Howdy, gents. I saw a Unibroue beer packaged for Trader Joe's @ $4.99/btl and immediately thought of y'all. It's called TJ's Vintage 2006 Holiday Ale or something. 9% abv. Fruity yeast esters dominate - mainly banana flavors. Caramel and chocolate. A little thin in the body, but still a good memorable beer. Not nearly the beer that Trois Pistoles is, but worth $5, IMO.

Cheers!

<points>

<checks for Rod Sterling hiding behind couch>

Welcome back, stranger!

I grabbed their (TJ's) 2005 last year, but I haven't tried it yet. Should probably do that. I suspect that it is the same as the Edition 200x for the year. Can't say I'm fond of banana flavor in beer necessarily, but I just had a really yummy one that had such a character. Who knows...

Thanks, Ken.

I'm currently waiting for BevMo to put the leftover Anchor Xmas magnums on clearance. Greased the mgr with a couple Havanas....

That Anchor Xmas was fantastic last year!

Hmm... may need to look into that. Shoot, bet I missed the Gouden Carolus already. Dang.

You picked the best possible thread to make a re-entrance in. Welcome back, Mark!

A Mark sighting! Rare indeed. Welcome back!

Mark, welcome back! Your beer suggestion is appreciated and of course I always stand ready to repay you with info on wondrous classical CDs that are waiting for you out there.

Thank you, JohnK. I will recommend a Pabst Blue Ribbon and the Spice Girls first CD (you are living far too well ).

I really didnt feel like reading 134 pages so does anyone HomeBrew here? Right now I have a Boston Ale,Celebration Ale and a Irish Stout on tap.I have a Cherry Stout,American Pale Ale and a plain Stout in the fermenter.Total of about 30 gallons!

Great to see you, Mark! I miss you.

I homebrewed for years until my kids got more interesting than washing buckets in the garage. bigwill is a brewer too. You'll just have to read the 134 pages for the whole story.

Sounds like you've got it ALL going on!

I had composed this wonderful, long story about my recent beerventures and then clicked the wrong button and lost the whole damn thing. I'll try again later if I have time.

One item I can submit - I've been enjoying all the beers from Okocim (Carlsberg Polska), especially the Palone. It's not nearly as sweet, alcoholic or full-bodied as a porter (especially Polish versions). Fantastically clean, and a bit fruitier than a dunkel lager. Not completely unlike a Rauchbier, but not nearly the amount of smoke flavor. Really a fantastic beer.

Long live the beer thread.