Thx Jeff , I'll try some of these

If anyone gets to Chicago or Milwaukee try Goose Island (312) or Leinenkugels.
These are really good especially while watching a game at Comiskey.
We always bring back 48 bottles. My wife cannot find a good beer up here. Btw, the brew from the White House Honey Porter.

Young's Double Chocolate Stout is a winter favorite me. Rich taste of dark chocolate makes it an absolute delight in wintertime. I can't even imagine drinking it in the summer.

Got a Belgian sampler pack for Christmas: Leffe, Hoegaarden and Stella, with matching glasses. Also got a bottle of pumpkin beer, but haven't had a chance to try it yet.

The Hoegaarden tumbler glass is a true classic.

i like russian beers even though they're not as good as most north american or european domestic standards. i probably enjoy them mostly for nostalgic reasons to reminisce over my time there.

but some worth checking out:

- Bochkarev

http://www.podpivo.com/beer-history/images/bochkarev-new-bottles.jpg

no overly distinguishable from Russian Heineken - probably because the Heineken licensing in Russia is owned by the same brewers of Bochkarev, so you're getting the same product with Bochkarev at a lower price

- Baltika (No 7 is my favorite)

http://www.podpivo.com/beer-history/images/bochkarev-new-bottles.jpg

now owned by Carlsberg. No. 9 has a strong kick and decent flavor - i think it's 8-9%

interestingly enough, the best Guinness that i've had outside of Ireland/UK was in Russia. not sure exactly why this is the case - it's either because they entered the Russian market rather late, and opened up quality production sites within the country [as opposed to importing from Ireland], or because i was a cheap, rancid drunk in Russia and thought anything with alcohol tasted good. But several of my expat friends in Russia said the same thing.

"Picked up a Rickards taster pack"

How dare you bring that swill into this thread.

Had some of this on boxing day:

http://www.muskokabrewery.com/double-chocolate-cranberry-stout.php

Instantly sprouted a beard, and came a little in my pants.

I am currently immersed in these:

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=1185451

Cheers!

first facial hair can be exciting.

I have an interesting mix over the next while. My niece gave me a bunch of beers which she thought looked funny or would be fun to give. She gave me a 40 of Olde English 800 saying that I am unemployed so I should drink like the unemployed. I have never drank an American Malt Liquor before so I'm going to find the experience interesting. The others she bought me were The Barking Squirrel (Lager), Hops and Robbers (IPA), Warka Strong (Polish beer) and an assortment of Hacker-Pschorr. Which included wheat beers which do not agree with me. Then on NYE my first beer of the night will be one of my four of the Westvleteren 12 (I gave two to friends). I'll save the others for occasions.

I got something similar as a Christmas gift. Have Hope and Robbers in the fridge right now, along with a Wellington's SPA, Smithwick's, Hogsback, and a few others.

i'm drinking San Miguel while doing calculus problem sets. maybe i'm just not a beer connoisseur, but i find that all of the mainstream pale lagers taste more or less the same. there isn't really a microbrewery culture here in the UK - but some of the microbrews have distinct flavors. the major branded ones taste more or less the same.

Winterbeard is one of my favourites. Also a big fan of the Southern Tier chocolate stout... it packs a wallop haha.

<There is only one reason to buy San Miguel, which is to give to the male family members of the Filipina you are banging, so they don't beat the living shit out of you when they find out that a white boy is giving it to their Inday or Bunso.

Actually I don't mind the San Miguel dark and it's been years since I drank the regular San Miguel, so I'm not sure what I'd think now. I like other Asian beers so I might enjoy it.

The Microbrew culture in Canada is much more at the pub level, a few have turned their success into the liquor stores though. Nothing like in the states though, for good reason though as American big brewery beer is so bad.

"She gave me a 40 of Olde English 800 saying that I am unemployed so I should drink like the unemployed."

LOL. Drank a lot of Olde English as a poor university student. Found that if it wasn't on-the-verge-of-freezing level of cold, it was virtually undrinkable.

"<There is only one reason to buy San Miguel, which is to give to the male family members of the Filipina you are banging, so they don't beat the living shit out of you when they find out that a white boy is giving it to their Inday or Bunso."

LOL!

I'd skip the San Miguel. Drinking the standard right now - not really tasting like anything. Compared to other Asian beers, I prefer Tsingtao, Kirin and Asahi to SM. Hite is a decent Korean beer given its relative price

I like my beer warm.