Best Beer Flavored Beer

Bigfoot!

 

Ayinger Jahrhundert Bier.

I had a glass of that on Saturday night, and it was extraordinary.

Not a huge beer. Not barrel-aged. Not a hazy hop bomb. Nothing wild or funky about it. Just a pale, well balanced, expertly brewed, softly malty mid-strength export lager.

 

One of my favorite beers is Tegernseer Hell. Don't know how hard it might be to find in the US, but it's well worth seeking out.

It's a fantastic, straight-forward beer that's appropriate any time. For me it's the perfect Helles. It's also a cult beer in Germany. Excellent maltiness, soft but present carbonation (just the right amount). Nice floral, slightly herbal and almost peppery Old World hops flavors. You can savor one, or knock down several in a row. You can have it with dinner. You can have it with breakfast. You can have it at the beach, or around the campfire.

In my humble opinion, the epitome of German beer. I could go on, but I'll just stop here and say I hope you manage to track some down. Shouldn't be too expensive either, as it's cheap in Europe.

 

I'm sure you've had it but when I wanna keep it simple I grab a nice American Pale Ale and SN is what hits the spot for me. Cheers

 

Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier.

I could probably rattle off about 50 off the top of my head, but I think that one will do.

 

Yes..Anything Weihenstephaner.

 

@dymmig89
Assume you mean real, original traditional styles.

Not some, ahem... "innovation".

So, a doppelbock. Not a dopplebock with Lapsang Souchong Tea. Or with Cocoa Nibs. Or with Chipotle peppers.

 

From the title I thought this thread was going to be asinine, but I guess its more of a "standard of the style" type of thread, so I'll play. For what its worth for the most part I prefer when breweries DONT use adjuncts, but I do love me some barrel aging. Anyways, just a couple examples here:

Pale Ale: SN Pale Ale
IPA: Stone IPA
DIPA: Pliny (Elder)
Russian Imperial Stout: Marshal Zhukov
Hefe: Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier
Kolsch: COAST 32/50
Tripel: La Fin Du Monde
Quad: Westy 12 (St. Bernardus Abt 12 if you can't get Westy)
American Barleywine: Bigfoot
English Barleywine: this one's tough cause most of the standards in the style are Barrel Aged and I was trying to avoid barrel aged beers, but rules be damned I'll go with Mother of All Storms

 

And sorry for being pedantic, but sours such as lambics are in fact brewed according to archaic brewing methods and are in a sense more traditional than anything else on the market today. I understand what you meant, but I feel it's worth pointing out that sour beers really don't belong in the same category as a lot of these modern styles.

Sour beers (primarily Belgian ones) have a fascinating history, and are an authentic taste of brewing history and tradition. Maybe indulging in them might give you some great alternative food for thought if you're having a ''getting back to real beer'' phase.

 

All beer is beer flavored beer. Beer can taste like a lot of things.

 

Pils malt tastes like beer to me. Not saying that's right or wrong. Anyway, get thee to as fresh a helles or pils as you can. If you can't find fresh imports (HB, Weihenstephaner, etc.), Victory Helles and Ninkasi Lux will do the trick for helles, and I really dug Shiner's new Birthday Beer 107 for a nice hoppy pils, with lots of good Saaz and Hallertauer notes. Heck, even Ballast Point's Yellowtail Pale Ale, which is in fact rather kolsch-inspired, will get you that nice kick of pils malt goodness.

 

Yea I'll echo any aforementioned, and soon to be mentioned German styles. Many classic, and unchanged for a long while. Let a few simple ingredients speak for themselves. Prost.

 

Founders Imperial Stout
Carton Boat
Schlenkerla Helles Lager
Uerige Alt
Prima Pils
Southampton Keller Pils
Weihenstephaner Pils
Lion Stout

, etc.

 

Some recommendations:

Pilsner: Jever or Wiehenstephaner Pils
Doppelbock: Ayinger Celebrator or Paulaner Salvator
Hefeweizen: Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier
Helles: Weihenstephaner Original
Dunkel Lager: Ayinger Altbairisch Dunkel

 

When I think beer... just classic, old school craft beer, I think Sierra Nevada Pale ale, classic German hefe's (i.e. Weihenstephaner), and a variety of Belgian beers (in particular Duvel).

 

New Glarus Moon Man for us hits the target dead center.

 

Beer is beer.

That said, i had a Samuel Adams Boston Lager yesterday that seemed not to have malt or hop flavor, just sort of cardboardy.

This is a really subjective topic.

New Belgium Fat Tire was pretty close to "the middle" for me, at least of what I have had recently. Murphy's Stout is about my favorite packaged beer, Selin's Grove Brewing Company Shade Mountain Oatmeal Stout favorite overall.

I'm sorry - what was the question, again?

 

Not a bad list, but I'd put Old Rasputin on the list instead of the considerably less available CC beer. Also, Fin du Monde over Westmalle as an example of a classic tripel? That's cray cray.