[VdB]

Well, there we have it! A place for Penguin to post all his peach ales and whatnot, or for Burkni and The Rake to discuss the finer subtleties of Guiness. Or in general, for anyone who wants to talk about beer!


I'll start with one of my personal favorites that I have no doubt mentioned too many times already: La Chouffe

http://www.achouffe.be/en/
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/321/1836/

It's sold in 75-cl bottles or on tap (rare, though...there's only one place in the city that has it on tap here). They also sell a winter 'special' from the 1st of December on, until their supply runs out. It's a tasty little blonde beer with a rather peculiar taste, and a serious kick (8%).

http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/attachme...mp;d=1166292336


Penguin, apparently they export to Quebec...so with a little bit of luck you should be able to find it!

[claired]

Yay!!! Great idea

Aaahh... La Chouffe. C'est bon ça.

Coming from a non-beer country, I discovered the wonders of beer only on the late, especially with living in Zürich for a couple of years, nicely close to Bavaria... Schneider-Weisse is one of my favorites.

And I have a big thing for microbreweries. One highly recommended place if you ever go to Bern: Altes Tram Depot.

[Drongo]

Well, there we have it! A place for Penguin to post all his peach ales and whatnot, or for Burkni and The Rake to discuss the finer subtleties of Guiness. Or in general, for anyone who wants to talk about beer!
I'll start with one of my personal favorites that I have no doubt mentioned too many times already: La Chouffe

http://www.achouffe.be/en/
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/321/1836/

It's sold in 75-cl bottles or on tap (rare, though...there's only one place in the city that has it on tap here). They also sell a winter 'special' from the 1st of December on, until their supply runs out. It's a tasty little blonde beer with a rather peculiar taste, and a serious kick (8%).

http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/attachme...mp;d=1166292336
Penguin, apparently they export to Quebec...so with a little bit of luck you should be able to find it!

I had some of that on the weekend. Glorious.

I think the Unibroue crowd (La Maudite, Trois Pistoles etc) are from Quebec, so PBP should have no trouble getting that style of beer as there's certainly a Canadian market for it.

On a different note, I encourage anyone to try the Weihenstephaner beers: link. The Hefe is magnificent, but the others are pretty handy too.

[option]

I had some of that on the weekend. Glorious.

I think the Unibroue crowd (La Maudite, Trois Pistoles etc) are from Quebec, so PBP should have no trouble getting that style of beer as there's certainly a Canadian market for it.

On a different note, I encourage anyone to try the Weihenstephaner beers: link. The Hefe is magnificent, but the others are pretty handy too.

Aah - you're back from exile, Drongo? They had no more broken bits of clay left to throw at you?
Good to see.

I do like La Chouffe. It's mighty hard to go past there if we're talking about the Belgian styles.

In some ways it's the lighter beers that are hard to do well. Like in movies or opera - easy to do a tragedy, hard to do good comedy.

So what of the poor, maligned lager? Anyone know of a really good one? I'm a massive fan of the James Squires' Golden Ale. Not a true lager, but while it's easy to drink it has a bit of spicy kick to it.

This post has been edited by option: 01 October 2008 - 09:25 AM

[VdB]

And I have a big thing for microbreweries. One highly recommended place if you ever go to Bern: Altes Tram Depot.

Thanks for the tip! When I was living in Prague I used to make regular visits to Pivovarsky Dum and U Flekú. Make sure you check out the menu of the former...nothing like a large Hunter's or Knight's platter while drinking some delicious local lager together with your friends. And the nettle beer is pretty darn good too!


To stay in the Czech spirit (hard to go wrong when it comes to lagers) Option, Gambrinus is a popular but very enjoyable lager.

[option]

Thanks for the tip! When I was living in Prague I used to make regular visits to Pivovarsky Dum and U Flekú. Make sure you check out the menu of the former...nothing like a large Hunter's or Knight's platter while drinking some delicious local lager together with your friends. And the nettle beer is pretty darn good too!
To stay in the Czech spirit (hard to go wrong when it comes to lagers) Option, Gambrinus is a popular but very enjoyable lager.

Thanks for the tips. It's getting warmer here now, and it's genuinely hard to find a memorable lager.

All you get here in Oz with Czech lagers are Urquell, Budvar and Staropramen. Of those, I find Urquell to be fine, but with a little unbalanced bitterness, and Budvar is nice if unmemorable - a good summer beer. Staropramen is a little bland for my tastes.

I do like this:

http://angusbeers.com.au/index.php?id=593

They tend to over-hop the new premium lagers here in Oz - almost the anti-Corona. This one is hoppy but not silly about it.

[fan down under]

Kilkenny.

One of the best Aussie beers is Southwark Premium, the worst is Little Creatures.

I like American beers, too. Millers Genuine Draft is great, though many of you probably don't think highly of it.

[Roadent]

Not being a drinker of anything alcoholic, anymore (I reserve my excessive consumption to coffee, now), I'll still weigh in by recommending Negro Modelo. From Mexico, of all places, probably the best-tasting beer I've ever had: dark, fruity, great finish....

[claired]

Negro Modelo is great! And to find in France , rarely, but not mission impossible at all.
I like Bohemia too, but never found it here.

What's been impossible for me so far in Europe is to find good mexican food that could go with it...

This post has been edited by claired: 01 October 2008 - 01:40 PM

[Patrick B. Penguin]

Penguin, apparently they export to Quebec...so with a little bit of luck you should be able to find it!

I think the Unibroue crowd (La Maudite, Trois Pistoles etc) are from Quebec, so PBP should have no trouble getting that style of beer as there's certainly a Canadian market for it.

Luckily for Penguin there is a beer-specialty store in town that stocks more than 500 brands. It's all chilled too - the beer section of the store is one gigantic walk-in cooler (and the fancy wines are in a real bank vault - their store was a former bank). So I will be armed with a list next time I go beer shopping!!

Since we are talking about local brews, among my favourites are those produced by Big Rock (produced in Calgary, 3 hours south of me). Their Traditional Ale is very good (though I am more a lager person now so my Ale consumption is way down). Guidemd is very fond of their Grasshopper Wheat Ale. The only one I haven't tried is their Black Amber. Not sure how wide they market their stuff though...

Just so VdB and Burkni aren't convinced that all I drink are "fruity" ales... guidemd brought back some Cranberry Wheat Ale from the Yukon Brewing Company when she was up there hiking several years ago. We both agree that it was the most vile thing we have drunk in a very long time!!!

[Roadent]

Luckily for Penguin there is a beer-specialty store in town that stocks more than 500 brands. It's all chilled too - the beer section of the store is one gigantic walk-in cooler (and the fancy wines are in a real bank vault - their store was a former bank). So I will be armed with a list next time I go beer shopping!!

Since we are talking about local brews, among my favourites are those produced by Big Rock (produced in Calgary, 3 hours south of me). Their Traditional Ale is very good (though I am more a lager person now so my Ale consumption is way down). Guidemd is very fond of their Grasshopper Wheat Ale. The only one I haven't tried is their Black Amber. Not sure how wide they market their stuff though...

Just so VdB and Burkni aren't convinced that all I drink are "fruity" ales... guidemd brought back some Cranberry Wheat Ale from the Yukon Brewing Company when she was up there hiking several years ago. We both agree that it was the most vile thing we have drunk in a very long time!!!

Try some Kawartha Lakes Brewery Raspberry Wheat beer - mmm, another reason I stopped drinking: very, very easy to have too many of these on a hot summer day...

[The Rake]

Great thread VdB, thanks. Jordan was all well and good, but a little on the...ahem..dry side (although I did find an exact replica of Coronation Street's Rovers Return pub in Amman, which was a little surreal).

All this talk of beer has reminded me to sort out my tickets for the Woking Beer Festival in November. Hardly the Oktober Fest, but great fun nevertheless, and 70+ real ales on show

[shag]

What's been impossible for me so far in Europe is to find good mexican food that could go with it...

No doubt! We typically spend our summer vacation in France, but as a huge fan of Mexican food I am almost dying by the end of two weeks in Mexi-free France.

[Luigi Daniele]

Is "beer" a kind of wine from South Africa?

Wine rules

[Burkni]

I think the Unibroue crowd (La Maudite, Trois Pistoles etc) are from Quebec, so PBP should have no trouble getting that style of beer as there's certainly a Canadian market for it.

I thought they didn't have beer down under, only brewski

The best domestic lager here is Kaldi, (e. "cold one") which is really a Czech recipe, light and quenching. Microbreweries are mushrooming here, for instance making this gourmet brand, a very refined dark ale named "earthquake".

As for foreign brands, I'll name Hoegaarden, Anchor steam and of course Guinness.

[Pelotonium]

Luckily for Penguin there is a beer-specialty store in town that stocks more than 500 brands. It's all chilled too - the beer section of the store is one gigantic walk-in cooler (and the fancy wines are in a real bank vault - their store was a former bank). So I will be armed with a list next time I go beer shopping!!

Does Patrick B. Penguin live in Montreal, by any chance? Ummm... I do. I recommend a stop at Le Reservoir on Duluth near St-Laurent. They brew their own micro Pilsener that's quite good. Coincidentally, the food at this humble pub happens to be outstanding and cheap. But that's another matter altogether... :-)

[Drongo]

I thought they didn't have beer down under, only brewski

Them's fighting words, Burk!

Kilkenny.

One of the best Aussie beers is Southwark Premium, the worst is Little Creatures.

I like American beers, too. Millers Genuine Draft is great, though many of you probably don't think highly of it.

Different strokes for different folks, I think. (I wouldn't drink a Millers if you paid me.)

As with beer, so with music, fashion, even bikes.

[Patrick B. Penguin]

Does Patrick B. Penguin live in Montreal, by any chance? Ummm... I do. I recommend a stop at Le Reservoir on Duluth near St-Laurent. They brew their own micro Pilsener that's quite good. Coincidentally, the food at this humble pub happens to be outstanding and cheap. But that's another matter altogether... :-)

Nope - PBP lives in Edmonton. But we do have our own equivalent here - Brewsters. They have their own microbrewery right in the restaurant. Really nice selection - http://www.brewsters.ca/brewery.html. I especially like ordering their "Tray 'O Beer" - they bring you 6 small glasses of the beers of your choice!!

This is aimed directly at VdB and Burkni... how about this "seasonal" offering from the makers of the Apricot Beer that guidemd likes...

"If the leaves must fall off the trees, it's good to have beer. Pumpkin-flavoured beer, in particular, takes the nip out of autumn. Alley Kat Brewing has just released its 2008 fall seasonal beer, called Pumpkin Pi. Made with real pumpkin, the new brew is orange-coloured with a creamy, off-white head. It's a light-bodied beer, but warmed up with pumpkin pie spices including cinnamon and ginger."

Alleykat also does custom beers for people. Shall I order up some Burkni Pale Ale or VdB Haussler Lager?

[Whareagle]

Spaten Optimator in a bottle, please, on tap if available.

And ANYTHING from the NW USA. Simply the best water, the best hops, the best temperatures, everything. Favorites include anything from Seattle, Portland, or even Baker City.

Too bad Black Dog Brewery folded in Bozeman. The new company's IPA is just not that great.

And nothing beats Barcelona's own Estrella for a refreshing post-ride recovery. That and maybe some fresh olives.


Most everything from Texas is horse pee.

[Bobby O]

I like beer!!!

Modelo Especial
Blue Moon
Dos Equis
Leffe
MGD Light
Pacifico