Friday Night Shut-ins Unite: what are you drinking?

Submitted by WildcatBlue on
It's Friday night and you're on MGoBoard. Some of you are on-call neurosurgeons, some of you are Thomas Pynchon suffering through writers' block. Most of you are drinking. What are you drinking, and is it nice? I'll start, and set the bar low: I'm drinking Icehouse, in a 16oz can. It's not nice. I will not try to defend this choice.

gpsimms not to…

August 14th, 2009 at 10:48 PM ^

Respond to this so I can +1 you again. I +1'd you for starting this thread, I'm drinking Labatt from a bottle. Classy, I know, but that's how I roll. But respond to this, as you definitely deserve a second plus for the icehouse. And frankly, I still think I'd owe you one for the 16 oz can.

formerlyanonymous

August 14th, 2009 at 11:17 PM ^

I'm not sure what I what I would compare bock to. It's a wheat beer that pours a copper color but drinks lighter. Due to it being a lighter bock, it's ideal for summer drinking, which is 80% of the year in Texas. It's also just heavy enough that it is also enjoyable in the spring/fall, which accounts for the other part of the year in these parts. I find a lot of people who drink light beer, but don't like real beer can normally handle Shiner Bock. It's got enough craft beer flavor without going overboard. The bock used to be priced the same as light beers down here, which worked out extremely well for a guy in his late teens/early 20s. I learned to value the craft brew over bud light really quick. The Smokehaus is very similar except its malt has been smoked in a bbq pit. The smoke taste is so light that many can't really taste too much difference. Again, a summer beer. The Bohemian Black was their 97 year anniversary beer (they released a different beer in each of the 5 years leading to the 100). This is the only anniversary beer that they kept just due to it's high demand. It pours much darker but, again, isn't that heavy. I'd compare it to many other black lagers, the closest one I can recall being Saranac's Black Forest, except a little lighter. I can't remember anything tasting like the commemorator. It's a little heavier than the other brews at Shiner, but nowhere near Guinness heavy. It's alright, but I don't expect it to stick around too long. I miss their dunkel weiss, which was a dark, rich wheat ale. It had strong taste of wheat beer to it, but it didn't last one the market very long. Their hefe has continued to pick up steam, but it's nothing special. I took the brewery tour two weeks ago and had a great time. There must have been 300 people there on a Friday afternoon (they only do two a day during the week and close down on the weekend). It was rather impressive for being a bit off the beaten path. The brand name of Shiner is slowly becoming the beer of the state of Texas. I think it is Texas's oldest independent brewery, and ships to 40-45 states now.

formerlyanonymous

August 14th, 2009 at 11:29 PM ^

I once played the boot game with Paul with Spaten Optimator at the berg in Ann Arbor. If I remember correctly, I didn't remember anything after that. Good times and better happy hours. It's going to be a bit lighter than Optimator and a little less bitter (at least to people who sample many beers). And it's probably only about 4-5%. None of shiner's beers are that heavy in alcohol content. It makes them more marketable down here.

Snidely Doo Rash

August 15th, 2009 at 1:01 AM ^

the kosmos special from shiner is outstanding if you ever see it--unique too as I have little to compare it to. I got it in a sampler pack at my local beer sto, but all the flavors are good. Kosmos Spoetzl (sp?) is the guy who made this duck quack back in the day. I am also glad to report that the local bar in southern IN I ate wings at tonight now has oberon on tap and it was SUPerb. I will be back to get some mo o dat.

formerlyanonymous

August 15th, 2009 at 1:10 AM ^

Yeah, it's the Spoetzl brewery located in Shiner, TX. I've had one Kosmos special, but I was enough beers in at the time not to want to give my official take on it. The brew was a special reserve from about 10 years ago they just re-released. My next pack will probably be the Shiner family pack just to get another taste. I just hate that it comes with a Shiner light in it. I'd rather just get two shiner blondes. (that's the blonde beer)

Snidely Doo Rash

August 15th, 2009 at 1:36 AM ^

prefer blondes and my numero uno beer for a few years, trite as it may be, is hoegarden (sp?). So, I would expect the kosmos to kick shiner's white beer's ass when you find a family pack. And for me, the hoe kicks the kosmos. My current #2 is unibroue's la fin du monde and I would put the kosmos at a up and coming # 3 pending future clinical trials fwiw.

formerlyanonymous

August 15th, 2009 at 2:26 AM ^

Tremendous fan of hoegarden and la fin du monde, although I've only had it in very sparse quantities. The best beer I ever had, or so at least the memory seems to serve me now, is Avery's Kaiser. I was in boston for work in October 07, and I was at the Sunset bar, which has the most taps I've ever seen. We started to drink a Kaiser for every run the Red Sox scored against the Rockies in the World Series that night, which was 12 or so. That lasted through the third inning when we had to start taste testing more - I mean you've got so many taps, why limit yourself? While there, I also split a 12 oz bottle of some swedish chocolate stout that was over $14 a bottle (I want to say it was actually $28, but I'll go conservative). It tasted of chocolate milk. It was divine.

Blue Durham

August 15th, 2009 at 12:07 AM ^

on this blog (seriously) as your knowledge of football far exceeds mine. Besides, if I mentioned what I was currently drinking (a California Sauvignon Blanc - white wine!!!!) I'd receive far, far more abuse than you and your prickley pear juice (is that something like un-fermented tequila?).

BlockM

August 14th, 2009 at 10:58 PM ^

I was at a wedding, alcohol was not free, I had no money and it was expensive anyway. Worst wedding ever. It's not hard to make a wedding great... it takes an open bar and some good music.

BlockM

August 14th, 2009 at 11:11 PM ^

Yeah... the groom was also in a wheelchair/on crutches throughout the ceremony/reception as he was hit by a car three weeks ago. Awkward in every way. I had a hard time not laughing out loud when he was wheeled down the aisle by his father.