Is It Pronounced "Ah-mish" Or "A-mish?"

[In college I once gave an oral presentation in a history class on the Amish that was researched 100% using books from the children's section of the county library (this was pre-Internets, people, it was the night before it was due, and I was desperate). At the end of my pathetically weak presentation there was time left for questions from the class. Nothing but the sound of crickets chirping. After a couple minutes of uncomfortable silence the teacher took pity on me and finally asked the question in the title of this post. I said it's "Ah-mish," he said "huh," and then I sat down. Not exactly a Great Moment in Education.]

So, anyway, it's been a while since I talked beer. Somehow I was able to make two sixes of craft beers last about two months by drinking a lot more Yeungling and bumming cheap lite beers off my neighbors all summer long. When I last picked up microbrews, so long long ago, it was a six of Lancaster Brewing Amish (A-mish?) 4 Grain Ale and a six of Victory Prima Pils.

I fell in love with Lancaster Brewing when I was out that way for training and stopped at their brewpub, the Walnut Street Grille. The food was great and I seem to remember all of the beers in the sampler being pretty tasty, too. Since then I've picked up bottles of their brews and it's been hit or miss. Some I loved (Milk Stout) and some I didn't (Strawberry Wheat). Well, the Amish 4 Grain Ale falls into that latter group. It's advertised as a pale ale, but it was a little too malty for my taste. Something tells me that this would taste much better on tap than bottled, though.

Victory Brewing, based in nearby Downingtown, PA, always seems to get rave reviews, and yet somehow I had never picked up anything by them. So when Men's Journal magazine named Victory's Prima Pils the best lager or pilsner in the world, I finally decided to give them a try. Here's the problem - I don't really care for pilsners all that much. I thought that drinking the world's best would make up for that, but it really didn't. It was a good beer, just not something that I would get again. But I'm not giving up on Victory altogether - I had their HopDevil Ale a couple times on tap at Phillies games this summer and I could definitely see myself getting some more of that.

Saturday I picked up two more sixes. This time I tried a local brewery for the first time and got something untried from an old favorite. I got Philadelphia's own Yards Love Stout and Otter Creek's flagship brew, the Copper Ale. As always, I'll let you know what I think of them right after I polish them off.

Comments

[howard]

Wait, this doesn't look familiar. What happened to that other site that used to be here?

And, hey, I think I'm typing on the wrong side of the page -- is this one of those British blogs?

[Luna]

Hmm...next time I'm definitely asking you for advice regarding which type of beer to try. :-)

[Donna]

Love the look on your face in the graduation day pic. How long did it take before you finally found your car?

[anonymous city girl]

Nodding Head has some awesome microbrews.
Gotta love the Foodery and their selection!

[albert]

this is totally the UK version. but it's got flavour. but not enough space in this column and too much on the right pane.

i say ah-mish.