[Archived] Real Ale

[speeeeeeedie]

As we are resurrecting threads I'll bring this one up.

2 more breweries have opened up where I live bringing it up to 10. As it's America they are heavy on strong, hoppy, American IPA's that I'm not a real fan of. I do like a good stout though.

My take on the strong IPA's is that people have gravitated toward them as they are the complete opposite of the Bud Light/Miller/Coors they grew up drinking.

 

[MarkBRFC71]

2 hours ago, speeeeeeedie said:

As we are resurrecting threads I'll bring this one up.

2 more breweries have opened up where I live bringing it up to 10. As it's America they are heavy on strong, hoppy, American IPA's that I'm not a real fan of. I do like a good stout though.

My take on the strong IPA's is that people have gravitated toward them as they are the complete opposite of the Bud Light/Miller/Coors they grew up drinking.

 

I thought moving to the US that I'd have to get used to Budweiser, Coors, Michelob and the like (all bloody awful btw!) but the 'craft' brewing thing is massive over here.  As well as many supermarkets (sorry, grocery stores ) having a good selection of beers, nearly every bar has a good choice of local brews.  I'm in DFW and there must be 12 or so small, craft breweries within a 30 mile radius from my house.  We also have a bar that does a thing where if you can drink 200 different beers, you get to join the 'ring of honor' and have a personalised plate affixed to the wall.  I'm planning to have mine customised with a Rovers badge - although I am only at about 65 so far.  The overall leader has done 67 plates - that's 13400 beers and working on an average of about 7 bucks a beer (some of them are expensive) that's nigh on $100k spent on beer ....

[JohnD]

I must visit my son in Portland. I believe that is a haven for craft beer breweries?

 

[speeeeeeedie]

Just now, JohnD said:

I must visit my son in Portland. I believe that is a haven for craft beer breweries?

 

That's one place I haven't been to yet but you are right. It has breweries galore. You really can't go wrong nowadays over here. Any decent sized city will have lots of local brews to try.

Cask ale is rare, and all beer almost universally refrigerated (no Northern cellars are available to keep the beer cool).

I do like trying different beers but do still like Stella.

[JohnD]

I'll be in Birmingham tomorrow night. A pint in the Holte?

[Dreyski]

Does anyone on here use Untappd? It's like a beer pokedex crossed with facebook...

Been getting into Cloudwater and Magic Rock beers recently. Couldn't get hold of the former's DIPA v13 unfortunately (the last one under their old system), but got tipped off to cans of the latter's Human(9.2%) and Unhuman(11%) Cannonball available on t'internet, so have been getting stuck into those over the past week.

[Glenn]

I do. But since my health kick that started last summer, my real ale intake has gone from "rather too much" to "virtually nothing".  

[dave birch]

Two brewers I particularly like from North America are

Collective Arts from Hamilton Ont. and Goose Island From Chicago.

Collective Arts is interesting as it supports up and coming artists, (painters, musicians and the like) and displays their wares on the bottles and cans.

Goose Island make my favourite IPA, and I've just found that they are opening up down under.

When I was in Canada last year I got talking to a brewer about beer in cans, and I said that I preferred it out of glass as it didn't taint the beer. He told me that cans did used to taint the product, but no longer, as the technology in coating the cans had solved the problem. I found out he was right.

[AmericanRover12]

8 hours ago, speeeeeeedie said:

As we are resurrecting threads I'll bring this one up.

2 more breweries have opened up where I live bringing it up to 10. As it's America they are heavy on strong, hoppy, American IPA's that I'm not a real fan of. I do like a good stout though.

My take on the strong IPA's is that people have gravitated toward them as they are the complete opposite of the Bud Light/Miller/Coors they grew up drinking.

 

Right with ya there, can't bring myself to enjoy the taste of hoppy IPAs. Can certainly appreciate their complexity, but always that heavy grass flavor. Nice day out oo, trying a new brewery or vineyard.

Just now, dave birch said:

Goose Island make my favourite IPA, and I've just found that they are opening up down under.

Yeah, they used to be a small indie brewery but Anheuser-Busch bought them and the company is really benefiting from their ability to be distributed and exposed with that family of products. Used to be I could only get their stuff at the good craft beer places. Now they're drafts in arenas. Pretty cool to see, love their 312.

[Guest]

13 hours ago, Glenn said:

But since my health kick that started last summer, my real ale intake has gone from "rather too much" to "virtually nothing".  

I've sort of gone off real ale. That's probably not helped by the fact that there are three amazingly simple yet refreshing lagers that you can get anywhere cheaply here in Croatia - Ožujsko, Karlovačko, and Pan. They have plenty of real ales, too, like Fakin IPA.  But the lagers here really are great.

I don't know how the UK can get lager so wrong. It's crying out for a LOCAL branded lager that is light and doesn't taste like sweet ditch water. For years, I always tried to buy lager brewed in Europe... Becks was my favourite choice until they brought the brewing of it from Germany to the UK.

[speeeeeeedie]

15 hours ago, Dreski said:

Does anyone on here use Untappd? It's like a beer pokedex crossed with facebook...

 

My sister's boyfriend loves it. He's always taking pictures of his latest tester. I'm not social media inclined so stay away.

35 minutes ago, Phil T said:

I've sort of gone off real ale. That's probably not helped by the fact that there are three amazingly simple yet refreshing lagers that you can get anywhere cheaply here in Croatia - Ožujsko, Karlovačko, and Pan. They have plenty of real ales, too, like Fakin IPA.  But the lagers here really are great.

I don't know how the UK can get lager so wrong. It's crying out for a LOCAL branded lager that is light and doesn't taste like sweet ditch water. For years, I always tried to buy lager brewed in Europe... Becks was my favourite choice until they brought the brewing of it from Germany to the UK.

It's tricky, I like trying them, but a few pints is all I can do. They tend to be stronger, heavier, and hit you harder the morning after.

My true favourites are European pilsners, ones like you mention. They are refreshing yet strong tasting.

Another plus for all these new breweries is that they cater to families. 3 or 4 where I live offer kids games to keep them entertained whilst I have a cheeky pint or 2.

I was at a brewery in Montana last year, it was probably the best I've ever been to. They had a table tennis table, table football, numerous board games, a massive lawn, outdoor games. The only strange aspect was a state law that stipulated that as beer was brewed on premises each drinker could only have 3. They gave you 3 tokens as you walked in, and handed them over each time you went to the bar.

I'm also pretty sure that if I didn't frequent all these breweries I'd be posting about my fitness exploits in the health thread.

[Mike E]

Wainwright's is the best. End of.

Wish they'd make more of those little kegs of different ales instead it becoming fizzy pish from a can or bottle.

Surely any ale drinker would rather buy a 5L keg for £15-£20?

[donnermeat]

Seeing as this thread has been resurrected, I've been subscribing here for a while now:

https://www.flavourly.com

If it tickles anyone's fancy to join, PM me and I'll give a code which will get money off their first box.

[Dreyski]

6 hours ago, Mike E said:

Wainwright's is the best. End of.

Wish they'd make more of those little kegs of different ales instead it becoming fizzy pish from a can or bottle.

Surely any ale drinker would rather buy a 5L keg for £15-£20?

There's a lot to be said for spending your £15-20 on a variety of styles/brewers. Expand your horizons. Start at the supermarket and buy something you haven't tried before (it'll be cheap at least).

[Mike E]

8 hours ago, Dreski said:

There's a lot to be said for spending your £15-20 on a variety of styles/brewers. Expand your horizons. Start at the supermarket and buy something you haven't tried before (it'll be cheap at least).

Oh I agree, but I mean I'd rather be able to buy a little keg (like the heineken ones) of my favourite, which would mimic its texture from the tap, rather than have to buy bottles in which it can taste fizzy.

I make a point of trying different ones when I'm on holiday.

Pales, blonds, and goldens are my favourite beers, although I'm partial to a ruby ale in winter.

[Hanks]

5 hours ago, Mike E said:

Oh I agree, but I mean I'd rather be able to buy a little keg (like the heineken ones) of my favourite, which would mimic its texture from the tap, rather than have to buy bottles in which it can taste fizzy.

I make a point of trying different ones when I'm on holiday.

Pales, blonds, and goldens are my favourite beers, although I'm partial to a ruby ale in winter.

There is a company that delivers cask ale in 18 or 36 pint casks, although its mainly 36 pints, Webpage here- http://www.beerbarrels2u.co.uk/real-ales

[MCMC1875]

On ‎26‎/‎04‎/‎2017 at 5:27 PM, Mike E said:

Wainwright's is the best. End of.

Wish they'd make more of those little kegs of different ales instead it becoming fizzy pish from a can or bottle.

Surely any ale drinker would rather buy a 5L keg for £15-£20?

It's Wainwright.

Must do better.

[MCMC1875]

Two weeks ago I called in the Drummer's Arms, Blackburn's new micro pub facing the Town Hall. Five cask beers on. I had a pint of Saaz Blonde from Hopstar in Darwen - best pint I've had in Blackburn town centre for decades. I say town centre because Three B's at The Black Bull, Livesey is always excellent.

[Roving Mick]

On 30/04/2017 at 8:57 AM, MCMC1875 said:

Two weeks ago I called in the Drummer's Arms, Blackburn's new micro pub facing the Town Hall. Five cask beers on. I had a pint of Saaz Blonde from Hopstar in Darwen - best pint I've had in Blackburn town centre for decades. I say town centre because Three B's at The Black Bull, Livesey is always excellent.

Here's my review of the Drummer's Arms.  Is it me or does James the owner look like the sheep shearer in the old Fleece pub sign?

http://www.rovingmick.com/2017/01/01/banging-drum-blackburn-town-centre/

[Roving Mick]

The people from the Drummer's Arms were behind the recent beer festival held at Blackburn's Trinity Church.  I managed to get to the Saturday afternoon session.  This was the nearest we've had to a town centre beer festival in Blackburn since KGH was used over ten years ago.  It was a good do and free to get in, with real ales at £2.50 a pint.  The organisers were happy with the response and another festival is to be organised for September or October.

Here's my report from the festival:

http://www.rovingmick.com/2017/05/01/blackburn-st-george-trinity-beer-festival/

[Roving Mick]

Exactly 10 years since the Smoke Ban came in.  Has it helped real ale?  Here's what happened in Blackburn back then:

Smoke Ban Hits Blackburn

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

The price of drinking in pubs has done more damage. When you can get four pint cans of Stella in the supermarket for the price of a poured pint in some pubs people are going to vote with their feet.

[Mattyblue]

I think there was an initial decline due to the smoking ban, but as Tyrone says the price of a pint (outside Wetherspoons and thinking about it Blackburn town centre generally - must be the cheapest place to get a pint in the country) is ever rising.

In the past 15 or so years I've seen it go from £2 to £3 to £4 to £5+ for say a Peroni. 

However, as Mick's blog cottoned on to a decade ago, you have seen an explosion in eating in pubs, the boozers that didn't adapt have largely fallen by the wayside (unless they are particulary known for their ale).

 

 

[den]

Went into Wetherspoons recently and paid £1:99 for a pint of John Smiths. Told the barman that his prices were scandalous and if it ever went to £2 a pint, they wouldn't see me in there again ?

Reminds me of the day when fans were saying if the cost of football ever went to £1, that would be it for them.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, Mattyblue said:

I think there was an initial decline due to the smoking ban, but as Tyrone says the price of a pint (outside Wetherspoons and thinking about it Blackburn town centre generally - must be the cheapest place to get a pint in the country) is ever rising.

In the past 15 or so years I've seen it go from £2 to £3 to £4 to £5+ for say a Peroni. 

However, as Mick's blog cottoned on to a decade ago, you have seen an explosion in eating in pubs, the boozers that didn't adapt have largely fallen by the wayside (unless they are particulary known for their ale).

 

 

I ordered a large bottle of " Peroni " in " Pizza Express " the other day - £6.50 ! It's a joke when you could get three bottles  for less than that in a supermarket. What " Pizza Express " pay for a bottle will be much less still.