Best Beer - EVER!!!

gordmit · Post by **gordmit** » Tue May 31, 2011 1:18 pm

I was thinking of the best beer I ever had. Let me qualify this - I'm not talking about the highest quality, most representative of style, etc...what I'm getting at is re-living the moment where the act of drinking a beer was such an etherial experience that it changed your life...here's mine:

Almost two decades ago I spent the summer working as a labourer for a home builder in Oakville...it was hot, dusty, heavy work...one of the most exhausting summer jobs ever. One Thursday, just before lunch, during one of the hottest stretches of hot hot hot, one of the owners of a finished model home called the two of us over to clear some debris from his property. He then invited us into his refreshingly cool garage and opened up a bar fridge loaded with ice cold John Labatt Classic (kroisen-brewed, you know). The beer hit the back of my throat and literally oozed through my pores...never made it to my belly. I drained the bottle in one sip. At that moment I truly became one with beer.

lister · Post by **lister** » Tue May 31, 2011 2:41 pm

Best moment was numerous years ago sitting in Volo going back and forth with the cask versions of Black Oak Nutcracker and Perry's Vanilla Bean porter.

dutchcanuck · Post by **dutchcanuck** » Tue May 31, 2011 3:46 pm

I would have to say my moment was backpacking through Germany in the summer of 2004 before my complete conversion to craft beer. I had just finished an early morning train ride to Bamberg, and a 45 minute hike to my hostel. I unloaded some of my gear and walked 45 back into town with sweat pouring down my brow from the hot noon day sun. I walked to the Spezial Keller as my guide book suggested and there....and there I tasted my first Rauchbier. It was like a WTF kind of moment when you transcend what you believed beer to be...and think...if this is beer....what else can beer taste like? It was at that exact moment that I new beer was going to be an important part in my life.

Thankfully Munich was my next stop, but sadly I did not go to Belgium. Back then I did not know how much good beer was in such a tiny country.

And now it remains a destination of mine where I hope to go some day.

thelynchfella · Post by **thelynchfella** » Tue May 31, 2011 4:21 pm

really hot day back home in Ireland, after a day of shopping I went into this small little bar with some friends and ordered a hoegaarden.....that was the start of it for me, I thought it was the best beer i'd ever tasted

georgebest · Post by **georgebest** » Tue May 31, 2011 7:36 pm

OK. Meh. Carry on.

beeton · Post by **beeton** » Tue May 31, 2011 7:39 pm

1969... second step on moon...blah, blah, blah...

beeton · Post by **beeton** » Tue May 31, 2011 7:41 pm

apologies to op. i could see this this going south.

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Tue May 31, 2011 8:38 pm

Westvleteren 12 at the Gift shop across from the Abbey of St. Sixtus. If I ever brew a beer half that good I'll be well pleased.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Tue May 31, 2011 10:01 pm

Easy. DDC Aphrodite fresh on tap at the brew pub - HUGE nose of vanilla and cocoa that just can't be bottled (but I want it bottled again as well pretty please!

)

Jon Walker · Post by **Jon Walker** » Tue May 31, 2011 10:20 pm

Back in 2004 we spent about a month in China, most of it quite far inland. Needless to say there was very little beer available beyond horrible Chinese lager. I didn't bother with it after a few attempts...even parched I couldn't bring myself to enjoy it. Then, near the end of the trip we happened to stay in a town outside of Guangzhou where there was a community of westerners who taught English at a nearby school. They told me that a store had opened in the village that stocked a lot of comfort food from Europe including some beer. I went expecting to find only Heineken or the like...While the selection wasn't very big and they had only a dozen or so individual bottles in total, amongst them was a bottle of Paulaner Salvator. I remember drinking that beer in the sticky, polluted 30 degree evening heat and thinking it was the best beer I had ever had.

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Tue May 31, 2011 11:24 pm

dutchcanuck wrote:I would have to say my moment was backpacking through Germany in the summer of 2004 before my complete conversion to craft beer. I had just finished an early morning train ride to Bamberg, and a 45 minute hike to my hostel. I unloaded some of my gear and walked 45 back into town with sweat pouring down my brow from the hot noon day sun. I walked to the Spezial Keller as my guide book suggested and there....and there I tasted my first Rauchbier. It was like a WTF kind of moment when you transcend what you believed beer to be...and think...if this is beer....what else can beer taste like? It was at that exact moment that I new beer was going to be an important part in my life.

Thankfully Munich was my next stop, but sadly I did not go to Belgium. Back then I did not know how much good beer was in such a tiny country. And now it remains a destination of mine where I hope to go some day.

Spezial might be at the top of my list as well. We stayed upstairs and got fresh bretzels & beer from the takeout window. I thoroughly enjoyed the light smokiness in their brews. Must go back sometime!

phirleh · Post by **phirleh** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 8:49 am

I bought 6 westy 12's on ebay a few years ago and they got seized and destroyed by the "office of undeliverable mail" (this was during the last postal strike). An internet friend from Chicago, unexpectedly mailed me a bottle right before Christmas. The first 12 (and only so far) I've ever tried. Saved it for New Years eve.

bufordsbest · Post by **bufordsbest** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 8:53 am

recent trip to europe, after spending a full day walking around Prague site seeing my wife and i trekked up to the castle overlooking the city and were rewarded with a visit to the Strahov Monastic Brewery close by.

they had just brewed their Eastern Pilsner and it went down better than any beer i have ever drunk. that experience will be hard to top.

gordmit · Post by **gordmit** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 12:16 pm

bufordsbest wrote:recent trip to europe, after spending a full day walking around Prague site seeing my wife and i trekked up to the castle overlooking the city and were rewarded with a visit to the Strahov Monastic Brewery close by.

they had just brewed their Eastern Pilsner and it went down better than any beer i have ever drunk. that experience will be hard to top.

I was in Prague two years ago and have some awesome photos from the castle...missed the brewery though...I guess I'll have to go back. I did manage to buy a half-litre of pils from a wall-vendor - the guy's stall was carved into one of the castle walls...

gordmit · Post by **gordmit** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 12:23 pm

[quote="dutchcanuck"]I would have to say my moment was backpacking through Germany in the summer of 2004 before my complete conversion to craft beer. I had just finished an early morning train ride to Bamberg, and a 45 minute hike to my hostel. I unloaded some of my gear and walked 45 back into town with sweat pouring down my brow from the hot noon day sun. I walked to the Spezial Keller as my guide book suggested and there....and there I tasted my first Rauchbier. It was like a WTF kind of moment when you transcend what you believed beer to be...and think...if this is beer....what else can beer taste like? It was at that exact moment that I new beer was going to be an important part in my life.

Thankfully Munich was my next stop, but sadly I did not go to Belgium. Back then I did not know how much good beer was in such a tiny country.

And now it remains a destination of mine where I hope to go some day.[/quote]

I never made it to Germany but must do so. I was in Belgium some years ago. The first was after University - sat in the old town courtyard pub in Brugge one evening and was introduced to doubles and tripels - I distinctly remember thinking that I knew nothing about beer before that moment. The next trip back was to Antwerp, sat with a local friend enjoying a beer brewed in celebration of some old painter's birthday - Van Dyke?!?! - and ate mussels...life was grand, bought the specific glass that was designed for the release.