What's your favorite Beer?
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@Jett129 I was thinking about what we discussed today and asked the Beer Genius at the local Monopoly store about his understanding of the word "Imperial". Apart from it's historical origins he believed that today it is used not just to convey strength in terms of ABV and taste, but also when the brewer wants to convey quality and excellence. The pinnacle of brewing of that beer type. He conceded that it could be and probably has been used to add a few dollars to the price of a otherwise poor quality but boozy bottle of beer.
I rarely buy anything under 8% ABV these days, the exceptions being great traditional brews that are below this point, some old school geuze for example, the occasional IPA that I like, or a weaker beer brewed by a maker that I tend to follow. I'll neck some 5% pilsners while watching the footie too. But drinking beer for the beers sake, it's nearly always 8% plus. This begs the question that @Seul indirectly raised earlier, if a 9% porter isn't tagged as imperial, should I doubt it's quality? The answer is of course no, or at least, not necessarily. So the term is almost certainly overused.
That being said, my approach to buying bottles is to try as much as possible and keep a small stock of real favourites. For me it's half the fun. In that respect the term doesn't really impact on me. Dark strong beers are my favourites, certainly in the colder months, so I'd buy and try a lot of so-called Imperial beers even if they didn't have that tag.
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This is one of my favorite threads,I've learned quite a lot from you guys. @neph93 Thanks so much for the response,enjoyed the back and forth last night. I'm not always cognizant of alcohol content,but my son will point it out to me. Relative to you guys I've got a pretty limited selection where I live,on the odd occasion I spot something that one of you guys have had,I'll grab it immediately. Never been disappointed. I'm a real big fan of the Nitro stouts and Porters,and a brewer called Left Hand makes a Nitro Russian Imperial Stout,called Wake The Dead that I can't imagine you wouldn't like. Still hope to have a beer with you some day.
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For me it's just as important to know of a good 5-6% stout or porter as it is to know of a 10-14% impy stout… Much harder to find though...
When they show up they're great. That Canadian brewery, the name of which I forget now has a stout at around 5-6% called Aphrodite. It's bloody lovely. The Hooker's Point coconut porter is (?) is around there too and bloody lovely. Sorry about the lack of googling. Too many rods in the fire… (not prison slang).
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Still hope to have a beer with you some day.
At some point in the next few years I absolutely have to get back to the east coast, and NYC especially. I've probably mentioned it but my brother lives in Brooklyn now with a Chicagoan. Whenever I get out, you'll know about it.
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Funny that is considered simple now. A classic. Not too long ago that was an exotic over here. Only two
Places in all of NYC had chimay on draft. Sheeit. -
One of those beers I wish was two-three % weaker so I could just drink it all day. Orval being the other one
That pepper-y yeast…
Orval isn't 6.2% as seen on the bottle btw... It is when bottled, but due to the Brettanomyces, it keeps fermenting... And rising in ABV... Think it clocks out at around 7... And maybe this is a myth, but I think it says 7 on US labels due to stricter laws there... Anyone?..
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That pepper-y yeast…
Orval isn't 6.2% as seen on the bottle btw... It is when bottled, but due to the Brettanomyces, it keeps fermenting... And rising in ABV... Think it clocks out at around 7... And maybe this is a myth, but I think it says 7 on US labels due to stricter laws there... Anyone?..
The beer in the states has less than the rest of the world i think, bud select has 2.4%,miller64 2.8% low carb types corona 4.1% coors light 4.2%, budwiser is been sue 3 times for watering down their beer, is piss water, I get sick looking at it , the better ones average between 4-6%.
I was in Spain and a friend gave us a few beers his brother brew, I drank two and it felt liked I drank 7 beers, damn it was potent :D, never asked him what the alcohol content was . -
The bottles we get in Norway are also labelled 6,9%:
https://www.vinmonopolet.no/vmpSite/Land/Belgia/Orval-Trappiste/p/2060802 -
Rodenbach Caractère Rouge. 50% discount since the bottles were expired… But pasteurised, so a bit of a risk...
It is, however, beautiful beer... A symphony of red fruit...
Great rodenbach glass man. You have some killer bar ware.
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I’ve only ever had the fatamorgana which I really liked. What beer is that?
