Beer and Grapefruit

Mmmm, full of sugary goodness. A flamboyantly forward brew with a hint of ripe peach, refreshingly doux, bright, austere, and unerringly voluptuous. Sadly it's a refined delicacy impossible to appreciate without a having a well educated palate. The enigmatic delights of fizzy beer are rarely valued by rough beardy men...

Dave

I'm on the verge of being offended (see my photo)

They don’t even sell Bitter in the six Curry houses near me as far as I know, I’ve only ever seen people drinking Lager. I’m sure it must be a legal requirement for men over 18 ...

Not being a wine drinker I like a beer with a meal but restaurants only seem to offer lagers which as a lifelong bitter drinker is not my first choice. I have now sampled quite a few lagers and some are acceptable as Hobsons choice. Holidaying in Europe also tends to push one down the lager path but as it usually warmer than here it seems to work ok. I made a bad mistake once when working in Germany and drunk five pints of Weiss beer which did not agree with me big time, steered clear of that stuff ever since. Just this week I was left with Blue Moon as the only draught beer so I gave it a go, a pint of white liquid with a slice of orange turned up, it turns out to an American version of a Belgian Witbier, they are a bit coy about owning up to being part of Miller Coors, I survived a couple of pints without damage but now I know I won’t bother again.

Mike

Long term strong lager drinker here. However, I do like Speckled Hen, Abbotts Ale, Bishops Finger, and, of course, Old Peculier and Taylors Landlord. Something I can wrap my tongue round.

I don't like cold beer, it gives me brain freeze and takes away the taste.

Geoff

We must be lucky around here as the two larger local breweries, Chiltern Brewery and Rebellion, turn out a good variety of beer, including some decent traditional ales. Nothing like the Brakespear Old or Weathered's Winter Royal were, mind.

James.

We are lucky now, if you like beer, back in the 70's there were only 147 real beers left in Britain. I was lucky enough to be one of a group that drank a sample of all of them in a week. The pub in the Dales reminded me of one near Richmond that only served 2 pints or more. The landlord only had one arm and he was trying to cut down on walking.

Duncan’s reference to beer from the cellar served via an enamel jug reminded me of a pub we stopped at in North Yorkshire, just off the A1, where the landlady disappeared down to the cellar and came back with an enamel jug, it was a cracking good bitter. Sadly my internal organs have taken a disliking to gluten and even the gluten that carries over in the brewing process is enough to provoke an unwanted reaction if I drink beer, a real blow as I used to enjoy “real” bitters, alas no more I have to resort to red wine which I can tolerate, there are some very nice red wines around, as a confirmed bitter drinker I never thought that I would be saying that.

Dave W

I love a good local ale, Butcombe and the like are a great relaxing by the pub fire beer. But I've increasingly been enamoured of the Belgian ales, especially as the stronger they get the better they taste. Strong traditional british ale I find rather chewy, the Belgian beers seem to get lighter and fruitier the stronger they get... I know thats not everyones thing but sometimes it really hits the spot.

Visiting a Beer Museum in Bruge meant trying quite a few of the local varieties, they seem to have mastered they technique over the last few hundred years...

I live a few miles from Tadcaster where there are THREE breweries. One was Bass which is now owned by Coors. The second is John Smiths, now owned by Heineken Carling or some such conglomerate. The third is Sam Smiths, an independent brewery currently owned by the somewhat eccentric Humphrey Smith, Eccentric he may be, but he only uses malt, hops and water from the brewerie's own well, to make his beer. The beer is also sold at least £1 cheaper than any one else. Unfortunately the local Sam Smiths pub is closed for refurbishment at the moment, so I'm having to drink the rival stuff.

They also sell several flavors of Belgian style fruit beer in bottles. Not tried it myself as fruity beer just doesn't appeal to me.

Edited By Anthony Knights on 15/09/2018 13:38:37

Who bought out Bass Charrington many years ago now.

Is that an apparatus for producing lager, Dave ?
DaveD

I wasn't intending to contribute to this thread, but ... I have just enjoyed a rather fine burger, with a glass of Shepherd Neame 1698, and would consider it 'a marriage made in heaven'.

MichaelG.

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 20/09/2018 22:10:47

Nobody brew their own in here? I'm a bit surprised

My grandad did until he was banned by grandma

He was a bit mean and used screw tops instead of corks or water locks, it was a week or two before the first bottle exploded in the living room cupboard and gave us a bit of a turn

The cupboard door stayed locked shut for another couple of weeks after that first explosion, until it seemed safe to enter

--I'll drink anything that's wet but unless the muppet behind the bar actually knows what cellar management means then I'll only drink from the top shelf.

My local's beer is truly abysmal but even they can't ruin whisky.--

Any proper working class area with lots of pubs will have good beer

Leith Walk in Edinburgh has some fabulous places, they look like crap inside but the beer is to die for

If you sell rubbish then you go bankrupt, so standards are maintained

I'm currently having to brew supplies of ginger beer for SWMBO. I don't know if it has been the European shortage of CO2, due to all the producers having the same Summer shutdown or the failure of the Australian ginger crop over the last two years, but there's been no bottled ginger beer available in any of our shops for the last two months or so. She was drinking ginger beer because it was zero calorie and zero alcohol. Unfortunately, my homemade stuff is very definitely neither...

Butterknowle Conciliation ale was the best beer ever brewed by the hands of man. Now sadly no longer made. Mention it in pubs around here and people just nod reverently and stare into the middle distance for a while.

Been no shortage of ginger beer in Australia, at least not the fizzy non-alcoholic variety. There are a couple of major and minor brewers in Queensland who seem to be able to meet demand.

I remember attempting home-made ginger beer many years ago, stacked the bottles in the laundry where it was relatively cool. Lost nearly all of them one hot summer night, they were going off like pop-corn. Laundry floor was a sticky mess for weeks but the ones that survived sure tasted good.