Some good beers

As I originally promised, my blog also is about beer and traveling, I have been neglecting those but I plan on rectifying this.

World Wide Stout: This beer has a lot going for it, and it is all good.  In general I am not much of a stout man, but my good friend Ben brought a six pack back from P.A. (Ohio liquor laws are archaic so this cannot be sold in here due to its 18.0% ABV).  This was my Super Bowl beer; I opened it before the middle of the 2nd quarter and finished it near the 2 minute warning at the end of the game. To call this complex may be misleading; it would be more accurate to refer to it as taste confusion, but not in a bad way.  Each sip starts as one thing and morphs as it crosses your tongue.  The flavor also changes as the temperature does, ideally you should drink this bear after it has warmed up for 30 minutes, cool but not cold.

Conway's Irish Ale:  My roommate Ian (check out his podcast for movie reviews) loves this beer, as we feel that beer is communal, it means I have been drinking a decent amount of it.  This is a very good, yet simple beer, not a lot of complexity but a very smooth and balanced tasting red ale.  Of late I have been very disillusioned with Great Lakes Brewery, the normal run of beer that they make keep dropping in quality, I am not sure if this is because of yeast degradation or if it is due to the larger and larger quantities that they are producing. Either way the quality of their non-seasonal beers is falling which is sad, this company's beer started me on the path to better beers.  It is also worth noting that last year's Christmas Ale was a pale comparison to previous years, and had little hope of standing against Thirsty Dog's 12 Dogs of Christmas, but I digress.  For the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day, my fridge will be filled with Conways and of course Guinness.

Strawberry Harvest:  I will be the first to grab a pitchfork and torch against fruity beer, Abita's strawberry harvest, despite the name is not very fruity.  This company out of Louisiana also makes Andygator which I had when I was in New Orleans last year and loved it.  Their Strawberry ale has a very light taste, with a good, but light flavor followed by an afterthought of strawberry.  While this is not a heavy beer, I am looking forward to warmer days in Ohio to enjoy this outside.  I have been hounding my local beer store for more Abita products in hopes that they get more than just Purple Haze which I assume is only sold around here due to it being a liberal college town and the correlation with another common substance that is consumed liberally in college towns. It is a start however, with two beers from Abita; it is only a matter of time before I can write about enjoying Andygator in the state of Ohio.

If anyone has recommendations to what other beers I should try, please give me suggestions.  I am still a good beer novice, and I want to get better.