Best Beer Flavored Beer

For breweries that stick to the styles, I'd start with the basic lineup of Great Lakes, Olde Mecklenburg, or Red Oak, but then, you probably can't get the latter two in NJ.

 

"Beerish beer"...can it get any more vague...
I mean even if you take pale yellow lager-esque stuff you are still left with lots of different variations. Take only from germany for instance Augustiner Helles, Jever Pilsner, Mühlen Kölsch and Sternburg Export, all pretty mainstream beers in their region. Do they all "taste like beer"?

 

I'd say that there are just no added flavorings, as described in the op. Here in the US there seems to be a new subculture that can't enjoy a beer if it doesn't have coffee, coconut, grapefruit, vanilla, etc, added to it; so the shelves are full of such things.

In answer to your examples, any fermentation or mashing byproduct is a beer flavor, so sours are in. Malts can be smoked as well as roasted, so smoked beers are in.

That really should leave a whole lot to choose from.

 

But were do you draw the line? What about subtly spiced beers such as la chouffe blonde?
What about Krieks?
What I want to say is, "putting stuff in your beer" is not only a recent fad, it has been around surely as long as brewing itself. And a proper, unsweetened Kriek for isntance isn't to far away in flavour profile from a Geuze/Lambic without cherries.

 

As @Lurchus is pointing out, (and to "steal and modify" a phrase from a local radio station, "All beer was once new." So there isn't a standardized thing such as "beer flavored beer" and the phrase "beer flavored beer" will have different meanings at different times to this one and that one.

Indeed, I'd be willing to wager that once upon a time there were many who thought Pilsener of any persuasion wasn't beer flavored beer.

 

And it will mean different things to different people, I might add. For the archetypical german pils drinker, a porter or stout does not "taste like beer" at all. That is why Pale Ales, IPAs and Stouts amaze people here so easily these days, because most people have a very small idea of "tastes like beer"...

 

Oh geez, do we really have to get so frigging semantic in every damn thread on this site? It's a turn of phrase. As others have noted, it's poking light fun at all the adjunct laden brews these days that try very hard to taste like other things -- mango smoothies, vanilla mochas, etc. There's nothing wrong with those. It was just a way of asking what sorts of beers you like that aren't like that -- because, frankly, those are beers are more easily forgotten around here.

It's like asking someone to explain "moreish". One person says his favorite bitters and helles are moreish. Another proclaims it's his favorite double IPAs. The former scoffs and furrows his brow. A long debate ensues about moreish. Many points are made. But, at the end of the day, it's really nothing more than a situation of: you know it when you see it. If it really rankles you so, choose another turn of phrase. Cripes.

 

When I think beer, I think pilsner malt as well. Surprised I havent seen Pilsner Urrquell in the mix yet. Love their tallboys, and it tastes like how I remember beer tasting before I got into oolong tea infused maibocks. Also, coors banquet.

 

Understood fully, but I am just trying to get the point of the op across. Maybe saying Beer Flavoured Beer was not the best way to put it, but I assume there was some level of humor involved.

 

Ok, sry, I think I was also really missing the background because addjunct-overload is a trend that, gladly, has not arrived here yet......
Thanks for educating me.

 

SN Pale Ale

GLB Edmund Fitzgerald Porter

I would also like to say Bells Expedition Stout, but I'm not sure that's standard beerish enough

 

But you see it sometimes is all about the semantics. One man's casual turn of phrase is another's technical jargon and most of the things you are thinking of as "frigging semantic" are actually about clarification of meaning to establish communication. For example it took me a very long time to recognize that some folks were using "Cali" to refer to CA rather than the South American home of some powerful drug cartels. Stupid of me? Perhaps. But all my prior experience before coming on this site led me to think "Cali" was in South America.

 

It's probably worth noting, of course, that BA isn't terribly representative of craft beer drinkers as a whole nationwide. SNPA, Fat Tire, Sam Adams Boston Lager, Lagunitas IPA, etc. are all in the Top 10 brands sold nationally, I believe, along with stuff like Shiner Bock, etc. Point is, we can make the "beer flavored beer" joke around here, because it applies specifically to this subset of craft drinkers - the super nerds, if you will (or, aficionados, if nerds is too pejorative ), but it probably wouldn't even make sense to your average American craft drinker, in the same way it may not make sense to your typical German, British, etc. beer drinker.

 

Indeed, it is often about semantics. But, in this case, I doubt very much that, like "Cali", you didn't understand what the OP was implying. And, even if there was semantic disagreement, I'd argue it's not always productive to engage it, especially, again, if definitions are close enough to be understood. In any case, if you especially dislike the phrase, consider it in the way you prefer and offer a few suggestion to the OP

 

Victory Prima Pils

 

That is the thing that confused me, because here, all except Boston Lager are considered very specail and "unlike normal beer".

 

All quite accurate but its also good that we remember once in a while that this is intended to be an international site and our localisms are not necessarily going to be understood by everyone in the audience.

 

Oh yes. Every day of the week.

 

Kolsch's always remind me of just a good old fashioned beer. My favorite kolsch: Coast 32/50

 

I agree with some of the sentiments expressed here, i.e. that we don't need to get too semantic about it and I think I get what the OP posted and am happy to go along with that spirit for the sake of this thread (my vote was for Tegernseer Hell).

But I also think it's interesting to go off on tangents (if only slightly). In that regard, to everyone who is decrying the extensive use of adjuncts in beer, remember that adding all sorts of stuff to beer is also in a sense quite traditional. If you want a good idea of what beer was like in Europe pre-Reinheitsgebot, look at Belgium. Sugar, coriander, cherries, raspberries, and all sorts of spices and other ingredients find their way into beer quite happily without any controversy, and have done for ages regardless of the changing trends in the rest of the continent. This also used to be the case in Northern Germany; they would even salt their beers. Apparently there's evidence that ancient Egyptians would put fruit and honey in their beer.

Tl;dr: All things considered, there's nothing unusual or essentially modern about adjuncts in beer. After a few centuries of state- and self-imposed ideals of purity, you could even think of it as a return to an older take on beer brewing and consumption.