British beer v foreign beer.

[Kathy]

Try something Kentish in Kent. Tends to taste thin and very bitter if your used to Midlands or Northern beers.

...except oyster stout.

Scrummy!  

Available from the Whitstable Brewery, and Shepherd Neame did an experimental microbrew of it, and gave our local forty pints of which I drank a not inconsiderable number.  

[Tim]

...I even found this one

I've gotta photo somewhere of me holding one of those 

I think this is a more impressive find.

[tatanab]

I haven't yet had any English-like bitters.   Having said that, the beer here in PNW is absolutely amazing. Hell, even at the Safeco Field (Baseball stadium in Seattle), they had 3 different local beers

In Seattle your big 2 are Hales and Redhook.  I found Redhook ok and I really liked Blackhook (their winter brew).  Hales used to send people to Gales of Horndean (near Portsmouth) to learn the trade and you can really taste the similarity - or you could last time I had any in 2000.

[pcolbeck]

Probably should be in the rant thread but:

Sparklers! 

Ruins the beer and gives the landlord an opportunity to sell you less than a pint.

I believe CAMRA are anti-sparkler. As a southerner, I rarely encounter such things, so have yet to work out whether or not I approve. 

No Camra merely suggest that a sparkler should only be used where appropriate. And as to the less than a pint argument round here we tend to get glasses with the pint level marked on the side with room above that for a head. If you served a pint without a decent head on it in Yorkshire it would get sent back,

[Riggers]

This is definitely a lovely beer. My Mecca.

[woollypigs]

But American breweries are making some of the best beers in the world at the moment, and I would dearly love to do a beer tour of the northwest states

If you do then this map would come in handy. Oregon & Washington Brew Map

[citoyen]

But American breweries are making some of the best beers in the world at the moment, and I would dearly love to do a beer tour of the northwest states

If you do then this map would come in handy. Oregon & Washington Brew Map

 

My sister is going to Portland for Thanksgiving (lucky blighter), so I'll forward that to her.

d.

[Rhys W]

My current favourites are from Tomos Watkins and Kingstone, neither of which is in England.

 I keep seeing Cwrw Gaeaf in Tescos, it's getting to the time of year when I should try it... Cwrw Hâf & Cwrw Brâf are already favourites.

I like dark beers, and this stuff impressed me.

[pcolbeck]

I need to switch my summer time larger habit back to bitter as it's autumn now.

[FatBloke]

In Seattle your big 2 are Hales and Redhook. 

It was Redhook ESB that I tried the room temperature test with.

[Andrew Br]

So, is this beer "English", or "foreign"

 

I know, I know 
My favourite beers are English and they're the ones that I drink most frequently. I'd forgotten about the Welsh and now the Scots beers that I like.
A pub near me has Caledonian on but they aren't looking after it (and their others- Pedigree, Copper Dragon) properly anymore and it tastes awful 
It's a shame because it's a great summer beer.

[Tom B]

A pub near me has Caledonian on but they aren't looking after it (and their others- Pedigree, Copper Dragon) properly anymore and it tastes awful

The Sedge Lynn?

[PaulF]

Before I moved to the US I assumed that American beer began and ended with Budweiser. Fortunately that was a happy misconception, and most supermarkets have a range of micro (and macro) brewery products.

Current favourites are:

Samuel Adams Boston Ale
Brooklyn Brown
Redtail Ale
Smutty Nose IPA
Fat Tire
Otter Valley
Sierra Nevada Pale

[Andrew Br]

A pub near me has Caledonian on but they aren't looking after it (and their others- Pedigree, Copper Dragon) properly anymore and it tastes awful

The Sedge Lynn?

No, The Beech.
I usually walk or cycle past the Sedge Lynn on the way to The Marble 

[nuttycyclist]

Before I moved to the US I assumed that American beer began and ended with Budweiser. Fortunately that was a happy misconception, and most supermarkets have a range of micro (and macro) brewery products.

Current favourites are:

Samuel Adams Boston Ale
Brooklyn Brown
Redtail Ale
Smutty Nose IPA
Fat Tire
Otter Valley
Sierra Nevada Pale

I have been to the US.  I love at least one off of that list.

[Tom B]

I usually walk or cycle past the Sedge Lynn on the way to The Marble

Of course - apologies  And the SL is one pub that looks better from the outside than from the in-

[RJ]

So, is this beer "English", or "foreign"

 

I know, I know 
My favourite beers are English and they're the ones that I drink most frequently. I'd forgotten about the Welsh and now the Scots beers that I like.
A pub near me has Caledonian on but they aren't looking after it (and their others- Pedigree, Copper Dragon) properly anymore and it tastes awful 
It's a shame because it's a great summer beer.

Actually, there are a few good beers around in Scotland - changed days from the 80s:

http://www.williamsbrosbrew.com/
Harviestoun

produce some particular favourites.

[Rhys W]

Shame that the only Harviestoun beer I can get this far south is Bitter & Twisted, because Old Engine Oil sounds like I'd like it a lot. I'm actually salivating at the thought of Ola Dubh...

[Tom B]

there are a few good beers around in Scotland

Brew Dog, Isle of Arran Brewery and Islay Brewery all do good bottled beers

[keepontriking]

No Camra merely suggest that a sparkler should only be used where appropriate.

CAMRA includes a symbol in the Good Beer Guide which shows whether or not a beer should be served through a tight sparkler. This information comes from the brewery.
Otherwise CAMRA is opposed to the increasing tendency to serve southern-brewed beers through a tight sparkler as it changes the beer's character away from that that the brewer intended.

[anth]

there are a few good beers around in Scotland

Brew Dog, Isle of Arran Brewery and Islay Brewery all do good bottled beers

As do Isle of Skye (Skyelight and Porridge Oat are faves), Cairngorm (Tradewinds), Orkney and Innis & Gunn. As RJ says William Bros do some fine fine beers. The 7 Giraffes is apparently the same stuff as Good Times, but they had an exclusive deal with one of the supermarkets for whichever of them, so just made the same stuff with a different name for the independent stores (two cracking little independent beer (and wine) shops near me).

[anth]

I don't think Monteith's Summer Ale from NZ has had a shout yet - lovely stuff, just don't chill it too much, you kill the spice.

[Mrs Pingu]

Mmmmmm Monteiths Summer...... that went down a treat after a hard days touring in sunny Gizzy

[Pingu]

Actually, there are a few good beers around in Scotland - changed days from the 80s:

If you can find any, the beers from the Highland brewery are probably the best in Scotland at the moment 

[keepontriking]

Whilst we are on beers, FWIW, I've just ordered casks of every real ale that is currently brewed in Hampshire - all 59 of them