Where is the Beer Thread?

[Happyhooker]

No, I get it .

I ate my words as I was lamenting that we were never getting to get anything other than IPA Derivatives.......and then we got Sours

I know I'm a cliche

Uhoh. Sours are one of the oldest beer styles and, on the whole, fucking awesome

This I also know - But, I can't stand the modern iterations.

Luckily for me, my favourite beer in Oz is a proper Midlands style Brown Ale

i hate to tell you this, but a midlands brown ale was basically a midlands brewery's mild in a bottle. it's not really a distinct beer style

[Biffer]

Weather is getting warmer so I turn more to lager. Pilsner Urquell, Staropramen are the bigger names I like, can’t stand Stella or most Belgian beers. Any suggestions?

[Tichtheid]

Weather is getting warmer so I turn more to lager. Pilsner Urquell, Staropramen are the bigger names I like, can’t stand Stella or most Belgian beers. Any suggestions?

I’m not keen or Staropramen myself, but I like Pilsner Urquell.

I also like Czech Budvar. Harviestoun Schiehallion is good, there are a couple of good Orkney lagers too

[Caley_Red]

Black Isle Blonde and Arran Blonde where my favoured tipples back homes, London was Spitfire and Doombar, Australia's beer is absolute piss by comparison although a couple of okay ones are: 4 Pines Pacific and Stone & Wood.

Another note, I find Brewdog's success utterly perplexing (success of brand, maybe?): their products are uniformly garbage and very expensive- anyone keen on them?

[Jimmy Smallsteps]

Just picked up some tallboy cans of Royal Dutch.

[Jimmy Smallsteps]

Black Isle Blonde and Arran Blonde where my favoured tipples back homes, London was Spitfire and Doombar, Australia's beer is absolute piss by comparison although a couple of okay ones are: 4 Pines Pacific and Stone & Wood.

Another note, I find Brewdog's success utterly perplexing (success of brand, maybe?): their products are uniformly garbage and very expensive- anyone keen on them?

Sounds like you haven't sampled enough. Those named are probably the closest to macro a craft beer can get.

Balter, Colonial and Bridge Rd are all smaller outfits putting out excellent beer.

[Dinsdale Piranha]

Weather is getting warmer so I turn more to lager. Pilsner Urquell, Staropramen are the bigger names I like, can’t stand Stella or most Belgian beers. Any suggestions?

I’m not keen or Staropramen myself, but I like Pilsner Urquell.

I also like Czech Budvar. Harviestoun Schiehallion is good, there are a couple of good Orkney lagers too

Staropramen is now brewed under license by Marstons - I actually think they are doing a decent job of it and I have a bottle occasionally at home. It's reasonably priced too. Pilsener Urquell has also had a return to form recently after a few years where I think the quality dropped a bit. Urquell is more bitter which is more to my taste.

I wouldn't go near most of the big name brands willingly.

[Biffer]

Weather is getting warmer so I turn more to lager. Pilsner Urquell, Staropramen are the bigger names I like, can’t stand Stella or most Belgian beers. Any suggestions?

I’m not keen or Staropramen myself, but I like Pilsner Urquell.

I also like Czech Budvar. Harviestoun Schiehallion is good, there are a couple of good Orkney lagers too

Yeah Schiehallion is good. And is a lager.

I feel the need to point out to people that Blonde Ales are not lagers.

[Slick]

Weather is getting warmer so I turn more to lager. Pilsner Urquell, Staropramen are the bigger names I like, can’t stand Stella or most Belgian beers. Any suggestions?

I’m not keen or Staropramen myself, but I like Pilsner Urquell.

I also like Czech Budvar. Harviestoun Schiehallion is good, there are a couple of good Orkney lagers too

Yeah Schiehallion is good. And is a lager.

I feel the need to point out to people that Blonde Ales are not lagers.

I've enjoyed a couple of Leith Lagers from Pilot during this lockdown.

Quite like Caesar Augusta the lager/IPA hybrid from Williams Bros. Their Joker IPA is one of my favourite off the shelf supermarket bottled beers

[Tichtheid]

Weather is getting warmer so I turn more to lager. Pilsner Urquell, Staropramen are the bigger names I like, can’t stand Stella or most Belgian beers. Any suggestions?

I’m not keen or Staropramen myself, but I like Pilsner Urquell.

I also like Czech Budvar. Harviestoun Schiehallion is good, there are a couple of good Orkney lagers too

Staropramen is now brewed under license by Marstons - I actually think they are doing a decent job of it and I have a bottle occasionally at home. It's reasonably priced too. Pilsener Urquell has also had a return to form recently after a few years where I think the quality dropped a bit. Urquell is more bitter which is more to my taste.

I wouldn't go near most of the big name brands willingly.

You've just rung a bell there, Marston's used to do a brew for Tescos called Revisionist, I loved it, but I haven't seen it for ages.

I must check out what else they are doing.

[SaintK]

Black Isle Blonde and Arran Blonde where my favoured tipples back homes, London was Spitfire and Doombar, Australia's beer is absolute piss by comparison although a couple of okay ones are: 4 Pines Pacific and Stone & Wood.

Another note, I find Brewdog's success utterly perplexing (success of brand, maybe?): their products are uniformly garbage and very expensive- anyone keen on them?

It's a weird one really. Some of their brews are ok, particularly the dark beers and stouts. Though if I go to one of their pubs I invariably choose from the guest list or can/bottle fridge!

[Biffer]

I’m not keen or Staropramen myself, but I like Pilsner Urquell.

I also like Czech Budvar. Harviestoun Schiehallion is good, there are a couple of good Orkney lagers too

Yeah Schiehallion is good. And is a lager.

I feel the need to point out to people that Blonde Ales are not lagers.

I've enjoyed a couple of Leith Lagers from Pilot during this lockdown.

Quite like Caesar Augusta the lager/IPA hybrid from Williams Bros. Their Joker IPA is one of my favourite off the shelf supermarket bottled beers

Yeah, those are both excellent. Caesar is great on a sunny afternoon.

They're even better on tap

[ASMO]

Staropramen is just too sweet for my palette, love Urqel though. If you can get it Nefiltrovaný (which means out of the wood and unpasturised) that is insanely good. Gambrinus is a decent alternative.

[Happyhooker]

Weather is getting warmer so I turn more to lager. Pilsner Urquell, Staropramen are the bigger names I like, can’t stand Stella or most Belgian beers. Any suggestions?

Bunching stella in with most belgian beers is a tad unfair.

Re lagers, there's been some decent calls already urquell and budvar are the best of the big names. I can't believe dinsdale didn't mention augustiner helles.

A lot of the smaller breweries are now doing decent lagers - slick mentioned pilot's offering which is good, if you're in Edinburgh try the new barns lager.

Lost and grounded are probably the big craft lager name in the uk, but are pricey.

Have a look at your local breweries and see what's available if you're interested in unusual options. Where do you live?

[Happyhooker]

Black Isle Blonde and Arran Blonde where my favoured tipples back homes, London was Spitfire and Doombar, Australia's beer is absolute piss by comparison although a couple of okay ones are: 4 Pines Pacific and Stone & Wood.

Another note, I find Brewdog's success utterly perplexing (success of brand, maybe?): their products are uniformly garbage and very expensive- anyone keen on them?

It's a weird one really. Some of their brews are ok, particularly the dark beers and stouts. Though if I go to one of their pubs I invariably choose from the guest list or can/bottle fridge!

Pretty much this. They can brew decent beer, but it tends to be only the niche ones they put any thought into nowadays. Punk was originally a game changer, but they fucked with it ages ago. Their lager and alcohol free beers are actually surprisingly good.

They've marketed and expanded very aggressively (some would say too aggressively) and have crossed into mainstream quite effectively. you're in oz, so don't know the price point there, but I wouldn't say they're very expensive over here (but I'm fairly price insensitive when it comes to beers)
There are some pretty decent smaller breweries in oz, although you're way behind uk, us and nz, the aussie lot could help more

[Jock42]

Black Isle Blonde and Arran Blonde where my favoured tipples back homes, London was Spitfire and Doombar, Australia's beer is absolute piss by comparison although a couple of okay ones are: 4 Pines Pacific and Stone & Wood.

Another note, I find Brewdog's success utterly perplexing (success of brand, maybe?): their products are uniformly garbage and very expensive- anyone keen on them?

I quite like their elvis juice and don't mind the punk. I'd rather get something from 71 brewing if I'm shopping "local". My mates like the bar but I'd rather go somewhere else.

[Biffer]

Weather is getting warmer so I turn more to lager. Pilsner Urquell, Staropramen are the bigger names I like, can’t stand Stella or most Belgian beers. Any suggestions?

Bunching stella in with most belgian beers is a tad unfair.

Re lagers, there's been some decent calls already urquell and budvar are the best of the big names. I can't believe dinsdale didn't mention augustiner helles.

A lot of the smaller breweries are now doing decent lagers - slick mentioned pilot's offering which is good, if you're in Edinburgh try the new barns lager.

Lost and grounded are probably the big craft lager name in the uk, but are pricey.

Have a look at your local breweries and see what's available if you're interested in unusual options. Where do you live?

I wasn't grouping them together, I should have used an Oxford comma. I don't like either.

I'm in Edinburgh, I buy from Stewart Brewing a lot, have had stuff delivered and get growlers from the tap room. Their lager is decent basic lager, and they've also got First World Problems which is ok. Some of their IPAs are pretty good summer beers as well tbh. I'm only five minutes away from Edinburgh Beer Factory as well, their Paolazzi (sp?) is decent. Had a few Pilot beers before, good stuff, but haven't tried their lager.

[Slick]

Black Isle Blonde and Arran Blonde where my favoured tipples back homes, London was Spitfire and Doombar, Australia's beer is absolute piss by comparison although a couple of okay ones are: 4 Pines Pacific and Stone & Wood.

Another note, I find Brewdog's success utterly perplexing (success of brand, maybe?): their products are uniformly garbage and very expensive- anyone keen on them?

I quite like their elvis juice and don't mind the punk. I'd rather get something from 71 brewing if I'm shopping "local". My mates like the bar but I'd rather go somewhere else.

I tried the Elvis Juice last weekend and really didn’t like it, but I don’t mind Punk at all, especially for an afternoon session at a BBQ or similar

[Jock42]

Black Isle Blonde and Arran Blonde where my favoured tipples back homes, London was Spitfire and Doombar, Australia's beer is absolute piss by comparison although a couple of okay ones are: 4 Pines Pacific and Stone & Wood.

Another note, I find Brewdog's success utterly perplexing (success of brand, maybe?): their products are uniformly garbage and very expensive- anyone keen on them?

I quite like their elvis juice and don't mind the punk. I'd rather get something from 71 brewing if I'm shopping "local". My mates like the bar but I'd rather go somewhere else.

I tried the Elvis Juice last weekend and really didn’t like it, but I don’t mind Punk at all, especially for an afternoon session at a BBQ or similar

They've reduced the alcohol content from 6 something to 5.2% ish. Haven't tried it since the change.

[Biffer]

Black Isle Blonde and Arran Blonde where my favoured tipples back homes, London was Spitfire and Doombar, Australia's beer is absolute piss by comparison although a couple of okay ones are: 4 Pines Pacific and Stone & Wood.

Another note, I find Brewdog's success utterly perplexing (success of brand, maybe?): their products are uniformly garbage and very expensive- anyone keen on them?

I quite like their elvis juice and don't mind the punk. I'd rather get something from 71 brewing if I'm shopping "local". My mates like the bar but I'd rather go somewhere else.

I tried the Elvis Juice last weekend and really didn’t like it, but I don’t mind Punk at all, especially for an afternoon session at a BBQ or similar

I've never really been a fan of their beers, they're a bit too punch-you-in-the-mouth hoppy, rather than having the hops contribute to a flavour. Their alcohol free stuff is a revelation though, Punk AF is a really excellent drink, where you genuinely feel like you're having a beer.

[Tichtheid]

I quite like their elvis juice and don't mind the punk. I'd rather get something from 71 brewing if I'm shopping "local". My mates like the bar but I'd rather go somewhere else.

I tried the Elvis Juice last weekend and really didn’t like it, but I don’t mind Punk at all, especially for an afternoon session at a BBQ or similar

I've never really been a fan of their beers, they're a bit too punch-you-in-the-mouth hoppy, rather than having the hops contribute to a flavour. Their alcohol free stuff is a revelation though, Punk AF is a really excellent drink, where you genuinely feel like you're having a beer.

I've had their Nanny State and thought it was fine.

[Slick]

I quite like their elvis juice and don't mind the punk. I'd rather get something from 71 brewing if I'm shopping "local". My mates like the bar but I'd rather go somewhere else.

I tried the Elvis Juice last weekend and really didn’t like it, but I don’t mind Punk at all, especially for an afternoon session at a BBQ or similar

I've never really been a fan of their beers, they're a bit too punch-you-in-the-mouth hoppy, rather than having the hops contribute to a flavour. Their alcohol free stuff is a revelation though, Punk AF is a really excellent drink, where you genuinely feel like you're having a beer.

Having started drinking a fair bit of alcohol free beer in the last few months I think it’s piss to be honest. Actually, that’s a bit unfair, it’s not a bad big U.K. brewery one but there are some amazing German/Dutch/Swedish ones out there

[Happyhooker]

Days brewing do a fantastic AF pale

[Dinsdale Piranha]

I am probably heading to Pressure Drop tomorrow morning. Given the hilarious disaster at Beavertown's anniversary event a few years back I am not counting on getting in but hey, it's worth a try. If successful that will be 6 days a row in a pub or brewery

[Happyhooker]

I am probably heading to Pressure Drop tomorrow morning. Given the hilarious disaster at Beavertown's anniversary event a few years back I am not counting on getting in but hey, it's worth a try. If successful that will be 6 days a row in a pub or brewery

I may well see you there. What sort of time?There are other options nearby if it's difficult.

If you have trouble getting in, I could probably sort it if we get a proper means of communication

[Dinsdale Piranha]

I am probably heading to Pressure Drop tomorrow morning. Given the hilarious disaster at Beavertown's anniversary event a few years back I am not counting on getting in but hey, it's worth a try. If successful that will be 6 days a row in a pub or brewery

I may well see you there. What sort of time?There are other options nearby if it's difficult.

If you have trouble getting in, I could probably sort it if we get a proper means of communication

Assuming I don't overdo it tonight then I'm heading up with a mate and we aim to be there 11am ish - well before it opens.

[Happyhooker]

I am probably heading to Pressure Drop tomorrow morning. Given the hilarious disaster at Beavertown's anniversary event a few years back I am not counting on getting in but hey, it's worth a try. If successful that will be 6 days a row in a pub or brewery

I may well see you there. What sort of time?There are other options nearby if it's difficult.

If you have trouble getting in, I could probably sort it if we get a proper means of communication

Assuming I don't overdo it tonight then I'm heading up with a mate and we aim to be there 11am ish - well before it opens.

Bloody hell, keen. I think you'll be fine

[Jock42]

Need to have a word with ourselves troops. This thread was on page 3!!

Currently drinking Hop Squad by Fierce Beer. Quite nice, smooth and not too hoppy.

[Dinsdale Piranha]

Need to have a word with ourselves troops. This thread was on page 3!!

Currently drinking Hop Squad by Fierce Beer. Quite nice, smooth and not too hoppy.

Can't let that happen again!

I had a tin of the Boxcar/Duration collab this week. It's an excellent NEIPA but I prefer westies. There's a North/Duration Westie collab that I will try but on the downside it's 8 quid a tin!.

Another 40 bottles of Augustiner arrived during the week. Should keep me going for a few weeks.

I think I'll pop up to Boxcar next weekend if the weather permits.

[Slick]

Just popped into the Tring Brewery for some ale for this evening- Side Pocket for a Toad and Drop Bar.

Meeting a mate at Rebellion Brewery in Marlow tomorrow

[laurent]

2 Jeanlain Grand cru (Had some wine for lunch too ...)



quite nice to watch a game (8% )

[Slick]

Is that cider?

[laurent]

Is that cider?

Tssss

Jenlain is an old independent brewery

[Slick]

Is that cider?

Tssss

Jenlain is an old independent brewery

Ahh OK. Been trying a few small independent French cider makers recently, very good

[SaintK]

Need to have a word with ourselves troops. This thread was on page 3!!

Currently drinking Hop Squad by Fierce Beer. Quite nice, smooth and not too hoppy.

Can't let that happen again!

I had a tin of the Boxcar/Duration collab this week. It's an excellent NEIPA but I prefer westies. There's a North/Duration Westie collab that I will try but on the downside it's 8 quid a tin!.

Another 40 bottles of Augustiner arrived during the week. Should keep me going for a few weeks.

I think I'll pop up to Boxcar next weekend if the weather permits.

Ordered a mixed case of 6 of the Duration collabs including the Saison they have brewed with Verdant
Looking forward to trying all three

[robmatic]

Black Isle Blonde and Arran Blonde where my favoured tipples back homes, London was Spitfire and Doombar, Australia's beer is absolute piss by comparison although a couple of okay ones are: 4 Pines Pacific and Stone & Wood.

Another note, I find Brewdog's success utterly perplexing (success of brand, maybe?): their products are uniformly garbage and very expensive- anyone keen on them?

Brewdog has great marketing - that whole rebellious anti-establishment schtick and all the gimmicky brews.

Even back when I lived in Scotland (pre 2014) there were loads of craft breweries making consistently better beer than Brewdog.

[laurent]

Is that cider?

Tssss

Jenlain is an old independent brewery

Ahh OK. Been trying a few small independent French cider makers recently, very good

French cider is made with apples, that helps a lot compared to the average alcoholic lemonade found in the UK and Ireland. I knew of only 1 small cider producer in Dublin area that was also making fine vinegar.

[Happyhooker]

Nico from orbit is a fantastic kolsch lager if that's your sort of thing

[SaintK]

Need to have a word with ourselves troops. This thread was on page 3!!

Currently drinking Hop Squad by Fierce Beer. Quite nice, smooth and not too hoppy.

Can't let that happen again!

I had a tin of the Boxcar/Duration collab this week. It's an excellent NEIPA but I prefer westies. There's a North/Duration Westie collab that I will try but on the downside it's 8 quid a tin!.

Another 40 bottles of Augustiner arrived during the week. Should keep me going for a few weeks.

I think I'll pop up to Boxcar next weekend if the weather permits.

Had that collab DIPA yesterday. I though it was excellent. Clean as a whistle with a slight tropical background, not too boozy for an 8% ABV and a really good bitterness Very pleased I bought 4 of them
Going to try the Duration/Verdant collab Saison tonight. If it does what it says on the bottle then that should be good as well!

[Dinsdale Piranha]

Need to have a word with ourselves troops. This thread was on page 3!!

Currently drinking Hop Squad by Fierce Beer. Quite nice, smooth and not too hoppy.

Can't let that happen again!

I had a tin of the Boxcar/Duration collab this week. It's an excellent NEIPA but I prefer westies. There's a North/Duration Westie collab that I will try but on the downside it's 8 quid a tin!.

Another 40 bottles of Augustiner arrived during the week. Should keep me going for a few weeks.

I think I'll pop up to Boxcar next weekend if the weather permits.

Had that collab DIPA yesterday. I though it was excellent. Clean as a whistle with a slight tropical background, not too boozy for an 8% ABV and a really good bitterness Very pleased I bought 4 of them
Going to try the Duration/Verdant collab Saison tonight. If it does what it says on the bottle then that should be good as well!

Funnily enough, so did I! I thought it was excellent, but not 8 quid excellent (OK, I get a passable discount on that) My go to IPA from them is Dripping Pitch - 6.7% West Coast IPA, although they are out of it currently. I also think their Turtles pale ale has actually got better in the recent batches and that's from a very decent starting point.

A friend's daughter has just started working at North so next time I'm up that way I'll see if I can pick up some discounted North beers.