Shandy, anyone?[/quote]
All beer makes me piss, sooner or later. Extra intake of water, tomarto juice, stout, coffee, and Darjeeling just about mean i can piss a lot. So what?
Are you trying to give our kidneys and livers a harder time than they already have?
Well go to Austria, Belgium, Czech Republik, Germany,… oh, you mean in Taiwan, well that’s a bit of a problem… 
anyway, need to get back to my reserves the wife brought from her European tours, still have a couple of Belgium, German and Austrian ones left I think, a bottle of a Czech brew might still have survived too… 
Shandy is for the summertime.
Taiwan Beer is all year round.
In the US, at least in Michigan, Miller Lite has around 4.6% alcohol content, but it is like 96 calories, and 3.5 grams of carbohydrate. In other words I can throw back ALOT of them, and not get fat, but still catch a buzz. For light beers in the US I think it has the best taste. Keep in mind I am not comparing it to a ‘real’ beer–but real beer makes you fat.
Some of my favorite brews are Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Actually the name is deceptive because it tastes really more like an IPA to my pallette. It is kind of acidic in that you really can’t drink more than around 2 of them. Also it is VERY high in caloric content.
I like Busch light for cheap piss beer. I can get a 30 pack in MI for $20, then of course I can take back the returnables and get $3.00 back. It is about the same calorie and alcohol content as Miller Lite.
Some people drink that Miller Ultra Lite–I think that is what it is called. I think that shit tastes horrible. I have tried the Amber Ultra lite and it was OK, and it has surprisingly 5% alcohol. Not bad for a beer with almost no calories or carbs. But it doesn’t taste as good as Miller lite.
I like Michelob Dark here. I know it isn’t a real dark beer, but they stopped selling it in MI like 12 years ago. Mostly for a macro Michelob is better than Budwieser which I despise. I think Bud is the worst American beer. The reason is that they market it as ‘the king of beers’, and you pay for that. But it tastes like it was made in a fart factory.
I am not sure how many of you guys have heard of Schlitz, but its back. My singer called me the other day and told me they released the original recipe of Schlitz. He said it is excellent. Apparently they were the biggest selling American beer for like 20 years or something, then in the late 60’s they changed the recipe and it lost popularity. He said it really tastes alot higher quality now and likes it… But I take that with a grain of salt because we have very different tastes for beer.
I can’t drink summer beers like Bell’s Oberon. Wheat beers give me diarreah really bad the next day. Another one is Blue Moon. NOt bad tasting but you pay for it the next day, and you may leave a ‘grumpy saddle’ for the next in line to the shitter…
When I was out west in Seattle I went to Rogue brewery, excellent IPA there. I still love Bell’s Porter the most. Or Bell’s Double Cream Stout!! Wow, 7.2 percent too, good breakfast beer with its coffee and chocolaty finish. Probably around 300 calories at least per beer though, and like $11 a 6 pack in MI. The porter is a more reasonable dark beer and is among the finest I have tasted.
Bells is in Kalamazoo and welcomes people to take tours of the brewery and sample the beer in thier bar which is connected.
Thanks for the information on the beer stores. I will look around and try to find a good beer gift for my gf’s Dad. He likes the Taiwanese beer. I actually don’t think it is too bad for what it is, but you can tell it has high carbs.
Coors Light just doesn’t have enough alcohol. I wish it was comparable to Miller Lite. That extra .5% catches up to you in a good way. Also Coors light has way more carbs and calories than Miller Lite. I like Miller Lite, and have no idea why it isn’t more widely distributed in Taiwan.
So far none of the young people I see drink ANYTHING. It is so boring. I go out and they are sitting around drinking tea when they are like 18 looking at me like I am about to have liver failure drinking a couple beers with dinner.
Dunno, I am not ripping on them because I know the culture is different, but it seems like all the old timers drink alot. THe kids are conditioned to study study and work work. Thats it. Just different than when I was a kid when everyone was drinking as much as they could get their hands on-on the weekends when the parents were gone.
Here you could give the kids the keys to the liquor cabinet and leave for a week, and they wouldn’t ever touch the stuff. I guess they must just be a more disciplined bunch than us sloppy Americans!! But I also notice that many many of the Taiwanese are very soft looking, like they never work out or do exercise. Not saying anything though cuz most of the Americans I see here are fat. But I am surprised that they don’t take advantage of thier lean diets and good eating habits and get all Bruce Lee’d out. We had a pretty strict physical education program where I went to school. You know had to run a certain amount everyday and swim, or use the wieght room, etc.
Now the kids in the US are so much overwieght than they were 20 years ago. They say this generation of kids is the first one that will have more health problems and perhaps a lower life expectancy than thier parents (in the US). My question is WHY? How are the kids so fat now?
Beer.
Beer doesn’t make you fat … excess beer makes you fat, and the nuts and other snack foods you eat with it …
[quote] correction of misinformation about the top five myths on alcohol and carbs … link
1. The liver does not metabolize alcohol into sugar. On the contrary, most people will experience a dip in their blood sugar (glucose) levels when consuming alcohol. Alcohol is eventually broken down by the liver into acetate, and finally into carbon dioxide and water---not sugar.
Standard Drinks
Standard Drinks graphically illustrates information on the equivalence of standard drinks of beer, wine and distilled spirits or liquor. Its accuracy has been established by medical and other health professionals.
2. Non-alcohol beers do not contain less carbohydrates than regular-brewed beers. In fact, they are all higher in carbs than a typical beer, some almost double in carbohydrate content. Unfortunately, there are too many websites that incorrectly claim that NA beers are both alcohol-free and low in carbohydrates.
3. The glycemic index (GI) of beer, wine, and distilled products is zero. The urban legend that alcoholic beverages have high GIs, has been floating around the diet book circuit for years. If you're on any type of diet or practice a lifestyle that monitors the glycemic index or gycemic load of food and drink, you can still enjoy a libation or two.
4. There are carbohydrates in all wines, even the driest styles, despite what some wine appreciation websites might tell you. The only alcoholic beverages that can possibly have a zero-carb content are distilled products. Fermentation will always leave some residual sugar behind in the form of carbs.
5. There is no sugar in rum. Alcohol is derived from high-carbohydrate fermentables such as sugar, molasses, potatoes, or various grains. If you understand the processes of fermentation and distillation, you'll know that the end result of distillation is ethyl alcohol, a zero-carb liquid.
[/quote]
[quote]Alcohol, Calories & Weight
Drinking alcohol does not contribute to weight gain, according to scientific medical research.
The Data
Alcohol contains calories, but drinking alcohol doesn’t lead to weight gain, according to extensive medical research, and many studies report a small reduction in weight for women who drink. 1
The reason that alcohol doesn’t increase weight is unclear, but research suggests that alcohol energy is not efficiently used. 2 Alcohol also appears to increase metabolic rate significantly, thus causing more calories to be burned rather than stored in the body as fat. 3 Other research has found consumption of sugar to decrease as consumption of alcohol increases. 4
Whatever the reasons, the consumption of alcohol is not associated with weight gain and is often associated with weight loss in women. The medical evidence of this is based on a large number of studies of thousands of people around the world. 5 Some of these studies are very large; one involved nearly 80,000 and another included 140,000 subjects.
Alcohol beverages contain no fat, no cholesterol, and very little sodium. Of course, the nutritional value of different alcohol beverages varies.
The moderate consumption of alcohol is associated with better health and longer life than is either abstaining from alcohol or abusing alcohol. However, the health benefits of drinking are associated with moderation [learn more about Alcohol and Health]. On the other hand, heavy drinking is associated with cirrhosis of the liver, breast cancer, and other health problems. The key word is moderation.
What is Moderation?
Moderation is often described in the US as two drinks a day for a man and one drink a day for a women. These drinks can’t be “saved” over time and then drunk in one day. A drink is:
* a 12-ounce bottle or can of regular beer
* a five-ounce glass of dinner wine
* a shot of liquor or spirits (either straight or in a mixed drink)
Remember that the alcohol content of standard drinks are equivalent [learn more about Alcohol Equivalence]. A drink is a drink is a drink. To a breathalyzer, they’re all the same. 6 For more, visit Standard Drinks.
Most countries define moderation at higher levels of consumption than does the US. For example, Australia, Italy and France consider from 3 to over four drinks per day for men to be moderate drinking. People are all different. To decide what level is appropriate for you, consult your doctor.
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Give me one or two good Belgian high alcohol beers anytime, won’t even touch the lite beers … the Belgian beers taste better, give me more enjoyment and are way better for the taste pallet … oh, they make you go less to the pee place than 6 liters of lite beers … to have the same alcohol equivalent … but they might hurt the wallet a little
I still don’t get the big deal about Belgian beer. I’ve had very nice German beer, and of course all manner of great real ales in the UK. I’ve even had a few decent bottled beers from the US. But I’ve never found a Belgian beer that seemed particularly special. I like the fruit beers, but that’s because they taste of fruit, not for their intrinsic beeriness.
That’s because you have no clue what to look for in beers … and think that German beers are the ultimate … pilsener
And most fruit beers are brewed to catch the young crowd and women … to counter the cruisers and breezers, they taste sweet and so do the beers …
Read Micheal Jackson’s ‘Beer Bible’ about Belgian Beers, maybe you get the whole fuzz around Belgian Beers
That’s because you have no clue what to look for in beers … and think that German beers are the ultimate … pilsener[/quote]No, the German beers I’ve enjoyed haven’t been pilsener. And I don’t think German beers are the ultimate.
[quote=“Belgian Pie”]And most fruit beers are brewed to catch the young crowd and women … to counter the cruisers and breezers, they taste sweet and so do the beers …[/quote]I realise that fruit beers aren’t the quintessential Belgian beers, and said as much. What puzzles me is the fact that I haven’t tried a regular Belgian beer that I’ve really liked yet.
There are no regular beers in Belgium, except from the Pils beers … and even they are better than the average ‘high profile’-huge-marketing-machine-behind-them beers …
I don’t particularly like black beers you have to almost eat with a spoon … never been in to it … just give me one of the more than 1,000 unregular Belgian Beers … 
I’m with Joe. There’s maybe one or two Belgian beers that I’ve tried that I like, but its a rare German brew that I don’t enjoy. Likewise with British real beer. Or the good stuff form Yankland. Pretty much anywhere, in fact.
That Belgian stuff mostly tastes to me like the stuff the alkys drink in the UK – sweet, sickly and with far too high an alcohol content for my taste.
Another islander that doesn’t know Belgian Beers … Belgian beers you don’t swallow ‘bottoms-up’, you sit back, relax and enjoy, sip-by-sip … and no, not all BB’s are sweet and sticky, there are light tasting, ‘hoppy’, tho high alcohol, thirst quenching Belgian beers out there, and more than you ever realized … 
We made brewing and drinking beer into an art … not a drunken man’s binge
But what the hell FOR? That’s why they invented wine and whisky for god’s sake! Beer’s for drinking. If its so foul that you can’t drink more than a sip or two at a time without gagging, then what’s the point?
Enjoyment, not bingeing … letting the taste prioritize over the killing of the brain cells … drinking Belgian beers is an art, just as drinking good wines, good spirits … there are beers that are complexer than most wines …
[quote=“sandman”][quote]
But what the hell FOR? That’s why they invented wine and whisky for god’s sake! Beer’s for drinking. If its so foul that you can’t drink more than a sip or two at a time without gagging, then what’s the point?[/quote][/quote]
No, that’s incorrect … whiskey is distilled beer … and Belgian beers are the wines of the north …
Well I don’t care. I just don’t like the taste of the stuff. Anyway, I just saw a post by some Dutch bloke who tells me he can help me to produce my very own manna! 
[quote=“Belgian Pie”]Enjoyment, not bingeing … letting the taste prioritize over the killing of the brain cells … drinking Belgian beers is an art, just as drinking good wines, good spirits … there are beers that are complexer than most wines …[/quote]Sure, of course with a decent beer you don’t guzzle it down in one go. It’s just the “Belgian” bit that puzzles me.
Come on Joe, they need to have SOMETHING to tout other than waffles and bloody mayonnaise on their chips.
Belgians are complex people … no way to get through to them … the only way to entice them … good food and good beers … 