I’m not talking about the 64 Kcal/bottle Beck’s Lite. Or Nattylite or Budlite or all that caramel colored American water that tastes like horse p*ss.
I’m talking about dark, rich, mellow, mellow, mellow like Great Lakes Christmas Ale, Killeans Red, Sam Adams, Bass, Guiness, etc., etc. The good “mouthful experience” stuff. The stuff ya gotta aquire a taste for, like caviar, braunschweiger, olives, whatever.
Is it good for training (lots of B vitamins) or bad (lots of Kcals)?
Please don’t take offense to this, everyone starts somewhere but, other than Great Lakes Christmas and maybe Guinness, I’d say your list is the 1st graders approach to real beer How about a nice Stone Ruination for taste, Rochefort 10 for class and Thomas Hardy’s for mouth feel? and for big beers, does it really come any bigger than Utopias? $150 for a single bottle and worth every penny!!
Have fun and experiment…who cares about calories, that’s why you exercise - enjoy life!
Check out a couple of Canadian beers if you’re ever up this way. La Fin Du Monde from a brewery in Quebec (Unibroue) or Niagara Falls Brewing Co.'s Eisbock.
I like the high test stuff this time of year as well!
Please don’t take offense to this, everyone starts somewhere but, other than Great Lakes Christmas and maybe Guinness, I’d say your list is the 1st graders approach to real beer How about a nice Stone Ruination for taste, Rochefort 10 for class and Thomas Hardy’s for mouth feel? and for big beers, does it really come any bigger than Utopias? $150 for a single bottle and worth every penny!!
Have fun and experiment…who cares about calories, that’s why you exercise - enjoy life!
Really…
Damn, I wish I could get my hands on some Rochefort 10. I’ve got a couple of 8’s stashed away for Christmas dinner that I’m looking forward to.
If you’re into really hoppy beers, definitely check out Stone’s Ruination (mentioned above), Bell’s Two Hearted Ale, and Three Floyd’s Alpha King. Those are my desert island brews.
Actually, the stuff from Unibru is readily available in the US - in the grocery stores, on Sundays even. So Maudite, Fin de Monde, Blanch de Chambly are all around. Fine if you are into the Belgian styles. However, the great loss is that the other great PQ brewery, St. Ambroise, does not export to the US (or anywhere I believe). I would KILL for someone to get a case or two of their MacAuslan’s Oatmeal Stout down to me in Virginia. While there are some very nice micro-brewed stouts now in the US, I still haven’t hit one of that quality. Niagara Eisbock is nice, but the real glorious beer they used to do was their Apple Ale (only get it on tap, the bottled comes out way too sweet). Not a cider, but an honest well hopped ale with just a hint of apple underneath - killer summer beer, saw it flatten about 40 dancers at an outdoor folk festival one summer - way too easy going down in the heat and way too much alcohol.
As to the OP, as much as I love beer, it is off the list of food during training, - maybe a pint or two one night a week, but never in the house. Way to many empty kcals for someone who has to fight the weight. Beer in the house = and easy 5-10 lb weight gain.
I just did a big beer trip in September. THese were good. Most would be kind of hard to find here. You can usually find Chimay or Corsendonk, though, or Delerium Tremens.
Methinks you are caught up in the Utopias hype. There’s no way I’d pay $150 for it. There’s not a bad beer on the rest of your list however.
On the topic, real hearty craft beers if brewed traditionally should stand by their moniker of “liquid bread.” The trappist monks use their ales literally as such during their month of fasting. I don’t worry about it too much in the offseason, especially since most craft beers aren’t designed for mass consumption. In race season though I’d definitely cut back, although likely not to zero. The Joe Friel quote on whether you want muscles made of fruits, vegetables, and lean meats or pizza, funyons, and soda rings pretty true.
Thanks for the suggestions. I have eschewed good beer and good chocolate for the better part of my life as part of my “you can’t have it b/c you’re a FATTY” paradigm. Now in the latter years I’m finding the simpler pleasures are much better than deprivation. So kindegartner I truly am, but damn good beer sure tastes good! Sitting at the airport waiting for my ride to sunnier climes at 8 am … Christmas Ale sure goes down sweet with that dry rye toast!
I don’t think I’ve ever craved a beer at 10:00am, all these pictures of tasty beers are making my mouth water!
I may have to pick up a half-dozen Oatmeal Stouts for the weekend…although I have a beer mile on Saturday that they may not be ideal for.
That’s easy. Got address…? Don’t even have to kill anyone…
I love McCauslan, and Peter is a great guy. A buddy of mine used to work at the brewery, driving a delivery truck. Part of their compensation was a case of 24 a week. Now, my buddy didn’t drink, so every few weeks I’d come home to a few mixed cases of Griffon and St. Ambroise stacked in front of my door - SUH-WEET!!! The good old days…lol
I like the Oatmeal stout, but am really not fond of the Apricot Ale… Griffon Rousse is still my favorite beer, typically a few bottles in the fridge mix at all times…
If you want a super hoppy IPA try Moylans Hopcicle Triple IPA. It’s hoppier (sp?) than any of the others previously mentioned including Hop Devil. If you want full flavor try Goose Islands Bourban County Stout. The stuff is as thick and dark as a cup of tar.
Man, I remember that as a teenager - bang for the buck at 6% alcohol. (Before the days of the microbrews and “Dry” beers at 5.5%) Also, every winter O’Keefe would bring out the “Carnaval” beer in celebration of the Carnaval de Quebec - also 6%, so that’s what we’d buy to get drunker faster…
Boy, if I had a dollar for every beer that I’ve drank…
Even assuming you got it across the border, Virginia has some really restrictive state laws governing transport of alcohol across the border. Basically it is almost impossible to ship. They actually stop gift bottles of wine coming in. Don’t even get me going on what they did with local wineries and forcing them through central distributors this past year. There is a reason that much of Northern Virginia goes and shops for booze over in Maryland. You know you can’t even get a decent armagnac in this bloody state. So if every you are driving down, price of a place to crash will be a case of the stuff.
A friend of mine from a folk dance group I play fiddle for actually found some McAuslans Oatmeal Stout in a beer shop in Baltimore - still trying to figure out how to get it here without me having to drive to DC to meet her. No ideahow this guy got it, unless he was road tripping.
And if you had a dollar for every beer you drank, you would blow it all again on good beer. And that is how it should be.
Even assuming you got it across the border, Virginia has some really restrictive state laws governing transport of alcohol across the border. Basically it is almost impossible to ship. They actually stop gift bottles of wine coming in. Don’t even get me going on what they did with local wineries and forcing them through central distributors this past year. There is a reason that much of Northern Virginia goes and shops for booze over in Maryland. You know you can’t even get a decent armagnac in this bloody state. So if every you are driving down, price of a place to crash will be a case of the stuff.
A friend of mine from a folk dance group I play fiddle for actually found some McAuslans Oatmeal Stout in a beer shop in Baltimore - still trying to figure out how to get it here without me having to drive to DC to meet her. No ideahow this guy got it, unless he was road tripping.
And if you had a dollar for every beer you drank, you would blow it all again on good beer. And that is how it should be.
Preach it, brother!
I’m stuck in Virginnystan too, I had to go to Belgium to get those in the pics
You’re right, but it was actually the feds who screwed the local wineries with their recent ruling that keeps them from selling direct to stores.
I make a vinotherapy trip up the way every once in a while to stock the cellar with local product.
How about a nice Stone Ruination for taste, Rochefort 10 for class and Thomas Hardy’s for mouth feel? and for big beers, does it really come any bigger than Utopias? $150 for a single bottle and worth every penny!!
