You haven't lived until you've tried Koch's Golden Anniversary. This stuff is the absolute worst beer I have ever had. One can will give you the worst hangover that you've ever had. The stuff was $2.49 a six pack or $4.49 for a 12 pack (around 2003), my buddy and I both bought it because we both lushes at the time. We both had been laid off and were doing pretty good. We both got a nice severance package, were collecting unemployment, and had relatively few expenses. So we'd often hang out and try new beers (microbreweries and select breweries) but would buy this stuff just for drinking. We could both down a fifth of liquor and still function the next day. The reason we were able to drink it was we discovered that squeezing about 1/2 lime into the can would keep us from getting a hangover from it. Damn... I miss those days, we both were laid off in May right around the end of Spring and start of summer. We pretty much stayed pickled for 3-4 months until we both found new jobs. This was during the time we wound up at his sister's house in Newark on Sunday and have no memory from late Friday night/early Saturday morning at some guy's apartment in the city. Anyway here's a review on Koch's Golden Anniversary Beer. And this comment pretty much describes it.
I've generally found that if Larry can't finish a brand of beer, then I'm going to hate it, and should avoid it at all costs. "Game Day Ice" is one such example.
Here is how to tell if a beer is SKUNKY.. If you pour it into a glass and it's not "CLEAR" or murky, or if it smells bad like old feet. If there is a four digit date on the bottom. For Example, Genesee says 2513, that means it was canned on the 251st day of 2013. The last digit is ALWAYS the year code.
On the bottle of Bud Light Golden Wheat it told you to ROLL the bottle around to unsettle the wheat floating in it. NO SHIT it had floaters in it.
A lot of Belgian beers do that for the same reasons. My homebrew has floaters in it as well and that's fine.
Beer review #194 Beer: Kalnapilis Lager : Brewed Since: 1902 by Kalnapilis Breweing Co, Lithhuania Type Of Beer: Lager Color: Pale yellow Smell: Wheat smell, very clean Taste: Nice and light tasting, Drinkability: Very smooth, I could drink a few of these. Overall: Not a bad beer, my single bottle was $1.59 so it's not expensive. It's just hard to get. After one bottle you start to feel all warm inside..
I have a question about the beers you try, I noticed you include the price fairly often and that you have mentioned that some are too expensive for your taste. Most of the beers I like tend to cost between $8 - $12 for a six pack. But unlike in the past I tend to have only or two at the most with dinner, however if I'm out on the lake or at a cookout/party I'll have several. Is the price something that determines your rating or does it determine whether or not you'll be drinking it in the future?
I'm reviewing stuff too, because no one can tell me not to. Beer Wine: B. Nektar Meadery Orange Blossom Mead (Ferndale, MI) Type of Beer Wine: Semi-sweet Mead Color: Straw yellow Smell: Light, wine-like. Taste: Like pinot grigio made with honey instead of grapes. The honey flavor is subtle and completely lacking the texture and after taste typical of honey (which is a good thing, as far as I'm concerned.) There’s also a hint of citrus. Drinkability: Very drinkable if you like semi-sweet white wines. Which, I do. Overall: I meant to just have a small glass, but half the bottle is gone. Mead is awesome. I'm definitely adding some bottles to my wine rack.
IPA from St. Arnold's out of Houston. Okay, but not nearly hoppy enough for me. I won't be having another one of these, though St. Arnold's Brown and Amber Ales are mighty tasty.
The Daura was tasteless. A lager, yes, but simply no flavor of any kind. I pushed the remainder to the back of the beer fridge and grabbed a Newcastle.
The one I bought isn't carbonated. In general it can vary from none to excessive typical of wines. The more beer-like meads it can vary between very little and a good amount typical of most beers. I definitely like the bottle I bought, but I think I'm going to go for something a little more dry or beer-like with what I make. I'll try a bottle of dry mead before I decide if I want to add hops. Mine will also most likely have some carbonation. I also bought this yesterday: EDIT: Um, that's not a Fleshlight in the lower left corner. I, uh, don't own one of those...
I mentioned on the old board, when I started the beer thread that "Cost" was one factor I use to review a beer, as I do not have a lot of money. But the price of a beer does not always determine how good a beer will be. If you buy ANY Miller/Coors or Budweiser products your paying for advertising cost. I drink Genesee because it's better beer (In my opinion) than the higher priced national brands.
I pretty much avoid Coors, Miller, or Busch beers, they just don't taste good to me. I don't mind paying $8-12 for a six pack when it's something I'll enjoy. But I won't finish off the six pack in a night or two for the most part. I'd rather 6 good tasting beers that I'll enjoy instead of a 12 pack that I don't really care for. I do understand the cost being in your budget and limiting yourself to that. I have read through a good part of your reviews though, and I've had some of them. And I'm going to try some more based on your reviews, I did pick up a 6 pack of PBR and I my suspicions were confirmed, it's horrible but not as bad as Koch's Golden Anniversary. I had to put a wedge of lime in it to be able to drink it. So I hate you for that. But I do look forward to trying some others, I'll probably stick with the beers you found to be bitter, ashy tasting, and so on.
Well Ed629, everybody has different taste, I know what I like in a beer, and as I have said, these are just my opinions. If you did try PBR, did you check the date on it? If it's out of date it wont be any good. BTW Miller/Coors is the contract brewer for Pabst. Just so you know. I got one more beer to review, "33" export from Vietnam. I've seen Anthony Bourdain drinking it on tv..
True, everyone does have different tastes and I'm open to trying new ones. I really do like your reviews and look forward to new reviews.
Another mead review because I haven't bastardized @Larry's format enough yet. Beer Wine: Necromangocon, made by B. Nektar Meadery. Ferndale, MI Type of Beer Wine: Sparkling Semi-sweet Mead with mango and black pepper. Color: Golden Smell Bouquet: Light and fruity, kind of a cross between a pilsner and a Chardonnay, along with freshly cracked black peppercorns. Taste: Like a white wine with some pilsner qualities. It's semi-sweet but closer to dry than sweet. The mango flavor is subtle and the black pepper gives it an interesting sharpness and balances out the sweetness. Drinkability: Despite the black pepper, it's very smooth and goes down easy. Overall: I wish I had bought more than one bottle. This is my new favorite drink. If it were a little more dry it would be perfect. I am definitely adding black pepper when I make my own mead. Also, this was on the bottle: Also, the Wolverine Amber Lager I posted a pic of earlier: it's a perfectly typical Amber Lager. Good, but nothing outstanding about it.
If you like white wine, you'll probably like mead. I usually prefer reds but white is good too. I got a bottle of dry mead from a different winery today as well, which I may open tomorrow. I need to finish that bottle of orange blossom stuff today. It still tastes okay, but I can tell it won't taste good tomorrow.
