If you have had a good (or bad) beer recently report the results here

[Bahku]

My personal favorite, along with Blueberry Pop and Summer, and while I happen to be obviously biased in this respect, Shipyard can compete with West Coast breweries quite well, thanks, (and even if it couldn't, you'd never be able to convince us "locals").

TP That is also my personal favorite beer.  Love me some Pumpkinhead!

That's a definite TP back atcha ... you are a person of exceptional and discerning taste! I always liked Shipyard and Stone Coast, but I hadn't tried the "special" flavors until I was turned onto them during my brother's B-Day celebration last month ... I have become addicted, (in a non-abusive fashion, of course).

[Redz]

Nothing but good things to say about that one.

I like that one too.  I think my favorite Sammy (we're tight now, so I get to call them "Sammy's") is the Black Lager.  At least out of the regular tiered brews.  The Imperial Stout is pretty darn good too.

All in all, I think I've become a porter lover the most.  Love trying out new ones.

[fairweatherfan]

I don't want to be a beer snob or anything, but I guess I will be. Speaking as a native Bostonian, there are like a dozen West Coast breweries that destroy any on the East Coast.

Stone and Russian River are two of the best in the world. Favorites there are the Stone Anniversaries and Pliny the Elder/Younger. Lagunitas, Rogue, Bear Republic, AleSmith, etc... are also awesome

I like Harpoon Ale/IPA and Magic Hat and all, but seriously... they don't even measure up to Sierra Nevada on the whole. Honestly, you come out here, and most stores have 80% of their cooler space devoted to microbrews.

JMO.

Nothing wrong with being a beer snob, but you should try some of the better East Coast breweries like Ommegang, Dogfish Head, Brooklyn, Victory, Flying Dog, and Troeg's.  There's good beer everywhere these days. 

On that note, an excellent beer I discovered a month or two ago:



Tasty stuff - 10% though, so watch out.

[ACF]

Nothing but good things to say about that one.

I like that one too.  I think my favorite Sammy (we're tight now, so I get to call them "Sammy's") is the Black Lager.  At least out of the regular tiered brews.  The Imperial Stout is pretty darn good too.

All in all, I think I've become a porter lover the most.  Love trying out new ones.

If someone had told me ten years ago that I'd one day drink porters and love them, I would've laughed.

[Gemini]

I am in love with the Dogfish head 90-minute IPA on draught.
Some of my other favorite IPS's include

Brooklyn IPA
Redhook Longhammer IPA
Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA

[celts55]

There's a Scottish Pub I go to up in Vermont that serves Belhaven Stout on draft and it's really tasty. I've had the Belhaven Ale before, which is pretty good also, but I really like the stout.

A few others to try. Trout River red ale, 10 penny ale, Smithwicks.

[indeedproceed]

I am in love with the Dogfish head 90-minute IPA on draught.
Some of my other favorite IPS's include

Brooklyn IPA
Redhook Longhammer IPA
Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA

Dogfishhead 90 min is my fav.

My second fav is harpoon though. I've tried every angry IPA on the market and just something about the feel of harpoon, I just love it.

I heard from a friend that worked for Harpoon that Sam Adams considered marketing one this summer, but in taste tests harpoon was killing them, but sams' coastal wheat was beating harpoon's ufo, so sam went with the coastal.

[CelticG1]

also anyone else who is looking into brewing and has questions/first time problems to avoid, hit me up. I learned a lot, can't wait to do it again.

I'm definitely interested in brewing a good beer. I've only done it once, last year, and it was a pretty big disaster. It tasted like a half yeast half cider beer. I tried to convince myself that it wasn't that bad but after I had one the rest of them stayed in the fridge for about 8 months until I finally threw them out. I need some tips badly

[jgod213]

There's a Scottish Pub I go to up in Vermont that serves Belhaven Stout on draft and it's really tasty. I've had the Belhaven Ale before, which is pretty good also, but I really like the stout.

Haha right on man.  I just clicked on this thread in order to advise everyone to try the Scottish beer Belhaven.  The stuff is delicious.

I was in the liqour store (atlas in medford) about a month or two ago trying to find a decent alternative to Guinness and i stumbled upon Belhaven.  If you like Guinness give it a shot.



I also gave Tetley's a try (English ale) which is alright, but i prefer Belhaven.

[Eja117]

I don't usually say this about a beer, but this one ruined a good part of my day

Oh my goodness I had the same experience. As the title suggests, it will put you to sleep!

It was also not very tasty.

I think in retrospect the pink elephant should have tipped me off as well.

I like vodka and gin. They have their place in the world. Just not in my beer.

[indeedproceed]

I will tell you i was really nervous about doing it. I love to cook, just love it. But much like cooking, sometime when you really want something to go right it makes it 10x harder than it should be.

I've heard people go wrong in 2 big places:

1) Sanitation. You have got to sanitize EVERYTHING that will come in contact with the beer. That means every pot, spoon, gasket, nozzle, tube, bottle...everything.

2) I've heard that a lot of people have issues with yeast distribution, and priming sugar distribution.

3) Really, just make sure you follow the instructions to a 'T'. Read them before you actually do it, then if you see a term or technique you don't know or understand, look it up.

I think it's important to take your time, and take an easy kit to begin with.

This is the next kit I'm using, and I used a truebrew last time and it went great.

http://www.brewgadgets.com/BrewingInstructions/amber.htm

If you want to order:

http://www.brewgadgets.com/truebrewkits.htm

[the_Bird]

Homebrewing's a lot easier that you would think.  I've been brewing for probably four years now (although I've been so busy with life, it's been hard to brew more than a couple batches a year).  Come hang out at www.homebrewtalk.com, it's a good site if you're interesting in learning about the hobby.

[Cman]

In general, I am a huge IPA fan, and I also like me some Imperial Stout.

Most recent IPA I tried was the Ithaca Flower Power IPA, which I thought was very well done.  Very floral, hoppy, but not overwhelmingly so.  Reminded me a bit of Racer 5 IPA.  Ithaca has a beer called Cascazilla which I would really like to try.

More recently my wife and I have been trying what we call "gimmicky craft brews".  We tried Rogue's Morimoto Hazelnut and Harpoon's Oyster Stout.  Both were underwhelming.

[the_Bird]

I can't remember if I've already mentioned these, but I've recently been on a kick for just some good, solid, basic pales ales.  Dale's Pale Ale (comes in a can ) kicks so much ass.  Lefthand Brewing's Sawtooth Ale is kind of an Americanized ESB; a little subtly roasty underneath some great hop flavor.  Bought a sixer of Anchor's Liberty Ale the other night, that's outstanding.  Stone Levitation, pretty good although not quite as nice as the others (it's a little to thin/watery). 

All just clean, quaffable ales.  Been meaning to try Sammy's new Noble Pils, I've been hearing nothing but outstanding things about it.

[indeedproceed]

noble pils is one of my favorite seasonals in years.