But fruit lambics don't HAVE to taste like "carbonated fruit soda."

The good ones are to fruit soda as Kraft American Slices are to fine Gorgonzola or Brie.

Anyone tried Brains Bitter, Dark or SA?
(SA is fondly known as Skull Attack)
These wonderful brews are available and brewed in South Wales,but they don't travel too well.
The furthest I found them was Padstowe in Cornwall.
If your ever in Cardiff try them all out.
Muck

I'm not a beer drinker but I try in areas famous for theirs. I liked : blond Affligem

I prefer Leffe Blonde and the Chimays from Belgium. I was pleased to find them after we moved from Belgium to Frederick, Maryland.

My husband is partial to hefeweisen.

Some beer links:

http://www.beerfestivals.org/

http://www.dma.be/p/bier/beer.htm

There are many more websites with beer festival info - just do a search on Google.

Perhaps I'm spoiled as my local shop carries over 500 well selected European beers. My current favorite is Urboch 23 (Austrian). In Europe, I always go for draft and often go with a bartenders reccommendation.

This is "Eggenberger Urbock?

The first name is the brewer and the second is the style.

"Ur" means old or traditional.

"Bock" is a style.

Michael Jackson loves the beer, too.

there seems to be some "attitude" about poppa's posts. i think that if he's an authority (and he certainly seems to know his stuff), who's to quibble?

i wouldn't think of challanging maribel's information about madrid or ben haines' about london. hell, i like most of ira's stuff on italy and he's from georgia.

americans have this anti-intellectual misunderstanding of pedantry to such a degree that the word now has a pejoritive connotation.

i've learned a lot from poppa's contribution on this topic and i drink a couple of beers almost daily.

my world collapsed when the ballantine co. was bought out by falstaff and they closed the newark, nj brewery. both ballantine ale and the sublime "india pale ale" were lost forever.

beyond that: i'd like poppa to explain to me the difference btwn "top" and "bottom" brewing".

Yes, the Ballentine's IPA was a real survivor! Wow, what a nice beer. Fortunately there are some nice American IPAs in smaller breweries and you must have access to a few.

Didn't Ballentine also do "Little Kings" Cream Ale? That was a neat drink, too. Again, another style only seen rarely in renaissance brewpubs.

Of course I have an "attitude." I like the very best and am impatient with people who sit on their duffs and proclaim to know nothing and to care less about being informed. Think of what they miss!

Answer to "top" and "bottom" fermentations. Like so many terms this is a holdover from olden times that is not really pertinent.

In general, ale yeasts are said to be "top" yeasts and lager to be "bottom." But all beer yeasts form a top cake or cap early on and then sink as the rising ethanol levels kill them off.

The deal with ales is that they are drawn off the dead yeast cells and served while lagers are drawn off and, with some cells still in suspension, put to rest in cold storage to allow the beers to mature.

Of course, these lager yeasts gradually fall out of suspension and rest on the bottom of the vessel and, so, have been said to be just that - "bottom" yeasts while, in reality, millions of little buggers remain in suspension, doing their jobs.

Put another way, beers (ales) fermented at warmer temps have a notable yeast cap on top. Impressive and deadly if one gets in the way of the carbon dioxide resting in a layer on top of a large open vessel. Sure to stick in the mind and get a solid place in the brewing lexicon.

The Great American Beer Festival (GABF) awards medals to American beers each year. The judging is reliable.

Here is a site that lists the 2003 winners. Members may have some medal beers in their vicinities:

http://www.beertown.org/events/gabf/03winners.htm

I prefer wine to beer, but I had an apple-flavored beer in Poland called "Red" that I really liked. Hanven't found anything similar anywhere else.

American beer?? Sorry guys, but to this Canadian chick, American beer tastes like water. (. . . . or maybe Canadian water tastes like beer ) !!!)

Mustn't forget that marvy German "apfelkorn," delectable apple brandy.

C'mon Canadian Chick, Labatt's? Molson? Moosehead? You gotta be kiddin'.

Most Germans would not consider apfelkorn "delectable." In Germany, they sell more of it in gas stations than anywhere else--the Budweiser of brandies.

I wuv it.

Poppa - Molson's and Labatt's ain't real beer either.
You gotta try the beer from the microbreweries in Canada.
Almost every region has a large selection of these.

Another "European" favorite of mine = Guiness.

Yes! Your micros are, I hear, outstanding. To my shame I have not been North to sample them.

Of course Guinness is nectar and NO ONE knows how they do it. When you look up "balance" in the dictionary, a picture of draft Guinness is next to the entry.

The wonderful thing about that stout and many British "session" bitters is that they come in 1% (or more) lower in ethanol than do industrial lagers. One can have several pints, talk and laugh the evening away, and still arise next morning feeling fit.

And, of course, these so-called "weak" beers also provide tidal waves of satisfaction to the palate.

I apologize was being obnoxious (must be the NY'er in me) but my pet peeve is

It's Guinness with two n's. If it's your favorite you should be able to spell it (except Mina who got it right)

Sorry about my preaching, back to the beer debate

I love Guinness, no matter how it's spelled. The spelling and grammar lady should exit, stage left--------------->

Wow Irrover!
I did not know that being able to spell was a prerequisite for drinking in NYC. I really feel for you folks

As a break from Warsteiner and Hatz, we're enjoying a beer drink very popular in the Loire Valley, particularly around Angers (the city that gives the world Cointreau), a Picon Biere. You mix 3 cl of Picon and 25 cl of beer (best with an inexpensive French beer like 1664).

It's very circumstantial of course - the same beer brand can go down much differently depending on the surroundings, company, blood alcohol level, etc.

For me, Guinness in Ireland (nowhere else - I know this is a cliche but it's one to which I subscribe.)

A pint of Adnam's best in a pub in Suffolk years ago - nectar.

Any pilsner-type brew served in a stone mug anywhere in Mitteleuropa.

But <i>the best</i> beer I ever had was a bottle of some anonymous live beer named something like Red Banner or Nevsky Prospekt or similar, consumed in Leningrad in the old soyuz days. You had to be careful not to imbibe the gloop at the bottom of the bottle, but, until then, Mayday, baby...