which neighborhoods or zip codes must be avoided in Chicago at all cost? (Lincoln: to buy, to live)

[Drover]

Originally Posted by j33

You know, I'm female too, and I have a problem with all of those fruit flavored beers. But then again, I'm a bit of an odd female when it comes to my alcohol tastes (I generally don't like the sweet stuff), I like bourbon and insist my martinis consist solely of gin and vermouth.

However, if you are the sort of female that likes sweet drinks (as do most females I know), then Dover's advice is spot on.

Yeah, those are beers women can typically drink, plus they can act as "gateway" beers to show that a) not all beer tastes like hell, b) beer can have a very wide variety of flavors and c) not all beers taste alike. (I hate when people say that. I mean, I can understand "I just don't like beer" but "all beer tastes alike"??? If you can't tell the difference between MGD and Three Floyds Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout, you might as well drink dumpster juice because someone obviously took a straight-razor and shaved all the tastebuds off of your tongue.) The "gateway" process usually takes a while and often doesn't happen at all, but at least non-beer-drinkers don't have to feel completely left out.

[skyeINIL]

You're so colorful. Thanks for the advice. I'll make a note of those "girly" beers and give them a try.

Oh, Drover, one more question. You mentioned at an earlier time that you go to a Cal City liquor store. Which one and would they carry Lindeman's Frambois? I live close to CC.

[j33]

Originally Posted by Drover

If you can't tell the difference between MGD and Three Floyds Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout, you might as well drink dumpster juice because someone obviously took a straight-razor and shaved all the tastebuds off of your tongue.)

I love Three Floyds beers, it is best thing to come out of Northwest Indiana I tell you.

[UnderTheLiveOaks]

I've noticed that a lot of my female friends like the sweet wheat beers, like Blue Moon. That's perfect for me, because if I can get people drinking Blue Moon, the transition to good German hefeweizens is a relatively easy one.

[Drover]

Yeah, it's not that big a leap from Blue Moon to Erdinger Hefe. Getting from there to, say, Schneider Aventinus dunkelweizeneisbock (or whatever the hell it is), is the real trick.

Oh, and just to stay on topic, stay away from 60623...

[skyeINIL]

There is it is again, you guys are speaking another language. I am seriously going to try these beers over the weekend so I can learn to speak Beer.

Also, on topic: I've heard bad things about Englewood. Are they true? Can I walk through there with my kids and take pictures of the local sights? How's the beer there?

[drummercycle]

I hope you like your beer with a side of crack.

[j33]

Originally Posted by Drover

dunkelweizeneisbock .

dunkelweizeneisbock?! What the ...

Hey, did you ever go to the Great Beer Palace (German bar in Lincoln Square replaced by a generic blue and white pseudo Bavarian joint) before it closed? In my younger years I once succumbed to their 'viking raid', and managed to finish it too, barely.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by j33

dunkelweizeneisbock?! What the ...

Hey, did you ever go to the Great Beer Palace (German bar in Lincoln Square replaced by a generic blue and white pseudo Bavarian joint) before it closed? In my younger years I once succumbed to their 'viking raid', and managed to finish it too, barely.

I never did go in there mostly because it looked like such an uninviting pit from the outside. By the time I learned what was on the other side of those doors, it was too late, it had just closed. BTW, I think Glunz (the joint that replaced it) isn't too bad. Plus it's nice to see a German restaurant/pub actually open up when so many others across the country are shutting down since a) German cuisine just isn't chic, and b) the German old-timers that kept them in business are dying off.

As for "dunkelweizeneisbock" ... Someone once explained the German language and its habit of throwing together a bunch of smaller words to make a new word as such:

DOG: "barkenpantensniffer"
DOG CATCHER: "barkenpantensniffernsatcher"
DOG CATCHER'S TRUCK: "barkenpantensniffersnatcherwagen"
GARAGE FOR HIS TRUCK: "barkenpantensniffersnatcherwagenhaus"

So in the same spirit, let's break down dunkelweizeneisbock:

BOCK, a particular style of German beer, it is a highly sweet/malty, lightly hopped (therefore not particularly bitter) lager-style beer.

EISBOCK, literally "ice bock." This is a process where they freeze the beer and remove the ice crystals, thereby raising the alcohol content.

WEIZEN is "wheat." As you probably know, using 50%-plus wheat (the threshold needed to be considered a weizenbier) in place of barley imparts a lighter, drier flavor.

DUNKEL is "dark", so achieved by using a percentage of malts that are toasted or roasted.

So put it all together and you have dunkelweizeneisbock, or "A dark wheat-based bock that was distilled to concentrate the alcohol content." See, wasn't that easy?

It's an odd combination, and I've only seen one that I can remember: Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock. And in fact, I even missed a step: the Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock is also a doppelbock ("double bock"), which is basically just a stronger, more alcoholic version of a bock. So that would make it a "dunkelweizeneisdoppelbock." Or something. Never seen anything like it. The Capital Brewery up in Madison came close with their one-off Eisphyre, but it wasn't wheat-based; just a "regular" eisdoppelbock.

Here endeth today's foreign beer terminology lesson.

Oh, and by the way, stay away from 60649...

[j33]

I once heard that the German evening news consisted of just one long word. Having attempted once to learn German and visiting German speaking countries for about two weeks of my life, I'm inclined to agree.

..oh, and stay away from 60622 (trust me on that one)