I like Red Stripe on a hot day (it's Jamaican, though, not Floridian).
I'm not the Belgian connisseur you are, Tom, but I tried a few recently. I had a big Duvel, a blue Chimay and a white Chimay on Super Bowl Sunday. I thought the Duvel was excellent when you consider it's alcohol content, but not worth $6. The Blue Chimay was a little disappointing - IMO not as good, not as rich and raisiny as the LaTrappe Dubbel I sometimes splurge on. The Cinq Cents, I thought, was pretty impressive. Not something I feel comfotable drinking on a daily basis ($8!!!), but excellent. Thanks for reminding me to pop for a special brew every now and then.
Oh, and the Unibroue does compare favorably to the Belgians - good tip.
Anybody up for an Old Rasputin from North Coast Brewing(?)? Very nice HEAVY stout. Much like BJ's Tatonka.

This week I dipped into Unibroue territory and tried both the Maudite and Fin du Monde. Both excellent, but I think I prefer the Fin du Monde because I can drink it faster.

I checked out the website and it says that Maudite can be aged -- and will take on port-like qualities. Has anyone been patient enough to set a bottle aside in the back of their fridge for this?

I'm also wondering if any of you beer nuts -- that's the proper parallel to wine snob, right? ) -- have the proper drinking glasses for the different styles of beer you enjoy.

So many names of beers, so many we cannot get in Canada.
How about for the Canucks, a little Big Rock to bring some sunshine into their day.
(Incidentally i own some stock in this company. Buy BIG boys!!)

SEE HERE

"InterbrewAmbev"?!?!? There is something REALLY wrong with that.

I'm not a beer historian, per se, but this global development is reminiscent of the consolidation of American breweries that took place throughout the 1960-1980's. Respectable regional breweries were bought out and closed, with the brand names living on as pale imitations of their former selves. I'm deeply saddened to see this kind of thing happen. Pretty soon, the only thing anybody will be able to buy is one brand called Budmilloors. I mean really, on a global scale, how many soda pop companies are real players besides Coke and Pepsi? It reminds me of the movie "Demolition Man" where, in the future, the only restaurant is Taco Bell.

So, I implore you, support your local brewery. If you don't, we could all be doomed to spending an inordinate amount of time homebrewing.

Thanks for sharing, Chess.

In reply to:

---

...we could all be doomed to spending an inordinate amount of time homebrewing.

---

And lordie knows how much boiling wort stinks up the house. Yecchhh!

I'm going to have to disagree with that statement, Peter!

I think boiling wort smells really great! I mean, malt and hops - what more do you want? Besides, if you're doing full boils of man-size batches, you're probably outside anyway.

I have to admit that I've only smelled boiling wort once when a friend was trying his hand at homebrewing. And I should probably mention that the end result was absolutely horrible. Could the two things be related?

AAAARGH, Tom. You're makin' me want to get out in the garage, dust off the wort chiller and mash up some barley.

Oh but wait, it'll take 8 hours or so to make a beer and clean up, a few hours of labor here and there, and I'll have to wait another 2 mos to drink it.

Maybe next winter.

Doesn't sound like it's wort the effort...