Beer!

[Hot Flatus]

Just cracked open a can of Fourpure Indy Lager.

It could just be bog standard Stella/Heineken/Anything.

It's shit.

Looking forward to a trip up to Manchester in May. I'm going to get wandered in the Cloudwater tap room before going to watch Leftfield at the Apollo.

[Pingu]

Spiced Oot by Speyside Craft Brewery. It was, er, spicey 

[ian]

Indy Lager is a lot better than Carling and Stella, but that's not really an achievement. But it's still lager and as mentioned earlier, it's hard to make a lager excel. Lager is a drink for thirsty people on hot days, when you're not too demanding, you just want cold and wet. The only decent one I've had lately has been Arbor's Mighty Mighty White Thing.

I scored a couple of cans of Beavertown's Double Chin on the through St Pancreas. And some Siren Liquid Mistress. And some Lupaloid. I stopped at that point as my Brompton had a seriously look, being as it was already loaded with my bags from a trip up north.

[Hot Flatus]

I've had some really nice lagers from the craft brew supplier, but the Indy Lager was sub-Stella. About on a par with canned Fosters. I couldn't finish it. It was utter utter shit. Which is odd because Fourpure are normally pretty decent.

[Jakob W]

I had some Brewdog lager or other last week, and it was a bit meh; I'd assumed it would be full-on, but it was rather bland. Brooklyn Lager OTOH is lovely.

I did like the Brewdog Elvis Juice though... grapefruity.

[Pingu]

Mmm, 1500% ABV beer  Don't get much for your money, though.


IMG_8254_01 by The Pingus, on Flickr

[ian]

Well, I was going to hit Fourpure and maybe muddle up to BbNo, Bottleshop, and Anspach & Hobday, but my dear wife as the intestinal ailment I had earlier in the week (and put down to food poisoning but it seems was some kind of virus). Anyway, sick coming out of one's nose, as it so often does, results in an evening being replanned. Even if it's not your nose.

I did stock up at the rather marvellous Freshfield Market in downtown Croydon (I'll keep plugging them because not every convenience store has a splendid stock of craft beer and weird tropical fruit, and well, it's Croydon and it needs all the help it can get).

Anyway, one Ilkley Alpha Beta rye session IPA which was very good. Currently on a Wild Beer Smoke n Barrels. It's very smoky rauch beer affair. I can't fault it, it does taste of bonfires, toffee, and autumn, but it's a little bit too smoky for my taste. Anyway, if you like a smoky beer, give it a punt, it's like liquid kippers (there's a reason I don't write the copy for the labels). I have a bottle of their lobster beer which I've not yet been brave enough to try (on account of the fact that I don't much like sea food).

[Hot Flatus]

Wild Beer do a very good job. I've been impressed.

Of all the breweries I've tried some stand out,:Cloudwater, Siren, Wild Beer....

Beaver town are pretty consistent but a bit more towards the Brewdog end of things.

[ian]

I do like Wild Beer, their core stuff is very good (try Fresh, which is most quaffable). And I like their willingness to experiment even if it doesn't always work. Burning Sky do things in a similar mode (though they're not as far along, but they're doing a lot of barreling and aging) – and they also make the awesome Arise session IPA. And I do love my session IPAs.

Siren, I've mentioned, and are my consistent favourite brewery. Cloudwater, seek thee out their double IPAs.

I like Brewdog, they do some good stuff and have a solid core range. They want mainstream and aren't shy about it, and to be honest a mainstream that isn't just a line of InBev/SABMiller beer taps is to be welcomed. Being able to score a Dead Pony (not literally) in the Gatwick Premier Inn makes life a little more bearable. Fourpure are similar but they do a wider range of more off-piste beers in their taproom which makes the trip to a South Bermondsey industrial estate worthwhile.

Mostly I just like having a massive selection of beer that isn't crap. How people drink a pint of Carling (or, for god's sake, Budweiser) I'll never know.

[Mrs Pingu]

I do like Wild Beer. I want to like Cloudwater but I can never find anything of an ABV less than #getshitfacedquick

I didn't have the lobster beet, but I did have Breakfast of Champignons,  which was less bad than expected.

[Hot Flatus]

I like the Brewdog stuff too. But I like the unfiltered less homogenised stuff a but more.

The problem for me is that discovering all these delicious beers has made me find many of the real ales available in local pubs a bit meh. A year ago I loved them. Now I just find them about as interesting to drink as a glass of orange squash. My local pub used to serve four local beers, all from two tiny brewers. The pub has changed hands and now they serve Hooky and Butcombe. They taste pretty much the same and much the same as a whole load of other stuff.

After 20 years I've changed pubs because of this.

[Mrs Pingu]

I like the Brewdog stuff too. But I like the unfiltered less homogenised stuff a but more.

The problem for me is that discovering all these delicious beers has made me find many of the real ales available in local pubs a bit meh. A year ago I loved them. Now I just find them about as interesting to drink as a glass of orange squash. My local pub used to serve four local beers, all from two tiny brewers. The pub has changed hands and now they serve Hooky and Butcombe. They taste pretty much the same and much the same as a whole load of other stuff.

After 20 years I've changed pubs because of this.

I find real ale a bit warm & flat now...

[Pingu]

Get thee to the Moorings 

[Hot Flatus]

I'm not sure I've said this, but I'm going to Manchester in a few weeks, and I've discovered that the Cloudwater brewery is located there and has a taproom

[Mrs Pingu]

I'm not sure I've said this, but I'm going to Manchester in a few weeks, and I've discovered that the Cloudwater brewery is located there and has a taproom

We were in Manchester last year but didn't make it there, too many other places to visit and not enough time.

[Hot Flatus]

Well, I'll have plenty of time 

[ElyDave]

I have Guinness, for this afternoon

[ian]

I do like Wild Beer. I want to like Cloudwater but I can never find anything of an ABV less than #getshitfacedquick

I didn't have the lobster beet, but I did have Breakfast of Champignons,  which was less bad than expected.

Beer with mushrooms is a bit too much for this bunny. I presume the lobster will just be a salty beer. I've had beers made with sea water and they're in the OK-for-one category.

I had a Cloudwater Pale Ale last night for a modest ABV of 3.5% (ish) which was rather murky and quite nice, though not quite up there with the BbNo and Wiper and True low ABV pales. Their DIPAs are for sipping. I confess to liking the lighter beers, sometimes I want to drink an actual pint without my head falling off.

Not really a fan of real ale or casks. I can drink it, but I prefer something with a little more pizzazz.

As for the Guinness, please don't subject your taste buds to that. It's awful stuff. Unpleasantly metallic taste up front, followed by a bitter, burnt malt aftertaste, and a poltergeist has more body to it. There's so many fantastic stouts and porters.

[Mrs Pingu]

I do like Wild Beer. I want to like Cloudwater but I can never find anything of an ABV less than #getshitfacedquick

I didn't have the lobster beet, but I did have Breakfast of Champignons,  which was less bad than expected.

Beer with mushrooms is a bit too much for this bunny. I presume the lobster will just be a salty beer. I've had beers made with sea water and they're in the OK-for-one category.

It does claim to have actual seafood in it, or at least cooked in it:
http://www.wildbeerco.com/beers/of-the-sea/

[ElyDave]

I do like Wild Beer. I want to like Cloudwater but I can never find anything of an ABV less than #getshitfacedquick

I didn't have the lobster beet, but I did have Breakfast of Champignons,  which was less bad than expected.

Beer with mushrooms is a bit too much for this bunny. I presume the lobster will just be a salty beer. I've had beers made with sea water and they're in the OK-for-one category.

I had a Cloudwater Pale Ale last night for a modest ABV of 3.5% (ish) which was rather murky and quite nice, though not quite up there with the BbNo and Wiper and True low ABV pales. Their DIPAs are for sipping. I confess to liking the lighter beers, sometimes I want to drink an actual pint without my head falling off.

Not really a fan of real ale or casks. I can drink it, but I prefer something with a little more pizzazz.

As for the Guinness, please don't subject your taste buds to that. It's awful stuff. Unpleasantly metallic taste up front, followed by a bitter, burnt malt aftertaste, and a poltergeist has more body to it. There's so many fantastic stouts and porters.

My next homebrew will be a porter. But I do still like guiness, the West Indies Porter being my favourite of their resurgent variants

[Wowbagger]

I started with a Badger Golden Champion and followed it up with a Spitfire. I am going to have to have a third pint to take away the taste of the Spitfire - it isn't a patch on the GC, which is interesting because normally I find it a perfectly acceptable pint.

[Hot Flatus]

If you are into supermarket sourced real ales, Proper Job is my tipple of choice. Even better on tap.

[ian]

Veltins. In a tapas bar. In Berlin.

[ian]

I couldn't meet my wife because stupid work. Now, as I squeeze the pips of thought leadership, she's texting me all the beers she's drinking at the Waterloo Tap. Not literally, because you can't make beer out of electrons, you need other stuff. I am reliably assured.

This is cruel and unusual and up with we shouldn't put. I am going to the porch. I may be some time.

[Mrs Pingu]

I couldn't meet my wife because stupid work. Now, as I squeeze the pips of thought leadership, she's texting me all the beers she's drinking at the Waterloo Tap. Not literally, because you can't make beer out of electrons, you need other stuff. I am reliably assured.

This is cruel and unusual and up with we shouldn't put. I am going to the porch. I may be some time.

Fuck working on a Friday night when you could be drinking beer with your best beloved!