We entertain the extended family every Thanksgiving at our house. Not huge beer drinkers, and not familiar with non-major label beers, they have become accustomed to me having a selection of 'minor label' beers for them to sample.

This year:
Boulevard Wheat
Boulevard Pilsner <- this one seems to find it's way into my rotation more frequently
New Belgium 2 Below
He'Brew Messiah Bold
New Belgium 1554

I wouldn't call any of these superstars, but I think they are all solid B+ entries.

That's a pretty solid line up. I'll admit I don't drink much beer. I'm more of a liquor fella, but Blvd Pale Ale is a solid staple that I'll never tire of.

My grades:
Bully Wheat - B
Bully Pilsner - B
New Belgium 2 Below - B-
NB 1554 - B-
He'Brew Messiah Bold - D (UGH, I hate this beer).

Haven't had the bold but I agree with everything else.

If I quibbled, it'd be the Bully Pilsner would net a A-. It's a solid pilsner.

I feel almost exactly the same about the New Belgiums. I always thought they were slightly above average.

I like Bully Pils a lot. 'B' isn't a bad grade from me, it's a good one. I'll drink the shit out of a 'B' beer.

I have my conception of what an A-range American Pilsner tastes like though: Sam Adams Noble Pils and especially Victory Prima Pils are the class of American Pilsners for me.

Ya know? I have mixed feelings about Schmaltz brewery. I think the first thing I tasted from them was a Jewbelation Bar Mitsvah Ale, with 13 hops, 13 malts, and 13%abv. I thought it was 'complex' and very interesting. I've been trying to find anything in their line up, both HEbrew and Coney Island that measured up to that first impression, and all most have been left wanting. I thought Messiah Bold was the top of their nonseasonal heap.

(plus my brother in law has some jewish heritage, so I thought he might get a kick out of it)

[long way of saying that I won't argue for my B+, but it is no worse than a C]

Those are two of my highest-rated New Belgium six-pack beers, too. I have a pretty low opinion of them, though their Lips of Faith series has a number of solid-to-legit-good offerings.

So.... I had a tester 4 pack of Chimay earlier this week..

http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/1...1849068355.jpg

And I'm not really sure what to think of it. Very complex, with many flavors I couldn't really put my finger on. I want to say it was fruity, but I don't think that's a good description for it. Almost had a wine-like aftertaste. I think I was too shitfaced to really get a good impression of what I was drinking. But I did enjoy the hell out of it.

Anybody else have any impressions of this beer?

have you had the trumer?

does it compare

To be fair, I may have had a lackluster bottle. I've never revisited Messiah Bold since my first horrible cardboard experience with it. I'm also not a Brown Ale fan to begin with, so all of my brown ale opinions need be taken with that particular grain of salt.

Chimay is the shit. It's probably the beer that really launched me into craft beer. I'm not as verbose as Reaper so I can't write flowery reviews but I love it.

I haven't. I had to look it up, actually. I recognize the bottle, but didn't realize it was American. It seems to be well-regarded, so I'll definitely be on the lookout for this one.

Enjoyment is all you need.

apparently it's an austrian brewery that opened up in cali....no distribution in the south though