In fact, I try to have a "beer for every occasion" -- moderate alcohol and moderate price, one that I can drink regularly. And I have often had to go out to find another one after the brewery decides not to make the beer any more, or just goes out of business.
If high quality dunkels were more prevalent I'd vote for that style. Unfortunately very few Bavarian versions get exported and there are even fewer great American takes. It's a bummer because even the normal everyday ones (Lowenbrau, Paulaner, H-P, etc.) are still pretty terrific. If you live in an area with a good one, Bierstadt being one in my zone, consider yourself lucky. Otherwise, I guess you should hope those Ayinger Altbairisch bottles at your local store aren't 3 years old.
Ayinger Altbairisch is one of my early beer loves. Bought it on a whim while spending an eternity deciding what to buy at the liquor store as a fresh 21 year old. It blew my mind then and it still does now.
Wow -- no love for Biere de Garde or Saison? A Two Brothers Domain Dupage or a Boulevard Tank 7 (or Saison Dupont for the OG) are pretty outstanding daily drivers -- I'm hard pressed to think of a food or event where they wouldn't fit well.
Same. While still I consider it to be an elite-level dunkel, I feel like there are lots of others in the ballpark in/around the Munich area. It's a bummer that's the only one we ever see.
Well, the parameters of the question didn't involve price, it's readily available, and DuPont is a lot more resistant to degrading due to age than a lot of the beers being mentioned. I think I remember you even saying that you prefer your homebrewed saisons with a few months age on them.
From the OP: “…after work, yard work, tailgating, barbecuing outdoors, cooking indoors, friends over, night on the town. Christmas, Independence Day, New Years. Burger and fries, surf and turf, caesar salad, apératif, night cap. Below zero (F) wind chill, one hundred degrees (F) outside,… Those are a lot of occasions. Can you afford to drink a bottle of Saison Dupont after doing yard work (a couple of days a week starting now for me), when barbequing, coming home from work, etc.? If the answer is yes to this then also: cheers to you. Yes, I do permit my homebrewed batch of Saison (I brew one batch per year) to cellar for several months (e.g., 4-6 months) before drinking those beers since they notably improve with time in the bottle. Needless to say but I am drinking other homebrewed beers (e.g., Bohemian Pilsners, 1896 Michelob, CAP, English Bitter Ale, etc.) during that hiatus period. Since we are talking homebrewed beers, I will be brewing a Belgian Dubbel tomorrow (making the yeast starter later today) and I will be bottling a batch of CAP in a few days. Cheers to homebrewed beers!!
Pilsner Urquell is also my pick. It inspired the most consumed beer style in the world today (by a wide margin), and is the best selling beer in the country that consumes the most beer per capita. And to those who have said Belgian beers, let's remember the OP mentioned it would also have to fit at dive bars...
Cost-wise, Belgian styles are the styles that actually make the argument that homebrewing saves money work. While I would never place my saisons on the same pedestal as DuPont, they were my most brewed style, because I could make something for any season. Cheers to homebrewed beers indeed!
Well, for completeness you will not find Pilsner Urquell at dive bars either (at least not at the dive bars I have been to). Cheers!
That's a bingo! "Save Money! Some beer types can be very expensive to purchase at beer retailers. I am a fan of Belgian beer styles like Dubbel, Tripel, Quad, Saison, Belgian Pale Ale, etc. but the Belgian brewed versions (and US craft brewed too) are quite pricey. As one example, Chimay Red (a Dubbel) costs over $150.00 for a case (24 bottles) at my local Retail Beer Distributor. This price is more than I am willing to pay. A typical batch of homebrew is 5 gallons (i.e., about two cases) and I can produce a batch of Dubbel for an ingredient cost significantly less than the $300.00 it would cost me to buy two cases. Twice a year I homebrew a batch of Dubbel, and while it is not intended to specifically be a clone of Chimay Red it is a comparable beer. The ingredient costs of this batch, both for an all grain version or an extract (and specialty grains) version are: All grain Dubbel: $45.00 Extract (and specialty grain) Dubbel: $56.00 The prices quoted above are for the case of just buying the ingredients for a given batch. I usually buy some ingredients in bulk (e.g., malt, malt extract, hops) so my costs are even lower than those indicated above. It does not take a degree in accounting/finance to see that producing two cases of Dubbel for around 50 bucks is a significant saving from buying two cases at a beer retailer. A number of years ago my buddy Chuck invited me and my wife to a party at his shore house in Ocean City, NJ. I brought a case of mixed homebrewed beers and one of the beers was my homebrewed Dubbel. A friend Pat enquired about the Dubbel. I asked her if she liked Chimay Red and she enthusiastically said “yes”. I told her that my homebrewed Dubbel was better than Chimay. She looked at me like I was a used car salesman. As I poured her a Dubbel into a glass I told her that if she didn’t like the beer, she could just bring it back and I would be happy to drink it. A couple of minutes later I heard through the crowd “Jack! Jack!” and I recognized her voice. She ran up to me with a big smile on her face and loudly exclaimed “It is better than Chimay!”. I now half-jokingly refer to my homebrewed Dubbel using the brand name “Better than Chimay”. In past articles I discussed how to homebrew a Quad, Saison, and an Orval type beer." https://www.morebeer.com/articles/Why_Homebrew_Beer Cheers!
That's true, I feel like I have seen it at some dive bars. It's not priced any different than some imports I've seen at dives like Modelo, Corona, Heineken...etc. I've been to plenty of dives that carry bottled beers like Sam Adams and some of the more popular locals in cans. For example, arguably the diviest place around me has Allagash White and Harpoon IPA at the very least when I was there last.
There isn't ONE beer for EVERY occasion, but there is a beer for ANY occasion- That is to say you can find many beers to fit many occasions, but not one single beer for all occasions in my opinion, if you can follow my convoluted sentence that breaks several English grammar rules
I bought some Saison Dupont beer glasses, and they look like these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/126013100718 . I think a paid $1 or $2 each. They are my favorites. I bask in the reflected glory.
