I’m a relative beer-snob. I’m not militant, nor really very well educated on the matter, but I’ll be the first one in any group to float the “fucking close to water” joke when American lagers are brought up. I prefer IPAs.
That said … (not that it’s an IPA, I at least know that much) … but I think I’m probably the only self-identifying beer-snob on the planet who can’t stand Guinness.
Unless somebody up-thread already made that observation and I missed it.
My default bar beer is usually the Sam Adams seasonal on tap. The last few years it has been Noble Pils around this time of year. I did not like it at all. This year it seems that they are going with Alpine Spring which I did like quite a bit.
Using your terms, I assume you are talking about drinking Stella Artois in britain, probably (given you use the term bitter), in England.
England brews most of its beer in England, and its localised in nature. It typically overgases the lager a lot, and does it with most of its brands, so they’ll have Stella Artois (Belgian), Heineken (Dutch), Fosters (Australia), Kronenbourg (French) and Carlsberg (Danish) and brew all locally and add significantly more fizz to them.
I can say from living in Belgium a few years, that I’d drink Belgian brewed Stella Artois and not touch the british one, there is far more gas in it.
And I know some of my friends say that british lager is the best in the world. I do tend to look at them funny when they say that though. I’m a bitter drinker too…
Newcastle brown though, that travels across the world and is disgusting wherever you drink it. Who’d brew that locally?
I got a variety pack the other day, and it had the Alpine Spring in it. I wasn’t too hot on that one, but the Whitewater IPA in it was surprisingly good. I wasn’t a big fan of their Latitude 48 or plain ol’ IPA, but this one hits it just right, in my opinion. It’ll enter the standard rotation, if it’s available regularly.
I think it only ever exists on draught internationally, I don’t think you can get it anywhere but a bottle even in Newcastle itself…
I’ll agree that Newcastle Brown Ale is rather off-putting, but if that’s the worst the UK has to offer, it’s still a good deal better than “BudMillCoors” or the cheaper stuff here in the States.
Don’t really understand the dislike for Pilsner Urquell, but I have had a few that tasted like they sat for too long.
These days (thanks to the upstart “Total Wine and More”) I’ve been able to sample more variety than expected in the dearth of brewpubs and such where I live. I’ve discovered I’m definitively a stout/porter man, with oatmeal stout being the current quaff of choice - although Russian Imperials are too overpowering. Not a big fan of IPAs either, but I can stomach them if that’s the only non-standard choice. Arrogant Bastard was way over the top though.
Any fruity beers (inc. Blue Moon) are right out. I also tried a Chimay once - not for me, thank you.
Not sure if I found this in another Dope thread, but here it is for those who haven’t seen it…
Newcastle bottles are quite common around here.
Yep. Quite common, unfortunately. The (food critic)parents of one of my former students invited me over for a multi-course dinner once. Because they knew I was a beer snob, they made sure their son kept my glass filled with Newcastle while they and the other guests ran through quite a selection of wine. It was such a “nice” gesture I couldn’t refuse. 
Pilsner Urquell in bottles is hopeless–inevitably and without fail skunked. Pilsner Urquell that you find on draft is often quite good, though obviously not as fresh as you’d find it in Prague. The pour seems to affect Pilsner more than most other beers, also–it wants a bit of a head. They also sell it in pint cans, which while not like having it on draft are much better than the green bottles. Srsly, why in the world does anyone put beer in green (or god forbid clear) bottles? Another of my favorite beers, Old Speckled Hen, is drinkable only on draft or from PDCs–the clear bottles make for an always-skunked product.
IME, at least Double Bastard has the body and richness to handle the bitterness, unlike say, Ruination. I like IPAs, but I think that some brewers get a little carried away with the hops, e.g: Moylan’s Hopsickle, Ruination.
I think we’re describing two different flaws. “Wet cardboard” is the traditional indicator of a TCA issue. I’ve found it in other things besides wine sealed with cork; it’s just a lot more prevalent there. It comes when microorganisms react poorly to chlorine-containing compounds, like sodium hypochorite bleach. They take the chlorine and incorporate it into TCA, which, unfortunately, people can detect in parts per trillion.
“Skunkiness”, according to this article, comes from the compound 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol (Seems like there should be a shorter IUPAC way to name that compound, but I can’t think of it right now.). Also see the wiki.
As to the zombie OP, I like most beers, excepting some way over the top examples of the style, or beers that are out of balance. I don’t mind high alcohol levels—Samichlaus is fantastic—but it’s got to be balanced, and not taste like someone dropped a shot of vodka into the beer. Avery’s Mephistopheles and Samael are in the latter category, IMHO.
Yeah, in beer-making, wet cardboard is usually associated with oxidation. See here. I’ve had chlorinated off-flavors (when I chlorine bleach sanitized my carboys but didn’t rinse them well enough), but those are kinda plasticky. See “chlorophenol” in that link. Skunkiness occurs when the compounds in hops become light struck. I don’t think it’s possible to skunk an alcoholic beverage that doesn’t have hops in it. I believe Miller products are skunk-proof, as they use some kind of special hop extract that doesn’t break down into the skunky components when exposed to light.
I’m not an IPA fan. I won’t refuse an IPA if offered, of course, but I’m just not a hops person, and I kind of regret the current trend towards hop-heavy beers. Give me a good, malty stout any day.
You misunderstand. Newcastle brown is available, in bottles, around the world. That includes Newcastle.
Newcastle brown on draught, is not, as far as I know, available in the uk (that includes Newcastle). So the draught version is a foreign invention…
Yes, I did misunderstand. I’d be surprised if this is truly the case but, come to think of it, the time I spent in the UK, I only recall seeing Newcastle in bottles.
I’ve seen it on draught a couple of times in the UK, but not for a while.
The worst beer I’ve ever accidentally bought 6 bottles of, is Guinness Foreign Extra. It is vile.
After the one time I tried Rolling Rock, I told my then-wife, “If I ever want that taste in my mouth again, I’ll grab the dog and squeeze.”
The worst beer I have ever had was back in my college days in Western New York. A friend and I wanted to pick up a six pack and saw something on sale, cheap. It was Hamms. The taste was… indescribable. We tried to drink it but could not even finish one can. We tossed our cans and the rest of the 6 pack. I think that is the only time I have ever chucked an entire 6 pack.
Years later I am living in California, sitting in a pizza joint enjoying some pizza and pitcher of beer with a friend of mine from Minnesota. I say to him, “You know what the worst beer in the world is?” He looks at me and says with absolutely no hesitation whatsoever, “Hamms.” God that stuff was vile. I definitely know why it is a former brewery.
It’s regional (or anti-regional). Meaning, it’s only been considered a premium/cult beer by people who don’t know better because they don’t know its reputation in its home market. Rolling Rock was originally a nothing-special beer with limited distribution in the Northeast. Once it started making its way to places like Texas or California for the first time, it was “exotic,” it had a cool bottle, and all of a sudden its being billed as premium. Not many people in Pennsylvania or elsewhere in the Northeast think it’s anything worth getting excited about. Same (reverse) is true for Lone Star – it’s well below say Shiner on the quality list of most Texas beer drinkers but it (until recently) had a better distribution/marketing capacity than Shiner or Celis so it’s quite possible to find faux-cowboy bars far from Texas acting as though it’s the nectar of the Texas gods rather than on a par with Keystone.
Which was the entire plot of Smokey and the Bandit. Nobody on the West Coast thought Coors was worth bootlegging, but apparently people in Georgia did.
I’d like to know where, out of interest, its possible they used to do it, like the horror which is Double Diamond, which disappeared from normal bars in mid 80’s, but could be found in Indian restaurants in late 80’s (before the indian beer idea became popular).
I’ve drank across england and scotland and never seen it. I did wonder if they did sell it on draught in Newcastle the couple of times I drank there, never saw it there.
I saw it on draught in Las Vegas however, as well as Bass (the main brewery of which is in Wolverhampton, uk, where I live). I shuddered.
From the phrase I assume thats the type of stuff which seems to be popular in Nigeria and is brewed completely differently from normal guiness. Theres a draught guiness (with creamflow injector) which has existed since late 80’s. But before that, only this, which we called ‘tinny guiney’ because it tastes of horribley of tin…
