Yet Another Cycling Forum
Off Topic => The Pub => Food & Drink => Topic started by: Wowbagger on 18 October, 2015, 07:21:15 pm
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Bound to cause some lively discussion, this one.
I tend only to buy the ales that are on special offer (4 bottles for £6) and Adnam's Broadside is, in my view, the best that I have regularly found on such an offer. The Badger series are pretty good fall-backs, as are the Ringwood ales and Black sheep, but Broadside is my favourite.
I was delighted when we were at the Things' "do" that Fuller's 1845 was on the 4 for £6 offer in the Chepstow Tesco. That is an absolutely magnificent bottle-conditioned ale, amongst the best, but I don't often see it on the shelves, let alone on an offer of that sort. I had a look in our Tesco when we got back. If it had been there I would have seriously considered Tesco for our weekly shop, even though it is further away than Waitrose, but it wasn't.
So I will go for Broadside.
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Of our local small breweries, I particularly like the various Otter beers, Branscombe's productions, and Cotleigh. Hanlon's do good cask beer (though a bit wobbly after a take-over) but I don't know of any bottled varieties. There are one or two newish breweries in Exeter that I haven't yet investigated.
On the other hand there are some spectacularly nasty bottled ciders around these parts (and a few good ones).
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I was going to write Black Sheep, as that is always consistently good.
Jennings beers are also good and usually £1 a bottle in Aldi (!).
Hook Norton is the best brewery around here and their beers are usually on offer in Co-op.
Does Westmalle Dubbel count? :)
There's so many different beers being made at the moment that are good. This thread might become "what nice beer did you drink this weekend!" :)
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A certain Mr Interzen ought to be invited to this discussion. http://interzen.homeunix.org/blog
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I only buy Welsh beer now. Wales will never be independent if people like me keep buying English beer. Brains, Tomos Watkin, Celt, Mŵs Piws, Cwrw Llŷn, Felinfoel, Cwrw Cader, Tiny Rebel, Bragdy Conwy, Orme...
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I don't think I've ever had a bottled ale that wowed me.
Lagers are a different matter....
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I don't think I've ever had a bottled ale that wowed me.
Lagers are a different matter....
You'll have to come down and try some Otter Head.
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I'll have it draught please
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I'll have it draught please
It's not readily available draught, except a couple of hundred yards down the road from here, and then not on Sundays or Mondays.
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5.8% is a bit strong
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5.8% is a bit strong
That's the downside of it as a draught beer. It's on the strong side for a bottled beer, but not out of the ordinary if you include lagers.
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Readily available will depend on just where you are.
But I'll say something from Williams Bros, they have a range of interesting beers. And available in most of the supermarkets around here, usually cheap at Aldi. I like the Joker IPA, or the Midnight Sun porter, or the classic Fraoch heather ale.
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Another vote for Williams. I like the 7 Giraffes and the Midnight Sun. I *dont* like the Joker IPA.
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, (Tesco & M&S) and Lagunitas IPA from M&S.
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Readily available will depend on just where you are.
Three miles from the brewery in this particular case, and a short walk from the family pub. But I have never seen it draught elsewhere.
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Red Kite or Yellowhammer from the Black Isle Brewery. We did have some stuff at the summer graduation do that was awful from some Glasgow brewery - good bottles though so they have now been recycled with far better contents.
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Readily available?
I'd go with Hobgoblin.
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The one in my glass (currently Grimbergen dubbel ambree)!
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I only buy Welsh beer now. Wales will never be independent if people like me keep buying English beer. Brains, Tomos Watkin, Celt, Mŵs Piws, Cwrw Llŷn, Felinfoel, Cwrw Cader, Tiny Rebel, Bragdy Conwy, Orme...
There is now a shop in Caernarfon specialising in cwrw Cymraig… currently my favourite is Dark Side of the Moose (Ochr Tywyll o'r Mws?) from Bragdy Mws* Piws.
*Bugger, y cyfriadur ddim yn 'neud tôl bach!
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I'm another who likes Adnams, though I prefer the Southwold variety.
I also like Doom Bar (Yes I know the bottled stuff has nothing to do with Cornwall) which is stocked in Tesco.
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By the horns porter- Lambeth Walk. Bloody awesome bottled or draft. On of the few of their beers that is good in a bottle.
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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?"
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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' :thumbsup:
Both are usually in Aldi for £1.25. :D
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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.
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Hobgoblin is excellent but a little dark for my tastes. Most of Badger's beers are excellent, of course, and I'm not much of a connoisseur but I quite like most of the Old Somthing Hens too. If I could bring myself to continually mail order them (and could afford same), I'd keep a decent selection of Black Isle beers in the house. I visited the
brewery shed when I was in Scotland a few years ago.
But mostly I like that there's always plenty of choice - they're all good and I'd always pick and mix rather than stick to the same every time.
Readily available but not always in the special offers, I'm very partial to a bit of Weissbier and especially some Erdinger.
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Readily available?
I'd go with Hobgoblin.
Yes. buy a crate by post and it is in many supermarkets too.
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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.
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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.
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Best = one which tastes nicest to the drinker :facepalm:
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John Lees produce some lovely beers.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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' :thumbsup:
Both are usually in Aldi for £1.25. :D
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 :)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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Timothy Taylor's Landlord is 4 for £6 at Morrisons at the moment. A fine drink.
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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.
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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 :thumbsup:.
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.
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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.
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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.
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(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) ...
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Bengal Lancer is 5.3%. That's strong enough. Some modern IPAs are north of 6.5%.
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The M+S own label range is pretty good, the single hop pale ales in particular.
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The M+S own label range is pretty good, the single hop pale ales in particular.
:thumbsup:
The Citra, Mosaic and Styrian Goldings ones are my favourites.
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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.
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Bengal Lancer is 5.3%. That's strong enough. Some modern IPAs are north of 6.5%.
Here in USAnia you can get Stone RuinTen, a triple IPA. It comes in a 22oz bottle and runs about 11% abv. Don't plan on driving any time soon.
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Quite partial to the Brewdog IPA. I also like Skinners when I'm down in the South West - I always look for it in vain in other parts of the country as the £10 delivery from the website is a bit steep.
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I quite like the Oakham Citra and Scarlet McCaw. Other than that, I don't really get on with many traditional 'real ales' (Old Speckled Hen and that ilk), I find them a touch sticky and sweet, whether from the cask or bottle. Citra has started to appear on cask in several places (I had a pint at the Southwark Tavern on Friday evening, which washed away the sour taste of having paid £5.10 for a pint of Hoegaarden at another pub earlier).
I'm pleased these days that it's easy to get a plentiful supply of craft beer (the M&S range is very good). I just wandered back from Oddbins with a cache of six bottles from assorted London brewers. It gets dangerous though, I somehow ended up paying £13 for a single bottle of some beer the other day. I'd assumed it would be a big bottle. Incorrectly. Oh well, it sounds nice (some kind of cherry sour).
I did the Bermondsey Beer Mile the other weekend, while playing tourist, which was very good – Southwark Brewing, The Bottle Shop, Anspach & Hobday, Brew by Numbers, Partizan, and Fourpure (would have gone to the Kernel, but they have contrary hours for some inexplicable reason). We were clinking along merrily by the time we washed up on the industrial shores of South Bermondsey. Most places do 1/3rds, so you can sample more widely without falling over.
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I quite like the Oakham Citra and Scarlet McCaw. Other than that, I don't really get on with many traditional 'real ales' (Old Speckled Hen and that ilk), I find them a touch sticky and sweet, whether from the cask or bottle. Citra has started to appear on cask in several places (I had a pint at the Southwark Tavern on Friday evening, which washed away the sour taste of having paid £5.10 for a pint of Hoegaarden at another pub earlier).
First advocaat, now Hoegaarden. Will you ever learn? :P
I'm pleased these days that it's easy to get a plentiful supply of craft beer (the M&S range is very good). I just wandered back from Oddbins with a cache of six bottles from assorted London brewers. It gets dangerous though, I somehow ended up paying £13 for a single bottle of some beer the other day. I'd assumed it would be a big bottle. Incorrectly. Oh well, it sounds nice (some kind of cherry sour).
My wife was a little bothered yesterday when I managed to pay $56 for four bottles of beer, all from the same brewery. I do like my Stone beer. The $10 bombers are a treat, and the two $18 bottles were seriously one-offs that I just had to try. Funny to think that her beer of choice is $56 for two cases.
Stone are not only rather oddball as a brewery but they also give their beers some interesting names. One I bought yesterday was called "Double Bastard In The Rye" - it's a derivative of their Double Bastard Ale which is itself a derivative of their Arrogant Bastard Ale.
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We need to approach them to sponsor the Battle Mountain event then, now the chief start official is known as the "arrogant inconsiderate bastard".
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I try to keep my beer miles low so favour bottled beers from East Anglian breweries which are invariably available as a 4 for £6 offer. If Crouch Vale's Amarillo or Brewers Gold are on offer they get bought and drunk pretty quickly - yummy.
Moving away from the local and readily available theme, supermarkets round here sometimes stock Dizzy Blonde by the Robinsons Brewery. Its one of the few beers that The Current Mrs R (herself a blonde from Essex) enjoys. We first encountered it at The Golden Rule in Ambleside. We like the pump clip / bottle label too:
(http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l160/stevenr_01/dizzy%20blonde_zpsbkv1mmct.jpg)
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First advocaat, now Hoegaarden. Will you ever learn? :P
Good point. I don't mind Hoegaarden given a worse selection of alternatives (Peroni) and I fancied something fizzy. Plus the pub was so loud I couldn't actually hear what was happening inside my own head. I'm getting old, even my internal monologue had to shout. Some woman was screeching so loudly at the people right next to her it actually felt like she was sawing my soul in half. I needed a stiff drink and possibly automatic weapons.
I had a Stone Saison the other day. Very nice though very saison-y. Hints of old barn and damp cow.
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I had a Stone Saison the other day. Very nice though very saison-y. Hints of old barn and damp cow.
Old barn and damp cow is a good thing ???
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My wife was a little bothered yesterday when I managed to pay $56 for four bottles of beer, all from the same brewery.
That's cheap compared to some of the stuff stocked in my local specialist beer emporium - they currently have in stock a 13.5% imperial stout (aged in bourbon barrels with coffee and cacao nibs) that's a mere £17.50 for a 375ml bottle.
Tbh, I don't mind paying for stuff that's really worth it, but generally I don't think they are worth it - as the owner of said emporium explained to me, much of the price of the really expensive stuff he stocks is to cover import costs (aside from taxes, bottled beer is hugely expensive to ship) so you get much better value from drinking local beers.
None the less, I've had some fantastic beers from said emporium for which I've paid fairly silly money, but on the whole I tend to stick to the 4 for £6 offers from Tesco for everyday quaffing.
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very saison-y. Hints of old barn and damp cow.
Old barn and damp cow is a good thing ???
For a saison, yes, definitely. :thumbsup:
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First advocaat, now Hoegaarden. Will you ever learn? :P
Good point. I don't mind Hoegaarden given a worse selection of alternatives (Peroni) and I fancied something fizzy. Plus the pub was so loud I couldn't actually hear what was happening inside my own head. I'm getting old, even my internal monologue had to shout. Some woman was screeching so loudly at the people right next to her it actually felt like she was sawing my soul in half. I needed a stiff drink and possibly automatic weapons.
Honestly, I think I'd drink advocaat before I let another drop of Hoegaarden pass my lips, and that's saying something.
A while back I was at a friend's birthday party. Sadly he'd hired a venue that had an almost non-existent selection behind the bar. I had a single bottle of Old Speckled Hen but a few hours later when I would have liked another drink I didn't want another Hen because I was driving, so I opted for a half of Carlsberg. The first mouthful reminded me of why I hadn't drunk Carlsberg in a long long time. Needless to say had I been breathalysed on the way home the rest of the half of Carlsberg wouldn't have registered.
On a side note, automatic weapons are fun. A friend of a friend here in USAnia has the appropriate licenses to own fully automatic weapons and I recently got the chance to fire a couple of them. Much grinning followed.
I had a Stone Saison the other day. Very nice though very saison-y. Hints of old barn and damp cow.
I'm rather partial to it, although it is a summer beer. My case of it is mostly depleted, replaced with a case of Coffee Milk Stout. There were others that caught my eye but slipping just shy of $60 for four beers and another case past Mrs Contango might have resulted in the loss of vital bodily organs.
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My wife was a little bothered yesterday when I managed to pay $56 for four bottles of beer, all from the same brewery.
That's cheap compared to some of the stuff stocked in my local specialist beer emporium - they currently have in stock a 13.5% imperial stout (aged in bourbon barrels with coffee and cacao nibs) that's a mere £17.50 for a 375ml bottle.
Tbh, I don't mind paying for stuff that's really worth it, but generally I don't think they are worth it - as the owner of said emporium explained to me, much of the price of the really expensive stuff he stocks is to cover import costs (aside from taxes, bottled beer is hugely expensive to ship) so you get much better value from drinking local beers.
None the less, I've had some fantastic beers from said emporium for which I've paid fairly silly money, but on the whole I tend to stick to the 4 for £6 offers from Tesco for everyday quaffing.
Sure, you can pay a lot of money for beers. The $18 beers were 500ml bottles, which make it the most expensive beer I've bought in a while. In the UK I paid not much under 100 quid for a case of Ruination, meaning each 12oz bottle cost me four quid. It had taken me so long to find it that I decided it was worth it. Then Stone toned down the Ruination and produced Ruination 2.0 which is a whole lot less, well, ruinous.
If I'm going to drink multiple beers I stick to the cheap stuff. If I'm going to have a single beer, make it last the evening, and really consider the taste of it as it warms and enjoy it then I'll crack open one of the more unusual ones.
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a single beer, make it last the evening
How is this possible?
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a single beer, make it last the evening
How is this possible?
When it's a 22oz beer that's over 10% abv it's not all that hard. Just drink it slowly, knowing you won't be having another one.
It's easy to make a half of Carlsberg last the entire evening too. Just a brief taste will remind you why you don't drink the stuff, so you can leave it on the table all evening before pouring it down the sink.
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My choice is Badger's Poacher's Choice. Has to be, really.
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Best? That's an individual time/taste/mood combination with no definitive answer, but what's a virtual pub like YACF for if not for daft arguments? :)
I don't much care for beers with stupidly high ABV so my current default Friday night sup is usually a pale ale, such as Marstons (Sainsbury's & Waitrose) or Greene King's IPA (just about bloody everywhere).
Another low ABV that I've tried and enjoyed was Adnam's Sole Star, but as the only place I found that was Macknade's at Faversham it hardly counts as readily available.
If I'm in the mood for something a bit heavier then I'll go for a porter or stout and for readily available I guess it'd have to be Smith's Taddy Porter.
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I did the annual booze run to calais last week - taking advantage of the excellent free tunnel ticket offer from Majestic. In the Auchan I purchased a number of 75cl bottles of high strength belgian beer (9%). One bottle is enough to send me to the moon and wake up feeling unwell the next day. It took me three days to realise it was the beer and not the various indigestible foods I also purchased. Not really sure what he point of beer like that is.
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Not really sure what he point of beer like that is.
For sharing?
It's closer to wine than normal beer in strength (although still weaker than most wines), so treat it like a wine. Get a nice small glass and drink slowly with some food and a friend.
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Best = one which tastes nicest to the drinker :facepalm:
^^^^
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I did the annual booze run to calais last week - taking advantage of the excellent free tunnel ticket offer from Majestic. In the Auchan I purchased a number of 75cl bottles of high strength belgian beer (9%). One bottle is enough to send me to the moon and wake up feeling unwell the next day. It took me three days to realise it was the beer and not the various indigestible foods I also purchased. Not really sure what he point of beer like that is.
I think that is a good reference back to my earlier point of making a beer last the entire evening.
I've taken the last hour and a bit to drink half a bottle of Dogfish Head Theobroma. It's a 750ml bottle, 9% abv. I'm not driving, and not planning on getting up particularly early in the morning either.
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They're certainly not binge beers. A year or so back, I went to a client meeting in Belgium. They were nice folks and it was someone's birthday so they insisted we go to a cafe with them for a 'few drinks'. It was barman's choice. Some splendid beers but there were several and I don't think many sailed south of the 8 per cent line. The world was a bit fuzzy the following morning.
Reminds me, I've a got a bottle of that Brewdog 40 per cent stuff somewhere.
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Worthington White Shield. An impossible one to answer really Wowers, as there's so many nowadays.
Personally, I don't prefer those that are tooooooo citrus-ee.
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They're certainly not binge beers. A year or so back, I went to a client meeting in Belgium. They were nice folks and it was someone's birthday so they insisted we go to a cafe with them for a 'few drinks'. It was barman's choice. Some splendid beers but there were several and I don't think many sailed south of the 8 per cent line. The world was a bit fuzzy the following morning.
Reminds me, I've a got a bottle of that Brewdog 40 per cent stuff somewhere.
I knocked back two bottles first night and that explains why I woke up at 3 AM in front of rubbish on the telly, with a mouth like a boat bilge. Mind you it explains a lot about the belgians.
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I'd have to go for "the one that's chilling in the fridge right now."
I don't know what it is, and it'll probably be something different the next time I fancy a beer, but it's definitely the best. ;D
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If I had a wish I'd wish for some oldy goldies that have been ruined by being mainstreamed.
Both Worthington's and Tetley were fine ales before the smoothflow revolution blanded them into beers I can't stand.
I just scanned through this thread and saw no mention of Old Speckled Hen. A bit strong for general purposes but a fine brew still.
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Gun Dog by Wall's County Brewery.
Fursty Ferret by Badger.
Golden Pippin by Copper Dragon, these are all good, bottled, beers(good on draught, too)
At the risk of sounding like a heathen, I also like the odd bottle of Estrella Damm and Bock Damm, but the temperature needs to be on the up for them.
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If I had a wish I'd wish for some oldy goldies that have been ruined by being mainstreamed.
Both Worthington's and Tetley were fine ales before the smoothflow revolution blanded them into beers I can't stand.
I just scanned through this thread and saw no mention of Old Speckled Hen. A bit strong for general purposes but a fine brew still.
I thought I had. But I haven't. Yes OSH is my favourite bottled beer. Perfect for those of us who are not keen on hoppy beers. The bottled version is far superior to the pub draught version although a little stronger.
£1.25 in Lidl. :D But even the three for a fiver in most other supermarkets isn't too bad.
I'm not too keen on all the variants that have started appearing.
Although the original variant Crafty Old Hen is OK as long as you don't intend to drive any time in the next 24 hours.
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By stunning coincidence one of our neighbours has bought us some fine bottled ales to 'cheer us up' as one of our cats died at the weekend. I am now toasting little Jack with a nice bottle of Black Sheep. :thumbsup:
Not sure getting pissed is going to help but wth.
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You can get a cycling jersey to show your appreciation of that fine ale.
http://www.blacksheepbrewery.com/shop/black-sheep-brewery-team-jersey.html (http://www.blacksheepbrewery.com/shop/black-sheep-brewery-team-jersey.html)
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I'd have to go for "the one that's chilling in the fridge right now."
I don't know what it is, and it'll probably be something different the next time I fancy a beer, but it's definitely the best. ;D
... which is great, until you go to the fridge and find there are six different beers chilling in the fridge right now. Then you're right back to square one, trying to determine which is the best. Because, you know, at that point they are all readily available.
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This thread is a pleasant discussion; but it can never be resolved… I agree about many of the beers mentioned. I any totally incapable of picking one and sticking to it!
My beer choice is partly season/weather dependent. In summer, a current favourite is Thwaite's Wainwright. Right now, Chimay Bleu is the one for me; A bottle between me and Mrs E is plenty!
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Hmm, I have a couple of cans of Fourpure Northern Latitude IPA, some Partizan Lemon & Thyme Saison, Brewdog Cocoa Psycho, some homebrewed lager, Kemosabe IPA, and probably a few others resting in my fridge (still have to crack open that £13 bottle of cherry sour).
Sadly, other than the occasional medicinal glass of vin rouge or evening soiree, I only drink at the weekend and Friday is still a long way away...
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Partizan Lemon & Thyme Saison
I had one of those at Sourced Market at St Pancras recently. Quite interesting. The thyme flavour is surprisingly pronounced. I wouldn't say I didn't like it but I didn't rush to get another either (especially not at Sourced prices).
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It sounded like a novelty – saisons tend to be hit and miss but Partizan do some interesting ones. Mango and Black Pepper sounded like a miss but was actually very morish. Grabbed on recent Bermondsey Beer Mile adventure. Pretty sure we had a saison sat outside their brewery, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was. I think it's the penultimate stop before Fourpure though so my memory was getting a bit soggy...
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Real Ales in the fridge? :jurek:
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This thread is a pleasant discussion; but it can never be resolved…
But it's great fun trying , hic , pardon. :thumbsup:
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I'd have to go for "the one that's chilling in the fridge right now."
I don't know what it is, and it'll probably be something different the next time I fancy a beer, but it's definitely the best. ;D
... which is great, until you go to the fridge and find there are six different beers chilling in the fridge right now. Then you're right back to square one, trying to determine which is the best. Because, you know, at that point they are all readily available.
Nope. I don't often drink. I grab a bottle from the wine/beer cellar (cupboard the stairs) and stick it in the fridge. Doesn't matter what the label is on the bottle. It'll be one somebody bought me for Christmas a year or two ago. Another thing that makes it a quality brew - I didn't pay silly any money for it.
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Real Ales in the fridge? :jurek:
In the absence of a cellar or beer chiller the fridge is the next best option. It means you can let the beer warm to cellar temperature rather than drinking it at whatever room temperature happens to be. Or you can drink it cold, or at whatever point between cold and room temperature takes your fancy. Or drink it slowly as it warms and figure out the temperature that causes it to taste best.
Of course if a beer is best drunk at room temperature (and some most definitely are) then you can just take one from the cupboard. But you won't know that until you've drunk it at every stage from cold to warm.
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This thread is a pleasant discussion; but it can never be resolved…
But it's great fun trying , hic , pardon. :thumbsup:
It is indeed. I must go to the Welsh beer shop in Caernarfon to find a couple of new ones.
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OSH and the crafty alternative are pretty good. Or Golden hen, chilled, on a summer day.
Brewdog is becoming readily available, massively overrated.
Bought one for MrsC (she likes IPA hoppy beers). Ugh - it was like something made from hibiscus blossom.
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Reminds me, I've a got a bottle of that Brewdog 40 per cent stuff somewhere.
My grate frend Uncle Marvo, the celebrated Aqua-Pikey, reported the sampling of Tactical Nuclear Penguin. Even though someone else had bought it, he said it was not something he cared to repeat in a hurry. But I think he had his taste buds shot off in the war, because he usually drinks Stella.
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Reminds me, I've a got a bottle of that Brewdog 40 per cent stuff somewhere.
My grate frend Uncle Marvo, the celebrated Aqua-Pikey, reported the sampling of Tactical Nuclear Penguin. Even though someone else had bought it, he said it was not something he cared to repeat in a hurry. But I think he had his taste buds shot off in the war, because he usually drinks Stella.
It's a novelty, someone bought it me as a present, and I've yet to have the kind of day that requires me to down a bottle of 40% beer at the end of it (though it's sure to happen eventually). I had a tot of Sink the Bismarck the other year which was actually quite nice. I wouldn't drink a pint though.
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I think those sorts of beverages call for the resurrection of ancient terms: think of them as barley wines rather than as beers, and suddenly sipping a couple of glasses over the course of an evening feels more natural than downing a couple of pints.
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Just stumbled (hic) on pleasures of Old Crafty Hen---at £5 for 3 bottles ;D :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
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My local Tesco currently has Sierra Nevada Pale Ale at 4 for £6, which is a pretty decent offer for an excellent beer.
I took a punt on a King Goblin yesterday, also from Tesco, also on offer at 4 for £6. I prefer it to standard Hobgoblin - the higher alcohol content gives it more oomph - but it's still too sweet for my liking.
I quite like Shipyard American IPA (yep, another that's 4 for £6 at Tesco) but it does something evil to my insides.
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You do realise you can mix and match those 4 for £6 offers?
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You do realise you can mix and match those 4 for £6 offers?
Yep. I would never have bought four of the Goblins but being able to sample one along with three other beers I already knew I liked meant it was less of a risk.
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Just stumbled (hic) on pleasures of Old Crafty Hen---at £5 for 3 bottles ;D :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
I liked Speckled Hen, Golden Hen and Crafty Hen. A fiver for three Crafty Hens is a steal.
My local Tesco currently has Sierra Nevada Pale Ale at 4 for £6, which is a pretty decent offer for an excellent beer.
I took a punt on a King Goblin yesterday, also from Tesco, also on offer at 4 for £6. I prefer it to standard Hobgoblin - the higher alcohol content gives it more oomph - but it's still too sweet for my liking.
I quite like Shipyard American IPA (yep, another that's 4 for £6 at Tesco) but it does something evil to my insides.
I liked the King Goblin too. If you like Sierra Nevada and you like IPAs, see if you can find Torpedo or Hop Hunter. Don't know if they're available in the UK. Torpedo is a fairly strong IPA, Hop Hunter is enhanced with hop oils. It's pretty intense but if you like IPAs it's worth a shot.
I recently opened a bottle of Stone's Sorry Not Sorry IPA made with peaches. That was unusual.
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If you like Sierra Nevada and you like IPAs, see if you can find Torpedo or Hop Hunter. Don't know if they're available in the UK. Torpedo is a fairly strong IPA, Hop Hunter is enhanced with hop oils. It's pretty intense but if you like IPAs it's worth a shot.
I think I've had Torpedo before but you don't see it very often. Never seen Hop Hunter on sale in the UK, to my knowledge, but it sounds interesting.
I recently opened a bottle of Stone's Sorry Not Sorry IPA made with peaches. That was unusual.
As a rule, the only fruit addition I will tolerate in beer is cherries in a good oude kriek. Nothing good can come of adding peaches to an alcoholic beverage (I had a bad experience with Archers as a teen).
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Torpedo is available in Waitrose.
I once bumped into the Sierra Nevada sales team in a hotel bar in Philadelphia and we ended up spending the evening working through samples of everything they were selling.
Peaches might work in a sour. Sweet though is definitely Archers territory and we all had a bad experience with Archers. It's another of those drinks that inevitability has decided you'll taste twice. Once on the way down, once on the way back up. It's a drink that comes with its own return ticket.
I'm quite enjoying Wild Beer's offerings at the moment, they have some good sours. Oh, and some Thornbridge Rhubarb Saison, which is more sour than saison, but immensely quaffable, I may have to buy some more for summer. I might have bought some Bakewell Tart too. So some fruit can work.
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If you like Sierra Nevada and you like IPAs, see if you can find Torpedo or Hop Hunter. Don't know if they're available in the UK. Torpedo is a fairly strong IPA, Hop Hunter is enhanced with hop oils. It's pretty intense but if you like IPAs it's worth a shot.
I think I've had Torpedo before but you don't see it very often. Never seen Hop Hunter on sale in the UK, to my knowledge, but it sounds interesting.
I once spent an evening drinking rather too much Torpedo and Hop Hunter. I'd been out with some friends and a couple of us polished off a growler on the way home (neither of us was driving, I might add!). I spent most of the next morning wishing I hadn't had so much Torpedo and Hop Hunter.
I recently opened a bottle of Stone's Sorry Not Sorry IPA made with peaches. That was unusual.
As a rule, the only fruit addition I will tolerate in beer is cherries in a good oude kriek. Nothing good can come of adding peaches to an alcoholic beverage (I had a bad experience with Archers as a teen).
As a rule I'd agree with you but every once in a while Stone does something silly that shouldn't work but somehow does. The peach-infused IPA wasn't one of their best but worth drinking again.
As for Archers, I narrowly escaped a very bad experience with Archers. I was in a holiday camp with some friends and had been drinking rather more than normal. It was the sort of place where they didn't want you taking in your own alcohol but also didn't offer much beyond Castlemaine XXXX at twice the going rate. So I convinced the guy on the door that I needed to take my bottle of beer back to my chalet with me because I didn't want anyone spiking it and taking advantage of me, then accidentally dumped the beer and replaced it with vodka. After a couple of those I somehow made it back to my chalet, where we drank some more before I passed out. When I woke someone had left a glass of water for when I regained consciousness. I was just about to drink it when I remembered we'd been drinking Archers the night before. I don't imagine the consequences of draining a tall glass of Archers on top of an apocalyptic hangover would have been pleasant, for me or anyone within chundering range.
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quite like some of the Brew Dog beers, but they're much better draught than bottle.
I grew up on Wadworths 6X and still like that. Bottled, I quite like Oakham Ales Citra and the St Peters IPA or Best
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I was trolling the aisles of Tesco this afternoon and happened upon the beer. There were a few varieties which I have never seen in Waitrose so I thought I'd experiment.
Suffolk Springer (GK) - OK. Quite a decent pint without being out-of-the-ordinary. I might buy it again if I see it.
Timothy Taylor Boltmaker - very disappointing. In fact, quite unpleasant. The bottle claimed that the draught version was CAMRA Cask Champion Beer of Britain 2104. Not a patch on Landlord, which is very good.
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As a rule, the only fruit addition I will tolerate in beer is cherries in a good oude kriek. Nothing good can come of adding peaches to an alcoholic beverage (I had a bad experience with Archers as a teen).
Cantillon's Fou Foune made with peaches is sensational. Sadly, it's so desirable, a bottle will set you back 20 squids.
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Raspberry in beer is often good if it's tart enough, but not as good as cherries, obv.
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The haul from yesterday's BBM... there's two bottle of Prairie/Evil Twin's Bible Belt missing because my wife hid them as a not very mysterious Christmas present.
(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn190/ianp_photo/7c411b3a-37cd-4eb4-bfc0-7396da57e9c2.jpg)
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The one on the end doesn't look very beery...
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As they let us poke their gin still, it seemed the least we could do was buy a bottle. That's the London Dry, they do an Old Tom too, but wasn't very Old Tommy to my taste.
I really want the Prairie Bomb, but it's a rocking 13% so definitely not for a school night. Mind you, the Partizan Huff is 14%...
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Seeing the cans of beer there, what is the collectives view on tinnies?
I find that many a beer that is available both tinned and bottled tastes far better from the bottle.
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A lot of craft brewers are now using cans – small-run canning lines are modestly cheap, no more so than bottling lines, and bottles cost more than cans, they're heavier, take up more warehouse space, are harder to store (light and breakage), and cost more to transport.
I can't tell the difference. Modern cans are polyurethane-lined so impart no detectable metallic case. Pour into a glass and I doubt anyone can tell the difference. Of course, some people might like the ceremony of pouring from a bottle, in the same way as people insist on corked rather than screw top wine.
The other big thing is that I can carry a lot more cans in my pannier than bottles.
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A lot of craft brewers are now using cans – small-run canning lines are modestly cheap, no more so than bottling lines, and bottles cost more than cans, they're heavier, take up more warehouse space, are harder to store (light and breakage), and cost more to transport.
My only reason for preferring to buy beer in bottles is that I can re-use them for my home brews. I don't think canning is a viable option for the home brewer yet, and cans aren't re-usable. I could use Kilner jars, I suppose.
I tend to find beer from cans a tad fizzier than bottled beers but that may be my imagination, or it may just be a characteristic of the particular canned beers I've tried.
What is a keg if not a giant can?
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I've done a fair few brewery tours and brewers seem to think there's no difference, the main issues seemed to be cost (second-hand bottling equipment is easier to get your hands on and suitable for small runs, canning equipment on the other hand is expensive and still only cost-effective if you can shift a fair amount of product or can afford some fancy-smancy small-run canning lines that US craft brewers are using) and consumer acceptance – cans are still viewed as the vehicle for cheap and generic beer (bottles are more artisan, cans industrial), and old skool cans left that nasty tinny aftertaste (new ones don't, but a lot of people still associate that taste).
The bottle of Morning Star we bought was fresh, we had to wait while he stuck the label on.
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I went beer shopping yesterday, to a proper beer shop. I broke my own non-fruit rule by coming away with one of these among my selection:
http://honestbrew.co.uk/shop/buxton-trolltunga-gooseberry-sour-ipa/
I do like a good sour beer and this one intrigued me.
None of the beers I bought really belong in this thread, all being wilfully esoteric. And not available in Tesco at any price, never mind 4 for £6.
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Thing is that they're not so esoteric these days. Bypass the supermarkets and their limited choice. My main complaint is that I couldn't possibly drink all the beer I'd want.
Omnipollo (with Siren) do a very nice peach IPA (http://www.omnipollo.com/beer/omnipollosirenniklas-johansson-life-is-a-peach) (actually, I think it's the same stuff, Omnipollo are doing some kind of collaboration with Buxton). In fact buy all their beers because there will be no disappointments. I have some Wild Beer Indigo Child (gooseberry sour) in the pipeline (they also do some great beers).
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Thing is that they're not so esoteric these days.
Fair point. Even specialist beer shops are becoming like supermarkets - too much choice and not enough difference.
And it's a shame because all these fucking hipster 'craft' brewers are saturating the market with stuff that often isn't actually all that good. Or they try to be clever and come up with wacky gimmicks like resurrecting ancient beer styles (forgetting why those styles went out of fashion) and then sticking feckin' gooseberries in them.
I'm sure it'll be very pleasant but I bet it won't be as good as a classic Orval.
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I dunno, I enjoy the wealth of choice. If you don't want fruit, you don't have to have it (and applying the reductionist logic, there would have been none of the fantastic sour krieks which set the benchmark for all fruit beers, or the fabulous lambics, goses, and sours). Sure, I love to sit down with a good 'simple' Belgian beer too, and sometimes I appreciate them all the more without the jiggerypokery. If I'm in Belgian cafe, I'll usually just ask for the bar's recommendation. They've never yet handed me a Stella.
I lived in the US when craft beer kicked off, and there was a brewery down the road, and I was spoiled. It was grim to get back the UK and discover that we were still bobbing on an ocean of Carling and Stella was 'exotic'. People thought Greene King was an IPA rather than bottled dishwater. Gawd, it's a million times better now.
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Choice is the capitalist myth.
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Wild Beer are amaze balls :P
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Choice is the capitalist myth.
Yeah but communism would only offer two beer options: a lager called, with some truth, Spent Reactor Fuel Decontamination Fluid no. 5, and a dark beer made with beetroot.
"I'll try the beetroot beer, comrade," you'll ask, guessing what the lager is after trying Submarine Buoyancy Tank Cleaning Fluid no. 3.
"There is no beetroot beer."
"But you just said..."
"It's cabbage beer now. Beetroot is no longer sufficiently patriotic. Cabbage is now the symbol of our striving proletariat."
"Is there a cabbage beer then?"
"Why yes, comrade! Cabbage is the spirit of our nature, the leafy vegetable of progress."
"I'll have a pint of that then."
"You'll have to come back tomorrow."
"So, the only beer you have is Spent Reactor Fuel Decontamination Fluid no. 5?"
"No. We don't have that either, we sell it all to the capitalists."
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Sounds like trying to go to the pub in Belgium - 'we're closed, because it's our bar and we can'
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"So, the only beer you have is Spent Reactor Fuel Decontamination Fluid no. 5?"
"No. We don't have that either, we sell it all to the capitalists."
And they rebadge it as Double Triple Bastard Imperial IPA.
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Oi, you cheeky little imp. Besides, I'm down with the sours and imperial stouts at the moment. I don't mind an IPA, but I'm not so big on the bombast. I'm going to drink my bottle of Tactical Nuclear Penguin at Christmas thought. Possibly not in the same hour as my bottle of Bible Belt.
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I should confess that my haul the other day included at least one bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout. And I'm actually very much looking forward to the gooseberry sour.
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A lot of craft brewers are now using cans – small-run canning lines are modestly cheap, no more so than bottling lines, and bottles cost more than cans, they're heavier, take up more warehouse space, are harder to store (light and breakage), and cost more to transport.
My only reason for preferring to buy beer in bottles is that I can re-use them for my home brews. I don't think canning is a viable option for the home brewer yet, and cans aren't re-usable. I could use Kilner jars, I suppose.
I tend to find beer from cans a tad fizzier than bottled beers but that may be my imagination, or it may just be a characteristic of the particular canned beers I've tried.
What is a keg if not a giant can?
I buy bottled for the same reason, but there are only so many bottles you need an removing labels is such a pita
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Having recently discovered the delights of a small local brewery (west Birmingham) I'm unlikely to buy "readily available bottled ale" for quite some time. Fixed Wheel Brewery (https://www.facebook.com/fixedwheelbrewery/) ales are brewed by a successful local time triallist of recent years and most have cycling themed names. Even more delightful are some of the cask / keg ales that aren't bottled and joyfully the brewery is licensed and opens to the public regularly drawing a bigger crowd than many pubs, but that's even further off-topic.
Prior to this discovery I tended to settle for Butty Bach and Hobgoblin.
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Meanwhile the Camden Town Brewery has just been Borged by AB InBev :-\
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It's a hot topic of discussion in the beer thread at the other place. The Brew Dog boys have taken a William Wallace-esque stand against The Man, which is much to their credit (even if their beers sometimes aren't).
Meanwhile, I am drinking a pint of salted liquorice stout, against my better judgment, to numb the pain of shopping at Westfield. It's really rather good. Feckin' hipster brewers winning me over with their ridiculous concoctions. Not available in Tesco, I imagine.
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Camden was pretty much set up with this kind of acquisition in mind, so no surprise. Their beer was never more than indifferent. Same goes for Meantime and their insipid and ubiquitous pale ale. I can't imagine InBevSABMillerDeathStar will change much.
I quite like Brewdog. OK, they overdo the PR at times, yelling like a mouthy teenager, but they're genuinely successful and do some brilliant beers and are willing to be hit and miss. OK, you can't get into their bars these days because they're stuffed full of hipster beard, it's like tunnelling into a teddy bear's stuffing-filled guts. It was a pleasant surprise the other week in the Gatwick Premier Inn (I'm living the dream so you don't have to) to find they had Dead Pony and Punk IPA as an alternative to the nasty fizz on tap. Not the best two beers in the world, but several parsecs away from Stella. More power to them if they save me from that fate.
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A very underrated beer in my opinion is Ruddle's, even the one with rhubarb in it.
Flowers used to be good, and relatively local to me, but was spoiled by Whitbread when they moved it to South Wales
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Ooh, Flowers, yes that was good - not seen it for decades :(
Ruddle's County, my college used to sell that for 60p a pint in the 90s. Awesome, I can still remember being impressed at 8 pints for a a fiver. ;) Shame they never cleaned the pipes. Twas a very nice pint when I found it done proper.
Some of this thread is a proper blast from the past :thumbsup:
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The only issue I have with Brewdog is that it costs a second mortgage to buy a pint of their finest.
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I grew up on Ruddles County and Greene King Abbot. When they were beers. Never out of a bottle though.
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I should confess that my haul the other day included at least one bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout. And I'm actually very much looking forward to the gooseberry sour.
Yesterday's demolition included a 22oz bomber of chai spiced Imperial Russian Stout. It's not all that often I buy a case of bombers but this one was good enough. The other such case I have in my cellar is Dogfish Head's Theobroma. That one was a punt - reduced from $108.99 to $50 on the basis it had sat on the shelf for 11 months in the beer distributor. The punt paid off, it's good stuff, but a 750ml bottle that's 9.5% abv (more or less) isn't something I drink very often.
Yesterday's demolition also included what was possibly the last ever bomber of the original Ruination double IPA. It was marked as "enjoy by October 2013" but still tasted much like it did back in, well, 2013.
The final touch was a shot of Talisker Dark Storm, which was spectacularly good.
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A lot of craft brewers are now using cans – small-run canning lines are modestly cheap, no more so than bottling lines, and bottles cost more than cans, they're heavier, take up more warehouse space, are harder to store (light and breakage), and cost more to transport.
My only reason for preferring to buy beer in bottles is that I can re-use them for my home brews. I don't think canning is a viable option for the home brewer yet, and cans aren't re-usable. I could use Kilner jars, I suppose.
I tend to find beer from cans a tad fizzier than bottled beers but that may be my imagination, or it may just be a characteristic of the particular canned beers I've tried.
What is a keg if not a giant can?
The only comparison I've been able to do in recent times has been with Redd's Apple Ale. It's one I'm almost ashamed to admit drinking at all but in the summer months when I want something refreshing and still want to be able to legally drive home it ticks the boxes.
Bottled Redd's was noticeably different than the canned version. The canned version had a taste that I could only describe as somewhat metallic. If I'm buying it (which I don't do very often and even less often at this time of year) I pay the extra to get bottles. Glass isn't recycled here, and bottles are a bit of a pain to get rid of, but it just tastes better.
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Ooh, Flowers, yes that was good - not seen it for decades :(
Ruddle's County, my college used to sell that for 60p a pint in the 90s. Awesome, I can still remember being impressed at 8 pints for a a fiver. ;) Shame they never cleaned the pipes. Twas a very nice pint when I found it done proper.
Some of this thread is a proper blast from the past :thumbsup:
60 p !!! I recall 37 p a pint in early 80s, Flowers/ Hook Norton Old Hooky / Directors ---Morlands @ Cricketters Arms, Iffley Rd, indeed all a blast from past and all real good stuff :thumbsup:
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I used to buy "beer" for 1s 2d a pint in the Black Horse in teh Roxwell Road, Chelmsford, when I was in teh sixth form. School uniform was never a barrier to us drinking then. I bet you couldn't get away with it now.
One of my brother's boasts is that he paid half-fare on a bus to Chelmsford once to go on a pub crawl with his mates.
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£9.20 for 1 1/6 pints :o
Hipster prices ::-)