It's beer season

[Boris Godunov]

I tend to drink beer only in the fall/winter. So it's time to start seeking out some brews that are new to me.

The other weekend I was at The Horse Brass, an awesome English pub in east Portland. It's pretty authentic in atmosphere, and they serve beer at the proper temperature. They have a huge selection on tap, including cask-conditioned ales and rotating guest taps of both domestic microbrews and international beers. Their food is also damn good, which I guess makes them not-quite-so-authentic as an English pub. Anyway, I enjoyed a Hofbrau Oktoberfest and Spaten on tap. Both were quite delicious. I got burned out on hops shortly after coming to Oregon, thanks to the glut of IPAs. I tend to go for maltier, less-bitter beers.

What are your favorite lesser-known beers, at least by US standards? No Blue Moon or Sam Adams, please.

[self biased]

Omegang, from Cooperstown, NY is pretty good, they've a variety of Belgian style beers. Dogfish Head is also generally super tasty.

[Dinner]

Do any of you guys ever order from Ales Unlimited in San Francisco? I've done it a few times as they have an excellent selection of rare, hard to find, or even not normally distributed in the US beers. The only downsides are they charge 2-3 Times the going rate, normally only sell per bottle, and they have a minimum $20 shipping & handling fee for all orders. So I make sure to ONLY use them for rare beers I can't find any other way.

That said their quality and selection is better than any other store I have ever seen any where in North America. You want some rare 10 year old specialty brew which was originally only as from the steps of one abbey in Belgium and no where else? Yeah, they have it but it will cost you.

[Dinner]

On a different note I have gotten into fruits lately though I am looking my fascination with sour beers. You might say I am "souring" on them.

[Lorizael]

Someone forced me to try a raspberry lambic. It wasn't awful. This concludes my contribution to the beer conversation.

[Dinner]

I've always liked framboise lambic ever since I tried it when I was 21. On the downside lambics usually don't have any head on them and I can only really drink one of them before I want something different. They're nice enough once in a while.

[Boris Godunov]

I wouldn't mail-order beer for exorbitant costs, since there is so much availability here. Just up the road from me is a beer store that is stocked with all sorts of imports that you can't get most anywhere else. Oregon's beer culture has made the demand for such items so strong that it's relatively easy to find great, lesser-known brews. The problem often is that the selection is so large, it's hard to know where to start.

Of course, we also have some incredible well-known breweries that put out a variety of great beers: Deschutes, Rogue, Ninkasi, Full Sail...

[Boris Godunov]

The local beer place had Bitburger, which I've had on tap at a German restaurant in NY and remember being quite good. It's rather average in a can...

[Dinner]

We have several very nice beer shops in San Diego too just like Oregon. That said some beers are just not officially distributed in this state so if you want to get your hands on them then you either travel to where it is distributed, go without it, or you find some gray market way to get your hands one. Yeah, it is nice if you know someone who lives in the right state/country who can mail you one but if not then it is nice to know at least one or two shops that can procure stuff no one else can even if it costs.

[Dinner]

The local beer place had Bitburger, which I've had on tap at a German restaurant in NY and remember being quite good. It's rather average in a can...

It could have been an old bottle. Trader Joe's sells six packs of Bitburger in bottles for $5 - $6 and it is a nice drinkable beer but certainly not a micro.

[H Tower]

Oktoberfest is wrapping up by now, but the beer is still good. http://us.weihenstephaner.com/our-beers My personal favorite is the Hefeweissbier Dunkel

[Boris Godunov]

Ha, I just had some of their Oktoberfest beer last night. Was pretty good.

[Saras]

I am partial to a craft brewery a friend of mine established with some investors.

http://pohjalabeer.com/

their rye beer http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/pohjala...k-2013/210030/ is epic.