abcgroupdocumentation wrote:Green bottles make beer (mixed with too much sun) smell skunky...ick.

Then don't leave your bottles in the sun. And if you're drinking outside, drink faster.

abcgroupdocumentation wrote:Highland Brewing Company--Oatmeal Porter --Greatest porter on the face of the planet. (Asheville, NC) (wonderul malty, medium body, chocolate-y)

Brutte Organic Porter--made somewhere out West. Great shit.

Ah, now you're talking. Porters and stouts are my favorite beers and I love a lot of them.

I had the opportunity to visit the Highland brewery when I was in NC a while back. Their porter is definitely one of my favorites.

I think you're talking about BUTTE Creek's (no 'r') Organic Porter...made up here in Chico. Another one of my favorites.

abcgroupdocumentation wrote:I trade beers now with guys I work with. I'm in Atlanta, they're in Portland. It's really cool actually. I get to try beers I can't get here (microbrews) and the same goes for them. If anyone's up for a trade, let me know.

I'm in northern California...would love to do some trades! Which brewers are you talking about?

You are correct--Butte Creek it is. I like it. Porters and Stouts are my favorites too. Which brewers am I talking about...not sure what you mean.

please clarify.

Give me some recommendations too.

Word.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Bridgeport IPA
Wynkoop Cask IPA (If you are ever in Denver) Best Beer Ever
Harpoon IPA
Anchor Liberty
Dogfish 90 minute IPA
Sam Adams Summer Ale

abcgroupdocumentation wrote:Which brewers am I talking about...not sure what you mean.

Just wondering what your local favorites were. I might know of some of them, but I'm sure that there are a ton that I don't know of.

SacredAndProfane wrote:

modar wrote:I make my beer.


plis urquell is nasty. green bottles blow. - newcastle is good on tap.. clear bottles blow. -

ALL belgians are fantastic.. I love a good WIT,or SAISON DUPONT!!

ALTS-- sticke Alt-- a dusseldorf. really good.

there is a british pale.. by ST. PETER's
RAUCHbeir is weird.. unless you liike bacon in you beer.

czechvar is good, brown bottles stop the damaging UV rays fomr flourescent tubes and the sun from skunking up the beer. UV damages HOP oils.. so heinie and pils urq. suck..

GUINNESS FES(foreign Extra stout ) is good.. and nearly 6.5%


http://www.herflyawaymanner.com/brew/brew.html

I disagree about ALL Belgians being fantastic. But that's just my opinion.

As for the difference in bottles...although clear and green bottles offer no protection from the damaging wavelengths of visible light, brown bottles offer only limited protection. Although it's still not good for it, UV light is not as troubling to the beer, because glass is very opaque to UV light. That's why I always go with the kegging route, instead of bottling. That way you have total control over the beer, and you can ensure that you keep it cold, dark, and free of oxygen.

I have enjoyed each belgian beer I have had.. I am sorry you haven't.
I do have sun, lots of it in NE, and I don't expose any of my brews to UV rays, so it doesn't matter too much which color the glass is, but i do know that most of the continental pilsners in green bottles taste nasty by the time they get here. - newcastle is best out of the big cardboard 12packs.. I have heard of cans in canada. -
as of the past 6 months I have largely switched to kegs.. I prefer 1 big bottle to 48 little bottles, when it comes to cleaning..sanatizing.

modar wrote:I have enjoyed each belgian beer I have had.. I am sorry you haven't.
I do have sun, lots of it in NE, and I don't expose any of my brews to UV rays, so it doesn't matter too much which color the glass is, but i do know that most of the continental pilsners in green bottles taste nasty by the time they get here. - newcastle is best out of the big cardboard 12packs.. I have heard of cans in canada. -
as of the past 6 months I have largely switched to kegs.. I prefer 1 big bottle to 48 little bottles, when it comes to cleaning..sanatizing.

Like I said...I'm a porter and stout fan. We all have our favorites.

I had to eMail him for the link...a friend of mine (who has WAY to much time on his hands) did some research regarding the color of glass and the effects of light. Here are the results:

http://realbeer.com/spencer/bottle.html

So basically the absorption coefficient of glass in the UV range is to high for all practical purposes to really make a huge difference.

Someone said Abita already, but failed to mention TURBODOG.
That must be my all-time favorite (when I can get it here that is).
Got hooked on this big-time when I was in Austin, especially at Liberty Lunch (R.I.P.). Got a chance to visit the brewery in 2001... the fill-in tour guide (i.e. some other dude who works there) had us return to the hospitality room more times than I can count... it was an excellent time.
(on a side-note: their root beer was INCREDIBLE also, but I have never found it anywhere - only had it at the brewery).

In most public places I have to make do with whatever else... Fat Tire is pretty agreeable to me... might have a 1554 every once in a while. I can take Newcastle in a pinch, seems to taste better out of the bigger bottles (?) Red Stripe works OK also if you find yourself at a TGIF or some crap like that. Pete's Wicked Ale was nice also, but seems to not be as popular around here anymore...

Ditto on that Young's Double Chocolate Stout - not for everyone, but when people say "beer & chocolate???!!!" at me I usually tell them to imagine that a good stout kind of has a coffee taste anyhow... so just add chocolate to that... sounds logical to me (and tasty)

Now then there's the Belgian beers... I did have the opportunity to visit a few years ago, and man did I sample a SHITLOAD of beers. I think the list topped out somewhere over 40 or 50 different kinds that I had on that one trip.

THE BEST (FROM WHAT I REMEMBER):

Westvleteren - supposedly not exported much... we drove out to the brewpub thingy by the monastery and they served it up with some excellent cheese for nibbles... it was heavenly.

Oerbier - we got a chance to go tour De Dolle Brouwers (The Mad Brewers)... that was pretty cool - it's really a small operation, but they know what they're doing... the slogan was like "nat und straf" or something like that (Wet & Strong) just how a beer should be!

Kwak - definitely tasty - gotta have the proper vessel with which to drink it, of course - with any luck you get to wear a little bit of it down your front

Westmalle - another tasty treat, especially the dubbel -wish I could find this more readily down here in St. Louis

Hoegaarden (sp?) - my favorite of the 'wheaty' beers... very happy whenever I go to the Way Out Club as they alway have it and I can usually sweet-talk Sherri into letting me get it in a glass. Very blissful to have a belly full of Hoegaarden while rockin' out to Brant Bjork and the Bros... good times, indeed!

Leffe - can't argue this one - maybe not the tippy-top of my personal list, but still really yummy

Orval - another one I liked, but don't remember specifics

Stella Artois - I was told this was considered the "table beer" that you serve room temperature with breakfast and lunch... (they didn't have to twist my arm too much to get me to drink beer at every meal, I can assure you!) so it still makes me laugh a little when I see bars over here that treat it like a swanky import... (serving it in its frosty custom "Stella" goblet, etc.) I got the impression this beer was their equivalent of cans of Bud Light or Miller Lite.

God, I could go on and on... Michael Jackson (the beer guy, not the pop singer) has a pretty thorough book devoted just to Belgian beers... highly recommended reading... if you're in the USA, and all you know of Belgian beers is Chimay or Duvel or Delerieum Tremens, then don't dismiss the rest of them so quickly...

(edit: I had mis-spelled 'Westvleteren')

http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=9350226&src=rss/oddlyEnoughNews
This just made me sad.

stevenstillborn wrote:http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=9350226&src=rss/oddlyEnoughNews
This just made me sad.

crud crud crud crud crud - can't they just up the production and justify it by putting the extra income towards charity and/or other holy things?

damn - I knew I was experiencing a rare treat, and had little or no chance of ever getting this beer stateside... but this just drives the point home even further...

crap (the situation, not the beer!)