I got a gift card to Total Wine for xmas and I'm gonna go do the 'make your own six pack'. I wanna spice things up and get some good ass beer I've never had. My question is, what are the best beers out there that people (like me) don't know about?

The "popular" beers I like are Sam Adams, Yueng-Ling, Bass, Killian's, New Castle, etc. Just to give you a sense of what kind of taste I'm looking for.

Any beer connoisseurs out there with any suggestions?

1/11/2007 10:35:41 PM

they have too many to even start to name, just go in there and go nuts. remember what you buy and just get something new whenever you go back. sometimes youll come across one that no one else would have named thats pretty good.

1/11/2007 10:38:09 PM

duck rabbit milk stout (or is it rabbit duck?)

1/11/2007 10:40:45 PM

Carolina Brewing Company Pale Ale
Carolina Brewing Company Brown
Highland Oatmeal Porter
Highland Gaelic Ale
Duck-Rabbit Brown Ale
Edenton Horniblow's Tavern

There's your six pack right there. All pretty accessible to an inexperienced beer palate, all from NC, and all probably available in singles at TW.

Also consider Victory Prima Pils and Lager or one of the Dominion beers if they are available.

[Edited on January 11, 2007 at 10:48 PM. Reason : ']

1/11/2007 10:41:20 PM

1/11/2007 10:41:58 PM

^^^its duck rabbit, that one is one of my favorites, but with a gift card to total wine i would try something completely out of the norm.

[Edited on January 11, 2007 at 10:42 PM. Reason : .]

[Edited on January 11, 2007 at 10:42 PM. Reason : .]

1/11/2007 10:42:23 PM

North Coast Old Rasputin Imperial Russian Stout
Anderson Valley Boont Amber
Anchor Porter
Brooklyn Lager
North Coast Red Seal Ale
Victory Golden Monkey

1/11/2007 11:02:11 PM

The best unknown beer in the world is the Kaiser Dopplemaltz from Austria. Sadly, it's not sold outside of Austria.

1/11/2007 11:15:12 PM

Fischer Labelle from France is pretty damn good...also Kronenberg (sp?)

1/11/2007 11:25:41 PM

a lot of beers over in europe are graded using "degrees", the higher the degree the better the beer. pilsner urquell for instance is a 12. i tried a bohemia regent that was a 16 - one of the best beers i have EVER had. and i dont normally go for pilsners.

1/11/2007 11:27:51 PM

Boddington's
The Tanner's Jack
Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar
Magic Hat No. 9
Corsendonk
Old Speckled Hen
Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock (warning $Texas)
Abita Purple Haze

If you like Newcastle, you'll like Tanner Jack or Old Speckled Hen. Both great English Ales.

1/11/2007 11:31:30 PM

rouge hazelnut brown, and monty python holy grail are really good

1/11/2007 11:32:10 PM

Don't know if they have Montana beers there, but Moose Drool is good...

1/11/2007 11:34:23 PM

1/11/2007 11:34:31 PM

Weihenstephaner Hefe-weisse.

1/11/2007 11:44:14 PM

go with my list, and maybe substitute some of the stuff quiet guy listed...they won't disappoint. It would be easy to go and name a bunch of obscure beers, but those are all pretty safe bets which should be easy to find (except for the imperial stout, which may be a little stonger than you want).

that rouge hazelnut brown that was mentioned is good but i dont think they have singles, if it even comes in 12 oz.

Quote :

"a lot of beers over in europe are graded using "degrees", the higher the degree the better the beer."

The degrees are a measure of sugar density, varying with the amount/type of malt used. They have nothing to do with quality.

[Edited on January 12, 2007 at 12:16 AM. Reason : ;]

1/12/2007 12:10:54 AM

Best beer ever

Julius etcher hefe weiss.

[Edited on January 12, 2007 at 12:25 AM. Reason : it's godpiss]

1/12/2007 12:24:24 AM

Quote :

"Victory Golden Monkey"

1/12/2007 12:28:12 AM

i appreciate all the info. i will be sure to let you guys know how the beer tasting experiment goes.
...assumming i don't get too wasted and forget

1/12/2007 12:29:06 AM

^^^ Ah, Deutschland! Hefe viessen bier schmeckt gut--und doppelbach bier, auch.

You might also try Pete's Wicked Ale. It's good beer, and the company has many varieties.



[Edited on January 12, 2007 at 12:38 AM. Reason : ^]

1/12/2007 12:38:09 AM

eisbock ftw

also, TW has shitty stock rotation, so check bottling dates if available

1/12/2007 12:42:43 AM

Quote :

"Magic Hat No. 9"

1/12/2007 12:52:51 AM

Buy something you know you like already. If you end up with some shit you don't like you'll feel ripped off on the gift.

1/12/2007 4:37:16 AM

only reason i like golden monkey is cause i can get it for 2.5 at ruckus on sundays

1/12/2007 4:38:01 AM

Get anything (or everything they have) Samuel Smith's

scrumtrelescent

1/12/2007 6:42:00 AM

i like all the beers that have been mentioned

I also like Sweetwater 420 or something out of Atlanta.

Also, you could get the $15 Sam Adams that is in a special bottle.

1/12/2007 8:46:28 AM

If they have it, Chimey

one of the better belgium beers

so tasty

1/12/2007 8:48:51 AM

My Favorite Beer in the world:
Magic Hat #9
i've been drinking it since forever and used to transport 10 cases of it at a time from NY or CT before this past year.*i do prefer it on tap though*

Magic Hat Circus Boy
Magic Hat Jinx
* the former 2 are seasonals and may not be available at this time but look for other Magic Hat varieties*

Carolina Brewing Company Nut Brown
Youngs Double Choc Stout
Youngs other varieties
Highland Gaelic Ale
Brooklyn Brown
Shiner Bock
Sam Smiths
Rouge Hazelnut brown
Tommy Knockers Brewery (colorado)
Pete's Wanderlust Cream Ale
Pete's Strawberry Blonde (kinda girly but i like it as a light alternative to all the heavier beers i usually drink *keep it in mind for summertime*)

1/12/2007 8:51:44 AM

85% of these listed are not "unknown" beers

1/12/2007 8:58:53 AM

^i agree they are mostly American made or readily available when you got to a store

1/12/2007 9:01:33 AM

for real. . .

Quote :

"Carolina Brewing Company Pale Ale Carolina Brewing Company Brown Highland Oatmeal Porter Highland Gaelic Ale Duck-Rabbit Brown Ale Edenton Horniblow's Tavern "

i've had all these and i don't drink beer all that much.

1/12/2007 9:04:20 AM

the best beer from vermont.

[Edited on January 12, 2007 at 9:09 AM. Reason : d]

1/12/2007 9:08:42 AM

Quote :

"i've had all these and i don't drink beer all that much"

it is difficult to find most of them outside of NC so they're decently unknown nation wide

btw carolina blonde sucks as a brewing company... their ownly good beers are the cottonwood ones they inherited when they purchased their brewery.

Duck Rabbit porter is awesome too.

it really depends on what you think is unknown
Dogfish head 90 min IPA is an awesome beer.
Almost any of the local brewries rock
from Duckrabbit to highland edenton
and red oak all have great dark beers.

[Edited on January 12, 2007 at 9:27 AM. Reason : .]

1/12/2007 9:27:01 AM

Most unknown beers are going to be local or regional.

1/12/2007 9:30:40 AM

Weeping Radish

1/12/2007 9:37:42 AM

not to come across as a jackass, but 'Weeping Radish' sounds truly hideous

1/12/2007 10:05:20 AM

smithwick

1/12/2007 10:26:54 AM

Quote :

"i've had all these and i don't drink beer all that much."

Sure, they're common around here, but this guy listed Sam Adams, Yueng-Ling, Bass, Killian's, and New Castle as some pseudo-micro beers he enjoys. It's probably a safe bet that he hasn't tried more than 1 or 2 of them. Going by his post, I recommended some beers that wouldn't blow his mind but would give him a sense of what's out there; and, at worst, would be inoffensive to someone used to more common beers. He also mentioned that he wanted singles from TW, so I had to consider that.

I could easily rattle off a list of extraordinary beers he probably couldn't find, or that would be too off the wall for his tastes, but what good would that do.

Quote :

"btw carolina blonde sucks as a brewing company"

agreed

There's also alot of overrated euro crap in this thread.

[Edited on January 12, 2007 at 10:41 AM. Reason : ']

1/12/2007 10:37:12 AM

haha i said blonde but i meant Carolina Beer & Beverage Company i just rattled off their mostpopular flavor of ass..

1/12/2007 10:41:56 AM

Abita Purple Haze and Heineken Dark

Anyone know where I can buy Heineken Dark?

1/12/2007 10:47:37 AM

[Edited on January 12, 2007 at 11:00 AM. Reason : ;]

1/12/2007 10:59:09 AM

some of my favorite dark beers:

abita beer's turbo dog
dogfish head 90min imperial ipa (this is a 9% beer that doesn't taste like one so be careful)
old rasputin russian imperial stout

i went to the total wine off of capital and there beer selection sucked.

1/12/2007 11:04:40 AM

<---- Win

It's fucking awesome. Smoothest finish I've ever had. Too bad it's 8 bucks a bottle where I live.

1/12/2007 11:05:37 AM

Great White

1/12/2007 11:09:20 AM

Two of my favorites for the season:

Sammy Smith Winter Welcome
Harpoon Ale Winter Warmer

Yumma dum dum.

1/12/2007 11:10:51 AM

good stuff. wish i had a few more gift cards after reading all these posts.. i don't think a six pack is gonna cut it

1/12/2007 11:22:44 AM

Unibroue La Fin Du Monde
Victory Storm King Stout
Bells Amber Ale
Dogfish Head 90min IPA
Anchor Porter
Edenton Big Boss IPA

1/12/2007 11:24:53 AM

http://www.ratebeer.com

1/12/2007 12:03:58 PM

Flying Dog in Heat
Blue Star
Sea Dog Wild Blueberry

1/12/2007 12:11:52 PM

Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar
Boont Amber

1/12/2007 1:04:16 PM