List your top 5-10 favorite beers here...

Since I'm about 25% Czech, I guess I'll be adding Gambrinus Pilsner to my list. Thanks TruRochin...

Stonehouse wrote:Oh wow... I remember the Josef Hoffbrauer.

Not gonna lie... I'm not really a beer drinker, and even when I do have a beer it is always the light beers. (I mean low hop content, not Lite beers.)

So really I can't contribute much here. I'm a miserable excuse of a Portlander...

I'll say... it's almost like you are from some place like Boulder or Fort Collins where they jog at 5K ft every day...

My guilty...or not so guilty pleasure when I'm feeling frugal is Henry Weinhard's Blue Boar Pale Ale.

mattywizz wrote:Coldsmoke, I'm a little disappointed that the Josef Hoffbrauer (sp?) did not make your list. There is nothing like a good corn beer!

Not nearly as tasty as Hoff Ice.

athleticjames wrote:My guilty...or not so guilty pleasure when I'm feeling frugal is Henry Weinhard's Blue Boar Pale Ale.

My dad stopped drinking Henry's after they got bought and it stopped being brewed in Portland. I can't really bring myself to drink it either, knowing it used to be a Portland beer. The brewery used to on Burnside, right across the street from Powell's. That was a long time ago...

I still miss the smell of the brewery downtown.

The Blue Boar Ale is good, but not nearly as good as it used to be when it was brewed here...

Wholeheartedly agreed (haha although I guess a brewery in the swanky pearly would be blasphemy... And I am to young to remember when Henry's was actually a brewery...)

I also miss the Oly Brewery off I-5 being in operation AND the big R on the old brewery in seattle... Somehow the Tully's "T" just doesn't do it for me...

PilotNut wrote:I still miss the smell of the brewery downtown.

The Blue Boar Ale is good, but not nearly as good as it used to be when it was brewed here...

Very true. I miss the brewery tours at Henry's.

Here's a solution if you are on the go...

http://www.myvideo.de/watch/1645443/Bier_aus_Pulver_Instant_Bier

Nice...powdered beer. That can't possibly taste as good, can it? I like how they are wearing lab coats, showing how seriously they take their craft. Heh, heh...

I've always been proud of my NW beers, but recently I have been drinking A LOT of Vermont beers...They've got some pretty good stuff out here. I started my day at the Magic Hat brewery (and they let you sample as much as you'd like) and continuted on to a couple more, GREAT DAY!!! I was quite impressed. Overall I would stick with my NW beers, but Vermont has some pretty good breweries, esp. Magic Hat and Long Trail (which I wil be visiting tomorrow).

I don't really know why I am posting this, other than the fact that I have had a few (and a few more) microbrews and feel like sharing...Basically though, I had never heard of most of these breweries until I came out here, but they brew a pretty good beer...so if you have a chance to try a Vermont beer, I would recommed you do so...and that is pretty much my point. Ok, I am going to go finish this Rock Art Douple IPA I am working on. Go Pilots!

mattywizz, have you heard of the Ommegang Brewery in Cooperstown, NY? I'd recommend the Three Philosophers - dark, rich, and satisfying. Easily one of the best dark beers I've ever had. Although not for the faint of heart!

Matty - I get a lot of the east coast brews here in The Bend as well. Actually, I recently had Brooklyn Brewing's East India Pale Ale, which was a little more floral but very good, Harpoon's IPA out of Boston, and Founder's Brewing Centennial IPA out of Grand Rapids, which was your more traditional malt and hops IPA (read higher ABV). Also had the dogfish heads and many others, but I still like those northwest beers. Here are some of my favs:

Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale - a classic for a reason
Widmer Brrr - had it this Christmas while back in town, wasn't sold on it initially, but then REALLY liked it.
Bridgeport IPA - a classic, smooth IPA
C-Note IPA (New Old Lompoc) - a more...agressive IPA, right up my alley.
Bridgeport's Hop Czar IPA - they should make a lot of this next go-round - it's more agressive than the C-Note, and I love it for that.
Dechutes Inversion IPA - another great IPA

VillaGorilla-I have indeed heard of Brewery Ommegang. I took their tour last week. They are a very small brewery that only brews Belgian style ales. If I remember correctly the Three Philosophers is the beer that they paired with a dark chocolate...a perfect pair. They only have six or seven beers, and the only ones I liked were their two darkest, the Three Philosphers and the Chocolate stout.

Rochin-you are going to get an influx of east coast brews in a couple months. If you don't want them, I can just drive right through South Bend. I will try and find something you probably haven't had...although sometimes the Dogfish Head 90 Minute is difficult to pass up...

Very shortly after you came out here, I went to a liquor store prety close to our house that I never go to (because they sell liquor in grocery stores for just as cheap or cheaper), and they had a very surprising array of microbrews. Most were midwest, with a good number of northeasters, and only a couple of west coasters. Commendable.

You should most definitely not drive roght through South Bend. One thing I want to try but haven't found here is the 120 Minute IPA

The 120 minute IPA is pretty hard to find. I have only seen it once, and I think it usually comes in the 8 ounce glass. The wife and I are actually considering the drive down to Delaware next week to see the Dogfish Head brewery. Does driving 11 hours round trip in two days just to see a brewery and drink some beer make me an alcoholic? I didn't think so...I choose to call myself passionate.

And to add to the original question of this thread...add the Long Trail Double IPA to my list!

I say "fine connoiseur"....

So, given Wizzy's praise of Magic hat, I got a six pack of Magic Hat's Jinx (seasonal strong ale). I have to say, it was a pretty good strong ale. I wouldn't put it to the level of the Brrr or Jebelale, but it was quite tasty and really pretty smooth. It didn't have any unique flavor to it like Brrr does (a slight berry taste?), pretty straightforward strong ale, but that's really what I was looking for.

I had it at a poker game I played in with some buddies last night, none of them liked it, and one even exhorted that he was tired of the microbrew fad....I was shocked, dismayed, and very disappointed. Ahh, silly midwesterners.

Microbrews are a fad?

The Midwest sounds like a foreign country...

My server at McMenamin's yesterday said she was serving me a "pale nitro" yesterday at Six Arms in Seattle. It seemed like a mistaken title; the beer was more brown than pale. Very good though. Is anyone else familiar with this one...or was the server just a little off?

I'm not sure, they basically make 3 beers... The Hammerhead IPA, Ruby Summer Ale and the Terminator Stout... I would assume it was the Hammerhead or something similar...

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:Microbrews are a fad?

The Midwest sounds like a foreign country...

Hey, don't lump Wisconsin in with the rest of those wackos. The two stores that I shop in have liquor/beer stores inside/next to the grocery stores that are the size of small grocery stores themselves. I would say there is a selection of over 100 beers, many local, and from the rest of the country. A Northwest beer connoisseur would fit right it. It's mostly those crazy Michianains that don't know about beer.

mattywizz wrote: It's mostly those crazy Michianains that don't know about beer.

That'd be Michiganders

Purplegeezer wrote:

mattywizz wrote: It's mostly those crazy Michianains that don't know about beer.

That'd be Michiganders

I thought he was talking about people who live on the Indiana - Michigan border.

up7587 wrote:

Purplegeezer wrote:

mattywizz wrote: It's mostly those crazy Michianains that don't know about beer.

That'd be Michiganders

I thought he was talking about people who live on the Indiana - Michigan border.

Yep, good ol Michiana. I was very confused when I first heard that term. I think Wizzy wants to be one.