What are you Drinking?

[derspiess]

Awesome.  Interesting to see how far some beer styles have spread.  Last time I was there, IPAs were completely unknown in Argentina.  Amber ale & lager was all the rage, plus traditional German styles.

[Capetan Mihali]

...while in China, $44 bottles of PBR are the new status symbol.

[derspiess]

  That's hilarious.

[Admiral Yi]

Ossum.   

How much are they offering for a can of Schlitz?

[MadImmortalMan]

In the last day and a half, I've tried various brews from Stiegl--mainly because they seem to own Salzburg and there's nothing else available in the joint where I happen to be at the time. None of them were much good. Budweiser with flowers in it, essentially. The hefe was decent.


Oh, I tried the local Yugoslav swill (Lasko and Union) last week too. Total garbage. Noticeably riced-up with that telltale metallic aftertaste. Not much market penetration for anything else yet, but the market booth I mentioned was insanely popular with the locals so that will surely change. Beer is "Pivo" in Slovenian. Probably in several other Slavic languages as well.

Europe not living up to the pedestal from which they've been mocking Bud Lite all these years so far. I'm sure that will change shortly. Otherwise, I'll have to declare Slovenia the beer capital of the EU. 

[MadImmortalMan]

Starobrno tonight. I'm not sure exactly which variant I had because it was the only one on the menu and labelled only as Starobrno. Czech beer this time. I'm assuming it's another big-market variant (which by the way I cannot find anything other than those in the supermarkets here--it's all Stiegl, Gosser and the occasional Heineken--but I've only been to one Interspar and a couple smaller markets. Markte. ).

Anyway the Czech one was pretty good. Solid, mid-color lager. Little hopiness and smooth. Easy to drink, and not very high in abv. (You rarely see anything over 5% in the stores either.) It was about like a Killian's maybe. Not every beer needs to blast your face off with hops, and this one is decent for those times.

It's tough to see from their website. Stupid green bottles (Heineken company I think.)

[derspiess]

In the last day and a half, I've tried various brews from Stiegl--mainly because they seem to own Salzburg and there's nothing else available in the joint where I happen to be at the time. None of them were much good. Budweiser with flowers in it, essentially. The hefe was decent.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  I think I've only had maybe 3 or 4 beers from Austria. 

Oh, I tried the local Yugoslav swill (Lasko and Union) last week too. Total garbage. Noticeably riced-up with that telltale metallic aftertaste. Not much market penetration for anything else yet, but the market booth I mentioned was insanely popular with the locals so that will surely change. Beer is "Pivo" in Slovenian. Probably in several other Slavic languages as well.

We have a huge international food store nearby that has a big beer selection.  On a whim the other day I picked up several Eastern European beers I hadn't ever tried.  They were fairly cheap, so what the hell.  The two Ukrainian beers I've had so far have been pretty bad.  Plus they use those damned green bottles.  I was warned about those in a beer magazine article.  The Polish Okocim "OK" wasn't too bad and I'm thinking maybe I had had that before.  But I'm really dreading that Lithuanian Triple Bock that is way cheaper than a 12% (!) beer ought to be.

Europe not living up to the pedestal from which they've been mocking Bud Lite all these years so far. I'm sure that will change shortly. Otherwise, I'll have to declare Slovenia the beer capital of the EU. 

Belgium makes up for all other EU countries' shortcomings.  Even with the consolidation they've had, I'm still blown away by the quality and diversity of what they brew.  And they didn't rest on their laurels-- they've incorporated some American innovation back into some of their beers. 

Btw I remember discovering some Slovenian wine in the mid-90s that was surprisingly very tasty, particularly for $3 a bottle.

[derspiess]

Starobrno tonight. I'm not sure exactly which variant I had because it was the only one on the menu and labelled only as Starobrno. Czech beer this time. I'm assuming it's another big-market variant (which by the way I cannot find anything other than those in the supermarkets here--it's all Stiegl, Gosser and the occasional Heineken--but I've only been to one Interspar and a couple smaller markets. Markte. ).

Anyway the Czech one was pretty good. Solid, mid-color lager. Little hopiness and smooth. Easy to drink, and not very high in abv. (You rarely see anything over 5% in the stores either.) It was about like a Killian's maybe. Not every beer needs to blast your face off with hops, and this one is decent for those times.

It's tough to see from their website. Stupid green bottles (Heineken company I think.)

My impression of Czech beers is that they're all either in the bohemian pilsner style or are based on it.  Darker beers just taste like a darker, more roasted pilsner.  Not that that's entirely a bad thing-- Pilsner Urquell (on draft) and Staropramen are awesome beers on draft.  Czechs seem to love those damned green bottles, though.

[crazy canuck]

Sloe Gin Fizz on my deck in the afternoon sun with some steaks on the grill.


Now that is living.

[MadImmortalMan]

There is a place in Salzburg that makes their own schnapps and brandy. There's a tasting room full of every kind you can imagine. We tasted a bunch of things and ended up going with a bottle of apricot and a caraway schnapps. Yeah, caraway. Like pumpernickel bread. It's surprisingly good.

[MadImmortalMan]

Europe is redeemed. A couple days ago we went to Siebensternbräu on suggestion from Syt.

This is one of those places that somehow manages to do just about anything they try fairly well. Or at least refuses to serve up anything that isn't high quality. I tried Marzen, Maibock, Prager Dunkles and Rauchbier. Then I was fairly confident with these guys so I bought a couple bottles of IPA to take home, which I tried the next day. They will refill those bottles really cheap if I go back, but alas I don't live here. 

Not much to add to the beer descriptions the website gives. The dark lagers are surprisingly less bitter than I expected. The Marzen is what it tastes like the mass-market ones you find in the groceries are trying to be. I can't really explain it better than that. The Maibock which isn't listed was a seasonal one I think. Dark amber, fairly strong at 6.3. I think this is a Bavarian classic. Usually that's what bock means IIRC. It's...better than Shiner. 

Dunkles is another kind that you can generally find at a grocery store around Vienna, and I actually prefer them to most of the pilsners and stuff that dominate. I have figured out to get these if I'm not sure and the choices are sparse. So I've had several different ones now. Mrs. MIM liked both this one and the Rauchbier, which is unusual for dark lagers.

Aaaaaand the IPA which I bought without trying out of trust. It was a very solid, down the middle, American style version that had everything it's supposed to have and nothing it isn't. Not strong in alcohol for this style. I can fault nothing. If it was an experiment, it succeeded. It was labeled as seasonal also, so not a staple of theirs I guess. The Brevog Kramah from last week was a guns-blazing-volume-to-eleven IPA and I loved it. This one is more...civilized. For a different mood. And I loved it too.

[Syt]

Glad you enjoyed your visit there.

You might also be interested in: http://www.1516brewingcompany.com/cms/

http://www.1516brewingcompany.com/cms/beers/

[Pedrito]

There is a place in Salzburg that makes their own schnapps and brandy. There's a tasting room full of every kind you can imagine. We tasted a bunch of things and ended up going with a bottle of apricot and a caraway schnapps. Yeah, caraway. Like pumpernickel bread. It's surprisingly good.

Caraway grappa is my favourite kind of spiced grappa. It's typical of the South Tyrol area. It's excellent

L.

[derspiess]

Interesting NYT article on yeast genetics:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/27/science/craft-beer-at-the-genetic-level.html?_r=0

[derspiess]

I opened a bottle of my single-hop Galaxy pale ale (which I've named Galaga) just 5 days after it was bottled. It was not fully carbonated yet, but tasted okay.  The sample I tried the next day was pretty much fully carbed, and was pretty awesome if I do say so myself.  I brewed it from a kit I bought at my local homebrew supply store, so I can't claim any real credit-- all I can really say is that I didn't screw it up.

The brown ale I had brewed still tasted a little sweet.  Dunno if I overdid something in the recipe or it was not the best recipe, but it came out tasting and looking more like a malty-sweet porter than what I would normally think of a brown ale.  Gonna set those bottles back and see if they improve with some aging.

Next up is a Pliny the Elder clone I'll be brewing with another brewer.  The amount of hops it calls for is insane.