At 7:54 am? Well, OK.

e lo: Damnit.

Now all I want is a DFH 90 Minute, or a fresh IPA from one of my local brewpubs, but I'm on call all weekend and don't get to have any.

Thanks a lot, Fark.

Hey, I'm stuck in Austria and can't get anything besides pilsner and weißbier. Be thankful that your IPA drought will only last through the weekend. I'm farking sick of flavorless beer, and even Belgian beers are harder to come by here than in the states, despite the fact that I'm considerably closer and there are no import restrictions.

I tend to prefer beers with earthy English hops over ones that have citrusy or piney American hops, so I tend to avoid American pale ales and IPAs. If I were to post that on BeerAdvocate, I'm certain somebody would say, "Don't worry, your palate will change and you'll eventually crave IPAs like me!" but they're just not my thing.

I've recently gained a lot of respect for English beers as they tend to be flavorful without being hop bombs or having high ABVs (like Fuller's London Pride checking in at 4.7% ABV). I have to credit Left Hand for their Sawtooth Ale. I drank it alongside a pair of English ESBs and it compared very well, but for the most part there are few American interpretations of English pale ales/bitters and ESBs. And it's nearly impossible to find a mild anywhere in the U.S.

The_Sponge: jaylectricity: SilentStrider: I like their Cherry Wheat too.

Now you're just trolling.


Lulz.

But in all seriousness, that stuff tastes like medicine.

And now onto the beer porn:

[i1218.photobucket.com image 612x1023]

Here in alabama we aren't privileged enough to partake of this nectar.
Have to drive to Florida or Georgia to get it. Time for a road trip.

MayoSlather: NobleHam: Shadowknight: MayoSlather: When it comes to fall if you aren't drinking Oktoberfest or pumpkin beer you are a terrible human being.

Love the Oktoberfest, but never tried pumpkin beer. Decent?

No. Pumpkin beers suck. Try one once a year in October, but otherwise avoid em. I usually don't even drink them in October anymore.

Sure if you abhor rich delicious flavor and/or pumpkin pie then they suck.

It's a foul beer for childish sensibilities.

Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout or Guinness, these are beers for men.

IPA's are and have always been horrible.
It's a beer loaded with preservatives (hops) that ruin the balance.
That's all.

Where does actual Jamaican Red Stripe rate on the beer snobbery scale? Not the kind generally available in the states, but real imported Red Stripe?

NowhereMon: People are hop crazy with the ales these days, and there are many aspects of beer that are being overlooked. I like an IPA as much as the next guy, but there is a lot more out there than how much hops you can squeeze into a beer. Like capsaicin, there is a law of diminishing returns with hops. At a certain point, it stops making sense.

I had the chance to try Port Brewing Company's Hop 15 (BA Review). This is not something to drink if you are going to drink anything else. It completely kills your taste buds. This is not a beer for novices. If you haven't developed your beer taste yet, this will cause you to never drink beer again. That being said, it was...interesting. If I were to drink it again, I'd need stronger food to pair it with.

MayoSlather: When it comes to fall if you aren't drinking Oktoberfest or pumpkin beer you are a terrible human being.

This!
I tried Sam's Pumkin for the first time this year. It's Awesome w Pie, or Roll.

IPA's ick, I stay on the dark side from the most part.Doppelbocks, stouts, and belgians.

robohobo: Where does actual Jamaican Red Stripe rate on the beer snobbery scale? Not the kind generally available in the states, but real imported Red Stripe?

barely above Budweiser.

jaybeezey:

Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout or Guinness, these are beers for men.



Would like a word...

MayoSlather: When it comes to fall if you aren't drinking Oktoberfest or pumpkin beer you are a terrible human being.

Pumpkin beer is nasty. Most Oktoberfests are tasty.

Scottybobotty: jaybeezey:

Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout or Guinness, these are beers for men.

[thefullpint.com image 316x626]

Would like a word...

Yummy!

Evil Mackerel: Scottybobotty: jaybeezey:

Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout or Guinness, these are beers for men.

[thefullpint.com image 316x626]

Would like a word...

Yummy!



Also yummy!

I think hop bitterness in beers is similar to spiciness in food to some degree. As I have gotten older and my palate has developed (or faded, who knows) I have been able to enjoy spicy, hot food more.

The same with beer. IPA's usually taste very refreshing to me, especially the West Coast styles that use more hops towards the end of the boil to produce more hop flavor and aroma than bitterness.

Hop Stoopid from Lagunitas is a sublime example.

MarkEC: SilentStrider: NowhereMon: People are hop crazy with the ales these days, and there are many aspects of beer that are being overlooked. I like an IPA as much as the next guy, but there is a lot more out there than how much hops you can squeeze into a beer. Like capsaicin, there is a law of diminishing returns with hops. At a certain point, it stops making sense.

gotta agree. I'm not a big fan of beers where I feel like I'm drinking a pine tree. Hops is a good accent, but I prefer my beers with more malt flavor than you'd find in an IPA.

Or a good stoudt. love a good stoudt.

Stoudt's is a brewery, Stout is a beer style. I'll assume you are talking about the beer style.

I'm headed to stoudts today.

Only brewery I know where the baker's ram escapes and wanders the parking lot amidst old brewing vats. The damn thing looked like one of those rams from world of warcraft.

Then off to Victory on the return leg.

bk3k: When my friends buy a New Belgium variety pack, I always get stuck with all the Rangers. Its not my favorite, but among my friends I'm the only one who can handle it.

See, I think the Ranger is one of the few palatable New Belgium brews. Belgo is ok too though. Wish they still brewed Bier De Mars...

SilentStrider: gotta agree. I'm not a big fan of beers where I feel like I'm drinking a pine tree. Hops is a good accent, but I prefer my beers with more malt flavor than you'd find in an IPA.

There are hops that impart citrus and floral notes with very little pine. I'm a fan of those IPAs but they are few and far between. When hop-bombs learn that there are other features to hops aside from bitterness we'll all be better off.

If it is 9:07 in the morning in a beer thread then that must mean it's time for a Founders Breakfast Stout. MMMM-mmm.

MayoSlather: When it comes to fall if you aren't drinking Oktoberfest or pumpkin beer you are a terrible human being.

Brewed my all grain pumpkin batch for the fall 2 weeks ago, and finishing up my Oktoberfest today. When I saw the article said IPAs were a fall beer I almost spit out my coffee.

A couple of these will put you right.

/mmmmm.
//hot like...

yoursafewordisharder: My favorite and I'm lucky enough to live in an area where it's available everywhere.

[www.totalwine.com image 250x350]

And you have Gulu-Gulu right down the street which doesn't hurt! (Even though it's a hipster paradise.)

mgary: Pumpkin beer is a bit tricky as a consumer. There are exceptional pumpkin beers out there, but there are also a lot of terrible pumpkin beers. Often times a lesser distillery will take a mediocre/bad batch of beer, pump it full of artificial pumpkin flavor, stick some seasonal labels on it, and shove it out the door.

When I made mine, I made it with this criticism in mind. Instead of pumpkin flavor I used 3.5 pounds of pureed pumpkin in the mash with the rest of the grain. I cooked it a little bit at 350 for a while to gelatinize the starches and caramelize some sugars before throwing it in. For the entire 6 gallon batch I only added .5 tsp each of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and all spice. The result was a copperish malty ale with an aroma of the spices and sublte hints of pumpkin and spice. Not perfumy, not pumkin-flavored, but sublte hints and notes. Balance, people.

IPA's, breakfast of champions!

I too am on the anti hop bomb train.

I vastly prefer a good malt flavor due to the extreme bitterness of PAs and IPA.

I love good Reds (not American style reds which are also hoppy to High Hell now), Browns, Ambers, Stouts, Porters...

Others have said it, but the way to good flavor isn't hops for hops sake.

I'm over IPAs...give me this any day.

Good IPA from a good, local brewery.

Try a nice Maibock, Dead Guy by Rogue is amazing.

9:29 AM? Well, if you say so.

FTFA: There's truly a beer style for everyone. If you're one of those "I don't like beer" people, keep trying different styles. There's bound to be one that you'll enjoy.

I was one of those "I don't like beer" people.

I eventually found a nice Pale Ale that I like, after randomly getting some tallboys of various flavours. I still don't drink a lot of beer though...

Quantumbunny: Others have said it, but the way to good flavor isn't hops for hops sake.

I agree to a point. I made an IPA using nothing but fruit forward hops. And I put them mostly in late to keep the IBUs low for the style, around 50-60. Adding them late in the boil adds flavor, NOT bitterness. So doing this with say, Citra and Amarillo hops and you get this dark gold ale with a bright aroma of peach, mango, passionfruit, crisp sweet malt flavor with only a hint of bitterness. Now, some would argue with me that even though the bitterness is well in range for an IPA, that it isn't an IPA because it isn't pushing the limits of bitterness. But they're wrong. Hops have three qualities to explore: aroma,, flavor and bitterness. I prefer to showcase the hops' aroma and flavor. Why? Because there are dozens of hop varieties out there, all with different flavor profiles, and if you boil them all for 60-90 minutes, they TASTE THE SAME. Bitter, and that's it. If you want to claim to be "showcasing the hops" then do something to showcase the real hop. It's a flower, for chrissakes. It's delicate. The same people who boil the hell out of these things and think they're doing the hop a service are probably the same people who buy expensive steaks and cook them well done.

Kudos to the Farkers. This thread is barely beer-snobbish.

Typically, mention beer, coffee, spirits, or steak and the snobbery runs like a waterfall.

Kudos.

I'll pass on the IPAs, though Red Hook's ain't awful

Re: above

I'm not a connoisseur, but I'd recommend one of these.

Every day is the perfect day for you to drink whatever the fark you like, in whatever temperature the fark you like, in whatever glass/cup/mug/bottle the fark you like.

Lagunitas has been mentioned up thread, if one has a chance to try "a little sumpin WILD" you may not be dissapointed. It's strong 8.8 iirc so there's that but it doesn't taste near as strong as it is. I've seen it only on tap but haven't even looked in beer stores.

StreetlightInTheGhetto: Man, I haven't seen Alexander Keith in ages. Is it even possible to buy it in the US?

I found it at Walmart (of all places) in Indiana. So yes!

WinoRhino: mgary: Pumpkin beer is a bit tricky as a consumer. There are exceptional pumpkin beers out there, but there are also a lot of terrible pumpkin beers. Often times a lesser distillery will take a mediocre/bad batch of beer, pump it full of artificial pumpkin flavor, stick some seasonal labels on it, and shove it out the door.

When I made mine, I made it with this criticism in mind. Instead of pumpkin flavor I used 3.5 pounds of pureed pumpkin in the mash with the rest of the grain. I cooked it a little bit at 350 for a while to gelatinize the starches and caramelize some sugars before throwing it in. For the entire 6 gallon batch I only added .5 tsp each of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and all spice. The result was a copperish malty ale with an aroma of the spices and sublte hints of pumpkin and spice. Not perfumy, not pumkin-flavored, but sublte hints and notes. Balance, people.

I tip my hat to you, good sir. That is how a pumpkin ale should be made.

Next week I am going to Cologne, then Munich, then Pilsen. I think they might stab me if I order an IPA. So I respectfully disagree with the author's thesis statement.