Sitting around a campfire after a day of climbing:

1. Good bourbon. It warms me up, it's compact, doesn't need a cooler, and unlike drinking a bunch of beers I don't have to get out of my sleeping bag in the middle of the night to pee.

2. Old Chub Scottish Ale by Oskar Blues. It's become a part of our climbing trips over the past few years. Even after the ice has melted in the cooler it still tastes great.

3. PBR. Pure nostalgia.

d.

The Beer Sampler at The Moat Mountain House in North Conway, NH. This is a tradition after climbing on Cathedral or Whitehorse. It's about 1 1/2 pints split up between 6 beers from Light (i.e. hefeweisen) to Dark (i.e. stout). There is usually one or 2 beers that I would never order on their own but who can resist 6 beers at once?

i agree with the bourbon statement.

my favorite brews are from the northwest. i love most beers from dechutes, especially their black butte porter. for a light beer session lager and dark larger from full sail brewery are great. Dechutes and full sail are oregon based

It's not my favorite, but I'm surprised Dale's Pale Ale hasn't been mentioned. It's the only decent ale I can think of that comes in a can.

I love a good IPA after climbing. Harpoon, Redhook and Long Trail make good ones.

If it was a hot day and I need something refreshing, wheat beer often hits the spot.

Not to offend, but Magic Hat #9 often makes these lists, and I I just think that is a horrible horrible beer.

I agree with you there. Outdoorsy Americans in general, myself included, love their hoppy beers. Unfortunately, the two IPAs I have brewed to date have been pretty mediocre. Not terrible, but certainly not what I was looking for.

It's not my favorite, but I'm surprised Dale's Pale Ale hasn't been mentioned. It's the only decent ale I can think of that comes in a can.

It's the cascades bro, the cascades! The hops, not the mountains. I will not sully my posts with climbing talk. Many of the best IPA's use ONLY cascades. You can fine tune a lot of the character with attentiveness and planning and some software. Promash rocks, but any online IBU calc should work fine. Always great to hear of another brewer! Full mash or extract?

As I'm a Belgian guy, I sadly don't really know, nor have tasted any of the beers that have been mentioned above.
We might live in a tiny country, but we do brew excellent beer (or at least think we do so), so the idea is that we don't need to import inferior beer from anywhere else in the world. :)
I do however link one particular beer to climbing. It's called 'Duvel' (free translation : Devil) from the Moortgat brewery. It doesn't matter whether I was doing indoor bouldering, or sportclimbing outdoors in the southern regions of our country, .. all climbing sessions usually end with one (or a few) of those Duvels. The beer is incredibly refreshing (although it's pretty heavy, with 8,5% alcohol.), so it's perfect to consume after a few hours of sports. We might find our tongues a bit loosened too, which stimulates storytelling and male bonding.
Hooray for male bonding!

It's the cascades bro, the cascades! The hops, not the mountains. I will not sully my posts with climbing talk. Many of the best IPA's use ONLY cascades. You can fine tune a lot of the character with attentiveness and planning and some software. Promash rocks, but any online IBU calc should work fine. Always great to hear of another brewer! Full mash or extract?

Hops of any kind or quality for 16 bucks a pound?! Damn. I haven't brewed in a little over a year and a half, but when I was brewing I was paying around that per ounce. I guess the hop shortage is over, eh?

You are absolutely right about that.

The first one (my second batch ever) was pure cascade, partial mash, two hop additions.

The second one was all grain, 4 hop additions (cascade for bittering at ~60; cascade, amarillo, and simcoe at ~10; cascade and amarillo at ~5; dry hopped with cascade and amarillo, then oaked). A little grapefruitier than I would have liked, probably due to the amarillo. However, I think it was the grain bill that was the real problem with this batch. Grains were a bit too heavy, so the whole thing didn't balance quite as well as I would have liked. I probably should have stuck to US 2-row and cara-pils. Lesson learned.

Just bottled: remake of my toasty irish red, which was a big hit with people the first time i made it. This one turned out a little sweeter than the first batch. Whatever.

In secondary: Beelzebub's Breakfast Stout (oaked coffee / chocolate oatmeal stout, a take on Founder's Breakfast Stout)

Next up: smoky Scotch ale

I'm thinking my first lager should be the next one. We have a room in our apartment that is consistently around 45 degrees. Marzens are the natural choice, but I might do a Euro honey pilsner instead.

Great thread. Soon as I read the post I thought of these three beers.

Pumpkin Ale at Guilded Otter- For me, this seasonally brewed beer is synonomous with Gunks climbing.

Mac & Jack African Amber- PNW area beer only available on tap, my beverage of choice after coming down from the mountains in the Cascades.

Sweetwater 420- Brewed in Atlanta, they usually donate a keg for climber fundraiser events and the beer is very good. Can't think of the last time I went to a climber event and did not drink Sweetwater.

Hops of any kind or quality for 16 bucks a pound?!..... I was paying around that per ounce.