Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler beer thread

Huntington Beach sounds pretty nice right now - it is an even 100 degrees outside right now in Corona. My favorite Mexican beers are the Dos Equis Brown and Green, Bohemia, and I reckon Negra Modelo is OK. If you like Corona (the beer) you probably won't like most of the beers these guys have been mentioning. Try some of the Czech pilseners you will find at Hi-Time, some are just awesome on a hot day - nice balance of malty sweetness and fine hop bitterness. Of course, German lagers are usually excellent. The best of those I ever had was Kulmbacher Reichelbrau on tap. Haven't seen it in years, though I haven't really been looking. Bavarian wheat beers are always nice on a hot day (Weihenstephaner is a good one, but you can't go wrong with any of them). Lastly, try Lindemann's Framboise. Its a Belgian beer fermented with raspberries (3.99 at Trader Joes).

Are you referring to the lambics? Yummy twice-fermented brews. Once without the fruit. A second time with the fruit. Mighty tasty.

I sense a poll coming *wink*

Lambics....YUMMY anything from Belgium is SO good

Yeah, my wife loves them and I have to admit that I'll sneak a gulp off hers when she isn't looking. I tried for years to make something comparable with mixed results. Mine were decent beers, but nothing like the real stuff. Turns out there are a lot of homebrewers trying the same thing. They import small wooden barrels from Belgium, use Belgian ingredients (their raspberries are apparently different than ours), and do their best to imitate the crazy yeast strains in that beer. After hearing all that, I told the wife it couldn't be done.

Gotta love those wacky Belgians. We have a Framboise on special occasions (like New Year's eve) instead of champagne. It's so pretty, rich, and effervescent. But the Lindeman's is quite a bit sweeter than most Lambics. Stale hops, wild yeast, wood, fruit... and still a beer. Love it.

I like the Bohemia best of the Mexican beers by a wide margin. But, especially on draught, you can successfully argue that the best Vienna lager in America is a Mexican beer (Dos Equis Amber).

I thought I posted earlier, but must have spazzed out....

Wanted to thank you all for the bourbon suggestions. I've been devoted to Maker's Mark for many years, but will expand my horizons as you've outlined and as the local gov't outlet allows.

Thanks again Mark.. Sorry about the temp out your way.. I guess that explains your interest in the COLD an bubbly
Yeah, living a few blocks from the beach is hard to beat..
I just made a print of this thread.. Will take it to Hi-Time Cellers tonight and fill my little cart to over-flowing..

Hey I can contribute here!

You've probably seen these before, but along with malpropisms, I like historical references to our common phraseology:

It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer, and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the "honey month" or what we know today as the "honeymoon".

Before thermometers were invented, brewers would dip a thumb or finger into the mix to find the right temperature for adding yeast. Too cold, and the yeast wouldn't grow. Too hot, and the yeast would die. This thumb in the beer is where we get the phrase "rule of thumb".
I've gotten quite a few email about this one. Here's what seems to be the consensus on the real story: The term "rule of thumb" came from colonial-period USA, there was a law that stated that a man wasn't allowed to beat his wife with anything larger around than his thumb.

In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So, in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's".

Beer was the reason the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. It's clear from the Mayflower's log that the crew didn't want to waste beer looking for a better site. The log goes on to state that the passengers "were hasted ashore and made to drink water that the seamen might have the more beer". Furthermore, some anthropologists speculate that Neolithic people made the switch from wandering and hunting-gathering to farming in order to raise grain to brew beer.

After consuming a bucket or two of vibrant brew they called aul, or ale, the Vikings would head fearlessly into battle often without armor or even shirts. In fact, the term "berserk" means "bare shirt" in Norse, and eventually took on the meaning of their wild battles.

In 1740 Admiral Vernon of the British fleet decided to water down the navy's rum. Needless to say, the sailors weren't too pleased and called Admiral Vernon, Old Grog, after the stiff wool grogram coats he wore. The term "grog" soon began to mean the watered down drink itself. When you were drunk on this grog, you were "groggy", a word still in use today.

Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim or handle of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle", is the phrase inspired by this practice.

Sorry, acx

Honey Moon does relate to honied mead, but is a practice of the Anglo Saxons, maybe the Celts before them.

"Rule of thumb," relates to an English legal concept carried over into the New World by the common law. A man was permitted to beat his wife with a switch, but the switch could be no thicker than his thumb. Hence, the "rule of thumb." We've come a long way.

Not to pick nits, but there are a few varieties of mead - only one of which contains any malted barley. I believe that type is called "braggart".

Braggot - mead with ale
Cyser - mead with apple juice
Pyment - mead with grape juice
Metheglin - mead with spices or herbs

Meads vary significantly in sweetness and carbonation level.

Good ones are really yummy. Bad ones taste like bug spray.