Welcome to The Beer Club !

The Beer Club is a special place to discuss beer and beer related themes. So here you can discuss your favorite beers, breweries, bars and more.

Not that I want to push this Club in a specific direction, but this is not a club made to talk about getting drunk, doing dumb drunk shit and have silly drunken discussions about retarded stuff. I want this Club to be a real place for beer amateurs to discuss their passion for beer and different breweries.

For us to have a place to start, I will ask new members to tell us what are their favorite beers, where they like to hang out to drink their beer, which brewery is their favorite, etc.

I live in Québec and I can tell you guys that we have some of the greatest beers and breweries. Some of my personnal favorite breweries are Unibroue, Dieu du Ciel and Le Nauffrageur. If you get any chance to drink any beer of any of these breweries, I recommand you do so. If you like in the United States or outside Québec, I think Unibroue beers are those you will be able to find the most easily.

Here is a picture of some of Dieu du Ciel's beers :

At 4/13/12 03:08 AM, Travis wrote: Now feel free to disagree with me, but doesn't the Alcoholics Anonymous thread already serve this purpose?

http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/927681

There's a specific beer club already for the purpose of discussing beer as opposed to saying "got so trashed last night woo"

Can't find it cos i'm off to work now

but shouldn't be too hard to find with a little searching

I support this thread entirely, I recently started a collection of unique beer bottles, which is letting me try some great beers. I'm in.

take this to the NG AA, we are an active club

Ever since I started liking beer, I loved white beer. The first two white beers I drank were La Blanche de Chambly by Unibroue (The White of Chambly, which is a city by the South-East of Montreal) and La Cheval Blanc by Les Brasseurs RJ. Lately IâEUTMve been a lot more in the darkest beers. IâEUTMm really enjoying black ale beers, stouts and barley wine (I will post a picture of a great barley wine I had recently at the end of this post).

At 4/13/12 04:20 AM, BananaBreadMuffin wrote: There's a specific beer club already for the purpose of discussing beer as opposed to saying "got so trashed last night woo"

I searched "Beer" and "Beer Club" and didn't find much. I don't know how much searching it would have taken me. But anyway. If the club is dead, it might be a better idea to take a fresh new start with a new club rather than reviving an old thread. The latest would still have the same first post, the same name and the same general ambience to it. I'm not really for the idea of reviving an old thread. If the first way of doing it didn't work, I think a new start would be better.

At 4/13/12 07:10 AM, Dromedary wrote: I support this thread entirely, I recently started a collection of unique beer bottles, which is letting me try some great beers. I'm in.

Unique beer bottles ? That's pretty cool. Do you just look for the bottles or are you searching for rare beers in general ?

At 4/13/12 07:42 AM, Spilda-Bongwata wrote: take this to the NG AA, we are an active club

I don't see the point. I don't want to discuss getting drunk, I want this club to be a place to discuss various beers and breweries in a more serious way. I don't see how talking about drinks, getting drunk and the likes have anything to do with my goal.

This is a club for beer amateurs to discuss their favorite brands of beer, favorite breweries, etc. Considering the fact that beer and beer related subjects make up a huge world of things to discuss I think this club deserves to exist. I really hope no moderator will lock, it would be a mistake.

-------

La Solstice d'Hiver (Dieu du Ciel) :

At 4/13/12 02:30 PM, HeavenDuff wrote: Ever since I started liking beer, I loved white beer.

i don´t like too much the white beer, i prefer dark beer

At 4/13/12 02:30 PM, HeavenDuff wrote: Unique beer bottles ? That's pretty cool. Do you just look for the bottles or are you searching for rare beers in general ?

I don't ever really get a beer in my head and go out looking for it, but I get the feeling I'll have to do that when my collection widens! I live in the south west of the UK, which is home to a lot of ale breweries, so I'm able to just wander from pub to pub and pick up a lot of strange beers that way.

Anyway, currently drinking Desperado. For those of you who haven't heard of it, it's basically lager infused with tequila, with a 5.9% alcohol percentage. It's very bubble, yet incredibly smooth to drink, and although it doesn't have the kick of tequila, the flavour is definitely similar to it. It sounds a lot like a one time drink novelty beer, and seems to be very under-appreciated in my area, but personally I'm a big fan of it, and will definitely drink it again. My only problem with it is the price tag, as it's about £1.50 per bottle in my local supermarket!

My most favorite beer is Astra. I think it's only available in Hamburg, Germany and some areas around Hamburg. There's also a car named "Astra" (Opel/General Motors), so most people think of the car if you say "Astra". Oh well.

It's a pils, so it's somewhat bitter. But not as bitter as other pils, like Jever for example.

Also, they always have very funny bills, below is an example. It says "Serving Suggestion".

PS: Why is the upload button not working in Opera?

I would love to try some of those American malt liquor beers, the 40 ounce type, like Old English, or Colt 45. I think I want to try one because they've been so popularized in films and TV shows. Then again, I've been told that they taste like shite. Either way, it would be such a massive pain to get hold of one, because I would have to import from a specialist website, and import a crate of it to make it worthwhile, and the only website I have seen that imports them is ridiculously expensive.

i understand the point of this club, it's just untrue that the NG AA talks about getting drunk all the time. there isn't a liquor crew either, but i would like to see one. not gonna be a travis, i hope this club doesn't get locked.

At 4/13/12 05:44 PM, Dromedary wrote: I would love to try some of those American malt liquor beers, the 40 ounce type, like Old English, or Colt 45.

i buy colt 45 across the river all the time. they don't sell it in liquor stores, just gas stations. not sure how it is in america.

it's so god damn cheap. it's 8.95 plus tax at the place i go to, in america i hear it is 5 dollars. i heard from several friends this is why the stuff is called 45. 40 of colt, for 5.

i forgot to mention that it gets you right fucked up like moonshine

At 4/13/12 02:43 PM, rockereaper wrote:

At 4/13/12 02:30 PM, HeavenDuff wrote: Ever since I started liking beer, I loved white beer.

i donÃ'´t like too much the white beer, i prefer dark beer

Any specific one you like?

At 4/13/12 05:18 PM, Dromedary wrote:

At 4/13/12 02:30 PM, HeavenDuff wrote: Unique beer bottles ? That's pretty cool. Do you just look for the bottles or are you searching for rare beers in general ?

I don't ever really get a beer in my head and go out looking for it, but I get the feeling I'll have to do that when my collection widens! I live in the south west of the UK, which is home to a lot of ale breweries, so I'm able to just wander from pub to pub and pick up a lot of strange beers that way.

Oh, so you are exploring with a blindfold :P That sounds good. I usually know what I want to drink. I bought my girlfriend a book two Quebecers wrote in 2011 about the best beers (their favorites of the year). they also describe the different kind of glasses used to drink beer, the different kinds of beers (lagers, pale ale, indian pale ale, stout, etc.), the best beers in can for camping, the worst beers, etc. They also made a top 100 of their favorite beers. So my girlfriend and I are following this little book and getting to know various beers. Well... we have also searched around by ourselves. This is how I found out about both of my favorite breweries (Dieu du Ciel and Unibroue). I've also had some imported beers. Can't remember the names but I'll find them for you.

Anyway, currently drinking Desperado. For those of you who haven't heard of it, it's basically lager infused with tequila, with a 5.9% alcohol percentage. It's very bubble, yet incredibly smooth to drink, and although it doesn't have the kick of tequila, the flavour is definitely similar to it. It sounds a lot like a one time drink novelty beer, and seems to be very under-appreciated in my area, but personally I'm a big fan of it, and will definitely drink it again. My only problem with it is the price tag, as it's about Ã'£1.50 per bottle in my local supermarket!

That sounds good. Is this made by a small brewery? I'm not too sure what that price is though :P What is the equivalent in Canadian Dollars ? Because microbrewery (or small brewery, whatever you call them :P) beers price can go as high as $3 (Canadian Dollars) for one beer.

Do they export this beer ?

At 4/13/12 05:34 PM, Haggard wrote: My most favorite beer is Astra. I think it's only available in Hamburg, Germany and some areas around Hamburg. There's also a car named "Astra" (Opel/General Motors), so most people think of the car if you say "Astra". Oh well.

Oh well. I don't know these :O You know of any beer they export ?

At 4/13/12 09:31 PM, Spilda-Bongwata wrote: i understand the point of this club, it's just untrue that the NG AA talks about getting drunk all the time. there isn't a liquor crew either, but i would like to see one. not gonna be a travis, i hope this club doesn't get locked.

It's kind of sad to see a useful club getting locked. And em, I still think there is much to discuss on beer only to make a club about it :)

Also, this is the book I was talking about :

That looks like an interesting book, I'll try and pick it up from eBay or something at some point! Desperado is brewed by the Fischer Brewery, which is based in France. As far as I'm aware, it used to be an independent brewery, but it looks like it's been bought out by Heineken, which is kind of a shame. Also, the price was about 2 Canadian dollars when I put it into a converter.

Where do you guys think the best place in the world for beers is? I personally think the South West of England is a great please for beers, as it has a huge amount of breweries, and there's a big culture around it. It's also good because it's not hard to pick up imported beers, with our local supermarkets stocking a pretty wide range. But I'm not claiming it's the best place, I don't think I've travelled enough of the world to be able to pass that judgement!

At 4/14/12 01:16 AM, HeavenDuff wrote:

At 4/13/12 05:34 PM, Haggard wrote: My most favorite beer is Astra. I think it's only available in Hamburg, Germany and some areas around Hamburg. There's also a car named "Astra" (Opel/General Motors), so most people think of the car if you say "Astra". Oh well.

Oh well. I don't know these :O You know of any beer they export ?

I don't think they export it. The website is only available in german, so I don't think they aim for customers from foreign countries. ^^
I guess could simply mail you a can, but on the other hand, it's a bit too much hassle for just one beer, haha.

Anyway, I also like Tiger Beer and Tsingtao (a chinese beer). There are LOTS of great beers out there. For example I once had a beer with a chili pod inside. Tastes a bit weird at first, but if you like spicy stuff, that's the right beer for you.

At 4/14/12 09:05 AM, Dromedary wrote: Where do you guys think the best place in the world for beers is?

lol here we gooooo

At 4/14/12 09:05 AM, Dromedary wrote: Where do you guys think the best place in the world for beers is?

Of course it's Germany! :P
There's even an article about our Reinheitsgebot on Wikipedia. Even though this expression is only used for commercial purposes these days.

But on the other hand, there are also lots of disgusting beers, like Kölsch or Altbier. :(

pic didn't upload

every time i'm in montreal i try to go here but i've only toured it 4 times.

Nice with a club were you can discuss beer.

I'm a pilsner man myself, always liked the more hoped kinds of beers like the Czech types. But that has changed during the last five years or so, now I'm all for IPA, and especially the American style of IPA with plenty of bitter hops and lots of aromatic hops.

My absolute favourite is Punk IPA from Scottish brewery Brewdog, which even if it is made in Scotland is very close to American IPA. Altough I must admit that when I'm in Brittain I'll drink their ales with much delight and in Ireland I'll drink a lot of Guinness.

BTW a brewery here in Sweden just came out with a new beer called American Pale Ale, not so hoped but very tasty.

At 4/14/12 09:16 AM, Haggard wrote:

At 4/14/12 09:05 AM, Dromedary wrote: Where do you guys think the best place in the world for beers is?

Of course it's Germany! :P

Germany definitely wins on the amount of people who like beer! There's so many festivals dedicated to beer :p I've drunk a lot of German exports, but I've never really had an in depth look at your different beers. Rest assured, going to Oktoberfest is on my to do list though.

GO YEUNGLING!

my favorite draft

My favorite beers right now are Shock Top and Blue Moon.

Have you guys ever tried Earthquake? I've never had a beer quite like it. It has an interesting taste, and it's very sweet.

I had Pong brand beer for the first time yesterday. Considering it's 19 bucks for a 30 pack, it ain't bad. Plus, it comes with 2 free ping pong balls. I had so much beer last night. at least three different brands. I don't normally drink that much beer. I go with liquor most of the time and have like one beer on the side.

At 4/14/12 09:05 AM, Dromedary wrote: That looks like an interesting book, I'll try and pick it up from eBay or something at some point! Desperado is brewed by the Fischer Brewery, which is based in France. As far as I'm aware, it used to be an independent brewery, but it looks like it's been bought out by Heineken, which is kind of a shame. Also, the price was about 2 Canadian dollars when I put it into a converter.

Well, the book is in french and I don't know if it ever was translated. It is still the first edition of the book so maybe they don't have such a large scale distribution. I still hope they make a 2012 edition.

Well, for such a big industrial brewery Heineken's beer doesn't taste too much like shit :P And if the beer is still good, than it's all cool. Unibroue just happens to be owned by Sapporo, which is a big japanesse brewery, and the beer is still very good :)

Where do you guys think the best place in the world for beers is? I personally think the South West of England is a great please for beers, as it has a huge amount of breweries, and there's a big culture around it. It's also good because it's not hard to pick up imported beers, with our local supermarkets stocking a pretty wide range. But I'm not claiming it's the best place, I don't think I've travelled enough of the world to be able to pass that judgement!

I don't know much about other places, but Quebec's micro-brewery culture is groing bigger and bigger by the years. We have a lot of great micro-breweries. Plus, we import beers from all around the world :)

I wouldn't go as far as saying it's the best place in the world for beer, but I know we have a good culture when it comes to beer.

At 4/14/12 09:13 AM, Haggard wrote: I don't think they export it. The website is only available in german, so I don't think they aim for customers from foreign countries. ^^
I guess could simply mail you a can, but on the other hand, it's a bit too much hassle for just one beer, haha.

Right :P

Anyway, I also like Tiger Beer and Tsingtao (a chinese beer). There are LOTS of great beers out there. For example I once had a beer with a chili pod inside. Tastes a bit weird at first, but if you like spicy stuff, that's the right beer for you.

I've never drank any oriental beer (I don't know if Sapporo's pale ale counts as one), are they very different compared to our occidental beers? Well... not that our beers arent's very diversified... but you know what I mean :P

At 4/14/12 09:17 AM, Spilda-Bongwata wrote: pic didn't upload

every time i'm in montreal i try to go here but i've only toured it 4 times.

Molson's beer is rather dissapointing. It's a big industrial brewery and even though they use great quality products to make their beers compared to other industrial breweries such as Budweiser. The products they use to make their beer is rather good, but the beer in itself lacks personnality and doesn't attempt to stand out by any mean. It is meant to be sold to a large public.

At 4/14/12 10:10 AM, vdviking wrote: Nice with a club were you can discuss beer.

I'm a pilsner man myself, always liked the more hoped kinds of beers like the Czech types. But that has changed during the last five years or so, now I'm all for IPA, and especially the American style of IPA with plenty of bitter hops and lots of aromatic hops.

I have over-looked Pale Ales and Lagers for way too much time because of all the industrial breweries and the shit my friends used to make me drink back when I was a teenager. I always kept that negative point of view on pale ales and I realise now how wrong I was. Especially when it comes to Indian Pale Ale.

At 4/14/12 07:36 PM, Sense-Offender wrote: My favorite beers right now are Shock Top and Blue Moon.

Have you guys ever tried Earthquake? I've never had a beer quite like it. It has an interesting taste, and it's very sweet.

I had Pong brand beer for the first time yesterday. Considering it's 19 bucks for a 30 pack, it ain't bad. Plus, it comes with 2 free ping pong balls. I had so much beer last night. at least three different brands. I don't normally drink that much beer. I go with liquor most of the time and have like one beer on the side.

Getting drunk on beer gives the worst hangovers. I always feel fat and horribly full on the next day when I drink too much beer. Still, I love beer and I like to bring my beers to my parties ! So what I usually do is drink different types of alcohol when I want to drink a lot over one night :P

Also, I don't know these beers you mentionned. I will look them up on Google :O

Wish this club was around in my beer connoisseur days, like a year ago to until recently. I had a steady flow of extra cash and would always buy new brews from the local wine store. Not a whole lot of imports but a ton of microbrews, pretty much anything that caught my eye. Higher ABV was always a plus, so porters and stouts were pretty prevalent.

As it is now, though, I've had to resort to cheap shitty beers and generic variety packs that they sell at the store. I should also mention that the specialty wine store I used to shop at is pretty out of the way, so that plays a big part too.

I guess I'll stop by this club from time to time. My friend's brother-in-law is a huge beer fan and the last bastion of hope for my friends and me, as far as good beer in concerned. So there's still hope. Chugging steel reserves on drinking nights and sipping on generic macrobrew 12-packs on chill nights won't be a permanent thing.

On the subject of macrobrew 12-packs, I did a sort-of review in the AA club for Sam Adam's Summer Pack. I won't repost it here because this post is already becoming a bit tldr as is, but I'll say this much: 2/6 types suck, meaning 4/12 of the beers are horrible. So don't buy it.

In conclusion... I don't know. Here's an old picture of better days, which I've probably already posted but fuck it:

In most countries the big dominant breweries tend to only brew mainstream bland beers while the smaller breweries often put more effort into their brews. Thanks to changes in the laws micro-breweries have become quite common in both the USA and Europe (and especially in Sweden) and since the mid-eighties you don't have to import beers to get quality.

But as it has happened in Sweden, when a small brewery get more popular and the demans for their beers rise, they tend to start brewing mainstream beers and loosing their edge. It has happened with several very good small breweries here in Sweden, but luckily new breweries pop up all the time.

Right now I'm looking forward to the American Beer Festival a bar here in Stockholm is holding. A lot of very special American beers, and with a menu to fit the beers with big hamburgers and steaks.

At 4/14/12 10:28 AM, Dromedary wrote: Rest assured, going to Oktoberfest is on my to do list though.

To be honest, I would stay away from there. It's much too crowded anyway.

At 4/14/12 08:31 PM, HeavenDuff wrote:

At 4/14/12 09:13 AM, Haggard wrote: Anyway, I also like Tiger Beer and Tsingtao (a chinese beer). There are LOTS of great beers out there. For example I once had a beer with a chili pod inside. Tastes a bit weird at first, but if you like spicy stuff, that's the right beer for you.

I've never drank any oriental beer (I don't know if Sapporo's pale ale counts as one), are they very different compared to our occidental beers? Well... not that our beers arent's very diversified... but you know what I mean :P

I really don't know. Tsingtao is a brewery that was founded by germans, so maybe the beer isn't that different. Tiger Beer is a Lager.
The chili pod beer... tasted like chili. No surprises there, I guess. ^^

Another Astra poster: Between heaven and hell

At 4/13/12 09:35 PM, Spilda-Bongwata wrote:
it's so god damn cheap. it's 8.95 plus tax at the place i go to, in america i hear it is 5 dollars. i heard from several friends this is why the stuff is called 45. 40 of colt, for 5.

That's ridiculous. Who told you that? It's named after the #45 running back of the '63 Colts.

At 4/16/12 06:55 PM, Rahmemhotep wrote: That's ridiculous. Who told you that? It's named after the #45 running back of the '63 Colts.

I actually had to look that up, since I assumed it was named after the revolver. Seems you're right.

But a 40 of colt for 5... hahah. That shit made me laugh. It might have made sense if Colt 45 was new, but even then that would be marketing suicide. You'd be branded as the 40 that sold for 5 bucks, regardless of inflation or the state of the economy.

At 4/15/12 07:49 AM, vdviking wrote: In most countries the big dominant breweries tend to only brew mainstream bland beers while the smaller breweries often put more effort into their brews. Thanks to changes in the laws micro-breweries have become quite common in both the USA and Europe (and especially in Sweden) and since the mid-eighties you don't have to import beers to get quality.

I'm very happy also with micro-breweries here in Quebec. We have some of the best beers in the world.

Big breweries are like pop artists. No flavor, no personnality, no audacity, no creativity. They make what they know they can sell to a large public. And for some odd reason, some people come asking for more. It seems mediocrity and lame commercial products have quite a fanbase :P

Drinkin' a Dead Frog.
There's nothing like a cold Dead Frog.
Oh, apparently the brewery for this stuff's close by, and shutting down. Real shame, this shit's great. Fucking overpriced, but still great.