Beer reviews and recommendations

[Geoff]

Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat on tap served with an orange slice. Sounds a bit wierd, but it was fantastic!

Don't fruitboot the beer! -skilaw

You know...I normally don't like any of the fruity beers (cherry wheat, raspberry wheat, etc.) and I definitely don't know what's up with the slice of lime in the Corona thing (I don't even like Corona, a slice of lime isn't going to help it). BUT, the slice of orange in the Sunset Wheat really worked well. I think it had to do with the citrus aroma pairing nicely with the spices in the beer, I think it was cardamon. It really was good.

A couple of years ago I brewed an apricot ale at home. Don't know why, because as I just mentioned, I normally don't like fruity beers, but for some reason, this apricot ale (it was from a kit) really sounded good. Well, it was fantastic. It had a hint of apricot flavor which went well with the maltiness of the beer, but it didn't add any sweetness at all. Got rave reviews from everybody that tried one.

If you order a weissbier in Germany, it comes with a slice of lemon. End of discussion.

[lifeisgood]

Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat on tap served with an orange slice. Sounds a bit wierd, but it was fantastic!

Don't fruitboot the beer! -skilaw

You know...I normally don't like any of the fruity beers (cherry wheat, raspberry wheat, etc.) and I definitely don't know what's up with the slice of lime in the Corona thing (I don't even like Corona, a slice of lime isn't going to help it). BUT, the slice of orange in the Sunset Wheat really worked well. I think it had to do with the citrus aroma pairing nicely with the spices in the beer, I think it was cardamon. It really was good.

A couple of years ago I brewed an apricot ale at home. Don't know why, because as I just mentioned, I normally don't like fruity beers, but for some reason, this apricot ale (it was from a kit) really sounded good. Well, it was fantastic. It had a hint of apricot flavor which went well with the maltiness of the beer, but it didn't add any sweetness at all. Got rave reviews from everybody that tried one.

If you order a weissbier in Germany, it comes with a slice of lemon. End of discussion.

Yeah, you're right. I like Sam Adams Summer Ale, which is nothing more than a wheat beer with subtle hints of lemon and spices. I guess the citrus thing works well with wheat beers.

[Bling Skier]

Spanish Peaks Black Dog Ale....try it you may never go back to LongTrailAle or SamAdams.(the budweisers of microbrews).
or Catamount

[robrules]

Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat on tap served with an orange slice. Sounds a bit wierd, but it was fantastic!

Don't fruitboot the beer! -skilaw

You know...I normally don't like any of the fruity beers (cherry wheat, raspberry wheat, etc.) and I definitely don't know what's up with the slice of lime in the Corona thing (I don't even like Corona, a slice of lime isn't going to help it). BUT, the slice of orange in the Sunset Wheat really worked well. I think it had to do with the citrus aroma pairing nicely with the spices in the beer, I think it was cardamon. It really was good.

A couple of years ago I brewed an apricot ale at home. Don't know why, because as I just mentioned, I normally don't like fruity beers, but for some reason, this apricot ale (it was from a kit) really sounded good. Well, it was fantastic. It had a hint of apricot flavor which went well with the maltiness of the beer, but it didn't add any sweetness at all. Got rave reviews from everybody that tried one.

If you order a weissbier in Germany, it comes with a slice of lemon. End of discussion.

Not necessarily, not one hefeweizen had a lemon served with it when I was in Munich. Usually the lemon is reserved for Krystal (filtered) weizens (which usually lack the flavor of a hefewizen) if at all. IMO, putting a lemon in a hefewiezen ruins the beer (takes away from the balance of phenolic clove and estery banana flavors that the yeast imparts and it really kills the head), but to each their own, I'm not going to tell people how they should enjoy their beer.

[Harpoon22]

Spanish Peaks Black Dog Ale....try it you may never go back to LongTrailAle or SamAdams.(the budweisers of microbrews).
or Catamount

Catamount is now Harpoon in windsor. I still have some holiday porter. I know beer is supposed to go bad, but I swear this stuff is better with age.

[Bling Skier]

Spanish Peaks Black Dog Ale....try it you may never go back to LongTrailAle or SamAdams.(the budweisers of microbrews).
or Catamount

Catamount is now Harpoon in windsor. I still have some holiday porter. I know beer is supposed to go bad, but I swear this stuff is better with age.

It's been a while.....thanks 4 the heads up.

[robrules]

Mcneils beer from brattleboro...comes in the big bottles. My favorite.

If you would have said that they were great beers 5-10 years ago, I (and many a beer geek) would have agreed with you. In the last few years many other breweries have surpassed the once great McNeill's. Since Ray stopped showing up in the brewhouse to do what he did best, his beers have been in steady decline. With the admitted problems he had in his brewery this winter (infection leading to phenolic character in the beer), this was the nail in the coffin for most non-local fans of his beer. John Kimmich of the Alchemist is the new King of Beer in VT now - and quite possible all of New England and the Northeast.

[robrules]

Spanish Peaks Black Dog Ale....try it you may never go back to LongTrailAle or SamAdams.(the budweisers of microbrews).
or Catamount

Catamount is now Harpoon in windsor. I still have some holiday porter. I know beer is supposed to go bad, but I swear this stuff is better with age.

The Catamount brand has been officially dead for a few years now. When Harpoon bought the catamount brewery, it tried to revive the brand, but the beers sucked and didn't sell, so Harpoon stopped making them.

[Bling Skier]

Mcneils beer from brattleboro...comes in the big bottles. My favorite.

If you would have said that they were great beers 5-10 years ago, I (and many a beer geek) would have agreed with you. In the last few years many other breweries have surpassed the once great McNeill's. Since Ray stopped showing up in the brewhouse to do what he did best, his beers have been in steady decline. With the admitted problems he had in his brewery this winter (infection leading to phenolic character in the beer), this was the nail in the coffin for most non-local fans of his beer. John Kimmich of the Alchemist is the new King of Beer in VT now - and quite possible all of New England and the Northeast.

brattleboro, eh?
bet ya he is a Hippy!

use to live on the other side of the rivah...you know the good side.

[ace]

Augustiner...best weissbier/beer in the world. Brewed since the 1300's. Believe it or not, they serve it out of bottles not draft - for quite some time. It's right on the main drag in Munich, so altho certainly heavily exposed to tourists I've never seen any piece of fruit with this beer, nor is there any of the sweetness that makes most of the new wave wheats that we get here so gross -ie not at all how a real weissbier is supposed to taste. It's not sold except at their place - which is huge - so maybe they just don't produce enough except for what they can sell there. Worth a trip! Just thinking about it makes me wish for a real German pretzel - not soft and mushy like in the stadiums, but perfectly crispy outside, and light, nearly hollow, and completely unchewy on the inisde.

BTW try asking for the little piece of lemon rind when you order your espresso in Italy.

Fruit is something you eat strictly fresh and in season and stand-alone - except of course as part of your rolling summer daiquiri menu - but not in beer for the love of god!

[TacklingSnowmenSteve]

i really got hooked on Kona when i was out in Hawaii. Pretty refreshing stuff.

In Waikiki there is a place called the TAP room. Over 100 beers on tab at ever time. Quite impressive!

[roark]

Augustiner...best weissbier/beer in the world. Brewed since the 1300's.

Was at the brewery ~10yrs ago. Had a few and left my backpack on the bench (with a very nice SLR camera + lenses in it). About 2 blocks away a local comes running up with the pack. So I had to go back for a few more. Didn't make use of the vomitoriums but wasn't far from it.

[Harpoon22]

Mcneils beer from brattleboro...comes in the big bottles. My favorite.

If you would have said that they were great beers 5-10 years ago, I (and many a beer geek) would have agreed with you. In the last few years many other breweries have surpassed the once great McNeill's. Since Ray stopped showing up in the brewhouse to do what he did best, his beers have been in steady decline. With the admitted problems he had in his brewery this winter (infection leading to phenolic character in the beer), this was the nail in the coffin for most non-local fans of his beer. John Kimmich of the Alchemist is the new King of Beer in VT now - and quite possible all of New England and the Northeast.

brattleboro, eh?
bet ya he is a Hippy!

use to live on the other side of the rivah...you know the good side.

I still like Mcneils tho I don't get it anywhere near as much since my wife frowns on the size of the bottles. Sorry to hear about Ray, Too bad. I'll have to try the alchemist tho I've not seen it around here. (Rutlands beer selection is limited, all the BUD ya want). I like to try new beers, part of the fun of traveling. Hippy? They all had to grow up and get real jobs. The only ones left in VT are trust fund babies and a couple communes.
Rock Art has some good brew and so does trout River. I try and support VT brewers as much as I can, But damn, theres some good beer out there.

[roark]

Rock Art has some good brew and so does trout River. I try and support VT brewers as much as I can, But damn, theres some good beer out there.

I find the alcohol limitation unfortunate, really limits the bigger beers. Had some rock art "barleywine" the other day.. pffftt. I def need to try the alchemist.

[robrules]

Mcneils beer from brattleboro...comes in the big bottles. My favorite.

If you would have said that they were great beers 5-10 years ago, I (and many a beer geek) would have agreed with you. In the last few years many other breweries have surpassed the once great McNeill's. Since Ray stopped showing up in the brewhouse to do what he did best, his beers have been in steady decline. With the admitted problems he had in his brewery this winter (infection leading to phenolic character in the beer), this was the nail in the coffin for most non-local fans of his beer. John Kimmich of the Alchemist is the new King of Beer in VT now - and quite possible all of New England and the Northeast.

brattleboro, eh?
bet ya he is a Hippy!

use to live on the other side of the rivah...you know the good side.

I still like Mcneils tho I don't get it anywhere near as much since my wife frowns on the size of the bottles. Sorry to hear about Ray, Too bad. I'll have to try the alchemist tho I've not seen it around here. (Rutlands beer selection is limited, all the BUD ya want). I like to try new beers, part of the fun of traveling. Hippy? They all had to grow up and get real jobs. The only ones left in VT are trust fund babies and a couple communes.
Rock Art has some good brew and so does trout River. I try and support VT brewers as much as I can, But damn, theres some good beer out there.

Alchemist is available only at the brewpub in Waterbury and is so worth the trip - food is really good too. Its my favorite brewpub and I've been to quite a few around the country - I used to drive up there for happy hour after snowboarding at K all day, then drive back to my ski house in K - it is that good.

I am sure you know about Green Mtn. boys. I always thought they carried the best selection in Rutland. VT is lacking selection for sure, but hopefully that will change if they ever pass the law that would allow beer over 8% abv to be sold outside of VT state liquor stores.

Rock Art does make solid beer for the most part - I've had some downright horrible stuff from them (belgian styles) but their regular lineup is solid even though it really doesn't appeal to my taste in beer. I will have to check out Trout River soon - the brewer (Shaun Hill) that recently left the Shed is brewing for them now, so maybe they have increased the quality - I liked his Saisons and other belgian styles and the ipa he made.

If you like lagers and bocks, the guy who brews at Flatbread in Burlington makes good beer. A new brewpub recently opened in Barre, but reports are that they are homebrewers who are not yet making good beer - but that can change with experience. The Thirsty Bull/Peavine Family Rest. never seemed to get off the ground - what a waste of a brewing system.