GRM beer tasting

TRoglodyte wrote: Working on the Sam Adams winter sampler now. Chocolate bock has the most character.(i love chocolate). Which beers are best at room temperature?

I drank them all cold. They were tasty.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: Yesterday i bought a 12 pack of Corona light. (ew. For her dad tomorrow) And a 6 pack of Sierra Nevada Kellerweis. Excited about the Sierra Nevada!

These were delicious!!!

TRoglodyte wrote: Working on the Sam Adams winter sampler now. Chocolate bock has the most character.(i love chocolate). Which beers are best at room temperature?

The rule of thumb is that the darker and/or higher alcohol a beer is, the better it will be warmer. Even beers like that, you rarely want them at "room temperature". Usually more like cellar temperature. Dark heavy beers something like 50* is about right.

Do you guys have any recommendations for particular food & beer pairings?

Scallops broiled in butter soda bread Guinness

Luke wrote: Do you guys have any recommendations for particular food & beer pairings?

[stomach]

Food meet beer. Beer meet food.

[/stomach]

Salanis wrote:

TRoglodyte wrote: Working on the Sam Adams winter sampler now. Chocolate bock has the most character.(i love chocolate). Which beers are best at room temperature?

The rule of thumb is that the darker and/or higher alcohol a beer is, the better it will be warmer. Even beers like that, you rarely want them at "room temperature". Usually more like cellar temperature. Dark heavy beers something like 50* is about right.

That would explain why things have been tasting better now that I am keeping the beer in garage.

Had lunch at a local craft brewery today.

http://themonk.com.au/beers/

They do an incredible wheat beer, rivaling anything I've tried that's European and actually brewed by Monks.

Also, the Porter was amazing. Their own description is very apt: "a smooth chocolate nose leads into a delicious dark ale, carried by a hint of roast coffee. the brews mild bitterness is supported with a carbonation that's boosted by a touch of nitrogen".

Flavorsome, smooth, and easily the most 'drinkable' stout I've had.

Report from Berlin: Beer quality here is different than expected. The average beer is better than the U.S., but there's hardly any variety, and it's really tough to find a standout beer. Ticked off that everything is berkeleying Pilsners in the middle of winter. It's cold, gray, and frequently wet. I want dark beer.

That said, finally found the beer I've been looking for at a bottle shop: Paulaner Salvator. This is a real dopplebock. 8% abv. Dark and rich. Yum.

Other interesting beers of note: Engelhardt Pils is a regional version of that style, and the best Pils I've found in the city yet. Also found an excellent local cider at a brewpub. Kostriker Schwarzbier is also very good, especially on draft. Directly below my flat is a small pub that has been run by Klaus and his wife Regina (neither of whom speak English) for the past 42 years. Klaus pours the most gorgeous beers I have ever seen. Every one looks like an ad from a magazine. Also found a Pale Ale from a small brewery out of Munich that is clearly their attempt at a California Pale Ale. Not amazing, but does a solid job and is good enough to be a taste of home.

I puked up the first Left Hand Fade To Black I'd had in months on NYE (food poisoning; not overindulging) Haven't had a craving for beer since...which sucks because I have a little over a hundred bucks worth from Charleston Beer Exchange in the basement.

Tried Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye, oddly enough 3,000 miles away from home in Florida. Then bought another 6-pack when I got back.

Two things:

1. Good beer, as you'd expect from Sierra Nevada. Nice, spicy taste, not too aggressively hopped. Overall, I think I like Bear Republic's Rye better (Hop Rod?), but this is still a solid beer.

2. Sierra Nevada sure as heck knows how to package and distribute its beer. Most West Coast beers I find on the East Coast, particularly the higher-alcohol IPAs, are completely skunked by the time they reach the store. This beer was the same in FL as it was in CA. Not bad.

Caveat: I like pretty much everything Sierra Nevada makes. Torpedo is one of my favorites.

All of these were drank straight out of bottles.

Tried Hoegaarden for the first time recently. Bleayach. Nasty stuff, but I'm not a wheat beer fan. My cousin and I got 2 six packs; she picked that stuff and I presume that the 2 beers that are left of it will still be in the garage when I get home in a few weeks; dad hated it too.

Had Spaten for the first time; treated myself on my birthday last week as it was on sale. I think that it was the "premium lager". I was decently impressed, it was very good but also very fast to skunk (green bottle). This wasn't a problem as I bought a 12 pack, but one of them was left in the window sill for a few hours (it was 12 degrees out) and when I finally opened it it had skunked. I definitely will buy it again if it is on sale, or if I see it on tap.

Kirin Ichiban at a Japanese restaurant: Meh. Not good, not bad, I was happy with it. Wouldn't get it again though.

Berghoff Prairie Lager: Probably hard to find outside of Wisconsin/Ilinois/Iowa/Minnesota, and that is a good thing. An incredibly average beer. I enjoyed it, but it is absolutely nothing special. It was on sale for $10 for a 12 pack, and really it wasn't quite worth that. Given the choice between a Michelob or this, I'd probably go for the Mich.

I had one of these last night with dinner and I was impressed. I am more of a Porter/Stout kind of guy but this lighter beer really hit the spot.

Well, I am in the land of light lagers here. I have been really jonesing for a nice strong American or even British ale. Apparently there are no companies that import U.S. or UK beer directly to Germany. It all goes through like the Netherlands, or some other country. So a bottle of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale or Anchor Steam goes for 4euro ($5.50) per bottle.

So, here's what there is:

These are all pretty good variations on a theme. Jever is a little bit hoppier, Berliner Kindly is a little bit more roasty. The Engelhardt at the pub right below my flat is awesome only because Klaus, who has run the place for over 40 years, pours magazine-ad perfect beers every time. When I say "little bit", I mean very little.

In reply to Salanis:

Somebody gave me a six pack of Jever for Christmas. I wasn't all that impressed. It was decent.

Heh, Berliner Kindl is my sister's favourite but honestly I find it pretty nondescript. The same brewery's own Potsdamer Rex Pils is better. I think Kostritzer is my favourite sort-of-mass-market beer but some of the other schwartzbiers are really good too, try Märkisher Landmann if you haven't already (actually from the same brewery as Berliner Kindl as well.) I think there would be a real market for that style in North America as it's not very well known over there at all, everyone thinks German beer means Bavarian.

Give Breznak Bernstein a try if you want something a little darker, it's Czech but it's available everywhere (in supermarkets, not so much draught.) Ales aren't really that popular in this part of the country but if you can find them, Altbiers from Düsseldorf are really nice... Diebels is a pretty widespread example, it's decent but there are better ones too.

If you want something truly different & very local, order a Berliner Weiße (weisse) - it's a low-ish (~3%) alcohol (but strong tasting!) wheat beer which will be served in a goblet, with a straw, and flavoured with fruit syrup (usually raspberry)! It's not for everyone but it's definitely not something you find much elsewhere!

BTW, back in Berlin now too. If you wanna hit up the pubs sometime shoot me a PM.

I had a Berliner Weisse years ago at a bar called Mahar's in Albany, NY where I was a bit of a fixture at one point in time.

It was a bit odd, but it was explained to me by one bartender as something that was sipped in the hot weather, kind of like a Mint Julep down in the Southern USA. The other bartender quipped that it was served like that so the beer tasted like something.

In reply to Jay:

Yeah, I like Altbiers, but they're pretty tough to find. Right now Duckstein is probably my all-around favorite go-to beer here. Except that it costs about twice as much as any of the local beers. But at least it has some nice flavor.

Kostriker Schwarz is good. Pub downstairs has that on draft, and it's quite tasty. I have indeed had Berlinerweisse. This is not the correct weather for it, and you need to take care to keep people from serving it with waaaaay too much syrup. Oh, and I am not even going to try that frickin' Cherry Porter that I see everywhere.

Bottle shop around the corner actually has some pretty decent stuff, like Duvel for 1.50. Unfortunately, they stick all of that good stuff right in the window where it can get lightstruck.

Land of the Lagers... I should really get over there sometime for the beer alone, I would be perfectly happy if there were no other kinds of beer.

Salanis wrote: Report from Berlin: Beer quality here is different than expected. The average beer is better than the U.S., but there's hardly any variety, and it's really tough to find a standout beer. Ticked off that everything is berkeleying Pilsners in the middle of winter. It's cold, gray, and frequently wet. I want dark beer.

You're in Northern Germany so I'm not surprised - it is the land of the Pilsner. Beer styles are very regional in Germany and there's more variety down south.

mtn wrote: Land of the Lagers... I should really get over there sometime for the beer alone, I would be perfectly happy if there were no other kinds of beer.

Yeah, but Pilsener is not what I crave when it's -10*C.

Tried the original yesterday. Quit good. Best Pils I've had in cans or bottles out here so far. Puts the American Budweiser to shame. I can see why Mr. Busch wanted to brew a version of this in the U.S.

In reply to Salanis:

Yup great stuff. I drank it right there in the Czech Republic.

Drinking a 'Courage' Imperial Russian Stout right now. Really syrupy, strong stuff. Also quite smooth and malty. Still, not really my cup of tea (glass of beer?). Or it could be that it's just not the weather for it at the moment (warm, balmy nights don't really suit heavy stouts).

Also picked up some Bear Republic 'Racer 5' IPA, on the recommendation of the liquor store guy. Yet to try.

Luke wrote: Also picked up some Bear Republic 'Racer 5' IPA, on the recommendation of the liquor store guy. Yet to try.

Racer 5 is good stuff. Probably my favorite strait-ahead IPA (I like Little Sumpin' Sumpin' better, but there's more going on than just IPA). The brewer also races FFR.