In other news (apolitical thread)...

[jgvol]

I love fondue.  But around here we just call it chile con queso.

LOL.  I like it.

[847badgerfan]

I'm disappointed that Sauerbraten is not on that list.

[jgvol]

Some Fondue restaurant was all the rage around here 10-15 years ago.

Went, it sucked, and was ridiculously expensive.  I did drink 2 Arrogant Bastards while there.  First time I had one, and probably the last.  2 bottles lit my ass up.

Anyway, the fondue portions were laughable -- appetizer qty maybe.

I stopped for a Big Mac on the way home, after dropping $150 on puddles of heated cheese.  What a rip off.

[847badgerfan]

Melting Pot? Those were all over the place.

[jgvol]

Melting Pot? Those were all over the place.

That's it.  F that joint.  LOL

[betarhoalphadelta]

Arrogant Bastard Ale was one of my first true forays into craft beer... I was always a more adventurous beer drinker than the typical college student, but didn't really get TOO deep in the "microbreweries" of that day. And then after college slipped into just drinking lots of Miller Lite. 

I think around 2003-2004 I started drinking Arrogant Bastard and a couple of other things, and then it just obviously exploded from there. 

That was a good beer. 

[utee94]

Arrogant Bastard, way too hoppy.  Typical American west coast crap.  But the blurb on the back of the bottle always made me laugh.

This is an aggressive beer. You probably won’t like it. It is quite doubtful that you have the taste or sophistication to be able to appreciate an ale of this quality and depth. We would suggest that you stick to safer and more familiar territory—maybe something with a multimillion-dollar ad campaign aimed at convincing you it’s made at an independent brewery, or one that implies that their tasteless fizzy yellow beer will give you more sex appeal. Perhaps you think multimillion-dollar ad campaigns make all that junk taste better. Perhaps you’re mouthing your words as you read this.

[MikeDeTiger]

Some Fondue restaurant was all the rage around here 10-15 years ago.

Went, it sucked, and was ridiculously expensive. 

Went to a Fondue restaurant once, in Austin.  Had about the same experience.  I didn't really know what Fondue was, but some chick wanted me to take her.  Expensive for what it was, and a lot of it sucked.  As with most Austin restaurants, the vibe was cool, tho.  

Never had even the slightest hankering to do that again.  

[jgvol]

Arrogant Bastard Ale was one of my first true forays into craft beer... I was always a more adventurous beer drinker than the typical college student, but didn't really get TOO deep in the "microbreweries" of that day. And then after college slipped into just drinking lots of Miller Lite.

I think around 2003-2004 I started drinking Arrogant Bastard and a couple of other things, and then it just obviously exploded from there.

That was a good beer.

I liked it, too.  Wasn't familiar with it, and two 22 oz bottles later, it had kicked me in the pants.  A welcome surprise!

[utee94]

We have a Melting Pot in Austin, I've been a couple of times.  It's okay.  Definitely super-pricey for what you get.

A large bowl of queso at Enchiladas y Mas is only $7.  Much better deal.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Arrogant Bastard, way too hoppy.  Typical American west coast crap.  But the blurb on the back of the bottle always made me laugh.

"Typical"? 

Much of what Stone was doing at the time was pushing the envelope with atypical beers. 

A lot of those beers became typical when breweries saw the success of Stone and copied from them. 

Now, they obviously don't deserve all the credit. San Diego breweries at the time was already popularizing IPA--and Vinnie Cilurzo (now at Russian River) had already invented the "double IPA" before Stone even opened. 

But Stone became the biggest and most well-known, on the backs of beers like Arrogant Bastard, Ruination IPA, etc. 

You may not like them, but they were anything but "typical" in those days. 

[Cincydawg]

My wife likes fondue, I think she has, or had, a fondue set somewhere.  We went to a MP once, I agree with the above, it was "OK", but I felt like I was paying to cook my own food.  There is one in walking distance of us here but we've never been.  

The beef seared in hot oil was OK.  I am not especially fond of the do.

[utee94]

"Typical"?

Much of what Stone was doing at the time was pushing the envelope with atypical beers.

A lot of those beers became typical when breweries saw the success of Stone and copied from them.

Now, they obviously don't deserve all the credit. San Diego breweries at the time was already popularizing IPA--and Vinnie Cilurzo (now at Russian River) had already invented the "double IPA" before Stone even opened.

But Stone became the biggest and most well-known, on the backs of beers like Arrogant Bastard, Ruination IPA, etc.

You may not like them, but they were anything but "typical" in those days.

Sierra Nevada had been making hoppy ales since 1980.  And I bring it up, because it was the first West Coast import ale you could find in Texas, and it formed the prototypical ideal of what a West Coast beer was going to be like.  Sure, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale wasn't as brutally over-hopped and bitter as beers that followed it, but neither was Arrogant Bastard.  Still, both were far more over-hopped than the typical domestics or imports available at the time.  Anything using c-hops was going to have that characteristic.

So when I say "typical" I mean it was just more of the same.  From an outsider's perspective there was nothing particularly interesting going on in San Diego or the West Coast in general, it was just each brewer's attempt to out-bitter one another.  No thanks.

[Cincydawg]

I agree, I saw the same thing with zinfandels, every wine maker tried to "top the previous alcohol" levels, some were over 18%.  It was a game to make unbalanced "wines".

Fads.  We saw the same thing with chardonnay, how buttery and oaky could they get?