Tricia and I have been spending the last month or so sampling the seasonal offerings down the local beer aisles, and I have come to one conclusion (those of you who consider beer flavored with fruit blasphemy might want to look away here): Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy is pretty much the nectar of the gods. Admittedly, it tastes more like lightly hopped lemonade than a lightly fruited beer, but after a brutal session of lawn mowing, I could probably put down a gallon of the stuff.

So, yeah ... it's probably clear that I know next to nothing about good beer, but I'm learning with the help of this week's Friday Night Mega-Bite.

The Good Beer Show, a podcast produced just down the road a ways in Muncie, is a loosey-goosey discussion of all things beer. Ringmaster Jeffrey T. Meyer and his "merry" band of drinkers review the wide variety of micro-brews and imports available at The Heorot, one of the largest beer halls in the Midwest.

It's a party atmosphere, beer-fueled discussions on beer (not for the faint of heart!) with a little bit of local rock and roll thrown in for good measure.

Check it out, and you may swear off of "big brother beer" for good.

The Web site: The Good Beer Show

Originally posted to The Grub Report by Steve Gibson on June 22, 2007 11:45 PM

Comments
At June 25, 2007 10:11 PM, Bill Lewis said...
Steve Gibson, another good article. In the immortal words of the great philosopher and strategic thinker Frank Zappa, "You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline...or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer." Wisdom in its highest form. I have a tendency to be a hidebound traditionalist when it comes to beer. I'm not very fond of the fruit flavored varieties. In my humble opinion, if you want a fruity flavor, buy a good Beaujolais.(Marsh has a good "Beaujolais-Villages" that is moderately priced).
When you imagine the combination of "beer and country" Germany quickly comes to mind. Beer has been a traditional part of the culture for probably several hundreds of years. This is manifest in the annual "Octoberfest" which began in Bavaria and seems to have spread throughout much of the Western world.(Obviously Muslims have problems with the Bacchanalian nature of the festival.) However, I think it's going to take some time for fruit flavored beer to be accepted in Munich. A rasberry flavored lager? Come on Steve!!!

Labels: food, grubreport, mega-bite