Amy Guskin wrote:
> Doug Freyburger wrote:
>
>> If you've never tried a Chimay ale - Be cautioned that one taste will
>> change your view of what ale can be at its finest.  The stuff is made by
>> monks who express their devotion to deity through brewing and it shows. 
>> A taste of Chimay is a religious experience. <<
>
> Eh, probably not for me.  I'm not a huge beer/ale drinker.

I probably average near 1 beer/ale per week but that's far more than
half of my total alcohol consumption.  At that low rate I figure price
doesn't matter and I can afford the best.  I have ended up being a huge
beer snob but a tiny beer drinker.

> I much prefer hard cider.

Because I love an occasional cider, even more than one in the same year,
I figured I'd like pear cider even better.  Nope.  I found peary merely
okay and pear wine to have a slightly unpleasant aftertaste.  Strange
how the flavors change during fermentation.

> But when I want a beer, it's invariably a stout.  Everything 
> else tastes...weak.

Guiness was long the beer I compared others too.  Until I tried my first
Belgian Trappist ale.  Chimay and the other trappists make Guinness
seem seem small.  It's like seeing a pink wine and a dark red wine and
the pink one ends up like a Chateau Le Tour while the red one ends up
like a light Boujoulais Nouveau.  Both are good and more but if you want
big you need to try the bigger one but that isn't the darker one.

Stout.  Yum.  I currently have the ingredients for an Oatmeal/Imperial
stout for my homebrew rig.  Looking at my calendar it's going to be too
busy for a few more weeks before I can start it.

>> Other folks like spoiled cheeses with nasty mold growing in it ...
>
> I shunned those cheeses as a child, but love 'em now.

More for you then.  I'm told that Wisconsin made Blue Bell is the best
moldy cheese made on this continent.
--- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32