Monday, December 15, 2008

Budweiser American Ale sucks! Top 5 IPA's.

I was waiting for Robin to meet me at Blue Lake Casino for dinner and stopped off at the bar and ordered the new Budweiser American Ale. (Dinner was rotten and man, have prices went up at Blue Lake Casino!) I will give it a 1 out 10 rating. Not worth drinking. Flat and tasteless.

Here are my top 5 India Pale Ales (IPA):

5. Eel River Brewing Company India Pale Ale-Nothing special to report. I have not had an Eel River beer in awhile.

4. 6R - Six Rivers Brewery- IPA is some strong stuff. I little bitter but pleasant.

3. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale- Smooth and consistent, but just missing something.

2. Mad River Brewery Steelhead Extra Pale Ale- Very drinkable, but watch out for that kick!

1. Lost Coast Brewery Pale Ale-The best of the best. Silky smooth and just just a enjoyable beer. Best drank at Lost Coast with their hot wings.

Deschutes Inversion IPA and Widmer BrothersBroken Halo IPA may be worthy of a try.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would have to put put Hopland brewerys Ale on there too. One thing I love about Portland is the multitude of micro brewerys. About the same percentage as coffee houses in Seattle

Anonymous said...

The best beer of all time.
BUCKHORN! Without a doubt.

samoasoftball said...

Beer is a whole different subject Eko!

Anonymous said...

(Dinner was rotten and man, have prices went up at Blue Lake Casino!)
Lowering quality, service, raising prices, and importing a work force from out of the area to build their new hotel does nothing to endear the Blue Lake Rancheria to their once loyal constituents.
Perhaps when the economy rebounds, they can cater to out of area tourists for their support.
This local won't be back, until they care a little more for this community and OUR unemployed construction workers.
That said, you have impeckable BEER TASTE!
Sid Berg

brewbarb said...

Thanks for the compliment.
Barbara Groom
Lost Coast Brewery

Fred Mangels said...

I used to have a Red Tail Ale t- shirt (Hopland Brewery). Don't like anything but cheap, light beer, though.

Anonymous said...

Wait a minute Richard, you called Lost Coast Pale Ale a beer in your post, so don't be critical when Eko mentions beer. He HAS WENT out of his way to post on this blog wjile you were dranking your ale.

Anonymous said...

Sid and Richard must have had the same English teacher. Their spelling is impeccable.

Anonymous said...

what I want I would have to have someone send me because no one up here sells it. Cant think of the name of it but its something like Bud Beer

samoasoftball said...

8:38am-Touchy, touchy aren't we. Opp's I said beer. Sorry Eko.

Blogs our knot ment two bee goodin spelin. Sodare!

Anonymous said...

Richard, now...An India Pale Ale does not a Pale Ale make. You've got some good brews listed there. The best IPA I could name is Mad River Brewery's Sunset IPA. Tasty and strong!

Anonymous said...

I agree with the Lost Coast Brewery choice in the #1 slot, but would put Anchor (Steam) Brewery Liberty Ale in 2nd place.

And thanks for chumming me off of the BLC, Richard ...

Anonymous said...

Hey Rich,
Wanna trade some of the IPA's up here for some down there?

Hayduke said...

Goodness, I hardly know where to start.

First all a Pale Ale and an IPA are not the same thing.

The Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Lost Coast Pale Ales are excellent brews, but are not IPAs. Neither is Steelhead which is actually a blond ale.

Lost Coast's IPA is called Indica. It is excellent by the way.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is one of the top selling beers in the country, but a pale ale it is.

Mad Rivers Steelhead, which as I mentioned is a Blond or Golden Ale, won the Gold Medal at this year's Great American Beer Festival, so you know it is good.

So if it is IPA's you really want, then after the Eel River and Six Rivers IPA. Lost Coast Indica, and the Mad River Jamaica Sunset IPA which is Mad River's offering, you might consider the locally available Stone IPA, Moylans IPA, Lagunitas IPA and Bear Republic Racer 5, all of which are excellent.

We are fortunate to have four top flight breweries locally.

Cordially,

The Beermeister

Anonymous said...

I consume no less than 6 pints of Loat Coast IPA each and every week.

Anonymous said...

Oops. That be Lost Coast IPA

samoasoftball said...

Lodgepole, Crawford & Hayduke have spanked me for ignorance of IPA's. And Mike is a hands on consumer. I am glad I didn't even bring up Mickey's Big Mouth, which is my known favorite Malt.

Anonymous said...

Dem der beers is good, but I like Brown Derby and Buckhorn best. Richard for stupdivisor in 2010!

Anonymous said...

BLC changed their buffet to individual things, but you still get a small buffet choice but it is not like it was before. We go on Thursdays if we are going to go at all as it is "double punch" day and the cards only hold 7 punches before you get a free meal. Free meal can include the Sunday champagne buffet which has lots of stuff almost like before.

Hayduke said...

Brown Derby and Buckhorn? Now that's showing your age.

I remember Brown Derby cans on the ground in the hobo jungle when I was a kid. I think it was sold by Safeway. It think is has been gone since the 50s.

Buckhorn, on the other hand was a cheap beer of choice in my youth, and a favorite of college students. This one I know something about. Olympia Brewing used to brew Buckhorn in Tumwater, WA. It was their cheapest beer because they spent no money advertising it. Oly was bought by Pabst, which was bought by Miller, which merged with SAB who then closed the Tumwater brewery and Buckhorn was gone by 2003. Oly lives on but is now brewed in Irvine, CA.

Hayduke said...

Richard:

You said "I am glad I didn't even bring up Mickey's Big Mouth, which is my known favorite Malt."

But of course you did.

You are triggering all sort of memories for me here. Again this was a popular beer of my youth, mostly because it was 1) Cheap, and 2) in that cool stubby bottle with the big cap.

But one time I held a blind tasting of beer with some friends...such beers as Schlitz, Hamms, Busch Bavarian, Buckhorn, Lucky Lager, Olympia, Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Carlings Black Label come to find, and of course Mickey's Big Mouth. Mickey's came in last. I never drank it again.

Mickey's is having a resurgence with its Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) sponsorship. It targets college-aged drinkers. The beer (malt liquor), however, is still the same. Pretty grim stuff.

Probably more than you ever wanted to know about beer but I just couldn't help myself.

Well I am off to Costco to buy a case of Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale for the holidays. When we were talking IPA's we missed that one. It is very good and a good buy.

Anonymous said...

My wife, who went to school up here in Kelso Wash. was telling me in middle school they all took a tour of the then working Oly plant. Try doing that now with school kids LOL

Anonymous said...

Nothing about North Coast? I prefer their "ACME" pale. They started rebrewing this old familiar California brand name awhile back. Nice taste.