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trev Senior Pilot


Joined: 10 Sep 2002 Posts: 2284 Location: Cumbria, England, UK 2727 ants
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:18 pm Post subject: |
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| briggl wrote: | | hey also had a pretty good variety of ales available. I noticed that the Englishman was drinking Budweiser!! |
I'm always totally confused by all the terminology like ales, stout, beer and the likes, but I guess Bud being nice and easy to understand is at least for a lot of people the staple alcoholic drink - yes we had the Budweiser Frogs and the "Wassss up!" adverts too!
The reality is however, you'll tend to find most Brits go with whoever has the best adverts these days - well those under 50 anyway - so it's a battle between Stella and Carlsberg and since both of those are lagers then anything else doesn't get a look in on the mass markets. Oh there's Guiness of course, but getting a decent pint of that outside Ireland seems very difficult. Not tested it in Calgary yet though.
Trev _________________ Has anyone tried to find the ultimate answer to "nothing"?
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Biggles2 Pilot

Joined: 02 Nov 2003 Posts: 587 Location: England 590 ants
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:55 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Oh there's Guiness of course, but getting a decent pint of that outside Ireland seems very difficult |
In fact, the Guinness you drink here in the UK comes from Ireland. It's the very same stuff, it is no longer brewed over here. The big difference, of course, is that it doesn't come with the craic. |
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trev Senior Pilot


Joined: 10 Sep 2002 Posts: 2284 Location: Cumbria, England, UK 2727 ants
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DL-44 Trainee Baggage Handler

Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Posts: 3 Location: CT, USA 4 ants
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 9:20 pm Post subject: |
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laz - While I certainly must defer to your knowledge of what is available first hand in the UK, I consider myself fairly well versed in English beer. It's one of my favorite pastimes after all
I have enjoyed many a well hopped IPA, strong malty Barlewine, Stout, Pale-ale, spiced ale, scottish wee-heavy, etc (I avoid almost any beer/fruit combination if I can help it).
I'm not saying there isn't any variety, but I just can't see there being *more*variety there, when you consider the variety available elsewhere.
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree for now  |
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emjoi Pilot


Joined: 08 Feb 2006 Posts: 818 Location: Melbourne, Australia 835 ants
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Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 3:52 am Post subject: |
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Maybe it's the hot weather, but I've always enjoyed beer most in tropical asian countries.
Tiger Beer in Malaysia
San Miguel in the Philippines
Kingfisher in India. (The extra alcoholic stuff that sends your legs wobbly after one bottle)
Freezing cold and not too dense. Sorry, just not a fan of the Guiness Ale style. |
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Biggles2 Pilot

Joined: 02 Nov 2003 Posts: 587 Location: England 590 ants
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Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 8:16 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | I think the problem DL-44 has is that we don't see all of that variety here in the US. I was certainly unaware of all of that |
Excluding the new fruit beers, and just considering those which are part of the British brewing tradition, I was surprised to find how many of these different and varying beers you could find in the US.
Not brewed by the giants (in general, anyway) but by the hundreds of brewpubs and microbreweries that have sprung up over the last decade or two. And they seemed to find their way into almost every bar/resaurant we went into, we were amazed.
Bitter, pale ale, IPA, stout, porter, even a witbier, all very much faithful to the original. The two main differences were that it was all served under gas and that they were, almost without exception, much stronger than the original (except in Utah, of course, where all beer is 4%, by law!). IPA, apparently, is expected to be at least 6%, whereas here, the norm is about 3.8%. |
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laz Senior Pilot


Joined: 28 Nov 2005 Posts: 1878 Location: Newcastle, UK 2054 ants
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Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 11:43 am Post subject: |
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| Biggles2 wrote: | I was surprised to find how many of these different and varying beers you could find in the US.
Not brewed by the giants (in general, anyway) but by the hundreds of brewpubs and microbreweries that have sprung up over the last decade or two. And they seemed to find their way into almost every bar/resaurant we went into, we were amazed.
Bitter, pale ale, IPA, stout, porter, even a witbier, all very much faithful to the original. The two main differences were that it was all served under gas and that they were, almost without exception, much stronger than the original (except in Utah, of course, where all beer is 4%, by law!). IPA, apparently, is expected to be at least 6%, whereas here, the norm is about 3.8%. |
I have to agree - I have been to some superb brew-pubs and microbreweries in the USA, and also have sampled many many different styles of US-brewed beers outside the USA. In that respect, maybe the USA has the best variety, and possibly the best beers (it's just that most of it never makes it out of the bar it's made, nevermind to another country, and what we mostly get over here is the mass-produced rubbish!)
| DL-44 wrote: | | I consider myself fairly well versed in English beer. It's one of my favorite pastimes after all |
I'm glad about that! And I say "vive la différence"!
Just in case anyone is remotely interested, you can take a look at my beer-tasting list as of late 2004 (not updated it for some time). The list is only British "real" beers that I have personally tasted on tap (i.e. unpasteurised, live beers)! A labour of love...! _________________ Track your Euros here
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briggl Captain


Joined: 10 Sep 2002 Posts: 3156 Location: New England, USA 3414 ants
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Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 1:21 pm Post subject: |
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Most brew pubs and microbreweries I have been to in the US I have been disappointed in. The beer is not very good and it seems like many of them are using the same mediocre recipe and/or not taking the effort to ensure the beer is up to minimum standards for taste.
I have found a good one here and there, but I cretainly would not use the proliferation of these types of establishments to try and claim that the US has the most variety. _________________ Lee's Travel Guide
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laz Senior Pilot


Joined: 28 Nov 2005 Posts: 1878 Location: Newcastle, UK 2054 ants
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Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 4:32 pm Post subject: |
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| Trev wrote: | Not sure what the craic is, but I think a lot of bar staff just don't know about letting it stand and they think they are pouring lager or something. The worst stuff was in the pub where I worked, but then the first guy never even washed the lines in 5 years (!) which explained why everything tasted a bit odd. New people had to have everything replaced.
Trev |
Sorry to say, but this whole thing about letting Guinness stand is just marketting rubbish! The Guinness you get in all pubs in the UK is pasteurised so there is nothing left of its condition whatsoever. The creaminess comes from injecting it with Nitrogen as it travels to your glass. The settling is simply letting the nitrogen bubbles rise to the surface, and it adds nothing whatsoever to flavour, condition, quality or anything. This is the same process you get with other cream-flow draft beers and with "draft" beer from a can. The gas that should be in beer is carbon dioxide, coming from the natural fermentation process!
The sad thing is that Guinness was once a very good beer, very full of flavour, but this goes against what people want (the reason they drink flavourless lagers such as Budweiser and Carling), so Guinness have slowly marketed away the taste... first by serving it as pasteurised/cream-flow and now by serving it at a temperature where you have zero chance whatsoever of tasting anything.
rant over!  _________________ Track your Euros here
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thegermantruth Chief Steward


Joined: 28 Feb 2006 Posts: 141 Location: Germany/U.S.A. 192 ants
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Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2006 3:09 pm Post subject: German Beer |
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That one is easy, German beer of coarse Years ago a law was passed prohibiting use of any preservitives in breweries in Germany. A year or two ago this law was withdrawn but most breweries still use the main ingredients without preservitives. I am in the military so I have had the chance to travel to many countries and of course I tried the most popular beer in every country and I personally prefer German beer. _________________ Oooops! My sig doesn't comply with the rules on signature files and has been removed by a moderator
Note to user: you can re-edit your sig, but please make sure it complies in future! Thank you. |
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Biggles2 Pilot

Joined: 02 Nov 2003 Posts: 587 Location: England 590 ants
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Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 3:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | The Guinness you get in all pubs in the UK is pasteurised so there is nothing left of its condition whatsoever |
Sadly, the Guinness you get anywhere now is pasteurised, even (shock, horror!) in Ireland. |
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2cyprus Baggage Handler

Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Posts: 15
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Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 5:14 pm Post subject: Cyprus "KEO" |
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Cyprus "KEO" _________________ Cyprus REAL TIME Weather Station
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John_from_Eurapart Senior Pilot


Joined: 24 Jan 2004 Posts: 1757 Location: Brussels, Belgium 2258 ants
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Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 10:02 pm Post subject: |
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The answer is obviously that no country has the best beer, there is a huge variety of beers around the world and every year new beers are added by breweries and microbreweries the world over.
My favourite beer is Brains SA - (skull attack). The cheapest very drinkable beers I have found were in the Czech Republic and the most variety in Belgium. Still trying to work my way through those
The best beer festival I have visited was Oktoberfest. But in actual fact I like red wine a lot too. Still haven't made it to the Oktoberfest wine tent. I have 2007 pencilled in for that!
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deaddoll Co-Pilot


Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 425 Location: UK but not everyday 447 ants
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 3:57 pm Post subject: |
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I think it should be illegal for Bud to be drank in the UK...why oh why in a country with so many good beers,real ale and Larger and easy access cheap priced German and Belgium beers do we even import it ...STOP NOW !!!! dont care how cute the adverts are..I wouldnt drink it unless you paid me and then would have to be alot and Ill drink anything but that  |
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Biggles2 Pilot

Joined: 02 Nov 2003 Posts: 587 Location: England 590 ants
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 4:16 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | why oh why in a country with so many good beers,real ale and Larger and easy access cheap priced German and Belgium beers do we even import it |
Surprised you didn't mention Real Bud, from the Czech Republic |
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