DoctorJ, you poor, misguided soul. No beer benefits from a slice of any fruit whatsoever. Especially not any Belgian beers. And don’t try to counter that by offering me Corona and Sol with a slice of lemon: those aren’t beers, OK?
There used to be a fantastic white beer from Austin, TX: Celis White. They purchased the old Hoegaerden recipe, so it essentially was pre-commcercial age Hoegaerden. Absolutely gorgeous white beer, that was. I recently learned the brewery went out of business, though. 
Chinook Alaskan Amber Beer is the finest brew I’ve ever had in the states although, sadly, unless something’s changed in the last few years it can only be found there. Please advise if anyone knows this to have changed.
As distant seconds, I’ll agree with Fat Tire and Sierra Nevada.
Are you seriously drinking mainly to get a buzz? You might want to address that issue rather than worrying about the cost. SPOOFE is right about switching to liquor if you’re drinking mainly to get a buzz. For me, however, I’d much rather pay more for less volume and higher quality than settle for low quality and high quantity. But then, I drink beer because I like it, not to get drunk.
Coldfire: Pierre Celis’ Wit is now available in Europe brewed by Van Steenberge Brewery. Rumor has it it will be sold in the U.S. under the name Ertvelds Wit. And I totally agree about the addition of fruit slices. Lime is added to Corona to make it even barely palatable. Otherwise it’s undrinkable.
In the U.S., Celis Brewery’s brewing equipment and recipe was purchased by Michigan Brewing Company. Unfortunately for me, it seems it is only available in the Austin area.
I believe that wheat beers are traditionally served with a slice of lemon.
And Negra Modela is fantastic by itself, but if you add a little slice of lime it becomes even tastier (very small slice of lime, not enough to overpower the beer itself which is a necessity with Corona. I won’t even try Sol).
Both of you are wrong. Sam Adams IS a good beer (in fact, one of my favorite lagers) and British beer IS superb. For my money, the UK and Ireland produce the best ales, bitters, stouts, etc, in the world. I don’t like my beer too bubbly, and these countries excel at relatively flat, tasty beer. I have never not enjoyed a pint of any beer in a British pub.
The Czech Republic does make the world’s best lagers, though. The original Pilsener Urquell, Budvar (sold under the name of Czechvar in the US. aka “Budweiser”), or Staropramen are all great. They are much better from the tap, as they are less gassy than the bottled versions.
Heineken in Amsterdam tastes different than Heineken elsewhere, I swear. I really don’t like Heineken and to me it’s about as good as Beck’s or Foster’s or Budweiser-- all horse piss. But the stuff I (reluctantly) drank in Amsterdam came in a brown bottle and actually had flavor.
As for German beers, they’re good, practical beers. I just don’t go out of my way for them, as they tend to be the bubbly lager types. Except during the summer, when a nice German wheat beer (with a wedge of lemon! I’m sorry, Coldfire but weizenbiers do benefit from the lemon. I tend towards purism in my alcoholic pursuits, refusing lime and salt with my tequila, but in this case, the fruit stays) does the trick.
I also meant to comment on the homebrew angle. pkbites mentions that he’s been homebrewing since before some of us were born. While that may be so, it really wasn’t until the early 90s that consistently high-quality ingredients were widely available in the U.S. So perhaps you learned in the dark old days and you need to work on your technique. Try joining a club and to get advice to improve your brewing skills. No, homebrewing is not cheaper than buying cases of Bud. It it is competitively priced when compared to cases of microbrews.
No, I am not just boosting my post count.
Adding a lemon to Weissbier is NOT traditional!!!
Cite
(bolding mine)
Hey, I don’t disagree that British beer is pretty darn good. I enjoy it. But I can get stuff that’s just as good here in the States. That’s not a knock on the Brits, just that both countries produce excellent beer.
The only time I hated a British pint was when I was in England and an England friend of mine told me to order some type of beer. He then laughed at me when the bartender brought me a beer mixed with grape soda. That wasn’t good times. I got him back when he visited me here in the States though. 
I’ll chime after looking at the wine thread pkbites referenced. A bottle of fruit juice and an OZTOP is not going to make nice wine. Cheap wine (or fruity alcohol) yes; good wine, no. Besides, at $30 for fizzy, slightly fermented fruit juice you’re begging to be disapointed. A simple 4 week wine kits (~$40) make 28 bottles or drinkable wine and it’s consistently good. Not it’s not a $15 dollar wine but it is a nice daily dinner drink.
Basically you’re cheap.
As for homebrewing basic brew kits produce good beer that I find fills me up more than the typical Bud. Since you’re up in the mid west check out Wind River Brewing. If you really want to drop costs go all grain, and watch the price fall through the floor. Personally I’m not there yet as I have no time but you may.
Dammit. I loved that beer, and was wondering what happened to it.
I don’t know if there is a store called “Trader Joe’s” in your neck of the woods but you might check. They are all over California and usually have quite a selection of hard to find brews. I have found many reasonably priced beers there that were quite good. They usually have “Fat Weasel” ale, stout, and pale ale, for about $4 a six pack and I find it to be a very tasty beer.
All right, you go to Antwerp, and order a Dentergems with a slice of lemon in it. Carefully study the barman’s reaction. Before he punches your lights out, that is. 
I see Homebrew already provided the necessary facts. Much obliged, sir!
You are absolutely correct.
Guinness is the beer for a real man.
Nope. I just decided to to add this. If I really wanted to get drunk I’d stick with bourbon or cheap high proof wine.
I also want to add to my comment about Schlitz. Now, most of you roll y:rolleyes:ur eyes and hold your nose at the mention of it. But believe it or not, up until the late 70’s it wasn’t that bad.
Then the bean counters started making changes to it to save money and turned it into crap. I think this is what has happened to alot of mainstream beers over the years.
Did the price of hops & barley go up so much that they had to cut back on them? Those are the ingredients that produce good flavor. Not corn and rice!
Hey, pkbites, while you’re visiting the Great American Beer festival here in Denver, as someone else suggested, let me know, and I’ll drag you over to Applejack, a liquor store about five minutes from my house, where you can fill your car up with sixpacks of that expensive beer for around $5-$6 a pack.
Yeungling. Decent American Beer, for the exact same price as the supermacro brews. In PA, Jersey and thereabouts.
You should try living in PA for a while if you think you have to spend a lot to buy a good sixer. Here it’s either bar prices ($3.50 a piece), or buy a whole case. Frigging puritans. It’s like they want me to drink more.
European beer is good, but U.S. micro-brews kick serious ass. Have you guys tried this stuff?
Or this?
I’ll take either over some weenie Bass or Newcastle any day.
If one refers to “Anchor Steam”, one is referrig to the “steam” type of beer made by them…I don’t see any mistake.
FWIW, Anchor has trademarked “steam beer” so you’re a bit incorrect to suggest that other breweries make steam beer. The generic term for that type of beer is “California Common”. It refers tto a traditional ale type of beer thats been fermented with lager yeast at ale temps.
All right, if you wanna talk “House Brews” or “microbrews”, then I will say that the restaurant/brewery chain BJ’s (they’re here in SoCal, don’t know how far they spread) has some pretty damn good house beers (except for the darks, they’re bitter). Maybe the next LADope should be held at a BJ’s.
You’re from Wiscconsin, so it won’t do you much good, but if you ever come to the mid-Atlantic, try Saranac. It’s not too expensive, and they have a good variety of lagers and ales.