Alcohol 101 - Part 4 - Beer

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." - Ben Franklin

There are two kinds of beer. Yellow, flavorless, watered-down American lager, and everything else. Sure, there are times when yellow, beer-flavored water comes in handy: fishing, working on the car, golfing, mowing the lawn. But that is no excuse to go making a habit of drinking that crap.

If you find that you are one of the many consumers of yellow beer, let me give you a suggestion. Stop drinking it. Let your taste buds grow back. And drink some beer with flavor.

Ok. I'll admit it. I am an amateur beer connoisseur. I haven't yet taken that all important step of brewing my own beer, but I will admit that I've been tempted of late. The beer selection in south Florida sucks compared to what we were presented up in Michigan. But I make do with what I have.

I try to keep a variety of beers on hand, including something from each genre that I enjoy. I call this my Noah's Ark of Beer - two of every kind.

I've been know to enjoy:

Black Apples - a mixture of Guinness and hard cider - preferably Woodchuck

Sam Adams - especially the Cranberry Lambic

Leinenkugels - Sunset Wheat and Berryweiss are my two favorite beers

Paulaner

Duvel

Hacker-Pschorr

Shipyard

Bell's

Hoegaarden

Tucher

Mackeson

Rogue - their mocha porter is awesome, though expensive

Youngs - the chocolate stout is killer

Any stout, cream stout, bock, porter, or otherwise dark beer

Just about any wheat beer, ale, amber, or lambic.

And yes, I even enjoy the so-called Malternatives:

Bacardi Mojito

Smirnoff Green Apple

Mike's Hard Cranberry Lemonade

Lest you confuse my appreciation of beer with my actual consumption, I'd say that I probably consume about 4 or 5 beers a week. That is by no means excessive. Typically, I like to have a nice heavy beer shortly before bedtime.