I’ve always been a little embarrassed that I like J.W. Dundee’s. It’s a cheap ass beer. I bought a 12-pack today for 8 bucks. It included:
- IPA
- Amber Lager
- Honey Brown
- Pale Ale
- Hefe Weizen
- Pale Bock
With the exception of the Honey Brown, which I really hate and only drink because it’s part of the deal, I love them all, especially the Pale Bock (You may love the Brown. Just my taste.) I “interviewed” the owner of the liquor store today, and told him I loved this cheap beer. He asked me, “Have you ever seen a J.W. Dundee’s advertisement?” Of course, I had not. He told me that this is the only reason J.W. Dundee’s is $7.99 for a dozen. They don’t have an advertising budget.
Again, with the exception of the Honey Brown (in my opinion), it’s a pretty good brew all around. Check it out.
laneman
All Honey Brown’s are bad. Period. It’s a horrid concept.
Michael D.
laneman: You’re worse than me. Go to fuck to bed!! LOL!
Nick
Maybe he just woke up? Some people do actually wake up in the morning… Usually not me though. This is a rare occasion on a Saturday.
DougJ
I was at a Dundee’s tasting on Thursday night. It was by accident, they were having one at the bar I go to every Thursday night.
They weren’t bad and they’re made right here, where I live, in Rochester, NY. So keep drinking, especially if you pay with those strong Canadian dollars! Our economy needs the help!
Slappy Stevens
A bar here in Kent Ohio makes a drink called a “Dr. Pepper”, involving, as far as I know, a shot of rootbeer schnapps and maybe something else dropped in a mug of beer. It’s pretty good when the beer is J.W. Dundee’s Honey Brown but this appears to be the only legitimate use for the stuff. Drinking it straight is a mistake.
Libby Spencer
I loathe all Honey Browns myself but I don’t mind Dundee’s in general either. Hard to screw up a pale ale. I can’t think of one I find undrinkable.
Michael D.
I like Pale Ales a lot. Do you have any recommendations?
Once-ler
I had a Dundee’s pale ale once, and I thought it was pretty good, especially for the price. But unfortunately, only the Honey Brown seems to be distributed in my area. Yuk.
I often buy Redhook, either the ESB or IPA, since that’s usually the cheapest palatable beer at my local store.
diakron
Do you have any recommendations?
Where do you live?
grumpy realist
Gah, no thanks. I’m a Guiness Stout person myself. I want a beer that one has to chew, not drink.
Did run across a beer called Rasputin’s Stout. Pretty good.
Michael D.
diakron: Atlanta
Michael D.
grumpy realist: Guinness is wonderful. I used to drink it all the time. So much so that I got tired of it. LOL!
Blake
Michael, the pale ales out of Oregon are the best you’ll find. Bridgeport IPA and Deschutes Mirror Pond are a couple of great examples. Of course, they’re better if you live here, because they’re on draft and you can just go down to the pub (or the brewery – I’m about 3 miles from Red Hook, which is also pretty good) with a growler and bring home a half gallon :).
I also still love Sierra Nevada pale ale. Fantastic brew, and not too hoppy.
Michael Sheridan
I agree that Guinness is wonderful stuff – in a pub in Ireland, or in a good Irish pub in England. However, I have yet to experience decent Guinness in America. I’m sure it exists, as there must be at least one good pub in Boston or New York where the Irish ex-pats would make sure the Guinness was at least drinkable.
Guinness in bottles or cans, however, is not “wonderful” anywhere – except by comparison to the execrable BudMillCoors.
DougJ
The Stone IPA is the best one I’ve had. Though the Dogfish 90 minute is also outstanding, if you consider it to be an IPA.
If you’re ever in Scotland, be sure to try the Deuchar’s IPA. It’s the only cask IPA I’ve ever had and it’s one of my all time favorites.
Libby Spencer
Not really. It’s not my favorite beer, I just find when I’m looking for something cheap, you can’t go wrong with a pale ale. I prefer brown ales, Newscastle is my fav, but beer is ridiculously expensive here in NC and the pale ales are the only ones that seem on go on sale.
LOL. That’s my favorite winter beer but it’s really only good on draft or in those cans that have the exploding thingy in it. I’ve always maintained, it’s not a drink, it’s a meal. I don’t drink it so much here because of the price thing. It’s over five bucks a pint in the local tavern and the stores don’t have the cans. It’s not the same in the bottle.
DougJ
Sierra Nevada pale ale is a classic too. I feel like the Stone or Deuchar’s or the Dogfish Head has a drier feel to it, though, that I associate more with a classic IPA.
DougJ
Guiness Extra Stout actually has only 153 calories per 12 oz. bottle, which is about average. And the Draught is only 126 calories, so almost a light beer. The amazing thing with Guiness is that people think of it as a “meal”, as one of you put it, but it is not especially heavy calorie-wise. I’ve always found that kind of fascinating. The carbs are slightly high on the extra stout, though not obscenely so. Link.
diakron
Michael: I like to keep it local when I can. (Being in southeastern PA, I’m hardly wanting for excellent local breweries.) A quick search on Beer Advocate turns up Sweetwater Brewing, who appear to brew a highly regarded IPA and a slightly less-recommended pale. I’d start there.. it’s always good to support your local brewery, especially with the impending hop and barley price crunches we’re going to soon be seeing.
For a craft-brewed nationally-known pale ale that should be reliably available in a major city like Atlanta, I’d say it’s hard to go wrong with Anchor Liberty. You’ll probably pay a premium for it, but I think it’s well worth it… a magnificent example of its style. Also, Sierra Nevada’s winter seasonal, Celebration, is an excellent IPA. I just finished off a case of it last night. Both of these beers are icons, and I hope you enjoy them if you find them.
Keith
I must be the only person here who likes the honey brown. I usually don’t buy it because I like to mix up my flavors (and right now, there are tons of great beers showing up in the local stores).
brendancalling
BLEcCCCH.
I can’t stand the Dundees. For a good brown, I’m partial to Brooklyn Brown and Dogfish Head’s India Brown.
Oh hey, blatant blogwhoring: sometime today I’ll be hosting a saturday beer blog at Booman Tribune. Please drop on by!
CalD
My late brother was a big fan of J.W. Dundee’s creations. Of course he also liked Old Milwaukee but that actually is pretty decent cheap-ass summertime beer — for working outside on a scorching hot day, I’ll stack it against Coors or Oly any day of the week. So say whatever else you might say about the guy (just watch it ’cause he was my brother) he was a one cheap bastard who knew his cheap-ass beer.
Now my own tastes run more to a full bodied, dry, blonde lager. Since in in my humble (OK, arrogant) opinion there isn’t an American brewery large or small that makes a decent Pilsner, I tend to deal more with Bohemian brewers, most of whom seem to have been in business for at least a couple of centuries and I have just about concluded that it takes that long to learn how to brew a decent beer.
So I actually think all y’all upstart microbrewed sweet brown ale swilling zoots are really nothing but a bunch of wankers. With the exception of maybe a couple of IPAs, you could take all that stuff and pour it back in the horse and the world would be a better place for it. Anyway I sure as hell can’t see where any habitual ale drinker gets off thinking they have the moral authority to bust on Michael D (no relation, BTW) for drinking J.W. Dundee’s. Let the man enjoy his beer in peace.
Libby Spencer
DougJ, that’s interesting about the calorie count but I don’t drink enough anymore to worry about calories and in fact didn’t worry about it when I did drink enough that I should.
I think it has do with the ‘tooth’ a Guiness has. You could drink it on an empty stomach and not get drunk or suffer an evil hangover the next day. In fact, in the old days, many a night I made it my liquid dinner.
bryanD
“…liquid dinner.”
That’s San Miguel beer while on 96 hour liberty in the Philippines.
(96 hours: make that 12 “dinners”.)
Andrew
That’s just not true at all.
Admittedly, I’m in the bobo capital of NC, where fancy beer is de rigeur, and even the dive bars serve high end belgians, but I have no problem finding all sorts of good beer for $1 a bottle or less at the teeter. I can also drink out for $2-3 a pint on most nights.
Libby Spencer
I’m drinking Saranac Pale Ale tonight. It’s not bad and a relative bargain in these parts for 11.50 a 12 pack.
Andrew
Geez, Spencer, you need to work on your beer shopping skills. The saranac goes on sale about 5 times a year for $9-10 for a 12, including their variety pack. In fact, I think I will drink an adirondack lager right now.
JR
I’m a native Atlantan, and whenever I drive through or visit family I always get at least one case of Sweetwater 420 Extra Pale Ale and one of Sweetwater Exodus Porter. When I worked in Decatur, I used to get a pint with lunch at least once a week at Raging Burrito.
As to Dundee’s Honey Brown, it may not be much for drinkin’ aside from the price (disclosure: I still enjoy canned PBR, so what do I know?), but I think it’s just about perfect for making chili. That’s about the only use it has, but it adds a nice flavor when, you know, covered with cumin and habaneros.
grumpy realist
Dunno if they still do it, but doctors used to recommend a Guiness a day to pregnant women due to the high iron content.
Standard US beers remind me of the Canadian joke:
–what’s the similarity between a canoe and US beer?
–they’re both fuckin’ close to water
Libby Spencer
Yeah it was on sale a couple of weeks ago for $10.50 but they raised it a buck since. The ten dollar beer was Moosehead this week. In my defense I might mention that I live in the middle of effin’ nowhere and the best deals are to be found at the local Loew’s grocery store. I have to drive half an hour to get a better deal and more choices.
BIRDZILLA
We have a local brewry and one of its beers just took 1st place at the CALIFORNIA STATE FAIR this summer
Scott H
I like the Honey Brown, so I look forward to trying the other JW Dundee, if I can find them. That is a pleasant heads up, pardon the pun, thank you.
For no more beer than I drink these days I could pay more, but the regular price of $4.19 a six-pack for Honey Brown seems to make it taste even better. For a little more bite, I like the Saranac Black & Tan, when it is on sale.
LarryB
I love beer blogging!
I disagree about the cans. IMO, canned Guiness is pretty-much indistinguishable from what comes out of the tap, except that they still haven’t got the head quite right (right consistency, just not enough of it). The “draft” bottles really do suck, though. Guiness Extra Stout (in the little bottles) isn’t really a beer at all. The only use I ever found for it was to turn a pitcher of Miller into a decent ersatz dark beer, back in the days before bars had heard it.
One of the many things to like about Guinness is that it only has 4-1/2% alcohol. You can down a few pints and still consider driving home. Try that with your typical 7+% micro-brew!
Also, has anyone out there tried Murphy’s? It’s the same deal as canned Guinness, but IMO, quite a bit smoother.
Libby Spencer
Yeah, I used to drink that as a substitute when they were out of Guinness but I didn’t like it better. Too smooth for me. But I have a weird palate. I for instance much prefer the original Bombay gin made with the 38 pagan ingredients to the Sapphire even though the Sapphire is a lot smoother.
JR
I’ve got a 6 lb black cat named “Murphy,” so called because he’s stout and likes to pick fights (hence, Irish, like his parents).
But for my money, Boddington’s is the most fun in a 4-pack. And I have a soft spot in my heart for Tetley’s, which was the first truly English brew I ever had a pint of when I first visited London.
Billy K
Late to the comment party, but my .02 – JW Dundee’s is garbage. I’ve always been under the impression it is a made-up brand fronting for a big brewery to compete with legitimate microbrews. Am I wrong?
This weekend I drank:
Anchor Christmas
Smithwick’s (my new favorite beer)
Old Speckled Hen (my new second-favorite beer)
Shiner Bock
Peter ve
I’m glad to see a couple of you praising Saranac Pale Ale. The Dogfish Head 90 minute is also pretty good, except that the 9% AC puts you out pretty quickly. If I wanted to drink wine, I’d drink wine…
Think Globally, drink locally.