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Comments
Bob
w/ Sushi or Hibachi fare - Sapporo
w/ Thai food - Singha
w/ Mexican Food - Negro Modelo
w/ German food - Spaten Optimator
w/ Irish/pub food - Guinness
General purpose favorites: Michelob Amber Bock, Corona, Grolsh, Killians
If you like German beers, definitely try a Spaten Optimator. It's probably my all-time favorite beer in any category. It's dark with a light brown head, and has a smooth almost sweet taste with an underlying molasses overtone. It's a double-bock beer, so it's heavier and more potent than a regular beer. This stuff is hard to find in my neck of the woods, so I usually stock up when I find it. I happen to be enjoying one now (which means I won't be worth a damn when I have to cook dinner in a little while).
Craig
Probably the same guys promoting Heinekin.
My cousin's husband laughed when he saw the ads here referring it as "Premium"...
"in Holland", he says, "it's bottom tier beer". He's Dutch.
-Dave
Sushi and beer do go well nicely, but my favorite is sipping nice and cold sake (at least a ginjyoshu) and nibbling on sashimi and then finishing off with a round of nigiri.
Ken
-Dave
Samuel Adams Boston Lager
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Gordon Biersch
Red Hook ESB
Anchor Steam
Ken
Heard of Red Hook and Anchor Steam although I haven't tried them.
Haven't come across Sierra Nevada or Gordon Biersch.
Wait, aren't they Ale?
-Dave
-Brian
For a good read on beer, "Beer Wars" written by a member of the family that imported Heinken before Heinken USA took over.
Jim
The problem arises, as with most things that require a degree of conaisseurship, when the United States government steps in. After prohibition, the Feds decided that there needed to be a distinction between low alcohol and higher alcohol beers. And they arbitrarily decided that the higher octane ones needed to be called "ale," even if they were lagers. Later, a second label was developed known as "malt liquor." This is the other term Uncle Sam allows to be used, although none of the brews are liquors and few are made from malt. But I digress.
No self respecting German brewmeister is going to label his precious double bock lager an "ale," so you will see, despite the negative connotation, "malt liquor" on many of Germany's finest high test lagers. Optimator, Celebrator, etc. Wheat beers are the exception, since they are indeed top fermented ales, so the Weissbeers get the right label.
Next problem: not all of these Japanese beers you all are swigging with Sushi are brewed in Japan any more. Have a good look at that Kirin Ichiban label next time: yea, that's right, friggin Anheiser Busch. Drives me nuts. Fosters, and now Harp, and Guinness Extra Stout (not draught....yet)- Cananda. Well at least they're brewed by Guinness, but Kirin just licsensed thier recipe out to Bud for the US.
I'm partial to crisp lagers with sushi, like Kronenbourg from Alsace or Bitburger from Germany, my own self. Not that any of those are EVER available in sushi places. Ah the beauty of take out.
(runs for cover) ;-)
-Brian
DW & I went to Colorado for our honeymoon (wow, 5 years this September). We loved the Coors brewery tour (the AB one was ok, but not as fun).
-Brian
(edited since I typed 'brewerly', guess I'm hitting the stuff a bit early today ;-)
The lager I like and missed is Tiger.
-Dave
CUSAFR
Schmidt: the poor college student's beer. 25 years later, it's still around.
Anybody else like Alaskan Amber? And... allow me to put in my plug for Kokanee.. pretty mild, but darn good!
All this beer talk this early in the morning! Sheesh!
Cheers! (Literally, this time!)
Paul
When I was a young college kid the cheap beers of choice were Schaefer ("the one beer to have when you're having more than one"), Dixie and Falstaff. I've seen Dixie placed and sold as a premium in DC-area Safeways and have had to laugh.
My fave internationally is Fuller's ESB (what cay I say? I like bitters) though Spaten Optimator and some of the Hacker-Pschorr lineup from Germany are fine as well. I find the Belgian ales like Corsendonk and Chimay very interesting and complex but almost like drinking fortified wines. When it's Thai food, the beer has to be Singha.
Ed
But to be honest, if I'm hot and just want to quench a thirst any old watered down beer will do, I'm not picky.
-juice
Over in China, I drank a lot of TsingTao, and liked it. But when I bought a 6 pack a few weeks ago, it tasted very different. Maybe a different preservative package, or maybe it was old?
Interesting tidbit about beer and travel. 20 years ago in "IBM School" it was suggested that a beer a day when traveling overseas was a wise idea. Premise being that a small amt of alcohol did wonders against e-coli. I have always held to it - a good excuse for a beer!
On our November adoption trip to China we were graced by having a mom that was also a pediatrician traveled with. A very useful background when getting babies! Anyhow, her credentials included also being an active duty US Army Lt Col. I mentioned the beer thing, and she noted that a colleague of hers had published a study on that very subject. An ounce of alcohol per day was apparently extremely effective in reducing incidents of food-born illness!
So drink up on that next trip...
Steve
Good brew....
burp
Actually, drinking beer in far flung places serves a few purposes. It assimilates with the locals, keeps the fluids flowing trough the body (if low alcohol enough not to act as a diuretic)and is probably safer than the local water for many parts. I have carefully tasted my way around the world.
However, there are some shockers out there and I would have to say that some of the worst are US beers. Sweet light and gassy, but characterless, on the whole. There's an Australian joke about sending a beer sample off for sugar analysis, the request getting mixed up in the lab, and the returned analysis appears as "Dear Sir, we confirm that your horse has diabetes."
I actually think some of the best beers are those brewed localy in small breweries. The English are very good at it, even having a society dedicated to the Cammpaign for Real Ales (CAMRA).
They prepare a guide book listing pubs and bers across the UK. Frequently these will be drawn from a single keg sitting on a bar.
Near my former home in England there was a small pub in a forest about 700 years old where there was no bar as such but the publican, an aged woman, wandered out with a jug of beer to serve you. Think Lord of the Rings type wanderings amongst green forests and you get the idea. I never much liked the beer which was Brakespeers from Henley on Thames, an overly honeyed beer that always tasted vaguely sour to me.
Much better was the Old Spot beer served in Gloucestershire.
An interesting pub, probably Britains oldest is Ye Old Trip to Jerusalem in Nottingham. It is dug into the cliff below Nottingham Castle and well worth a tasting visit one day.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/entertainment/pubs/trip.shtml
Oh, and local beers you should avoid - Fosters. Its low life down under and tastes worse when brewed overseas. Heavens knows what they do to it. However, if the chance ever comes by for you to try Coopers Sparklins Ale, grab it. Its top brewed in Adelaide, South Australia, leaving a heavy sediment and tended in the past to continue fermentation in the bottle. Locally its known as Lunatic Soup because of its former imprecise alcohol content and cloudiness from the sediment.
Cheers
Graham
Yep, PA is right. Though they do have a Distributor near me:
Premium Dist. Of Washington
3350 New York Ave
Washington, DC 20002
I work on 2121 NY Ave, so it's 12 blocks away.
Long story short, we met a rep from them, and he gave us free samples. Well, we loved it so much, got along so well, that we mentioned we were having a party the next day.
Well, they stepped up! They supplied *all* of the beer for our party. I'm talking college party, we would have gotten a full keg otherwise.
Very classy guy, and good beer, no doubt the fond memory makes it taste even better.
-juice
I've heard this can be impossibly hard to guess correctly.
Maybe I'd have people try to categorize wines by type (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, etc).
If Loosh wants to sponsor, I'll definitely do it.
Actually I'd probably get his help in planning it.
-juice
Oregon has some great microbreweries. For that matter so does the whole West coast. Some of my favorites breweries include Bridgeport, Deschutes, and Full Sail. Here's a link to the Oregon Brewers Guild with a list of members.
Still, I'm beginning to feel like the geezer when we go to places like that. I'm happy getting dinner w/drinks instead of hitting the bar like we used to.
-juice
I had a similar experience with beers I sampled in Austria. The US export versions were not the same (not as potent or strong tasting).
Craig
-Dave
-juice
Yes, most Japanese beer is not imported anymore. I do believe Sappro's Ebisu premium lager is still imported, though. That's a good one.
Steve: Yes, Tsing Tao you find here is different -- it's the export version. Same with Singha and Tiger.
Ken
It was tough watching her while being on email and on a phone conference!
The nice part of my day has been taking her out on the stroller to the park. It's BEAUTIFUL in the Bay Area this week. We hit record highs around 80 yesterday. I'm in shorts and a t-shirt!
Ken
The beer thread was great. Unfortunately, I think that very few of those mentioned are available around here. There are plenty of other options though, happily enough.
Mmmm... mustard. I'm a dijon guy, love the seeded stuff.
Owen
you get Tiger and Singha over in the West Coast?
-Dave
spicy mustard isn't bad. regular mustard is ... meh
~c
-juice
Ultimate Car Spotter's Guide 1946-1969, and Ultimate Truck & Van Spotter's Guide 1925-1990, both by Tad Burness
The 'Ultimate' books are updates to the originals that came out in the very early '80's. I have his US Car and Import Car books that I bought when they first came out. Great resource with thousands of photos, facts, etc.
Steve
Dave: Yes, most upscale supermarkets will carry them.
Mustards: In Napa, gourmet mustards are everywhere. I love the dark and sweet ones made with beer.
Ken
Steve
Now, there is one that is fairly available, and gawdarnit the name completely escapes me right now. We're off to Home Depot; I have no doubt it will come to me on the road.
Anyway. Also good but harder to find is Edmond Fallot. It comes from Beaune, which is about 30 miles from Dijon.
One of my faves is on produced using biodynamic methods called Pic, from Remoulins. It is imported by Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant and is available through their store in Berkeley. Don't bother looking on the web; Kermit doesn't even have automated credit card capability.
I do miss Berkeley. When I was going to grad school, all those places were just a short hop away.
Chez Panisse anyone?
Ken