Beer research

[Chilly Willy]

Why does Guiness out of the tap taste the best?  From a bottle, it's lousy.  Those can / widget things are cool in theory, but the beer still tastes metalic.  And yes, I'm a Yank--I like my Guiness cold.

Chilly

[LPC2104]

Why does Guiness out of the tap taste the best?  From a bottle, it's lousy.  Those can / widget things are cool in theory, but the beer still tastes metalic.  And yes, I'm a Yank--I like my Guiness cold.

Chilly

Guiness from the tap is nitrogen (small bubbles).  Other Guiness is bad.

[Chilly Willy]

 

[LPC2104]

Hey, question for the beer gods here.

Most beers, by my jusgement, have little or no taste aside from a nasty bite at the end.

Of course I'm generally sent to the cheap shaZam! by:

A. Availability (circumstances dictate me not buying it myself for a few more months.)
B. Multiply cost per bottle by my drinking habits.
C. I know hard liquor, and feel like a total idiot when trying to figure out a beer, so I prefer not to look like a moron and end up staying with what I know. (liquor and cigars)

But if anyone wants to know cigars just ask me.     (My fav's are conneticut shade grown)

To tell you the truth, if you are interested in beer enlightenment  try to attend a tasting or go to a good beer bar with someone that knows beer.  Here are some popular "gateway" beers.  Nothing too harsh, just a bit more taste than the Big 3.

Pale Ale - Try Sierra Nevada Pale Ale - you can get it anywhere - it will have a little citrusy hop bite but nothing too bad
Irish Red Ale - Try a Smithwicks
Wit - either Hoegarden or Blue Moon
Stout - Murphy's Irish Stout
Pilsner - Pilsner Urquell

My house just flooded so I've been up shop vacing so I'm a little out of it but those are all the really good entry beers I can think of.

Another good idea is to get a sampler pack.  Take it home and look up the beers on www.beeradvocate.com and see what  style they are and read desciptions of people's reviews.

Also, if you go to pubcrawler.com you can type in your address and they will supply you all the brewpubs, breweries, and beer bars within X amount of miles from you.

[CirclesCenter]

Being that I can look out my window at the Sierras and watch the sun set on them I bet I can get ahold of Sierra Nevada pretty easy.

[wildbill]

+1 to stella and sam adams summer ale, i love beer.

[yamahonkawazuki]

guinness stout or charrington toby the latter im having a damned hard time finding in the states, guess its time for a trip to canada soon , oh yeah i almost forgot, as far as cigars go, nothing beats a good cuban 

[sledge]

You mentioned Porter, its a dark stout, similar to Guinness but very rare these days.

[Jake D]

Well, you guys inspired me last night. 

My girlfriend and I want to a tapas place called La Bodega here in KC.  It is on the "Boulevard" about a quarter mile from the Boulevard Brewery.  I had a few Boulevard Unfiltered Wheats.  So fresh and so clean.  They were awsome!!!  The food was good, too. 

We had: seared ahi tuna with salsa fresca, calamari, empanadas, sauted mushrooms, and tenderloin with spanish blue cheese. 

I now have explosive, garlic powered gas!  Yeah me!!

[Egaeus]

Porter is typically a dark, malty (sweet) beer that has coffee and chocolate undertones.  If you want to know what a porter should taste like, try
Anchor Porter.  IMO, porter shouldn't have a shitload of hops in it like Grant's and Sierra Nevada use.  If you can't find Anchor Porter, then Fuller's London Porter is decent, though the quality seems to vary IMO.  However, Anchor is brewed in San Francisco, and I live in Florida and I can get it at the supermarket.  

Stout is short for stout porter.  However, Guinness Draught is crap (and Extra Stout isn't much better).  It has way too much black malt (the beer equivalent of dark french roast coffee) and not surprisingly tastes like watered down burned coffee.  Don't drink it as a representative of what a porter should taste like.  Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout or Taddy Porter would be better.

If you have no idea what people are talking about when they say the beer tastes hoppy, then go find you some Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale.  That is what hops tastes like.  

As far as macrobrewed wheat beer goes, you've missed on the most "generic" one.  Michelob used to make a Hefeweizen, but it's since been discontinued. 

[LPC2104]

I second the Anchor Porter recommendation.  That stuff is unreal.

Have any of you guys had Moosedrool from Montana?  I've read awesome things about it but I can't get it this far east so I tried to clone it only my brew came out more of a porter than a nut brown ale.  Is the real moosedrool more of a nut brown or more of a porter?

Jake D - Glad you were inspired.  My dad is a very strict crown royal drinker.  Since I started brewing he has a couple of my beers every now and then but what he really likes is going to the brewpubs with me.  I don't know why, but brewpubs always have the best food.  He too has problems with gas after too many brews so I'm making him a Beano Irish red.  Yup that's right, I'm making a fartless beer.

[Chilly Willy]

Yeah, I've had Moosedrool.  Cool lable, but way too bitter for me.

Chilly

[Egaeus]

I second the Anchor Porter recommendation.  That stuff is unreal.

Have any of you guys had Moosedrool from Montana?  I've read awesome things about it but I can't get it this far east so I tried to clone it only my brew came out more of a porter than a nut brown ale.  Is the real moosedrool more of a nut brown or more of a porter?

Jake D - Glad you were inspired.  My dad is a very strict crown royal drinker.  Since I started brewing he has a couple of my beers every now and then but what he really likes is going to the brewpubs with me.  I don't know why, but brewpubs always have the best food.  He too has problems with gas after too many brews so I'm making him a Beano Irish red.  Yup that's right, I'm making a fartless beer.

I'm thinking of trying to make a gluten-free beer since I have some kind of wheat intolerance (that's right, I can't drink hefeweizen).  Since I don't know if it's gluten or something else (no insurance for expensive tests) I don't need to be drinking regular beer either (barley has gluten in it).  That's going to be a challenge, though.  I don't know of any suitable beer-making grains except rice, and we all know that rice is what gives macrobrewed American lagers their (lack of) taste.

[Jughead]

New Castle Dark is Pretty Good.Not as Thick as Guiness but about the same Price or Higher.Guiness on Tap is the Dogs Balls. Actually Anything on tap is a lot better.I totally Refuse to Drink out of a Can.I have to have Bottles.
The Cheapest stuff that I drink is Miller Highlife.It's a Whole $4.20 for a Six pack. The worst I have Drank is Strohs and Pabst Blue Ribbon.I never want to see another can of that shaZam!. Me and my Uncle used to go Visit an Old Fellow and He would Drag out a Gallon of Crown Royal and we would Chase it with Strohs.Theres Been many of a Night my uncle would drop me off at the House and I would fall out of the Truck and Crawl into the House. I believe between the 5 Cases of Strohs,4 Gallons of Crown and 2 Cartons of Filterless Camels a week. I'd say that's what Killed the Poor Guy.

[bubba zanetti]

Guiness is great but Kilkenny is even better, even though they are different types of beer. Another good beer is Boddingtons pub ale.

[Egaeus]

Guiness on Tap is the Dogs Balls.

I knew Gunness tasted familiar!

[bubba zanetti]

Guiness on Tap is the Dogs Balls.

I knew Gunness tasted familiar!

I don't even want to know how you know

[LPC2104]

I second the Anchor Porter recommendation.  That stuff is unreal.

Have any of you guys had Moosedrool from Montana?  I've read awesome things about it but I can't get it this far east so I tried to clone it only my brew came out more of a porter than a nut brown ale.  Is the real moosedrool more of a nut brown or more of a porter?

Jake D - Glad you were inspired.  My dad is a very strict crown royal drinker.  Since I started brewing he has a couple of my beers every now and then but what he really likes is going to the brewpubs with me.  I don't know why, but brewpubs always have the best food.  He too has problems with gas after too many brews so I'm making him a Beano Irish red.  Yup that's right, I'm making a fartless beer.

I'm thinking of trying to make a gluten-free beer since I have some kind of wheat intolerance (that's right, I can't drink hefeweizen).  Since I don't know if it's gluten or something else (no insurance for expensive tests) I don't need to be drinking regular beer either (barley has gluten in it).  That's going to be a challenge, though.  I don't know of any suitable beer-making grains except rice, and we all know that rice is what gives macrobrewed American lagers their (lack of) taste.

You are in luck my friend.

Last month BYO (brew your own) had a segment written by a man who also can't have any gluten.  Gluten-free grains you can ferment are buckwheat, millet, sorghum and amaranth.

Here is the link.  It sounds like a bit of work but it sounds interesting.  Let me know if you have any questions.

[Egaeus]

Cool!  I have no idea where I'm going to have room to do all of that (It'll take more than my 3 gallon pot, which dominates my mini-stove already) but I've never let lack of room stop me.  You should see my apartment!

Thanks for the link.