The Booze Thread (quality, not quantity)

[PoolMan]

I won't deny for a minute that we had a goodly sum of beer that night at the hotel. But I would point out that A) neither Drew nor I went completely nuts, and B) only Muffin McSmoothlegs actually fell aslep during the movie. PoolMan soldiered on.

[TheLuckyOne]

Wait, wait, wait... I didn't fall asleep during the movie either. And I have witnesses, too. Just how much of a "goodly sum" did you have, PoolMan?


-D

[pfrsue]

Neither PoolMan nor Drew passed out. Our guest did. And Lady Luck retreated in abject terror.



.....Muffin?

[duckie]

I'll second that... it was our guest, on loan from Japan, who passed out.

But, I think the proof will be found in the long-lost article, when it eventually makes its way to MRFH... right?

[PoolMan]

Harumph. Harumph I say!

[Magill]

duckie said:

(By the way, I believe that Stimson - another wine that Lissa mentioned - is operated by the same folk.)

Another winery I really like is Rosemount Estates... they're an Australian winery, and are one of the better wines in their price range (usually <$15).

I may have visited Stimson. When I was touring wineries last fall, I know we visited a smaller one that Chateau Ste. Michelle ran. We got there about 15 minutes before they closed for the day. I'll have to ask my boyfriend if that was the one we visited, or if it was a different subsidiary.

I forgot about Rosemount Estates. We drink a lot of their shiraz.

Oh, and other beers I like--Anchor Steam, Red Hook, Sam Adams seasonals (I'm not a big fan of their regular), and Sammy Smith's Oatmeal Stout.

[duckie]

Magill, it sounds like your taste in alcohol mirrors mine... I haven't tried Red Hook, but the rest of your beer choices all fall high on my list, as well.

[ravencha]

beer: Stella is a great beer I would recomend to anyone.. Beck's is decent too. Grasshopper is an excellent wheat beer made in Calgary.

Wiser's Very Old (18 yrs) Whiskey is great just over ice or with water.. very smooth with no unpleasant aftertaste. It is $40 for a 750ml bottle but it's something you would drink to enjoy the taste not to get drunk.

[HappyPenguin]

Wow, most of you beer drinkers are listing a lot of my favorites. Sam Adams Seasonals are always good, my local sports bar rotates these and it's tough to beat these on tap.

I've been drinking various micro-brews lately, but due to PA's screwed up liquor laws I have to buy a case at a time or go to a bar and pay through the nose for a sixer. I buy a lot of sampler cases and I've found that almost all wheat beers are right up my alley.

When it comes right down to it, I'm hard pressed to bypass the Yuengling lager when it comes time to have a few.

Also, I've noticed no love for hard ciders yet. Woodchuck Granny Smith, Dark and Dry, and Pear flavors are all good. Hornsby makes a good cider as well.

My wife and I toured 2 wineries on Lake Erie last weekend, mostly because she's into the science and history of it....she maybe has a bottle a month tops. My tastes in wines is not developed at all, so I can't offer much in the way ofsuggestions or recommendations since I tend to drink wine as fast as I do beer (with devastating results).

We did try 2 unique wines I've never had before. The first was called Holiday Spice and it was served warm. Very tasty stuff (Penn Shores Winery). The second was what's called an Ice wine. These are unique because the grapes are left on the vine until the weather changes. When the juice, but not the flesh of the grape freezes the grapes are hand-harvested to avoid damage to them. If the whole grape freezes they are ruined. These produce a VERY sweet dessert wine. Due to the amount of lost grapes due to damage from frost and the reluctance of growers to even attempt it because of the risk of losing their crop this wine is moderately expensive. It only comes in the smaller bottles (375ml?) and goes for about $40...but trust me, this stuff replaces dessert so you won't want much more than 1 glass of it. It's hard to describe...sweet but not syrupy...sorry but words fail me.

[TheLuckyOne]

I will warn East Coasters that Flying Fish beer will get you messed up. I don't know what kind of an alcohol content they put in that stuff, but my friend and I both agreed, you can't drink nearly as much of it as your run-of-the-mill beer and expect to be okay.

Oh yeah, and Sam Adams seasonal brew is great. Two thumbs up!

-D

[PoolMan]

theluckyone said:

I will warn East Coasters that Flying Fish beer will get you messed up. I don't know what kind of an alcohol content they put in that stuff

Maybe it's Canadian.

[Head Mutant]

Maybe not:

From About.com:

Bringing Beer to Canada

Canada has beer. Lots of it. If you try to drink it all, we’ll make more. That being said, Canadian beer tastes different than American beer. It's actually a bit of a myth that Canadian beer has a higher alcohol content than American beers.

On our labeling, the two countries tend to measure their alcohol content differently (Canada is alcohol by volume or "abv" while in the U.S. it is alcohol by weight or "abw"), but most popular beers, for example Budweiser, have the same alcohol content regardless of which side of the border you buy it on. Budweiser in the U.S. and Labatt Blue in Canada both have alcohol content of 5% by volume.

[PoolMan]

That may be true, but it's also common practice for Canadian brewers to make 7% (sometimes higher) abv beers.

Also, nyeah.

[TheLuckyOne]

poolman said:

Maybe it's Canadian.

Nah, it's a local microbrew. That and River Horse- I prefer the Horse, but they're both crazy-high in A.C.

-D

[duckie]

happypenguin said:

I've been drinking various micro-brews lately, but due to PA's screwed up liquor laws I have to buy a case at a time or go to a bar and pay through the nose for a sixer. I buy a lot of sampler cases and I've found that almost all wheat beers are right up my alley.

Yea, I hate this as well. There have been two ways I've gotten around this...

1) There's a nice restaurant / six pack shop in the Valley Forge area, which lets you mix and match six packs... and they have quite a few interesting selections.

2) At work, we would get about a dozen of us together at major holidays, and hold a "beer exchange". We'd meet in a parking lot, where each person would bring a case of a different microbrew. We'd swap, so that each of us had about two beers of a dozen different brews. It allowed you to try a LOT of interesting beers, without having to buy them by the case.

Oh, and I agree... wheat beers are awesome