Favorite beers and spirits

Get an IPA or an ale. None of this Keystone bullshit. Start drinking quality.

It’s best if you set a goal for trying as many different as possible. A buddy of mine has been collecting bottle caps and cans from every single beer we could get. We have discovered some great brews local and far away. But for some reason I see myself always going for the easy buys (Bud, Busch, Michelob Golden).

Is delicious

Killian’s Irish Red.

Mmm. Although, if money really is no object… and if you can find it, try Delirium Nocturnum. It’s a smooth dark beer. Oh… it’s nice.

Yes, pink elephants are included.

More than worth the trip to SW Wisconsin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PODFOF8rmSE

Like Woodford Reserve or Booker’s. Templeton Rye is of course worth trying, if you can find it.

It’s a decision you won’t soon regret.

I suggest, for starters, Veuve. Not extremely expensive but absolutely delicious.

None other than the wonderfully delicious and easy on the wallet Hawkeye Vodka.

Always try to make a stop at Dirty John’s. Amazing beer & wine rooms, good prices, and it’s always good to support your locally-owned small companies.

Busch Light and Natty Light

so that may sway my advice.

However, I must say that I enjoy these beers that should be pretty easily found (not just tolerate, but enjoy them):

Michelob ShockTop

Sam Adams Cherry Wheat or Winter Lager (try to get freshest ones, and I like to make them really cold.)

Landshark Lager

Harp Lager (made by Guinness. Again, get the freshest ones possible.)

Stella Artois (Again, fresh and from the tap is probably best.)

Also, a Saint Bernardus is pretty good, although probably harder to find. I think it was the Abt 12 that I had from the tap. Here is the website, and I’m pretty sure that John’s Grocery and maybe some HyVee Wine & Spirits carry them:
http://www.sintbernardus.be/en/beers.html

And yes, if you haven’t been to John’s Grocery in IC, it is probably worth it the next time you are in town. I haven’t been there, but I have a friend who stops there about once every 6-8 weeks. That same friend has told me that Chimay Blue (Grand Reserve?) is also very good. It will probably be the next non-cheap beer I will try.

I have no real good advice for liquor.

Because you have to know the style in order to know how it should taste. Some Belgian beers are world class, but taste sour—because they’re supposed to! If you don’t know that, you’ll hate it.

I would group beers like this:

WHEATS, HOPPY ALES, AMBERS, PALE ALES, PILSNERS, EXOTICS, and BELGIANS.

These are my own common-sense divisions, so please no beer snobs get all picky on me. For a novice, these are helpful categories.

WHEATS: taste a little like cloves and lemon, are tart, are refreshing. Good American wheats are fairly common; good German wheats abound. The best wheats are hefe-weizens, meaning there’s yeast in the bottle. Also, the best ones use a specific wheat-beer yeast. Try Spaten-Franziskaner as a typical example and see if you like it. Put a slice of lemon in it, and pour in the yeast. Pour it in a tall glass.

PALE ALES: are the day in and day out session-type beer for guys like me. What they have is drinkability and balance: not too hoppy, not too malty. The BEST example I have found is Goose Island Honker’s Ale. But nearly every brewery has a pale ale as their go-to beer: Boulevard, Summit, Goose Island, and Breckenridge are all good examples of pale ales. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is great, but I fund it is hoppier and belongs in the next category.

HOPPY BEERS: are an up and coming category. A good example is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, or a hoppy IPA-style. Three Floyds is at the extremely hoppy end of the spectrum. They have a strong hop “bite” that is great, but takes time for some to get used to. Most American IPA’s fit into this category.

AMBERS: these are the malty, less hoppy brown beers you see on the shelf, a category in which I’ll also include brown ales. Good examples include Fat Tire, Newcastle Brown Ale, Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale, Goose Island’s brown ale—there’s a million of them. They’re easy to drink and usually pretty tasty, though not as refreshing as a pale ale or wheat.

PILSNERS: these are your straw-colored Stella Artois, Warsteiner, Pilsner Urquell, Budweiser, Miller High Life, and so on. The best versions are probably foreign, from Bohemia or Germany. The key words for these are FRESHNESS and NON-EXPOSURE TO LIGHT. If you buy Pilsner Urquell, make sure it is still in the box and it is fresh.

EXOTICS: in this category go stouts, fruit beers, flavored beers, witbiers (like Blue Moon) and so on. In other words, not for everyone—either you like them or you don’t. Frankly, you simply have to experiment and make note of the style to see if you like it.

BELGIANS: like the exotics, not for everyone. There are a million different styles to choose from (strong light ale, strong dark ale, sour Flemish ale, Trappist, lambics, etc) and, again, you have to experiment a bit. Be warned: some are supposed to taste odd, all are likely to be pretty strong in alcohol, and all are likely to be expensive. My advice: explore this category LAST.

Exception: serve women Lindemann’s Framboise Lambic in a champagne flute with some good chocolates at hand and they will love you forever.

Anyway, that’s a quick beer primer for what’s on shelves. My go-to beers are:

1. Any good pale ale or pilsner that’s fresh. Goose Island puts dates on their labels, which is a Godsend. I will not pass up a Honker’s Ale that’s been bottled in the last 8 weeks. A fresh okay beer is better than a stale high class beer.

2. Wheat beers are refreshing in summer, especially. Seek out a hefeweizen and go nuts on a hot day. Almost any German brand is good, and many good American brands exist (Sierra Nevada Keller-Weiss is a prime example).

3. Czech pilsners are wonderful, if you can get them fresh. Urquell is the original (literally), but there are legion other brands and all are great. German pilsners are also good (Warsteiner, Bitburger) as is Stells Artois from Belgium.

Caveats: English beers do NOT travel, especially the pale ales. Newcastle travels better, but most other ales usually do not. Buy them with caution.

Caveats: the stronger the beer, the better it keeps, which is why Belgian beers hold up pretty well. However, that means that most foreign ales/pilsners, or less-bought American brews on your local shelf may be stale and out-dated.

Buy beer that seems to “move” off the shelf, or beer that you know has just arrived.

Bargain beers: a dollar per beer is a great price for a microbrewed six-pack, though $7 per sixer is a more common bargain to be found. I won’t pay more than $8 a six-pack for philosophical reasons, even fresh Honker’s Ale.

A solid bargain line of beers include the Michelob beers, Bud American Ale, Boulevard beers, James Page beers, Point beers, and Schell beers (Schell is a WAY underrated brewery). They’re pretty solid and won’t break the bank, usually. Michelob’s hefe-weizen is a real standout, if you can find it. Point’s Cascade Pale Ale is like a junior version of Sierra Nevada, but cheaper.

Anyone, sorry for the long post. Just felt like rambling, I guess.

Find out for yourself! I don’t mean that in a confrontational way, I mean, you’re 21 and already interested in the good stuff. That’s great! So experiment with Belgians, IPAs, ales, microbrews, mass-market stuff, whatever. Only you are going to know what you enjoy.

Or hell, you might even be a wine, whiskey, or wodka person. The world is your cocktail. Go discover.

but if you’re an Iowan, it must start with beer. Start cheap, so you can appreciate what good beer or booze is. I don’t know what they sell back there any more, but my lowest common denominator was Old Style. Once you have gone though this baptism of sorts, these “fancy” beers all sound pretty cool.

Personally, after that first beer, I would be temped to move on up.

The really high class stuff is single malt scotch. I started on this about 10 years ago, and I don’t drink much else. But it’s an acquired taste. You may not want this yet.

If you’re 21 and want to see what inebriation is like, find a bar that serves really good long island iced teas. If they’re good, two is all it will take. One will make you quite happy.

…get some REAL (not the tourist-y American stuff) absinthe. I’m not kidding.
If you get the real thing with a good amount of wormwood (has to come from europe) you’ll have a tasty liquer that tastes like black liquorice (similar to Jagermeister) that gives you a nice body buzz and makes your head feel slightly floaty (like a good champagne high). Be careful if you ever go this route, because a lot of people get shitty absinthe and don’t like any part of it, but a good brand gets you a label that tastes good, gives a good drunk with only minimal hangover if you over-do it (I’ve never experienced this) and a great and unique “high” that complements the experience.
The best part is coming up with your own version of the ritual of preparation (I’m sure you can find out about that using the intertubes if you decide- – I’ve already created a wall of text).

Don’t get into the single malts like McCallum. No going back.

You can have up to one liter of liquor shipeed to you. You can bring up to 4 liters into Iowa if “personally obtained” outside the US.

So I will try to mix it up a little bit.

Whiskey Sour

Now, while there are those out there who may frown on the Whiskey Sour, I find it to be the best treatment for a sipping bourbon. The one valid criticism of the drink is that unlike other Mixed Drinks (a rum and coke for example) the goal of the drink is to put the bourbon on stage, rather then hide its flavor in some diluted mixture. If you are newer to alcohol, the noticeable flavor of liquor may be unpleasant. Feel free to dilute the below to taste.

There are three keys to a solid Whiskey Sour: Not crappy sour mix (harder to find then you think), a Bourbon with character, and a heavy rocks glass to enjoy it out of. My suggestions:

1. I like sour mixes that are not pre-mixed. In others words, little to no water. My favorite is Port of Call (that I have found here in Iowa). It is a clear bottle with a white label that has a taste that isn’t so vile and sugary when mixed up with the correct amount of water.

Or…if you are truly brave…try making it yourself.

2. Bourbon: Really cheap? Ten High.

I don’t recommend it, but if you are on a budget, it is going to get you near to the right taste. Jim Bean doesn’t have the same sour mash taste to it that goes so well with sour mix.

Middle of the Road: Buffalo Trace.

It has a strong but sophisticated flavor for around $24 a bottle. You can taste the caramel notes and almost a slight nuttiness to it.

High Ground:

Naturally, if you are going to be drinking a high-end whiskey sour in Iowa, you might as well buy Templeton Rye (if you can find a bottle, limited batch production). More then $30.

3. You should be able to find a glass from a company like Riddell at a local Target so you can have swagger like a proper gentleman.

As for the ratio of ingredients in the glass, I’d say 2 shots of Bourbon with 2 shots of the unmixed sour mix, with 2-3 shots of water to mellow of the sour over 6-8 ice cubes. Throw it all in a cocktail shaker with ice, and shake it until foamy. You need the water from the ice to make it sipable if you made it strong enough.

If you are a fan of Mad Men, Mr. Don Draper frequently enjoys an Old Fashioned, which is the sophisticated cousin of a Whiskey Sour. You can use the same glass and Bourbon, but you will need to step up your bartending game a little lot. You will need the same two shots of whiskey, a couple dashes of bitters (available most everywhere liquor is sold, just ask) a little water, a small touch of sugar or simple syrup, and a cherry and an orange slice for color if you so desire.

Enjoy!

by my staple is the 1.75L handle of Svedka ($25 at my local Hy-Vee), grab a couple 2Ls of pop, or jugs of OJ/Lemonade and it’s ~40 shots worth of booze that’ll actually taste good for not much over $30.

A shot or two of Triple Sec in Sprite/Sierra Mist is my favorite for sitting around with no plans or as a side drink while playing drinking games.

Get the Road Trip, or 420. Both are favorites from Georgia. Also, it was pretty sweet beating GT. Let’s just say I made some money

I will be able to use this post as reference when I go shopping. My first bourbon purchase turned out to be Bulleit Bourbon, its a lot stronger than I expected, my first bottle of wine was an 07 Elk Cove Pinot Noir, which paired nicely with the elk chops I had for dinner, my first beer purchase was Grand Teton Brewing Co.’s Teton Ale, nothing too special but it does the trick.

all the above so if I repeat another post…back in my drinking days the absolute best bourbon I ever drank was called “Rebel Yell”. You could only buy it south of the Mason Dixon line. It was smoooooth.

And beer? Anything but Schlitz.

Why drink old when you can drink from the new vortex bottle??

I’m tardy to the party, but I’m rather fond of the Franziskaner hefe-weissen, until recently, sold in a full Imperial pint bottle. Now they only sell standard bottles and have rebranded it Weisbier. But it remains outstanding, a nice summer beer.

I’ve never had it because well…I don’t feel like dropping $300 for a bottle of beer…or should I say kettle of beer.

A friend had mentioned this to me a while back and I discarded it because…well…I was loaded at the time. Then I saw it on the History Channel and did about 2 minutes worth of Google research.

For those who aren’t already familiar with it…here a couple of quick “facts”:

Produced by Sam Adams.

Claimed to be the strongest beer in the world at 27% Alcohol by Volume in the 2009 batch.

Produces no foam…some say it is actually more similar to Brandy than beer.

Wikipedia says it’s not offered in Iowa among other states due to legal restrictions. I’m not sure if that means it’s illegal to possess or not…I’m guess just illegal to sell it.

Suggested Retail Price of 1 kettle in 2009 batch – $150. Realistically it’s pretty f’n hard to get a hold of and you’d probably have to pay at least twice that to actually acquire a bottle.