I’ve never been able to stomach any fruit-flavored beer. (I picked up a sixpack of the Leinie Berry Weiss one day on the way to a friend’s house, and we both agreed it tasted like cough syrup.) I’m not much of a fan of lambics either, though I’ve had a couple that were okay (closer to the sour end), and mead has done me wrong on the few occasions I’ve had it. I used to like some honey beers, but I haven’t had them for a long time. Normally I go more for stouts, porters, and ambers/bocks, though I’m not going to pass over a good medium hoppy lager, either.
Avoid, like the plague, “pumpkin” beer. I won’t even go to a place that serves it on tap. Nasty, nasty, nasty stuff.
A few years ago I toured the Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis. They were offering a flavored beer for tasting…Michelob with mango or something. I didn’t much care for it. I could taste that there was some mango in it but not enough that it seemed to belong in it. But I suppose after a six pack, you wouldn’t want a strong flavor.
The thing I noticed in my college years: if I got sick on something sweet, like SoCo or brandy, I couldn’t even stand the smell of it for weeks or months afterward. Getting sick on beer, on the other hand? No problem.
Raspberry beer, eh?
Like the kind your find at the liquor store?
Raspberry beer, eh?
And if it was warm I couldn’t drink much more.
Raspberry beer, eh?
I think it’s sounds gross.
Okay, sorry, I’ve never tried it but the song popped into my head on the way home when I saw a billboard for Michelob Ultra Raspberry and then I saw this thread here and it seemed like fate so I had to post it.
I don’t know much about beer at all, but I’ve definitely found some porters and stouts that I’ve enjoyed. I am definitely still learning. I have to disagree with the above as a blanket statement, though.
I’ll try anything pumpkin flavored at least once (not just in beer; anything). While I agree there’s largely not a lot that’s good in the combo of pumpkin + beer there are one or two that are tasty, and one that’s just delicious.
The amazing one is a pumpkin stout that I can only find around October. It’s got a Grim Reaper type character on the label - fairly dark label as well. I found it really quite good when my friend and I tried it last October. It’s unfortunate that I can’t recall the brewer or the name, but I would recognize the label again.
I’m definitely looking forward to trying to find it again this fall.
I’m a big beer fan and have no trouble admitting I like the Pyramid Apricot Hefe. Great choice when I’m not in the mood for something heavy or need to compromise with the ladies.
Yeah, I don’t get the pumpkin beer thing, either. I’ve never had a pumpkin ale that I would consider good. You either get pumpkin beer that is way too heavy on pumpkin pie spices (and has no discernible pumpkin in it), or you get beer that definitely does have real pumpkin in the mash, but end up with a real weird, starchy mouthfeel that’s just plain gross.
I can’t imagine ordering more than one lambic in any six-month period. America needs something akin to the German Beer Purity Law. You want to drink this crap, go ahead, but they shouldn’t sell it as “beer.”
Instead, “American beer” is about as respected internationally as “American cheese.”
I’m not familiar with Lindemann’s, but a lot of these mass produced “lambics” are only vaguely like a true lambic. Most are way too sweet, and not tart enough. The tartness doesn’t have to be overwhelming, but it is distinctly like sour milk. I actually think the Sam Adams cranberry lambic is pretty good for a mass produced lambic (If it is reasonably called that.*)
I don’t care if it isn’t produced in Belgium the same way that I don’t care if Champaign is made in France. I don’t even care that they are using cultured bacteria rather than wild yeast that floats around, as long as the process is essentially the same.
If you have an overpowering desire to know what a pine tree might taste like, try “Merry Christmas Happy New Year Ale.” If you have more sense than me, though, give it a miss. When I ordered it, the barmaid tried to warn me. She looked at me with concern and said, “It’s flavored with pine.” Unfortunately, I did not heed her warning. I am a man of adventure! I am also still trying to shake the memory. It was among the most disgusting things I have ever put in my mouth.
ETA: Anchor was the brewer of that vile crap, BTW. Evidently they vary the recipe of the Christmas ale every year. I really hope they don’t bring the pine flavor back.
I saw this thread a few days ago and thought “you know, those fruit flavored beers from Trader Joes are actually fairly good, I should post about them,” but then I couldn’t remember what they were called.
It’s a very subtle flavoring in all of them, and they taste mostly like a Hefiweizen until you get to the finish and there is a hint of the flavor. The do smell strongly of the flavoring though.
Their bluberry and pumkin are very good. The apricot is terrible though.
And yes, I would call myself a beer snob, and no I don’t like sweet drinks. Since those were your next questions even if you weren’t going to actually ask them out loud. My prefered drink is Fuller’s London Pride, when I can get it, to give you an idea of my tastes.
The Reinheitisgebot is over-rated. It states only barley, hops, and water can be used in the making of beer. (And yeast, although yeast wasn’t understood at the time). Notice by strict definition, wheat beers do not fit the bill (although I believe the Reinheitsgebot was amended at some point to allow wheat.) Also, most of your great Belgian beers would not satisfy the definition, either (even if you consider wheat to be okay according to the Reinheitsgebot, you often have flavorings like Curacao orange peels, coriander seeds, honey, candy sugar, etc. in there). You can also throw out rye beers, oatmeal stouts, anything with honey and molasses, etc…
