BEER

[High Lord Tolkien]

The masses are forgetting what good beer is.

3 words: Bud Ice Light

[sgt.null]

well i just enjoyed an ice cold Corona. but after the last four days i would have enjoyed a Red, White & Blue.

[Zarathustra]

Sgt Null, if you like Corona, more power to you. However, there is a reason why it is marketed with limes. The limes mask the piss and skunk taste of the beer.

Beer should NEVER be stored in clear or green bottles. Light reacts with the acids in hops to produce the same exact chemical in skunk spray. (This is why Heinekin tastes skunky.)

Also, beer should not be drank ice cold. This is also a marketing technique big brewers use to mask how bad their beer tastes. Extremely cold temperatures dull the sense of taste. Ever notice how nasty a beer tastes that's been sitting around for a while? If a beer does not taste good at room temperature, it's because the beer tastes bad, not because it is warm. (I drink mine slightly chilled, "cellar temperature.") Temperature has no effect on the taste of a beer, just our ability to perceive it. The closer to room temperature it is, the more its inherent taste/aroma is evident.

In Mexico, Corona is not considered very good, and they think it is rather funny that Americans perceive this as premium beer.

For a good Mexican beer, try Bohemia. Negra Modela is also good.

[sgt.null]

i usually drink dark beer. or ale. but on occassion Corona tastes good with Mexican food. i like a good German or Irish dark any day of the week. at central market in Houston they have many beers, and i shall look for the two you mention, thanks. and coming from New England my friends buy me Sam Adams all the time. and free beer is good beer. oh, can't remember the names, but i have had some good English and Scottish beers at a pub in Houston. i get the ploughman's lunch with it.

[onewyteduck]

Also, beer should not be drank ice cold. This is also a marketing technique big brewers use to mask how bad their beer tastes. Extremely cold temperatures dull the sense of taste. Ever notice how nasty a beer tastes that's been sitting around for a while? If a beer does not taste good at room temperature, it's because the beer tastes bad, not because it is warm. (I drink mine slightly chilled, "cellar temperature.") Temperature has no effect on the taste of a beer, just our ability to perceive it. The closer to room temperature it is, the more its inherent taste/aroma is evident.

Hmmm.....so that's why I only like the first few swallows!

[Zarathustra]

onewyteduck, yes I think this is why most people must have it near freezing in order to drink mass-produced beer. I used to drink mainly Miller Lite, and I would have to put each bottle in the freezer--after having been in the fridge for hours/days--just to make it drinkable. I had no idea that this was because the beer sucked, rather than my temperature preference.

Now I drink barley wines (for instance) where I actually enjoy the change in taste as I sip the beer over an hour or so and it warms up considerably.

[ur-bane]

Very interesting, Malik.
A little tidbit: Heineken is served in Brown bottles in the Netherlands, and Budweiser is served in green bottles there.

It seems that green is to "notice that it is imported."
Almost as if it is designated brown=domestic, green=imported, and clear=we couldn't afford to tint the glass.

A question about the "light" factor. When my refrigerator door is closed, its light is off. No sun can get in there, either. Same thing with my cooler(s).
The beer bottles are packaged in cardboard that blocks light, shipped in trucks that block light (I have yet to see a clear case or delivery truck)
And sold in indoor distributors.

During that time, how much light can possibly cause that chemical reaction? Is it instantaneous? Why does warm bud in a can taste just as crappy as warm bud in a bottle? Why does warm Guinness in a can taste just as crappy as warm guinness from a bottle? Why does warm Heineken in a can taste just as crappy as warm Heineken in a bottle?

If I let my bottle of Heineken get warm in a closet with no light, will it taste better than a bottle of warm Heineken that I left on the patio table for the same amount of time?

I like my beer ice cold. I don't care what brand it is. If it's not cold, I don't want it. Just like I would not want a warm Pepsi, or warm glass of lemonade.
I drink hot chocolate, coffee and tea warm/hot. That's it. Everything else must be cold. Including beer.

BTW---Heineken does not taste "skunky" to me. And I've encountered plenty of skunks.

[Half Hand]

Ale and stout!Fermented quickly at warm temps with a yeast that works on top of the brew.Bah drink all the lager you want thats just more ale and stout for me.

[Usivius]

I have a few friends that brew their own, but have not liked any yet.
I like what the 'proffessionals' have produced. Give me a nice German beer or a good Canadian one. My current fave (and has been since it was a mocro brew) is Ricard's Red.
yum!

[Cail]

I tried brewing it myself years ago. It was horrible. I'll let the pros do it.

My usual beer is Bud/Bud Light. I'm with Ur-Bane, it's gotta be cold, preferably on ice. Now that being said, I love Guinness, McEwan's, Bass, Harp, Orkney Skull Splitter, and I have a special place in my heart for Molson Canadian.

FWIW, Bud is 5.5 percent alcohol, unless you're unlucky enough to live in a municipality that demands 3.2 beer. Guinness is 3.5 percent.

[ur-bane]

Because I am *ahem* dieting, I've been drinking BudLight as well. But since I drink 2x as many of those as I would Heineken, maybe it's not helping.

On ice is the best way, IMO. Buried in a cooler of ice. Ahh! I can taste it now. Must...run...out...to....store......
I'll occasionally pour it into a frosty mug (I keep several in my freezer) if the mood strikes me, but I usually suck it back right out of the bottle.
Malik will be proud...BudLight comes in a brown bottle.

[Cail]

Yeah, I'm dieting too, so I've been on the Bud Light for a while. I'll probably give up beer for November to try and work the gut off before we head to Florida for Thanksgiving.

In the warmer months I keep a cooler on my deck all the time, so I've always got ice-cold beer.

[ur-bane]

Are you sure you are not me???? I also keep a cooler on my deck for the summer...stocked, because I never know who's going to stop by for a cold one.
I am working off the summer gut (that I never worked off last year )
Got 11 pounds to go. (dropped from 249 to 236, want to reach 225).

Visiting relatives in Fla. for Thanksgiving? I can't remember ever being in warm weather for thanksgiving. I am jealous. It's getting cold here fast.

EDIT--but at least the snow makes a good cooler as well! (beers will be buried in the snow for the holidays).

[Cail]

Snow beer's fantastic. Nothing like shoveling the driveway, drinking a really cold one quickly so it doesn't turn into a beersicle.

Too many years spent not exercising. Been lifting weights religiously for 2 months, mountain biking and running on a treadmill. Can't seem to loose the gut. But I'm 6'2", 205#, so I don't have too much to gripe about.

[Half Hand]

I was at my great uncle Herberts house a few days ago checking on him because he recently had his knee replaced.Uncle Herb has drank Pabst Blue Ribbon as long as I can remember,he offered me one.I thought it would be nice to share a beer or two with Herb and drank two!Amazing what you will do for family!Herb is 75 and although he drinks nasty beer I sucked it up and took one for the team,he won't be around to drink with forever.

[Cail]

PBR's not that bad.

Then again, it's also local custom, so I may not be unbiased on that one.

[Avatar]

Gotta mention that Malik's point about temperature is a very valid one...the colder something is, the less flavour you experience.

Proved very vividly to me recently, a neighbour asked if I'd noticed a "sandy" taste to the tap water. Now, I drink a lot of water, but I hadn't noticed it...I keep bottles of it in my fridge, and only drink it ice-cold. As soon as I allowed some to warm slightly, the taste (now thankfully gone) was very distinct.

--A

[Prebe]

We have experienced a lot of smal local breweries flourishing in Denmark for the last couple of years, as a protest against the homogenous mass produced brews turned out by the good people at Carlsberg and Tuborg. I can get drunk on the Old C'n'T, but for flavour with meals I'll take a Münchener malt strong lager any day.

[Lady Revel]

I like beer. Any beer. In fact, I am a cheap date. The cheaper the beer, the better I like it. I know I'm not supposed to like the cheap stuff, but I do, and I can't help it.

My poor, trailer trash roots are showing!

*blush*

[Cail]

Nothing wrong with that Lady. Everyone likes what everyone likes, and I'll never look down at anyone based on their beer.

I'm constantly given grief over being a "Bud Man", but it's what I like.

I regularly go see concerts at a local chain called The Ram's Head. They brew their own stuff (Fordham). Every beer they make is a horrible facsimile of a mainstream beer....I like Guinness, they brew Genius. Their beers really, really suck.

Anyway, I went in one night and ordered a Bud. The bartender looked down his nose, and said, "We don't serve that garbage here". Well... I respond, "It didn't become the best-selling beer in the world because it tastes like crap". After a bit more wrangling, and telling him his microbrews tasted like licking the bottom of a ploughman's boot, I asked what he had in a bottle. He produced Miller Lite and Coors Lite.

He had no idea why I couldn't stop laughing.

Anyway, drink what you like and don't feel embarassed about it.