Do you love beer (or liquor)? What are you favorites?

[bienc]

So instead of flooding another thead, I decided to start this one for beer (and liquor I guess =P) discussions. What are you favorite beers for all occassions? What do you have in your fridge? Not a beer fan? What about liquor? Want to try good beer? Ask for suggestions!

My current favorites:
Lagunitas Lil' Sumpin' Sumpin' is an awesome "Pale" Wheat Ale but more of an IPA. One of the best smelling hoppy beers I've ever had the pleasure of having.
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is the definitive beer for its style. Don't like the bitter hop taste? Drink this for two weeks and you'll find other beers will start tasting much better.
Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout is roasty, has hints of chocolate and lots of coffee. Great beer for those that don't like the hoppy taste and looking for something that packs a lot of punch.
La Fin Du Monde is an amazing Belgian Strong Ale that has notes of coriander and cinnamon spice and is simply amazing. Can be tried by first-timers but might be a little off putting or confusing. It's flavor is not what most mainstream American people may think a beer would taste like.

[cactux]

tequila

[bienc]

I should have known you would have had started something like this already! What is that leather strap though? Looks like a great brew, I'll have to look around for it!

[bienc]

Oh geez, duh. Didn't even pay attention to the bottom of it. Classy!

[Input Nirvana]

I greatly enjoy the 'act' of beer.

[demik]

too bad the single bottles are pretty expensive.
love this beer so much.



and a blue moon whenever im too lazy to go to bevmo

and for liquor, im a vodka tonic guy.

[sinis]

no lemon
no cranberries
no bull****

[ Attachment Invalid Or Does Not Exist ] 35649[/ATTACH]

no bull**** means also no bourbon
Tullamore Dew or gtfo!

or Ouzo of Plomari.

[bienc]

Demik: I have yet to try Hitachino but I'd love to some day. Their single bottles around here are like 3 bucks! Kinda pricey but I know they're worth it. I actually hated Rogue's Hazlenut. It was way too sickly sweet for me, tasted like they straight up pumped hazelnut syrup in the beer. Didn't sit well with me. Their Double Chocolate Stout was amazing though, had it on tap. Never tried Hoegaarden even though I probably should. Hear it's an ok beer which just has a great history. That Orange Wheat looks good, I'll have to look into that.

sinis: Pilsner Urquell I have yet to try as well. Anything in the lager family I'm a little hesitant even though Urquell has a great pedigree.

[demik]

that's a shame, i love that beer. not too sweet IMO. there is also this french xmas beer that i've been trying to find with no luck. they were having a clearance and i got it for pretty cheap, it's called la choulette de noel.. bevmo doesn't seem to carry it even though i got it from them. and yes, try the hangar 24 orange wheat! also, for cheaper beers.. i was surprised at how good bud light golden wheat was.. especially since the rest of their beers taste like crap and you need 2 kegs to get drunk of them. and yeah, sucks that hitachino is so expensive. i think bevmo sells it at around 4-5 bucks a bottle. i only buy that on special occasions lol.

one beer that i will not drink even if my life depended on it is corona. that beer is disgusting. taste and smells like utter crap. and heineken.

[bienc]

While I really hate Corona, Bud, etc, I'll drink them if it was just a group of friends that didn't like good beer hanging out since it's so cheap. Doesn't get me drunk but it goes down like water after a while. If I'm at home and want something good, I'll have something good. My local brew pubs have great beers, especially Black IPAs. I finally had an RIS that was aged in a bourbon barrel and boy did it take on that smell and taste. It was good, but a little too much for me.

I recommend anything from Lagunitas, especially their Lil' Sumpin' Sumpin' like I mentioned or their Lagunitas SUCKS (seasonal). Both hoppy with great fruity/citrus notes and smells. I love that. Weinstephaner Weiss is also amazing if you like wheat beers.

[demik]

one corona that i could drink is corona familiar. completely different taste from regular skunk corona.

i just can't mess with mexican beers, all that i've tried (and i've tried my fair share being that in mexican and my whole family drinks) i just don't like.

speaking of seasonal beer, <3 sam adams oktoberfest. i wish i had a better selection but i have to make due with w/e bevmo has. what i like to do is grab a case of beer im familiar with and buy a mixed six pack of other beers i've never tried before. which is how i found out about hitachino. but it can get expensive.

i'll try something from lagunitas this weekend

[fireball87]

I'm not the worlds biggest fan, but I do enjoy a few every once in awhile.  Currently my favorite tends to be of the amber variety, currently fat tire, though that's not as good as the amber at our local micro-brew, but I'm too poor for that, seeing as they've raised prices twice this year, and their service went into the gutters.  Beyond amber, I tend to move around pretty wildly, as long as there's decent quality brews for sale.  None of that stupid expensive domestic (non micro brew) crap, it's all terrible, for more or less the same price.

[bienc]

Demik: Where do you live? Bevmo should have great selection. A Total Wine just opened up in the area and it's beer heaven. We had some stores that had great selection but couldn't match the Total Wine. There are some sites that have beer trackers like Beer Advocate that will show you the best places to get beer.

Fireball: Amber variety are great, and Fat Tire is a decent choice. Very bready taste to it that lingers in my mouth, but otherwise good. Where do you live? Perhaps I can point you in the direction of a beer store that might have make your own six-pack options.

[demik]

Los Angeles, I think we have a total wine around here. Or something similar to a total wine/bevmo. I just have to find it.

Speaking of fat tire, tried it once but the after taste tasted milky. And stayed in my mouth longer than I wanted it to.  

What's hard is finding a bar with these on tap. Usually I'm not a fan of beer on tap because a ton of it gets watered down. But I'd like to taste the tap version of some of the beers I enjoy to see how they measure up with each other.

[bienc]

Here's a list of California Total Wine stores, don't know where you might live in LA but I don't think any of those are in LA proper are they?

I'm sure you should have some great brew pubs down there. Also close proximity to SD so Stone stuff shouldn't be hard to find!

[fireball87]

Hays KS, while booze is relatively big business here (a college plus a lot of German Catholics) , I didn't notice anything like that... I wouldn't be too surprised if it wasn't an option here, considering the size of the town.  I suppose I wouldn't know,  I've not been to any of the liquor stores in awhile.  

(side note)One of the good things about hays is that they have a pretty excellent microbrewery (http://www.lbbrewing.com/).  Sadly they're a bit too expensive for me these days, or else I'd likely have a growler in my fridge all the time.  Their brews have largely influenced my taste, as I used to drink there quite a bit when I first "started drinking".  Better then anything bottled I've tried yet by a bit.  They make me seriously hope that wherever I end up moving to for work has a decent micro-brewery.

Fat Tire has two major advantages, one is that it's relatively local (6 hours away is about as local of a bottled micro brew as you'll get), the other would be, it's as far as I know the only available amber at my brothers favorite bar.  And on Tuesdays at 2 bucks a bottle it's relatively cheap there.  I'll switch between various microbrews there, leaving hoegaarden as my second favorite of their stock (which at a small bar isn't all that much, but I can't complain too much), but I still prefer the taste of amber.  Chances are when I graduate and get some money I'll likely get a chance to diversify my beer portfolio a bit more.

[Balgrog]

Being from oregon I have always been a bit spoiled by good beer.
As beer goes one of my favorites is Oak Shire Overcast Espresso Stout
[ Attachment Invalid Or Does Not Exist ] 35677[/ATTACH]

and besides beer I am a whiskey man, Nothing super Petey though. For scotch my personal favorite is Glenmorangie Nectar D'or

[ Attachment Invalid Or Does Not Exist ] 35678[/ATTACH]

And as bourbon goes, nothing beats some Rebel Yell

[ Attachment Invalid Or Does Not Exist ] 35679[/ATTACH]

[bienc]

Balrog: Does the espresso stout taste like straight up coffee? I think I had Lagunitas' espresso stout and I didn't care too much for it. I like coffee but can't drink it black. It was way too much for me. Maybe I'll try some espresso stouts when my pallate develops more.

As for liquor such as whiskey, bourbon, etc. I can't drink those straight. I'd love to be able to sip on them but I tried a friend's Old Fashioned and man, that was a bit too much for me. Again, probably when my pallate develops more. Tequila I've had bad experiences with (Cuervo, ick) and the smell of it makes me gag. If I have the option for better stuff, I'll try it but still hesitant.

Harrison: Thanks for the link for Comman Man Cocktails. I'm at work right now but I'll check it out when I get home.

[Balgrog]

I totally agree with harrison, good tequila is 100x better than jose cuervo. I do NOT drink vodka in any form, or lots of tequila. In highschool I downed a 1/5th of burnetts citrus vodka (think a $13 fifth) in a little under 2 hours and had alcohol poisoning so me and vodka do not mix well. As tequila goes, I like good tequila, and do enjoy tequila cocktails, but if I get drunk off it, I make god awful choices and wake up in the morning with a terrible hang over.

@Bienc, a great drink for you I think would be a whiskey sour, single not double. I like those because it allows you to taste the bourbon in it, but the sour takes away alot of the bite to it. And no the espresso stout does not have a super heavy taste of espresso. It tastes like a good strong stout with undertones of espresso in it.

[HeavyArms]

dundee honey lager
yuengling
victory festbier
new belgium mothership wit
rogue chocolate stout

Thoser are probably my favorite beers off the top of my head.

[digitalleftovers]

Being from oregon I have always been a bit spoiled by good beer.

Ha!  I'm up here in portland, so I have the same problem.

Currently I'm more interested in Liqueur.  My current fav is Zwack.  Its hungarian, not expensive, and delicious.  I tell people that its what they wished that Jagermeister tasted like.

I also REALLY like Chartreuse (the drink, not the color).  Especially the green one (the drink, not the color).  Its french, expensive, and delicious.  I've tried the yellow and the green version.  The yellow is too sweet for me.  With ice, its fine, but just not special enough.  I've yet to try the older vintages, since they're usually over $200/L.

Edit: Apparently Portland is now famous for aged cocktails - yeah, exactly what you were thinking.  Classic cocktail gets mixed, then put in an old win cask and then sits for 5 or 6 months.  I've yet to try them.  Interested to know if anyone else has.

[Balgrog]

Ha!  I'm up here in portland, so I have the same problem.

Oh haha crazy, I was just up their for a starcraft tournament. If you ever are in eugene send me a message and we could grab a beer at the Ninkasi Brewery, or we have a place called the Beer Stein with great food and more than 200 different beers.

[IvanIvanovich]

I don't like the Zwack that is sold in the US, it is too much syrupy than what is sold as Unicum in Hungary, and I wish they sold 'Next' here.
My favorite is vodka, especially Żubrówka which sadly is illegal in the US (toxic schomxic) and I am getting dangerously low on this as well (damn 3 bottle limit). Any Europeans want to send me some?
I drink lots of beer and it is very hard to pick a favorite though I do drink a lot of Obolon Bile, and I favor wheat ales mostly.
I am also fond of sweet wines like Tokaji, Tvishi, Moskately, Khvanchkara, etc.

[Computer-Lab in Basement]

[Lanx]

i'm kinda allergic so if i want to entertain ppl i take a shot and become beet red like an Indian (that's how they described me as).

[Malphas]

I generally choose my beer/spirit based on what has the best ml of alcohol to £1 ratio, so Tennent's Super and Tesco Vodka it is.



If someone else is buying, I quite like Dalwhinnie* and Hendricks.





*Whiskey snobs might criticise this but I prefer Speyside malts and blends, rather than the disgusting Islay peat-flavoured turpentine stuff all the "connoisseurs" like.

[hazeluff]

that costs less than rubbing alcohol! :puke:

That stuff is terible. You know cos it says TESCO.

I love mixers with Whiskey.

My personal drink:
Mountain Dew
Whiskey
Raspberry juice ice cubes in the shape of space invaders.

Hellz yeah ~ >.>

[hazeluff]

All I know about Tesco is Lily Allen songs.
[video=dailymotion;x2fa06]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2fa06_lily-allen-ldn_music[/video]

Lily hit the jager pretty hard in concert but I think she's cleaned up her act.

God I hate jager.  Tastes like distilled lederhosen.

Taste like cough syrup = D

[Balgrog]

@hazelhuff, please for the love of god tell me you don't put nice whiskey in for that drink

[Computer-Lab in Basement]

Taste like cough syrup = D

I agree.  I would rather have Southern Comfort if I were to drink liquor.