| Author | Message | ||
     kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1787 Registered: 05-2005 |
The last time we did this we didnt have as many regular contributors, so time to resurrect. After 6 days solid getting up at 05:30, I have 2 days off now so relaxing with a 6 pack of Heineken. My fave tipple recently is Czech beer, especially Staropramen, only problem is only a few shops sell it. I have to say I never had a bad beer in Australia, and I had a few!! Favourite was James Boags (actually an imported Tasmanian beer) which has to be the most refreshing beer I have ever tasted, they must have great water there. Closely followed by XXXX Gold, and Cascade. I was surprised to find out that Fosters was actaully a bit of a joke beer over there, I hardly saw it on sale anywhere. How am I doing there Padraig? You're going to tell me that the beers I was drinking are all piss water arent you?  | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 646 Registered: 09-2006 |
Cheap but tasty wine I can't even be bothered to check the name of, thank you... | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 647 Registered: 09-2006 |
Oh, wanted to add to the end of that last post: To hell with poverty!!! | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 866 Registered: 08-2006 |
Carded at my local pub last night, helping out the owner who's a friend. Drank coffee with Jameson and Baileys all night. I think I ended the night with a Great Lakes Burning River Ale, brewed in Cleveland. Slept like a baby from 1 a.m. 'til 4:45, when I had to get up and see my sister and nieces off. Today has not been my finest hour. | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 283 Registered: 07-2006 |
gin and chinotto. but it has to be the bisleri brand (oddly enough, now owned by coca cola amatil), not that san pallegrino rubbish. gordons will do for a good mixer. as far as froth goes, still loving tooheys extra dry. hangover free beer - thus far.... | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1707 Registered: 05-2005 |
Not at all Kevin. Great choices. I just bought a case (24 bottles) of Boags myself on Saturday. Cascade is another favourite of mine, and is also from Tasmania. Tasmania is the only state or territory I haven't been to, but I've often thought as you said that they must have great water there. Coopers Red Ale is also lovely - and I'm not much of a one for ales normally. It's from South Australia. I haven't had XXXX Gold often enough to judge it. I remember not liking it's little brother XXXX when I first visited the deep north in 1992 though. I was in an Irish bar last night to watch my county, Limerick, play in the All-Ireland hurling final. We lost. I had planned to drink some Guinness, but I'd had two Coopers Red and a couple of big glasses of red wine with dinner earlier so I ended up just drinking soda water while watching the game. I'm glad of that because we lost the game but at least I'm not hungover too! And I have a day off work. Woo hoo! | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 255 Registered: 05-2005 |
A great summer beer is Boags St George which is like a Corona. Did you drink any reds out here Kevin? I've consumed way too many Wynns Coonawarra Shiraz's (again) this winter! | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1788 Registered: 05-2005 |
Didnt drink any Reds Geoff. What exactly is a Red, is it just an Australian term for Ale as opposed to lager? | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 779 Registered: 01-2005 |
Rob, The Great Lakes Brewery in Cleveland was the first mircro brewery that I had ever been to, circa 1988. I used to travel to Cleveland on buisness once a year or so from 1985-92. It was great watching the area called The Flats being revived. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 868 Registered: 08-2006 |
I had the same experience, Michael. Back in '88, I was just out of school, working as a speechwriter for the Ohio State Treasurer. We had a group of Polish finance officials come to the states to study how state treasuries work in a free-market system (they had just become a democracy) and we took them to Cleveland to visit the Federal Reserve branch there. For dinner, we went to Great Lakes. Our guests got quite lit that night - it was an interesting drive back to Columbus. I'm glad to see the brewery doing so well - I always had much admiration for their concoctions. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 256 Registered: 05-2005 |
Sorry Kevin....(were you ever called Kev out here?) Red...Red wines although there is a Redback ale and (Dr) Tooheys Red which I've never drunk myself. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1790 Registered: 05-2005 |
Sorry Geoff, it was Padraigs reference to Coopers Red Ale that got me confused. No, I didnt drink any red wines, I try not to mix beer and wine and I found that I was drinking lots of beer | ||
| XY765 Member Username: Judge Post Number: 320 Registered: 01-2006 |
Is Monteith's available in Oz? It's a realy tasty beer from NZ that I used to drink, a lot... And you're right Kevin Staroprammen is great, especially on draught...was at a wedding in Prague a few years ago and drank that for a few days. You can get it on draught now in a good few Dublin pubs. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 782 Registered: 01-2005 |
Rob, Did you ever make it to Tangerine Farleys in The Flats before it went belly up? They served the hotest ribs I've ever had. They called them boobala ribs. They also served boobala chicken with the same hot spices and sauce that the ribs had. I thought the sauce was much better than the sauce on the famous Montgomery Inn ribs from Cincinnati, and I've had those ribs many times. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 2230 Registered: 03-2006 |
Mmmm, ribs. Youse guys are makin' me hungry. Do you have any good recipes for making 'em? I bet you do, Rob - you seem to have a flair for making the unhealthy, manly-type fare! Although I'd become pretty much burnt out on beer, I found one that really floats my boat, so I'm back on the train, to mix metaphors. The brewery is called Kona and they're located, as the name might imply, in Hawaii. All of their different beers are good, but I particularly like their "Longboard Lager" and another called "Wailua", which is wheat beer brewed with, believe it or not, passionfruit. No idea why it works, but it's indescribably delicious. Wish I had one now... | ||
| Catherine Vaughan Member Username: Catherine Post Number: 219 Registered: 05-2005 |
Recipe for ribs: Step 1. Leave them on the cow. Step 2. Eat some carrots, they're better for you. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 2235 Registered: 03-2006 |
Excellent point, though carrots don't inspire near the same level of enthusiasm when I fire up the barbie for me mates! | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 871 Registered: 08-2006 |
Ha! Nice, Catherine. While I'm not a vegetarian, I'm sympathetic to the cause. I'm not a huge meat-eater, and I often feel guilty on occasions when I order a steak or some such mammal by-product. But I've never been able to stay away for good. Damn you, tasty cow! Michael, no, I never made it to the place you describe. Sounds like I missed something if their ribs are better than the vaunted Montgomery ones! LK, you know, I don't have a rib recipe. Possibly because I live three blocks away from what many consider the best rib joint in Chicago, Honey 1 Barbecue. I don't get the rib jones often, but when I do it's easily and enjoyably sated! (Don't tell Catherine.) | ||
| Catherine Vaughan Member Username: Catherine Post Number: 220 Registered: 05-2005 |
I think I'm a bit rare (please pardon the LAME pun!) in that I'm a vegetarian with a sense of humour about it. My Dad's a beef farmer for gawd sake! | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 286 Registered: 07-2006 |
you seriously think most of us don't have a sense of humour about it catherine? i know we're often painted as such...and that's what infuriates me a lot more than the actual eating of once beautiful creatures. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1712 Registered: 05-2005 |
Coopers Red Ale, Redback Ale, Toohey's Red... I think you could be onto something Kevin. Maybe we do call our ales reds! | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 790 Registered: 01-2005 |
Tanners Jack, made by Morland of the UK, the same folk who make Old Spleckled Hen. | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 287 Registered: 07-2006 |
i was at a revolting bar last night which inexplicably provided free pots of carlton draught. for a couple of hours anyway. then i said my goodbyes and made my way somewhere much nicer and worthy my actual cash. solidly pissed by that stage though! | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1893 Registered: 05-2005 |
Millers Genuine Draught - Americans dont really make bad beer, or do they? LK, Randy, Jeff, Kurt, Rob etc? | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 998 Registered: 08-2006 |
Kev, back away from the bottle! Americans do make good beer - excellent, world-class beer, in fact - but none of them have Miller on the label! Me: a couple bottles of Fat Tire while I was cooking a fall stew this afetrnoon. I like Fat Tire pretty well, and it did the job. I took a nap at 2 p.m. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 805 Registered: 09-2006 |
American's make plenty of good and bad beer, I'd say. For me the taste is a fringe benefit...effect is 98% of it, and if my budget is low I'll even go for the high-alcohol-content swill you can get for a buck a tallboy. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1894 Registered: 05-2005 |
Rob, really? I have always like MGD, even above BUD which I used to love in my younger boozy pub going days. If you think MGD is bad, wait till you taste Brit lager - yeeeuch!! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1821 Registered: 05-2005 |
Kevin, for a man who likes some well out there music, you have a very Top 40 taste in beer. Top 2 in fact - I recall you bigging up Budweiser (US, not Czech version) here before too. Under the influence of a Wisconsin friend I used to drink MGD sometimes when I lived in Boston, but it really wasn't all that good! Samuel Adams is my favourite US beer by a long chalk. I often used to drink Canadian beer when I lived there though. Molson and Moosehead are both very good. I finished off my supply of Boag's Premium on Friday night so I replenished stocks on Saturday morning. I got a case of Cooper's Red this time though. It was expensive ($52) but you get a lot of bang for your buck - it's 5.8 proof! | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1896 Registered: 05-2005 |
Padraig, gimme a break - you forget I live in the land where the beer is so bad even the dogs wouldnt drink it In my defence, in the last year or so I have talked up "real" Czech beer , "real" Polish beer and "real" Aus beer (after my visits to these countries), and if you lot can big up a watered down album by Wilco I can talk up some watered down beer!!. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1825 Registered: 05-2005 |
Fair enough Kevin! (I didn't big up Wilco btw). Good to see the bhoys back to winning ways. Glad to see our Melbourne homeboy behaving himself and getting a hattrick. He was a disgrace against the currant buns. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1898 Registered: 05-2005 |
Padraig, they were all a disgrace to be fair - it was a bad week all round. Yep, thats his second hattrick this year, not forgetting his winner against AC Milan | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1899 Registered: 05-2005 |
In saying that, I suppose my taste in beer is fairly moderate. I dont care for the "real ale" stuff that serious beer drinkers seem to like - Rob, Fat Tire doesnt sound like a lightweight lager!! Padraig - do you(or did you ever)still drink stout? I was always a big Guinness drinker till my wife objected that I wasnt as fragrant as I once was!! | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 2425 Registered: 03-2006 |
Kevin, not to pile on, but I have to side with the "Miller is not very good" crowd. I might go a tiny bit further and say, in the words of Borat, it tastes like-a shit-a. On the occassions I've been forced to drink it due to there being nothing else at a party or gathering, I've often wondered if it's the sludge they drain out of the tanks after brewing some other beer. Can't you get Coors where you live, man? It's light tasting without having that...fried taste. I'm mostly a vodka man (Absolut), but I do like some of them American beers. A particularly good one I tried recently was Kona Longboard Lager, out of Hawaii. And all of the ones mentioned, Fat Tire (adequately named, as that's what your mid-section'll look like if you have too many) and Sam Adams, etc., are pretty tasty, too. But, as the poet said, good beer is the beer you have in your fridge after the stores close. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1828 Registered: 05-2005 |
Fried is a good description of the Miller/Bud axis of evil LK! Kevin, Guinness was my staple alcohol diet in Ireland. I drink it here occasionally, but usually it's not very good so I don't bother. Most places don't sell it anyway. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1001 Registered: 08-2006 |
I definitely favor full-flavored beers, Kev, which I realize isn't everyone's cup of tea. My very favorite US beers are made by the Bell's brewery in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I had a Luxembourgish guy stay with me a few years ago - someone who'd been weened on Belgian beer - and Bell's was the only brew that brought a smile to his Trappist-loving face. Unfortunately, the brewery became pissed off with Illinois draconian distribution laws (they were essential "traded" from one distributor to another, less desirable one) and pulled out of the state about a year ago, so I have to beg my ex-wife to act as a rum-runner and bring me a couple cases when she comes in from Michigan every few months. Since she drives a Mini, two cases is quite an space committment, so I'm extra grateful to her when my supply arrives. We also have a brewery here in Chicago called Goose Island whose products I like a lot. And the Great Lakes brewery in Cleveland makes a lot of good beers. We're kind of in a microbrewery golden age here in States. There's a huge, warehouse-sized liquor store near my house and the beer aisles are crammed with shelf after shelf of American microbrews. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 2429 Registered: 03-2006 |
You get the ex-wife to bring you beer?!? That's great. What a slickie! Did you ever drink that Chimay stuff, Rob? My redneck brother in law thought that was the best beer ever. We used to sit around watching Saints games and drinking two or three of those and wondering how long it'd take our vision to come back! Details! I've had Goose Island in Chicago, but have never seen it anywhere else. Good stuff - I guess they don't distribute it too widely outside Chi-town. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1003 Registered: 08-2006 |
How 'bout it, LK? We're still good friends, and she's a hell of a woman, even if you factor out her bootlegging talents. I married well - she wasn't so lucky! I like Chimay, LK, but you're right. It'll kill you dead. I visited a friend in Luxembourg back in the late 90s and every bar we went to had Belgian beer on tap. After a week or so I wasn't so sure I'd return to the States with enough gray matter to find my house or remember my Social Security number. So Goose Island isn't in CA? Budweiser actually bought a stake in the brewery a couple years ago, so I thought they'd be more widely distributed. But maybe they just don't make enough of it. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 2431 Registered: 03-2006 |
I must be doing something wrong. I've never really managed to stay friends with any of my exes. Maybe it has something to do with the whoring around, poor hygiene, non-stop playing of Tito Puente records, and the fact that I smoke a big bowl of crack every morning. Haven't seen Goose Island. I should check the huge, ridiculous liquour store they have out here called Beverages and More (BevMo) - they even have Abita Springs from La. (delicious - check it out it you ever see it), so that'd be my best bet... | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 41 Registered: 08-2005 |
Samuel Adams Boston Lager - on offer from Sainsbury's Wolf Blass Yellow Label Chardonnay | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 728 Registered: 08-2004 |
Unspecified vodka. I like the Samuel Adams lagers too, Simon. ... & Chimay & Duvel. I'll drink anything when it comes down to it. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 877 Registered: 01-2005 |
LK, Goose Island is available in the Metro Detroit area. I've also been to the GI micro brewery/restaurant in Chicago in the Lincoln Park district, which is where I first had it. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 2459 Registered: 03-2006 |
Good stuff, MB, but I sadly, don't seek beer out too much these days. Too fattening - it's all the malto-dextrose in it. And, in the way of medical science sucking all the fun out of everything, they're now saying that "belly fat" is the most dangerous to have. It's mainly vodka for me, and the odd cheap bottle of Trader Joe's swill, but if you twist my arm... | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1842 Registered: 05-2005 |
Coopers Red. 5.8%. | ||
| Catherine Vaughan Member Username: Catherine Post Number: 365 Registered: 05-2005 |
Some very nice Coopers Pale Ale, to toast the new Aussie Government - it was the only Aussie beer in the supermarket other than Fosters!! | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 120 Registered: 10-2006 |
My wife, bless her heart, treated me to a bottle of Sassicaia on Saturday, a Tuscan wine apparently created to rival the best Bordeaux, and simply the most beautiful thing I've swigged, or swug, in recent years...almost worth giving up the usual table stuff just to savour a couple of bottles of this per year. Almost. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 2003 Registered: 05-2005 |
Wolf Blass Shiraz from South Australia, a nice cheeky red. With some bottles of Staropramen from Prague before it, and no doubt after it!! |