Favorites

Top N Beer Styles, in Order:

1. English IPA

2. Porter

3. American Pale Ale

4. Irish Red

5. Belgian Hefeweizen

6. Scotch Ale

Favorite Examples

1. English IPA

i. Fuller's IPA

ii. Samuel Smith's IPA

iii. Tennessee Sh*t Kicker IPA*

2. Porter

i. Anchor Porter

ii. Sam Adams Honey Porter

iii. Sierra Nevada Porter

iv. Hop-tech Porter*

3. American Pale Ale

i. Manny's

ii. Anchor Liberty

iii. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

iv. Widmer Bros. Drifter Pale Ale

4. Irish Red

i. Sam Adams Irish Red

5. Hefeweizen

i. Weihestephaner Heffewiessbier

6. Scotch Ale

i. Sam Adams Scotch Ale

*My homebrew

Hard-to-find Favorites

Beers I've liked in the past but are kind of hard to find (e.g., road trip to Total Wine required):

• Franziskaner Weissbier
• Sam Adams peat-smoked Scotch Ale
• McEwan's Scotch Ale (I think Sam Adams version is better, though)

Give wine a chance...

Thought I'd have another go at wine.  I'm not a big wine person, but some folks at work are and I asked them to recommend a few vintages.  I'm currently trying a J. Lohr 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon.  Pretty mellow, not super spicy, good nose and flavor.  I'm happy with the purchase at $15.

Tetley's English Ale

Hello sports fans! It's a beautiful Spring afternoon for doing outside things like golf, and I'm splitting my time between lounging by the pool and watching the Masters on TV. On this spectacular Easter Sunday in sunny Florida, I'm having one of my favorites... Tetley's English Ale in pint cans with the nitrogen widget. The mouth feel is awesome, although there is virtually no sign of hops anywhere. It's a great beer for hot days, though, and should go well with the pork butt in my Old Smokey electric smoker.

Widmer Brothers Drifter Pale Ale

This just showed up at my local Publix. It's a Portland, Oregon pale ale so I was expecting bitter hoppiness suitable for the horrid weather they have in the Northwest. I was surprised as it is refreshing, hoppy without being too bitter, a grapefruity aroma, and has a very mild finish. It's a beautiful Spring day here in Orlando and the temps dropped considerably as a front moved through overnight. As I just finished up helping the wife plant some liriopie, it was very refreshing. And now, for some baby back ribs on the rotisserie.

Sam Adams Noble Pilsner

OK, so I said earlier that I don't like lagers and in particular I do not like Czech Pilsners at all. But I have to make a couple of exceptions within that style. Sam Adams Noble Pils is pretty sweet. Even better (IMO) was a Sam Adams brew from the late 90's called Golden Pils (thanks to my friend Steve's son John who now works for Boston Beer and conveyed my liking of Golden Pils to Jim Koch himself). The Noble Pils is quite hoppy (as advertised, all 5 of the noble hops used in brewing), The Golden Pils less so but I remember it as being one of my favorites back in the day. At that time I was really enamored with Sam Adams Cherry Wheat in the hot Alabama summers; trying it now, I like it less than I remember but it's still very good.

Beeradvocate scores the Noble Pils higher than the Golden Pils but I would take exception to that... if I could bring back the latter now to compete with the former.

Sam Adams Irish Red Ale

Had this last night as part of a sampler 12-pack. So I've never actually had an "official" Irish Red, although my homebrewing friend Steve Murphy and I used to make an Irish Red kit from www.hop-tech.com (looks like they're out of business now, but the recipe is here). This was a dry-hopped West Coast ale that was EXTREMELY hoppy and EXTREMELY bitter... so bitter I couldn't drink it but Steve loved it.

I think Sam Adams' take on it is one of the best ales I've ever tried. It is extremely well-balanced between malt sweetness and hop bitterness, and the richness is "just right" on my palate's scale. Unfortunately you can't buy sixes or twelves of just Irish Red around here, you can only get it as 2 bottles in a 12 pack sampler.

This would definitely be in my top 10 list of personal favorites. I would love to try it on tap.