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[SonofZ3]

Fluorescent lighting in warehouses and retailers. They don't bottle beer in infared light. Just because Mexican beers come in clear bottles doesn't make it a good idea. Light below 500nm in wavelength is what causes the isohumulones in beer to break down into molecules that contain sulphur, and chemically resemble the product of scent glands in skunks, hence the term skunky beer. Brown and dark green bottles transmit the least amounts of this light, while light green and clear bottles transmit the most. While Fluorescet light doesn't emit nearly as much UV light as there is in daylight, there are emissions in the ultraviolet spectrum. Visible light also damages beer, it just takes longer for the visible wavelengths of light to affect the isohumulones.

[Leinad]

So remember kids, when drinking beer, always turn out the lights. It also helps keep that hot girl from noticing who groped her.

[camelpimp]

Hey, I wonder, has anyone here tried brewing their own beer?

(I'm sorry if it was brought up and I missed it. I'm really good at overlooking the obvious.)

[I is Grammar]

My brother attempted brewing his own beer, and succeeded in nearly blowing up his kitchen.

[SonofZ3]

My father did quite a bit of home brewing for a number of years, which I helped with as much as I could. Eventually our darkroom/brewing room  became the fly tying/origami room, with lots of developing and brewing equipment lying around gathering dust. It was a lot of fun, but if you're any good at it you end up with the list of friends and family that want free beer getting longer and longer and it becoming less and less fun. If you do decide to try it out, the link I posted about 12 posts ago is a good resource.

[bujiatang]

We brewed our own beer at Vine Park Brewery on west 7th in St Paul.  what they do is provide all the equipment, the hops, yeast, the bottles, the CO2 etc. 

Shannon and I had a great time, and the beer is awesome.

[Patrick]

My brother attempted brewing his own beer, and succeeded in nearly blowing up his kitchen.

Tell me something, does he have huge quantities of suphedrine in his closet?

[I is Grammar]

Knowing my brother, probably.

[hannahrochelle]

My housemate's ex-boyfriend makes alright homebrew.

Mind you, I was pretty smashed at the time I tasted it.

[öde]

I was/am planning on distilling, but that's not brewing so I'll get my coat.

[ViolentDove]

It's also a fuckload more dangerous, so I hope that coat of yours is fire-retardant!

[Patrick]

Shenanigans. People have been distilling alcohol here for hundreds (thousands, maybe?) of years and I don't think I have ever heard of somebody being tragically killed by an exploding raki still.

[Paav]

If you are brewing and forget to have a pressure valve you could blow up a brewing kettle because of a pressure build up. With a still, an open flame in the wrong place could cause an explosion. Though, I would be more worried about the Feds sticking their nose into my business.

[SusurrusIgnoramus]

a good mexican beer (that does not come in a clear bottle) = negro modello

[Ozymandias]

I do enjoy a good Negra Modelo, a good example of a beer that's great cold and pairs well with a hot day and hot Mexican food.

Now I'm hungry.

[usmcnavgeek]

In one of my more unhappy moments, I realized that I completely forgot the name of the place here in the DFW area that has virtually every beer distributed in the metroplex for sale under one roof.  I found out about it from a distributor that I met while drinking at the Flying Saucer, but then promptly forgot it.  All I can remember is that it's somewhere in Colleyville.  Damn you, alcohol!

Anyway, I enjoy a good beer.

[Patrick]

Whoa dude, I haven't seen you around here in YEARS.

Carry on.

(I will go a step further and say that Kaon beer is probably the biggest pile of horseshit on the face of the planet, and that you can find Birra Tirana in Boston, if my sources are correct)

[PacoSees]

We have a place like that, right across the street from the colleges, basically.

Aptly-named Liquo-rama.

They know marketing, what with $15 handles of JD for us poor college kids.

[Paav]

I started drinking in Minnesota, which while I was there had some of the most restrictive blue laws in the US. With the exception of .32 beer, you could only get booze in liquor stores, and those could only be open until 8 pm Monday-Thursday and until 10 pm on Friday and Saturday. The bars also had to close at 1 am.

Now that I am in South Dakota, grocery stores and convenience stores can carry all kinds of booze, the grocery stores actually have the best selection. You can buy beer until 2 am (running into an grocery store, grabbing a case and trying to make it to the register in 2 minutes is all kinds of crazy fun) and on Sundays, though no hard liquor. The best part is drive up windows at the liquor stores, pull up, ring a buzzer, tell em what you want, give em your cash and get right back on the road.

[carrotosaurus]

I've brewed beer before - 2 good batches and 3 bad batches later and I'm just sticking to buying it.

Now, hard cider on the other hand... that's a breeze to make. It also kicks like a mule.

[SusurrusIgnoramus]

in alabama, beer can not have more than 6% ABV and can not be in a container of more than 16oz.  i'm glad i do not live in alabama.

[Patrick]

so I bought some Ephemere.

I KNEW it, Tania is a prostitute

[Lien.]

If there's something great about living in Belgium it must be the endless beer choice I guess. I hardly know 1/10 of all available types.

But anyways, the favorites:

- St. Bernardus (Blond abbey ale, strongly resembles Westvleteren which was once called out to be the best beer in the world, but it's rather hard to get): http://www.sintbernardus.be/en/index.html
- La Chouffe (Golden ale, the scottish version of it, Mc Chouffe, is alright as well): http://www.achouffe.be/
and the more widely known such as Chimay bleu and Duvel (best 1-2-drunk beer ever).

As for regular beer:

- not Stella Artois, but Jupiler (it's from the same beer company though, Inbev, they own Hoegaarden as well)
- Christal Alken & Primus if they're not bottled. 


But I like foreign beers as well, Irish cider is great, although I can't name any brands. And Desperados tequila beer is nice as well!

O right, I hate Heineken.

[SonofZ3]

In a book I have concerning Belgian lambics it mentions that there are something like 300 styles of beer in Belgium. If I had the money to take one style a month and travel around Belgium trying each breweries take on it, I'd be 47 before I got done. That would be the best life ever.

[Lien.]

heh, probably


Or you could speed things up and visit a few "100 Beers" bars. I guess you'd be done by your 30s. Then you can start on Scotch whiskey!

[Patrick]

Then you can start on Scotch whiskey!

And your 20th liver

[SusurrusIgnoramus]

i got a great mini-haul that i drank (most of) this weekend: 4 bombers of Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale, a bottle of Chimay Cinq Cents (gotta love the Trappists!  That was the first time I had a beer with a CORK in the bottle.  I felt so sophisticated) and a sixer of Troegs Hop Back.  Unfortunately I dropped one of the bombers of AB and it is currently frozen on the asphalt.  So sad.  But, I have one left to have with dinner tonight!  Whoo!



Pay no attention to the wine.  That was my girlfriend's.  She also drinks miller (yeargh!).

[öde]

And Desperados tequila beer is nice as well!

Hooray! Yes it is.

[Johnny C]

UV light destroys certain parts of the hops in beer, resulting in that shitty, skunky, beer. UV light enters clear bottles well.

This is really only an issue at live venues, isn't it? If you're at the bar, you're pretty much wasting your time getting something that isn't on tap, and if you're at home you likely bought it in a case or in non-transparent cans then put it in your fridge which is dark until you open it. Even then, some venues where I live just circumvent this by keeping the beer in fridges with metal doors and no lights behind the bar.

I'd say there are enough arguments against Corona that we don't need to make mountains out of molehills.

[Patrick]

We don't need to make a mountain out of a molehill because it's not a molehill and really is a mountain. Corona is made of water from every bidet in a French geriatric ward.

[morca007]

Thread necro to avoid new thread:
Gentlemen and ladies, I have made (er, am making)... Beer!
Now I get to let it sit and ferment while I'm off at school, come back in a week or two and bottle it, come back another week or two later and try it.

I used a Mr. Beer kit, despite my initial urge to go for the whole kit and caboodle which I couldn't really afford. If I end up really liking doing this I'll probably move on to assembling a real set, and using the 'keg' from this kit for ciders.

What I used:
-Mr. Beer West Coast Pale Ale mix
-"booster" (sugar?)
-1 Tsp Honey
- ~1/4 Anjou pear, diced up and dumped in

I'm hoping to get a relatively dry, bitter ale with a bit of pear flavour in the background. Though I could just as easily end up with something terrible.

[NarwhalSunshine]

Hank's and Thomas Kemper are the best root beer you'll ever have, Hank's also makes great birch beer if you can find it.

[morca007]

Hank's and Thomas Kemper are the best root beer you'll ever have, Hank's also makes great birch beer if you can find it.

BS. Thomas Kemper's is nothing special, Henry Weinhard's is the best Root Beer on offer.

[thehollow]

I was thinking of rezzing this thread myself, as I had a particularly tasty beer last weekend, a Big Eddie's Imperial Stout. I looked into it a bit and discovered that Big Eddie's is actually a line of craft beers made by Leinenkugel's, a WI brewery that otherwise makes sub-par beers (with a couple exceptions) while trying to maintain this whole "craft brewery" image. It sucks though because it's only available in Madison, Milwaukee, and Green Bay; I live about 20 minutes from the Leinie's brewery yet I would have to drive more than 2 hours to go somewhere that sells it.

[NarwhalSunshine]

Hank's and Thomas Kemper are the best root beer you'll ever have, Hank's also makes great birch beer if you can find it.

BS. Thomas Kemper's is nothing special, Henry Weinhard's is the best Root Beer on offer.

Haven't had it but when I get paid I'll order some.

[KharBevNor]

(it's from the same beer company though, Inbev, they own Hoegaarden as well)

There's barely anything they don't own.

[Social Bacon]

I just tried an excellent Czech beer by the name of Kozel, but generally (being a poor student) I drink cheap beer such as Molson Canadian and Labatt Blue, although these are a hell of a lot better than any American beer I've tried.

[Darkbluerabbit]

Leinenkugel's, a WI brewery that otherwise makes sub-par beers (with a couple exceptions) while trying to maintain this whole "craft brewery" image.

Yeah, Leinie's is now owned by one of the majors...can't be buggered to look up which, as they are all the same to me.

Still, the Creamy Dark is pretty damn good.  I know folks from Chippewa Falls who still swear by the stuff even though the company sold out.  Better drink it now before they get a corporate mandate to cut quality in favor of T.V. commercials claiming that they are quality.

[Patrick]

I finally figured out that the beer at this one restaurant here in town is Pivo. I liked it well enough, I guess.

[Switchblade]

Well, I commited a sacrilege last night - had myself a bottle of Fursty Ferret while playing cards with the family, and then forgot about it and went to bed with the bottle only half-finished, so it's been out on the table all night, open to the air.

*cautiously takes a sip*

actually... that's not too much worse than it should be....

[ledhendrix]

I'm away to a wee island for a holiday soon and it has a microbrewery on it. Much drinking of beer will be had and i'll report back on it if its any good.

[Aimless]

I wasn't a fan of beer, until I was introduced to the world of tasty beer through Erdinger weissbier (dunkel). Since then, I've made a point of trying out new beers whenever I can, but that remains my favourite of the ones that I can readily find.

I recently discovered Hoegaarden and shortly after that, I discovered that Red Stripe is a perfectly acceptable cheap beer. I'm probably going to have that as an alternative to Newcastle Brown Ale from now on.

[thehollow]

Yeah, Leinie's is now owned by one of the majors...can't be buggered to look up which, as they are all the same to me.

Still, the Creamy Dark is pretty damn good.  I know folks from Chippewa Falls who still swear by the stuff even though the company sold out.  Better drink it now before they get a corporate mandate to cut quality in favor of T.V. commercials claiming that they are quality.

They're owned Miller I'm pretty sure. Yeah, the Creamy Dark is pretty good, and the Dopplebock is . Other than that, the Red is the only one I'll ever drink, and that's only if I'm at a bar that has absolutely nothing else worthwhile on tap.

Their top-selling stuff is all shit though. Honey Weiss is crap, the Sunset Wheat tastes like terrible blueberry pancakes, and the Berry Weiss and Summer Shandy shouldn't even get to be called beer.

[carrotosaurus]

Aren't those new(er) organic beers like Stone Mill Pale Ale and Wild Hop Lager owned by majors?

[Oli]

Are we indie about beer too now?

All I ever drink is cans of Tennent's and pints of Guinness. I am a student. Cans of Tennent's are cheap and cheerful; Guinness is tasty, reasonablly priced and pretty standard in any pub.

[morca007]

Are we indie about beer too now?

Since before I had my first sip.   

[negative creep]

I'm only drinking post-beer nowadays.

[Patrick]

...you're drinking vomit? Ew dude

[morca007]

...you're drinking vomit? Ew dude

MAYBE YOU JUST CAN'T APPRECIATE THE BEAUTY OF SOMETHING DIFFERENT FROM YOUR MAINSTREAM CRAP.

[negative creep]

You know, 'round these parts beer doesn't usually end up as vomit...