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What is your favorite beer, does it differ by season or by what you're eating?
With the fourth of July tomorrow, I'd really like to hear what everyone's favorite beer is and hopefully learn a few new ones to try.
With the fourth of July tomorrow, I'd really like to hear what everyone's favorite beer is and hopefully learn a few new ones to try.
Here are a few of my favorites. They're more the types of beers that you'd drink slowly on their own though, not really for "general" drinking (with a meal, hanging around outside, etc.):
I love Left Hand Milk Stout and La Fin du Monde! I haven't heard of the other two, but I now have to look for them. Before my closest store stopped selling anything but IPAs, Mission Brewery's Dark Seas was my go to, but it's a Russian Imperial Stout which is a bit strong for some and probably not available near you.
Thanks, I'll have to keep an eye out for that one too. I actually just went to check to see if I already had a bottle of it because I knew I had an imperial stout named "Dark [something]" that I hadn't tried yet, but it's Dark Truth.
If you like Fin du Monde, check out some other Unibroue beers. They're probably the best thing to ever come out of my province.
Oh definitely, I've had quite a few of them. I like Maudite quite a bit as well, and almost all of the other ones I've tried have been good too.
I love me some Maudite too, probably my favorite of their's.
Their newest one, A Tout le Monde, is pretty different from their other ones, but fantastic in this hot weather.
Key words "out of", there's a world of QC beer I prefer over Unibroue. I don't mean to imply that Uni isn't a good brewery mind you, but they lean heavily into the huge Belgian tripel's and quad's (and there are better out there in that style). I actually tend to miss their Blanche du Chambly the most, that was a real nice Witbeer in the summer.
Blanche to Chambly was great, I agree.
And don't get me wrong, there are a lot of QC beers I love. Everything brewed by Cheval Blanc is amazing too, and their brewery is a 15 minute walk from my place.
Still, I love me Belgian Triepls, and I'll never get tired of Unibroue
Oh you lucky duck, DDC is world class.
Personally, I would would do just about anything to drink one of their dark saisons blended with Japanese tea again. IIRC, they were never bottled, but would show up on the board in early fall.
I have been to more breweries than I can even count at this point, but the only place in the northeast I would go to instead Hill Farmstead is the old patio at DDC in the summer, with a nice Hefeweizen on a summer afternoon
That sounds amazing. I'm not anywhere near the brewery (complete wrong side of Canada), but most of their bottled beer is available in stores around here, and I've liked just about everything I've ever had from them.
I figured, otherwise the rest of the list woulda been from QC :p. At least, when I lived there they had terrible distribution from the other provinces.
You might keep an eye out for the Dominus Vobiscus Tripel from Charlevoix though. I've found it in the US before (so it gets around at least somewhat) and it seems like it might be right up your alley.
If you enjoy Belgian tripels and/or IPAs, you should check out stuff by the Brasserie d'Achouffe brewery.
They're both fantastic. Some of my favourite beers. Sometimes tough to find locally though. I know Zyn on 9th in Inglewood has some, but I think it's old stock, it's a bit skunky, so I can't recommend it.
I will have to read up on those tonight. I really like a good milk stout every once in a while. I will have to look for that one.
You have good taste! Parallel 49 and Unibroue represent!
Budweiser is my favorite beer. It is because it reminds me of BBQs and trips with friends. Like @captain_cardinal mentioned, floating the Guadalupe on a hot summer day with a cooler full of beer can't be beat.
I am not a big fan of the flavor of IPAs and I don't know enough about different types of beer. There are a couple of Thai craft beers that have become reasonably priced but they still run USD 5-6 per bottle. Many imported beers cost USD 7-10+. When I am in the mood for something different it's Guinness. Day to day I drink the regular Thai beers. Leo first, Chang second, Singha third.
If you like it, that's all that matters.
Lol, Labatt Blue for me for basically the same reason.
I've recently been drinking Sculpin IPA. There's a chicken and waffle place in a nearby city that serves it. I go there when I want to sleep the afternoon away haha.
Chicken and waffles and beer? Sounds awesome. What kind of beer is it?
Edit: India Pale Ale - sounds great. Never had a beer with a hint of mango before. I really like mango.
https://www.ballastpoint.com/beer/sculpin/
The fruit flavors are super subtle. It's great for a hot day or with a heavier meal.
That is just what I like in a pale ale.
I can't stand Ballast Point's flavored IPAs. My wife on the other hand,
can'tcouldn't get enough of them, especially the jalapeno one. When I was in college, I had an evening class that was basically just guest lectures of cool things happening in the field of my degree. The pizza place on campus had their Yellowtail Pale Ale on tap. I remember loving getting a personal pizza and a pitcher, then going to sit through the presentations with a nice buzz.I really like Shiner Bock. I like good medium beers with some bitterness. Nothing too dark or heavy. A real favorite is Redhook ESB, but it is really hard to find here. I used to live in Washington near Seattle and I always could get it. Been looking for it for a while now, and when I go somewhere that supposedly has it, the store doesn't actually carry it.
Shiner makes me miss Texas. Nothing like floating the river with a bunch of Shiner.
We have an office in Dallas and I stopped off at this liquor store down the street one night going back to the hotel. I was lucky enough to try White Wing. It was off the market soon after. Never got to have it again.
Too many to pick a favorite, but if I had to pick one it would be La Fin Du Monde.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22/34/
A close second would be the Kodiak Brown Ale
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/385/1086/
Summer time I usually prefer the lighter beer. Alaskan Summer Ale, Corona with a lime, Bud Light Lime. Just something that's refreshing in the heat.
That Kodiak sounds good
Right now my favorite is a local dry hopped lager, so fresh and citrus-y. The batches are small enough -- or the brewing process is rather amateur --that you can taste small differences every month or so.
Other than that, Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier Dunkel is my favorite for pairing with food (any kind of really).
I'm not connoisseur, but my all time favorite is Pumking by Southern Tier Brewery in NY. I like pumpkin flavor beers and Pumking is a knockout, with vanilla and cinnamon flavors. As you might expect, it's seasonal, only available in the fall. I stockpile it every October.
For year-round drinking I tend to fall back to Abita (Amber, Purple Haze, and their seasonal Strawberry Lager), New Belgium's Fat Tire, Six Point Crisp (pilsner) and Shiner Bock, when they're available. Thankfully Abita and Fat Tire are pretty common here in NYC now. Six Point is a local brewery in Brooklyn.
A few other things I have tried recently that were memorable:
Other Half Brewing - Short Dark and Wired (coffee and vanilla stout) and Bad Decisions (imperial stout - 11% ABV!). This is another microbrewery in Brooklyn - not sure how widely they distribute.
Brooklyn Brewery Sorachi Ace (citrus flavor)
Cigar City Maduro Brown Ale (actually tastes like a good cigar!)
Also want to mention Alaskan Amber, which I really loved when I visited the US southwest a decade ago. Unfortunately they're not available on the east coast.
The Pumpking is probably the best (easy to get) pumpkin ale around, incidentally it's one of the only ones I actually enjoy :).
OH doesn't make it very far, but if you're in the area it's worth a visit. I'd also recommend seeking out stuff from Finback (sours & ipas), Singlecut (ipas, and a good milk stout), Grimm (wild ales, sours, stouts, weirdness and the occasional bomb IPA), and Transmitter (funky, belgians, sours).
Then again, NYC has just about the best craft beer distribution on earth, so it's not hard to find a million great things shipped in from elsewhere.
That sounds great for the fall
It is! Definitely keep an eye out for it.
The best beer readily available today is St. Paulie Girl. Anything American made is instant heartburn; from Bud Light to Becks to whatever flavor of the month craft beer is making the rounds.
THE BEST BEER I ever had was a tall frosty Löwenbräu served years ago by a beautiful, traditionally dressed, German woman at Epcot Center Disney. The whole thing was just perfect. Unfortunately, Löwenbräu is no longer available in my area (or even at Epcot).
As you may have picked up from my comments in this thread, I'm a bit of a beer nerd.
Nailing down a favorite beer is an impossibly difficult task for me, so I'll just tell you the beer I'd most like to drink in the sun later today, the Lost Nation Gose a.k.a., the only "session" sour in the world. Light, crisp and refreshing (with a hint of lager yeast), this is the perfect summer-time drinking beer IMO. Alternately, a nice low-ABV farmhouse IPA would hit the spot, e.g., the Kent Falls I AM TABLE.
If you tell me what region of the country you're in OP I can probably give a list of recommendations to seek out.
I’m fortunate to live in a place with a huge variety of craft beers readily available. I usually make a point of trying something new every time, but I wouldn’t say I have a particular favorite. Typically I favor red ales, brown ales, and porters. I like most IPAs. If it’s a hot summer afternoon barbecue kind of day I may go for soemething more light and refreshing, with a wedge of lime.
If I had to pick one all-around beer that’s easy to find just about anywhere, I’d go with Samuel Adams. For mass produced brew it’s tasty and goes with anything.
It's really hard to find a store here that consistently keeps something I like so I also try something new each time I go. I wish the liquor stores here would just stock a beer and keep it stocked. It's like they will stock it for a week and then never have it again. And these aren't seasonal beers.
Erdinger Alcohol-free
Not because it is alcohol free, but the taste is excactly what a good beer should be.
Nowadays i don't drink alcohol anymore (driving and health issues), so alcohol-free becomes a plus.
Foodie geek, willing to try and pair everything.
I have home favorites as a former Michigander - Bell's Two Hearted Ale as a session IPA, Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza as a Saison, and Founder's Breakfast Porter, Bell's Expedition Porter and Stout.
With Thai, Vietnamese, and other Southeast Asian cuisines, 333, Singha and Tiger lagers. Even though I'm not a lager fan, the lemongrass and chili flavors don't work well with heavier or hoppier beers.
Conversely, I'm now in South Florida, and Caribbean/Indian-influenced flavors work great with Dragon Stout. Cuban food calls for herbal or citrus-influenced beers - Cigar City Maduro Brown Ale mentioned above, and the citrus-y Jai Alai lager.
I'm of the opinion that alcohol of any kind doesn't go well with most Chinese cuisines, but lager if you need something to wash it down without compromising the flavors.
Southern European cuisines are better with wine than beer.
Low-country (Belgian beers), German (Spaten Optimator and Ayinger Celebrator) and Eastern European (Zywiec Porter)/Finnish (Sinebrychoff Porter)/Russian (Baltika Porter) foods have great beer options.
For pure drinking enjoyment, favorites are:
Ommegang Three Philosophers (practically speaking, I'll look for Ommegang or Unibroue first on any beer list); Oskar Blues Ten Fidy Stout and Bourbon-Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout;
Samuel Smith Taddy Porter;
Victory Golden Monkey IPA and Storm King Stout;
Left Hand Nitro Milk Stout;
New Belgium Hemperor (recent discovery);
North Coast Old Rasputin Imperial Stout...
Flavored beers need really serious justification - about the only fruit-flavored beer I care for is Duchesse de Bourgogne, and that's dessert.
Pumpkin, peanut butter, and other vegetal/nut flavors, maple-bacon anything, and particularly most of the Dogfish Head concoctions are grotesque (that's my taste speaking, and you're not a bad human if you choose differently).
Um, were you asking for a favorite?
Down in that neck of the woods, I'd keep an eye out for Funky Buddha who have a number of wonderful stouts (among many other awesome beers) for you to mix it up with, and my current beer crush J. Wakefield who made literally the best Berliner Wiesse I've ever had.
Calling a Flanders' red a "fruit-flavored beer" is a serious insult to the entirety of the Belgian nation :P. That said, you should try to find a Kreik, which is explicitly a fruited-lambic (except, you know, not total dog-shit like a Lindemann's Framboise). Drie Fontenein and Cantillon have marvelous Kreiks, but tend to be difficult to find. Boon is probably the easiest Belgian Kriek to find, but Firestone Walker and Jolly Pumpkin each have a decent Americanized version as well
I'm back and forth about Funky Buddha, mainly because their tasting room is a zoo and FB Floridian, while good enough, is everywhere. FB Coffee Stout is solid. However, the mere existence of Maple Bacon Coffee Porter anywhere makes me irrationally grumpy, and FB has four different versions of this vile brew.
Not trying to be snarky by lumping Belgian fruited lambics with the edgy American craft beers that have fruit as an ingredient - I just don't care for unbalanced sweetness or sourness in beer.
I've tried Jolly Pumpkin's La Roja Kriek at the brewery and wasn't impressed because it leaned very sour for my taste (it's actually an American Sour Amber Ale with cherry added, not a lambic). My husband loves sours and was delighted with it.
Krieks (lambic that has a second fermentation with sour cherries) generally have enough tartness to balance out any residual sugar, but don't have the acrid bite I dislike in straight-up sours. I've had Cantillon and it's good, but my hard-to-find fave was Victenaar Verhaeghe Echte Kriek, followed by the pricy Kasteel Rouge. I got to visit New Belgium a couple of weeks ago, and was pleased with their Transatlantique Kriek.
That's fair enough, my experience is with bottles people have shipped up to me, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Also, I totally get the hate for a Maple Bacon beer (unless they did something crazy like make it like... a coffee rauchbier? that actually really appeals to me for some strange reason), that sounds like it has the potential to be terribad.
I'm right with you -- wayyyyyyy too many sour beers are essentially equivalent to drinking vinegar. I don't want to murder my gut, damn it! I tend to prefer wild ales for this reason, though, again it depends on the yeast strain the brewer's got going on; some are definitely still battery acid.
I'll have to keep an eye out for these! I know I've seen the Victenaar in a specialty Belgian store once, but I don't think I pulled the trigger.
For some reason in CT, New Beligum is still impossible to find (though it's available in NY doh), so it's been years since I've had one of the Lips of Faith, and IIRC that was one of the sour-brown's they did. I'll have to keep an eye out, thanks!