There's a brewery in Peoria where you can pay to go in and brew and bottle your own beer. Some guys from my husband's work went in together and brewed a batch of "Irish Red" and a batch of "Black Angus Stout." The stout was extremely good -- nice and smooth with a great coffee/chocolate taste. We blew through our stash in about a week. Last week we went to another friends' who still had a few bottles of the stout left. OMG I forgot how tasty that beer is.

The husband has been enjoying the Goose Island Oatmeal Stout lately. It's not bad, but I don't like it as well as some other stouts I've had.

So I was just looking at this, and their beer list doesn't include an IPA. Do they have one? IPA is more common in the western U.S., isn't it?

They have one, but I don't think it's one of their "usuals." I had it the last time I was there, and it was pretty good.

A few local breweries (most notably Harpoon) make IPAs; I wasn't aware it was a regional thing.

Over the weekend I tried Old Dominion's Spring Brew which is "a Doppelbock (double bock) beer in Bavarian tradition." I was actually disappointed...it just wasn't that great. Their plain old Ale is still one of my favorite drinks, though.

I don't know if we finally started getting Shiner Bock up here in the Mid-Atlantic or if I've just started noticing it, but I've tried that a few times and I've been happy with it...it reminds me a bit of Yuengling in that it's a decent beer for a good price. I've seen the Kölsch and the Blonde as well so I'll probably give those a try sometime soon.

I've decided I want to marry Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout and have a million of its babies. The husband and I drank all the Sam Smith Oatmeals the bar had on hand. Once those were gone, I switched to Breckenridge Oatmeal Stout which wasn't too bad. Either that, or by then I didn't care anymore. Or maybe it was Boulevard Oatmeal... my memory's a little hazy by that time.

do you all know "the beer song" by psychostick? it is so funny.

Keystone.

I usually drink Yuengling, but right now, I've been drinking Dreamweaver (an unfiltered wheat ale.)

It's from a micro brew from back home. Here's some information about the beer from the brewery: http://www.troegs.com/dreamweaver_wheat_ale.htm

The Oatmeal Stout is fantastic. Samuel Smith is up there with Rogue; everything they make tastes really great.

You're making me have a craving for it, I think I'll pick up a 4-pack of it tonight.

Also, EagleChick, that Dreamweaver looks interesting. I didn't used to be a big fan of unfiltered wheat ales, but I've come to like them more and more over the years. There is a restaurant/brewery in my area (CitySteam in Hartford) that makes a really good one.

Believe it or not, I wasn't a big fan of the beer when I first tried it. But, it has grown on me. So now I have to make a choice....Yuengling or Dreamweaver.

Purple Haze.

Sam Adams Cherry Wheat. Blue Moon on draft.

I had my first experience with a milk stout this weekend and it was very tasty. Lighter than I thought, but I guess that's to be expected.

Left Hand's is the only one I've ever had that tasted like that - other Milk Stouts weren't as good, in my opinion. I don't know what it is about that one- even my friends that don't really like stouts like that beer a ton. Great pick.

The 'light' thing is actually interesting - there's not really any 'milk' in there (obv), Left Hand's promotional guy told us that it was simply "milky-smooth" (hence the name), although one brewer has told me it's brewed with lactose as one of the fermenting sugars to give it a different angle, so there's something odd going on there. I'm not sure what it is, but the LH Milk Stout is awesome. Plus the bottle has cows on it, so bonus there.

Left Hand (Longmont, CO) is pretty much the total balls, too - next time you're in DSM, El Bait Shop carries the full line in bottles. The Sawtooth Ale (ESB-ish) and Blackjack Porter are also both very nice, and the Deep Cover Brown (seasonal) is great if it's fresh (it's usually not).

I second both of those! I just tried the cherry wheat last weekend for the first time and loved it.