Friday, December 08, 2006
Cheers!
Sheesh! One little post on beer, and site traffic quadruples. Who knew?
I actually had more to say, but kind of petered out at the end there, thanks to the tasty chocolate brew I was enjoying at the time.
So to conclude . . . .
The first time I remember being able to distinguish between quality was freshman year at college when I received countless opportunities to compare Leinie's Red against Icehouse. And even back at this caveman-like stage in my beer-drinking, I knew to immediately turn down the house party standby: Busch Lite. Busch Lite became like a curse between my friends and I. "Huh. Look at that pussy drinking Busch Lite." It was only years later when I saw the other side of the coin. At a grungy bar on the East side of Milwaukee, a total stranger asked me: "So how do you drink that stuff?" It was so strange, the way he asked me that, as if he wanted a demonstration. I was holding a Guinness, and resisted the temptation for sarcasm (but I really wanted to tell him I took it orally like everyone else). He'd never even considered ordering a beer he couldn't see through. I think in the great beer-drinking debate, I side with "Nurture" playing a key role in opening minds to different tastes.
That, however, doesn't mean I'm entirely open-minded. I've come to accept that I just can't stand wheat beer. I remember my first one: the Samuel Adams wheat beer. It was awful. Skunky. Moldy. Ish. A friend of mine came over and I told him all about how terrible this beer was. He took a sip and agreed. Then he opened up his cooler he'd brought with him and had me try some Hacker-Pshorr, saying, "This is real wheat beer; you'll like this!" It was like cold urine. I've sense set the great Berghoff model as my standard, and even their wheat beer doesn't do it for me. I can make it through the bottle, but I can't pretend to like it.
I've recently gotten some questions and comments on beer:
"You think the Jacob's Best sounds bad -- you should try the Jacob's Best Lite."
Wow -- I'll try and not keep that in mind. Reminds me of High Life Lite -- how can a brewer make a "light" beer of an already watery product?
"I don't really drink beer for taste. I drink for the buzz."
Spoken like a true Milwaukeean, my friend.
"You say that your beer of choice is Huber Bock? Huh?"
I refuse to dignify your question with a response.
"So Miller has actually made a decent beer?"
Yeah, it surprised me too. Wonders never cease. Of course the Murphy's Law aspect of all this is that it's just a minimal release, and we'll probably never hear of it again.
"You stole one of Dad's beers?"
'Stole' is a little harsh, I think. Consumed and recycled, I prefer.
I actually had more to say, but kind of petered out at the end there, thanks to the tasty chocolate brew I was enjoying at the time.
So to conclude . . . .
The first time I remember being able to distinguish between quality was freshman year at college when I received countless opportunities to compare Leinie's Red against Icehouse. And even back at this caveman-like stage in my beer-drinking, I knew to immediately turn down the house party standby: Busch Lite. Busch Lite became like a curse between my friends and I. "Huh. Look at that pussy drinking Busch Lite." It was only years later when I saw the other side of the coin. At a grungy bar on the East side of Milwaukee, a total stranger asked me: "So how do you drink that stuff?" It was so strange, the way he asked me that, as if he wanted a demonstration. I was holding a Guinness, and resisted the temptation for sarcasm (but I really wanted to tell him I took it orally like everyone else). He'd never even considered ordering a beer he couldn't see through. I think in the great beer-drinking debate, I side with "Nurture" playing a key role in opening minds to different tastes.
That, however, doesn't mean I'm entirely open-minded. I've come to accept that I just can't stand wheat beer. I remember my first one: the Samuel Adams wheat beer. It was awful. Skunky. Moldy. Ish. A friend of mine came over and I told him all about how terrible this beer was. He took a sip and agreed. Then he opened up his cooler he'd brought with him and had me try some Hacker-Pshorr, saying, "This is real wheat beer; you'll like this!" It was like cold urine. I've sense set the great Berghoff model as my standard, and even their wheat beer doesn't do it for me. I can make it through the bottle, but I can't pretend to like it.
I've recently gotten some questions and comments on beer:
"You think the Jacob's Best sounds bad -- you should try the Jacob's Best Lite."
Wow -- I'll try and not keep that in mind. Reminds me of High Life Lite -- how can a brewer make a "light" beer of an already watery product?
"I don't really drink beer for taste. I drink for the buzz."
Spoken like a true Milwaukeean, my friend.
"You say that your beer of choice is Huber Bock? Huh?"
I refuse to dignify your question with a response.
"So Miller has actually made a decent beer?"
Yeah, it surprised me too. Wonders never cease. Of course the Murphy's Law aspect of all this is that it's just a minimal release, and we'll probably never hear of it again.
"You stole one of Dad's beers?"
'Stole' is a little harsh, I think. Consumed and recycled, I prefer.
