CS Booze Club.

[Dentarthurdent]

Quoth Jester

And their summer cider is absolutely wretched.

(snip)
Fox Barrel Pear Cider: Not mentioned in your post, but thought I should bring it up, as I find it actually superior to Woodchuck Pear, and I think Woodchuck Pear is one of the best ciders I've ever had. If you can, find yourself some Fox Barrel and see what you think.

Wyder's: I'm wondering if that's the cider I tried back in Arizona. (snip) Does that sound at all like Wyder's to you?

What part of Arizona are you moving to?

I agree, Woodchuck Summer is disgusting. I was extremely disappointed when I bought it expecting "Woodchuck, only with blueberries!" UGH. Had to get rid of a whole six-pack. Luckily I had help.

I will try Fox Barrel if I see it. Thanks for the tip.

Wyder's is pretty clear, if I remember right. Honestly I mostly remember going "OMG BARTLETTS" and slurping down a lot of them in a hurry (luckily, pear cider doesn't have the same tendency as apple - making me claim body parts I don't own and the ability to fly after a certain limit is reached). Their website or Wiki or whatever I just read says they're based in Vancouver and sell mostly in the Western states.

I...am moving near Flagstaff...I would say more but I already need to do something about my lack of anonymity on this site...

[Jester]

I was more fortunate than you were with the Woodchuck Summer, as I only tried a very small bit of it on draft as part of a sampler I got at a the World of Beer in Coconut Creek, during mine and Little Red's Beercation II.

As for Arizona, was just curious. Northern Arizona is pretty cool. Don't know what part you'll be in, but if you haven't checked out the Jerome/Cottonwood area in a while, they have a really cool new wine scene that is definitely worth checking out. Several vineyards, wine bars, clubs, etc. And while in northern AZ, definitely try some Oak Creek Nut Brown Ale. Most of Oak Creek's stuff is okay, but their Nut Brown is simply amazing.

[Dentarthurdent]

I'll try to remember to check it out, thanks.

ETA: I decided I'm kind of a jackass and this post looks like I'm blowing you off. Not my intention, I was just busy and distracted when I posted. I have never been to Jerome or Cottonwood, but I might check them out if I have an exceptionally long weekend. Being without a car will be a barrier, but that's not permanent. I also have a friend who likes to drive to Flagstaff, and she might be talked into it, since she also likes a good drink.

What does the Nut Brown taste like? If it's dark, I probably won't like it. I did once meet a dark beer I liked, though, so I try to keep an open mind.

Also, can you recommend any commercially available mead? I like it sweet, not dry. Story time...I was dating a guy once whose grandfather died, and there was a wake at his house. One of the uncles went down to the basement and brought up a jug of mead that the grandfather had put down about sixteen years previously. Despite the grandmother's admonishments that it was surely nasty and no good by now, we drank it. It was...*sigh* it was like having your head run over by a honey train, with the most delicious walnut aftertaste imaginable. I have never tasted anything like it, before or since. I was lucky enough to have it a second time at my then-boyfriend's sister's birthday party, beside German chocolate cake. Such indulgence.

[Jester]

Quoth dragonslayer126

I decided I'm kind of a jackass and this post looks like I'm blowing you off.

Really? I didn't read it like that at all, actually. Frankly, I was fine with it, and didn't see any reason to apologize whatsoever.

Quoth dragonslayer126

I have never been to Jerome or Cottonwood, but I might check them out if I have an exceptionally long weekend. Being without a car will be a barrier, but that's not permanent. I also have a friend who likes to drive to Flagstaff, and she might be talked into it, since she also likes a good drink.

If she likes wine, you should convince her to go...she'll thank you for it.

Quoth dragonslayer126

What does the Nut Brown taste like? If it's dark, I probably won't like it. I did once meet a dark beer I liked, though, so I try to keep an open mind.

Hard to explain, though I am pretty sure I reviewed that exact Nut Brown here in this thread. And yes, I did...here it is!

Quoth dragonslayer126

Also, can you recommend any commercially available mead?

As much as I am good person for recommending beer and rum, and even to a degree cider and wine, I really know bupkus (i.e., nothing) about mead. I've had it from time to time, and enjoy it, but I couldn't name even ONE brand of mead if I had to.

Clearly a segment of the beverage market I need to explore more. Sadly, though, that means I have no recommendations for you at this time. The good news is that YOU can be the pioneer here, trying new meads and reporting back to us on the good, the bad, and the ugly in the mead market.

[Jester]

And now an unlike beer review from me--an IPA. Those who know me or read this thread regularly know that I am not really an India Pale Ale fan, as IPAs are just way too hoppy for my personal tastes. But I have this in my fridge, after my Beer Monger talked me into picking up a bottle of it several months ago. Hell, it may have been even longer...this beer may well have been in my fridge over a year. Time to bite the hop bullet and see if I survive.

The good news is that this is from one of my favorite breweries, Cigar City Brewery out of Tampa, Florida. The bad news for me is that it is still an IPA, and historically, I like only about 1 out of 20 IPAs, and many of THOSE have been black IPAs, which have a lot more malt than the typical IPA. Ah, screw it. What's the worst that can happen?

So today's beer is Jai Alai India Pale Ale. It pours a dark golden amber with red highlights. The nose is hoppy, but not overpowingly so, actually smelling fresh and almost summery. Intriguing. The taste is....surprising. I was expecting a punch in the guts of hop overload, and that is not what I got. Again, summery, heathery, fresh, definitely with a hop bite, but not the kind that makes you pucker up your lips like you're in a Billy Idol lookalike contest. Continued drinking tells me that I don't hate this. I even *gasp* kinda like it. Me. Liking an IPA. What's next? Kosher pork roasts? Adolphus Busch IV drinking a Coors Light? Barack Obama attending a KKK meeting? Arizona State having a winning football team? (Sorry, my fandom is actually more bitter than my beer at the moment.)

For non IPA drinkers like myself that don't mind a bit of hops (I love Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, for example), this is quite a tasty little beer. It's hoppy, to be sure, but tolerably so, even enjoyably so. It may not be a true IPA, just a ramped up pale ale, but whatever it is, I spent many months looking at it in the fridge and bypassing it. Something I regret. Maybe it mellowed with age, maybe my palate is starting to be drawn to the Hop Side, I dunno. But if you get a chance, try this tasty little number from Tampa. After all, it doesn't bite....much. Score: 7.

Yes, that's a SEVEN out of ten from me for an IPA. Hopheads may not love it, I don't know. But I do. As I said, I generally only like about 1 out of 20 IPAs. Jai Alai is that 1.

[FuzzyKitten99]

I haven't kept up much on all the posts here, but this is one I came up with for summertime:

Highball glass
2-3oz Captain Morgan Pineapple Rum
fill the rest of the glass with either diet sprite or diet 7-up (diet helps cut the sugar over-load)
And a scoop of raspberry sherbet or any other citrus sorbet/ice cream

I call this a Parrot Floater

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

So I bought a six pack of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

It's a real easy-drinking beer. By which I mean whenever I have a bottle I tend to chug almost the entire thing in one go.

[Jester]

Irv, while other beer snobs may disagree, I find Sierra Nevada to be the epitome of what a pale ale is: tasty, with flavor, and with a hoppy bite, but still eminently drinkable.

Oddly, as I've mentioned here, everything else I've had by Sierra Nevada has been average or worse, sometimes downright disastrous. Nothing I've had by them can compare to their flagship Pale Ale.

Of course, if you found it so slurpable, you might want to try other pale ales and even India Pale Ales (IPAs), as you may enjoy the latter more than I do.

[Jester]

From Hofbrau Kaltenhausen, we have Edelweiss Weissbier. (And no, it is NOT German. It is Austrian.) Hefewiezen, weiss, Belgian wit....we beer snobs that, for the most part, these are the same style, with subtle variations. Please don't ask me to elaborate on the variations between them, because frankly, beer snob or not, I am not that educated in the differences. But this one IS hazy, cloud, opaque, and golden amber, as you might expect from this style. The nose is only one note, but that note screams "WHEAT!" in several different octaves.

Holy crap.

This is a freakin' amazing wheat beer/hefeweizen/weiss/wit/whatever the hell this is. This is amazing.

Sweet, but not overpoweringly so. Wheaty, and unmistakeable at that. Strong notes of bananas and cloves, as they should be. A smoothness that is not easy to come by. THIS, my friends, is a Worthy Beer. Remember the name. Edelweiss. For my fellow Americans, that's pronounced "ee-dill-VICE". And is spelled "E-D-E-L-W-E-I-S-S".

Truly an astounding beer. Worthy of the attention of beer snobs everywhere. Creamy, wheat, yummy, delicious. Edelweiss. Oh so nice. Scores an 8.

[Jester]

How much do I like the Edelweiss Weissbier? Well, tonight I've done something I've almost never done before. While drinking it, I dozed off.

Okay, well, that part I've done. Many, many times. Bear with me.

So, after several hours asleep on the couch, I woke up to the painful realization that my Edelweiss had just sat there, neglected, for all that time. Now, normally when this happens, I chalk it up to my own stupidity, call it a sacrifice to the beer gods, and pitch the beer down the drain.

What I've almost never done before, what I did tonight, was stick the beer back in the fridge for a couple hours in an attempt to recover it. Rarely, if ever, does such an attempt work. But the Edelweiss was so good, it was worth the attempt. And now I'm about to find out if this fool's errand has a happy ending, or falls flat.

Smells just as lovely as before. No stale beer smell here.
Admittedly much flatter than it was before. Beer being a carbonated beverage, this is why it's usually ill-advised to try to recover it after it's been sitting out for hours.
And while it's tastier than most semi-flat beers out there, and I will drink this, I have to admit, I am going to drink it quickly rather than savor it, because it is not nearly as good as it was earlier.

So, lesson learned. When getting a beer at the level of the Edelweiss Weissbier, don't be a tool and doze off on your couch until AFTER you've finished the damn thing.

But yeah, it was worth the attempt.