Topic: Drink Better Beer - Belgian, German, Craft, Ales, Lagers all your hoppy goodness in one place

[weebroalan]

beers dont taste very nice unless ice cold

What? The only reason most lagers are ice cold is to disguise the actual taste!

Proper beer (real ale) should be served cold - lukewarm

[Corkboy]

Had a few of these at the weekend and they were excellent - very malty which is unusual for a lager but delicious

Drank a good bit of that last time I was in the US, quite nice.

I now refuse to buy crap like Fosters, Carling et al - absolute waste of money.

Testify!

[Snail]

Also, Effes is the only thing I'll drink in Spoons. Judge me all you want, I love the stuff.

[JackBauer]

Had a few of these at the weekend and they were excellent - very malty which is unusual for a lager but delicious

I do like Sam Adams. Their seasonal brews are worth watching out for as well - my favourite is the summer ale.

[High_Cotton]

Sam is pretty average, to be fair. Still better than Bud/Miller/Coors though.

[thekitkatshuffler]

beers dont taste very nice unless ice cold

You need to find yourself another drink of choice mate.  You clearly don't actually like beer.   

[Kahuna{=}Berger]

Also, Effes is the only thing I'll drink in Spoons. Judge me all you want, I love the stuff.

The taste of victory, right there!

[La Vecchia Magpie]

Too lazy to read through everything but can someone give me a few beers that don't leave you with mega hangovers or ruin your night? the last two nights out I've been on Stella has ruined my night and give me a massive headache the next morning!

[JackBauer]

Sam is pretty average, to be fair. Still better than Bud/Miller/Coors though.

If I had my choice of the world's ales, it wouldn't be top of my list. However, I am quite restricted for choice being where I am.

[thekitkatshuffler]

Too lazy to read through everything but can someone give me a few beers that don't leave you with mega hangovers or ruin your night? the last two nights out I've been on Stella has ruined my night and give me a massive headache the next morning!

Anything that's not full of shitty chemicals.  Get a Sierra Nevada down your neck.  Plenty restrained enough not to offend a Stella drinker, but infinitely smoother for the morning after. 

[Ray K]

Quite into this beer at the moment.
Lovely with a slice of orange, which also counts as one of your 5 fruit/veg a day. Possibly.

 

[Sudden Death Draft Loser]

[thekitkatshuffler]

Best winter beer in the world...

[weebroalan]

After reading this thread today I popped by the offy and picked up a few Oxford Gold and Erdinger - 2 very different but quality beers.

[Lentง]

Dunno if anyone's tried Birra Moretti but it's a lovely lager, it's in Wetherspoons at the mo from bottles but tastes much much better from draught. Expensive though, ฃ4 a pint where I was.

[Garstonite]

[weebroalan]

Dunno if anyone's tried Birra Moretti but it's a lovely lager, it's in Wetherspoons at the mo from bottles but tastes much much better from draught. Expensive though, ฃ4 a pint where I was.

Have that when I go to Bella Italia - beautiful with pizza and pasta

[Mal]

Erdinger Dunkel Weissbier is good but it's not the daddy of Weissbiers; Konig Ludwig Weissbier is the daddy. It's fucking ace, hard to find, even in Bavaria but if your ever there its worth finding. Delicious.

[Songs to Sing]

You need to find yourself another drink of choice mate.  You clearly don't actually like beer.   

I want to like it though, I want to acquire the taste that delights you all so much. But it's just not happening

[weebroalan]

I want to like it though, I want to acquire the taste that delights you all so much. But it's just not happening

It takes time to develop mate - just keep at it, keep tasting and trying new beers that cost more than ฃ1 a tin

[Garstonite]

It takes time to develop mate - just keep at it, keep tasting and trying new beers that cost more than ฃ1 a tin

Haha, brilliant. I think this huge dilemma would make for a great film.

"ONE MAN, ONE DESIRE, ONE OVERWHELMING CRAVING."

'SONGS TO SING' stars as the WKD drinking fairyboy.

He must develop a taste for proper ale before terrorists destroy the Chrysler building.

[weebroalan]

Haha, brilliant. I think this huge dilemma would make for a great film.

"ONE MAN, ONE DESIRE, ONE OVERWHELMING CRAVING."

'SONGS TO SING' stars as the WKD drinking fairyboy.

He must develop a taste for proper ale before terrorists destroy the Chrysler building.

[Slightly Less Mediocre Baron Bennekov]

If you like a good porter or stout give this one a go. Fantastic beer from San Francisco, USA.

[scott]

All about Erdinger!

[Jookie]

Quite into this beer at the moment.
Lovely with a slice of orange, which also counts as one of your 5 fruit/veg a day. Possibly.

 

Only ever had these when visiting the US. Are they always served with a slice of orange? That's how it was served to me and was pretty susprised first time I saw the orange in there. Pretty nice though.

From being a 100% lager drinker I've pretty much given it up in favour of ales/beers. I quite like Samuel Smiths. Some of the Sheperd Neame beers are good - Whitstable Bay (organic), Bishops Finger, Spitfire. One nice lager I have find though is Green Daemon by Hopdaemon, as smallish brewery in Sittingbourne, Kent. Incubus from the same company is also very good (more of a light bitter).

Hawkshead brewery also do some nice bitters/ales. The Hawkshead bitter, the Red and Lakeland Gold were the best ones I've tried.

[LiverLuke]

oranjeboom is my fav lager atm

[Jookie]

oranjeboom is my fav lager atm

That's Sheperd Neame isn't it?

[thekitkatshuffler]

That's Sheperd Neame isn't it?

N'ah, it's Dutch.

[WraithXx]

my favorite beer EVER:



Pilsner Urquell (Czech Republic)

[RJH]

N'ah, it's Dutch.

Jookie's sort of right though.
Apparently brewed in the UK under license by Sheperd Neame

[richmond-red]

Nice beer from Colorado:-

[thekitkatshuffler]

my favorite beer EVER:



Pilsner Urquell (Czech Republic)

What does this stuff taste like?  The bottle always reminds me of Staropramen, which I love, but does it taste similar at all?

[WraithXx]

What does this stuff taste like?  The bottle always reminds me of Staropramen, which I love, but does it taste similar at all?

I couldn't begin to give you a good response other than "the full flavor of a dark beer in a pale ale", but here's a website detailing the taste by a bunch of reviewers http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1/429

[penfold102]

Can't believe I haven't seen this thread before. Some great recommendations in here - Leffe, Duvel, Delirium. Love my Belgian beers and there used to be a bar near me which had about 10 pages of them but it's closed down now 

Anyway, here's my recommendations:

Troubadour Blond - definitely the best blonde beer I've tasted from Belgium. Quite similar to Leffe but with an ever more pleasant aftertaste.

Hercule Belgian stout - fantastic Belgian dark beer, great taste and a nice sipping beer (you probably wouldn't want more than a couple of these unless you want days of miserable headaches). Great bottle too - very Belgian looking man with a green moustache!

Orval - very refreshing and a good alternative to Duvel if you want to try something different. If you have been to a Belgo restaurant you might have tried it there already.

Barbar - if you are into your fruity beers or want to try something a bit sweeter, then this honey beer is the best of the lot. It's not overly sweet but if you like your bitters then it's probably not for you. Also, it gave me a rotten hangover. Tasty as fuck though!!

Also, seen some good American beers here. I really enjoy Anchor and had Fat Tire when is was in California, but here are a couple of beers I found while I was there:


Arrogant Bastard Ale - my god this stuff is strong but the taste is unbelievably good. If you like strong ,dark beers then you can't go wrong. It's expensive but at least the bottle is a good size. Also, the writing on the back is pretty funny (I think Brewdog in the UK are copying their style). In fact, try anything from the Stone Brewery and you won't go far wrong. This one is also epic:


Bear Racer 5 - from a small brewery in California comes this fantastic IPA - haven't had a better one before or since. Unfortunately I have looked everywhere and cannot find it in the UK so this is more of a recommendation to the American RAWKites.

A good website to buy some good international beers in the UK is this place - their stock is massive and it's a good service. Plus, if you order by the crate then it's not too expensive.

http://www.beersofeurope.co.uk/acatalog/

Enjoy!!!!

[Nuje]

Agreed! In Germany, for a beverage to have the privilege of being called beer, it can only contain the 4 ingredients mentioned. In Canada, I think I read the list of permissible ingredients is somewhere in the 90s.

The most popular beers here in Canada are American Budweiser and Coors light (both American piss). They're followed by Molson Canadian and Labatt Blue (Canadian piss). A study was done a while back, indicating that 5 out of 10 Labatt Blue fans, and 7 or 8 out of 10 Molson Canadian fans, couldn't even pick the odd beer out on a table with 3 glasses, 2 containing one beer, and the third containing the other (let alone say which one is their favourite brand). The point was to prove a theory that you're buying the marketing not the taste of the beer. They were right.

Anyways, for a lager, I love Czech Budweiser (for the North Americans, it's called Czechvar here for legal reasons...even though they came up with the name far before Anheuser Busch did)
Otherwise, I like a good India Pale Ale, and a good white beer as well. A Canadian brewery called Unibroue is very good at the latter imo, hopefully a recent takeover doesn't cut into that. Not sure if it's as pure as the Germans demand, but it's damn tasty, and just has so much interesting flavour to it.

[Sir Harvest Fields]

I didnt know arrogant bastard ale was real, and i have a t-shirt with it on. Sad.

[High_Cotton]

Also, seen some good American beers here. I really enjoy Anchor and had Fat Tire when is was in California, but here are a couple of beers I found while I was there:


Arrogant Bastard Ale - my god this stuff is strong but the taste is unbelievably good. If you like strong ,dark beers then you can't go wrong. It's expensive but at least the bottle is a good size. Also, the writing on the back is pretty funny (I think Brewdog in the UK are copying their style). In fact, try anything from the Stone Brewery and you won't go far wrong. This one is also epic:


Bear Racer 5 - from a small brewery in California comes this fantastic IPA - haven't had a better one before or since. Unfortunately I have looked everywhere and cannot find it in the UK so this is more of a recommendation to the American RAWKites.

Enjoy!!!!

Both Stone and Bear Republic are wonderful breweries.  Along with Rogue in Portland, Oregon, they are probably three of the best breweries that the West Coast has to offer.

Racer 5 is an incredible IPA, but there's a brewery on the East Coast, in Delaware that makes a series of great IPAs as well: Dogfish Head.  If you can ever find their 90 Minute IPA, you should pick it up.  I think it's better.  Dogfish Head also makes a 60 Minute IPA for those that aren't hop heads, and an incredible 120 Minute IPA (comes in at 18%abv) for those who search for their divinity in hops.

[High_Cotton]

I didnt know arrogant bastard ale was real, and i have a t-shirt with it on. Sad.

Yep.  It's from a brewery right outside of San Diego, CA, and here's the label penfold was describing..

[penfold102]

Both Stone and Bear Republic are wonderful breweries.  Along with Rogue in Portland, Oregon, they are probably three of the best breweries that the West Coast has to offer.

Racer 5 is an incredible IPA, but there's a brewery on the East Coast, in Delaware that makes a series of great IPAs as well: Dogfish Head.  If you can ever find their 90 Minute IPA, you should pick it up.  I think it's better.  Dogfish Head also makes a 60 Minute IPA for those that aren't hop heads, and an incredible 120 Minute IPA (comes in at 18%abv) for those who search for their divinity in hops.

Cheers for the tips - I will try and hunt them down (although 18% might be a bit much for me)

[blah]

This thread needs to be more active!

Loved seeing Racer 5 and Arrogant Bastard on here. Fat Tire is also one of my favorites but isn't readily available on the East Coast yet.

Some American Breweries I have been drinking a lot of recently, I think all are fantastic:
Three Floyds
Dark Horse Brewing
Troeegs
Lagunitas
Duck Rabbit

On another note, a local beer store/cafe just had an IPA festival(My favorite style of beer) with 24 on tap. Fantastic day, got really drunk off of really heavy beers in the middle of the day in the sun, then switched over to scotch while watching the Pacquiao vs. Mosley fight. Good day, bad sunday.