Greatest beer in the universe? Either Three Floyd’s Alpha King or Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale. Unless I’m in a lighter, American wheat sort of mood (a style I used to hate). Then it’s either Three Floyd’s Gumballhead or Bell’s Oberon. Although I could probably stick Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA somewhere in there. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is a good, clean American ale. Not my favorite (although their Celebration and Harvest ales are superlative, at the top of my charts), but its popularity gives me a chance of finding a beer I truly enjoy in most average bars.
Catamount was at one time a favourite and readily obtainable down here in the flatlands then POOF they were gone. I understand Harpoon purchased the marque. Any comments on their ability to duplicate, and do they make the entire line?I’m a fan of Vitamin Y, have toured the brewery a couple times and kept Lord Chesterfield Ale (really a lager) as house beer until they stopped putting it in half barrels.
But I wouldn’t call it Pa.'s best. All their beers use corn and the taste bothers me after a few, excepting the Chesterfield which has a unique hop charge that masks it.
One thing I admire about Yingles is their refusal to get into the Wheat Raspberry infested cookie mocha Russian chocolate hop Overload crap that most of the brewpubs and micros make. Coal miners made their name and they stayed true to down-to-earth products.
Good beer isn’t hard to find, but Yards ale out of Philly I would put up against the much loved Sierra Nevada anytime.
I have no clue. I never really drank Catamount before, and I rarely saw it even then, and I don’t think I’ve seen it at all since it went under and Harpoon bought the name.
Yuengling is brewed in Pottsville, PA. So I’m not sure what to tell you. I have had it be good in NY, but I’ve had it not-so-good as well.
Actually, Anchor’s best beer is Liberty Ale.
Love the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale as well. Might go buy a 6 today.
Magic Hat and Pyramid are merging, which is good news for everybody. No plans to change any brews, but now each coast will have access to some nice stuff that didn’t used to get that far.
I’m pretty much a fan of anything Bell’s ever made, but I LURVE Oberon and their Winter White. http://www.bellsbeer.com/index.php/brands.html
I also dig Great Lakes Holy Moses White Ale.
Both of these are tough to find outside of the Midwest, sadly.
Abbey from New Belgium (brewers of Fat Tire) is a helluva good beer.
When I lived in Boston, I found it extremely frustrating that one could not ever find Yuengling there. Now I’m in Florida, and it can be found at every single place that sells beer. I always thought of it as a Philadelphia beer, but someone listed the actual location of the brewery above (though I think Pottsville isn’t that far from Philly?).
Anyway, my absolute favorite beers are often available only at the place they are brewed. For example, I’ve really been digging the stout that Tampa Brewing Company makes, but (AFAIK) you can only buy it at their place, not in any stores anywhere.
Spaten Optimator has recently captured my heart. I had it for the first time at the German pavilion at Epcot in Disney World, and it was incredible. A liter for $10 seemed a little pricey at first, but as soon as I tried it I knew I would have paid twice that. Tasty, tasty stuff. You do yourself a disservice if you drink it from the bottle – into a frosty stein, that’s the only way.
Yuengling bought the Stroh’s brewery in Tampa some years back to meet sales and increase visibility. I think they offer tours like the Pottsville plant but Tampa probably doesn’t have the lagering caves underneath. Pottsville is closer to Reading or Allentown than Philly.
Who’s had the revived Schlitz? Anybody who remembers the old beer, back when it was actually good?
silenus, silenus, silenus; Sierra Nevada Pale is very good (and readily available) but in the area of pale ales it is beat out by Stone Ruination IPA and Samuel Smith’s India Ale (what the latter lacks in the outrageous hops of the former it makes up in carmel goodness). Sierra Nevada is very good and readily available at most California venues, but I wouldn’t go placing it on the highest pedestal.
Stranger
Awesome! my wife has family in Lancaster, she can go visit her family and I can go drink beer :we need a smiley to indicate hoisting a frothy mug of beer:
I don´t get the little after taste bit here. I take an occasional pilgrimage to Edmonton to sample some Innis and Gunn and one of the things about that beer is that it does not require a whisky chaser, that flavour comes built in.
Awesome beer, best not over over indulged in though.
I would like to add a mention for some Fullers London Pride and would like a quite word in micro brewers ears. IPAs can, but don´t exclusivly have to, wrench ones tonge out and scrub it down with raw hops. Could you just make one that is not designed as a challange to drink.
Stranger, Stranger, Stranger…it’s so rare for you to be so wrong. Ruination is quite good. Superb, even. But for pure Cascady wonderfulness, you can’t be SNPA. I actually prefer Stone’s less-hoppy brews. Their Pale Ale and regular IPA are stunning in their complexity, and don’t kill your palate for anything else that evening. I love my hop-monsters, believe me. But they don’t compare to the One Pure Quill that is Sierra Nevada.
I just meant that it doesn’t have the same bitter aftertaste a lot of other robust beers have, I think the proper beer-tasting term is finish, IIRC. It has a smooth, oaky finish to me.
I like your point about the IPAs, I was at a beer festival a few months ago and marveled at some of the people drinking these strong IPAs early on and then complaining about the ‘lack of taste’ in other beers later. I waited until near the end to taste most of them.
Bud Ice is only $1.30 a quart, down ‘t’ gas station.
This is probably my favorite beer, and I was pleased when my last trip to BevMo resulted in a Spaten maßkrug (yes, I can drink that much Optimator, when inclined) I’m a bit shocked you’re paying that much for a liter though - I get pint bottles for a little under $2.
One of the first breweries to really get in on the US microbrew scene, Carver Brewing Co. in Durango, CO, produces a fantastic stout (I think it was the stout. I lost my book of [del]drunken scribblings[/del] tasting notes a few months ago). Truly fantastic. But you have to be in the area to get it, unfortunately. I am even now wistfully gazing at my pint glass from Carver’s.
ETA: I just recently got around to trying Aventinus weizenbock. My, that’s yummy beer, but at more than $4/pint I back away a bit.