That stout sound right up my alley. Anyway we could pull a brew swap?
Before a Mod gets here and makes trouble, remember that it is illegal to ship beer around except “for evaluative purposes,” I believe is the way the law reads. 
I’m going to have Duvel another chance.
I tried it once when I found it at a grocery store in suburban New Orleans (a place that specialized in foreign beers). I bought some, and it tasted bad. Not skunky, just way too bitter. Much more bitter than I was expecting … like this batch got the wrong amount of hops or something.
Perhaps it did somehow turn in transit. I assume Duvel would be better from a tap in Antwerp than it was in the bottles I bought.
The Duvel I had in Belgium was damn good, and the few I’ve bought in the states were not too bad. It is a rather strong ale, and will damn near sit up straight without the glass…
Okay … I can tell you for a fact that the Duvel I bought didn’t have that kind of body at all. It was rather thin, if anything.
I really wonder if something went wrong with that batch, and I just got unlucky.
Thanks silenus, total ignorance on my part. Forget what I said Left Hand of Dorkness, just e-mail me if you want to discuss beer in general any further.
In theory I’d love to, but in practice I know that I’m likely to lame out on any such arrangement we try to set up. It’s a character flaw, but I figure by recognizing it, at least I minimize its irritation. Sorry!
Daniel
Oh, memories. 32 ounce De Groen’s in the Cross Street Market before they herd you out at 7 pm.
- Shibb, who used to live in Otterbein, stumbling distance to many great Baltimore drinking locations.
I received a bottle of Maker’s Mark whiskey in the mail as a gift once, but it was sent by either UPS or Federal Express. I know the U.S. Postal Service cannot ship alcohol, but look into UPS or FedEx!
Ha. You sound like me, big plans and no follow up. I guess I’ll wait until I’m in the Carolinas.
I suppose I shouldn’t mention that it was in my local a couple of weeks ago, but I ignored it because I preferred the other options?
d&r
As a Christmas present, one of my bosses gave me a short case of assorted Oregon microbrews. Sweet! It actually had a bottle of Oregon Honey Beer (which used to be Portland Brewing Co., but now reads McTarnahan Brewing Co., as PBC was recently bought out by Pyramid, from Seattle. Mac McTarnahan was one of the co-founders of PBC; he died not too long ago. Googling him should turn up quite a story.)! That was the first one I drank.
It also had 2 Deschutes Jubel Ales, 1 Full Sail Wassail, 1 Full Sail Rip Curl, 1 Full Sail Pale Ale, 2 Bridgeport IPA’s, 1 Bridgeport ESB, 1 Rogue Dead Guy Ale, 2 Rogue Mocha Porters, and a partridge in a …
The bad part was hauling that box home on the light rail. The boss thought that was pretty funny. :dubious:
The Pacific Northwest, especially Portland, seems blessed with an abundance of microbreweries and/or brewpubs. (Some aren’t so “micro” anymore, but are still turning out really delicious handcrafted brews.)
Is this just a regional phenomenon, or are there lots of microbreweries/brewpubs around the country that we’re just not hearing about in this thread?
There’s a lot of focus here on Euro beers, maybe rightly so, but I’ve tasted few that can match the taste and quality of most of our locals.
Whoa ho, there! If you invite me to your backyard BBQ and serve me delicious homebrewed IPA beer, I guarantee that you won’t hear one word outta my mouth about Shiner Bock all night long.
Someone will correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve always understood (assumed) that the “cascade hops” actually grow naturally throughout the region.
And, they’re supposed to be some of the the best hops in the world.
But, it seems like part of the culture out there. There’s a lot of homebrewing in the region. A lot of pot growing. I used to go to an annual party when I lived out there that took place on this dude’s farm, and they’d have about 100 kegs of homebrew at the party. My advisor had a homebrew he’d been working on for years.
But, when I moved from Oregon to Baltimore, I was surprised that you could still find a quality microbrew but it’s just not as big. I think hops ship well.
Pot growing? You means Marihuana? Gage? Ganja? Devil weed? Tea?
What? Here? Who?
No wonder the beer here tastes so good. It’s all that pot we been smoking. Nothing better to cure a little cotton mouth and accompany the pretzels & beer nuts… 
Hops and Mary Jane are close relatives. Both are cannabinaceae.
I remember reading somewhere once about a successful grafting experiment between the two to perhaps better disguise the less legal of the plants.
Well, some of you Belgian connosieurs may be jealous to hear that when I was in Hungary, I manage to stock up on Rochefort Trappistes 10 at a mere $2.50 a bottle. 
Belgian beers are all fine and dandy, but I really don’t get a kick out of drinking the Rochefort or even the King of all Beers, the Westvleteren 12. They’re nice when you’re feeling sophistacated or the mood is right, but I like my hops and the Belgian beer styles typically don’t feature hops.
Currently–and this changes from month to month–my favorite beer is Bell’s Batch 7000. It has the richness and complexity of a dark beer, with the hoppiness of an IPA. It really is a unique and special brew.
For IPAs (or Imperial IPAs to be exact), I think there are few beers better than Three Floyd’s Dreadnaught or Dogfishhead’s 90-minute IPA. Actually, Goose Island’s newly released Imperial IPA is up there with those two, in my opinion.
If I had to pick only one brewery to drink from for the rest of my life, I would have to go with Bell’s. Three Floyd’s used to be my choice–their flagship ale, Alpha King, has the lively hoppiness I so love, and their extreme brews–Dreadnaught IPA and Dark Lord–are some of the most amazing beers I’ve ever tasted. However, Bell’s is more versatile a brewery and don’t simply hop the hell out of every beer they make. Plus, like 3 Floyd’s, they have a lot of fun with their beers and for beer geeks like me, they do experiment around a lot and continually offer one-off brews like the Batch 7000 or their current wheat project in which they started with 2 wheats and 2 yeasts, bottled that as “Wheat Two,” then added two more wheats and yeasts, bottled that as Wheat Four, and so on up to eight. It’s a lot of fun.
When a good beer is in order, just yell “Stellllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”
Stella Artois from belguim an extremly crisp beer …a personal favorite