Thread: Ramblings From The USA - 1

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IMO Amber Bock is just barely more palatable than their mainstay product, Bud Lite. As Rrumbler stated, the large, traditional breweries just don't seem to be able to compete with the micro/craft breweries. Sam Adams is, IMO, an exception akin to Kansas City's Boulevard Brewery - a large volume brewer that still knows how to hit the sweet spot. I've learned to totally avoid anything labeled "IPA", as they tend to be far, far to strongly hopped for my taste. I cannot abide an ale that comes back and slaps me in the mouth with that nasty bitter hoppy after taste. I would Never, EVER, buy or order anything labeled "Double IPA". That's just asking for your tongue to be ripped out, twisted into bitterness and thrown back in your face!!

I really, really like Sam Adams Octoberfest, and their summer Porch Rocker is an amazing brew, too. jb, knowing your taste for the darker brews Sam Adams Creme Stout is about the only thing that might fit, and it's not big on body. One regional that I think you'd really like is TurboDog from the Abita Brewery in New Iberia, LA (that's Louisiana, not Los Angeles, Lower Alabama or Lower Arkansas). As Steve Stovens mentioned, there are a ton of very nice stouts and porters being brewed in small batch breweries across the nation now - we're finally starting to recover from Prohibition, only 80 years after the fact....

Instead of asking "What's your best dark beer?", my question is generally "What's your most popular local microbrew?", and then, "Do they offer a stout or porter?" Many of the kids clerking in package stores have no idea what "dark beer" means. Just my $0.02, as a home brewer and lover of dark ALES.