Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler beer thread

I finally got around to one of the local tap rooms and had a Bell's Porter on draft. WOW!!! That went down reallllly nicely. Very creamy, smooth, not bitter, but not too sweet either. Mild chocolate notes.

I followed it with a Newcastle draft, which was relatively disappointing. I loooove Newcastle bottles at the local Thai restaurant and have not been able to recreate the experience with my own bottles at home. They're good, but the restaurant's are great. Tom once told me that maybe theirs were fresher or stored better at ideal temps, or some such. Maybe it's the pad Thai making everything taste better.

Bell's makes great beers.

I'm not surprised the Newky Broon tasted anemic after that, though. It's really a pretty small, dry beer. Spicy food definitely changes your taste buds. Didja try having Pad Thai at home? Newcastle gets light struck pretty easily, too.

Down with clear and green bottles!

Up with kegs.

I'm pretty tolerant of bad beer, but last night I finished off the last bottle of Kennebunkport Apricot Wheat and it was disappointing. I had such high hopes for it. Not much flavor, and what flavor there was manifested itself in some sort of awful aftertaste that wouldn't go away. (Sigh) I guess this is the price I pay for always trying out new things.

I've found that aftertaste thing with a number of fruit flavored beers (not lambics). I suspect that you have to drink them with exactly the right food, and I don't know what that is.

Short of actually eating an apricot with this beer, nothing was going to get the taste right. I've found the Pyramid Apricot beer to be quite pleasant--and, that stuff's available at supermarkets.

I had a couple pints of English Mild at The Harmon brewpub in Tacoma last night. It was exquisite! Really a great, delicate beer.

In China, me and a few friends stumbled upon a night food market where we tried some amazing barbecued chinese food (pork, beef, chicken, chicken leg, noodles, etc.) and tried some Tsingtao beer. I really haven't drank much beer (or much of anything) but tried it. They serve the beer in huge bottles and give you little plastic cups to drink it with.

We found out that the beer factory was literally down a few streets from the night market we were at. Talk about fresh beer! It was one of the best experiences of my life, chilling out at 2 AM with Chinese people yelling at you while eating some amazing food.


Me grabbing some food to eat


Pick your poison...err..food.


Beer.

Beer always tastes better in its country of origin. Thanks for the pics. Some of that chicken looks raw, though...