If any of you snow people ever head up to Baker, stop by North Fork Brewing and open your wallet. They have killer sours for such a podunk out of the way little brewery. They're awfully proud of them, though. Taught me to always ask for the price before[/i] the growler fill. "SIXTY-SEVEN DOLLARS!?"
That is a great little brewery.
ATBS, I loathe sours.
Your hatred of Euro Fag beer causes me much befuddlement.
#MeToo
There's so much there. Disliking all sours is pretty understandable and common. Clean German and Austrian lagers and less clean Czech ones? Hybrids like Kolsch/Altbier? Hefeweizen? Belgian wit? The entire range of Belgians? Abundance? Janet Reno?
Sounds like a lot of haie in his life, but I'll repeat: To each their own.
Cheers--
I tried hard to like Belgians, to fit in you see. I've been to Monk's in Philly several times. I'd still probably dig Delerium Tremens. It's been so long I can't really remember the exact reasons why, but I think it's the yeast strains used. I don't like the banana-y esters or the bubblegummy flavors.
I can enjoy a good lager on occasion, same with an Alt or Kolsch. Alaskan Amber was my favorite beer for a long time. But I don't care for the malting style of the German dark beers.
Over time, I found what I enjoyed most are the English-originated styles. Porters, stouts[/b], IPA, pales, and my GOATs, Imperial/Export Stouts.[/b]
Could have typed this myself. My Belgian phase was more because I liked them (and hated money) than to fit in (fitting in would be PBR at that time). funny you mention Delirium Tremens. Ever had the Nocturnum? I swear they drug that stuff. First two I attempted to drink--attempted[/i]--resulted in me forgetting I was drinking before the bottle was empty and getting into some giddy shenanigans that may or may not have involved public nudity. In fact, I believe the second one resulted in scaling a building downtown and getting a blowie on the roof. I also liked Unibroue's stuff, particularly the Trois Pistoles. Abt. 12 from St. Bernardus was also up there.
Nowadays, I rarely touch the Belgian stuff, mostly because I'm a poor and have drawn a hard line in the sand on how much I'm willing to pay for a bottle of beer. Which leaves plenty of room for my go-to dark beers. There are just too many amazing porters and stouts that at $10/sixer to be spending $12 for a 750 of Abt. 12. Lately, just based off of what's in the grocery store at the moment, I usually pick up whatever's on sale between:
Fremont Dark Star
Worthy Lights Out Stout
Black Raven Coco Jones
Sierra Nevada Narwhal Stout (if on sale)
No-Li Wrecking Ball Stout (if on sale)
North Coast Old Rasputin (if on mega sale)
Or I head a few blocks away to my brother's house, where he has a keg of Icicle's Dark Persuasion (fucking love this stuff) on nitro.
There's a non-dark beer I've been going through at an embarrassing rate lately, and that is New Belgium's Nitro Cold Brew Cream Ale. 5%, light, chuggable: PERFECT shop beer. Haven't made a straight cut since discovering it...
/csb