what a nice day!

[rer233]

beautiful day here in scenic baltimore MD- 67 degrees and sunny- makes me want to drink a beer! 'course when it's cold and snowy, i want to drink a beer too. now that i think about it- when it's 95 degrees with 98% humidity, i REALLY want to drink a beer! Hmm- some sort of pattern emerging??

[splatterdog]

Well, what are you waiting for! Maybe I'll just have to down one for you.

[rer233]

had to do my 30 min on the treadmill. all done now- beer time!!

[emmahumpfritter]

Ha! Yes, beer drinking favors no weather

[Petros]

only occasionally do I enjoy beer, has to be right conditions for me. Now rum I can make use of any time of year: winter is hot buttered rum, rum and hot chocolate, and of course Eggnog with rum at Christmas . Summer there are lots of fun mixed drinks with rum; pineapple juice plus lime and rum; rum and coke, etc. And let us not forget desserts: rum cake, rum filled chocolate, and my favorite, butter rum flambe sauce on ice cream (heat butter and brown sugar in fry pan until caramelized, stir in banana slices, peaches and/or berries, than add rum and let it flame up! pour over ice cream while still in flames. Very yummy! exciting too)

When I go to Austin to visit my daughter I stock up on cheap rum there, I can get half gallon jug of good rum for only about $12! I have been trying to convince my wife we should invest in several cases of it for "emergency" use, make good barter stock when the world comes to an end. she is skeptical of the plan of course.

[solarlord]

whats the best beer in the states now? i dont mean rocket fuel stuff just a regular lager type-DEC

[Petros]

there are so many, both domestic miro-brew and import brands, it would be hard to say what is best. cheap yuk beer seems to be the most popular, I think because of effect, not taste. I like Le Blatts Blue, I think it is from Canada. But tastes very so much, even region to region, it would be hard to know what is "best". Budwiser and Coors both big sellers nation wide, but in the low end of the cost range, I do not think that is a good indicator of quality however.

There is a local brewery that makes a dark pillsner called "Moose Drool" that is popular (I do not care for it, too bitter), and another lighter beer called "Fat Tire Beer" which I like when available. I would rather have a glass of wine if I had the choice, or a decent mixed drink, but I do not drink much in the way of adult beverages anyway. Only in formal occasions, holidays or special dinners with good friends, or during "private" parties with my wife

[ARCHINSTL]

As Petros states, with geographic tastes and the amazing explosion of microbrews, it is difficult, if not impossible to target even a top ten of beers, save perhaps by sales.
St. Louis, along with Milwaukee, were the premier locations for brewers for many years. Now we have only Anheuser-Busch InBev (formerly Anheuser-Busch) and Milwaukee has only MillerCoors (formerly Miller).
In STL, as in other large cities, there are one or two large craft breweries (we have Schlafly) and a plethora of micro-micro brewers and brewpubs. Heck, my own STL suburb of Kirkwood (pop. 27K) has two brewpubs and another on the way! But even large micros have little impact beyond their immediate marketing area.
Sam Adams and D.G. Yuengling & Son are the largest craft brewers in America, but the latter's brews are not available beyond the East coast. I think Adams is distributed nationwide.
Tom M.

[john]

My vote goes to Modelo Negra (nice and smooth, no bite), Guiness, and Newcastle. I don't drink it that often, but guess I like the imported stuff. The smoother the better.
john

[emmahumpfritter]

Thankfully there are too many kinds of beer to ever properly answer that question

I can say: Mass produced domestics such as coors, bud, Miller products are pure and utter crap in both taste and ingredient quality. There's a reason their always pushing the "ice cold" ad angle. Goat piss will go down on a hot day if cold enough (please refer to coors comment above)

Fat Tire USE to be good until it got covertly bought out by coors, now it's too sweet for some reason.

I've been drinking beers from Germany that follow the strict brewing laws (of like 1042 of something like that) four ingredients are allowed. It takes a little getting use to, but then it clicks...this is what beer is suppose to taste like. Simple and good. The "effect" is a kicker too. Price: I find 6 packs of various Germany brands for around 10 bucks a 6 pack. Of course you can buy a case of the Shlitz for that as well....literally

Newcastle on tap does for me in a pinch.

BDN

[Petros]

recently stopped Saturday night at a famous Irish pub down in Pike place in Seattle, Kell's. It was noisy but they had a good Irish band playing traditional music. I had a German beer with a long name I can not remember, but it was popular and served with a slice of lemon in it. Not bad, my wife even liked it even though she never drinks beer.

I have not had Fat Tire for several years now, too bad, all of the good local brands that do well get bought out by the big labels. They are trying to expand their market by buy popular brands. You would think they would get the message that people want good taste and quality. As soon as they cheapen the ingredients the sales drop off, so they go looking for another local brand to buy up. There must be brilliant marketing geniuses at these companies.

Another local brand I like, mostly because of the label: Full Sail Ale. It has picture of a sailboat on the label.

That is also my criteria for buying rum; I only get brands with a picture of a sailboat on the label.