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My new favorite this fall is jonagold for pies. Made a perfect tarte tatin this year: soft, cooked, and held its shape, though with tarte tatin, the apples are more cooked than they are baked. I have to say that in an informal crisp test I performed (I make dinner at a shelter twice a month) golden delicous outperformed granny smith by a mile. The grannies turned to mush while the goldens were sweet and held their shape. I'd think it would be hard to do an apple pie test without any apple pie seasoning though. Who's to say that plain apples in the presence of cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. would still perform the same?

Winesaps! I had forgotten about them. Used to love them and think they were the best in pies! Haven't seen one in ages.

My mom always used Granny Smiths because she is not too big on sugary tastes so I used those until I took a baking class in Philadelphia years ago with a pastry chef from a well known restaurant who ONLY used Golden Delicious. I started using them then and have never looked back but I do sometimes use equal Golden Delicious and Granny Smiths to even out the sweetness. Northern Spy is an interesting thought but Macs and Empires I would think would turn to mush!!!

Empires----an improved descendant of the Macintosh-------tart and crisp to eat and great flavor in pies, applesauce whatever. (Although Honeycrisp are still my faves for eating out of hand fresh---for people who don't see them as special, consider the source was it a supermarket (yuck) or fresh off the tree or farmers market, they don't do so well at room temp so if they've been off the tree for a couple weeks they become pretty inferior unless kept cool.

Add me to the group who give affection to Macs and Cortlands--both are what apples are "supposed" to taste like, to my palate: like a great glass of fresh-milled cider! Both are great bakers, though I prefer Cortlands for pie and sauce and MacIntoshes for crisps or simple baked-apples...Yum.

I made a batch of applesauce this past weekend from Macouns, and was pleased with the results--an interesting fresh-sawed wood back note I've never experienced before. Not my fav, but an interesting twist.

Macs and Courtlands are my favorite baking/cooking apple. they bake down, yet somehow hold part of their shape during cooking. Maybe it's my new england upbringing, but they are the only apple I'll be using next week for my pies.

The best part of this article are the comments. It's amazing how different everyone's opinions are about apples, and how strongly they hold onto their apple beliefs!

The interesting thing about apples is that just 100 years ago, you could buy somewhere around 800 types of apples at stores and grocers, whereas today, you really can't find more than 80 types. Most of the heirloom varieties have almost totally disappeared, except for the stray forgotten orchard in someone's back yard. It does make you wonder what kinds of delicious flavors we're missing.

As for what I like, well, I guess it depends on the time of year. Year round, I love nothing more than to eat a lovely Gala. They're usually the cheapest apple in the store, stores easily and is pretty tasty. I love the soft skin. Later in the year, Macs and Cortlands are are top at my list, especially when the local orchard has pick-your-own. Lately I've been eating a lot of Empires, which are really good, sweet and crispy.

I hardly ever make pies, so the only thing I'm looking for in an apple is a pleasant snack.

This is a fabulous post!
@Kerosena, Macs have been in my apple pies for years! We'd go apple picking in Massachusetts every Fall and fill our bushels with Macs and Cortlands, and we'd mix those for our pies. I think there's nothing that signifies Fall to me quite like a crisp Macintosh pulled off a tree and eaten in the orchard. I get teary just to think of it. It's hard to find really crisp Macs down here in Atlanta, because it's not the most popular apple to grow in these southern orchards -- so by the time my grocery store gets them, they are past their crispy peak.
Given the choice, I'd do a mixture of Macs and Cortlands, but I've also enjoyed going the Granny Smith route and upping my sugar just a tad. I love the tartness of the granny and how it holds up in the pie.

Many bakers recommend a mix of apple varieties; I like Grannys for texture and Golden Delicious for flavor.

I agree with judochop, Pumking is spectacular! I liken the taste to ground up ginger snaps in cream. I loved it so much last year that this year when it came out I drove an hour just to get a case of it. I hope to try some other beers from Southern Tier eventually, some of them sound great.

I love sweet beers, flavored beers, wheat beers, malty beers and sour Flemish beers. Beers with a lot of hops though, not my favorites. Pumpkin beers are some of my favorites, but then I happen to love everything made with pumpkin.

It doesn't offend me that you don't like them, rather I am humoured that so many people think the same way as you. It is truly a matter of knowledge. For instance, a few years ago I abhored tequila. I tasted Patron and all the other popular bar tequilas that were supposedly better than Jose Cuervo and Sauza and I still didn't like it. When I delved into the brands that most people were not familiar with, I discovered there was a whole other world out there. These traditional yet unpopular brands had so much flavor it was shocking. It's the same with tomatoes. When all you're used to tasting is vegetal, bitter, bland, watery, herbal tomatoey flavors you are completely shocked when you first bite into a tomato that tastes like candy.

As a matter of fact, there are six Westvleteren brothers in my fridge at the moment, waiting to be revered. Yes, from previous samplings they do taste pretty much like St. Bernardus as you alluded to (though I have not done a scientific triangle test). Shhhh!

Also, I can see you grappled with what to call "American examples" of this style. "American Dubbel" (and why not spell "Double" the American way) does seem more proper than lumping them with beers from Belgium itself under "Belgian Dubbel" and better than the unwieldy "American Belgian-style Double." I know the BJCP guidelines simply call the style "Belgian Dubbel," but this doesn't sit well with me. A Belgian might take offense at calling an Ommegang Abbey a Belgian Dubbel.