Chimay is awesome. Haven't had a bottle in way too long.

Looking for a review of the Ranger IPA from New Belgium. How was it TTF?

Actually having my last one right now... surprisingly good. I say that because I'm not a big NB fan, but I give everything one shot at least. Nice color, however not filtered it seems, which is still ok with me. Looking at the beer you can see hops and whatnot floating in the beer. Considering how NB is I didn't expect it... thought it would be super refined, however like I said, I still like it a lot. It has Simcoe, Cascade & Chinook hops. I could do without the Chinook, but no sweat. It's hitting at 70 IBU's as well. It has an awesome head to it.... great aroma in the nose and head of the beer w/ superior head retention throughout which I really like. Would like a bit more malty tasty to it but it's a well done IPA. I will buy more.

Has anyone seen the documentary Beer Wars yet. I watched it last night. It was a bit cartoony and was often reminiscent of Roger and Me but it made me appreciate the effort that the smaller brewers go through to bring us our delicious beers.

The barriers to entry for U.S. craft brewers are quite extreme. Even though this segment of the beer market is growing it is still quite small compared to the overall beer market which is actually stagnant. Inbev/Anheuser Busch and Miller/Coors have quite a stranglehold on the distribution system and retailers along with substantial political influence on the state and national levels.

RDH, have you ever shown a picture of your setup? I'm just about to switch to AG brewing and am trying to design a system, or possibly go straight for a pre-built all in one setup like the Keggle Brewer ( $2,495 + tax + shipping )

Any suggestions / pit falls to avoid?

I watched this last week on Netflix, I thought it was really good. Yeah a little on the cartoony/goofy side, but when it got serious it was great and informative. I thought it was very interesting how Inbev/Anheuser Busch and Miller/Coors have a very cut throat attitude, kind of disturbing too. It proved how these companies care more about advertising and share holder well being rather than the quality of their products. I loved the part when they had the taste test for Miller Lite, Coors Lite, and Bud Light and NO ONE got it right.

How lame was that guy who worked for Anheuser Busch and his job to pretty much find out what Micro Breweries were doing and then Anheuser Busch would create their own bastardized version of it.

I thought it was cool how they did a little piece on Yuengling, I live in PA, so it was cool to see that.

Dogfish Head is one of my favorite breweries and after watching this, it just made me like them even more because of how they followed Sam, really cool and really interesting.

I think Jim Koch said it best when talking about Micro vs Macro brews, I dont remember the quote exactly, but it was something like "Do we look at Mcdonalds to give us good burgers? No, so why are people looking at Anheuser Busch for good beer."

I tried Trader Joes Vintage Ale, and I have to say, its pretty decent for the price. I"m not an afficiando, but I would give this a solid 3.5 out 5.

IDK about where you guys are, but here in Colorado AB has a Blue Moon knockoff called Shock Top. They used to have a Fat Tire knockoff called Drop Top, but I haven't seen it in a while. They bought a local micro brewery to mimic their beers, failed badly when the crew jumped ship and shut it down.

here ya go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX-c3...&feature=email

I might be in the background somewhere, I'm definitely in the closing shot. This was filmed the day I kegged the "Suck It," so all the beer they show is actually "mine."

Is this just for American beer?

(was wondering what anyone though of English bitter)

If you are referring to the movie Beer Wars it is mostly about American beer. They did briefly touch on the mergers of AB/Inbev and SABMiller. As a result of these mergers, many of the brands that people view as imports are under the umbrella of these two corporations.

This thread isn't just for US beers.

I'm fond of Bitters, but there aren't too many available in my area aside from Fuller's ESB.

I've always considered Stone Arrogant Bastard a good American Bitter though.

Yeh, i had a flick through the thread, and noticed no posts in regard to UK Bitters.

I've only been drinking them for a year or so.

It's a shame you don't get them in America,

If anyone ITT comes to the UK, I'd recommend;

London Pride
Spitfire
Pedigree
Any local beer/ cider sold in village pubs.

If you're young and you've drunk lager all your life (most of it piss water imo) then there's <1% chance you'll like it right away.

Do give it a go if you can though. + It's a type of beer you tend to drink to enjoy, not chug and get smashed on.

Another Bitter that I like is Rogue Brutal Bitter. I think it is from the US Northwest. The best beer bar/restaurant in my town carries this regularly.

we do get bitters here in the US, just not as many here in Tampa Bay.

I'm a big fan of Fuller's London Pride, but I don't consider that a bitter - more like a British Pale Ale. On the same track, I'm a big fan of Bellhaven's Twisted Thistle.
Yeah, Rogue is from Oregon. That is great beer. They also make a very nice one called Younger's Special Bitter, but that's hard to get a hold of on the other side of the country.

Call me ill-informed, but this was news to me before I watched it.

They're still imports. Interbev's flagship brands are Hoegaarden, Leffe & Stella, but they also bring stuff like Carlsberg and Corona to the US. That doesn't mean they are domestic brands. (We'll save the discussion of the dumbing down of brands like Boddington's for the US market until later...) That means I get those brands from my Bud distributor here.

The Miller/Coors folks have distributors across the country under different names, but still basically the same company. Kind of like Carl's Jr. out West is the same as Hardee's back East. They have agreements with importers too, like Merchant Du Vin, who bring Samuel Smith's, Lindeman's, Ayinger and others to America. They tend to have agreements w/this group in every market here.

Once in a while a US Microbrew or a very small import group like B. United (small overseas breweries tend not to come over by themselves) will switch up their distribution, but they're usually with the same folks all the time too.

You're certainly right on that,
I'm not quite at a connoisseur level
So for me pretty much everything falls into;
Lager
Bitter
Cider
And piss off with wine. (imo)

you're not far off - every beer is a Lager or an Ale. Pale Ales and Bitters are very close cousins in the Ale family. Keep going a little darker you hit Brown Ales, Porters then Stouts - especially in the UK.

Rogue Chocolate Stout anyone? Had it the other night and its probably one of my favorites now.

Not exactly. Don't forget about lactobacillus or brettanomyces used in sour beers.

Inspired by skimming the thread last night.. I just bought a sixer of Big Daddy IPA and a bottle of ommegang chocolate stout.

The Brooklyn is my fave chocolate but, I've yet to try this one.

I'm sure I have somewhere but I can't seem to find them. I'll take some more and post them this weekend if I can remember. In any case, my setup is extremely ghetto, seeing as how brewers don't make much cash compensation. I'll PM you with details and advice unless the rest of the people in the thread say they care about that kind of thing.

RDH, yes plz!
It's partly what the thread's for. A couple of friends have thrown out a serious homebrew suggestion. I'd love to hear about some decent homebrew setups (& sources)...perhaps more modest than $2k tho.

I used to homebrew about 25 yrs ago, but that was just a 40 gal plastic tub in the cupboard with a lightbulb under it; then bottle it and hope nothing explodes. Got some cheap yeasty brews out of it.

Someone posted a link to that documentary earlier this thread. It def made me never want to buy any Coors Miller Budweiser product again...apart from the fact I don't like any of their products anyway...

Sounds like the system allows CMB to have a virtual stranglehold on the distribution of beer. And Budweiser making crappy imitations of craft beers to try to squeeze the market is just pathetic and lame; problem is, thats prolly exactly what Bud are trying to do..