What constitutes a good beer?

[valkyrie013]

Had a freind that drank Warm natural light..
I'm not a beer drinker, can do a bud light but anything more stout tastes horrid to me.
I'll stick to my scotch

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I don't even know the difference between stout, ale, lager, etc.

 

[Kor]

The idea of "warm beer" is basically a myth. It's more like cellar temperature, like with wine. Serving it ice cold just dulls the flavor.

I don't even know the difference between stout, ale, lager, etc.

Lager - brewed at cooler temperature with a yeast that acts at the bottom of the vat. These tend to have a "cleaner" flavor profile.
Ale - brewed at warmer temperature with a yeast variety that acts at the top of the liquid. These tend to have more complexity in the flavor.
Stout - a type of ale brewed with darker malt including more roasted barley in the mix, leading to the darker color and more roast-y flavor.

Kor

 

[JirinPanthosa]

You can do a good job with pretty much any style except adjunct lager.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I don't even know the difference between stout, ale, lager, etc.

Stouts and porters use roasted malts and appear black. The difference between ale and lager is how it’s fermented. Ales use top fermenting yeasts in warm temperatures and lagers use cold fermenting yeasts at colder temperatures.

 

[Garak]

Whatever Asahi does, because that is excellent beer

 

[urbandefault]

What constitutes a good beer?

I have two criteria:

1. Cheap
2. Plentiful

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I tend to like darker beer as they seem more flavorful for me. I can't do any light beers, as they just taste like piss water (not that I've ever drank my own piss, it's just what I imagine piss WOULD taste like )

Some of my favorites:

Abita Purple Haze
Country Boy Shotgun Wedding
Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale
Leinenkugel Summer Shandy
New Castle Brown Ale
Sam Adams Octoberfest

Kentucky Ale also puts out a Kentucky Bourbon Vanilla Barrel Ale which tastes like cream soda and for the holidays Kentucky Peppermint Barrel Ale which tastes like you're drinking a York Peppermint Patty

 

[plynch]

My baseline of what I like begins with Sam Adams' Boston Lager, to name one people know. It is very plebeian to name it now, but it's wonderful. I like "warmer," maltier beers. The IPA craze with lots of hops and citrus left me at the gate.

My go-to cheap beer is Stroh's, more tasty than most American piss beers imho. Plus I'm from Detroit.

 

[cooleddie74]

Not being Miller Lite.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I'm fine with: you drink what you like, I'll drink what I like.

 

[Malicia]

Guinness in Ireland goes down too easily. A few gulps and the pint glass is empty. Just looking at a can in my fridge and it has nutritional information on the side with carbs and protein info. There’s a saying in Ireland that a pint of Guinness is a meal in a glass.

 

[Redfern]

I don't usually drink. In fact the last time I consumed anything was maybe 15 or more years ago when some of the IT engineers went to Houston to upgrade the server hardware at one of our bakeries. We had wrapped up the first day's work and were unwinding at the hotel which offered a free "happy hour". I would not have even bothered if it was coming out of my own pocket, but as it was a "complementary service" of the hotel and thus wouldn't even be tagged onto our business accounts, I finally "relented" and "sampled". I wasn't really in the mood for a pilsner, so I asked the bartender about alternatives. He suggested an "amber bock" which I accepted. I quite liked it. A bit sweeter, but not cloyingly so, just enough to offset the "bitterness" of the average pilsner.

 

[Owain Taggart]

"Oh, I know, dark beer...it's bitter. It's for thick-necked guys named Gunter." - Martin Mull

You know, now it's a lot harder to tell what kind of beer it is just by looking at its colour. There's so much experimentation in the industry right now, with so many brewers trying to push the envelope, not only of what's possible, but of expectations. So, it's impossible to really categorize them going by colour alone, as you can find Black IPAs, which are normally lighter in colour, and you also have black lagers, and Zero IBU IPAs (Hint, they're not bitter.)

 

[Relayer1]

Beer tastes just fine cold to me. I don't really care if it was supposed to be like that or not. I can't stomach the thought of drinking it warm.

There's a difference between not ice cold and warm.

Most American beer is what we'd call lager. I'm not going to slag it off because we've got a fair few of those types of lager too. If I drink lager (which I do in the summer) it's chilled and I'd always go for one of the better ones like Stella Artois. I'll also opt for Pale Ales or IPA's in the nice weather. They're refreshing.

Other times I like stouts (like Guiness), ales and bitters. I do find the less mass produced stuff tends to be better quality but there are some very decent mass market beers - Old Speckled Hen, Pedigree and Old Peculier to name but a few.

 

[cooleddie74]

I prefer beers and lagers and ciders cold or at least not warm. It's an aesthetic thing that helps them go down smoother and adds that extra kick to the throat on the way down.

 

[Mojochi]

I stick to medium strength lager because I know where I am with them and anything stronger over 5% can make the room start spinning very fast.

I'm actually the opposite of that lately. I don't drink much. So when I do, I'm not up for downing a bunch of calories. I like a stronger alcohol %, so I can get a bit of a buzz without guzzling a bunch of beer. That's the main reason I don't care for American mainstream beers. It's just unhealthy feeling to drink all that.

It's a bit pricey, but I've been into a Belgian style ale from Canada called La Fin Du Monde. They come in 750ml bottles sealed with a cork. It's like I'm opening a bottle of wine or whatever. I'll start with it chilled, but leave it out, as I drink it slowly through the evening. Having it frigid isn't necessary & because it's 9% I get cozy by the end, & that's it for the night. If I want to get lit, they have a 4 pack of the 12 ounce size ones too, which will do that job for me

 

[Gov Kodos]

I have two criteria:

1. Cheap
2. Plentiful

Whether the beer is half empty or half full it's only half as good as a full one.

 

[Finn]

Best beer is the one in back of the fridge that you had forgotten about for weeks.

 

[Weyoun 251]

I think, for me, Gamma Ray and Neck Oil (it's both necky and oily) rank high in the best beer stakes.

If I'm not in the mood to spend all of the money then an Estrella hits the spot pretty well too.

I don't know what the culture is like outside the UK as far as taking the piss out of what people drink but my experience here is that it is almost a rite of passage or expected that if you drink Carling, Carlsberg etc that you will get some stick for it. Never seems to involve much drama though.

In terms of specifics on what makes a beer good, I guess a taste and feel to it that doesn't make you regret spending £6.50 on something that you will be pissing against a wall or down your jeans a few hours later would be a fair assessment