CS Booze Club.

[Jester]

Actually, I've had chile beer, some good, some awful. I don't think you can just lump all of it together like that. So I've gotta ask...what was the name of this particular beer?

[Dentarthurdent]

So I'm a little sloshed at the moment, thanks to a rather hard day and tomorrow being my one day off out of like...12. I drank a Dark 'N' Stormy, which, if you like ginger ale, I totally recommend. I made mine with Bundaberg Ginger Beer (which is quite yummy) and the Albertson's store brand rum (which is perfectly fine when you mask it with ginger beer, and I have not tried it neat), and the requisite lime. Purists will want to use a dark rum, but I was broke, so store brand it was.

But then I wanted a little more because I'm not quite stumbling or typing badly enough yet, so I fumbled in the fridge to find the remaining 3 of a make-your-own-6-pack a friend got me at World Market for my birthday (the first three I drank out of it were non-alcoholic...I'm not a lush, I swear). And oh my god. I found a beer I like.

I really don't go around liking beers. I tolerate them. Some of them are my standby beer. In certain places where I know the closest thing to what I want is a Blue Moon or a Fat Tire, I'll order that. I'll always *hope* they have Woodchuck on tap, because I'm a cider person and always will be. And most places don't have mead, or at least, not mead I want to drink.

But this is something I would go to the store and buy a 6-pack of. I've tried Shock Top before, but I had the original flavor with the orange in it and was not disinclined to drink it again, I guess. But this is their Honeycrisp Apple Wheat. And holy crap, it tastes enough like cider that I forget I'm drinking a beer. But it still has that mild wheatiness I like from my pale, wussy beer choices (yeah, don't ask me what dark beers to drink, I'll just say "don't"), without any of the underlying bitterness. I don't know if this will have time to get warm enough for the full flavor to come out. I really don't.

[Dentarthurdent]

Also, a few months back, while bored waiting on a train, I asked my best friend what kind of drink to get if I wanted something fruity and girly, and I told her what I really wanted was a blue fishbowl, but since I've never found anyone outside the Upper Peninsula of Michigan who's even heard of a blue fishbowl, let alone knows how to make it, I asked what she suggested instead. She said get a pina colada. So I go in this bar in this tourist town in Arizona at like 11 PM and ask for one, and the bartender says she might not have the mix, she'll go check. So she comes back and says they can't make it, but asks me what I want instead. I'm kinda vague, I tell her I want something girly and fruity, where you can't really taste the alcohol much. She says "How about a Vegas Bomb?" I, having never heard of a Vegas Bomb, agree.

Oh my god. That was the foulest mixed drink I have had. That was the foulest alcohol-based thing of any kind I have ever put in my mouth since the lager-flavored ice cream at my first PenguiCon. I don't remember all the ingredients, just that it involved Crown Royal, Midori, and some kind of peach brandy. I think there wasn't much else, if there was anything else. It was so nasty. So, don't order a Vegas Bomb in Arizona, kids...

Please, by all means, anyone who has had a *good* Vegas Bomb, tell me about it. Because maybe I'm wrong and they're not always awful?

After I caught my train and went to my beautiful island destination (by boat, of course), I ordered a pina colada, and not being a dive bar in the middle of nowhere, they made me one and it was delicious. It is my favorite mixed drink, with a properly mixed Dark 'n' Stormy (by which I mean it has GOOD ginger ale/beer in it in the right proportion) a close second.

[Dentarthurdent]

Whoa. As the Yoopers used to say, Holy Wah. This beer gets better as it gets warmer, with the apple notes coming out stronger and the wheat tingling in the background. (I refer to the Shock Top Honeycrisp Apple Wheat I reviewed above). I'll stop spamming this thread now.

[Jester]

Which tourist town in AZ?

Also, for those who would like to try a Dark & Stormy at home, or even at their favorite bar, remember, it uses ginger BEER, not ginger ale. Both are non-alcoholic, but ginger beer is like ginger ale on steroids...the ginger flavor gets kicked way up. And if you really want to be smacked in the face with ginger, get Regatta Ginger Beer. Holy ginger root, Batman! Finally, not only should you use a dark rum for a Dark & Stormy, it should be a quality dark rum, preferably Gosling's Black Seal when possible, since that is the rum the drink was invented with.

Piña coladas: if you're ever in a bar that doesn't have a blender or piña colada mix, order a Malibu coconut rum (i.e., the regular Malibu) and pineapple juice. Poor man's piña colada!

From the last three months of World of Beer Key West being open, I have a ridiculous amount of beer reviews/notes to upload to here. After all, as of last Monday, I AM number 3 on their leader board!

[Victory Sabre]

Actually, I've had chile beer, some good, some awful. I don't think you can just lump all of it together like that. So I've gotta ask...what was the name of this particular beer?

It's Cave Creek Chili Beer.

And, yeah, I'm still having flashbacks on how bad it was.

And if you really want to be smacked in the face with ginger, get Regatta Ginger Beer. Holy ginger root, Batman!

I'd rather have Mary Anne.

[Dentarthurdent]

Which tourist town in AZ?

Williams.

Re: the rest of your post: All good to know. Of course a DnS *tastes* better with quality dark rum and ginger beer (I am a huge proponent of strong ginger drinks). The first one I had was well-mixed but involved some crappy pale soda type ginger ale (Schweppes?), so the next time (same party, same convention) I asked them to make it with the Reed's that was sitting there. The n00b bartender also put in Triple Sec and an orange slice because she felt like it, which was at least interesting and didn't taste *bad*. *shrug* Next time I buy rum it won't be store brand, but it will take me a while to go through what I have. I was just not sure how much money I had left that day because I had bought too many earrings.

[Jester]

Vic, I love Cave Creek Chile Beer! Clearly it's a matter of personal preference.

Dent, as an Arizonan, I find it hilarious to hear Williams described as a "tourist town." Lol!

As for the bartender who added the triple sec and the orange...I hate bartenders who are clueless but still fill the need to "improve" a drink.

As for. The D&S with ginger ale instead of ginger beer...one day at The Bar, a customer ordered a D&S, but we were out of ginger beer. (It happens.) So he and I agreed that I'd make him one with ginger ale. He said it wasn't bad. It wasn't a D&S, of course, so I renamed it...we called it a Partly Cloudy.

[sms001]

(I refer to the Shock Top Honeycrisp Apple Wheat I reviewed above). I'll stop spamming this thread now.

Thanks for the heads up Dent - my wife's a big cider drinker (Woodchuck ON TAP junkie!) and we're always on the prowl for similar.

And I don't think you can spam up a serial thread, but keep trying.

[Dentarthurdent]

And if you really want to be smacked in the face with ginger, get Regatta Ginger Beer.

There's also a ginger beer out there by Goya, which comes in a silly bottle featuring a parrot. SERIOUS ginger action. My best friend/former roommate and I used to put it on the grocery list as "Goya Drain Cleaner".

Dent, as an Arizonan, I find it hilarious to hear Williams described as a "tourist town." Lol!

As for the bartender who added the triple sec and the orange...I hate bartenders who are clueless but still fill the need to "improve" a drink.

<snip> It wasn't a D&S, of course, so I renamed it...we called it a Partly Cloudy.

Why is that so funny? I'm a transplanted Michigander and I don't get it.

She was just kinda annoying in general. I was watching her slowly look around her table full of booze trying to decide what to add, and hoping it was nothing particularly nasty. The orange slice was...ok. I'm not a rabid purist about my D&Ss, though it does need to be actual ginger beer. And lol, Partly Cloudy, I'm gonna use that.

Thanks for the heads up Dent - my wife's a big cider drinker (Woodchuck ON TAP junkie!) and we're always on the prowl for similar.

No problem. Woodchuck on tap is heavenly. Unfortunately nobody around here has it, but there is a convention I go to in Michigan every year that has a fairly ridiculous supply of it, and I always get a little sloshed (between that and the free mead tasting - love me some good mead). I find that Angry Orchard is not quite as good, bottled, as bottled Woodchuck, but that if you mix the two together 50/50 in a glass, it tastes better than either one. I posted about that in this very thread, here http://customerssuck.com/board/showp...&postcount=529.

[Jester]

Why is that so funny? I'm a transplanted Michigander and I don't get it.

It's funny to me because I've been to Williams and would hardly describe it as a tourist town. Of course, part of that may be the fact that I live in Key West, which is very much a tourist town.

Of course, maybe it's just been too long since I've been to Williams...

[Dentarthurdent]

Well, granted. Key West is nothing but. Williams is..well... I don't think they'd get a whole lot of revenue if there weren't a train coming and going all the time. That's all.

[Dentarthurdent]

Conversation just now, when I got home after a hard week and popped open a Honeycrisp Apple Wheat:

Fiance: I don't want a whole one, but can I have a sip?
Me: Sure!
Fiance: *sip* Can I have a whole one??

ETA:
Fiance over shoulder: Are you Dentarthurdent?
Me: Yes? Don't spread it around.
Fiance: You're a bugger.
Me: A complete kneebiter.

[sms001]

Fiance: You're a bugger.
Me: A complete kneebiter.

Nice add.

Went just the other way in our household, however. The start was too beery for wife, although she really liked the finish, very Granny Smith-like. Since I'll drink just about anything to prevent alcohol abuse, I finished the six-pack.

While picking up the Shocktop, I saw Stella Artois has a cider offering. A little steep at a six pack price for a four pack though. Have you had it?

ETA - went back a page 'cause my memory was nagging me. Mrs. sms really likes the Angry Orchard Ginger, so do give it a shot if you run across it.

[Dentarthurdent]

While picking up the Shocktop, I saw Stella Artois has a cider offering. A little steep at a six pack price for a four pack though. Have you had it?

ETA - went back a page 'cause my memory was nagging me. Mrs. sms really likes the Angry Orchard Ginger, so do give it a shot if you run across it.

No, I haven't tried the Stella Artois, although I just realized it exists today when I saw a single of it.

I found the Angry Orchard Ginger disgusting, but thanks.