stuff! If my daily goal for carb consumption is 30g, then 2 beers is all I get to consume for the day. Obviously, that's not going to happen. I'm not going anywhere near Michelob Ultra or any light macro swill and Guiness doesn't thrill me all that much. Where else can I turn?

(this is my first post ever, so please forgive and gently guide me if I make mistakes) So here I am, eight weeks pregnant, and two of my hometown teams are in playoff mode right now, which likely means some evenings with the sports-fan spouse at our local watering holes to watch both games. Fine with me, but I get tired of drinking water at the bar and wonder if you have suggestions for good nonalcoholic beers? Or, more accurately, ones that don't taste like gym socks. I have tried: Haake Beck St. Pauli NA (both not bad) O Doul's (eh) Coors Cutter (so bad the memory of it is triggering nausea...must eat some saltines) None of these are decent enough to have more than one, and most are pretty foul. Also, I would love to hear either fact or opinion on this: why do more micro/craft breweries not set to making a decent nonalcoholic beer? Is it just too difficult to dealcoholize decent beer, or do they figure there's not enough of a market? I went to several wonderful micros while I was in Colorado a few weeks ago and most looked at me like I was crazy for even asking if there was anything they made that I could drink.

Article here.

Reuter's April 7 article from CBS MarketWatch here. Now I wonder if he is elected, will there be a Senatorial sort of name for a commemorative brew? Cheers!

I have so far resisted trying the Budweiser they sell in Italy. Should I give it a try or am I just wasting my time? What are the differences?

I very rarely buy carry out beer but we ordered a pizza the other night and my wife said she would like a beer. I got the pie and told the guy I wanted beer to go. Did not want a six pack and a quart would have been to much. I was flummoxed to discover they had several beers in 22oz. bottles. I had never seen this before and wondering if any of you beer sharpies could clue me in. is it marketing or a good idea. For the brewers it may be a profit thing as the 22oz Yuengling was the same price as a quart, which my math tells me is 10oz more. Anyone else observed this? Just wondering about this as I am no longer in the biz and am WAY behind the curve on these issues

Since the Chef's Beer thread worked out so well last time around as an educational resource for homebrewers, I thought I'd let everybody know that I'm brewing again, and anybody who cares to is welcome to join in the recipe and ask any questions along the way. This time, since it is spring and and sunny and beautiful, I've decided to brew a Belgian Blonde, which should be a great late spring and early summer beer. Recipe follows, largely inspired by something over at the homebrew digest, a great homebrewing resource on the web (hbd.org), but trweaked to fit what my homebrew shop had handy: 4 oz Belgian Biscuit malt 4 oz Belgian aromatic malt 2 oz Caravienne 4 oz Munich malt all steeped in 2 gallons of water at 150 F for 30 minutes and sparged with a half gallon at the same temperature. After removing the grain, bring it to a boil, and add 8 lbs of Munton & Fison extra light dry malt extract, 8 oz of clear candy sugar and 1 oz Pride of Ringwood hops (6.5% AA) and let boil for 45 minutes. add 1/2 oz Stytian Goldings for the last 15 minutes of the boil. pitch with Wyeast belgian abbey type yeast, or ardennes. allow to ferment a couple of weeks, and when yeast activity has subsided rack and prime with 1/2 cup corn sugar and 1/3 cup clear candy sugar. Have fun brewing, and feel free to ask any questions you like.

how about some reverse-snobbery?

is there a specific combination of stout and lager/ale that makes up the "original" black and tan?

Bad news for all lovers of Blanche de Chambley, Maudite, La Fin Du Monde, Trois Pistoles and the rest of the Unibroue lineup. The brewery was purchased yesterday by Canadian megabrewer Sleeman. No word on what changes will be made, but my bet is that they're on the way. Stock up on the classics while you can get them! Link to article

Excuse me if this has been covered before: Mmmm, chicken hearts... Yikes

Last night I bought a 4-pack of Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout at a NJ liquor store... this stuff is as black as tar and is unbeleivably smooth and satisfying. Strong coffee and raisiny flavors, went really well with a Usinger's knockwurst on a roll with mustard. Serious hoppiness going on here. http://www.ratebeer.com/Ratings/Beer/ShowBeer.asp?BeerID=85 http://www.alcoholreviews.com/BEERS/samsmith2.html http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/rate_results/113/782/ http://www.merchantduvin.com/pages/5_breweries/samsmith.html Probably one of the best stouts I've ever had. WAY better than Guinness Extra Stout.

Here's an interesting article about the revival of growing and using NY hops. I always like the idea of reviving old ideas or traditions of the past. After all, Great Lakes Brewing Company opened its doors in what was once the heart of Cleveland's brewery industry and with the city's still-original-with-the-building and oldest mahogany bar.

So, I'm on the home stretch of a rather lengthy, and career deciding application: medical school. All I'm doing right now is sitting at home putting in some drudge work to finalize it. But, it's also ~10:20 a.m. and I'm just about ready to start my second beer. What is too early to start drinking beer, and why? I think the earliest I've ever started in was about 7:30 a.m. when I was camping... unless you count a few times when I saw the sun come up 'cos I was still at the beer. No, mothers, this is not a healthy or socially acceptible topic. Moderator, kill it if it's not appropriate.

Wanted to find out if anyone is familiar with a turnkey brewpub equipment company called Specialty Products International, out of Chapel Hill NC. They market a set of brew equipment that brews, ferments, and serves out of the same vessel. They use a malt extract they sell, eliminating grain storage and grinding. The total time to produce is only 6 days, which seems short. Anyone used this? Anyone know someone that does use this? Anyone tasted the end product? I'm interested in opening a brepub, and find this intriguing. Thanks, Doug

Hurricane. Surprisingly smooth. Good kick afterwards, though they don't quite give you the "fuzz" of St Ides or Colt 45. I'd give it big props for offering both small mouth and the god awful big mouth versions. For $1.50-$1.75/40 oz, there's no better deal in America than the Slurricane. In Canada, during a ski trip last winter, our group became addicted to these forties called Labatt Wildcats. We were completely amazed that they were even rated by strength, so that some of the girls or weaker drinkers could stick to the lower alcohol grades, such as wildcat strong force or wildcat sevens (if they felt like partying). The big-time drinkers stepped right up to the wildcat tens. I wish they had these in the States. Refeshing, and easy on the wallet.

Hey there, beer fans! I did a search to find info but am overwhelmed by the new search engine. Forgive me if this is a repost. What thinks the beer demi-gods of Magic Hat brewing Co in South Burlington, VT? I've had #9 which would have been better in the summer being that it tasted like cherry/raspberry lemonade. Quite refreshing. Fat Angel "a paler shade of ale" tastes of a lighter Sam Adams, just right with pretzels and football. The label looks like subway graffiti, at home in the 'hood with my beer. Their website click me now is quirky and educational, listing the bitterness level of each brew.

OK, so I met a few fellow eGer's at Seattle Center and we descended on the annual Cask Beer Festival put on by the kind folks at the Washington Brewer's Guild. There were 2 tasting sessions, 4 hours each. We managed to get tickets for the early session, (12-4pm) because we bought them back when they first went on sale. This thing sells out every year, and there are always people clamoring at the door saying "sell your ticket?! PLEASE???" I blew my tastebuds out first thing by choosing to start with a pour of Maritime Pacific's XPA Hop Harvest. Just the name should tell you what this one was all about. Intensely hoppy, grassy marijuana like flavor and aroma. I love beers like this but it was extreme and I had to have some water and pretzels just to come back to earth. For a radical difference, I then had Diamond Knot's Oktoberfest. Malt malt and more malt. To me this didn't have any hops but I'm not sure that's a fair assessment considering the beer I started with. It was a lovely beer though, and a favorite amongst our group. Next came the Elysian Jasmine IPA, and this was a mellow beer not strong in any one direction or another. I couldn't taste any jasmine but my co-tasters could so I was still probably having some hop burnout. Now, here's the confusing part. This was a cask beer fest, and who do we see here? Unibroue. With bottles. OK, so they are bottle-conditioned. But still. They had the usual suspects, Le Fin du Monde, Terrible, etc. They told me Sleeman has no intention of radically altering the line. They will drop the lagers (I didn't know Unibroue made lagers) but everything else will stay. He also informed me that they are soon releasing a cranberry Ephemere which I should be able to find on tap at several area pubs. He assured me that the apple Ephemere and the cassis Ephemere would be staying in the seasonal lineup. AND the Blanche de Chambley. This was good news to me. Unless they change the recipes... Next: Silver City's Fat Woody. Heh. Clever name. This was a scotch ale aged for 6 months in american white oak. This was an awesome beer, and one of my favorites of the day. Smooth, complex, it sits at 9%, but wasn't alcohol-y at all. very well balanced, I loved this one. Next came Old Sol from Big Time. This was a wheat barley wine, almost a year old, it had been brewed in January. I heard someone say they thought it needed more time but I thought this was a lovely beer. They told me they usually tap it at the solstice and it sells out then, so they sell it even younger than this. It had a very slight spicey wit thing going in the background, didn't have that strong alcohol hit most barley wines do, although I do believe the level was up there. Gorgeous. Had Deschutes Black Butte Porter, lovely roasty toasty fresh flavor, I've had this one many times on cask. Had Harmon Brewing's ESB, a nice hoppy typical NW ale, very quaffable, and the Festi'ale from Far West Brewing, also a fairly standard NW ale, with a slight hint of spice and a lovely roundness in the flavor that I can't quite describe adequately. The Far West guys are doing some nice things. I've had a couple of their offerings this past summer I really liked. THEN came the controversial beer of the Fest. Anacortes Brewing had what they called a Belgian Ale, that was brewed in a belgian manner according to the brewer who was there pouring. He'd used an abbey 2 yeast and a hefeweizen yeast and put a whole ginseng root in the cask. Whoa. Immediate aroma hit was how a chile pepper smells when you pick it off the vine and its been sitting in the summer sun. Flavor was also chile pepper like, but without the heat. Some floral stuff going on too. Now, a couple of my co-tasters were getting a very metallic hit off this beer, some said it tasted like tea, and didn't like it at all. But I had one other person back up my peppery assessment and we both liked it, although I'm not sure about calling it a Belgian. Daring effort from this guy. I'd be interested in tasting that one alone and not after drinking a bunch of other stuff. so, only 11 out of ~35 beers got tasted. *sigh* so many beers so little time...

Over the past several weeks I've been trying some various brews from craft and micro breweries. Well I've like some and hated others. So I'll throw out here what I've had and liked or not, and would like some suggestions on what else to try. Great Lakes Oktoberfest - loved this Red Hook Hoptoberfest - terrible Dogfish Head Punkin Ale - not too bad, but nothing particularly special Great Lakes Eliot Ness Lager - decent (but hard to judge after drinking the very hoppy Red Hook first) As for some of the better macro brews I like: MGD Bass Ale Labatt Canadian Ale Labatt Blue Dos Equis Corona Honey Brown From what I've had, I'd say I tend more toward Lagers, but do like some Ales too. More important, is that I do not like very hoppy beers (like Red Hook) and prefer the sweeter, maltier ones. I'd like to try some wheat beers as well as some of the good malty craft/micro brews. All suggestions are welcome.

I was at a local watering hole last week with a buddy and we both tried a milk stout out of the Greensboro area called Duck Rabbit. it was rather good and full bodied, and like it says in the title: milky. I was wondering if anyone else had tried this beer, I think it is only available on tap right now? I liked that it was dark but also had a bright and clean taste to it. Is this something beer experts frown upon, namely a stout should be good and heavy or is it ok for it to taste "light."

Stopped in last week to the The Grey Lodge for a special promotion with Dogfish Head beers, "Minute By Minute" a vertical tasting of DFH's 60 Minute, 90 Minute and 120 Minute IPAs, as well as its Old School barleywine. Impressive stuff. The 60 Minute is an almost perfect ale, good balance, great aroma and good hop character. The 90 Minute is so much more assertive, pretty ballsy, with huge gobs of hops (the 90 Minute was actually served thru DFH's Randall The Enamel Animal, its last minute dry-hopping tap attachment), but an alluring quality that made it a fascinating glass of beer. The 120 Minute IPA , at a whopping 21% ABV, was syrupy sweet with a open-faced slap of hops that seemed to go right to my head-ouch. A beer worth sipping slowly and a challenge to savor in a busy bar. The Old School , however, at a mere 15% ABV, was quite nice, if anti-climactic after the 120 Minute, but it was a really terrific barleywine, raisiny and mellow, with great hops sitting in the back, so to speak. But what really was impressive about the Grey Lodge that night was the REMAINING taps of beer, a really strong lineup including 2004 Sierra Nevada Celebration, Grolsh, Magic Hat Participation Ale, Lancaster Alt, Troegs Oatmeal Stout, Red Hook Hoptoberfest, and a gravity pour cask of Flying Fish Grand Cru, and the usual Yuengling and mass beers. But Jesus Christmas, how's a guy supposed to enjoy all that in one brief visit (I live 40 miles away, mind you)?!?!?! Kudos to the Grey Lodge!

FINALLY!! new beers at bottleworks

while I was sleepily standing in line at the store early saturday morning, I saw what looked like cases of Deschutes Jubel Ale. I blinked, I rubbed my eyes, no, I wasn't seeing things. Some of the winter seasonals are here already. I brought home a bottle each of: Deschutes Jubel Ale, Bridgeport Ebenezer Ale, Full Sail Wassail, Fish Tale Winterfish Ale, Lost Coast WinterBraun, and Alaskan Winter Ale. They also had Pyramid Snow Cap and the LaConner seasonal, and a few others I'm not recalling. I'll be tasting these soon happy holidays!

unfortunately for my waistline, i've been spending time at Capitol Ale House in downtown Richmond, VA. they've got great octoberfest specials going on and i've been trying to go taste a new beer or 4 on my evenings off. on sunday, i discovered a new type- Kolsch- from the area around Koln, Germany. i believe that the brand was "Reissdorf." the nose on this ale was so clean and crisp. my friends and i split a Brewer's Platter with various sausages and cheeses. i don't think i've ever had a beer which complimented food quite like this one. i'd love to hear thoughts on this type of beer and maybe some suggestions on how to get it in the states. thanx!