Awesome lines of Beer

Z

Zaij

Vault Senior Citizen
Orderite
Seriously, what the fuck? How can anything be as good as this kind of beer?

Now, I'm by no means a beer chump that drinks the local swill. I've probably tried about 200 different beers in the last two years, but goddamn.

I've only had beers from De Koningshoeven Brewery (makers of La Trappe) and Chimay Brewery (Makers of Chimay... duh), but I'll definitely be trying more. It's weird, I've had more than a few in my time, but I've only just today been hit with the idea of just how awesome these are.

Anyone know any other good lines? Any beer connoisseurs here that have one fantastic beer or another to recommend? I get that there's been "best drinks" threads before, but let's leave this one for the experts (not being elitist).
 
Zaij said:
I've probably tried about 200 different beers in the last two years...

...I've only had beers from De Koningshoeven Brewery (makers of La Trappe) and Chimay Brewery (Makers of Chimay... duh), but I'll definitely be trying more.
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Have you had over 200 different versions of Koningshoeven and Chimay, or what? :P By 'this kind of beer' in the first sentence, are you referring to 'awesome beer'? Aaanyway,

I really like ales like Chimay (blue, red, white), Leffe (blonde/brune), or why not the Dutch La Trappe (double/triple), etc. Ales are kick ass, and are best enjoyed in the evening, IMO. I mean, sure, during warm sunny days I prefer either weissbier such as Hoegaarden Witbier, or Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier - or any ol' Czech lager like Pilsner Urquell, Krusovice, Gambrinus, Kozel, Staropramen, etc. (Not so much Zlatopramen and Starobrno, but I only dislike them in comparison to their Czech rivals). But ale, now that is where it's really at, flavor wise.

I'm also a big fan of British ales. Spitfire, Bombardier, and two of my all time favorites - Old Speckled Hen, and Innis & Gunn. If I'd give you 1 tip that I really like, it would be Innis & Gunn. I don't know how easy they are to come by outside of Great Britain or Sweden. Innis & Gunn is quite popular in Sweden - at least by special ale standards, and we've had several batches of Innis & Gunn made exclusively for Great Britain and Sweden.

(Actually, I looked it up, see bottom of post.*)

The latest special edition Island Cask was 'limited' to 250 barrels, and I farking loved that edition. Before that one there was another Island Cask of a different style, that was limited to 36.000 bottles in total, and that was truly awesome. I still have two bottles in storage, and they've really grown and developed on the bottle. Will be opening them soon, for they are 2007 edition and shouldn't be stored any longer now.

I have a pretty weak ale collection at the moment, but I'm always searching for new limited edition ales to pick up. Plus, nomally, you don't store ale for more than a year or two, unless it's a special edition that was brewed for storing longer - some can not only last but even get better after 5 years or more. (Store a regular lager for a year past the expiration date and it can go moldy and undrinkable, but some ales really grow a lot on the bottle without going bad att all - on the contrary - especially triple ales of course).

Current little collection:

4 Nils Oscar Triple from early 2008 - a very limited edition of only 2000 bottles by the Swedish brewery Nils Oscar, which is my favorite Swedish brewery. Say what you will about Swedish lager, and whatever you say (so long as it's something bad), I will be bound to agree. Swedish lager beers generally suck - all the big brands do. Swedish beer is a disgrace all over the world. However, we have some fucking kick ass ales. Nils Oscar makes a few of them. Anyway, this one is really awesome.
1 Nils Oscar Smoke Porter 2008 edition
1 Fullers 2008 edition
1 Fullers 500 days on oak edition (not same as above, though the above is also 2008)
2 Innis & Gunn Island Cask 2007
4 Innis & Gunn Island Cask 2008

I like the Fullers and Innis & Gunn versions since they come in nice little boxes, like fince scotch, hehe. I've had a couple of nice Belgians in the collection, but they are long since gone, which reminds me I need to stock up.

Oh yeah, Fullers is also one of my favorite beers. Fullers ESB Champion Ale is very nice, and Discovery isn't half bad either.

The Island Cask 2007 edition was fucking awesome when it was new, and I also tried one a couple of months ago, and that one had grown like *hell*. Lots of more whisky flavor, and lots of more woody finish. How that happened exactly I don't know, but it was quite the experience. (All Innis & Gunn ales are stored on oak barrels btw).

* Innis & Gunn (regular, mass market version) is only available in the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Canada and the USA. For a complete stocklist, see here.
 
DirtyDreamDesigner said:
Jesus, not another beer thread.
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You're not an awesome beer person, you wouldn't understand the excitement.

@Luke

That's 200 different types of beers tried in the last two years. As for the type of beer, it's Trappist beer; there's only seven trappist breweries in the world, and one is so damn near exclusive it's impossible to get your hands on a few. And the two I've tried have been so absofuckinglutelytastic it blew my mind. Hence the thread.

Leffe is indeed fantastic, albeit a tad overpriced compared to other beers I've tried (In Australia atleast, anyway). As for Chimay and La Trappe, they're the trappist beers I was talking about before.

I have *Never* found a good Czech or German beer, although my experience in those has been limited to mass produced cheap import and a few other curiosities.

Old Speckled Hen I've tried before, but really do not recall whether it's any good, it was so long ago (on a night out on the town as well, I believe). British beer... :?

Maybe during Zaijtrip 09 I'll have a bit more experience with Brit beer. Really, it's a tad hard to get good imported beers in Australia, I only know of one real speciality shop in Melbourne which could stock any of them. Limited edition runs are particularly hard to find. That said, there are a few quite tasty South East Asian beers around, although none that I thought were good enough to remember the name.

South American Beers - phew. I've only had maybe a dozen of these (all wheat beers) which for their price have been absolutely fantastic, and unlike corona's and such forth, don't need a dash of lemon/lime to make it taste good. One such beer is called Cantina (there's a beer brewed in the same country (El Salvador) which looks almost identical and is called Cabana and tastes pretty much the same), pretty damn good although it's the sort you'd have for an easy pre drink rather than just after dinner watching the sun set or what not.

Australian beers I'm not really that fond of bar one. It's called Knappstein, it has a really fruity flavour, splendid aftertaste and there's something about it that just makes you drink it slowly and savour it.

This one I wouldn't say is a fantastic beer, but I like it because it makes me drowsier than valium. It's called Perla, comes in nice 500ml bottles and is pretty smooth, though that's all I could say about it.

One final beer of choice for me, which since has been taken off the shelves off one of the nearby stores is called Brugge Blond, a belgian beer with an interesting vanilla aftertaste. Definitely worth a shot if you can find it.

I actually have one shelf dedicated to all my favourite beers. If I find a beer that's better than one on the shelf, it gets replaced.

EDIT

If I had a seal of approval, you'd be getting it now Luke.
 
Some good ones in addition to Lukes very good list.

Midnight Sun Porter
Kwak
Triple Karmeliet
Anchor Steam (this one is a little weird...)
Maredsous 6, 8, 10
 
@ Zaij; Hehe, yer, I understood you were talking about Trappist beers, but you started referring to them before you had posted what you were referring to. :P

I looked around and Brugge Blond doesn't stock in Sweden.

IMO, Czech beer should be had in the Czech Republic and on tap. The difference is vast. I've tried many times to have a Czech lager on tap in Prague at noon, and then some canned and exported Staropramen (or w/e) at dinner in Sweden the same day, and it's not even funny. But then again, it's just lager beer - I think almost any lager beer is fine when well chilled and had on a veranda on a hot summers day, but it's not really the stuff I'd elevate to the skies or collect.

I've heard that Westvleteren is available ("illegally"; gray market) at a pub in Sweden, for about 55€ a pop (33cl). It would be fun to try, but then I'd rather fly down and pick up 12 bottles myself (max limit). The other six trappists are available through the state alcohol monopoly stores.

I'll go through the ales I don't recognize in this thread later and search to see if they're stocked in Sweden. :)
 
the three beers i drink on regular basis are Duvel, Karmeliet Triple & Chimay Blue.

WestVleteren is of course awesome, but hard to come by. gotta reserve your crate like months in advance. and well... it's hard to transport your crate (original wooden crates btw) on a motorcycle, so have to arrange a car for this.
 
I gernerally don't drink anything else than Newcastle brown ale, as it's the best beer you can get pretty cheap in norwegian everyday-shops. (mind you Norway has stricter alcohol laws than the vatican)
If I'm not drinking my own homebrewed viking beer. :drunk:
But if you want something really good, try Aass bock beer http://www.aass.no/usa/beerbock.htm
This is a slightly stronger type of dark beer, and I think it's the best beer I've ever tasted, but I guess it's pretty expensive.
 
If you like Chimay you'll definitely like Duvel.

Orkney Skullcrusher is aptly named. Doubt you'll find that in Aus tho.

I remember a friend throwing a party called 'Around the World in 80 beers'. Remember the start anyway. He did manage to get beers from 80 countries in for it.
 
Radwaster said:
If you like Chimay you'll definitely like Duvel.
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what?

there's absolutely no relation? one is a Trappist, the other is a Golden Pale Ale?

that's like saying you'll like Fanta because you like Coke Lemon...
 
BTW any dogfish head drinkers? I'm drinking white and red right now and it is amazing, some nice orange peel, sweet malts, hops... very good stuff.
 
SuAside wrote:
Radwaster wrote:
If you like Chimay you'll definitely like Duvel.

what?

there's absolutely no relation? one is a Trappist, the other is a Golden Pale Ale?
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Drinkers logic 1: OP likes beer C. I like beer C.
I like beer D alongside beer C.
So OP might like beer D alongside beer C.

Drinkers logic 2: Be definite for emphasis.

SuAside wrote:
the three beers i drink on regular basis are Duvel, Karmeliet Triple & Chimay Blue.
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it's hard to transport your crate (original wooden crates btw) on a motorcycle
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Drinkers note 1: I see you like 'em too.
Drinkers note 2: Tried a sidecar? Cornering is much more fun with some weight in there.

Back to beers. Some of the Badger beers are very good IMO. Golden Glory is my current beer of choice for a warm evening.

But you won't definitely like it. :roll:
 
Flop said:
I have a soft spot for Franziskaner Weissbier. Preferably on tap.
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INFIDEL!

It is an unwritten Law that Weißbier only should be poured out of a bottle into the glas!

You are lucky that I not a Bavarian or an Austrian... :wink:


***

Well I prefer chech beer like Pilsner Urquell or Budweiser (Budvar).

Btw. I was suprised by some of the new Russian beer las year. Not bad not bad for literary no beer tradition.
 
I'm rather picky about my first beer, but after 12 or so, I seem to care less and less about the substance and more about the effect.

:drunk:
 
Grin said:
I'm rather picky about my first beer, but after 12 or so, I seem to care less and less about the substance and more about the effect.

:drunk:
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I feel the same way, except I'm only picky about the first beer, if quality beer is readily available. Otherwise, I just go for whatever swill I can get.
 
i'm always picky about beer...

i mean, if you drink a Jupiler or a Stella, you can upgrade to Duvel just fine. and from Duvel to Chimay Bleu or Karmeliet.

but you can't go in the other direction, because it'll make the weaker beers taste like tap water. kinda like heineken always does.
 
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