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Topic Summary

Posted by: Eral
« on: June 11, 2005, 08:36:14 PM »

I see your point.  Perhaps if they were complaining about bad wines being made, I would understand. But they are complaining about good wines - using words like "pleasant" and "drinkable" and "accessible." 
Shared automobile platforms and extermination of all computer lifeforms except Windows are bad things.
Winemakers making wine for everyone is democracy/revolution/overthrow of the oligarchs. Which is good for us peasants. And we haven't spilled any blood.
Posted by: jcompton
« on: June 11, 2005, 08:10:33 PM »

Heh. Yeah, I've noticed that even in flyby searches of Internet wine snobbery communities.

But it's like so many other things where people are passionate devotees... there tends to be a tradeoff when products skew to the masses, and the pioneers with the most knowledge and appreciation tend to be the ones left out in the cold with less to appreciate. Ask a car freak what they think of shared automobile platforms, or a long-term computer geek what he thinks of Windows domination.
Posted by: Eral
« on: June 11, 2005, 07:26:32 PM »

Some wine critics in France and England are bemoaning the fact that wine producers are not making Fine wines anymore: they're making wine that are cheap and pleasant for ordinary people to enjoy. I am having trouble working up antagonism to said wine-makers. 
Posted by: Eral
« on: April 11, 2005, 03:33:24 AM »

Must revise my opinion of Yellowtail. Very good stuff.
My brother bought a bottle for us to try on  his son's birthday, and I have since purchased a case of 2004 chardy and am here to say, you were right.  :)
Posted by: Eral
« on: February 15, 2005, 05:04:25 PM »

Rev- Stout is extremely rare here. Guinness is the only stuff to have really made inroads. You really need someone like Xiao to answer your question: a devotee. My knowledge base is limited. (that is the only phrase I could think of that didn't make me sound like a hopeless alco.)
I would ask my dad, whose knowledge base is breathtaking, but he likes Guinness in a can, so his opinion is worthless to you.

Xiao- you do not need to tell me twice. No beer should be white, anyway.  ;D
Posted by: Reverendratbastard
« on: February 15, 2005, 11:25:25 AM »

(He likes the pinot gris very much. Must be the Italian bit.)

 however bastardized/coopted by the french, indeed.
 
  as far as exports - i can attest that it is absolutely true about newcastle, and the same goes for guinness.  and don't ever let me catch any of you drinking guinness out of a bottle or that pathetic 'pub-draught' can, i don't care who developed the technology.  on tap you can trust, but don't hesitate to fly over just to taste the Real Thing.
 
 speaking of stouts - Eral, is Sheaf popular down there?  or is it the fosters of stout?  here it qualifies for the occasional meal-in-a-bottle, but i prefer samuel smith's oatmeal, which seems to make its way to seattle in bottles from england without noticeable ruination (though i haven't had >its< native form)...
Posted by: Xiao
« on: February 15, 2005, 08:22:09 AM »

I prefer that wine be made from grapes. Beer may be made from barley. It's a question of demarcation for me. As coriander has a place in food. Not liquids. And orange peel can be placed in cakes, and sauces. Not beer.
"Barleywine" is just a confusing name for a high-alcohol, long-fermented beer, pretty much.  If you don't want coriander and orange peel in your beer, avoid "wit"/"witbeer"/Belgian white beers altogether, not just Hoegaardens.  Those are defining ingredients in the style.
Posted by: Eral
« on: February 14, 2005, 11:25:25 PM »

I can tell you are a beer-lover Xiao. :)
I have found out another reason that the Hoegaardens tasted funny to me: it has orange peel and coriander in it. Mr. FPS read the label and has insisted I post this information, as a public service announcement. (He likes the pinot gris very much. Must be the Italian bit.)

Rev - I have never had barley-wine.You are a more cosmopolitan drinker than me.:D
I prefer that wine be made from grapes. Beer may be made from barley. It's a question of demarcation for me. As coriander has a place in food. Not liquids. And orange peel can be placed in cakes, and sauces. Not beer.
Posted by: Xiao
« on: February 14, 2005, 11:26:13 AM »

No, no, it's much better than Fosters.
*snicker*

Your explanation as to why the Hoegaardens is so foul is plausible. Unfortunately, this means I may have to become redneck and parochial about beer. Good for local industry, bad for multiculturalism.
Well, not all transported beers will taste awful, but they probably won't taste the same as they do in their home country.  Wines are treated similarly poorly during transportation, but wine typically deals with aging more gracefully than your average beer does.  (The style of IPA - India Pale Ale - came about because the British hopped the hell out of a pale ale to ensure it traveled well to the troops stationed in India.)  My husband loves Newcastle Brown Ale, while a friend of ours detests it, because he was used to drinking it in England and says the stuff here is so different.  If you like a beer, you like it; if you don't, you don't.  I have a problem with most light lagers; I find them skunky-tasting even if other folks (even fellow beer snobs) insist they aren't. *shrug*  Tastes can change, but don't be apologetic about your beer preferences.  (I started out "hating beer" because I didn't like the swill that passed for beer in college.  I went from that to not only loving beer but homebrewing my own as well and getting good reviews from friends on my results.)
Posted by: Eral
« on: February 14, 2005, 12:16:17 AM »

No, no, it's much better than Fosters.
Posted by: Caedwyr
« on: February 14, 2005, 12:13:11 AM »

I have been informed by a friend currently attending uni in Australia that Fosters is not even available down under.


As an aside, I like a couple of the microbrews from the local area, such as Okannagan Springs Pale Ale and similiar.  I'll agree with those who say that Heineken rates about the same as horse piss.
Posted by: Eral
« on: February 13, 2005, 11:41:52 PM »

The Fosters sold in North America is brewed in Canada anyway.

You know, I really hope the Canadians have done the right thing and have thrown away the original receipe and are making a real beer and just calling it Fosters. It's terrible to think the same stuff is being foisted onto the world.

Your explanation as to why the Hoegaardens is so foul is plausible. Unfortunately, this means I may have to become redneck and parochial about beer. Good for local industry, bad for multiculturalism.

Have just tried the first pinot gris. A bit too crisp for my liking. The apple flavour is a bit startling too. At first I thought it was the Hoegaardens coming back to get me. Very nasty scare. 
Posted by: Xiao
« on: February 13, 2005, 06:49:28 PM »

...which, incidentally, could certainly help explain some of the difference of opinion on a Belgian beer experienced in North America vs. Australia (versus Belgium, for that matter.) Bons is the expert but those cargo ships aren't exactly locked at room temperature.
Almost assuredly.  Besides the temperature issues, the shipping also isn't exactly fast - it can add a month or more onto the age of a beer, and many beers just aren't made for the long haul.
Posted by: jcompton
« on: February 13, 2005, 06:10:05 PM »

The Fosters sold in North America is brewed in Canada anyway.

...which, incidentally, could certainly help explain some of the difference of opinion on a Belgian beer experienced in North America vs. Australia (versus Belgium, for that matter.) Bons is the expert but those cargo ships aren't exactly locked at room temperature.
Posted by: jcompton
« on: February 13, 2005, 04:31:16 PM »


Rev- There are people who believe that only Melbourne Bitters does.  ;D  I am with you on the Fosters. It may be your dad is ready to grasp at any straw, but we know that there is Fosters and then there is beer. They only export it because no-one will drink it here.

The Fosters sold in North America is brewed in Canada anyway.