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I've noticed that too.
Also, I don't think I've ever seen anyone drink an actual Coors, it's always Coors Light. Noxious stuff.
You should check out some of the Quebec cheeses. They take their work very seriously, and produce some really nice stuff.
Amen brother.
If either is offered, any time any place, I always say, "no thanks, I'll just have tap water please."
Butt-wiper has established itself through a combination of mass marketing and the reliably ignorant taste buds of the American drinking public.
Coors Light is lightly flavored water, completely devoid of alchol or taste.
Over 40+ years of imbibing I find Heineken's a reliable brew which is typically offered everywhere throughout the US and Europe.
But then again, it's all a matter of taste.
Most definitely the original, since at 150 lbs what's the point of a diet beer? And I repeat: Worst. Beer. Ever. Meaning. Coors. Original.
If you drop the PA minimum to 5000, he's only behind Mike Schmidt.
Duvel also has 7% less beer in the bottle & comes in 4 packs that cost twice as much as a 6 pack of Budweiser. Still, I agree with the sentiment; it's generally a decent enough value. The problem is that Duvel is a good sipping beer that's tough to drink more than a couple of. Sometimes you just want to drink 3 oz. of a beer in a swallow and feel refreshed.
Budweiser beats out Modelo Especial and Red Stripe as the best beer in its class (backyard American lager). There are a lot of beers in different categories that accomplish that same mission. Hoegaarden, Hacker Pschorr, Paulaner, Hefeweizen, Heneiken, Brooklyn Lager, Stella, various Goose Island concoctions, etc. Those beers usually have more assertive flavors, though.
It was all about the idea of something new, different, and kinda taboo.
A lot like the recent uprising in popularity of "microbrews".
It takes a lot of effort to be cool.
You know what "popular" beer I've never tried? Foster's. I've never had a giant can of Foster's. Is it worth bothering?
Just after "the reliably ignorant taste buds of the American drinking public" comes "the reliably gullible American assumption all things Eurpoean are superior to American."
Stella is the Milwaukee's Best of Belgium. Also, Heineken is skunky and it says a lot that Heineken Light actually tastes better than Heineken. Check out the marketing of Carlsberg in Europe and then in the US.
Regarding cheese. It is generally agreed that American cheese was a substandard product, until an American food renaissance began in the late 80s. Since, both fine dining and world class artisinal cheese production has blossomed in America. To the point that America produces just as good restaurant quality and cheese that can compete with any in the world.
If you are paying $15/pound for European cheese, I'm not saying you are a sucker, but I will suggest that you will find an American cheese that is cheaper and just as good if not better, esp if you are located in Iowa. Wisconsin, Vermont, California, all produce an impressive array of artisanal cheeses.
To some of us, it just comes naturally.
Microbrews have been going strong for at least 20 years now or so. I don't think they're a recent fad. They generally offer more choice and a better product. I'm very thankful for the microbrew revolution.
Check the can and see if it's actually brewed in Australia, and a true import, or just brewed under license in the US. If it's the latter, don't bother, as I've been told by quite a few people that it tastes quite different from the way it's brewed in Australia. That's not to say whether or not it's a good beer, but just that it'll give you a misleading indication of what "True" Foster's tastes like.
I don't think I have either. Is Foster's popular? It's actually possible that I've never seen anyone drink it. The Aussies I know call it their Budweiser and never touch it, so I'm not planning to bother unless it's free.
I find that most everywhere I've tried it Heineken has an unpleasant sourness to it - could be refrigeration/transportation problems.
Bass Ale is usually reliable when you're out.
Blue Point Ale is inconsistent it ranges from merely good to absolutely incredible...
RE: Fosters
Foster's is okay, nothing special, at least the version they sell in the US. Budweiser is a fair comparison.
I find that most everywhere I've tried it Heineken has an unpleasant sourness to it - could be refrigeration/transportation problems.
I tend to dislike Heineken, too. I've heard the green bottles #### the beer up, but this starts to get to a level of expertise beyond my own.
It was all about the idea of something new, different, and kinda taboo.
A lot like the recent uprising in popularity of "microbrews".
It takes a lot of effort to be cool.
Some of those microbrews are pretty good, but your general point is well taken. My favorite example of this (not concerning a microbrew, but the principle is the same) was a few years back when Pabst Blue Ribbon used to hire college girls to start hanging out in pubs and bars, with the sole assignment of coming up to strangers and asking them if they'd tried Pabst, because "everybody" was "saying" that it "really rocks."
I think that this sort of thing has something to do with why America will always be Number One.
I tried it once, at a bar where I know the bartenders(i.e. I don't get charged for drinks). It is suprisingly good given who makes it. I would say it is a pretty average amber type ale.
Yes, many of these beers are excellent, Unibroue, Brooklyn IPA and Dogfishhead IPAs; however, the problem with high alcohol content beer is the challenge with making the flavor of the beer balanced. Typically, these (Belgian) high alcohol content beers taste like maple syrup, sugar. The reason for so much sugar is because of the need to create a balance between the flavors, as high alcohol can produce an excessively bitter taste (I believe).
I think too many people think there is something cool about a 9.0% beer, in a frat-boy kind of way. I'm missing the taste of a German style beer at this point in time.
I'm sure somebody here is a beer/brewing expert and can contribute more than me on this subject.
I certainly don't buy cheese that expensive unless I want something very specific. And there is good cheese to be found (Although still probably nothing from Quebec). I'd go to the organic store to find it there, but then I'd either be going out of my way to buy just cheese at the organic co-op, or I'd buy the rest of my groceries there just for the cheese.
Besides, even that cheese is ~$8/lb. which is still hard to get used to after a prolonged stretch of Gouda at ~$2.50/lb.
So reet, daddy-o.
I agree with this 100%. I ask if you are referring to Blue Point on draught or in a bottle?
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel newspaper did an investigation about 4 years ago where they went into bars, restaurants, taverns, etc.....to take a sample of beer on draught for testing. They tested for bacteria count, to see if bars actually cleaned their lines (in the recommended 2 weeks) or not. The results were surprising (to me at least). I believe well over 50%, actually closer to 75% or more, of locations, the beer had a bacteria count that was greater than it should have been, some samples the count was off the charts.
We all have had this before, a beer that tasted smelly, skunky, like rotten eggs. This is usually due to a unclean line. Many of the locations tested were good, reputable businesses, some high end as well. Considering the rate of drinking of the city of Milwaukee, I have to think the rest of the country is actually worse off, regarding clean lines. In the NYC area, I think I can taste the problem in 50% of locations. It is a terrible problem as far as I am concerned, epidemic and it destroys the flavor of the beer.
-- variously attributed
Wow, I just checked my fridge, I have a Maytag Blue Cheese (Iowa) in my fridge. Price, $14.99/lb. It is very good, but I figured it was <$10/lb. I bet you could get it in Iowa for $9.99/lb.
Me, too. Winter is the only time I'll drink Guinness, for example. And man, it's Guinness weather tonight. Brrrr!
In the NYC area, I think I can taste the problem in 50% of locations. It is a terrible problem as far as I am concerned, epidemic and it destroys the flavor of the beer.
Which is why it's bottles only for me. I hate when I order a beer and they bring me something from the tap.
edit: One last beer note before I leave. I've noticed the last few years that Sierra Nevada has really taken off in NYC. For some reason this makes me happy. If I'm loyal to a brand of beer, it's probably Sierra Nevada.
bottle
I have lived to see the fall of the Berlin Wall and the proliferation of decent American beer. The former was more important historically; the latter has been more important personally.
For imported bottled beers, I prefer Fischer.
As to this bit of snark, I realize that beer competitions divide up the categories very narrowly so that as many beers as possible can win awards. That doesn't necessarily make it invalid. It's like the Sideways ######## about Pinots and not drinking a ####### Merlot. I don't like Sam Adams much, but I know a lot of beer-types that do. It doesn't mean I'd call it crap.
that says everything about your logic.
:-)
Beano, are there any other ones which you can recommend among American artisinal cheeses? I'm always looking for something new and, despite not living in the US, I'm not too far from an absolutely top tier cheese shop which does a lot of importing, so there's a decent chance I'll be able to get at least some of them. I'd be interested, even just to compare it against the various Canadian artisinal cheeses I've tried.
Comparing beers is always tough because they are so different but I think a food analogy works quite well. Guiness would be a dessert while American beers would be chips. Nobody wants to eat cake for three hours straight so they fill up a bowl with Ruffles. People drink more beer during these social events in this country than in others where they go to the pub and hang out for 5 hours sipping on dark beers. I enjoy doing either one myself.
My favorite beers are as follows Victoria Bitter, Hinano, Pacifico, Boddington's, Newcastle, Guiness, Fat Tire and for something to throw back Coors Light. I'm not a big fan of IPA's or Wheat beers for the most part.
Oh ya and Bud (aka B+) is good but B- is bad and Coors Light (aka C-) is good but C+ is terrible.
Same goes for soda's I can drink Diet Pepsi (my parents drink it) but regular Pepsi is nasty, regular Coke is good but Diet Coke is gross. Also Soda in a glass bottle (no high fructose corn syrup) is best when available.
you've got to be kidding me.
also, heineken is one of the worst beers ever. what beano said about reflexive assumptions that something european is inherently superior. one of the few times i'll go on record agreeing with him.
Killians isn't terrible...
(high praise)
worst beer ever? I haven't tried it in 20 years (and 20 years from now I won't have tried it in 40 years), but Meister Brau is godawful
Golden Anniversary Beer. Literally caused gagging among my college-era drinking buddies, and these were guys who thought Busch was a superpremium beverage. Undrinkable by normal means... strictly for use with funnels/shotgunning.
American style lagers: Red Stripe, Singha, Dos Equis, Modelo Especial, Tsingtao, MGD, Coors, PBR, Old Style, Rolling Rock, Corona.
Great question. I really don't think I am qualified to give you an extensive list and reasons why one particluar cheese is great. I do know a few that I have purchased that I feel were as good as any cheese I've had and one that I could eat all day. I try all different types of cheese (hard, soft, goat, cow) and frequently I find I enjoy all of them. So I think it is safe to say my palate is not discerning just yet, I've only been sampling a variety of cheese with an eye for quality for the past few years.
However here are a few I buy whenever I see them. They are each very basic cheeses, in that they are versatile, I can use them in cooking, sandwiches, with wine/crackers, or when I just want to snack.
Roth's Private Reserve (raw cow milk cheese)
Pleasant Ridge Reserve (same)
BelGioioso - Fresh Mozzerella
Roths and Plesant Ridge are both what I imagine cheese to be. Rich in flavor, firm, mouth watering and complex yet smooth. I'm confident each of these are excellent and would be considered so. Remarkable considering neither are not "tricked up" with spices, or fruits.
As I mentioned, Maytag Blue Cheese is in my fridge, it is very good, but I really don't have a very good idea why it is very good, other than it tastes rich, complex and it feels good in my mouth. I also have Chevre, a Vermont goat in there, it also is something I really like. But few cheeses I have tasted I didn't like. Just cheese that is better than others. Of course I want flavor--a bland cheese is a cheese I don't like. I'm from Wisconsin, so I tend to buy Wisconsin cheese when I see it.
Gotta go with Steel reserve.
Suprisingly drinkable 40oz? Country Club
Absolutely something called Jag Ice. Tastes like someone left a vat of Olde English out in the sun for a week and allowed it to collect random detritus.
Beer 30 is pretty terrible too. Absolutely the Hawkeye Vodka of beers.
"Drinkability" is not an accidental word. The market research likely showed that American beer drinkers have tried many micro-brews and European style beers, the feedback must have been, (just making this up-of course) "sure I like a micro-brew or a Guinness, but when I want to drink 3-4 with the guys watching the game, I want a drinkable beer. A beer I can have 3-4 or more of without the beer becoming overwhelming."
This has to be the rationale behind Bud Light ads. I can't say I disagree with this insight either. Many times I just want to drink 4 beers and this is when I can sacrifice richness that builds up quickly, for the taste of 4-5 American style beers, which can taste better in the mouth after 3-5 than your microbrew does.
That being said, here is my list of acceptable macro-brews or better stated, large ad budget beers:
Premium Grain Belt (midwest)
Miller Lite
Guinness
Dos Equis
MGD
Becks
Tsingtao
I can binge on these. I would never choose Coors or Bud Light, based on alternatives. If I was going to have 1-2 beers, then I would want an entirely different beer and that list is quite long. I don't think anyone is saying American beers are great, just they work well when drinking a lot (of course not all of these listed beers are American).
In my high school days, cost was the number one factor in the "favorite beer" category. We could get a case of Red, White & Blue for about six bucks. That worked fine with us.
One night, while making a trip to our favorite bar with a liberal carding philosophy, we spotted something called Indy 500 beer. It was ninety-nine cents a six pack. Bingo!
It tasted like the brew tanks they used for it doubled as skunk fermentation containers. It was the first beer I poured out rather than finished.
There's a bar in St. Louis called the Tin Can, where on occasion I like to relive those bygone years and have myself a Milwaukee's Best. Of course, for the price of four now, I used to get a case.
Since this thread is all about snobbery, if it's packaged, it's not fresh mozzarella. Hell, it's not really fresh unless it was made at the place where you are purchasing it and in the past few hours.
That's far more annoying than fetishizing the European monk beer that's sold in champagne bottles.
What's wrong with fetishizing that stuff, many of those beers are truly excellent. Hell, I am probably going to pick up a bottle of Westmalle Tripel after work.
However, I don't know if I'd ever order one in a bar - too much activity. 40s are strictly a sedentary beverage, I think.
This has to be the rationale behind Bud Light ads. I can't say I disagree with this insight either. Many times I just want to drink 4 beers and this is when I can sacrifice richness that builds up quickly, for the taste of 4-5 American style beers, which can taste better in the mouth after 3-5 than your microbrew does.
This is quite possibly true. It's also why when going out for a night at the bars, I will often start with a few "good" beers and then switch to the swill(Bud Light) later in the night.
I can't disagree with you. But I was indeed referring to unpackaged cheese. I've had this in Madison and on pizza in Madison, it became very popular, then eventually got a distribution agreement when put in packaging fit for kraft. While it is still good, I agree that fresh mozz is something that is less than 1 day old.
I forgot Shelburne Farms (Vermont) Smoked Cheddar. I get this a lot.
But about everything else...
I kid, I kid!
I went with a 6 pack of Leffe/Guinness tonight. The Guinness because it's cold outside and I'm trying to decide if I like the Leffe enough to put it in the rotation. I may have been too hard on Budweiser. The Molson Ice they had at the deli certainly sounds worse than Bud.
It was mentioned upthread by someone else as well, but I don't understand this. The weather is irrelevant, it is always a good time for a Guinness...
Which goes to show you that a hick with money and an education is still a hick.
Any top cheese you recommend? How about a French cheese? I need some direction there.
Nothing's wrong with it really. What annoys me is the belief that any beer with 10% alcohol and a picture of a monk on it is good. Believe it or not, there are pretentious Whole Foods employees / Map Room (Chicago beer afficionado bar with a nice beer selection) ######## who think that price = quality. The tendency among some to be unreflective about these things annoys me. There's tons of good beer out there in the world. There's probably more bad ones out there, too.
Beano, thanks for the recommendations. I'll see if I can find them. I think I've seen the Roth's before, but I haven't tried it.
In terms of French (and Quebecois) cheeses, I'll see if I can provide you with a couple recommendations later - my memory for specific names is bad, so I keep them written down somewhere that I'm not right now.
boy, i really liked the first sixpack of that stuff that i bought, and have had to swear it off since. besides, the price of bud went down almost to steel reserve levels, so i figured what the heck.
my relationship to beer is more utilitarian than the sip-it-at-a-pub-or-microbrewery mentality, though i do enjoy doing that. i need something i can hammer down when i want to drink beer, which is usually in the summer months. its still been cool enough where i live (up until this week) for me to stay with red wine, my drink of choice when its cold. and since i don't like paying a lot for wine, i end up drinking lots of charles shaw, also known in these parts (L.A.) as 'two-buck chuck'. i love it.
so i've come out for bud and two-buck chuck. blame it on my g.f. making me economize.
Don't feel too guilty about the two-buck chuck. It does a lot better in the blind taste tests than a lot of wine snobs like to admit.
as giamatti said in 'sideways', its 'quaffable'. one of the funniest lines in the movie.
Any top cheese you recommend? How about a French cheese? I need some direction there.
I wish I could help. I like good cheeses myself, but I am no expert. The fresh mozzarella thing is just a personal thing with me. I love that stuff with a passion. Thankfully, I live near several Italian deli's that make it and when I do buy it, I buy a pound and I can eat that by myself before it stops being fresh.
Strictly free-basing for you, huh?
Freebasing Diet Coke? Yes. I get about 40-60 oz a day of that stuff.
Wow. MyCokeRewards fan?
Dos Equis is the best one on that list.
I've found that with wines it's possible, if you do your homework, to get some really outstanding bottles for less than you'd pay for wine that's generally acknowledged to be bad.
Beers, I've found that I usually get what I pay for. That's not to say every expensive beer is good, but cheap beer is almost always swill.
This stuff is awesome bro!
Jeez. Are they marketing those bottles to lesbians?
Wow. MyCokeRewards fan?
Just for the GameTap subscriptions.
Edit: It's also called awesome bro so that makes it even more funny.
How come I can easily find regular Coke, Diet Coke, Caffeine Free Diet Coke, but not Caffeine Free regular Coke?
I've got a question for you all: I've hated every beer I've ever tried. Haven't tried a lot of beer, but every time a try I just find the alcohol overwhelming and bitter. My pet theory is that I taste alcohol stronger than most; my wife sometimes has trouble just picking out the alcohol in certain drinks that I find to have a very strong alcohol taste.
Anyway, I'd like to improve my manliness quotient and actually find a beer that tastes good and I enjoy, any suggestions?
You might want to start with Blue Moon-type beer. That's what the non-beer drinkers I know go for. Allagash is the best I've had. Somebody more knowledgeable than I might know officially what they're called (White/Belgian White is what I've heard). That might be your best shot at easing into it.
Taking the shuttle into the entrance, we passed by a cooling pond outside the factory. The bus driver/tour guide says, "Most people think it's Keystone in there, but I can assure you that's not true."
I thought they were knocking a rival, but shortly discovered that Coors actually brews Keystone. Even they openly think it sucks.
They served the Coors/Coors Light so damn cold you couldn't taste anything but vague beer taste.
Glad to see, too, that most responded to the question of Rickey beating Joe with a resounding "YES!"
You know what "popular" beer I've never tried? Foster's. I've never had a giant can of Foster's. Is it worth bothering?
- it is really great for boiling hot dogs in
and the nasty green kind of fosters is great in the chili. be sure to boil it for 5-10 minutes first though
Just keep it on a career basis and we can all be friends.
And Greenleaf may have been better than the Mosc, too.
plblblblblblb!
Randy Jones,
Any top cheese you recommend? How about a French cheese? I need some direction there.
I wish I could help. I like good cheeses myself, but I am no expert. The fresh mozzarella thing is just a personal thing with me. I love that stuff with a passion. Thankfully, I live near several Italian deli's that make it and when I do buy it, I buy a pound and I can eat that by myself before it stops being fresh.
- you are lucky
don't think we got italian delis that make mozzarella here in houston - closest i can get is whole foods and i bet it is over 24 hrs old.
but oh, what a treat
I never really weighted in on this, not that people are waiting.
Let's put it this way, if Martians came to planet Earth and demanded to play a baseball game for the survival of Earth, the first name I'd put on the lineup card batting leadoff would be Rickey Henderson, playing LF. I'm pretty sure I could find 6 other guys to play CF/RF before Joe D.
Seriously, you'd never take Henderson over Ted Williams (or Barry Bonds) in this case. In a game where you can have anyone from major league history batting second, third, and fourth, why would Rickey Henderson's speed advantage matter? The guys batting second, third, and fourth are going to have power up the wazoo, so there's no need to risk stealing bases or going first to third on a single.
Williams LF (or DH, in which case Bonds is LF)
Hornsby 2B (my light-hitting bat-control second baseman)
Ruth RF
Gibson C
Pujols 1B (or that Gary Cooper guy. I'm fine with either).
Mantle CF
Wagner SS
Schmidt 3B (though, in all seriousness, Alex Rodriguez isn't that far off, depending on how we account for his Gold Glove play at a more difficult position)
Martinez P
Sure, there could be other variations of the above. And really, I went out of my way to pick for offense (without getting too silly by, say, putting Foxx at 3B) so in places like LF and 2B and C and CF, one might easily think of players who might merit playing ahead of the aforementioned when all facets of the game are considered.
Still, Henderson wouldn't be on my 25-man roster except possibly as a pinch runner, and I suspect I'd find guys who I could use to pinch run instead, probably from my backup centerfielders.
How do you know he wouldn't be playing for Mars?
Ricky Henderson..15.3, 13.2, 12.1, 10.7, 10.6.....189.9...350.6
Joe Dimaggio.....14.2, 13.5, 11.7, 11.7, 11.0.....121.9...281.3
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