I prefer the Summer Ale, but Anchor is definitely one of the best breweries in the US. If you ever get a chance, take a tour around it.

Top Cutter IPA from Bale Breaker Brewing Company
Local pool hall started offering this one on tap. Very good and quite impressive for a new startup.

Really nice golden ale from a Virginia brewery. Worth a try if you see it:

Azrael from Devil's Backbone brewery in Lexiington, VA.

Valhalla! To those warriors that have gone before and given their utmost. An ancient ode to remember them this Memorial Day:

'What kind of a dream is it,' said Óðinn,
in which just before daybreak,
I thought I cleared Valhǫll,
for coming of slain men?
I waked the Einherjar,
bade valkyries rise up,
to strew the bench,
and scour the beakers,
wine to carry,
as for a king's coming,
here to me I expect
heroes' coming from the world,
certain great ones,
so glad is my heart.

What glass do you lift this day in their honor?

For me it is this properly bitter brew

a couple weeks ago we had several people over and more than half were women, it was also a hot day so I got UFO Raspberry Hefeweizen by Harpoon Brewery in Boston.
Blechhhhhhhhhhhh

and the funny thing, non of them drank it so I had to finish it all. It took a couple weeks but it's gone and will never return to my fridge. And Randy teases me a bout fruity beers, he would be 100% correct on this one. Normally I don't care for this sort of type but it had a real high rating and again, it was hot and women tend to like the flavored beers. Blechhh is all i can say!

I suggested the Eliot Ness, funny thing too, it's a Vienna Lager as you like by another brand. But then again, Dos Equis is a Vienna Lager and I'm ho-hum on that. It's all style and brand specific to our unique tastes.

I got tricked into this one because of the Shamu tap handle. Commoner swill if you ask me.

You are free to not like anything, but to claim Eliot Ness is a hoppy beer is simply not true. Hoppier than you like? Maybe, but it's simply not considered a hoppy beer in the least. Check reviews on the beer (rated a perfect 100 "world class" by Beeradvocate.com by the way) and nobody mentions hops other than it being a "hint of hops". You don't like it, all well and good! But when dismissing it, please give real reasons, "too hoppy" simply does not fit unless you detest something that is in all beer.

I think Tom and Randy need to go on a man-date and do some male-bonding. Lots of beer should be involved.

SLOTerp wrote:I think Tom and Randy need to go on a man-date and do some male-bonding. Lots of beer should be involved.

Lots of beer would HAVE to be involved!

and we would have a blast! (drinking DIFFERENT beers) I really think we are far more similar than different!

SLOTerp wrote:I think Tom and Randy need to go on a man-date and do some male-bonding. Lots of beer should be involved.

I just think Tom should ignore the troll.

Just to interject some facts into this rather ridiculous thread:

The Devil's Backbone is less bitter than the Elliot Ness but they are both Vienna style lagers. Based on the World Beer Cup information page, Vienna lagers should have between 22 and 28 IBU's, a bitterness measure, with the relatively low number reflective of the less bitter noble hops used in Vienna's. The DB offering, which won best of class in 2012 has an IBU of 17, even below what is typically found in a Vienna. No wonder you rave about it Randy, as you are most definitely not a hop-head. The Elliot Ness comes in at the upper end but still within the proper range (27 IBU's).

Those are facts from a very reputable source.

So, moving on to Devil's Backbone Catty Wompus...

A quite tasty Belgian style IPA for this hop-head. I don't think I'd buy another 6-pack (the local HT has some better choices for me) but would certainly order up one on tap if I saw it.

By the way, the Catty has an IBU of 50 and my favorite IPA (Union Jack) is 75.