The return of the Weekend Beer Critic!

[Davey]

Hehehe, that be me. Any Dos Equis fans out there? You know, XX? I hadn't had any in quite awhile but at one time I did think it was pretty good beer. Seems like they changed it at some point along the line, maybe to make a bid for more of the Corona crowd, or something. Anyway, I didn't care that much for it after that. But I was in the local Food City this weekend buying the makings for some hot burritos and they had 12-packs on sale for a decent price so thought I would give it a try again. Picked up the Special Lager. That's the one in the green bottles, which goes against my normal predisposition to avoid beer in green bottles. It claims to be "a golden, aromatic European-style pilsner". It is yellow, so I'll give it the "golden" part, but forget the rest. This isn't good beer. No head, not much aroma, weak flavor and actually kind of a metallic skunkiness. Definitely made to compete with American beers and the "Americanized" Mexican beers like Corona. Should've picked up the "regular" Dos Equis Amber. Anyone have a recent opinion on that one? Think I'll stick with Pacifico or Negra Modelo in the future, except you don't often see the latter for a good price and the last Pacifico I bought was kind of flat :(

But I've been listening a lot to Spoon the last couple days and <i>Kill The Moonlight</i> is such a good album. Can't believe this one seems to polarize the fans so much. Stellar album. Catchy melodies, Britt's great vocals, wide open spaces, love it. Maybe more than <i>Girls Can Tell</i>. Normally I'm totally in tune with Heather Phares at AMG, and I do tend to agree with some of what she says in the review, but the 3-star rating is just wrong on this one. Same with Stone :) Gotta pick up <i>Series of Sneaks</i> one of these days. Britt's playing an instore on Friday at Stinkweeds near me in Tempe so I may have to check that out. Just a little tiny place so don't know how they do it. Not free, though. Six bucks. One of the best bands around now but not sure how good he is solo. Wish it was a full band. Oh well. Anyone wanna come over and help me finish off this Dos Equis? Is it a bad sign when you find yourself drinking beer that you don't really even like? Uh oh......

[Swish]

Hehehe, that be me. Any Dos Equis fans out there? You know, XX? I hadn't had any in quite awhile but at one time I did think it was pretty good beer. Seems like they changed it at some point along the line, maybe to make a bid for more of the Corona crowd, or something. Anyway, I didn't care that much for it after that. But I was in the local Food City this weekend buying the makings for some hot burritos and they had 12-packs on sale for a decent price so thought I would give it a try again. Picked up the Special Lager. That's the one in the green bottles, which goes against my normal predisposition to avoid beer in green bottles. It claims to be "a golden, aromatic European-style pilsner". It is yellow, so I'll give it the "golden" part, but forget the rest. This isn't good beer. No head, not much aroma, weak flavor and actually kind of a metallic skunkiness. Definitely made to compete with American beers and the "Americanized" Mexican beers like Corona. Should've picked up the "regular" Dos Equis Amber. Anyone have a recent opinion on that one? Think I'll stick with Pacifico or Negra Modelo in the future, except you don't often see the latter for a good price and the last Pacifico I bought was kind of flat :(

But I've been listening a lot to Spoon the last couple days and <i>Kill The Moonlight</i> is such a good album. Can't believe this one seems to polarize the fans so much. Stellar album. Catchy melodies, Britt's great vocals, wide open spaces, love it. Maybe more than <i>Girls Can Tell</i>. Normally I'm totally in tune with Heather Phares at AMG, and I do tend to agree with some of what she says in the review, but the 3-star rating is just wrong on this one. Same with Stone :) Gotta pick up <i>Series of Sneaks</i> one of these days. Britt's playing an instore on Friday at Stinkweeds near me in Tempe so I may have to check that out. Just a little tiny place so don't know how they do it. Not free, though. Six bucks. One of the best bands around now but not sure how good he is solo. Wish it was a full band. Oh well. Anyone wanna come over and help me finish off this Dos Equis? Is it a bad sign when you find yourself drinking beer that you don't really even like? Uh oh......

I bought it by mistake, thinking I had picked up the Amber. I drank one and realized that I made one terrible mistake. It flat our SUCKS. I gave the case away to a friend who doesn't know good beer from his arse. Anyway, I do like the Amber, and always look forward to my favorite local pub opening their huge deck for the summer because they always put Dos Equis Amber on tap. They serve it in plastic cups, a downer I know, but safety first since we're outdoors, and they slap a lime in the sucker. Decent summertime beer.

As for Kill the Moonlight, I just don't have the same feelings for it. I tried listening to it a couple times but it never grabbed me like Girls Can Tell. Now that you mention it though, I promise to dust it off and give it another chance. I must be missing something, so let's see if I can discover just what that might be.

Swish

[tentoze]

Not being an expert at high-brow beers (I normally consume pedestrian Coors- in voluminous quantities), I picked up a 6 pack of Anheuser World Select this afternoon, as a change- the damned stuff tastes VERY GOOD to me.


And I don't tknow the band under discussion, but I am listening to Her Majesty The Decemberist's right now through the 40 year old Harman Kardon tube receiver, and it sounds like angels to me.............

;)

[dld]

killed a bunch of Dos Equis Ambers two weeks ago. Damn yummny. Can't remember the greens, don't know if I've ever tasted them. Bought a six pack of a local (if you consider Houston local) beer, St. Arnold's Brown Ale. Had one, sent three to Y*** along with some Abita Turbo (Swill) Dogs (Prolly get some Obepukerons as payback). The Browns are genuinely good, as opposed to their Lawnmower Pi$$ Ale. Gonna bring some Brown's to Swishy in New Orleans week after for confirmation.

[Slosh]

Gotta pick up <i>Series of Sneaks</i> one of these days. Britt's playing an instore on Friday at Stinkweeds near me in Tempe so I may have to check that out.

Yes you do! Sneaks is probably my favorite 'cause it's by far their punkiest, yet still catchy as hell. Isn't Britt supposed to have a solo album out soon or something?

I drank a bunch of green bottled beer with a red star this weekend and enjoyed it so I guess I'm no help there ;)

NP: McLusky - My Pain And Sadness Is More Sad And Painful Than Yours

[Stone]

<i>Kill The Moonlight</i> . . . Heather Phares at AMG . . . 3-star rating

Wow, those AMG reviewers are good. My respect for them grows every day. :)

It's been a couple weeks since I've had a beer (way too long). I believe the last one I had was a Sierra Nevada. My favorite brew-pub in town, where I was a member (and which had frequent indie pop shows) closed down, so I'm currently searching for a new place. I do have a Black Sheep Ale sitting in my fridge though.

Stone

Oh, and yeah, you should get Series of Sneaks. Great album.

[newtrix1]

I'm finding more and more that the only beers I really like are dark beers. I think Dos Equis makes a dark, but there's another one I've found a real liking for which is similar to Dos E only better. I can't for the life of me remember the name, but it comes in a short stubby bottle and hails from some unusual country (for beer) like the Phillipines or some such place. Negro Modello (Mexico) is a pretty smooth dark too.

As far as "normal" darks go, I'd say Heineken is my fvaorite. I can't stand traditional yellow Heiney though. I also don't care much for the very popular reds or wheat beers either.

No comment on the Sun Kil Moon. ;)

[Davey]

You guys lied to me! OK, I fell for the bait and picked up some Dos Equis Amber today, against my better judgement I might add, and it's pretty disappointing too. Sure, it's better than the ick they sell in the green bottles, but still not very good. Drinkable, yes. But I can imagine it would be much better on tap as Swish says and maybe Dave gets it fresher in Texas. The batch I got doesn't really even have any head. Kinda flat and still a bit metallic tasting. Oh well, maybe just a bad batch. Like RPM says, Negra Modela is the king of Mexican beers, at least in the US. Down there, Pacifico tastes mighty fine as well.

Electrelane rules the weekend here but got in some listens to that excellent MFSL Skylarking from the library too. That's a nice one, for sure. Just implemented some changes on my Califone comp for a buddy so I'm doing some CD burning right now and got some other trades in the works......

Meanwhile, have you seen my new Palm Pilot?
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http://www.ahajokes.com/cartoon/b020.jpg

[DarrenH]

I'm not much of a beer con-a-sewer but I do enjoy the dark side. I love a nice cold Guinness whilst eating a hamburg or steak.

Years ago I used to drink Grolsch Dark. Not ever sure if it's still around. Cool beer. They came 4 to a pack and had those fancy ceramic cork stoppers that were spring loaded with that metal fastener thing. Oh, nevermind. Mighty tastey anyhow.

Those Dos Equis Darks are good too! I had a few of those while in Dallas and I must say I rather enjoyed them. It suppose the margarita's before hand that may have dulled my senses but I doubt it. Them's tasted mighty fine.

A local brewery in the town of Frankenmuth had the best dark beer around. Sadly, they closed shop. It was simply called, Frankenmuth Dark.

Darren

[newtrix1]

Years ago I used to drink Grolsch Dark. Not ever sure if it's still around. Cool beer. They came 4 to a pack and had those fancy ceramic cork stoppers that were spring loaded with that metal fastener thing. Oh, nevermind. Mighty tastey anyhow.

Darren

I've seen Groslch amber, but never Groch dark, sounds yummy though. Last night a friend came over with a six of Dogfish Head Pale Ale (a local micro-brew). I choked 1 1/2 down, but sent the remaining ones back home with my friend. Yuchy swill which left residue in the bottom of the galss :(.

That Phillipine dark I was trying to remeber last weekend is called San Miguel. Here's a cool website right up our alleys:

http://ratebeer.com/Ratings/Beer/Beer-Ratings.asp?BeerID=5104