Perhaps, oh, um, BEER?!???!!

[Fenir_LacDanan]

How good is beer?!

Just thought I'd kick it off, and shall we discuss the lesser American brews in contrast to the stronger European ones. Shall we discuss the virtues of Ales as opposed to stouts? And so on...

Come one come all, to the Irish beer - a - thon challenge, in which we discuss beer in a clear and constructive manner!

Shall we?

Come on....

I know its been stated before, but still, I pose the question...

How good is beer!?!?!????

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

Old Speckled Hen is best

i am not normally a fan of beer, as such, don't mind stout, good pint of Caffreys or Guinness (must be the irish in me!), but i prefer bacardi, whiskey and vermouth to beer.

[Starr Polish]

Blech.

Give me a glass of wine or a "girly drink" anytime over beer.

[Insidious Rex]

As the germans say Beir ist gut!

[Nurvingiel]

I had the best beer tonight, it was a perfectly poured pint of Kilkenny, though Guinness is still my favourite. I love creamy ales. Kilkenny is really creamy, and Guinness is like... a meal in a glass.

I also like Kokannee (Canadian lager), Granville Island Honey Brown (Canadian ale), Stella Artois (Belgian lager), Beck's (German lager), and Karhu (Finnish lager). Norrlands Guld and Bla Bra (I think) are some pretty decent Swedish beers. It's worth mentioning, that aside from Budweiser, American beer isn't bad, per se. Coors is a perfectly decent beer IMO. Molsen Canadian is only a smidgen better.

I love beer! Great thread Fenir.

EDIT: Ooh! And how could I forget Sleeman's Honey Brown!!?? Or Sleeman's Cream Ale (Or is it dark ale). Two great Canadian Ales.

And, the Wychwood Brewery Goblin ale. My favourite English ale.

[Hanza]

give me a girly smirnoff or some whiskey anyday. beer is yucky lol *ducks*

[Fenir_LacDanan]

I love Guinness, it is easily the best drop of stout around. (well technically its not a stout, but you know what I mean.) KilKenny is also tops, along with Caffrey's. Ah, the taste of home...

Aussie beer is pretty good, but there are some strange things about it.

Firstly, here in Victoria, a state in the south, the only drop to drink is VB, or Victoria Bitter, followed by Carlton Draught and Melbourne Bitter. The thing is, Victoria and Melbourne bitters are actually not bitter, they are in fact lagers. God knows why they are called bitters when they are not, but no one over here seems to care at all. In fact, they tried to sell VB in England, but they changed the name to "victoria beer". I haven't been to London in years, so I cant tell you if its still available.

Fosters Lager, the famous Aussie beer, is in fact rarely drunk in Australia. If I turned up to a session with a slab of Fosters, my aussie mates would can me to no end.
I think its a bit of a backlash to the staggering foreign success of Fosters.

There are quite excellent Beers to be found in Tasmania, the most southern state, with the Brilliant Boags Lager at the head of the pack.

And after all, drinking is ALL THE AUSTRALIANS DO.
Lets go to the beach, says I, Robbo says "sure mate, but I'll just grab a slab of beers for the journey". Lets turn on the Cricket, says I, Conna's says "righto then, beers are in the fridge"

Drinking is all they do, they bloody love it. And I'm Irish, so I do enjoy the occasional snifter of Sherry at Christmas time , myself. If your bored or lazy or looking for something to do, go over to Smithy's place and say "lets file our bi-annual income tax returns." Smithy says "righto cobber, I'll just nip down to the bottle-o for a few slabs of Vic..."

The funnest people in the world, far and away.

[Nurvingiel]

What's the difference between stout and ale? Is a stout also a type of beer?

[Insidious Rex]

Originally Posted by Nurvingiel

What's the difference between stout and ale? Is a stout also a type of beer?

Well a stout IS an ale actually. It gets confusing sometimes. The easy way to remember it is that there are really only two types of beer: Lagers and Ales. Lagers use one kind of yeast and ferment at cooler temperatures. Ales use ale yeast and ferment at higher temperatures and then are often "aged". Most watery american (and yes canadian ) beers are lagers. Budweiser. Miller. Labatts. Coors (how can you dislike most of these bad lagers and like Coors of all things!!!). etc. There are plenty of good lagers though from companies that know how to brew them and arent just in it to produce mass quantities. Stouts and Porters are ales and are brewed in a different way. Stouts are dark beers because they are brewed using barley of a particular variety that are then carefully roasted just like coffee beans to give it that distinctive ebony look and silky smooth taste.

Here's a half decent breakdown on the basic variaties of beer if yer interested.

[BeardofPants]

Ahh, gimme a trappist ale any day of the week... Mmm... belgian beer.... mmm......

[Nurvingiel]

Coors is drinkable. I associate it with a great staff party. There's a difference between good beer and drinkable beer.

If Guinness isn't a stout, what is a true stout? (Brand)

Hey BoP, I like Belgian beer too - especially Stella Artois.

[gollum9630]

Originally Posted by Nurvingiel

I also like Kokannee (Canadian lager), Granville Island Honey Brown (Canadian ale),

I may only be 17, but i have to agrre with you here, Kokannee is a good beer and i had some Granville Ilsand Honey Brown awhile back at one of my parents parties and it was okay

Coors is a perfectly decent beer IMO. Molsen Canadian is only a smidgen better.

Coors isnt strong enough IMO

EDIT: Ooh! And how could I forget Sleeman's Honey Brown!!?? Or Sleeman's Cream Ale (Or is it dark ale). Two great Canadian Ales.

Sleemans is an okay beer

[Aragorn]

Mix vodka and scotch. The trick is to drink it really fast. Its good, I promise.

[Fenir_LacDanan]

Originally Posted by Aragorn

Mix vodka and scotch. The trick is to drink it really fast. Its good, I promise.

Good, eh?

So would sculling a shot of toilet cleaner, I'll wager.

So, Aragorn, what BEER do you like, if any. I'm pretty sure Vodka and Scotch aint beer, cobber.

[Nurvingiel]

Unless Aragorn drinks some really bizarre beers...

You can make barfy shots with a beer like a depth charge or whatever it's called. A shot of butterscotch schnapps dropped into a beer then you chug the whole thing. Then you usually puke. Never done it though. Don't let anyone buy you a depth charge, or a cement mixer...

Originally Posted by gollum9630

I may only be 17, but i have to agrre with you here, Kokannee is a good beer and i had some Granville Ilsand Honey Brown awhile back at one of my parents parties and it was okay

And Granville Island also brew this brilliant unfiltered wheat beer. It's sooo good. It's an ale, more specifically. It's called... Ugly Ale. It rules.

Originally Posted by gollum9630

Coors isnt strong enough IMO

I said it was drinkable! Water is drinkable too...

Originally Posted by gollum9630

Sleemans is an okay beer

I love Sleeman's. My first beers were Sleeman's.

[Aragorn]

I'm too poor to afford anything fancy, so Molson and Labatt do just fine for me.

[Snowdog]

lesser American brews in contrast to the stronger European ones

I've found that thecraft brews here in the states to be superior to the imported green bottled beers here. Obsidian Stout has been a favorite along with Moose Drool, and now is the season of Winterhook!

As far as lagers, i had a good one the other nioght... a Samuel Adams Winter Lager!

[Nurvingiel]

Moose Drool!! LOL! A lot of people buy it the first time for the name alone. Does it life up to its name?

[Snowdog]

Originally Posted by Nurvingiel

Moose Drool!! LOL! A lot of people buy it the first time for the name alone. Does it life up to its name?

Yeah, after a few you're drooling like a moose in a river when you try and talk. Moose Drool has a well balanced taste that goes down good.. especially with potato skins!

[brownjenkins]

mmm beer

guiness and bass, black and tan my personal favorite