No forum is complete w/out a nice thread dedicated to beer. The sweet nectar of the earth. So sit back, relax, and crack open a cold one... while pondering your favourite brews from around the world. Here's a list of ten fine brews that I deem noteworthy.

1) Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. just a nice pale ale with a pleasant bite and flavor. Bad-ass on draft.

2) Red Stripe. Jamaica's premium beer. nice sweet taste with light body.

3) Flying Dog Pale Ale. brewed in Colorado... a fine hoppy pale ale.

4) Newcastle. a brown ale w/ a pretty light body, unique taste.

5) Pacifico Clara. hands down my favorite "mexican" beer. Corona can kiss my ass.

6) Fat Tire. from the New Belgium line-up... a fuller body beer w/ a nice nutty flavor and aftertaste.

7) Guinness. just can't leave this one out. full body, great taste, smoooth.

Kirin Ichiban. a japanese or chinese (not totally sure) beer. I highly recommend trying this one. Tsingtao would be the runner up as far as asian brews.

9) Warsteiner. these european/german brews are bold but tasty. put hair on your chest this one.

10) Youngs Double Chocolate Stout or Youngs Oatmeal Stout. Choice brews if you're into a stronger/stout beer. yum

*If you want your ass kicked, I recommend Maudite, La Fin DeMonde, Tres Pistoles... All in big bottles.... fucking rawk!

*I loathe Miller Lite, Samuel Adams, and any bitter beers. Or any of those brews you put a lemon into... good god!

When Im at college in New Orleans i drink Abita Amber. It is the best, especially in keg form.

When Im at my parents house in Halifax I drink Kieth's IPA. Good flavor, light.

kirin ichiban is japanese but I think it's made here in the states now by AB. I agree, it's good. even their light beer is OK and I hate light beer. Japanese restaurants and liquor stores sell Ichiban in a big bottle and I think those might be a different recipe because they taste a little different.

Guinness is great.

Checvar and Pilsner Urquell are both awesome.

czec not chec
spellczec didn't catch that

(groan)

Chimay Blue Grande Réserve. A friend of mine (now an even better friend of mine) just bought me a case of it. Ohhhh yeah.

BTW, Guinness is getting much better from the bottle. However, barstaff in the USA are still generally shite at pulling good pints. I've had all forms of slop given to me - one-pulls, 2 inch heads, no-heads, dodgy pipe taste, stale stout, you name it. I've had one or perhaps two good pints in and around Boston, and that's it. Sad really, because it's one of my favourites, and a lot of people don't realise that you can't treat a decent draught stout like typical piss-lager.

Also - Julius Echter Hefe-Weiss. One of the only good reasons to see bands in the Middle East these days, as they serve this in the restaurant and it's just great.

Of course, there's webpages devoted to beer ratings. Try http://www.beeradvocate.com for a good start.

Is Czechvar the US name for what I know as Budvar? (it's also called Budweiser, I suspect the battle over the name is fiercer there), wonderful stuff. To that and the already mentioned Pilsner Urquell I'll throw in another Czech heavyweight, Gambrinus which is fantastic in dark and lighter versions.

Ignore the Belgians in these matters at your peril but pull that thread and the whole universe unravels. Honourable mentions from my philistine palate are Cantillon and Kwak.

Since being namechecked on a TV chatshow by Madonna, sales of our own Timothy Taylor Strong Pale Ale have tripled. Weirdness. As much as that might make me disinclined to mention it, it can be superb especially draught.

yeah, I think czechvar is budvar everywhere but here.

just Stella Artois; as I am drinking right now.
other Belgian favourites (the thing does unravel cjh!!!!) are
Kriek Lindemans (sweet cherry flava)
Geuze Lambic

cheers

beer is for chumps

drink straight whisky you milk-fat mommas boys

The above mentioned Pilsner Urquell is a great beer. I had the chance to try that one just recently.

That's an interesting point on the methods of pouring Guiness and other stouts from draught. I never really thought of it that way. But surely there are proper techniques. Makes me think that (living here in Houston) I have never gotten a right-proper pour.