Purchase question
 

dave weil wrote:
On Mon, 23 May 2005 16:35:52 GMT, (Don Pearce)
wrote:

There are certainly areas in the US that are beer wastelands with
nothing available but Budmillorcoors, but visiting somewhere like
Portland OR will quickly change your mind about American beers.

I don't think Belgium beats the UK for variety.

Probably not. But they still produce what I think are the two
ultimate
beers, the Lambic and the Trappist ale.

I'd say that the US far surpasses the UK interms of variety though.
You can get anything from hefeweissen to IPAs. Every world style is
covered somewhere in pretty large quanties in the US. It's hard to
make that case for the UK. Still, the UK has some of what I would
call
"ultimate" versions of certain styles like brown ale and stout. It's
hard to beat Samuel Smith and Guinness, two brands that are available
(if not nearly as good, especially Guinness) here in the US.

I used to love Guinness. Now that new carbonated bomb stuff tastes
like ****. Sam Adams Stout is far more palatable IMO.

ScottW

Purchase question
 

ScottW wrote:

I used to love Guinness. Now that new carbonated bomb stuff tastes
like ****. Sam Adams Stout is far more palatable IMO.

ScottW

Don't feel too bad. The real stuff is still only sold in Europe.
And, yes, real Guinness at a pub is like nothing they sell over
here.

Purchase question
 

dave weil wrote:
On Mon, 23 May 2005 16:19:22 GMT, Briel wrote:

In article ,
says...

"George M. Middius" wrote in message

Nath said:

Still spending your dole on ale for the mates?

At least we have real beer, not your **** flavoured attempt at
it...

American beers and ales are now the best in the world.

George, please tell me you were high when you made the above
assertion.

While I wouldn't go so far as George in his praise of American
beers,
there is no doubt that the craft brewing industry in the US has
created
a beer scene with more diversity and quality than any country
outside of
Belgium.

There are certainly areas in the US that are beer wastelands with
nothing available but Budmillorcoors, but visiting somewhere like
Portland OR will quickly change your mind about American beers.

First of all, ale IS beer.

Second of all, I would say that many American beers are now AMONG the
best in the world. There are planty of really fine beers being
produced here. Still, subject to the fact that this is opinion, the
most sterling examples of the different styles still reside in other
countries for the most part. Steam beer would be the only
counter-example that I can think of.

However, the beer industry in the US has come light years in the past
two decades. With beers like Sierra Nevada and Anchor Steam, it's
been
shown that America can mass-produce beers of world class quality.

Sierra Nevada is ****. Beer has to pass the aftertaste test and after
3 Sierras I'm wondering who puked in my mouth and kicked me in the
head. My sister-in-law left a case of Sierra Oktoberfest Ale in my
frig. I couldn't give that nasty crap away. I'd rather drink Killians
Red than Sierra Nevada.

Stone Brewery's Arrogant ******* Ale has more flavor, doesn't taste
like crap after a couple and isn't an instant headache. Newcastle is
unusually smooth for an ale which I admire but certainly won't impress
in the sip and taste contests.

And,
as noted, there is a multitude of micro-breweries that offer world
class product that produce smaller quantities of great beer. We
probably have the most vibrant and adventurous beer industry in the
world at the moment. Yet, the shelves are FULL of mediocre beer just
waiting to be quaffed by uneducated US consumers.

In my humble town of Nashville, there are FIVE microbreweries that
offer fresh beer in a multitude of styles, brewed right on the
premises and pumped directly from the holding tanks into the glass.

Couldn't count 'em in San Diego. There are pizza parlors out here
brewing their own. The county fair has a major home brew contest with
hundreds of entries.
I think there are at least 5 home brew hobby centers around town.

One of them even offers a daily selection of cask-conditioned
British-style ale served at an approriate cellar temperature. They
produce only a pony keg a day and when it's gone it's gone (it
usually
only lasts about 2 hours max). That particular brewery is one of only
a handful of breweries in the world that produced the old German
style
stone beer. It's always available in sufficient quantites to be
offered as a standard menu item.

Microbrewery has lost some meaning. Stone Brewery and Karl Strauss
like to call themselves micro while brewing a lot of beer. As far as I
am concerned, if you can buy a 6 pack of it in the store... it ain't
micro brewed.

ScottW

Purchase question
 

On 23 May 2005 11:07:36 -0700, "ScottW" wrote:

Sierra Nevada is ****. Beer has to pass the aftertaste test and after
3 Sierras I'm wondering who puked in my mouth and kicked me in the
head. My sister-in-law left a case of Sierra Oktoberfest Ale in my
frig. I couldn't give that nasty crap away. I'd rather drink Killians
Red than Sierra Nevada.

Well, that's your opinion. I happen to like their Pale Ale. A lot.
It's got just the right amount of hops for a Pale Ale.

I've never drunk their Oktoberfest.

Purchase question
 

On 23 May 2005 11:07:36 -0700, "ScottW" wrote:

Microbrewery has lost some meaning. Stone Brewery and Karl Strauss
like to call themselves micro while brewing a lot of beer. As far as I
am concerned, if you can buy a 6 pack of it in the store... it ain't
micro brewed.

Microbrew has a certain technical meaning which isn't bound by law but
has a pretty common shared expectation among those who care. Some
companies like Sam Adams abuse the term. But I disagree about not
being able to buy their (microbrews) product in the store. To me, it's
more about the care taken in the brewing process. And there are plenty
of "small" breweries like Flying Dog and Abita that have a fairly wide
spread of distribution but still offer a fine, wellmade, almost craft
beer product.

BTW, San Diego is a pretty large place so it's no wonder that they
have a lot of microbrews. I'll say this though, from reading about the
city on wait peoples' sites, it's a horrible restaurant town full of
undertipping guests. Most wait people don't like working there. I've
read quite a few disses of the place.

Purchase question
 

In article ,
dave weil wrote:

On 23 May 2005 11:07:36 -0700, "ScottW" wrote:

Sierra Nevada is ****. Beer has to pass the aftertaste test and after
3 Sierras I'm wondering who puked in my mouth and kicked me in the
head. My sister-in-law left a case of Sierra Oktoberfest Ale in my
frig. I couldn't give that nasty crap away. I'd rather drink Killians
Red than Sierra Nevada.

Well, that's your opinion. I happen to like their Pale Ale. A lot.
It's got just the right amount of hops for a Pale Ale.

I like the Pale Ale, and the Porter, too.

I've never drunk their Oktoberfest.

I've never heard of it, but some dude at beeradvocate.com doesn't seem
to like it: "Astringent."

Better to wait for the Celebration Ale.

Stephen

Purchase question
 

dave weil wrote:
On 23 May 2005 11:07:36 -0700, "ScottW" wrote:

Microbrewery has lost some meaning. Stone Brewery and Karl Strauss
like to call themselves micro while brewing a lot of beer. As far
as I
am concerned, if you can buy a 6 pack of it in the store... it ain't
micro brewed.

Microbrew has a certain technical meaning which isn't bound by law
but
has a pretty common shared expectation among those who care. Some
companies like Sam Adams abuse the term. But I disagree about not
being able to buy their (microbrews) product in the store. To me,
it's
more about the care taken in the brewing process. And there are
plenty
of "small" breweries like Flying Dog and Abita that have a fairly
wide
spread of distribution but still offer a fine, wellmade, almost craft
beer product.

BTW, San Diego is a pretty large place so it's no wonder that they
have a lot of microbrews. I'll say this though, from reading about
the
city on wait peoples' sites, it's a horrible restaurant town full of
undertipping guests.

Horrible restaurants getting undertipped. Oh the horror!

Tourist town. I thought the service in the SD tourist districts was
crap when I first moved here too. I guess people from all over the
country agree with me. Amzed me they could be so bad and still have
lines waiting. Too much demand = poor service I guess.


Most wait people don't like working there. I've
read quite a few disses of the place.


Why don't you tell 'em what you pull down in Nashville? I'm sure
that would that would shut them up.

ScottW

Purchase question
 

On 23 May 2005 13:41:29 -0700, "ScottW" wrote:

Horrible restaurants getting undertipped. Oh the horror!

Well, it's your town. I'm sorry that you suffer horrible restaurants.

Purchase question
 

MINe 109 wrote:
In article ,
dave weil wrote:

On 23 May 2005 11:07:36 -0700, "ScottW"
wrote:

Sierra Nevada is ****. Beer has to pass the aftertaste test and
after
3 Sierras I'm wondering who puked in my mouth and kicked me in the
head. My sister-in-law left a case of Sierra Oktoberfest Ale in my
frig. I couldn't give that nasty crap away. I'd rather drink
Killians
Red than Sierra Nevada.

Well, that's your opinion. I happen to like their Pale Ale. A lot.
It's got just the right amount of hops for a Pale Ale.

I like the Pale Ale, and the Porter, too.

I'll have to try the Porter. The Pale Ale has gotten so popular the
last few parties I went to had kegs of it... noticed everyone quit
drinking beer pretty early. The women mostly hated it and made a
tequila run, once the blender was running and the shots flowing the keg
lost attention. I know its nothing special but I've grown to like Sam
Adams Stout.. Its consistently pleasant, but not the cream though,
yuch.

This thing looks like fun
http://www.allaboutbeer.com/wbf/index.html

ScottW

Purchase question
 

dave weil wrote:
On 23 May 2005 13:41:29 -0700, "ScottW" wrote:

Horrible restaurants getting undertipped. Oh the horror!

Well, it's your town. I'm sorry that you suffer horrible restaurants.

It's a big town as you said, there are plenty of great places if you
have the time to find them. Come to think of it.. my favorite places
are family owned and operated. I doubt they do much posting on
waiters boards.

So, are you telling these unhappy guys on the boards how well they can
do in Nashville? We need to move some of this excess disgruntled labor
into the heartland.

ScottW