Favorite Brew

[OC Richard]

Yes it would be a blessing to live in Britain! When I travel there I go into Free Houses and ask for whatever is local. It's always great.

Here in the USA we've been playing catch-up, and nowadays (at least here on the West Coast) practically every town has a local brewery and/or a brew pub. This local stuff varies but it's always miles ahead of the horrible American mass-market stuff. Around here, in Orange County, the brew pubs all make a range of at least six products, usually including an IPA, a stout, a red, a lager, a porter.

Then there are the places that are famous for the sheer quantity of things they have on tap. Close to me is Goat Hill Tavern, described in a local paper as a "stinky, funky rathole" but having over 140 things on tap



What's great is all the West Coast microbrews that you can't find on tap anywhere else.

There are more places like this in the LA Basin, here's a review of some of them, but beware that when I went into a local Yard House they had greatly reduced their selection and most of the taps weren't hooked up.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/top-l...-beers-on-tap/

Anyone subscribe to Consumer Reports? I rely on their information when buying a car, but I wonder how equipped they are to judge beer. In the current issue they have an article "Best in Beers" in which they say

In blind tests of 23 ales and lagers our experts found 13 that were excellent or very good. All are members of the growing category of "craft" beers (according to the Brewers Association producing no more than 6 millions barrels per year)

Excellent: Stone IPA, Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, Samuel Adams Latitude 48 IPA

Ale Very Good: Shock Top Wheat IPA, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Lagunitas IPA, Widmer Brothers Hefeweizen, Widmer Brothers Drifters Pale Ale

Lager Very Good: Samuel Adams Boston, Brooklyn, Anchor Steam, Coney Island, Lagunitas Pils Czech Style Pilsner