I live in a college town in the midwest (Bloomington, IN). There's at least one store with a good craft selection close to me. Thanks to the others making recs as well, there's nothing better than having a bunch of new beers to try.

To weigh in on the hoegaarden debate, I thought the guy who called it hot dog water was spot on. Doubt I've ever liked any wheatbeer though.

NtW, I'm assuming you can get great lakes then right? If so, definitely get the Edmund Fitzgerald. Bell's Porter is also v good. 3 Floyd's alpha claus may still be available as well

Sadly, you won't be able to get the deschuttes unless through a trade. Minnesota is the nearest state that distributes them

Thanks Kdawg, I'll check those out. I just had Three Floyd's Alpha King last night for the first time and it was decent, if a bit citrusy for my tastes.

This was Wetherspoons in Epsom. (correction, apparently it was £1.29 a pint)

NTW,

A lot of their stuff is pretty expensive, but I've loved everything I've tried from Mikkeller.

Just bought 1/2 a case of the Beer Geek Brunch Weasel. Can't wait to taste it.

See this is what I mean by people either love it or hate it. My main point was whether you like it or not its just impossible to think it tastes like Miller Lite - unless something went very wrong.

Picked up a bunch of domestic farmhouse ales today to research before brewing my first saison. Should be a very good weekend of football and drinking.

Biere de Garde

* Oro De Calabaza (Brewer: Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales)

Saison

* Batch 3 Saison: An Dreoilin (Brewer: Mystic Brewery)
* Brooklyn Sorachi Ace (Brewer: Brooklyn Brewery)
* Convergence (Brewer: Backlash Beer Company)
* Jack D'Or (Brewer: Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project)
* Saison (Brewer: Notch Brewing Company)
* Saison Athene (Brewer: Saint Somewhere Brewing Company)
* Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale (Brewer: Boulevard Brewing Company)

Slight sweet flavor with only a slight hint of gasoline and urine. Hops were apparently replaced with someone reading about hops from an encyclopedia within 20 yards of the brewing vessel.

On the upside, flavor was nearly absent, making it only slightly more offensive than water mixed with brown food coloring at first, and the 20th pint went down quite smoothly.

Tonight I had some sierra nevada bigfoot ala 2007 a local Belgian and a lot of Terrapin wake and bake stout.

I highly recommend the terrapin. It's up there with the founders breakfast stout

once did a tasting of 10 different mikkeler ipas at churchkey in dc. was pretty awesome, really opened my eyes to different possibilities within a single 'type' of beer

Why not? Randomly ordering Murphy's Irish Stout in a bar few months ago is what originally got me excited about different beer types. Just like Guinness, it's very drinkable and I could imagine it's easy to like even for someone who doesn't usually drink a lot of beer. If I had ordered a random DIPA, it probably wouldn't have had the same effect. My earlier beer experiences are pretty much limited to cheap finnish lagers, only other type of beer I was familiar with before was hefeweizens and one baltic porter (Sinebrychoff/Koff Porter).

Somebody also said that offering something completely different than what the person is used to could be a good idea when trying to introduce someone into craft beers, I definitely agree with that.

Can't say anything about the price POV though, because thanks to finnish legislation (in short: everything over 4.7% ABV is ridiculously expensive) both Guinness and Murphy's are "cheap" compared to most craft beers. (by cheap I mean 3-3.50€ in can or 5-7€/pint )

PTS,

"Just bought 1/2 a case of the Beer Geek Brunch Weasel. Can't wait to taste it."

I've had Beer Geek Breakfast and thought it was super delicious. Looking forward to your trip report on this and then an expedition to go find some!

IP ban, imo, but of the **** beers, this is probably the best.

I'm broke. Best beer during rough times.

I drank that during my first drunk fourth of July...will always have a place in my heart(and by heart I mean liver)

The trouble with copy information from the internet is its sometimes out of date and you look silly

You should have known that Greene King bought the Ruddles Brewery from Watneys some time ago. The days when it was best to save time by pouring it straight down the toilet are fortunately behind us.

It is of course still a session bitter, 20 pints is a bit much though.

I know very little about this, but isnt the whole point of IPA that it was made to withstand long sea voyages and not spoil as fast? Or do I have that wrong, it was made especially to spoil fast so that it couldnt be shipped?

There is some debate, but yes I've read in quite a few places that IPA's where developed to withstand the long sea voyage to India. The high alcohol and the increased hopping rate both help resist spoilage.

The thing is, the high bitterness would mellow greatly over time. While that was probably not an issue for the British troops these where destined for, our tastes are different now and we drink these specifically for the hop profile. So even though they may not "spoil" during long periods of storage, for our modern tastes they are best when fairly young.

That's the story I believe. Same for fortifying wine and discovering Port.

Apart from that what did the British ever do for us?

....

Killian's with a lime. Don't ask me what my second favorite beer is, as I don't want to get laughed at.

Based on #1, I'd guess skunked O'Doul's?

i like beer that isnt made in michigan

i don't mind Killians as a macro and i'll drink it when i'm out at a restaurant or something but damn this sounds nasty