I've gotten into Belgian beers lately. My favorite so far is the Chimay trippel (white label), which in my opinion is absolute perfection of the style. 9% abv but hides it well. I would highly recommend all of the other Trappist ales as well. Hoegaarden is always outstanding and versatile--if I had to choose one beer for the rest of my life, this would be it.

I'm also a big fan of Dogfish Head chicory stout.

Good website to check out beers and ales all over the USA: Beer Travelers

Some one memtioned trappist monks beer I think. Here is an interesting article on the St Sixtus Abbey in Beligum that hand brews 'the best': Best in the World


Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Full Sail ale and kindred beers are among my favorites. I have had some German and Beligum beers that were top notch but can't conjure up their names. I remember the wonderful bold and crisp taste so must live with the memories.

-Zeno

I'm so glad my local store carries St. Bernardus Abt 12. It kicks ass. Definitely my favorite beer.

Also like DFH 90 min IPA, Sam Smith's Oatmeal Stout, La Fin Du Monde, and Great Divide's Barleywine

KB4Z,

Winter ales are an odd bunch. I reviewed a bunch of them. Some of them were the spicy malty ones you were thinking of. Some others were red hop bombs. SNCA isn't exactly an IPA. It's very red in color, not pale. However, the flavor begins and ends w/ hops. If you wanted to suggest a spiced winter ale, I'd recommend he gives Harpoon's offering a shot.

thanks, but that's exactly not what I'm looking for! heh, spiced beers like that are actually some of my least favorite, probably b/c I don't particularly love the spices used, in beer or elsewhere.

Last night, I was really impressed with the Harpoon Winter Warmer on tap. Dark brown, but not too heavy, rich and full of Christmas spices.

I LOVE the Dogfish Head beers. I have not had the pilsner yetm, but besides the IPAs I'd seriously recommend the Aprihop and the Raison d'Etre. Also, the 120-minute IPA is ridiculously expensive but is nothing short of amazing.

Also, mia, I've not had too many of the lambics, but I really do like fruit beers (Pyramid Apricot is probably my favorite, and I recently discovered a really good local blueberry beer up here).

Where is this? I'm flying to Austin on Wednesday.

The Aprihop is actually the one DFH beer I can think of that I didn't enjoy. Perhaps I got a bad batch or something, but there was no apricot flavor to speak of - it tasted just like a bland, mediocre IPA with very little character, in my opinion. I like Raison d'Etre, but don't think it compares with the Belgians like Chimay and Delirium Nocturnum it's styled after. Their Indian Brown Ale is another I like a lot.

As for mainstream beers, I think Newcastle is fantastic. I can always drink that a be happy. Has anyone tried any of the brews from Lost Coast brewery? They make a great Rasperry Brown Ale. And have a lot of other quality brews. For those in NYC, the ginger man has a big selection of high ABV beers that will knock you out. And they let you sample as many as you want which is very cool. Since this is a random beer thread, i thought the heineken in amsterdam needed a special mention. Its so much better than what we get here, its amazing...as is that city, but i digress...

Feb 10-25th is also the 8th Belgian Beer Festival at Lucky Baldwin's in Pasadena. 51 Belgian beers on tap at once, and they'll offer more than 80 over the course of those two weeks. Not one to miss if you're in the area.

I've tried just about everything they make and it's all good. I just found out tonight that Unibroue brews Trader Joe's Anniversary Ale ($5/22oz) and have a couple bottles cooling - I expect it to be good as well.

For X-Mas, my gf got me 18 random beers off of the world market rack. This was the best of the bunch, along with the Hoegaarden.

I completely missed El D's link in his first post. I've only been to Magnolia's once, but their IPA was one of the best I've had. I think I'll be in SF in a couple weeks so I"ll definitely try to check this out.

Maybe I should give Dead Guy Ale another shot. I thought it was pretty mediocre. I liked, didn't love, the first 6 pack I tried. I got really sick of it when I tried another 6 pack. It was too syrupy to me.

Try Old Rasputin (Russian Imperial Stout.) Rich, black, delicious, and 9 percent alcohol. Should be widely available at any cosmopolitan liquor store (try Whole Foods.) It's from the North Coast brewerey which makes Red Seal Ale as well (also tasty.)

Old Rasputin is one of my favorite Imperial Stouts. It's not quite as ridiculous as the DFH World Wide Stout, but it's still great.

http://www.draughthouse.com/
~The Draught House Pub & Brewery~

just off N Lamar , like 5 miles or so NW of UT, sort of in the middle of nowhere.

Oooh, $2.25 "huge house beers" on Thursday! I think we've found our Thursday night plans!

NL,

The Linkery is a good restaurant in SD that opens up a cask ale on Saturday evenings -- definitely worth going if they have a cask from Stone Brewing.

(Also, the reuben is highly recommended if it's on the menu).

Beer is such an insanely broad topic. I think a better original post would have been focusing on one or two beers that the OP thinks is awesome. I guess this is what the OP did but I guess I just wish he picked it a different title.

Anyway, I have two similar and awesome beers in my fridge right now.

1.
"Rogue's annual holiday offering, Santa's Private Reserve, is a variation of the classic Saint Rogue Red, but with double the hops--including Chinook, and Centennial, and a mystery hop called Rudolph by head brewer John "more hops" Maier!This holiday elixir is brewed with two-row Harrington, Klages and Munich malts, along with Hugh Baird 30-37, Carastan 13-17, and Crystal 70-80 malts, plus free range coastal water and John's proprietary top-fermenting Pacman yeast. Available in both 22-ounce bottles, 12oz Loose packs for Winter 2005, and 12oz six packs for 2006.

Measurements: 13 degrees Plato, IBU 44, Apparent attenuation 73, Lovibond 26"

2.
"We like to think we beat winter at its own game with 2°Below Winter Ale- a bright, warming blast of Sterling and Liberty hops along with tawny-roasted malts. By pushing our 2°Below into a final, nearly freezing state, its ample structure develops a brilliant clarity.

Dry-hopping during fermentation creates a rosy, floral nose with a hint of pepper spice and subtle, estery undertones. Weighing in at 6.6% alcohol by volume with 30 IBU's, 2°Below provides a bright, hoppy palate and a cheery warm afterglow.

We hope it helps take your winter from bearable to downright delightful."


I'm loving both of them at this point. They're winter ales on on hand but both amber (not black/brown) on the other. It's nice, they so super awesome with 'winter' but you can drink more then one :-p.

I think 2 Below is the worst New Belgium brew I've had. It's not horrible, but just not all that interesting. Pretty blah.

I absolutely cannot stand blue paddle. From a flavor standpoint I agree that 2below is less interesting then some of the other ones, but I'm still enjoying the winter ale that's amber at this point(also I think it's more interesting then fat tire). NBB makes a lot of awesome beer though so it's not saying a ton putting one at the bottom. Just for fun how would you roughly rank the NBB beers?

Tier 1
Sunshine Wheat
Skinny Dip
Abbey
Trippel

Tier 2
Loft
Biere De mars
Saison
1554

Tier 3
2 Below
Fat Tire

The one I don't like
Blue Paddle


The thing is though, new belgium beer is awesome, so a tier 3 ranking is nothing to weep about.

I actually really like the 1554. It's not particularly complex but I find it very smooth.

And yeah, Sunshine is probably their best one.

From the Pacific NW-

Widmer Brothers Brewery-
Hefeweizen is a nice unfiltered wheat beer. Usually served with a lemon, it's just a nice standard. Widely available up here.

Widberry is their 'fruity' offering. Black Raspberry, a real nice change from normal.

Deschutes Brewery-

Black Butte Porter is a must for dark beer lovers. Lots of malt/chocolate tones, great porter.

Jubelale is their Winter/Xmas offering, and I think they just pulled it from shelves. It's not quite a dark as Black Butte, but has great flavor. Overall, very likely my favorite beer.

Mirror Pond Pale Ale is a nice errr, Ale. I prefer it to Alaskan Amber and Mac and Jacks. Dunno what else to say, but try it if you like the red colored beers that you can see through.

Mirror Pond is deliscious.

Oh man, I just remembered McMenamins

One of my favorites is Sam Adam's Black Lager.