OT: Post different types of beer you've tried, and how it was.
- Thread starter ruready4somefootball
- Start date
Anyone try Schlafly Imperial Oktoberfest? Saw it advertised, and it sounds quite good (what's not to like about a bigger, stronger Oktoberfest), but I'm sure I won't be able to find it locally. I know that brewery has been mentioned in this thread, so just curious.
I had their Pumpkin Beer which was very tasty. A lot of pumpkin beers overdo it with the spices but this one had the right balance.
Just grabbed a few Deschutes Hopzeit Autumn IPAs over the weekend. Apparently they've been out for a while but just showed up at my local shop. It's sort of a mash-up of maerzen and IPA styles ... really nice balance of malt and hops, imo, for a smooth, easy drink with a little more bite than a typical Oktoberfest - good because Oktoberfest selection has been crazy-weak this year.
Has anyone been to the Defiant Brewing Company and Defiant Smokehouse? It's just over the NJ/NY boarder. My wife and younger son were in Park Ridge last weekend for a party and we are talking about going there after the Army game. If that time table doesn't work, we will just hit it another weekend. http://www.defiantbrewing.com/
I've been there a couple times. Nothing mind-blowing, but they are pretty good. Cash only, but there is an ATM. The food was pretty good and you can buy bottles to go.
I have tried MANY, MANY different types of beers over the last 40 years - too many to list.
That said, I will cite 2 categories: Best Ever AT THE TIME I TASTED THEM, and Most Memorable OTHER THAN THE BEST.
Best Ever (not saying these are the best beers NOW, but just at the time I tasted them I thought they were the best ever), in order of WHEN I tried them:
1) 1984: Molsen Canadian ... Not Molsen Golden Ale (which was or is a great beer), but Molsen Canadian, their regular beer. I had my first bottle of Molsen Canadian in Greece, actually, in the Summer of 1984. Here is the big thing: It was NOT pasteurized. You could get Molsen Canadians in the US, but those had to be pasteurized. The non-pasteurized Molsen Canadian beers were simply amazing. What is wierd is that I visited Canada quite a bit prior to 1984, but for some reason never had a Molsen Canadian, just the Molsen Golden Ale.
2) 1985: Anchor Steam, on tap, in San Francisco ... actually in Palo Alto at the Stanford student bar. Now you can get Anchor Steam many places, but back then, like Coors, you could only get it locally (i.e. in Northern California for Anchor Steam, and in the Mountain States for Coors). Anchor Steam was marketed like a craft beer back then - and could not "keep" when transported long distances - though there was ONE beer store in Manhattan (on 86th and Amsterdam - long since closed), which upon my request, was able to get a special shipment, 1 case per quarter. Anyway, when I first had Anchor Steam, on tap ... WOW ... that was the most amazing beer I had ever tasted - and that remains my most unique tasting experience. Anchor Steam is brewed - or was back then - very differently from most beers, and the blend of amazing SMOOTHNESS, but also the almost CHEWY hops taste, is unique, especially on tap, in my opinion. Anchor Steam, back then was as smooth as a beer such as Heinecken, but close to the bitterness of a good Ale, and as chewy as a heavier or amber Ale. Unique.
3) 1987: Pilsner Urquel. I cannot remember the EXACT event at which I tasted this, but it was the best lager (pilsner beers are types of lager beers) beer I have ever tasted - and really one of the few lagers I actually like. Generally, I find lagers to be both crisper and smoother than ales - and I do not generally enjoy that. But Pilsner Urquel was - and remains - one of the finest beers in the world, in my opinion.
Most Memorable - other than the above - these three have a story behind them - and are both awful beers, but cheap and with a story that means something to me personally:
1) 1982: Red White and Blue. My beer of choice to buy when visiting my best friend at UVA in college. You could buy a case for $6 - cans though. Terrible beer, but cheap, cheap and cheap ... we used to cool them by submerging several 6 packs at a time in his Uncle's pond (his Uncle had a 4-acre place, with a pond) just outside of Charlottesville, and get completely wasted on case, after case.
2) 1980-1983: Mickey's Big Mouths. Just awful beer, as bad or worse than Red White and Blues. They came in bottles - but not standard dimension bottles. They were about 1/2 to 2/3 the height of a regular beer bottle, but really wide, with a really wide mouth ... and extremely cheap. Why buy them? Not only were they cheap - which going to college in NYC made a difference - but because of the extra-ordinarily wide mouth of the bottle you could chug a single bottle in nano-seconds, it seemed ... so you could get drunker faster.
3) 1990: Iron City. Another bad beer - though much better than the other 2 cited just above. I lost a bet to a client who lived in Pittsburgh, and the condition of the bet was I had to get him a case of Iron City and personally deliver it to him.. Back then, no internet, and Iron City was only sold in or around Pittsburgh, while I lived in NYC and rarely got to Pittsburgh. It too a LOT of effort to find a case, and even more effort to personally deliver it.
That said, I will cite 2 categories: Best Ever AT THE TIME I TASTED THEM, and Most Memorable OTHER THAN THE BEST.
Best Ever (not saying these are the best beers NOW, but just at the time I tasted them I thought they were the best ever), in order of WHEN I tried them:
1) 1984: Molsen Canadian ... Not Molsen Golden Ale (which was or is a great beer), but Molsen Canadian, their regular beer. I had my first bottle of Molsen Canadian in Greece, actually, in the Summer of 1984. Here is the big thing: It was NOT pasteurized. You could get Molsen Canadians in the US, but those had to be pasteurized. The non-pasteurized Molsen Canadian beers were simply amazing. What is wierd is that I visited Canada quite a bit prior to 1984, but for some reason never had a Molsen Canadian, just the Molsen Golden Ale.
2) 1985: Anchor Steam, on tap, in San Francisco ... actually in Palo Alto at the Stanford student bar. Now you can get Anchor Steam many places, but back then, like Coors, you could only get it locally (i.e. in Northern California for Anchor Steam, and in the Mountain States for Coors). Anchor Steam was marketed like a craft beer back then - and could not "keep" when transported long distances - though there was ONE beer store in Manhattan (on 86th and Amsterdam - long since closed), which upon my request, was able to get a special shipment, 1 case per quarter. Anyway, when I first had Anchor Steam, on tap ... WOW ... that was the most amazing beer I had ever tasted - and that remains my most unique tasting experience. Anchor Steam is brewed - or was back then - very differently from most beers, and the blend of amazing SMOOTHNESS, but also the almost CHEWY hops taste, is unique, especially on tap, in my opinion. Anchor Steam, back then was as smooth as a beer such as Heinecken, but close to the bitterness of a good Ale, and as chewy as a heavier or amber Ale. Unique.
3) 1987: Pilsner Urquel. I cannot remember the EXACT event at which I tasted this, but it was the best lager (pilsner beers are types of lager beers) beer I have ever tasted - and really one of the few lagers I actually like. Generally, I find lagers to be both crisper and smoother than ales - and I do not generally enjoy that. But Pilsner Urquel was - and remains - one of the finest beers in the world, in my opinion.
Most Memorable - other than the above - these three have a story behind them - and are both awful beers, but cheap and with a story that means something to me personally:
1) 1982: Red White and Blue. My beer of choice to buy when visiting my best friend at UVA in college. You could buy a case for $6 - cans though. Terrible beer, but cheap, cheap and cheap ... we used to cool them by submerging several 6 packs at a time in his Uncle's pond (his Uncle had a 4-acre place, with a pond) just outside of Charlottesville, and get completely wasted on case, after case.
2) 1980-1983: Mickey's Big Mouths. Just awful beer, as bad or worse than Red White and Blues. They came in bottles - but not standard dimension bottles. They were about 1/2 to 2/3 the height of a regular beer bottle, but really wide, with a really wide mouth ... and extremely cheap. Why buy them? Not only were they cheap - which going to college in NYC made a difference - but because of the extra-ordinarily wide mouth of the bottle you could chug a single bottle in nano-seconds, it seemed ... so you could get drunker faster.
3) 1990: Iron City. Another bad beer - though much better than the other 2 cited just above. I lost a bet to a client who lived in Pittsburgh, and the condition of the bet was I had to get him a case of Iron City and personally deliver it to him.. Back then, no internet, and Iron City was only sold in or around Pittsburgh, while I lived in NYC and rarely got to Pittsburgh. It too a LOT of effort to find a case, and even more effort to personally deliver it.
Thanks for the info. Pretty sure we will try it, the next time we're in that area.
Backwoods Bastard arriving this week, possibly today in some locations. I'm planning on doing a side by side comparison with the 17 Central Waters BA Scotch Ale.
How the hell did you get that? Trade or picked up some while out in the Midwest and send it back home?
Loaded with Citra hops my fav. Will be brewing a clone soon.
My buddies and I made sure to stop at Three Floyds when we went out for the Illinois game a couple weeks ago. We brought back a six pack of Zombie Dust, among some other beers from other breweries in the area. Three Floyds was one of the highlights of the trip. The beer was great, the food was very good, and they played various types of metal on the record player all night.
Loaded with Citra hops my fav. Will be brewing a clone soon.
Ha I have people in Indiana that sent me some - cannot get this in NJ!
Oh trust me, I know. I'd kill to get Three Floyd's in this part of the country. We do get Surly from time to time from Minnesota.
Give me a six pack of Rheingold extra dry with a bag of Reisman pretzels , and I'm a happy man !
I have a couple of bottles that have been aged for 5 years. Should be pretty special with aging.
High alcohol beers like that are much better with age. The real flavor comes forward and the alcohol taste/burn disappears.
DFH 120 is a perfect example. Almost undrinkable fresh. Wonderful after a year.
Drinking a Central Waters BBA Quad tonight. Bourbon flavor subtle at first, but then comes out the more you drink. I'm cellaring a few bottles of my 4 pack.
I love Oktoberfest beers and would drink them year round, outside of maybe July. If I bought a few cases, how should I store them for an extended period? Fridge? Basement? Does the answer change if I bought them refrigerated?
On a related note, are there any similar beers that are widely available all year?
Generally, if you've bought anything refrigerated then you have to keep it refrigerated until consumption. How long it can stay being refrigerated probably depends on the beer but I would err on the side of consuming fresh rather than storing refrigerated for a very long time. But if you let refrigerated beer become unrefrigerated it will most likely get skunked. If you're buying for long term storage, always buy unrefrigerated and then just keep in basement.
If you like Oktoberfest/Marzen style then you're probably looking for malty beers. While not necessarily year-round or as malt-forward, another seasonal German style might be worth exploring in the spring is a Maibock (usually around early May). Otherwise there are other German bock style beers but for more malty character, go for Doppelbocks (or doublebocks) that can be found year-round. Spaten Optimator is quite widely available.
Actually beers that have been refrigerated can go back to room temp. That is one of the biggest myths/wives tales/urban legends that I constantly run into with selling beer.
Nothing happens to beer with moderate temp changes. It can go from fridge to normal temps back and forth with no effects.
It is light that is the killer of beer. Not just sun light any light.
So the preferred storage of any beer is in a dark place. Fridge is best but any cool dark place is good. In the basement inside a bag or box works just as well.
As for Oktoberfest beers they are good for at least 9 months from bottling. And it's a style that when it turns won't go skunky first. They just become sweeter and less malty. Still drinkable but not as enjoyable.
Different beer styles age differently.
Maibocks is a great call. Not many craft companies make them but certainly you can find imports in good numbers. Locally, Stoudts makes a great Maibock.
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This year Paulaner Marzen and Warsteiner are in pretty good supply. You should be able to still find some. Most others will be hit or miss. Call you favorite store. If they don't have in stock ask them to ask their supplier if they still has some in stock. They will be happy to get it out of the warehouse. Sometimes at a discount too.
Again, as I stated above don't worry if it has been refrigerated but store in a dark, cool place. Brown paper bag if its in 6pack form or a box. Light is its enemy.
Great info, thanks. I have a few more questions if you don't mind. Does aging only improve high alcohol beers? I enjoy lambics, but not sure aging will improve quality since many are lower on alcohol. I imagine there will be a decline in quality at some point of the aging process. Is there a general rule of thumb for different styles or alcohol content? e.g. 8 months for beer X, 2 years for beer Y...ect..
Since I polished off my first 6-pack of Mad Elf, I went out and bought 2 more. One I plan on keeping in my basement for a time. Looking forward to trying Backwoods Bastard sometime this week or next. Will definitely try aging a few of those also.
You might find it helpful to age beers until they come out the next year, and then drink both of them in the same night so you can compare how it tastes fresh to how it tastes with some age on it. This way, you'll know what your preference is for that beer so that whenever you buy it, you'll know if you would enjoy it more right away or if you should hold onto it. I've found that I almost always enjoy the fresh version more than the aged one, but everyone has their own preferences.
My buddies and I do a vertical of Sierra Nevada Bigfoot every year, usually with around six years of it. We usually decide that 2-4 years old seems to be the sweet spot for that beer.
My buddies and I do a vertical of Sierra Nevada Bigfoot every year, usually with around six years of it. We usually decide that 2-4 years old seems to be the sweet spot for that beer.
I don't think Poland ever made a good beer ever. Warka is just as undrinkable. I got a 4 pack of Central Waters BA Quad...glorious!!! Looking forward to Victory Java Cask and Rye BA Java Cask.
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