Pale Moon forum

I'm not a big beer drinker. Suffice to say, I'm now looking at what some call "craft beers". Small breweries brewing lagers and ales with more taste than the present big mega breweries like Coors, Budweiser, Miller, Anheuser Busch, etc.

Finding craft beers is more of a problem since many local grocery stores where I live (out in the boondocks) don't have a very large selection. The HEB grocery store chain has the most craft beers in the state (Texas) where I live and at reasonable prices. My first craft beer was Samuel Adams "Boston Lager". My taste buds liked it, but it didn't knock my socks off either. My second craft beer was Samuel Adams "Cold Snap" which is a seasonal beer. My taste buds like it better than Boston Lager, but alas, you can only get it int the winter time.

My third beer was "Blue Moon". My taste buds liked it better than Boston Lager or Cold Snap. But I sure didn't like the taste of the "sediment" at the bottom of the bottle. My fourth craft beer was Sierra Nevada "Pale Ale". My taste buds definitely liked this beer of all the ones I had previously tried. My fifth beer was Sierra Nevada "Torpedo" and this was way too hoppy for my taste buds. Tasted like a "grapefruit" and it was bitter.

Then I decided to try a cheaper lager so my sixth beer was a brown colored one named, Anheuser Busch "ZiegenBock". My taste buds like this cheaper lager. But, back on the hunt. My seventh beer was Guinness "Blonde American Lager". It didn't wow me. Decided to try another cheap beer which led me to my seventh beer, Shiner "Premium" and it was okay for a watery lager. The kind you'd drink on a nice 102 F degree day after mowing the lawn (and today it is supposed to reach 104 F degrees).

For my eighth beer, I tried Kona's "Island Lager". Didn't wow me. My ninth beer was St Arnolds "Fancy Lawnmower". This is one my wife likes, but it didn't wow me since this is a lager. The ones with the taste I liked seemed to be ales. Sierra Nevada "Pale Ale" is the best one I've tasted so far. So I surfed the internet and YouTube and ran across a guy on YT and his channel is "Louisiana Beer Reviews". I reviewed all of his reviews of the beers he's tasted and I think his taste buds are like mine. Of the beers I've tasted as well as he's tasted; what he liked, I liked. What he didn't like, I didn't like.

So I've decided to lay off the lagers for awhile. I'm going to be sticking with some ales for the time being. The "Louisiana Beer Reviews" had two craft ale beers which the guy liked and I looked them up on the internet. They are Full Sail "Amber Ale" and Alaskan "Amber". I went to down to one of my nearby HEB grocery stores (which sells single bottles or single cans of beer) with my better half and I found the Full Sail "Amber Ale" and the Alaskan "Amber". Bought a single bottle of both and both of them have been chilling in my fridge for two days now. I'm going to first drink the Full Sail "Amber Ale" and then on a different day, the Alaskan "Amber".

In closing, if you're drinking craft beers, either lagers or ales, what do you like?

I'm an ale drinker and really like hoppy and bitter varieties. Lately I've been enjoying Surly Furious, but it's only available in Minnesota, so I don't get it often (since I live in Ohio). Any of the New Belgium Brewing lables are good, I think that you might enjoy Fat Tire, my favs are Ranger and Rampant. I agree with you too regarding Sierra Nevada and buy their labels now and then.


If you ever get to Cincinnati you'll be in Ale Heaven, lots of great microbreweries there.

The Sierra Nevada brewery is in California. Full Sail brewery is in Oregon and Alaskan brewery is in Alaska. Even though I haven't tasted Full Sail "Amber Ale" or the Alaskan "Amber"; if I like them, then my taste buds for ales is gravitating towards what the brewers on the West Coast of the US brew.

If my wife cooks the two big seasoned salmon patties on the grill tonight (along with some grilled whole roma tomatoes) and serves them on a nice kaiser bun with french fries, Bush's baked beans (in the flavor of "her" choice) and some cole slaw, I'm going to have that bottle of Full Sail "Amber Ale". My wife will probably have the lone bottle she picked up, St Arnold "Oktoberfest". She likes St Arnold "Lawnmower" so she decided to go with another St Arnold beer to be on the safe side.

I told my wife I like Sierra Nevada "Pale Ale", but Sierra Nevada "Torpedo" was too hoppy for me. Hope she doesn't have the same thing happen to her with two different St Arnold beers. I try to stay away from seasonal beers because if I like a particular one, I can only get it three months out of the year. This is main reason why I like to sample the year round craft beers.

I already get a headache, when I read the names of those beers. Good thing about being Northern(!) German, every beer here is at least drinkable. Even though we have Womens beer (stuff called "gold" ) that has a slight taste of mineral water.

SvenG wrote:I already get a headache, when I read the names of those beers. Good thing about being Northern(!) German, every beer here is at least drinkable.

I guess you wouldn't be interested in Lost Coast "Alleycat Amber" ale. If I could find it where I live, I'd sample this one since I'm the adventurous type and since I like cats, I'd have to sample it. BTW, lots of these craft beers we've already mentioned, they're highly drinkable according to the reviewers on YouTube.

I prefer ales, as well, specifically the Belgian ones. All these "pale ales" people craze about and that actually pushed good stuff off the shelves lately can crawl into a corner and die for all I care, though. And Ale is supposed to be full and round, not skinny like those IPAs

My all time favorite is "Gulden Draak" from brewery "van Steenberge". It's widely exported so you should be able to find it around the globe.

Some lagers are okay, though, but I tend to not like the hoppy or overly bitter kinds. No Singha, Heineken, and what not for me, thanks.

@Moonchild,

The problem we have in the US, not all craft beers whether they be good, poor or bad, are available. For example, ZiegenBock is only sold in the state of Texas and no where else. Surly Furious is only sold in the state of Minnesota and no where else. We can only sample a craft beer by shopping at a very large grocery chain (in Texas) where the two biggies here are HEB and Kroger. These two chains carry lots of craft beers from the watery to the very stout and everything inbetween. But they can't carry EVERY craft beer whether the beer is domestic or imported like your "Gulden Draak".

I've enjoyed reading the posts on this thread. I used to drink Sam Adam's Boston Lager a long time ago. Today, with supporting a family and the economy the way it is, I'm stuck buying Milwaukee's Best or some other low-end brand. But back then, I was more concerned about buying my beer in bottles, not cans, instead of buying any one particular brand. To me, beer just tastes better out of bottles. The best though is from a tap. When I was a teenager we had beer on tap in the house. Nothing tasted better than that.

Here in Utah we have a local beer called Polygamy Porter. Their tag line is "why have just one?" I've never tried it but have been meaning too. Maybe I'll try it out soon, since reading this thread.

Well, we had the salmon burgers with all the fixings tonight. But, I didn't get to sample my Full Sail "Amber Ale". The wife wanted a mixed drink tonight with her salmon dinner. She had a whisky and coke made with George Dickel #8 and coca-cola. She made me a whisky sour made with the same George Dickel #8 and a liquid sweet and sour mix.

I'm now hoping for a steak dinner sometime later this week when she'll have her St Arnold "Oktoberfest" and I will have my Full Sail "Amber Ale". I'm holding off on my brew so I can sample her "Oktoberfest" and she can sample my "Amber Ale".

I am not a real beer fan, usually I find the liquor too bitter for my tastes. But if I must choose a beer, I opt for Coors Lite just for Beerwolf nostalgia. XD

Okay, I tried liquor in cook recipes, like beer chicken/beer or desserts, so that doesn't count either I guess.

lobocursor wrote:I am not a real beer fan, usually I find the liquor too bitter for my tastes. But if I must choose a beer, I opt for Coors Lite just for Beerwolf nostalgia.

I've drank our domestic beers like Bud, Coors, Miller, Anheuser Busch, etc. The beers by these breweries are what I call "session beers". You can drink them all day long. The alcohol content is basically around the same 4.4% to 5% and they taste about the same too except for the beechwood aging of Bud. They are refreshing and when served ice cold, good beers to drink after mowing the lawn on a 90 F degree (or hotter day). Downing two of these beers one right after the other is easy.

I just wanted something with more taste. Some of the craft beers I've seen on the internet contain as much as 10% (or more) alcohol with a hoppiness of 70 or more on the bitter scale. A person isn't going to down a six pack of these types of beers quickly like he could with the beers I've mentioned in my second paragraph.

Basically, american beers from the big breweries above are adjunct beers since many of them contain "corn" to make their beer. Many craft beers do not contain corn. Craft beers are usually smaller breweries catering to a small select fan market.

One of the best selling american craft beers is Sierra Nevada and their #1 beer is their "Pale Ale". I do not care for bitter lagers or ales and Sierra Nevada's "Torpedo" is bitter to my taste buds. Like I said before, it has a strong grapefruit taste to it for my taste buds and I'm sure it is the hoppiness of their hops in this ale which gives it that taste. I think they have a method to increase the hoppiness too in this ale.

One of the best selling american craft beers is Sierra Nevada and their #1 beer is their "Pale Ale". I do not care for bitter lagers or ales and Sierra Nevada's "Torpedo" is bitter to my taste buds. Like I said before, it has a strong grapefruit taste to it for my taste buds and I'm sure it is the hoppiness of their hops in this ale which gives it that taste. I think they have a method to increase the hoppiness too in this ale.

I'm fairly well versed in hops.

One of my favorites is Celebration ale by Sierra Nevada. It's only available around the fall, but it could last years beyond it's brewing date. Their porter is also fine.

Between 1986 and 1992, I brewed 42 separate batches of craft style ales and beers, primarily for cost savings over the store bought variety, but also to customize the flavor to my tastes. Today, the basic prices for raw ingredients have pretty much made it as expensive as buying in the store, but if you want something a certain way, it is not a difficult process to learn. I have a log of all recipes including times, temperatures, ingredients, etc.

My first batch was an Amber ale, with some cinnamon sticks thrown in at the end of the boil. It was popular with guests, but on second thought, I should have left the cinnamon out, as it interfered with the Cascade hops a little. The finished alcohol by volume (ABV) was 6.5% .

The malt in my recipes were dilute malt extracts (syrup), because using whole malt was a more involved process. Later I added whole malt and various barleys to the process, reducing the need for the malt extract

There are two ways of using hops in brewing. One (my favorite) is to extract only the volatiles/fragrance by 'dry hopping', i.e. adding dry or fresh hops, or iso-extract to the final wort. The hops can be added using a muslin sack (less mess), or directly to the finished wort. No bitterness is present from dry hopping, only the floral character of the hops is imparted.

The other method of hopping is to add the hops at the original wort boiling period. This extracts the bitterness (lupulins, derived from 'Wolf' or lupus) and if done near the end of the boil, some of the volatiles may remain.

Sierra Nevada originally had a smaller line than they do now, but they did love to use what are known as 'Cascade" hops. These are commonly grown in the Willamette valley in Oregon, but also grow well anywhere in the Northwest (Washington/Oregon).

Your Salmon dinner sounded great! We've been making fresh rock-cod and sockeye salmon this last week. Seafood is great, at least twice a week!]

Forgot to mention my favorite brews.

Paulaner Salvator, a very nice strong lager, based on one that Luther fasted on during a protest some 500 years ago.

Also, any Belgian 'Grimbergen' blonde - or other Belgian trappist beer. They've been doing it for almost 900 years! Trippels' too.

Lager yeast (saccharomyces carlsbergensis) purportedly was developed in Denmark, and allows fermenting wort at very low temperatures, approaching 0 degrees centigrade (32 F). This is where the invention and process of lagering began. It is a bottom fermenting yeast, unlike ale yeast, (common or bread yeast aka saccharomyces cerevisiae), which is top fermenting. Lagering allows a slow, sleepy type of fermentation of over a year or more, leading to the clean, light brew we know today as lager. Ale takes only 21 days or so to complete.

Finally had my one bottle of Full Sail "Amber Ale". I had it with a meal of fried fresh caught (that I caught earlier this morning) freshwater black bass, Bush's baked beans, seasoned Ore Rida seasoned french fries, hushpuppies and cole slaw.

The Full Sail "Amber Ale" was pretty good. On par with Sierra Nevada's "Pale Ale" but not as hoppy since the bitterness unit of SNPA is 38 and FSAA is 31. FSAA does not have any hint of a grapefruit taste either. It is an amber color.

Next up is Alaskan "Amber". I'll probably have that one with a pizza.

Since I had some things to do earlier this morning, when I was finished I decided to go to our local World Market chain to see if I could pick up any singles of ales and lagers. I spied three of them sitting on an end cap. They were:

"Not Your Fathers Root Beer" which is an ale with 5.9% ABV
"Dixie Blackened Voodoo" which is a lager with 5.0% ABV
"Santo" (by St Arnold) which is a black kolsch with 4.7% ABV

My plan for tonight is to have the "root beer" ale one at dinner.

Those all sound interesting.

Forgot to add one of other favs (besides anything Paulaner), Späten, especially Dopplespäten! They usually come in 16.9 oz bottles.

Tonight, we had another fish dinner. Only this time it was fresh caught crappie from a small lake about 200 yards from my home.Took me about 45 minutes to get my half dozen of crappie. The fish was served with Bush's beans, steak fries and broccoli and the broccoli was smothered in a creamy velveeta cheese sauce.

I had my bottle of cold from the fridge "Not Your Father's Root Beer" ale brewed by Small Town Brewery which is located in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The bottle is 12 ounces in volume and the alcohol content is 5.9% ABV. Pouring it in a large tumbler type glass, the head disappears within 30 seconds or less depending on how fast you pour it. There is no carbonation after 30 seconds of time. It smells like root beer. Upon first tasting it, you can immediately can taste root beer and vanilla along with caramel and a small light roasted malt. It has no hop bitternees that I can tell. But on the finish, you can taste the alcohol. The first gulp to the last gulp tastes the same.

I was amazed to find this drink is actually an ale. From all the ales and lagers I've sampled so far, this is easily my first choice. For my taste buds, there is not even a close second. If one likes root bear, I think you will like this ale. If you don't like root beer, you won't like this ale. Would I purchase a six pack of this ale? My answer is a definite, "yes" since this is the first ale that "wowed me".

While drinking this root beer tasting ale, I could envision myself going to my freezer, getting a nice big scoop of vanilla ice cream and dumping this scoop into a glass filled with this ale. The link to this ale is below:

http://smalltownbrew.wpengine.com/our-beers/year-round/

L Bell wrote:Späten

Now you're talking !

Night Wing wrote:Tonight, we had another fish dinner. Only this time it was fresh caught crappy a from small lake about 200 yards from my home.Took me about 45 minutes to get my half dozen of crappie. The fish was served with Bush's beans, steak fries and broccoli and the broccoli was smothered in a creamy velveeta cheese sauce.

I had my bottle of cold from the fridge "Not Your Father's Root Beer" ale brewed by Small Town Brewery which is located in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The bottle is 12 ounces in volume and he alcohol content is 5.9% ABV. Pouring it in a large tumbler type glass, the head disappears within 30 seconds or less depending on how fast you pour it. There is no carbonation after 30 seconds of time. It smells like root beer. Upon first tasting it, you can immediately can taste root beer and vanilla along with caramel and a small light roasted malt. It has no hop bitternees that I can tell. But on the finish, you can taste the alcohol. The first gulp to the last gulp tastes the same.

I was amazed to find this drink is actually an ale. From all the ales and lagers I've sampled so far, this is easily my first choice. For my taste buds, there is not even a close second. If one likes root bear, I think you will like this ale. If you don't like root beer, you won't like this ale. Would I purchase a six pack of this ale? My answer is a definite, "yes" since this is the first ale that "wowed me".

While drinking this root beer tasting ale, I could envision myself going to my freezer, getting a nice big scoop of vanilla ice cream and dumping this scoop into a glass filled with this ale. The link to this ale is below:

http://smalltownbrew.wpengine.com/our-beers/year-round/

Sounds kinda like, say, vodka and coke, but 1/10th strength and a different flavour??? Though I'd use JD.

It is heartening to see this micro-brewery activity in the States. In my heyday the only American sub-spirits available in the UK were Bud and Colt45, each of which I tried once. I'd guess Colt didn't sue the latter because it was a beer so weak you could drink it at the range?

@Joel Cairo

There are a lot of craft breweries in the US. In the link below, take a look at the list which is compiled by state.

https://www.brewersassociation.org/statistics/by-state/

I've got three craft beers left in my fridge. They are:

Alaskan "Amber" ale
St Arnold "Santo" black kolsch
"Dixie Blackened Voodoo" lager

The Blackened Voodoo was brewed in New Orleans, Louisiana but the brewery was basically destroyed when hurricane Katrina put water to a depth of 12 feet inside the brewery. Blackened Voodoo is now being brewed by the Minhas Craft Brewery in Wisconsin until the brewery at New Orleans gets re-built (if it ever does). I'm thinking of drinking this one next.