The Beer lovers thread.

Just finish off a bottle of Shepherd and Neame, Spitfire,very nice too.Now off to the pub for some more

Sharp's Doom Bar and Wychwood Hobgoblin for me.

Depends what mood I'm in....
Old Peculier (bottled good but if you've ever tried the draught - it's wonderful).
Tribute.
Otter.

to name but three.

I don't usually bother with lager but was tipped off about Perlenbacher - that's a lager I can manage.

Maybe some of you bitter drinkers can help me out here.

Have you always drank bitter? Y'know, even when you were, er, hip young and cool?

I've been in to my 40's for a (little) while now, and am still waiting for 'old man' syndrome to kick in - i.e. starting to drink bitter.

I honestly can't remember anyone I grew up with starting out drinking bitter. When does it happen? Is it sort of a blokey alcoholly menopause? 'Cos i don't think I've got there yet. Growing up it was Lager all the way, and I still enjoy the decent ones, though the prices are getting silly now (£4 a pint for Peroni at the Jack Rabbit) and I'd rather drink my own urine than a Carling or Carlsberg.

I favour a really refreshing Cider now, if it's draught - a nice Thatchers Gold or Rattler. Or bottled, a Westons Vintage - though that makes me fall down rather quickly.

In the past, when I've been in the company of bitter drinkers, I've tried it. To be honest, it's f*cking awful.

I'm struggling to understand how a taste for it can be acquired?

You'll get there son. I started with stuff like Double Diamond when draft Harp lager arrived and was a complete novelty and a girly drink. The I went off to sea and in all the hot climates the only beer was lager, so it just became what I always drank. Like you Czarky bitter was yuck, Worthy etc.

Since coming ashore in 1989 I have gradually migrated to ale to the extent lager is an occasional foray, except when I'm in South Africa, but even there micro breweries are starting up with ales.

On Saturday, whilst the rest of the population was thronging the streets of St Austell for the torch thingy I took my stepson and his lady to the St Austell Brewery bar where their full range is available, including their latest Torchbearer. Sampling a few pints of perfectly conditioned beer is a real pleasure and I spent £62 topping up my home supplies.

Beer has come on leaps and bounds in the last few years. Forget the lager and cider and get in there.

Edit to add : This country is just not hot enough for lager.

I was a courage best drinker from 18, and always drank cream flow bitters until about 3 years ago when I started drinking decent cider but it's so strong I have knocked that on the head and started drinking real ale if anything at all. Had something called hedge monkey glasto I think. It was a great pint so had half q dozen.

If you're drinking ale in the pub you need a decent pub or it can be lethal. Bottled ales I like hobgoblin, speckled hen and abbot ale.

When I first started drinking at the age of 14 - you could in those days in the right pubs - I went up to the bar and asked for 'a pint of beer'. I got served though. All that happened was they looked at you and asked if you were 18. The reply was, "Yes, mister." (OK I'm exaggerating but not by much).

After that it was either bitter or Guinness - though the bitter was often just keg rubbish.

When I discovered draught bitter (and mild in the Midlands) I never looked back.

I was once talked into buying an American lager - Miller I think - that was on special in a club I used to belong to. That was the best example possible of the suggestion to pour it straight down the toilet and cut out the middle man!

I've really tried with cider. I just don't get it.

knecht wrote:

When I first started drinking at the age of 14 - you could in those days in the right pubs - I went up to the bar and asked for 'a pint of beer'. I got served though. All that happened was they looked at you and asked if you were 18. The reply was, "Yes, mister." (OK I'm exaggerating but not by much).

After that it was either bitter or Guinness - though the bitter was often just keg rubbish.

When I discovered draught bitter (and mild in the Midlands) I never looked back.

I was once talked into buying an American lager - Miller I think - that was on special in a club I used to belong to. That was the best example possible of the suggestion to pour it straight down the toilet and cut out the middle man!

I've really tried with cider. I just don't get it.

Oh Knecht, knecht, knecht.

Seeing as my football team is shite, there are few things in this life that give me more pleasure these days than to be sat in a beer garden, preferably with a sea or river view, with an ice cold crisp cider to hand. So refreshing.

Charlie, like I said, I've tried the bitters, but they just simply have no life in them. I guess I've grown up with Lagers in the main, but as with the ciders, for me they have to have a bit of zest and life.

I've also really tried with Guiness, 'cos one of my mates drinks it on occasion, but a pint of that is like eating a small meal - and it just looks (and almost tastes) like liquid liquorice. Awful.

Taste buds are a strange thing ain't they...

I've drunk beer all over, purely for research purposes as a seaman, but bitter is always my choice if available.

London Pride is very good, Tribute too, started off with Mild in the Admiral McBride, when fishermen still roamed the Barbican.

I brew a lot of home made again now, my Dad started me off on that track, he was also a confirmed bitter man and ex matelot and of course a true green.

seadog wrote:

I've drunk beer all over, purely for research purposes as a seaman, but bitter is always my choice if available.

London Pride is very good, Tribute too, started off with Mild in the Admiral McBride, when fishermen still roamed the Barbican.

I brew a lot of home made again now, my Dad started me off on that track, he was also a confirmed bitter man and ex matelot and of course a true green.

This....funnily enough one of the best ever was just a plain bottled Lager called Belikin which is brewed and sold purely in Belize and its offshore islands.
Just a dirt cheap, quality, palatable and hangover free beer

Carlsberg
Tuborg
Fosters
Carling

The four beers for true champions. If anyone thinks differently, i will open you up with my mate Stanley

When the likes of Knecht, Penz and myself were young, lager didn't exist in UK pubs really.

Can always remember stopping off at a pub in Aveton Gifford as a kid with the family, on the way back to Plymouth from Banthum or Bigbury beaches, coke and crisps in the garden while Dad and Grandad were in the dingy bar waxing lyrical over the virtues of Bass Bitter from the wood and hating Watney's Red Barrel.

The first time my mate and I plucked up the 'courage' to go into our local in Crownhill, I'd asked Dad what I should drink. He advised 'brown split', a dark mild and a bottle of brown ale, as it didn't get you pissed too easily.
We marched up to the bar in the bottle and jug as my mate asked me what I was going to order, he said, 'I'll have a half'.
'What are you having lads?' queried the barman.
'A pint and a half of brown split', came the innocent reply, in the deepest voice I could muster.

'What, all in the same glass ?!' remarked the barman .

Double diamond and lager soon appeared when at college and the inevitable Newcastle Brown.

I tend to only drink bitter in establishments that know how to keep it. In recent years, with the advent of the micro breweries, I've found a lot of good ales and will always go for them over lager. No fizz and not too cold for faster drinking.
The Tring brewery has improved beyond recognition but on a session, I am partial to Fullers Chiswick Bitter , Green King IPA and The Shepherd Neame Spitfire, a Kent Brewery.

Cheers !

Czarcasm wrote:

knecht wrote:

When I first started drinking at the age of 14 - you could in those days in the right pubs - I went up to the bar and asked for 'a pint of beer'. I got served though. All that happened was they looked at you and asked if you were 18. The reply was, "Yes, mister." (OK I'm exaggerating but not by much).

After that it was either bitter or Guinness - though the bitter was often just keg rubbish.

When I discovered draught bitter (and mild in the Midlands) I never looked back.

I was once talked into buying an American lager - Miller I think - that was on special in a club I used to belong to. That was the best example possible of the suggestion to pour it straight down the toilet and cut out the middle man!

I've really tried with cider. I just don't get it.

Oh Knecht, knecht, knecht.

Seeing as my football team is shite, there are few things in this life that give me more pleasure these days than to be sat in a beer garden, preferably with a sea or river view, with an ice cold crisp cider to hand. So refreshing.

Charlie, like I said, I've tried the bitters, but they just simply have no life in them. I guess I've grown up with Lagers in the main, but as with the ciders, for me they have to have a bit of zest and life.

I've also really tried with Guiness, 'cos one of my mates drinks it on occasion, but a pint of that is like eating a small meal - and it just looks (and almost tastes) like liquid liquorice. Awful.

Taste buds are a strange thing ain't they...

Ever tried Black Velvet ? poor man's version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSTLuRWCcAs

I always thought Guinness & cider was called Snakebite.

I used to drink Black & Tan also - a mix of ale & guinness.

knecht wrote:

I always thought Guinness & cider was called Snakebite.

I used to drink Black & Tan also - a mix of ale & guinness.

Lager and dry cider I believe.

Spent the entire evening in a gutter in Sheerness after a few snake bites, never again, luckily it was dry.

Also forgot draught Bass, mmmmmmmmmmmmm

Can just remember waking up of a Sunday morning in a ditch somewhere between Norwich and RAF Dereham, think I had started on Red Barrel and then moved on to Rum and Pepsi. Rum has an effect on your arse for days afterwards.

pepsipete wrote:

Can just remember waking up of a Sunday morning in a ditch somewhere between Norwich and RAF Dereham, think I had started on Red Barrel and then moved on to Rum and Pepsi. Rum has an effect on your arse for days afterwards.

Are you sure it wasn't the RAF boys who had an effect on your arse while you were lying face down in the ditch?

I'll drink anything.

Tried a cornish lager the other day 'Skin Dog' which was quite nice.

Love San Miguel. Heineken is good. Dare I say Stella? Grolsch.

In Oz drank plenty of Boags down in Melbourne and a beer called Northern Rock up North which was much lighter for when it was hot.

Enjoy a rattler or even a Strongbow if it's sunny. Can't switch to or from Strongbow if I start on it though. Guinness or Spingo for a Sunday drink.

I generally drink lager, but will drink the odd ale. At uni I drank creamflow (but it was quite weak) and liked Caffreys. Never liked Guiness, but I used to be able to down a Newcastle Brown Ale in about 5 seconds (bloody students!).

I started off drinking Dry Blackthorn, with my Dad, and I struggled with that (in pubs like the Admiral McBride, Dolphin, Noah's Ark, The Abbey [now Kittys]). I don't mind the commercial ciders in Bulmers or Magners.

Greenjock wrote:

pepsipete wrote:

Can just remember waking up of a Sunday morning in a ditch somewhere between Norwich and RAF Dereham, think I had started on Red Barrel and then moved on to Rum and Pepsi. Rum has an effect on your arse for days afterwards.

Are you sure it wasn't the RAF boys who had an effect on your arse while you were lying face down in the ditch?

Although drunk I had the sense to lie on my back, but spewed all over my blazer. Praise be am not allowed alchohol anymore.