Favorite Beer

[southdeltan]

Any place with a decent selection close to Madison.

Only what is likely best bottle shop in the Jackson Metro: Hops and Habanas. It's in the same shopping center as the Walmart. If you're facing the front door of the Walmart, go to your right and around the corner.

In the Jackson area try the McDade's and Fresh Market. Some of the Kroger stores in the area have great selections, some don't.

As for draft, I'm not sure for Madison proper. In the area (Jackson, Ridgeland, Flowood) there's the Bulldog, Mellow Mushroom, Wingstop, and a variety of other places with good beer on tap.

[ntzhunter]

Anyone trying fall brews yet? Nevermind, Ill start a new thread about it...

[Hole Hunter]

SA Octoberfest could be the best beer ever brewed. Man it is good on these fall evenings.

[gator]

not gonna let this thread die.

got off work at noon and ate at pizza shack - downtown jackson, ms location. they've got goose island 312 wheat ale, andygator, AND magic hat #9 which i was thrilled to see. like the hat.

gator

[donia]

yep, we're finally beginning to get some decent offerings. picked up a magic hat #9, yazoo pale ale & dos perros and a couple of #8 rochfort trappists yesterday.

[watash]

That magic hat #9 is good stuff!

[eSJay]

yep....the hat is a hit with me. thanks for the tip boys

[southdeltan]

If you're in Greenville, check out the new Homebrewing Supply store. It's located at 631 (I think) Washington Avenue. The sign isn't real big, I drove past it twice. They've got all sorts of homebrew equipment and supplies, and a great selection of beer. They have a growler filling station with several beers that are not bottled or canned currently. Prices on beer were pretty good.

I think the name is Delta Brewing Supply.

[ntzhunter]

I read that New Belgium will be selling beer in Louisiana April 2013. No more bootlegging for me!

[REBEL DUCK]

Sierra nevada celebration is about the worst beer I ever tried. I started drinking the Octoberfest because of this thread and figured I would branch out even more boy was I wrong!

[southdeltan]

Sierra nevada celebration is about the worst beer I ever tried. I started drinking the Octoberfest because of this thread and figured I would branch out even more boy was I wrong!

I love Celebration, but I wouldn't recommend it to somebody branching out. For somebody to go from Bud/Miller/Coors to a fresh hopped IPA is a big change. Miller Lite advertises as "triple hops brewed" but you will taste zero hop flavor in that beer. Celebration is another story.

Octoberfest is a style that's much more accessible than IPA's. Pale ales are a stepping stone to IPAs, but they still have a lot more bitterness than your standard American Pale Lager.

Octoberfest (Marzen) is one of the German style lagers. If you liked it, you may also like Vienna Lagers (Same Adams Boston Lager, Dos Equis, Abita Amber), Bocks (Shiner Bock is a good one to start with), or a Brown Ale (Southern Pecan is a good one to start with). There are some others but these are some of my favorite beer types that aren't that hoppy. They have more malt flavor than typical American beers, but not much more hop flavor.

[donia]

^^good info for those thinking of "the transition". going into a store with a big craft brew selection can be a crap shoot, especially going in "cold"...as in, with no suggestions or brewery knowledge. there are so many mediocre to blah offerings, due to so many breweries trying to jump in the craft mix, that you can pick 3 beers of the same price/variety/niche and might get lucky to get 1 worth repurchase....or you might pick what is your favorite 3 beers of all time. i keep a poorly updated 4star rating favorites list on my phone for reference in such stores.

labels generate a lot of purchases in big selection craft stores.
here's one example biggie bought me for arkie opener...surprised me that it was only 4%abv since it was a porter:
http://www.wasatchbeers.com/polygporter.html

[southdeltan]

Luckily, when I started drinking craft beer there were stores that had "build your own 6 packs" - so I just went in and started making six packs. I basically tried everything they had, didn't have to buy a whole six pack of something I'd never tried. I quickly found out Heifwezein wasn't for me, but I liked IPAs and Stouts. Unfortuantely there were only 2 IPAs legal in the state at the time.

[donia]

i'm sure they've been mentioned before but stone brewery oaked arrogant "illegitimate child" ale and sublimely self righteous ale were both delicious, as was new belgium triple! haven't tried brother thelonious monk's abbey ale, yet, but looking forward to it. also picked up chimay (blue), delirium nocturnum, and victory hop wallop ipa.

[southdeltan]

If you're in Greenville, check out Delta Brewing Supply. They have everything you need to brew your own beer, from eq to supplies and kits.

631 Washington Ave., Greenville, Mississippi 38701
Monday-Saturday 12:00pm til 7:00pm

Homebrewing supplies, craft beer, and a growler filling station (I think it's 8 taps) that rotates.

Great customer service. They do mix/math 6 packs and often have specials. (Saturday it was $4 Rogue bombers. They're normally $7.50).