OT: Beer Thread

[nobody important]

I fill my growler(s) at Central city quite often. Hidden gem. Also Vancouver Urban Winery (which duals as a brewer) Food there is outstanding as well. They have also wine on tap which is actually not uncommon here

Common here as well.
https://www.instagram.com/thecommonwpg/

And Mona Lisa on Corydon has it, too. Maybe other places. Personally, I think they should just bring the box to the table and charge by weight.

 

[RageQuit77]

Beer thread?

Some Finnish beers (lagers)

Karhu III ('Bear III') Good beer for daily consumption. Favorite of many Finns.

Lapin Kulta ('Gold of Lapland') Locally also known as 'Piss of Reindeer'. Divides opinions about it's general tastefulness, but after 5-6 bottles you don't really care.

Karjala III ('Karelia') Only way to get once lost Finland's historical province back from Russia: a bottle by bottle. Decent choice, particularly good for heavy consumption.

These three beers shall be the introduction to the Finnish lagers. They are also among most sold labels, but obviously there are many more. Enjoy.

 

[nobody important]

Beer thread?

Some Finnish beers (lagers)

Karhu III ('Bear III') Good beer for daily consumption. Favorite of many Finns.

Lapin Kulta ('Gold of Lapland') Locally also known as 'Piss of Reindeer'. Divides opinions about it's general tastefulness, but after 5-6 bottles you don't really care.

Karjala III ('Karelia') Only way to get once lost Finland's historical province back from Russia: a bottle by bottle. Decent choice, particularly good for heavy consumption.

These three beers shall be the introduction to the Finnish lagers. They are also among most sold labels, but obviously there are many more. Enjoy.

Some selected comments from the same Beer Advocate reviewer, listed as a Top Rater. Not to be taken overly seriously, it is just one person's opinion.

Karjala III:
56.8 cl aluminum can acquired at a supermarket and served into a generic kitchen glass in Helsinki, Finland. Reviewed live. Expectations are very low given its reputation. 4.50% ABV. 40 kcal/100ml. No bubble show forms as it's poured.
Served cold. Side-poured with standard vigor as no carbonation issues are anticipated.
HEAD: Pours a half finger wide head of off-white colour. Subpar thickness. Not much creaminess. Leaves no lacing as it recedes. Retention is poor - about 1 minute.
BODY: Clear thin yellow-copper of below average vibrance. Not looking good. No yeast particulate or hop sediment is visible.
AROMA: Weak watery barley. A light aroma with little happening.
TASTE: Weak barley. Malt extract/syrupy. A kiss of grassy hop character. Grains. This sucks.
Poor depth of flavour. There's no complexity, subtlety, intricacy, or nuance here at all. Very low-grade.
TEXTURE: Slightly syrupy. Too thick for the absence of flavour. Smooth and wet. This texture doesn't suit the taste at all.
Not oily, gushed, hot, boozy, astringent, or rough.
In its defense, it isn't watery. But even a watery texture might be better than this syrupy nonsense.
OVERALL: A garbage supermarket beer from Finland. I wouldn't buy it again. Not recommended, and terribly priced to boot. Avoid. I'm glad I have someone to help me finish this crap.
Low D-

Karhu III:
33cl can served cold into a kitchen glass at low altitude in Kuopio, Finland. Expectations are below average given the brewery behind it. Purchased at a Prisma supermarket in Kuopio, Finland. Reviewed live as a European pale lager.
4.60% ABV.
No bubble show forms as it's poured.
HEAD: 1 finger wide. White colour. Fair creaminess and frothiness. Retention is above average - ~3 minutes. Some lacing adheres to the sides of the glass as the head recedes.
BODY: Clear honey colour/pale copper of average vibrance. Clean, with no visible yest particulate or hop sediment is visible.
Looks like most pale lagers. Well-carbonated, with a clean crisp appearance.
AROMA: Faint buttery/diacetyl notes. Copper malts. Pale malts. Barley. No real grains. Honey malt.
A pleasant aroma of average strength. Sweetness seems a touch high, but overall it's a pretty run-of-the-mill Euro lager aroma profile.
TASTE & TEXTURE: Has a smooth wet and fairly soft mouthfeel, which is definitely preferable to the frequently sharp and metallic textures of most beers in this style. A bit overcarbonated, but still refreshing, with a pleasant albeit neutral Munich malt emphasis. Some supplementary honey malt and pale malt is present, but the hop profile is minimal - some generic grassiness at most.
Crisp and clean, but problematically buttery. My biggest criticism is its plainness - neutral to the point that it's almost insipid. It's also quite shallow. Flavour duration and intensity are average.
Not a gestalt beer, nor an impeccably balanced one. But it's built more or less to style, and is what you'd expect at this price range - a forgettable but drinkable beer intended for students and casual drinkers alike.
OVERALL: Known to many Finns as a redneck beer, Karhu III is just another take on the Carlsberg/Heineken model of neutral easy-drinking approachable Euro lagers, and is largely indistinguishable from any other European country's cheap offerings in the style. Still, it hides its modest alcohol well and will get you drunk. You could do worse than an 8 pack of this if you're looking for a good buzz on the cheap, but the discerning drinker (or craft beer enthusiast) will find this mediocre. I wouldn't bother with it again, but it's better than many beers out there in this price range (relative to purchasing power).
Low C (2.8)

Lapin Kulta Premium Lager: (hard to read the label in your pic but I think this is the beer)
5.2% ABV. 50cl can reviewed in Kuopio, Finland.
This is a crisp, clean, light-bodied refreshing lager with a nicely soft mouthfeel and a simple but balanced taste. Flavour profile emphasizes clean barley and generic pilsner malts, but never suffers from the metallic off-notes often observed in the style. Hop presence is minimal (to style). Very cohesive, though not gestalt. Well put together in spite of its obvious shallowness, Lapin Kulta Premium Lager Beer is a nice budget offering at Alko stores in Finland and is a notch or two above most pale lagers in Finland.
Highly drinkable with a well-hidden albeit average ABV. I might get it again if I'm after an affordable picnic beer, but I wouldn't bother shelling out for it on-draught. It's pretty much what you'd expect, and I think it's an above average pale lager.
Low C+ (3.05) / ABOVE AVERAGE

 

[buggs]

Went to Peg Beer Co last night and had the Fair Play (American Pale Ale) and the Dazzle Ship (IPA) both extremely tasty and would happily drink again. Food left a lot to be desired. My guest and I both concluded the flat bread had come out of a box. Salads at the table next to us looked much, much better.

 

[Ducky10]

Went to Peg Beer Co last night and had the Fair Play (American Pale Ale) and the Dazzle Ship (IPA) both extremely tasty and would happily drink again. Food left a lot to be desired. My guest and I both concluded the flat bread had come out of a box. Salads at the table next to us looked much, much better.

Not a fan of the flat breads either, with how good the bread they make there is, you'd think they would be better. The beet salad is fantastic though, as are all of their sandwiches and the beer and cheddar soup.

Dazzle Ship is my fave Peg beer.

 

[Derfel]

Anyone have any opinions on Barnhammer beers right now? Looking at getting a keg shipped here in January. I like my beer hoppy. I've tried their red before and thought it was decent.

 

[SoCalJetsFan]

It's more craft "like" than Bud though. It's as close as you'll get to a craft at most major sporting events.

You can get real small brewery craft beers at Ducks games and I believe Kings games as well if I recall from last year. At Ducks games they have the usual suspects that have sold out such as Golden Road Brewing and Goose Island but they have beer from Hanger 24 which is still a local SoCal brewing company that hasn't been swallowed up by one of the big conglomerates as far as I know. They currently have a couple of beers at the Honda Center; Betty IPA and Oktoberfest Fall Lager. Will try these out when the Jets come to town next month.

 

[SoCalJetsFan]

I've drank a **** ton of beer in my life time. Lots of craft brews. I think the pendelum has swung so far in the other direction that macro brews are now completely underrated. Sometimes I don't need craft IPAs that are 10% with 10000000000000000 IBUs with 2000 calories per bottle. All I need is an extremely cold coors, yeungling, miller lite, molson, etc. sometimes that I can sip on easily, have multiple ones of and not get extremely wasted.

I kinda agree with you although I like to mix it up; a couple of good Belgium Ales (or insert the name of any of your favorite craft beers) followed by some longevity beers (Michelob Ultra or such). Keeps me from being face down on the table by 7:00 pm and I actually enjoy a very cold Bud Light on a nice hot day.

 

[surixon]

One Great City has a moca flavored Stout as one of their specialty taps right now and it's excellent

 

[RageQuit77]

@nobody important: Thx for the analysis. Never gone that deep. I'm just casual, vulgar beer-user with inbuilt drive to get drunken (personally I do not consider there are much point in drinking beer without serious attempt get intoxicated. I prefer water or juice if I'm only plain thirsty...)

Anyway, without being any kind Über-HIFI-beer-enhusiastic per se, this is the one I really like taste-wise:

Budejovicky Budvar Premium Dark Lager


My sincerely recommendation. Yam.

 

[nobody important]

@nobody important: Thx for the analysis. Never gone that deep. I'm just casual, vulgar beer-user with inbuilt drive to get drunken (personally I do not consider there are much point in drinking beer without serious attempt get intoxicated. I prefer water or juice if I'm only plain thirsty...)

Anyway, without being any kind Über-HIFI-beer-enhusiastic per se, this is the one I really like taste-wise:

Budejovicky Budvar Premium Dark Lager


My sincerely recommendation. Yam.

I love a good tmavý ležák. We get the Budvar (called Czechvar here) Pilsner but I think our only Czech dark is Baron.

 

[ps241]

Have become the full craft beer consumer now, its crazy how my tastebuds have adjusted. IPA is my new favourite go to beer, I have been trying different versions but on balance I have enjoyed all options just some more than others.

 

[Evil Little]

Have become the full craft beer consumer now, its crazy how my tastebuds have adjusted. IPA is my new favourite go to beer, I have been trying different versions but on balance I have enjoyed all options just some more than others.

Which ones do you like? Little Scrapper (especially on tap), Lagunitas, and the Garrison Juicy DIPA are my current favourites. The latter is an NE IPA and an astonishingly drinkable beer given it's shit-kicking ABV.

 

[buggs]

Have become the full craft beer consumer now, its crazy how my tastebuds have adjusted. IPA is my new favourite go to beer, I have been trying different versions but on balance I have enjoyed all options just some more than others.

I've been there for quite some time. As I've mentioned before, I always have a simple yellow beer in the house but most of my money goes to buying the single cans and most of those tend to be IPAs.

Quite dismayed the Red Racer Reign of Hops pack has been discontinued in Manitoba. Hopefully it's only for the summer. You can still pick up the IPA and ISA in the pint cans so all is not lost, but sometimes it's nice to have the smaller portion.

 

[nobody important]

Which ones do you like? Little Scrapper (especially on tap), Lagunitas, and the Garrison Juicy DIPA are my current favourites. The latter is an NE IPA and an astonishingly drinkable beer given it's ****-kicking ABV.

The Garrison is tasty enough, but too clear. If it doesn't look like a glass of Beep, they ain't done it right.

 

[buggs]

The Garrison is tasty enough, but too clear. If it doesn't look like a glass of Beep, they ain't done it right.

Holy crap you're old. Do they still make Beep?

 

[Evil Little]

Holy crap you're old. Do they still make Beep?

I haven't seen it in years but two parts orange juice, two parts apple juice, and one part pineapple juice is a close enough approximation.

 

[JohnStaymoose]

My go to beer has always been Harp but when I go to places I frequent a lot like The Toad I drink Standard. Standard is cheap as hell but it does the trick.

 

[Jetfaninflorida]

Speaking of beer, I used to get this beer in Ontario - probably Kenora or Thunder Bay area - it's been a while - 30 or 35 years ago. I was probably 16 at the time - whoops, typo - uh, I am sure I was at least 18 at the time. Anyway the beer label was white and had the following word in medium blue letters - BEER. I guess that was the brand or in this case the no brand. BEER. White label, blue word - BEER. I bought it because it was cheap.

In the fine print on the label, it said Union Made. That's how I knew it was high quality.

 

[Evil Little]

Speaking of beer, I used to get this beer in Ontario - probably Kenora or Thunder Bay area - it's been a while - 30 or 35 years ago. I was probably 16 at the time - whoops, typo - uh, I am sure I was at least 18 at the time. Anyway the beer label was white and had the following word in medium blue letters - BEER. I guess that was the brand or in this case the no brand. BEER. White label, blue word - BEER. I bought it because it was cheap.

In the fine print on the label, it said Union Made. That's how I knew it was high quality.

 

[nobody important]

Is that from Repo Man? I remember generic labelled foods being a running joke in the movie.

 

[Ducky10]

Drinking a Wild Rose Ponderosa Gose at the moment.......and will be ordering another.

 

[RageQuit77]

That's another decent label for a drive to get drunken.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_August_Sandels

"Sandels is also a beer brewed by Olvi since 1971. Humorous stories about Colonel Sandels (and his love of beer and food) are printed on the back label."

 

[RageQuit77]

Field test.

1 Budweiser Dark (Bottle) in the local pub. Good mood.
7 or 8 Karhu III (0.5l) in a bar with good friends. 2 Karaoke songs. Good mood.

Few hours in the HFB being 'Philosophical'. Good mood.

Going to bed soon enough. Good mood.

Predicted trajectory: Sleeping well. Mild hangover. Good mood.

Good night! Go Jets Go!

 

[nobody important]

Picked up a growler of 1919 yesterday and tonight seems like the perfect occasion to drink it all. I hate Halloween.