What is the best readily available bottled ale?

[Ian H]

Readily available?

I'd go with Hobgoblin.

Well done.  This like some similar threads was in danger of turning into "Who can name the most obscure ale?"

I suspect that what is readily available in one area might be esoteric in another.

[davelodwig]

Stroud Ales, Budding usually though the default Stroud Organic is pretty good too.

I buy it generally by the crate either from the brewery direct or from the off licence in Nailsworth which for some reason is often cheaper.

I figure I very much ought to support the local breweries, it helps I happen to really like their beer.

D.

[Mr Larrington]

Best = one which tastes nicest to the drinker

[Canardly]

John Lees produce some lovely beers.

[Jaded]

Stroud Ales, Budding usually though the default Stroud Organic is pretty good too.

I buy it generally by the crate either from the brewery direct or from the off licence in Nailsworth which for some reason is often cheaper.

I figure I very much ought to support the local breweries, it helps I happen to really like their beer.

D.

Indeed.

[Tigerrr]

I'm a keen real ale drinker in the pubs but don't have much time for bottled beers. However, my favourite is Landlord by Timothy Taylor which in both bottled and pub form is rather good. Often found in Sainsburys but very rarely in the 3 for £5 type offers.

I am with you on TT Landlord. Extremely lovely and a real treat to find on pump, but I have never found it in the promotional offers. Which is a shame as I would buy the lot.

[davelodwig]

Stroud Ales, Budding usually though the default Stroud Organic is pretty good too.

I buy it generally by the crate either from the brewery direct or from the off licence in Nailsworth which for some reason is often cheaper.

I figure I very much ought to support the local breweries, it helps I happen to really like their beer.

D.

Indeed.

We popped over to the brewery on Saturday night for drinks and pizza (the brewery bar is open friday and saturday afternoon and evening for beer and wood fired pizza, and now for beer on thursday evenings), and sampled their autumn ales. Fall was a lovely dark ale though tastes lighter than it is TDM who dosent normally drink dark stuff quite liked it. The teasel was as the teasel is nice, dark and refreshing, the new boy, brewers garden was so pale it looked like weak orange squash but was excellent if it wasn't late I could have put away a good few pints of that. the hops in brewers garden come from the breweries own hops in their garden.

If it's in bottles I might get a stash in for Christmas / new year parties.

D.

[perpetual dan]

Harveys is readily available round my way, maybe less so elsewhere.  Best depends very much on my mood or what I'm having for supper.

I very much like Broadside, but it does odd things to my digestion.

[robgul]

The local brewery, Purity, on a farm out in the sticks between Stratford-upon-Avon and Studley is getting - quite rightly - a national reputation.

Mad Goose, UBU and Gold are all excellent - they also have a dark beer called Saddle Black (strong and only in 330ml bottles) that has a bike saddle as the pump label where it's on draught  [For the launch Brooks made some leather pump labels for a handful of pubs]

AND :  On Thursday 19 November 2015 we have organised, with the cycling club, a tour round Purity Brewery near Great Alne - starts at 1930 with some info about the brewery and business, a look round the brewhouse etc - then a simple meal and LOTS OF FREE BEER - ends at about 2200 (I think you get a free Purity glass to take home)  Cost is £23.30 per person (that has to be pre-booked and paid - through the club's website with online payment)
 
If you are interested - we have a few places left - let me know by PM.

Rob

[CAMRAMan]

Robinson's Old Tom and Guinness Foreign Extra are superb winter warmers, but definitely not session beers. Both go very well indeed with a well stocked cheese board.

[contango]

I don't think there is a 'best' for all eventualities, but I don't think you can go far wrong with Hobgoblin as a 'Winter ale' and Badger's Hopping Hare as a 'Summer ale' 

Both are usually in Aldi for £1.25. 

I rather liked Badger's Golden Champion as a summer ale. Truth be told I found most Badger beers to be enjoyable. Hobgoblin is pretty good as a winter ale although sometimes I found it had a slightly excessive bitter aftertaste. I often used to get Spitfire or Bishops Finger from Lidl when they offered four bottles for a fiver. I'd typically end up with 12 bottles for 15 quid and just carry the box home.

Here in Leftpondland the choices are mindbogglingly diverse, which is remarkable given it wasn't that long ago that most American beers ended in Lite and were served ice cold so you could tell them from urine. But waxing lyrical about the wonders of Stone IPAs is unlikely to help much with the original question. So I'll crack a(nother) bottle of Enjoy By IPA and gloat

[contango]

If you're anywhere near Surrey, take a look at Tillingbourne beers. There's also a brewery (I think it's called the Surrey Hills Brewery) that's tucked behind Denbies just a little way north of Dorking. I found their Ranmore ale to be pleasing and Gilt Complex to be really good.

[Pickled Onion]

I'm a keen real ale drinker in the pubs but don't have much time for bottled beers. However, my favourite is Landlord by Timothy Taylor which in both bottled and pub form is rather good. Often found in Sainsburys but very rarely in the 3 for £5 type offers.

+1

Bottled and draught ale/beer/bitter are normally very different drinks. If you like the taste of bottled beer, then all the suggestions above sound good, but if you are looking for something similar to draught beer in a bottle, then Timothy Taylor is the one that fits the bill.

[Hot Flatus]

I don't know so much.  Its nice, but nothing compares to a pulled pint of Landlord somewhere within a nearby radius of Keighley.  The stuff doesn't travel well in a barrel.

[menthel]

If you're anywhere near Surrey, take a look at Tillingbourne beers. There's also a brewery (I think it's called the Surrey Hills Brewery) that's tucked behind Denbies just a little way north of Dorking. I found their Ranmore ale to be pleasing and Gilt Complex to be really good.

The Surrey Hills stuff is very nice and you can get big placcy jugs of take out too!

[JenM]

Timothy Taylor's Landlord is 4 for £6 at Morrisons at the moment. A fine drink.

[madcow]

Thwaites Wainwright 4.1% .
 Probably a bit light if you prefer a proper bitter but (IMO) the taste makes up for the lack of colour.
Oddly ,it gets 5 stars on some supermarket reviews but only 3.5 on other sites.

[Andrew Br]

I don't know so much.  Its nice, but nothing compares to a pulled pint of Landlord somewhere within a nearby radius of Keighley.  The stuff doesn't travel well in a barrel.

Thankfully, it makes it to some MCR pubs OK  .
I don't like it out of a bottle though.

Thwaites Wainwright 4.1% .
 Probably a bit light if you prefer a proper bitter but (IMO) the taste makes up for the lack of colour.
Oddly ,it gets 5 stars on some supermarket reviews but only 3.5 on other sites.

I think this is my favourite bottled beer. ATM; my tastes change.

Four for £5 at Asda last weekend.

[SteveC]

To my tastes, Landlord is one of those beers which doesn't bottle well. I far prefer it on draught and don't bother buying it in the bottle.
Again, to my tastes, I think most bottled beers need a little 'beefing up' compared to their draught equivalents. Many are brewed slightly stronger for the bottle (or in the case of the big breweries, diluted less) and that can help. Landlord is an exception to that rule.

As for the 'best' it really does depend on my mood, what else I've been drinking recently and so on. At the moment MrsC is getting me the various 'Revisionist' Tesco ones and they're not bad. I had some Butcombe Gold the other night which was nice. It is, fortunately, a matter of taste.

[citoyen]

To my tastes, Landlord is one of those beers which doesn't bottle well. I far prefer it on draught and don't bother buying it in the bottle.
Again, to my tastes, I think most bottled beers need a little 'beefing up' compared to their draught equivalents. Many are brewed slightly stronger for the bottle (or in the case of the big breweries, diluted less) and that can help. Landlord is an exception to that rule.

As for the 'best' it really does depend on my mood, what else I've been drinking recently and so on. At the moment MrsC is getting me the various 'Revisionist' Tesco ones and they're not bad. I had some Butcombe Gold the other night which was nice. It is, fortunately, a matter of taste.

I agree that bottled Landlord isn't a patch on the cask version. It's not bottle-conditioned is why - it's had the life filtered out of it, and is then artificially carbonated. This is the reason many bottled beers are brewed stronger than their cask counterpart - to compensate for having all the character removed before bottling. Plus, like many Yorkshire beers, Landlord benefits from being drawn through a sparkler. Same goes for Black Sheep, which I love from the cask but find a bit meh in the bottle.

Not that all non-BC beers are bad, there are some decent ones out there (Oakham Inferno is one of my favourites but they've stopped stocking it in my local Tesco - boo!), but you can't expect them to be exactly the same as the cask version, and liking a cask version of a beer is no guarantee that you'll like the bottled version.

Current personal favourite from the selection on offer at Tesco is St Austell Proper Job (which is a BC beer) - a well-balanced bitter with a good dose of hops. Fuller's Bengal Lancer is good too - a decent IPA that avoids the fashion for making IPAs ridiculously strong.

Personally, I'm not a fan of Hobgoblin - not necessarily saying it's a bad beer, it's just not to my taste. Too sweet and bland. I also can't stand the awful branding and those cringeworthy ads designed to appeal to the worst kind of real ale bore stereotype.

Some of those Tesco Revisionist beers are actually not bad at all. The Saison is a good one, though it lacks a real Saison character - whether or not this is a bad thing depends on your opinion of beers that taste of the farmyard.

[jsabine]

(Oakham Inferno is one of my favourites but they've stopped stocking it in my local Tesco - boo!),

Oakham Citra currently 4 for £6 in my local Waitrose. Mmmm.

Fuller's Bengal Lancer is good too - a decent IPA that avoids the fashion for making IPAs ridiculously strong.

Fashion, or return to tradition? Got to be strong enough and hopped enough to survive a wee jaunt to India (and back) ...

[citoyen]

Bengal Lancer is 5.3%. That's strong enough. Some modern IPAs are north of 6.5%.

[markcc]

The M+S own label range is pretty good, the single hop pale ales in particular.

[citoyen]

The M+S own label range is pretty good, the single hop pale ales in particular.

 

The Citra, Mosaic and Styrian Goldings ones are my favourites.

[fuzzy]

My local brewery- Rebellion- does some wonderful beers, both cask and bottled however, if I was allowed only one more bottle of beer before I died it would be Leffe Nectar.