St.Arnold Christmas Ale is sweet and soft, but generally uninspired and it shows some oddities. Here’s why I’d pass on it and wait for better Christmas brews…

If you’ve got a hankering for a bold sweet malty brew with a flavor bigger than the Lone Star State itself, head on over to Shiner Winter Ale country!

It was in California, on a warm 72 degree December afternoon that I discovered Sierra Nevada’s Celebration Ale.

Every winter I get excited to see the seasonal beers on the shelves, but for the past three years or so I have searched for, but not been able to find, Pete’s Wicked Winter Brew.

One of the most pitiful excuses for “beer” ever to disgrace the shelves of a liquor store. Recognized as hazardous substance in some states.

I enjoy having a selection of Irish beers to choose from when the St. Patrick’s Day parade comes through my town. It is because of this that I stumbled across Caffrey’s Irish Ale a few years back while trying to stock the shelves with some variety from Ireland.

Picture this: you are sunning your fat ass on a pristine white sand beach surrounded by crystal clear blue water, and a bevy of bronzed beauties. There is a cool breeze blowing constantly so you cannot feel the heat as you slowly roast yourself under the scorching afternoon sun of the Dominican Republic. Sound nice? It’s even better when you have a frosty green bottle of El Presidente Cerveza in your hand.

Welcome to Bitburger! I have to translate that for those of you who don’t speak German or have no common sense. OK, now that I’ve insulted your intelligence let’s move this thing right along…

As I usually do when I write any review, I am sitting with my PowerBook, hunting and pecking my way through this copy with one hand and holding the beer of the month in the other. This particular month… Beck’s Oktoberfest.

Picture yourself in the Big Easy. It’s a steaming, sultry, freggin’ hot July night, and college kids stagger out of Bourbon Street dives with Irish names to chuck up their happy hour hurricanes. But that’s not what brought you to N’Awlins.

“Heineken?!?! Fuck that shit! … PABST BLUE RIBBON!!!” – A manic Dennis Hopper as Frank Booth in the film “Blue Velvet.” When I first decided to do a write-up on Pabst Blue Ribbon, I anticipated Belly readers would question my judgement. “But Rob,” they’d say, “isn’t PBR the kind of unmitigated swill you said the Beer Belly would steer clear of?” In a word, the answer is “yes.” In several words, the answer is “yes and no.” Here’s what I mean…

I like Pete’s. It’s a good, smooth, soft, malty tasting beer that brings a bit of the flavor of Oktoberfest to everyday drinking.

The very first beer I ever had was consumed on the steps of the local high school just around the corner from where I live. A few of us youngin’s went out one night, no doubt looking to rebel from what we probably thought were oppressive upbringings. The only one of us with any kind of peach fuzz managed to get a few 40oz Budweisers, complete with paper bag cozies.

I spent a large part of my Fourth of July day hanging out in a terrific dive on the beach in Santa Monica. The place had no liquor. It was strictly a beer only proposition. All day long shirtless roller bladers and bikini’d sun worshipers filled the place around me.

In the fall of 2002, Anheuser-Busch, the distributor of Budweiser and the company who holds the title of ‘world’s largest brewer’ nationally rolled out Michelob Ultra. As you already know, Michelob Ultra is a diet beer targeted at women, girls and females.