[Andrew999]

This article's five years old but I've only just downloaded and read the book:

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/08/17/432297444/guzzling-9-000-years-of-history-with-the-comic-book-story-of-beer

Every school should have a copy of this - I found it inspiring, educational, mouth-watering.

It's available from all the usual outlets.

At the risk of starting a deluge, what is your favourite beer? In the UK, I would go for 6X or Doombar. When I worked in Russia, I liked to end the day with Baltika no.9. In Italy, my favourite was Moretti, in China: Tsingdao and Spain, San Miguel. You will have gathered, I prefer heavier beers.

I must confess that on my visits to the States, I have yet to be impressed (To me, Bud just tastes of chemicals, Molson was better, I guess) - now is your chance to impress me with a decent American beer (all samples gratefully received).

[Robb_K]

This article's five years old but I've only just downloaded and read the book:

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/08/17/432297444/guzzling-9-000-years-of-history-with-the-comic-book-story-of-beer

Every school should have a copy of this - I found it inspiring, educational, mouth-watering.

It's available from all the usual outlets.

At the risk of starting a deluge, what is your favourite beer? In the UK, I would go for 6X or Doombar. When I worked in Russia, I liked to end the day with Baltika no.9. In Italy, my favourite was Moretti, in China: Tsingdao and Spain, San Miguel. You will have gathered, I prefer heavier beers.

I must confess that on my visits to the States, I have yet to be impressed (To me, Bud just tastes of chemicals, Molson was better, I guess) - now is your chance to impress me with a decent American beer (all samples gratefully received).

I've always liked Amstel Bruin Bier (an alcholic root beer) best. I also like all 3  of Tuborg's, Carlsberg's, and Beck's Bock Bier.  I like beer that you can almost eat (lots of taste and calories).  I also like stout quite a bit, starting with Guiness.  I used to live downwind of The Beck's Brauerei in Bremen.  What a great smell fillked the air in the spring when they were cleaning the vats!

[The Australian Panther]

There are many boutique beers in Australia, nearly as many as Winerys.
But there is no contest it has to be Coopers, brewed in South Australia.
https://coopers.com.au/

Sparkling Ale and Pale Ale are  both top drops. As is Coopers Dry. Their Stout is a good drop but I am also partial to a Guinness after a few hours of physical work.If I can get one.   
All of which might bring you to believe that I am something of an imbiber, but not so. I ration myself to one beer a week, on Friday Nights, and currently I am well behind.

The best beer I ever drank was at a Pub during a canal trip, going back south after going through Manchester. Just South of Manchester, stopped at a pub for tea, as you do, was served Beer with a honey taste that was like nectar of the Gods.
Incidently, if you are in the UK and have never done a canal holiday, I can thoroughly recommend it.

Cheers!               

[Captain Audio]

I've always liked Amstel Bruin Bier (an alcholic root beer) best. I also like all 3  of Tuborg's, Carlsberg's, and Beck's Bock Bier.  I like beer that you can almost eat (lots of taste and calories).  I also like stout quite a bit, starting with Guiness.  I used to live downwind of The Beck's Brauerei in Bremen.  What a great smell fillked the air in the spring when they were cleaning the vats!

In the 90's while visiting San Francisco there was a exhibition of some sort where they served a beer made from the ancient Egyptian formula from the time of the Pharaohs. Carefully researched using residues found in pottery among other things to insure they had the mix just right.
It was the sort of beer you'd probably really enjoy. Murky yellowish and thick it had an immediate uplifting effect. It was said that this beer was distributed to the men who worked on the Pyramids to keep them focused on repetitive tasks and provide energy. It was certainly loaded with calories and nutrients. Not bad at all.

As for Root Beer we always had Sassafras trees on our property. We never made root beer but we did make homemade Sassafras tea.
Its now illegal to use real Sassafras root in root beer due to the major active ingredient Safrole having a degenerative effect on the liver.
Not the only reason since Safrole is a precursor for the manufacture of the drug MDMA a potent psychoactive drug.

[Robb_K]

I've always liked Amstel Bruin Bier (an alcholic root beer) best. I also like all 3  of Tuborg's, Carlsberg's, and Beck's Bock Bier.  I like beer that you can almost eat (lots of taste and calories).  I also like stout quite a bit, starting with Guiness.  I used to live downwind of The Beck's Brauerei in Bremen.  What a great smell filled the air in the spring when they were cleaning the vats!

In the 90's while visiting San Francisco there was a exhibition of some sort where they served a beer made from the ancient Egyptian formula from the time of the Pharaohs. Carefully researched using residues found in pottery among other things to insure they had the mix just right.
It was the sort of beer you'd probably really enjoy. Murky yellowish and thick it had an immediate uplifting effect. It was said that this beer was distributed to the men who worked on the Pyramids to keep them focused on repetitive tasks and provide energy. It was certainly loaded with calories and nutrients. Not bad at all.

As for Root Beer we always had Sassafras trees on our property. We never made root beer but we did make homemade Sassafras tea.
Its now illegal to use real Sassafras root in root beer due to the major active ingredient Safrole having a degenerative effect on the liver.
Not the only reason since Safrole is a precursor for the manufacture of the drug MDMA a potent psychoactive drug.

Interesting!  What then can they use now to make root beer alcoholic or non?

[bowers]

 I'm lucky to live in Washington state- the "Hops Capitol of the World"! Craft breweries are EVERYWHERE and their outputs and variety defy description. In my hometown, Spokane, we just got another opening yesterday- Four-Eyed Guys Brewing. They offer such exotics as apple pie blond ale, a peach IPA(!), and a barley wine brewed with beets! Not sure I'm brave enough to try any of those. Since our state is in a modified lockdown and most bars are closed it's nice to be able to pick up a growler directly from the brewery! Draft beer is so much better than cans and bottles from the grocery stores.
My favorite brew is from across the state in Redmond, Mac and Jack's African Amber. Rich, fragrant and oh-so-tasty!  Cheers, Bowers

[The Australian Panther]

they served a beer made from the ancient Egyptian formula from the time of the Pharaohs.

Which reminds me, 

I Read somewhere the theory that yeast bread was discovered when Egyptians making beer accidentally added some to bread mix [Apparently it was all done in the same space.] Makes sense to me. You can still make bread that way. Tastes good too! 

Comic related? Was Wolverine the first comic character who drank alcohol? John Constantine is also a drinker.

Early in his career, Jackie Chan made 'Drunken master 1 and 2. His martial art skill came from being drunk!

Jackie Chan vs Hwang Jang Lee [Part 1/3] - Drunken Master

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_ZCqB-USC0   

Jackie was amazing in his younger days.
He realised early that straight Martial art wasn't going to work for him. He studied the masters of silent comedy - Keaton, Chaplin, Lloyd - and mixed their moves with Martial art. And boy, did that work!
If you know what to look for, you can spot homages to these guys in Chan's movies.   

[ComicMike]

There isn't much, that Germans love more than their forests, mountains, seas and Goethe - and beer is one of those things.

Some breweries are 600 years old, such a tradition is wonderful. My favorite beer is a Pilsner, I like almost all of them. Occasionally I also have a 'Strong Beer'. Among the international beers, I like the Australian "Foster", the Czech "Pilsner Urquell", and when I have the occasional opportunity to drink a "Guinness", I cry for joy.

[Captain Audio]

Comic related? Was Wolverine the first comic character who drank alcohol? John Constantine is also a drinker.

Tony Stark was an Alcoholic. In part due to his implanted power pack.

[The Australian Panther]

Thank you. I'd forgotten that.

[SuperScrounge]

Comic related? Was Wolverine the first comic character who drank alcohol? John Constantine is also a drinker.

Pretty sure we saw drunks and alcoholics in Golden Age comics, and it wouldn't surprise me if major characters were shown to drink. Bruce Wayne went to a number of parties where champagne was no doubt being imbibed. It's not like there was a comics code back then telling creators not show characters drinking because it could teach kids to drink *shock horror*. 

[bowers]

 I can remember a Batman story showing a bevy of thugs seated at a table in some dive. The bottle on the table, surrounded by shot glasses, was labeled "Cream Soda"! The Comics Code Authority strikes again! Cheers, Bowers

[paw broon]

Sorry to be a party pooper, but I don't like beer.  There are times when I try - when in London in the past, I have sampled Fullers.  Quite nice, I suppose. My brother-in-law is a big real ale fan and he took me to a real ale pub in Edinburgh years ago, but the beers he suggested for me tasted like watery ginger (ginger is our word for what I think Americans call soda, but I could be wrong).
In between lockdowns I was in the Moulin Inn outside Pitlochry, an Inn noted for its micro brewery.  I tried a couple of their suggestions and didn't finish the glasses. 
I'll stick to wine, preferably Italian and French.  Other alcoholic tipples that tickle my fancy are gin, Martini extra dry, armagnac/cognac.
As for characters taking a wee refreshment, in Fantax, Patricia, occasionally Lady Fantax, is shown with a glass on the table.
Mister X takes a drop of wine.
De Moker takes a drink.
I'm sure there are more.

[Captain Audio]

Sorry to be a party pooper, but I don't like beer.  There are times when I try - when in London in the past, I have sampled Fullers.  Quite nice, I suppose. My brother-in-law is a big real ale fan and he took me to a real ale pub in Edinburgh years ago, but the beers he suggested for me tasted like watery ginger (ginger is our word for what I think Americans call soda, but I could be wrong).
In between lockdowns I was in the Moulin Inn outside Pitlochry, an Inn noted for its micro brewery.  I tried a couple of their suggestions and didn't finish the glasses. 
I'll stick to wine, preferably Italian and French.  Other alcoholic tipples that tickle my fancy are gin, Martini extra dry, armagnac/cognac.
As for characters taking a wee refreshment, in Fantax, Patricia, occasionally Lady Fantax, is shown with a glass on the table.
Mister X takes a drop of wine.
De Moker takes a drink.
I'm sure there are more.

I actually stopped drinking beer completely after trying that Egyptian brew. Nothing else foreign or domestic seemed satisfying. I stopped hard liquor shortly afterwards. I've had a glass of wine perhaps six times in the last twenty years.
I had taken a California wine country tour and tried a excellent wine called Cento per Cento, made the old natural way with no added water or anything else. If they sold it locally I'd drink it daily, but they refused to sell it in other states at that time. Compared to it all other wines are bland.
The grapes they used were so full of natural sugars that it eating them was like eating candy.

[paw broon]

At a DC Comics dealers meeting in L.A. years ago, we were treated to a selection of Californian wines and I took a fancy to some of them.  But at the time they weren't available here in Scotland. Nowadays supermarkets carry wine from all over the world - I saw Macedonian wine the other day - but I don't remember what those Californian wines were.  Anyway, there's so much French and Italian available and that'll do me, plus the occasional Cava and a nice light German white.

[crashryan]

In general alcoholic drinks never appealed to me. Many years ago medical issues necessitated my giving up alcohol altogether. I seldom miss it. From time to time I do miss the occasional cold beer. I enjoyed Foster's lager. I liked Dos Equis dark. On St Patrick's day a local outdoor restaurant catering to college students served an annual green-colored European beer that was pretty good. I've no idea what it was called. I also liked Tsingtao, though part of that was nostalgia. My mom and dad lived two years in Tsingtao before I was born. I understand the brewery there was started by an ex-pat German back in the 19th century. On rare occasions I'd order a Guinness. I liked the taste but it gave me a headache even without my being drunk. Wine does nothing for me. Aan occasional cup of warm sake was interesting. "Hard" liquors? Bleh.

[Robb_K]

I have never drunk much in the way of alcoholic drinks.  I never drink at home when alone.  I only drink a little bit socially.  When I do, it's at dinner parties, where I drink one glass of wine, or at a pub/tavern meeting where I might have a pint of stout or keg beer.  I am a regular at my landlady's (in Munich) monthly wine tasting club.  I prefer wine over beer.

[The Australian Panther]

there's so much French and Italian available and that'll do me, plus the occasional Cava and a nice light German white 

What? No Aussie Wines?

cheers1

[Captain Audio]

there's so much French and Italian available and that'll do me, plus the occasional Cava and a nice light German white 

What? No Aussie Wines?

cheers1

They haven't found a way to make a palatable wine from Eucalyptus leaves just yet.

[Robb_K]

there's so much French and Italian available and that'll do me, plus the occasional Cava and a nice light German white 

What? No Aussie Wines?
cheers1

They haven't found a way to make a palatable wine from Eucalyptus leaves just yet.

No, but it makes good tea.  But there are some really nice Australian wines, and South African, too.  They are mid-priced in northern Europe, while their French, Italian, and Spanish equivalents are more expensive.  But, I prefer Ethiopian Tej.