Budlight ... extra text added to meet minimum length requirements.

Anything from the Lagunitas Brewing Co. based in Petaluma, California.
www.lagunitas.com

Otter Creek and Long Trail, perhaps available only in my native Vermont.

Red Hook Double Black Stout
Yuengling black and tan

The best beer is the Belgian Trippel-style ale that I brewed yesterday from nothing but malted barley, hops, yeast, water and (because it's a Belgian) candi sugar! Actually, I can't say that until I see how it turns out in a month or so.

There are some wonderful beers in the U.S. Saying all US-brewed beer is flavorless is the same as saying all American restaurants serve tasteless food. If all you know is bud/miller/coors, or mcdonalds/burger king/pizza hut, you are bound to have that opinion. But if you get out there and look around, you'll find that there are countless interesting beers (and restaurants) that merit trying. They're not hard to find either.

I was a UC Davis fermentation Science major in the 80s and I felt it was my career duty to develop my knowledge base by sampling as many beers as I could during my college days and the subsequent years:D .

Taste is primarily subjective and for many taste preferences will change over time. I've gone through periods where I preferred stouts, porters, ales, pilseners, tripels, etc.

My #1 all-time pick for American beer:

1992-93 Geary's Hampshire ale (Maine seasonal brew);slogan is something like "Only available while the weather sucks"

Surprised no one mentioned
 

Old Dominion Ale and Old Dominion Summer Wheat from Virginia. Mmmmm.

Harpoon India Pale Ale - best for those hot days.

I judge all American microbrews by Sam Adams - a good standard; there are some better and some not as good.

Seattle beer
 

I'm rather fond of Full Sail Pale Ale. And anything from Fish Tale down in Olympia is rather good.

Although my all time favorite based on name is Missoula Brewing's Old Bongwater Brown. Followed by their Moose Drool.

Snohqualmie Brewing does a good job with their PGA, aka Pretty Good Ale.


Lots of good beer gets brewed in America. In fact some would argue that brewing in America is the best in world because we aren't bound by traditional brewing technique. Would necessary completely agree but I would agree that we are the mad scientist of the beer community.

check out www.beeradvocate.com, dedicated amateurs running a good beer site.

I'll be in Michigan in october so will look out for Oberon. We're also planning a stop in Milwaukee to try out some microbrews - any recommendations?

I've tried Otter Creek - which was very good. Our hotel owner in Stowe procured some for us last time we were in Vermont.

I've always been partial to an Anchor Liberty Ale, indeed most of the Anchor beers from SF. Anchor, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Sam Adams being the only non- Miller, Coors, Bud that are easy-ish to find over in the UK

Then again, I also love the Dusseldorf Schlosser Alt beer so perhaps my taste isn't yours.

If you're ever in Scotland try the Innis & Gunn which is fermented in whisky casks - interesting flavour!

Mileage Run To A Brewery?
 

And the Old Dominion brewery (with restaurant attached) in Ashburn, Virginia is only about three miles from Washington Dulles Airport should you have a couple of hours to spend sampling some of what's made there.

On weekend afternoons they offer free tours with free beers (and it says a lot about the company that the most frequent guides giving the tours are either Old Dominion's president and founder or its head brewer).

See their website at www.olddominion.com for details.

I highly recommend checking out Lakefront Brewery. It's a fairly small brewery, and the beer is great. If you have time for a tour, they're a lot of fun (with plentiful sampling!). And, if you're around on a Friday, the fish fry is tasty, too!

Another good brewery, although somewhat larger, is Sprecher. The beers are good, but the tours aren't nearly as fun as Lakefront's.

You'll do yourself a favor to try a STONE SMOKED PORTER from Stone Brewing Company in San Diego. We're fortunate here in So. California to be able to buy many of the great Stone Brewing products at our local Von's Markets or Bristol Farms.

Yuengling...

That complaint that there's no good American beer is from 20 years ago. We now have hundreds of craft beers that could kick most British pub taps to the curb.

** Catamount Amber Ale out of Vermont.
** Rogue American Amber or Bitter out of Oregon.
** Scuttlebutt IPA out of Everett, Washington.
** Snoqualmie IPA.

You got to go exploring.

Belated Welcome to FlyerTalk to you envgeo. By the way, great taste in Beer!

Best regards,

RobotDoctor