Oh, hell, let's run the gamut: death, abortion, sex, and BEER. Tom wants to talk about beer, we'll talk about beer.

Do you drink beer? When and where and with whom? What's your favorite beer?

Uh, Tom, is that enough? Can you go from there?

-- Anonymous, June 23, 2000

Answers

Normally I can't stand beer, with one exception--I really like oatmeal stouts, and occasionally also like other dark, heavy beers. I don't understand this either.

-- Anonymous, June 23, 2000

I am currently living in Florida, and my boyfriend in is New York. We have this silly tradition of buying beers on Saturday nights and watching Saturday Night Live together over the telephone.

I'm partial to Foster's Lager for these litlle phone-fests.

-- Anonymous, June 23, 2000

I actually finished a beer the other night! Yay me! It was a mexican beer called Sol. Usually I can't finish a whole beer, but I liked this one.

-- Anonymous, June 23, 2000

Hi, my name's Colin, and I'm a homebrewer.

(Hi, Colin!)

When I buy beer, I've been buying Sam Adams (not the best, but cheaper than the others), Haake-Schorr Weisse, Belgian anything, and Bell's Porter. No, I didn't buy any of the cherry stout that showed up in the liquor stores for $16 a six-pack; for that price, I can damn well make my own.

What really sucks about homebrewing is that the stuff I make for myself tastes better than most of the beer I can buy, so I'm faced with the choices of (a) sucky beer under $7 a six-pack, (b) expensive beer, and (c) spending several weekends a month or so apart making 2 cases of beer, which ends up costing me about $50 plus my time.

Then there's mead, wine, and cider...

-- Anonymous, June 23, 2000

p.s.: my favorite is Babar Belgian Honey ale, and at $3 a bottle, I am desperately trying to figure out how to make this stuff myself.

-- Anonymous, June 23, 2000

beer makes me sneeze!

Actually, all alcohol makes me sneeze, so I've mostly stopped drinking it (the fits annoy other people -- I'm a loud sneezer!).

I can drink NA beer (no alcohol beer) without sneezing, so I do that sometimes. too bad there aren't microbrew NA beers! but the economy of scale isn't there for them.

My sweetie has done some home brewing, with good results. He credits the friend who brews with him, who has all the handy equipment -- big kettles, a frame that lets you "sparge" the malt (oo, brewing jargon!), and shows him all the best practices for careful sanitation.

Anita of Anita's BOD and Anita's LOL

-- Anonymous, June 23, 2000

I'll take beer over porn any day.

New Yorkers know shit about beer, and that's one reason I'm glad I got off the east coast for a while. That said, Brooklyn Brewery products aren't terrible. Harpoon is a pretty good New England beer. What I really dig is Bell's from Kalamazoo, MI (particularly the Porter) and Deschuttes in Bend Or, especially that Black Butte Porter! mmm. Neither of which you can get on the east coast except in my fridge. However, if I'm at a bar its sierra nevada, surprisingly popular here.

Jen Wade will remember evenings drinking Miller at our college bar. That's all they served on tap. I've drunk plenty of bad beer in my time.

However, as a petite individual, I don't drink all that much. I prefer actual hard alcohol when I want to have a good time. its best for me to drink beer when I haven't eaten. Otherwise, I stick to vodka and whiskey. This is all part of my plot to be a character in a tom waits song. Yeah, right, his "jewish girls" record.

-- Anonymous, June 23, 2000

I wish I could like beer, it would have saved me a lot of grief in college and in the military. I've tried and tried, but all it does for me is fill up my bladder, give me gas and leaves a bad taste. I don't seem to get any sort of buzz either, I just feel queasy and light headed, not pleasant at all.

Sigh.

-- Anonymous, June 23, 2000

Miller GD at Jimmy's, yeah! That was the first beer I ever liked, probably because it doesn't taste like anything. However, my tastes have gotten somewhat more sophisticated since then...

-- Anonymous, June 23, 2000

I don't like beer very much. The only related thing I like is stout or bitters.

It's kind of weird because other people see me not having beer at parties and assume (wrongly) that I don't drink. Then if I ever have a martini in public they're all shocked.

My spouse drinks beer all the time and I kind of wish he wouldn't because it's one more thing that's made him get fatter. But we each have our vices.

-- Anonymous, June 23, 2000

I've had those exotic beers while overseas -- but that near water known as Miller Lite is just fine as well for drink'n.

I'm no pink poodle fee fee beer snob!

-- Anonymous, June 23, 2000

Guinness baby. Preferably drunk slowly while listening to music in a pub in Ireland somewhere.

Though my favorite alcoholic beverage, is actually cider.

I like to drink beer when going out specifically to drink beer, or as a complement to very particular meals, or when going clubbing.

I don't keep beer in the house, nor do I like to drink it at picnics particularly.

I love Wyder's Pear Cider, Woodchuck Apple Cider and various English brands of hard cider.

When clubbing my poison of preference is Corona. It goes down easy it doesn't weigh on the stomach when you're shaking your tushy.

-- Anonymous, June 23, 2000

Light beers only. Normally will only drink Fosters light, but will accept Hahn if Fosters isn't available. Don't like any other beer, indeed, don't like alcohol generally. Only time I regularly drink it is when me and the other good folks from my radio show decamp to the pub around the corner from the studio after the show each Monday night. Last summer I started having a beer with dinner instead of a soft drink, but it's winter here now so it's a bit too cold for that. Otherwise at home, I only drink on certain special occasions, and then I usually drink whisky. Since I recently got offered a job, I may have a shot if I take it up

-- Anonymous, June 24, 2000

Im such a redneck, I like Coors Light. I like it just about anywhere, doing anything.

-- Anonymous, June 25, 2000

Sierra Nevada pale ale.

I had my fill of it in California, and I get a little thrill when I find it in some restaurants here on the east coast.

-- Anonymous, June 25, 2000

We have a small pizza restaurant in town with 31 different beers on tap (none that you could buy at the supermarket -- all micro brews and imports). They let you sample beers like a winery lets you sample wine. I like that place; a lot.

I'm not a heavy drinker (like I was in college), but I do like my beer. I like traditional German beers, wheat beers and occasionally a good "seasonal" beer. (Here in California you can even get a pumpkin beer.)

-- Anonymous, June 26, 2000

I feel badly for not checking this forum over the weekend. Beer. First, let's be clear: beer good. And northeastern beer better. I disagree with Jen Wade about northeastern microbrews. You can't judge them by Sam Adams and Harpoon -- both of which are good, but not too different from mainstream beers.

I think Tremont IPA and some of the Long Trail labels (I love the barley wine, do they call it Double Bagger?) rival anything I've had on the West Coast -- Eastern microbrews tend to be hoppier than their West Coast cousins. It might be a regional thing. I've often noticed that New Englanders have a high tolerance for bitterness. This is in no way a slam on Anchor Steam or Sierra Nevada. I respect them -- deeply.

The best place for drinking beer used to be Three Dollar Dewey's in Portland, Maine (when it was on Fore Street -- someone told me it recently moved down to Commercial). It was the perfect ambience for beer drinking -- a dark bar facing onto a street of 19th century facades. It always brought out the singer in me. For that reason, Portland probably does not miss me as much as I miss Portland.

I have been looking for a good beer drinking place in New York -- there's actually a brew pub across 49th Street from my office, in the same building as NBC's Today Show studios, called Commonwealth Brewery. Commonwealth's decor is excellent (all these WPA/Soviet Realism style murals of big guys buildings stuff -- not sure what that has to do with beer). But the brews are sort of mainstream, and they're $5 a pint. Besides, they play loud music and the people are a little too beautiful for me. I go around the corner to Fiddler's Green, where the beer doesn't get fancier than Bass on tap, but the atmosphere is tolerant of impromptu performance art.

-- Anonymous, June 26, 2000

well, I'm friends with Jen Wade, but I'm a different Jen. I guess you're right, I spoke too quickly. There's decent New England Beer. I think I've had beer from Maine, Seadog or something, that's pretty good and there are some good VT beers (isn't Magic Hat from VT?) and I go to Northampton and I like Paper city beer (I think that's what its called?). But people in NYC love that Brooklyn beer and its just eh. And I personally prefer beer from other parts of the country. Since my tastes in bars run to the dark and creative but not all that seedy (and I like surly servers), I can find decent places to drink in new york but it can be all pretty expensive. I can only recommend staying out of midtown! I just haven't come across a place in NY that is like Sheffields in Chicago, or even Ashleys in Ann Arbor, MI where they have 30 taps and then about 50 kinds of bottled beer and its all different kinds of stuff.

-- Anonymous, June 26, 2000

Apologies, Ms. Popbomb -- I've spent too much time at Gus's forum, watching the slow train wreck over there with morbid fascination. But we I digress -- were talking about the happy topic of beer.

I am not a big fan of the Sea Dog beers, but I like Shipyard fine. As a Mainer, I sort of have to. I agree with you that Brooklyn beers are sort of so-so. Many of the most popular micro-brews are really just barley-based variations on the mega-breweries' rice beers such as Budwesier -- a little more flavorful, granted, but nothing revolutionary.

Can anyone name me a decent bar in midtown NYC or in Harstdale? Locations in the Village are useless to me. I would be endlessly grateful.

-- Anonymous, June 26, 2000

Guinness or Harp Ale for me.

I am kind of a beer snob. This comes as a direct result of drinking 3.2 beer for all of my college career. Oberlin was dry except for 3.2 beer, so if you wanted to drink (and we did, believe me), that's what you had. It's nasty stuff, and most of the typical American beers (Bud, Miller, etc.) remind me of that. I like a beer with a little weight to it.

I've recently had a cider ale that was very good, but I can't remember the name of it.

-- Anonymous, June 26, 2000

I'm with Jim Howard here. I don't tend to like beer, I don't like the taste and it makes me feel full and gassy without ever giving me a buzz. I'm not much of a drinker, and the amount of emphasis (and oftentimes, competition) placed on getting drunk in our society sorta bothers me. Like my girlfriend who would skip out on things that were really important to me because there was yet another dorm room party at her college. Or like the talk of who can drink who under the table (I'm 250, no one can drink me under the table).

I only drink with a few people, my few friends who aren't a) alcaholics, b) violent drinkers, or c) airhead drinkers. Most of my friends are all fine and good but do fall into one of those three categories. When I do go out drinking with someone I tend to stick to hard liquor and mixed drinks.

-- Anonymous, June 26, 2000

Hmmm... the whole microbrew thing just goes right over my head. I used to swear by Rickards Red (don't know if I'm even spelling it correctly) on tap - oh MAN! Tastey stuff - and otherwise Corona. Well except in highschool. Then it was the President's Choice beer - 6 for $6 -woohoo! It was rare (in Southern Ontario) to find beer that cheap. Anyway - I just discovered Tsing Tao beer recently. Doesn't bother the stomach, and has really good flavour without being to bitter. Goes down *real* easy. Tiger beer is good that way too.

I *do* need to learn something about those microbrews though; everyone out here (Seattle) drinks them and I just feel like a freak when I say "Uuuuuhhhh... something sort of ... medium?". I always end up with a Red Hook Pale Ale - or something like that. Man I always forget what it's called. All I know is to back away from the Flat Tire. Or is Fat tire??? It's nasty!

-- Anonymous, June 26, 2000

Love love love beer, esp. wheat beers (keep yer guffaws to yerselves). I'm also partial to anything amber. Here in Santa Cruz, we've got the Seabright Brewery, and their amber is pretty good.

Am I the only person who gets a wicked headache after drinking draft beer and why is this? I can drink a bottle of anything without a problem, but if I drink anything on tap, blammo! Headache beyond belief the next day.

-- Anonymous, June 26, 2000

I think sometimes the craze for microbrews threatens to overshadow what beer is about. It really isn't a drink for the connoisseur or the perfectionist. Of course, there's a real pleasure to a freshly brewed, perfectly made beer. But most beer that isn't skunked has its pleasures (even Budweiser). It's like bread. There might be types of bread you don't like (I hate Wonderbread, and I have a young friend who won't eat anything else), but you're never going to sample a piece of bread and declare that you can taste the soil in which it was grown. You aren't going to comment on the color or the aroma - exept to say, "Mmm, fresh bread." Beer is a pleasure becaue it isn't complicated like wine. Most commercial beers taste good, and I drink MGD when I don't want to spend money -- perfectly fine -- and Michelob when I go to Monroe County, Ohio, where they don't serve microbrews. The joy of the microbrew, to me, is that it's something someone made, to his or her own idiosyncratic tastes. So, I want to be clear that while I have my other preferences, I will drink Brooklyn Lager and like it.

-- Anonymous, June 26, 2000

I like Bass, Sam Adams and Harp on tap. How boring. I do like Sierra Nevada Pale ale, someone mentioned they enjoyed it a lot on the west coast. I see quite frequently here on the east coast. Yep, that's good beer!

I also like Sam Adams' Summer Ale right now.

Tom, I think we work on the same street. I can practically see Fiddler's Green from my window. Commonwealth Brewery is nice but those $5 pints, yeouch. Like everyone always says, one is hard pressed to find a good bar in midtown. A Heartland Brewery did just open at 6th and 51st (I think). I've been to the Union Square location a few times. I am sorry to say that each time I went my beer always tasted vile. But the prices MIGHT be cheaper (ha) and maybe you'd have better luck.

-- Anonymous, June 26, 2000

First off, I'd like to say that Guinness tastes like dirty sweatsocks.

I'm partial to Newcastle Brown Ale on tap (tastes funny in the bottle). OK, I'm more than partial, I love the stuff.

I've also become a fan of Boddingtons Ale, made in lovely Manchester. It's got that neat little co2 thingamabobby like the Guinness cans do, except you don't have to drink the shite. ;)

I also like all types of hard apple cider (a California brand called Ace is excellent, they also brew a meady kinda cidery thing that I've only found once) but I dislike pear, raspberry, peach, etc.

God I want a beer right now. Stupid work.

Actually, my boss made many jokes about getting some cheap Canadian beer last friday... I wonder if I should call him on that and bring some in. Hee!

- Mar -

-- Anonymous, June 26, 2000

The State Department (or someone) built a brewery on Okinawa, to help the local economy (before the island reverted to Japan). They brought in German brewers, who came up with a beer (Orion) most GIs (the target market) would not drink (this was 1957).

I drank it and liked it. I also liked Kirin, Asahi, and Sapporo, when I was in Japan.

San Miguel was served in the service clubs, for 20c a bottle, because Dougout Doug owned the brewery. San Miguel was a bargain, at 20c.

There was a beer in Korea "brewed especially for U. N. Forces" which I have forgotten the name of. Once I rubbed the foam between thumb and finger and felt grit.

Balder was stationed on Okinawa, and he came back with a beer mug that said Orion on it. A chip off the old blockhead.

O. B. Oriental Breweries, Ltd. Was the name of the beer in Korea.

I used to make a beer I called O. G. 37. O. G. was for original gravity, so it proofed out pretty high. Needed a lot of hops to offset that much sugar. I also called it goat beer, after Einbecker bier, with a picture of a goat on the label.

Man, that shit would set you free.

-- Anonymous, June 26, 2000

Baltika #3. And if anybody knows where I could get some this side of St. Petersburg, lemme know. You knew I had to say it. (I also liked Botchkarov, but only ever had it draft.)

As for stuff I can actually get... Hefeweizen, in general. Particularly Sudwerk's and Weinhard's. I have a bottle of Sacramento Brewing Company in the fridge I should try... Also Weinhard's plain old beer whatever they call it, which is highly drinkable even when warm (and will serve as a decent, if much more expensive, substitute for Baltica).

I generally don't like bitter things, so hoppy beers are not my cup of tea. And if it doesn't taste pretty good warm, I probably won't like it much cold.

* Sacramento Brewing Co. Hefeweizen: a bit odd. Kind of sour. I can really feel my fillings. verdict: eh.

-- Anonymous, June 26, 2000

Sam. adams#1 original guiness stout #2 (for a filling drink) and murphy's stout #3(if above is gone) Rolling rock#4 ulti. party beer(easy to drink,its green) uh, thats it...otherwise a captain morgan rum and coke.

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2000

Okay, after a few hours, I am changing my view of the Sac. Brewing Hefeweize. As the nearly full bottle still sits on my desk, I realize it really is bad. Tinny, and sour, and yucky. Just thought I'd update you all.

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2000

SAPPORO! How could I forget?! It comes in those teeny little cans! Perfect when you're in a hurry; for some reason, it doesn't *seem* like you drink as much so you just pound those little suckers back. Must be pshycological.

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2000

Guinness and Boddingtons, from cans or draft. Yum. I love that bitter Guinness taste and Boddingtons is like drinking beer silk. Those are my *treat* beers. Those nitrous cans are the best!

I went through a brief Young's Chocolate Stout phase last winter but I'm over it now. When I was in Portland recently, I was talked by the locals into getting a glass of their wheat stout instead of a Guinness since no one drinks G and it would probably be stale. They were right, the wheat stout was surprisingly good.

We buy Red Hook ESB to keep around, or maybe Young's Pale Ale. My husband recently brought home a cheap Argentinian beer from Trader Joe's that was tasty but light enough for hot weather. I don't drink much beer in hot weather because it makes me groggy.

I'm not a huge beer snob - I've had my share of Coors and Millers Lite. If I'm going to add beer calories to my day, though, I'd just prefer them to be from something that tastes good. My friends who live in the desert drink Coors Lite. Probably because that is as close to water as you can get in a beer.

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2000

I loathed beer, until someone pointed out to me that it didn't *have* to taste like Miller (my dad's favorite beer when I was growing up, and my first beer experience). Americans invented the practice of mass-producing one kind of beer, canning it, and shipping it long distances; in the rest of the drinking world (and before Prohibition in America) beer was generally a local product, a little different at every brewery or pub.

My absolutely favorite beer ever was an odd Belgian import called Stillenacht. Aventinus Doppelbock is another good one. For general (and not very expensive) consumption, Chicago's Goose Island brewery makes a lot of good varieties.

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2000

Beer. Yummy.

My favorite for the past four years has been J.W. Dundee Honey Brown Ale. It is a slightly darker beer that is as smooth as any out there and has an ever so slightly sweet taste. This beer rocks. Everyone who has tried on on my recommendation has loved it (about 6 folks so far- including my hard to please father-in-law.) It's no too pricey either, although it DOES cost more than Milwaukee's Best (The Beast). ;-)

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2000

Red Stripe is the best.

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2000

I've tried and tried to enjoy beer, and I fail each time. About once or twice a year I'll get the urge to go buy some thinking maybe *this time* it will taste good. I only manage to get 2 or 3 sips down, then I gotta pour the rest out. I'm not sure if it's the brands I've tried or if my taste buds are just wacked, but the taste reminds me of the smell of urine and peanuts.

I do honestly wish to enjoy beer. Anyone have any brand suggestions for wannabe beer drinkers? Till then, I sit in my corner with my canadian club whiskey.

-Z

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2000

quelle suprise, i'm replying about beer... i've discovered that i have two distinct personalities that is only prevalent by what beer i'm drinking. on one side of the fermented little coin, i love slum beer: pabst, milwaukees best, stroh's (no longer firebrewed in my beloved motown,sniff), goebels, and ham's. next night, blammo! guinness, beamish, (sp?) bells, black hook porter, and a local fave: the woodard ave. brewery's vanilla porter. i pose this conundrum: why don't they make 40s of GOOD beer for those of us teetering on the brink of pub sipping sophistication and porch homey immaturity?

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2000

I have enjoyed the fine premium taste of ROLLING ROCK. Why just last year my wife Linda's friends invited us out to their farm near Pea Ridge,Arkansas. I had a few Rocks then attempted to change my seating position only to find myself rolling into a huge pile of cow flooie. I couldn't have survived this rural outing without that delicious Rollin Rock!

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2000

I'm no beer snob either, but I prefer Miller products over Budweiser 'cuz the Bud stuff gives me a headache. But I do really like Amstel Light, Sam Adams, Corona and Tequiza. I'm not sure if Tequiza qualifies as a real beer but I like it.

-- Anonymous, June 28, 2000

Help. I bought a chocolate stout by Young's. It is still sitting in my fridge. I love chocolate, but chocolate beer? It just doesn't seem right. Has anyone tried chocolate stout? Was it good? Horrible?

-- Anonymous, June 28, 2000

Chocolate stout isn't the weirdest flavor I've ever heard of, but it definitely sounds like a loser (The Joy of Home Brewing includes a recipe that requires you to leave a chicken carcass in the beer for some of the fermentation process -- don't know, never tried it). I don't get the appeal of those Cave Creek Chili Beers. And I hated Sam Adams's cherry flavored beer -- It tasted more like cherry Zima. As Spinal Tap observed, there's sometimes a fine line between stupid and clever.

-- Anonymous, June 28, 2000

I miss Chicago because I can't get Leinenkugel's out here. Leinenkugel's is the best.

-- Anonymous, June 28, 2000

Little Kings rock!

-- Anonymous, June 28, 2000

I brew as well, and like to drink the stuff I created, but I always have a selection of a number of tasty ales on hand.

My favorites are:

Summit Extra Pale from Minneapolis - not availabe where I am now, but I always try to import it when I'm in the midwest Anchor Liberty - hoppy and crisp Lagunita's IPA - an awesome floral head.

Of course there are huge numbers of crappy beers availble in SF, but for the most part one never has to settle for a beer comprised of adjunct stuff (rice).

t. jay

http://www.lowbrow.com/~tjay

-- Anonymous, June 29, 2000

I tried Henry Weinhard's Raspberry Wheat. It tasted like alcoholic kool-aid.

That's bad, by the way.

-- Anonymous, June 29, 2000

This topic wound up being sort of timely, because I just decided this weekend that I'm giving up beer. I've never really liked it, and it's fattening, and I always have sinus problems the day after I drink beer (especially dark beer), and ... I give up. I'd rather have cider or wine or a gin and tonic. I can appreciate good dark beer and some bitter ales; I occasionally like a cold Rolling Rock on a hot afternoon, but I always prefer water or wine. I have poured more stale beer down the sink than I've actually consumed, I think. So no more beer.

Jeremy's response: "I think it's a good idea. You've been pretending to like beer for a really long time."

Damn, I thought I was being more subtle than that.

-- Anonymous, June 30, 2000

re: Chocolate Stout. Karen, "Chocolate" in stout usually refers to color and (sometimes) flavor overtones. Most chcolate stouts I've tried were dark, and had a bitter-mocha taste overtone from the chocolate (color) malt used.

re: Beer snobs. I know beer snobs. I *am* a minor-key beer snob (and coffee and scotch snob, too). It doesn't mean that I'm not able to enjoy mass-market beer sometimes, but I definately prefer a good microbrew or homebrew.

Thing is, tastes differ. I tend to like dark beers, or *really* hoppy ales - North Coast's Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, Anchor's Liberty Ale and Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot Barleywine all rank high on my list of personal favorites. Do I expect my friends to like them? Not really - even some of the other "beer snobs" may prefer something milder like a Kolsch, or English bitter (which isn't, really), or Guiness (I like it too, but it's pretty mild). And some of my best family memories are sitting out on the back porch with my cousins swapping stories while sipping Miller Genuine Draft.

All that being said, most of the beers I have seen upthread listed as "Good" beers . . . weren't. That is, the beer snob types tend to lump them in with the mass-market beers in terms of quality. A lot of small breweries opened up to get on the microbrew bandwagon, and many of them are afraid to wander too far from the mass-market styles. Nothing wrong with that, really, except that I hate to see the beers *I* like lumped in with them. (I told you I was a snob)

But they're all OK

By analogy: Mass-Market Beers : McDonalds Sam Adams & the Ilk : In & Out Burger True Microbrews : Homemade, with fresh toppings

If you like hamburgers, you may prefer the homemade, but sometimes McDonalds hits the spot. Some folks *prefer* McDonalds to homemade. And some folks just don't like burgers.

Have I rambled enough now?

-- Anonymous, June 30, 2000

Harp by Guinness. Nuff said.

-- Anonymous, June 30, 2000

I would have completely forgotten Summit Extra Pale Ale. I lived in Mpls. for a long time and truly enjoyed a fresh Summit at O'Gara's On Grand. Now I have to sprint through the Mpls. airport just to have enough time to down a couple of tall ones.

Other acceptable brews: Anchor Steam Liberty Ale, Sierra Nevada Pale, Bridgeport IPA, Fuller's ESB. Tolerable brews: Harpoon IPA, Full Sail Amber, most Red Hook products, Rolling Rock, Newcastle Brown (FRESH tap only), LaBatt's Blue. Desperation only: Fat Tire, Bass Ale, Dead Guy Ale, Flying Fish.

Otherwise: cokes and ginger ale. And I will not apologize for being a beer snob.

-- Anonymous, July 01, 2000