What's your favorite stout or any beer?

I don't think I ever got to chance to try any American produced fruit beers when I was over there but some (most) of the Belgian fruit beers are just fantastic.

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A "Headlock" is something, as far as I know, a local coffee house came up with. A Guiness with a shot of expresso. It might rightfully be looked upon as polluting a great beer, but it is a taste alternative.The great bargain (or at least is used to be) is Hubber Bock, out of Monroe, Wisconsin. A quality Bock, and still one of the least expensive beers in the store. Way better of a Bock than, for example, Rolling Rock Bock.Anyhow, perhaps the champ, in a quality for the price competition.Moose
(Old computer with a new keyboard - Things are working again)

One brewery that should be a must visit is St. Attila's

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I'm just recovering from flu and this topic comes up - I couldn't face any beer the way I feel at the moment.Anyway here goes -
Stouts - Sam Smiths, Guinness and GillespiesAles - Tim. Taylor's Landlord, Green King Abbot Ale, Caledonian IPA and 80 Shilling, Pendle Witches brew, a local brewer, Marble, produce a ginger flavoured ale and a personal favourite, a small brewery in Plymouth called the Sutton Brewery and I pretty much like all they brewLagers - Loads of Czech lagers, Gambrinus, Radegast, Staropramen, Pilsner Urquell - you can also get dark lagers , Krusowicz (spelling?) sticks in my mindI also like several beers of the Porter variety, I even had a Porter in San Francisco brewed by the Thirsty Bear brewing company, very nice, malty and chocolateyThe problem with anything like this is that the occasion and the taste become mixed up and a memorable gig, pub or outside setting can affect your memory of a beer. I have fond memories of Damm Estrella in Barcelona, sitting in Parc Guell overlooking the whole of the city. Now I know that the beer is fine, but somehow less than the nectar I taste in my memory (it was my honeymoon).Another problem especially here in the UK is cask-conditioned beers. This means that any given ale on any given day in any given pub can be anything from perfect to drain cleaner. Don't get me wrong, cask is better than keg but it can lead to major disappointments if the landlord or cellerman does not know what they are doing. This leads to surprises the other way. While at university I had to go to the Post Office depot to pick up a parcel, but when I got there the van hadn't returned and could we come back later. The depot was out in the middle of a major industrial park and it looked like there was nothing to do. Then I spotted a working mans club and went inside for a beer - it was a warm day and I'd walked 2-3 miles. The beer was Tetleys, a standard bitter beer from Leeds, well known to me as just that, a standard beer. Well, as you can already tell as I'm telling this story nearly 20 years later, the beer was a revelation. If I could reproduce just one pint it would be that one. (although any of the next 6 would also work). It was the combination of a fine conditioned beer looked after by the cellerman.One final thing - fruit beers - euurggghhh.

I'd go with Guiness on tap ... in Ireland.Around here I'll take the local 'micro'brew first, especially since they watered guiness down for americans.

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Hi randman,
Lwenbrau changed ownership at least once in the last decade. It dropped in quality once it became a mainly export beer. It has been improving (though it is not as good as many of the smaller local beers) but the image is still poor. I know some beer snobs who will avoid restaurants that only have it on tap. It works a bit differently here in that the breweries get exclusive contracts with restaurants so if you order a beer it is only from the one brewery.Also, if you drank the beer in Germany, you likely did not get the export version of the beer. Even Augustiner (which is a local brewer) has an export version that a lot of people dislike.I forgot to add to my list the wheat beers or Weissbier's. Franziskaner and Erdinger make some wonderful hefeweisen's. They are really heavy though and if you drink one you feel like you ate a loaf of bread.

Guinness myself, but only if it's pulled in Ireland and only then if it's pulled properly.Good trick with Guinness (and maybe other stouts) when you friend has left to go to the toilet and has left his fresh pint sitting on the table. Make sure the pint has formed that skin it gets on the top surface of the head, place a beermat on top of the glass and leave it for a second or two for the head to stick to it. Pull quickly, vertically upwards to remove the head completely.

Hi Crash: Well, I imagine there are plenty of people who would argue with you about this...but it won't be me. To be honest, I have only tried pumpkin beer(s) on a couple of occasions. Both times the beer was on tap, and both times it tasted awful. I could care less if it has a "delicate nose" (or a cute nose, or big nose, or even a runny nose. If I don't like the flavor...). Also, I think it’s kind of funny how later you call me “trendy and juvenile” while hear you talk about a beers “delicate nose of nutmeg and other spices”. Talk about “trendy” . jeez, do you have to hold your pinky out while drinking it? It's not really an "irrational" hatred...it's a rational dislike of the flavor that turns me off to fruit beers. Perhaps my palate is not as sophisticated as yours. And I didn't call you a girly-man, I simply suggested that perhaps you'd like wine coolers too. I have a trendy, juvenile worship of I beer I have been drinking for twenty some years? How strange. Of course, if you had read my entire post, you would have noticed that I listed a few other beers in addition to Guinness.And I'd love to go out drinking with you anytime Crash. I am certainly open to trying just about any type of beer, and would even be willing to give a pumpkin beer another try. Name a place and time (preferably this summer), and we'll hoist a few. I like a lot of different beers, and actually have quite a variety in my fridge right now. At least eight different kinds, including two bottle of Budvar...the "real Budweiser"...sent to me by a friend that visited the town for which it is named. This thread asked "What is your favorite Stout", and I have yet to try a better stout ON TAP than Guinness

There are three essential questions one must answer.1. Is it the only beer?2. Can I get it open?3. Is it the last beer?Everything else is peripheral.

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and if it's freewell then it's my favorite too ...

Stout on tap - Sam Smiths stout in the UK - not as rich as Guinness but more sharp, bitter and cleansing on the palate. And usually considerably cheaper. If Modulus reads this - try a pint in Sinclairs. 1.60. Wow!(for Manchester anyway).As for Guinness have you had the 8% abv Guinness export (bottled only) - makes you rethink stout!!!

Yes and one other: Are the stores still open?This message has been edited by robinrohan, 12-13-2005 08:51 PM

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I am a self confessed beer drinker. Not wine, not spirits, not cider or perry just beer.I really do not like wine. It's an odd thing. As a wine drinker it seems a valid position to say 'I do not like beer' and all is well. But dare you say, as a beer drinker, 'I do not like wine' you get the response, 'well you have not had a good one' or 'try this XXXXXXXX'. Well I have tried xxxxxx, and I certainly have tried 'a good one', but they all taste like vinegar. Seriously.Beer drinkers have as much legitimacy as wine drinkers have. I would advocate that in the case of cask-conditioned beers and bottle-conditioned beers more so as we are drinking a 'live' product that ages and brews as time goes on. Yet, because the beer drinkers belong , on the whole, to a lower socio-economic class we get the snobby response that our favourite tipple has less importance or validity. Well all I can say to wine-drinkers who do not like beer - 'it's because you have not had a good beer', not, beer is not good.PS Modulus - try the Marble beer house in Chorlton or on Deansgate(opposite the Atlas Bar) - have a Ginger Marble. God may exist after all.

How could I have forgotten that one?We moved to Connecticut from Boston 11 years ago. An Irish-American alcoholic friend, then drinking himself to perdition with great determination and even greater astonishment that it was taking so long, came to visit soon after.We drank what was in the house, and then around 9 o'clock headed out to the package store. We learned to our horror that they closed at 8 p.m. He turned to me with dismay and exclaimed, "You can't live here!"Later I came to understand that the state budget depended heavily upon DUI fines, so we were being encouraged to drive to bars. Now they have liberalized and close at 9, so the hazardous driving time starts an hour later.

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Omnivorous, if you have to go to a "package store," you are definitely in the boondocks.This message has been edited by robinrohan, 12-13-2005 09:03 PM

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"And from water we made all living things."-- The Quran