Anian

Cans are nearly all plastic-lined, often clear and thin enough that it isn't noticeable, so not much chance of metal. BPA on the other hand...

Beer will change in taste over the years, but it doesn't generally go off. Some stouts are actually kept to mature over several years.

Pulaski

Maybe that's a new/ recent practice? I have direct experience of soda cans on two occasions that were years old (some from the 1980's), and the soda, so the people tasting it (not me) reported a strong metallic taste. Bizarrely some of the cans had also leaked, so not only had the plastic liner (if any) been breached, but the integrity of the cans was suspect.

rpjs

Many, many years ago when I was a student, I worked several summers as a tour guide at a gold mine in Wales. Our accommodation was a converted barn at a nearby farm, and some of the rooms were full of years of accumulated farm junk. There was bugger-all to do there, and most of us had no transport of our own (one bus per week!) and so one day some of the other students went exploring and found a tin of Tuborg. Not a can, a tin; no ring-pull - you had to open it with a tin-opener. It must have dated from before the 60s at least (this was the late 80s).

It was duly opened and poured and was very cloudy indeed. Some of the braver people present tried it and pronounced it drinkable.

hoffage123

Coca-cola is mine. Hardcore.

SultanOfSwing

Nowt wrong wi' that.

Even before I had to drive everywhere, I drank more tea than alcohol of any kind. Even when I was pissing it up regularly, if one was to go by frequency of consumption, I would probably me more honest in saying tea was my 'poison'.

That, or Lucozade.

Pulaski

So when I stocked up for Christmas earlier this week, of which more later, I got a case of Pilsner Urquell. .... When I opened the case I found that the caps now have a shield logo on them, bottles have been redesigned, and are brown not green, .... and they are are now 11.2oz when they used to be 12oz.

dunroving

My poison is typically a full-bodied red or an occasional Newcastle Brown or Old Speckled Hen, but I was revisiting old haunts in Georgia recently and went into a place called Chops 'n Hops to watch the Missouri game with friends.

Oh my ... what a selection. Besides having the local brew (Terrapin) they had a selection of craft beers with alcohol content all the way up to 14% , all brewed in the south (many from NC, Pulaski). I brought a copy of the beer list home with me and if I ever find it, will post one or two that I tried and liked (can't remember their names off the top of my head).

I'd venture to say the beer-drinking experience is almost better in the US these days than in the UK. My local pub in Scotland has one beer (admittedly a decent one, Belhaven Best) and that's about it.

Pulaski

There were 120 Breweries in NC I heard earlier this year. I heard another opened in September, and I'd be shocked if new breweries aren't opening every month in NC at the moment. In fact the craft brewery explosion in The South apparently started in NC when the state legislature abolished the law, back in '06 IIRC, that had previously made it illegal to sell beer over 6%.
I have to agree.

Yorkieabroad

Had a few pints of the St Arnold Christmas ale last night. Slipped down very easily, a little too easily in fact, considering it is approaching 7.0 ABV..

Pulaski

12oz pints, 20oz pints, or some other size.

Yorkieabroad

These were actual proper size pints (for the country we are in) and all came with what I would consider a "proper" amount in the glass. Actually a pretty decent bar we've just found recently, but been to a few times. Good beer, great wings and nibbles from a food truck outside, friendly service...english style service, not the "hi I'm Mitzi and I'll be your server" type. Very "old town" local, tending towards the redneck end of the scale, but very welcoming to us newcomers. Just wish it was a bit closer to home, although on second thoughts, probably a good job it's not......

SalopianFunk

I'm going through a whisky phase right now. Mitcher's rye on the rocks is what I gravitate towards. Also Old Potrero if it's available, because it's local and bloody excellent, or Hudson Bay.

AdobePinon

Shock Top is f-ing awful. Beaten out by maybe only White Rascal. We've got enough local brews now that I usually stick with them. La Cumbre (Albuquerque) and Nexus (Albuquerque) being a couple of faves. Some great local Belgians at Duel Brewing (Santa Fe). Out of the area, my go to shop beers include Stone, Lagunitas, Ska, and Deschutes, even though the latter may we'll be the weakest brewery in Bend these days.

Most US ciders are still too sweet for my taste, although much improved from a few years ago. We do have a great local mead producer (Falcon) that has a few amazingly dry meads.

Don't drink a ton of wine, but we have a few great local wines. Fave is a really good one named Vivac, where I've been a wine club member for long enough to get at least 30% off everything.

Hard drinks... Mostly tequila. Best value would be Santa Fe Silver Coin, which is a fair bit better than Patron at much less cost. Corazon and Patron are my backups, except for parties - just can't beat a giant bottle of Hornitos from Costco for mass margarita production.

Also keep a few bottles of Scotch around, as well as Pusser's rum in honor of my dad.

Bob

Don't know if you're able to get out your way, but a local one to us, made in Natick, MA does a really nice set of English style ciders. Spot pricey though as they're $12+ a bottle.

Pulaski

So I opened the bottle of Lagunita's Sucks/ Brown Shugga, which was apparently derived from the brewery's attempt to make a barley wine of some sort. It was made as a limited release for the end of 2014, and I wish it had been more limited. It packed a fairly heavy punch at 8%ABV, but wasn't a barley wine at all. It was not as sweet as some barley wine, but still had an odd sugary flavour, presumably from the brown sugar they added to the fermentation. The overall taste was one dimensional and lacked the herbiness of a good ale or much flavour from the barley/malt. Overall it was very disappointing and I will not be buying this again, which is pity because Lagunita's IPA is probably the smoothest IPA I have ever tried and although I keep trying others, the Lagunita's IPA is one of my all-time favourite.