Beer VS Wine

[huh?]

This ones for you  Vinny.

[Vinny]

THANKS!!!!

[huh?]

I'm sure the Canadians will argue Beer...but a good merlot......

[Brewman]

.....Is almost as good as a nice stout.  

Brewman
Who isn't Canadian, and also like a nice glass of merlot on occasion!

[huh?]

Just seen this.  A keyboard for the Canadians.

[Vinny]

Wife prefers white wine, I prefer red.

As for beer - Anything BUT Bud! Although I tried stout years ago and it was too bitter then, my tastes have changed a little,  I've come to appreciate some bitter beer.

Best beer I've tasted so far is Bodington's Pub Ale - has a floating nitrous "tank" inside the can to give it it's head when the can is opened. It's a little bitter but real creamy and smooth, only problem it comes in a 4 pack but the cans are 16 oz instead of 12!  I hear for a quick buzz, Molsen's XXX is supposed to have 2x the alcohol content.

And it's almost October and time for Oktoberfest beer - wait I'm Italian what do I know about Oktoberfest! But the Feast of San Genaro is happening - Time for wine, sausage sandwiches and zeppole's- Yeah!!

Enough rambling, I'm getting something with alcohol!

[stuart]

Wife prefers white wine, I prefer red.

As for beer - Anything BUT Bud! Although I tried stout years ago and it was too bitter then, my tastes have changed a little,  I've come to appreciate some bitter beer.

Best beer I've tasted so far is Bodington's Pub Ale - has a floating nitrous "tank" inside the can to give it it's head when the can is opened. It's a little bitter but real creamy and smooth, only problem it comes in a 4 pack but the cans are 16 oz instead of 12!  I hear for a quick buzz, Molsen's XXX is supposed to have 2x the alcohol content.

And it's almost October and time for Oktoberfest beer - wait I'm Italian what do I know about Oktoberfest! But the Feast of San Genaro is happening - Time for wine, sausage sandwiches and zeppole's- Yeah!!

Enough rambling, I'm getting something with alcohol!

Vinny,
I'm with you on the Bud! I drink one Bud (or a glass of wine for that matter) and you might as well just smack me in the head with a hammer for the headache I'll get (don't get any ideas WSD)!

[spahappy]

Very cold Miller Light in a bottle on a hot summer day at the lake.

Semi dry red wine while soaking in the spa on a cool fall evening.

Peppermint schnapps in hot chocolate after cross county skiing in the winter.

Some homemade chokecherry or wild plum wine in the spring.

Bombay Gin and grapefruit anytime of the year.

And themolpane is better than fullfoam, oops that just slipped out!


Spahappy

[Shut_Down_Stranger]

beer, mgd or most candian lagers are good.

wine, I prefer reisling and guerrtzaminer, more fruity and flavorful than other varieties.

[Lori]

And it's almost October and time for Oktoberfest beer - wait I'm Italian what do I know about Oktoberfest! But the Feast of San Genaro is happening - Time for wine, sausage sandwiches and zeppole's- Yeah!!

Enough rambling, I'm getting something with alcohol!

Vinny, since you are Italian I thought I would let you know, Octoberfest starts in September.  It actually started last Saturday in Munich, and will continue until October 3.

I'm not German, but my boss is there, so I am wishing him many headaches!!!  LOL!!!

[jaw]

1. Wild Turkey 101, on ice.
2. A good chianti - almost anyone that has classico and reserve on the label will be good - trust me.
3. A good Merlot - and many can be found for around $8 a bottle.
4. A good craft beer - not Sam Adams - I don't like their ads.  And not Petes - heck these are not craft beers anyway.
5. Good import beers, Bass Ale, Harp, Negra Modelo for example.
6. A good White wine, prefer oak aged.
7. Sunday Brunch a strong and Spicey Bloody Mary
8. On the 8th Tee (if memory serves) at the Grandaddy in Myrtle Beach on a nice hot morning, a Mimosa.

That about covers it.

Oh, yes, after mowing or doing other dirty laboreous work a good old Ice Cold Miller Lite - bottles preferred.

Bud products stink on toast, if its them or starve, I choose to starve.

[Dudley_Dawson]

Have you seen Coors Light's new TV ads?  They claim to be the "Coldest Tasting Beer."  Uh... when was the last time you tasted a beer and said, "Man, that beer tastes cold."?  Beers are cold.  They don't taste cold.

I've been drinking Sam Adams Octoberfest in my tub here lately.  Yeah, I read the previous posts.  I may be a loner on this one.  Oh yeah, Spaten makes a good Octoberfest.  

And Bud Light is far superior to Miller Lite.  Miller Lite is no different than Coors Light.  That crap had better be "the coldest tasting beer" in order to drink it.  

[ebirrane]

I'm an avid wine fan and, oddly, just got into an actual "debate" on the subject with an avid beer fan friend of mine.

Bottom line?

Wine has more variety and more complex flavors.  While there are over 50,000 types of beers in the world the process of making beer attempts to attain consistency from batch to batch.  Most wine is different from year to year, some from aging, but most because the main ingrediant (grapes) vary from year to year.  Some wineries blend to achieve consistency, but fine paletes (not mine!)  can discern years.  Wine, not predmoninantly a food product, ages and that aging, especially in oak, imparts flavor complexity.  But who wants to have to pay $100-$5000 for a complex flavor?!

Beer goes much better with traditional "American" food (grilled meats) and with spicy food (Thai, mexican). Much of this is because most beers are carbonated and the little bubbles help "lift" spicy food up off the palette and to keep the palette clean. To get the same pairing from wine you'd have to go fizzy wine for spicy food (some Dom Perignon with your taco, sir?) or for the kind of meats I char on my grill, a tannic red for "game" meats which is usually described as having a boquet of "dung", "moss", and/or "leather". Now, those are awfully hard sells over "wanna corona?"

As for Merlot being $8, a decent Merlot used to be *less* before the "French paradox" was introduced in 1998.  And it seems that beer can have just as many positive effects as wine.  The only problem being beer (again being a food product) can have many more calories than wine.  I guess you don't often hear of people sporting a "wine belly".

Anyway, just thought it was interesting to see this as a topic.  The beer/wine debate is actually taken quite seriously by some wine and beer makers and the arguments on both sides are fascinating.  I respect wine more, but a drink more beer, mostly because beer  is cheaper.  Meaning you can get a good beer for less than you can get a good wine.

 

-ed

[ebirrane]

2. A good chianti - almost anyone that has classico and reserve on the label will be good - trust me.

WINE SNOB ALERT. Stop reading now if you don't care about wine.  

Alot of people think that Chianti Classico is a special, "classic" kind of Chianti.  It isn't!

Here's a nice description from google: http://www.kilkelly.com/Chianti.html

"The Chianti Classico wine region is the best known of seven Chianti zones in Tuscany. The other six zones are Montalbano, Colli Fiorentini, Rufina, Colli Aretini, Colli Senesi and Colline Pisane. Chianti Classico refers to the zone between Florence and Siena, marked by the symbol of the Chianti Classico wine consortium, the 'gallo nero,' or black rooster."

Chianti Classico is not a "special" kind of Chianti, though some may prefer the wines from that region to wines from a different Chianti region  (and when we say Chianti we usually mean the red wine made in Chianti from the sangiovese grape).

And people wonder why "Chianti Classico" is such a steal being comparitively priced to other Chiantis!

The thing to look for is "riserva" which indicates that, by law,  it has been aged a certain amount of time, with some portion of that aging occuring in oak.  Here is an excellent, short description of riserva (among other things) from http://www.westcoastwine.net/brunello1.html

"To become Brunello, the wine must age for four years, three of which must be in large oak casks. To become Riserva, it must age for an additional year. These are the old laws, but many producers still adhere to them. Under the new laws, the aging may be reduced so that Brunello can be released after 3 years, 4 years for Riserva. Producers have embraced this new law very enthusiastically, since it allows them to release wines from weaker vintages sooner, thereby "saving" the wine from excessive oaking. Many of the 1991 and 1992 Brunello were dried out and tired upon release after 3 years in oak. Producers could have made much better wine had the laws been relaxed then. 1993 is the first vintage in which producers were allowed to avail themselves of the new laws. Most producers that I have either had first or second hand knowledge from intend on following the old law when the vintage permits. When the vintage is weaker, these producers will more than likely release early. "

and, from the same place,

"I'm asked a lot what a Riserva is, or what it means or if it's worth it. These are valid questions and they are difficult to answer because it depends a lot on the producer and his fruit sources. What Riserva "must" mean is simple : It must be aged one year longer than the "normale". That's it. So, in theory, any producer could set aside a certain amount of fruit from the same source that he makes his normale from, age it for an additional year and call it Riserva. It may be good, it may be terrible. But one thing is certain, except for the age of the wine, it's not any different!

The key here is know which producers have special lots of fruit that they use to produce a Riserva bottling. Often times it is fruit from a single vineyard, but it does not necessarily have to be the case. However, these wines are usually more distinct, in both ripeness, concentration, complexity and terroir. Some examples of Single Vineyard Riservas that merit attention are : Castello Banfi's Poggio All'Oro, Lisini's Ugolaia, Caparzo's La Casa, and Altesino's Montosoli. Argiano and Barbi usually make excellent Riserva as well, and although they are not always vineyard designated, they do share the characteristics I mentioned above. "

And here is a long article that goes into exactly what classico is and is not, problems in the region, its history, and modern efforts to subzone classico to better define wine qualities:

http://italianfood.about.com/library/weekly/aa030597.htm

Ok, enough from me.  

-Ed

[ttodd1]

So I guess Jack doesn't fit in here anywhere?