Zarniwoop42

iTrader: (1)

I went there Once With my moms ex a long time ago, but I was not 21 then. He still goes there all the time though.

Torkel

There are some basic facts of life, like "water is wet", "if you drop a stone it falls to the ground" and "the German beer is the best in the world". My favorit is "Warsteiner", but the local brewery here in Zirndorf (making the "zirndorfer bier", of course) is also good.

...I think I'll have one right now.

blue turbo mx5

iTrader: (3)

jack and coke for me most of the time

i like rolling rock for beer

Silviata

If im going out i take killians, but if im staying in ill get a nice scottish ale

y8s

iTrader: (8)

the belgians will fight you for that claim.

and there is probably not much worse than a warm warsteiner. bleh.

Mach929

iTrader: (3)

we've been drinking labatt blue and molson ice lately, and at the mexican place up the street i do dos eqis amber, she does the lager, when i go other places i'll usually order a heineken or yuengling

johndoe

iTrader: (5)

They're a close second, and beer isn't meant to had warm. I had four pints of Weihenstephaner last night. The only down side to Weiss beer is it gives you the worst beer ***** imaginable.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Bleh.

**** Germany and their cat-**** lagers. Too much tradition, too little creativity.

The Belgians are better. Trappist Ales, Barleywine, Sweet Stouts, al good stuff. Though like their German comrades, they're still way too Pilsner-centric for the most part.

However, I honestly, genuinely believe that for the past ~15 years or so, some of the best beers in the world have come out of the newer US craft-breweries. Folks who are not afraid to experiment a little, to attempt to revive styles long-forgotten, and just generally have a good time creating beer. I mean, when was the last time you saw a Belgian Mead?

y8s

iTrader: (8)

true story:
we met with some older german execs who had never been to the states before and took them to a questionable bar in el dorado, arkansas and they proceeded to order "zwei budveizer!" because they understood it to be the quintissential american beer. sad statement.

it's pretty safe to assume that any mass-produced beer from any country is going to be more business than beer.

but there are lots of folks who LOVE their Miller/Coors/Bud and think anything else is ****.

johndoe

iTrader: (5)

**** American devotion to and overuse of hops.

Torkel

Well, each to his own, I guess. I have been drinking beer in many countries and many beers from many countries, but I still stand by that statement. German cars and beer. Yup, best in the world. But I have yet to appreciate warm beer in the winter. It just feels wrong. Beer should be cold.

A little fun fact: Beer is by German law “food”. This has some interesting effects: It may only be called “beer” as long as it ONLY contains malt, jest, water and… that forth one.. Humle? (What is it in English? No, not catpiss hustler, that was wrong.) Wheat was also added, so that the wheat beer may be produced. Other interesting effects of the law are that it may be consumed in public areas and on the workplace. It also gives it a lower tax level, since it is “food” and important for the daily survival of the average family.

Newbsauce

iTrader: (2)

On the beer topic:

Went to Brickskeller in DC Friday night... crazy place with over 1000 beers.. check out the beer menu:

http://www.lovethebeer.com/beer-list.html

ChairFaceChippendale

iTrader: (1)

yes, as mostly everyone has said guiness is also good as well. there are really too many to list though...

y8s

iTrader: (8)

didn't i already post about their major suckage? my gf worked there for a long time. she grew to hate the management and dead rats.

two fun stories:
one time they opened up a wall to find the source of an odor and found dead rats and about 50 jillion little cracker wrappers.

one time a dude was so drunk he needed to go to the hospital and they threw him out and wouldn't let the waiters/waitresses call him a ride.

yayyyyyy

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

The original Reinheitsgebot names water, barley, and hops as the essential ingredients. Yeast is not listed, as its existence was not understood in the 16'th century. The 1993 Vorläufiges Biergesetz added a provision for the use of wheat malt.

But it is precisely this sort of thing that bothers me about German beer. The Germans know only a few specific ways to make beer, and they do not deviate from them. They are not creative, they do not take risks and experiment with their beer. They cannot, for it is forbidden.


A bit of trivia:

In addition to the flavor they provide, hops also act as a preservative- something that was critically important in the days before pasteurization and refrigerated transport. English brewers desiring to export beer to India and Russia were faced with the problem of keeping the beer stable during the long ocean voyage, and solved it by increasing the alcohol content and adding extra hops, both of which prevented the growth of bacteria in the beer. Today, this style of beer known as IPA (India Pale Ale) is considered the hallmark of hoppiness.

johndoe

iTrader: (5)

hops also makes your dick limp

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

For those who are not totally averse to hops, try a Stone Ruination ale. It's an IPA, and it is hoppy, but not flagrantly so- the beer has a wonderfully rich character. The best analogy I can think of is that it's like a good plate of spicy chicken wings from the Anchor Bar as compared to a plate of "Chernobyl" wings from someplace like Hooters. Both are hot, but the Anchor Bar wings taste good despite this.

y8s

iTrader: (8)

That's very similar to the whole French wine thing. And why california wines have, in some cases, surpassed French wines. Experimentation.

johndoe

iTrader: (5)

I'm not totally opposed to hops, I just think they are often overused in american brews and they drown out the rest of the flavors in the beer. One local brewery to me has a pale ale I actually like, much more complex flavor while still having the hop bitterness.
Captain Lawrence Brewing Company. http://www.captainlawrencebrewing.com/beer_list.html

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Y8s, your "zwei budveizer!" story reminds me of a similar incident, in reverse.

I used to work with a dude named Doug back in Ohio. Doug was a serious beer knurd, and an avid homebrewer. He reveled in crafting unusual and delicious brews- honey mead, "coffee & cream" stout, lots of good stuff. Even had a N20 system and a set of proper stout fauces on one of his fridges. Doug would not even use an American Light Lager to extinguish a fire with, much less drink it.

Anyway, Doug did a lot of our international service. And one one occasion, he was sent to a customer's site in the Guangdong province of China. I should add that Doug is a big dude. About 6'2" tall, and easily 400 lbs. He didn't exactly blend in.

Anyhoo, like me, Doug enjoys drinking his way through the local culture whenever he's on the road. Avoids the big touristy places, tries all the local delicicies. So his escort takes him to one little bar, and Doug asks the bartender (who speaks a small amount of engrish) for a good local beer. The bartender shakes his head as if to say "no" then disappears into a back room, and comes back a minute later proudly displaying a Budweiser!

Well, what can he do? If he rejects the Bud then he insults the bartender, who is just absolutely gleaming with pride at having been able to offer this American such a fine beer from his own homeland. So he quickly suffers the Bud, and then makes sure that his escort delivers the message to the bartender that he'd really prefer something of local origin.