Beer brands in Houston...?

[tstone]

Well Pabst Blue Ribbon, OE 800, Old Milwaukee and Schlitz Malt Liquor have won several awards, too. Look up World Beer Cup and the Great American Beer Festival. And those are some of the crappiest beers out there.

Maybe I was consistently buying bad 6 packs, but each St. Arnolds I tried had a nasty, biting aftertaste. IMO I was better off buying Michelob or Budweiser. Like I said, I do like their Elissa (IPA) but it's still mediocre compared to those IPA's from Oregon.

[nikku]

Originally Posted by tstone

Well Pabst Blue Ribbon, OE 800, Old Milwaukee and Schlitz Malt Liquor have won several awards, too. Look up World Beer Cup and the Great American Beer Festival. And those are some of the crappiest beers out there....

Like I said, I do like their Elissa (IPA) but it's still mediocre compared to those IPA's from Oregon.

That's because those awards were in categories in which the only other competing beers were crappy beers. So it was a dogfight to see who was the best beer in the worst beer category.

Those IPA's and other microbrews from the Pac NW are the same ones that St. Arnold's competes against. I'd be willing to bet a lot of money that if someone were to give you a pint of St. Arnolds and tell you that it was a fancy NW microbrew, you'd like it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say St. Arnolds is the end all be all, but you have to be the first person I've ever heard say they thought it was bad beer.

as an aside, Elissa IPA is my least favorite St. Arnolds brew, but I'm not a hophead, and don't really like IPAs in general.

[TexasTheKid]

Originally Posted by nikku

That's because those awards were in categories in which the only other competing beers were crappy beers. So it was a dogfight to see who was the best beer in the worst beer category.

Those IPA's and other microbrews from the Pac NW are the same ones that St. Arnold's competes against. I'd be willing to bet a lot of money that if someone were to give you a pint of St. Arnolds and tell you that it was a fancy NW microbrew, you'd like it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say St. Arnolds is the end all be all, but you have to be the first person I've ever heard say they thought it was bad beer.

as an aside, Elissa IPA is my least favorite St. Arnolds brew, but I'm not a hophead, and don't really like IPAs in general.

I'd give St Arnie's IPA two enthusiastic thumbs up. I am a hophead, and I consider myself pretty well versed in the IPA. The only two IPAs that have struck me as better are from the Flying Dog brewery in Boulder and the Alaskan brewery in Juneau. However, in my opinion, most of St Arnold's other stuff is merely better than average.

[tstone]

"60 minute" (Dogfish Head) kills all IPAs. A 6 pk is up to like $11 now though.

Red Seal Ale (North Coast) kills all Pale Ales. They also make a pretty good ''lawnmower'' beer, Scrimshaw. These seem to be getting a little harder to find around here though.

I might give St Arnolds another try, going for one I've never tried before.