beer lovers in indonesia unite.............

[itinerantman]

i love my beer and given the limited choices here i thought that pooling our collective knowledge might be worthwhile.so here's a thread for all things beer! i'll set the ball rolling by sharing a comparison between hoegaarden and stark wheat beers that i made for my own info the other day:
* both pour with a regular white two finger head of medium density
* both are medium cloudy amber in colour, stark being marginally darker
* aromas are different-hoegaarden is more hoppy while stark is more citrusy
* at first sip-hoegaarden has a nice nutty flavour while stark is more tangy & tart
* mouthfeel-both smooth
*finish-hoegaarden leaves a slightly bitter nutty after taste while stark is more astringent
*dregs-both beers are unfiltered so they leave wheat & hop dregs-hoegaarden more than stark(former probably using more hops than stark)
*alcohol-both 4.9%
*price for 330 ml-hoegaarden idr 50k; stark idr 35k
*my quality rating(for what it's worth) hoegaarden 8/10; stark 6/10

i'm a bintang man but like to start/end a session with a different taste. i find both of these to be good options but any other suggestions from you guys would be very welcome. cheers

" I love my beer and I cannot lie"

[jstar]

Both unfiltered beers are rather close to the pilsners you prefer of course.

And there's nothing wrong with that; with this hot climate these beers are probably a good choice. Just like Corona, an inferior beer but under a hot wet blanket it tastes rather nice with a lime.

Many of the 'high quality' beers are a bit wasted here; similarly I just can't enjoy a good red wine in the heat. In an airconditioned restaurant with the 'right' food it's different of course.

But there are some other more refined beers (e.g. ales) I can enjoy in a hot climate, e.g. Duvel, Palm, De Koninck, Leffe Blond, La Chouffe and Kilkenny. And even Krieks (cherry beer). And Carlsberg/Tiger/Cobra/KingFisher/Paulaner/Erdinger, why not?

During the winter in Europe or Colorado for instance, I would prefer very different beers.

[itinerantman]

i definitely prefer a pilsner or a lager in this climate. enjoy my stout and ale elsewhere.both the beers i analysed are 'b' grade(even 'c' as far as stark is concerned) but i have no option in a country that has the strangest taxes. i know one can rustle up a leffe or erdinger here at a price but are the others you mention available? i discovered a brilliant dutch beer called grolsch while in the gulf-i hear it's catching on here as well tho have not located a source yet.

[jstar]

i definitely prefer a pilsner or a lager in this climate. enjoy my stout and ale elsewhere.both the beers i analysed are 'b' grade(even 'c' as far as stark is concerned) but i have no option in a country that has the strangest taxes. i know one can rustle up a leffe or erdinger here at a price but are the others you mention available? i discovered a brilliant dutch beer called grolsch while in the gulf-i hear it's catching on here as well tho have not located a source yet.

The others are all available in Singapore when the craving gets too much. Grolsch is considered a somewhat more of a quality lager in The Netherlands (Amstel->Heineken->Grolsch). They kept this bottle with the special (ancient) closing system for a long time, it became their trademark.



The Dutch have great marketing*, the Belgians (esp. Jupiler but even a Maes or Stella) have better beer.

[Candung]

i prefer bali hai or anker... less sugar! haha

[ponyexpress]

I savour ale with fruity character during summer. Even nice hoppy ale is good too.

[Hiram]

Anker > Bintang.
I like hoppy beers, Bintang is too malty and sweet for my taste. Unlike the imported crap that they pasteurize to make it last longer, the original Beck's for the German domestic market has a taste that is quite close to Anker.
Carlsberg, Heineken and San Miguel (light) are all okay, but certainly not great. And sure, you can buy Erdinger, but at 99k per bottle in the supermarket the price is absolutely ridonculous. Good thing Erdinger Champ is priced much more reasonably. Still a drinkable Weißbier.
Hoegaarden is nice, but contains too much yeast for my tummy, I can't stomach it. Stark I just find offensively disgusting. What the heck is wrong with that stuff? "Tart", "tangy"?? I would say "bitter" and "sour" is more to the point.
Bali Hai is kind of watery, but will do given no other options and is still preferable to me when compared with omnipresent malt liquor Bintang.
Probably my favorite local beer of the lot is Anker Stout. This dark, creamy but still strongly hop dominant stout is even more soothing to my palate than the also locally brewed Guiness you can buy here. I really love my Ankers, what can I say.

Beers that I miss here: First of all, my favorite beer in the world: Anchor's Liberty Ale from San Francisco. That stuff is worth its weight in gold. Also, I miss proper Beck's and Augustiner from Germany. And LeChouffe from Belgium. But mostly, I miss buying them all at affordable prices.

[Hombre de Maiz]

I think it is generally fair to say that the Belgians, more than any other nation, have taken beer to its highest highs.

I despise tangy, tart, sour beer. If I wanted a tart alcoholic drink, I would have ordered the cider.

[Hiram]

I don't know about the Belgians... On the one hand their monasteries clearly laid the foundation for an amazing tradition of ales and many specialty brews. Yet on the other hand most of the time when I have a thirst for beer I crave a nice Pilsener/Lager, and just by looking at consumption patterns it seems that so does the majority of the world's beer drinking population. And the best Pilseners, in my book, are hands down from Germany. Besides, if I do long for a slightly more tart beer, the light Bavarian Hefeweizens or Weißbiers or even some of the modern American microbrews are much more to my taste than the heavy, high alcohol ales of Belgium. Then again, I'm German, so what is to be expected...

[jstar]

Well, if you only look at consumption levels, then you would say the Chinese Snow beer is the most popular. And then the AB Inbev beers. But are the Ford Fiesta and Toyota Corolla the best cars in the world?