Author Topic: British beer v foreign beer.  (Read 22923 times)

Re: British beer v foreign beer.
« Reply #100 on: 05 April, 2014, 08:51:12 pm »
A little under a year ago I had the good fortune to visit a pub in Long Crendon, Buckinghamshire, selling beer made by the local XT brewery. I bought a pint of 4, & it was very good indeed. Unfortunately, I didn't buy it at the start of our visit, so I only had time for one.

XT 4 - recommended.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: British beer v foreign beer.
« Reply #101 on: 06 April, 2014, 10:16:44 am »
It's interesting that the "craft beer" movement means there's less of a distinction between British beer and "foreign" beer these days - but in a good way, as British brewers adopt, adapt and sometimes even improve on beer styles from other parts of the world.

Case in point, that I've been enjoying lately: M&S do a range of single-hopped bottled ales, of which my favourite is the Cascade version. A very American-style pale ale but made for M&S by Nottingham's Castle Rock brewery.

"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Rhys W

  • I'm single, bilingual
    • Cardiff Ajax
Re: British beer v foreign beer.
« Reply #102 on: 08 April, 2014, 11:03:37 pm »
There's a couple of nice things in Tesco now in the craft beer niche. Luckily they're called craft beers, because I refuse to buy any product with "artisan" in the title. Tesco-branded but brewed by the usual suspects. There's a Red beer/ale, a Steam beer (San Fran style?), a wheat beer (Hooegarden type thing) and a lager.

Re: British beer v foreign beer.
« Reply #103 on: 08 April, 2014, 11:22:03 pm »
The problem that I have is that no (British) beer tastes as good from a bottle as it does from a pump, with or without a sparkler  ;) .

I very rarely buy "bitters" in bottles, I'd rather go for lagers or "foreign" beers such "crap" like "1664".

Recently I've aquired a taste for strong Belgian blonde beers.
It doesn't help that a new off-licence down the road (Tiny's Tipple) stocks a wide range .........

I've also got to like Kolsch style lagers.
They're better on draught but they're also great from bottles.

So many beers, so little time.


Riggers

  • Mine's a pipe, er… pint!
Re: British beer v foreign beer.
« Reply #104 on: 22 April, 2014, 08:51:59 am »
More beer gathered under my wing on a visit to London at the weekend. Yum, and double-yum.





Certainly never seen cycling south of Sussex

Re: British beer v foreign beer.
« Reply #105 on: 22 April, 2014, 01:23:17 pm »
That's quite a breakfast Riggers  ;D


Riggers

  • Mine's a pipe, er… pint!
Re: British beer v foreign beer.
« Reply #106 on: 22 April, 2014, 02:08:20 pm »
The White Shield and 13 Guns have gone already!
Certainly never seen cycling south of Sussex

Mrs Pingu

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Re: British beer v foreign beer.
« Reply #107 on: 22 April, 2014, 10:42:53 pm »
What are the breweries in the 2nd & 3rd photies?
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Riggers

  • Mine's a pipe, er… pint!
Certainly never seen cycling south of Sussex

LEE

  • "Shut Up Jens" - Legs.
Re: British beer v foreign beer.
« Reply #109 on: 23 April, 2014, 09:07:51 am »
I greatly prefer the Belgian beers in general. In my view they are brewed for a market where sipping an excellent product is the norm, whereas in the UK most drinkers look for something that they can down several pints of at a sitting.


My former employer has an education centre near Brussels and I've spent many (wonderful) weeks there.

Once, before an England World Cup game, a few of us went shopping for a trolley full of beers, to watch in the education centre's TV lounge. 
The only criteria was that no two bottles were the same (not an issue in a Belgian supermarket). 
We sat down an hour or so before kick-off, to get the best seats, and began "warming up" with some of what Trappist Monks seem to do best.

I have no recollection of the kick-off or any of the subsequent evening.  Sipping is clearly sage advice.

My observation is that many Belgian beers taste lovely and complex, some not dissimilar to some British Ales.  They rarely taste like they are 10% alcohol (which strong UK "Wife beater" lagers do) so invariably it is all to easy to sit down and start glugging pints of wine-strength beers, with the obvious consequences.

I've spent time in the US Mid-West also.  They do some seriously terrible things in the name of Beer (Miller Light Ice-White Clear Beer and other similar sounding watery fizz) BUT they also do very nice "Boston Ales". 
I ordered Sam Adams whenever I saw it (it was a safe bet) but eventually became a regular of the local "Brew-Pub" where we'd wait anxiously for the next brew to complete, be it a Wheat Beer, a "Boston" Beer or a Porter.  It was all very lovely I have to say and the micro-brewers there take it every bit as seriously as your typical CAMRA person over here.
Some people say I'm self-obsessed but that's enough about them.

Pingu

  • Put away those fiery biscuits!
  • Mrs Pingu's domestique
    • the Igloo
Re: British beer v foreign beer.
« Reply #110 on: 07 May, 2014, 10:10:39 pm »
Mwah-ha-ha  :P


IMG_3076 by The Pingus, on Flickr

Re: British beer v foreign beer.
« Reply #111 on: 07 May, 2014, 11:09:57 pm »
After a heroic session in Belgium (just north of the Ardennes; I can't remember the name of the town…) a mate and I camped on a landfill site… We didn't realise until the following afternoon, when a delivery arrived.

I'm still over eight hundred short of experiencing that Belgium has to offer!

Pingu

  • Put away those fiery biscuits!
  • Mrs Pingu's domestique
    • the Igloo
Re: British beer v foreign beer.
« Reply #112 on: 07 May, 2014, 11:37:54 pm »
I'm still over eight hundred short of experiencing that Belgium has to offer!

We can only do our best  :P

Re: British beer v foreign beer.
« Reply #113 on: 08 May, 2014, 10:10:57 pm »
Being a Guinness, drinker going abroad always brings a sense of dread. I don't mind a hoppy bitter or a glass of wine (always drink it too fast mind) but lagers in this country could turn me off alcohol. 2 things I've learnt are unpasteurised Budvar Dark in the U Medvidku in Prague is the nuts and always sip your drink in Belgium. That Trappist stuff is strong. I went over to Ghent for the Tour of Flanders this year and the first bar we went into was full of Boy Scouts all drinking. Asked the barman if this was usual and he said they maybe quite young but they are only drinking Maes at 5.2% and we have nothing weaker.

Re: British beer v foreign beer.
« Reply #114 on: 09 May, 2014, 08:59:57 am »
Which (Guinness/abroad/dread) reminds me. I was once taken to what Salvatore and I had been told was going to be 'A House of a Thousand Beers' in Siegen, Germany. It was on the pretext that we’d been away from England for a week and that we must be missing English beer.  It turned out to be the slightly disappointing ‘House of 50 beers’. And even more disappointingly, given the intention of the visit, 47 were German or Czech Pilsner lagers.  Then there was a Japanese lager, and Red Stripe, and ‘Guinness’.  I felt obliged to ask for the Guinness.  It  arrived, looking nicely black, with an authentic looking white creamy head, and  it tasted like ...  German Pilsner lager.  It was a disconcerting experience, not least because I felt obliged to pretend that the intended aim of the trip had been satisfied.

ian

Re: British beer v foreign beer.
« Reply #115 on: 09 May, 2014, 09:43:38 am »
I've never understood Guinness. Apparently, when I express my disappointment at yet another pint of what might as well be a black Carling, it's always the fault of the pub. I've been dragged to Dublin and promised the superlative experience of Guinness as it should be. It's still black piss water. It might have come straight out of the Liffey after a drunken English stag party had collectively emptied their bladders into it. I'm sorry, it's awful. Unless it's the stuff they brew in Africa, which I expect tastes awful anywhere other than Africa, but seems to hit the spot on a sweltering sub-Saharan evening. Mind you, even a bottle of Star works just peachy in such situations.

There are at least 1,000,001 better stouts in the world.

I spent the last couple of days working through the output of various Austin and San Antonio craft breweries. It's a hard life.

My inbox promises a Brewdog Black Saison. At £12 for a 330 ml bottle. Must. Resist. Temptation. They have put a Bottledog five minutes walk from the mothership too.