Interesting beers of note

[CATHYnKY]

I finally found the Seasonal Shock Top, Chocolate flavored. I know some of you real beer drinkers are gagging Bought them Monday, have yet to try one. Maybe tonight.

[George]

I finally found the Seasonal Shock Top, Chocolate flavored. I know some of you real beer drinkers are gagging Bought them Monday, have yet to try one. Maybe tonight.

Try Young's Double Chocolate Stout or Rogue Double Chocolate Stout, if you're into that sort of thing. Both are great.

[DA#23]

^ I've had Rogue's Shakespeare Stout in the past, and it helped me to determine that I prefer not to have chocolate notes in my beer. However, I could see pairing a good stout with some good chocolate, if one so desired.

[jpay]

Going to pick up a 4 pack of Founders Imperial Russian this weekend.... Going to watch my first game of the season with a couple of them and a mess of wings...

[CATHYnKY]

Not that impressed with the ChocTop. It's OK. Can hardly taste the citrus which is what I like about ShockTop and Blue Moon. A hint of chocolate. That's it.

[George]

Not that impressed with the ChocTop. It's OK. Can hardly taste the citrus which is what I like about ShockTop and Blue Moon. A hint of chocolate. That's it.

Go with the two I mentioned if you're after a strong chocolate flavor. I'd also recommend staying away from Shock Top entirely .

[CATHYnKY]

Blue Moon and Ky Bourbon Beer Ale drafts are my favorites. Some places just have Shock Top. Not a fan if Ky Ale. Big difference in that and KBBA. Not a big beer drinker, but like one every now and then. My brother and hubby are in to the Craft Beers. Here, Cumberland Brews and Great Flood are their favorites places to go. My brother can walk home from Great Flood, which is why he is there a lot.

[George]

^ I've had Rogue's Shakespeare Stout in the past, and it helped me to determine that I prefer not to have chocolate notes in my beer. However, I could see pairing a good stout with some good chocolate, if one so desired.

I've noticed that the stouts that only offer "notes" of chocolate tend to be pretty funky. Chocolate stouts seem to be one of those things that require an all-or-nothing approach.

[surveyor]

I've noticed that the stouts that only offer "notes" of chocolate tend to be pretty funky. Chocolate stouts seem to be one of those things that require an all-or-nothing approach.

Most of the stouts I gravitate toward have a roasted coffee or roasted barley note to it. I sometimes get an ever so faint chocolate hint, which compliments the coffee note. The Abita Turbodog is classified as a chocolate stout, but I'd offer that the chocolate component is very subtle.

[George]

Most of the stouts I gravitate toward have a roasted coffee or roasted barley note to it. I sometimes get an ever so faint chocolate hint, which compliments the coffee note. The Abita Turbodog is classified as a chocolate stout, but I'd offer that the chocolate component is very subtle.

Subtle's an understatement. I'd never noticed even a hint of chocolate in Turbodog.

[surveyor]

Subtle's an understatement. I'd never noticed even a hint of chocolate in Turbodog.

Yup. Depends on what you're eating with it.

[TrueblueCATfan]

I finally found the Seasonal Shock Top, Chocolate flavored. I know some of you real beer drinkers are gagging Bought them Monday, have yet to try one. Maybe tonight.

I might have to try this

[Old School]

Has anyone tried the new Kentucky Honey Barrel Brown Ale, a variant on Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale?

I tried this tonight for the first time. I was disappointed.

[Titus Lucretius Carus]

Not that impressed with the ChocTop. It's OK. Can hardly taste the citrus which is what I like about ShockTop and Blue Moon. A hint of chocolate. That's it.

Interesting read some years back in Wall Street Journal Blue Moon was a Coors product that deliberately has no mention of Coors on the bottle they were about to close the brand but, a young lady in the midwest who was a Sales Rep for the brand had noticed that folks were "expecting" a slice of lime with the popular Corona anyway the Sales Rep thought if limes help sell Corona why not try an orange slice to sell Blue Moon and the rest is history. Shock Top was then Anheuser Bush now InBev's answer to Blue Moon. Coors was bought by Molson.

The only growth area in beer is from "craft" breweries so the big boys are busy making fake brands and passing them off as small craft breweries. Night Shift is a good example.

Worth a read

http://fortune.com/2012/11/15/big-beer-dresses-up-in-craft-brewers-clothing/

[ukwebfan]

Thanks for the timely link. Just as I noticed in the span of one season, how the Cincinnati Bengals dumped Christian Moerlein beers for Anheuser-Busch InBev's Land Shark, Kona, Shock Top and Goose Island brands.

As if this little tidbit wasn't damning enough.

And the powerful lobbying of the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) works hard to keep things as they are. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the NBWA Political Action Committee contributed $2,721,000 to political candidates for the 2012 elections, the second most by any PAC.

[DA#23]

The only growth area in beer is from "craft" breweries so the big boys are busy making fake brands and passing them off as small craft breweries. Night Shift is a good example.

Yes, and I can't think of one that I actually like. Big Beer needs to worry about doing what it does best, and don't worry about the craft/quality beer craze. There's plenty of room for both, and they are not direct competitors imo. I realize they feel entirely different about that last comment, but still...there are times when all I want is a MHL and other times when I want something "good" to go with a decent meal. Neither segment affects my purchase of the other.