9234dwz@houxf.UUCP (The Rev. Peak) (07/31/85)
After seeing several postings extolling the virtues of Anchor Steam
and when some turned up in the local liquor store I broke down and
purchased some [ $ 7.50 a six pack ].
[ I don't recall if this was Anchor Steam Beer or the Liberty Ale ]
Well let me tell you folks, this is the kind of gnats p*ss that got
CAMRA started. It was a putrid pretentious bottle of bilge water.
I'm a firm believer in the statement "there's no such thing as bad beer"
but this was as close to bad as I want to get. The taste was so close to
non-existant that I was reminded of Piels beer(at least that stuff is dirt
cheap [no I didn't buy that] ).
My preferred North American beers are:
1) Dos Equis or Tres Equis ( or their Christmas beer Buenos Nochas)
2) Ballantines Ale
Dave Peak
@ ihnp4!hotel!dxp
"All the net's a stage and all the men and women merely ham actors !"
- Rev Peak (apologies to Bill S.)chuqui@nsc.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach) (08/03/85)
In article <960@houxf.UUCP> 9234dwz@houxf.UUCP (The Rev. Peak) writes: >After seeing several postings extolling the virtues of Anchor Steam >and when some turned up in the local liquor store I broke down and >purchased some [ $ 7.50 a six pack ]. >[ I don't recall if this was Anchor Steam Beer or the Liberty Ale ] > >Well let me tell you folks, this is the kind of gnats p*ss that got >CAMRA started. It was a putrid pretentious bottle of bilge water. > >My preferred North American beers are: > > 1) Dos Equis or Tres Equis ( or their Christmas beer Buenos Nochas) > 2) Ballantines Ale I think your preferences show why you didn't like Anchor Steam (or, for that matter, Liberty Ale, if that is what you got). If I was as nice about your beer as you were about mine, I'd call Dos equis pisswater, but I save that epithet for Coors and henry weinhardt (Hi, rsk!). Anchor Steam is a very full and deep bodied beer, made in a very traditional way. It has a good strong flavor more in tune with enjoying the taste than in guzzling the fluid. Dos Equis happens to be quite a good beer, but that kind of beer is much different than something like Anchor Steam, and someone who likes one kind won't neccessarily like the other without a little getting used to it. Once you do, though, you tend to not go back. Just because it's called beer doesn't mean it should all taste alike -- there are many different styles of beer, each with its own taste and body. And then, of course, there is the stuff produced in the Major american Breweries... chuq -- :From the carousel of the autumn carnival: Chuq Von Rospach {cbosgd,fortune,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo}!nsc!chuqui nsc!chuqui@decwrl.ARPA Your fifteen minutes are up. Please step aside!
ken@turtlevax.UUCP (Ken Turkowski) (08/04/85)
In article <960@houxf.UUCP> 9234dwz@houxf.UUCP (The Rev. Peak) writes: >After seeing several postings extolling the virtues of Anchor Steam >and when some turned up in the local liquor store I broke down and >purchased some [ $ 7.50 a six pack ]. >[ I don't recall if this was Anchor Steam Beer or the Liberty Ale ] > >Well let me tell you folks, this is the kind of gnats p*ss that got >CAMRA started. It was a putrid pretentious bottle of bilge water. > ... etc. You must have had Anchor Porter, a brew resembling stout. -- Ken Turkowski @ CADLINC, Menlo Park, CA UUCP: {amd,decwrl,hplabs,nsc,seismo,spar}!turtlevax!ken ARPA: turtlevax!ken@DECWRL.ARPA
rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) (08/13/85)
Let's set the stage by noting that "real ale" (i.e., cask-conditioned) and Anchor Steam are two different breeds--Steam isn't an ale or anything like it. > After seeing several postings extolling the virtues of Anchor Steam > and when some turned up in the local liquor store I broke down and > purchased some [ $ 7.50 a six pack ]. > [ I don't recall if this was Anchor Steam Beer or the Liberty Ale ] That's a good start--let's critique a beer without knowing which beer it is! Steam and Liberty Ale are only different in that they're made with different malts, different hops, different yeasts, by different processes, and Liberty is dry-hopped. (But gee, they come in the same shape bottle from the same brewery and both contain water:-) > Well let me tell you folks, this is the kind of gnats p*ss that got > CAMRA started. It was a putrid pretentious bottle of bilge water. Well, let me tell you, folks, this fellow's palate seems to have been destroyed by drinking gnat's p*ss. And CAMRA began as a campaign against a distressing sameness and lackluster character of beers brewed in ever- larger breweries--all of which are antithetical to Anchor, whether you like their beer or not. (The fact that CAMRA was also fighting to preserve the tradition of cask-conditioning ales is irrelevant; Steam isn't an ale and isn't supposed to be cask-conditioned.) I'd like to know what the fellow didn't like about the beer, but he didn't seem to have the time to tell us. (Aside to those new to beer tasting in a serious sense: Beer is evaluated according to standard criteria which evaluate the quality and balance of various flavors, off-tastes from the brewing process, and handling faults. If there's something wrong with the beer, there are ways to describe it that say lots more than "gnats p*ss" and "bilge water.") So what's the deal? Virtually everyone who KNOWS beer will tell you that Anchor Steam is one of the best beers brewed in the U.S. In fact, they will tell you that regardless of whether they, personally, happen to like the beer. All the stuff about "bilge water" boils down to refusing to make the distinction between "this is bad" and "I don't like this." > I'm a firm believer in the statement "there's no such thing as bad beer" > but this was as close to bad as I want to get. The taste was so close to > non-existant that I was reminded of Piels beer... Now I KNOW he's had too much of that gnat's p*ss--Steam, with at least twice the hops of a standard domestic beer, has ANYthing but nonexistent taste. > My preferred North American beers are: > > 1) Dos Equis or Tres Equis ( or their Christmas beer Buenos Nochas) > 2) Ballantines Ale There's something to be said for Ballantine if, as I read the net address, this posting came from the East Coast: Buy beer brewed close to home if you want fresher (=better) beer (particularly ale). I can't compare, since I don't think it comes out this way (tho IPA does). But "Dos Equis or Tres Equis"? Unless Moctezuma has done some acquisition, those two aren't even made by the same brewer. [Need I add, "someone correct me if I'm wrong"?:-] And it's not Buenos Nochas (sic) or even Buenas Noches, which means "good night", but Noche Buena, which means Christmas Eve. Good night! And anyway, what do any of these have to do with Anchor Steam? Dos Equis is a decent beer and so is Steam, but they're of such different styles as to be incomparable. Sounds a lot like the complaint is, "When it comes to apples, I prefer oranges." -- Dick Dunn {hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303)444-5710 x3086 ...Cerebus for dictator!