Beer/Real Ale

[telstarbox]

Hope this thread is acceptable.

Which beers do you like? In an attempt to break out of a lager rut I've been attempting to find other beers and so far I've enjoyed:

Thornbridge Chiron (American pale ale)
Staroslav (Aldi own-brand Pilsner)
Blue Moon (wheat beer)

 

[Donny Dave]

Can't go wrong with a glass of Theakston's, especially their Old Peculiar. Word of warning though, after a few bottles, you do start feeling peculiar ....

Elsewhere, if your up in Scotland, look out for Cairngorm Black Gold, it's gorgeous! (It tastes even better in a pub, the Halfway House in Edinburgh sometimes has it on tap.)

 

[Pumbaa]

Nuclear Exploding Penguin remains a firm favourite.

Am very partial to the Badger beers. Light and fruity.

Currently I try and visit these folks regularly; http://www.redsquirrelbrewery.co.uk - I got introduced to the guy who runs the place, and they produce a few corkers. Their Hopfest is particularly recommended.

 

[yorksrob]

At the moment, if I see any of these three, I know it's going to be a good session:

Copper Dragon, Golden Pippin - lovely session ale, goes down nicely.
Leeds Best - lovely rich malty taste - reminds me a little of golden pippin.
Timothy Taylor, Landlord - very nice rich beer. Do enjoy a few.

Also liking the Osset and Thornbridge brewery's although I don't have a favourite.

Very fond of London Pride for train journeys and still love my local (from Kent days) Shepherd Neame Ales.

 

[IanD]

Any Wychwood beer, particularly Hobgoblin and Pumpking Ale.

Saltaire Blonde (and any other Saltaire Brewery beer except the chocolate one!)

Newcastle Brown Ale (have recently also discovered Newcastle Founders Ale)

Another vote for Timothy Taylor's Landlord. Also his RamTam but haven't seen it for a while.

Fursty Ferret, Tanglefoot, Hopping Hare. Bishop's Finger (aka Nun's Delight), Spitfire.

Any Hopping Mad Brewery beer. Any Concrete Cow Brewery beer. All Back Sheep Brewery beer. And Theakstons from next door. Any Ludlow Brewery beer.

And many, many more that I simply cannot remember for some reason!

Basically, I'll try any beer once but will not drink it again if it tastes overly floral (there was a craze for adding elderflower to beers a couple of years back, yuck!), overly citrusy, vaguely gingery (eg Blandford Fly - but alcoholic ginger beer is OK) and anyting flavoured with honey (eg Waggledance). Once had a Toffee Apple flavoured beer at Halloween which was vile.

Lager if it's a very hot day or with a curry.

 

[Ferret]

Wahey for the mention of Fursty Ferret! And the Blue Moon for that matter

Oakham Citra always goes down well, as does Ringwood Boondoggle. And anything that Faye and Sarah throw at me in the Welly on a Sunday night

 

[Jonfun]

Second vote for Oakham Citra, get it on reasonably regularly at the one near me alongside Timmy Taylor's Landlord and similar. I'll tend to try a range of different stuff, my favourite locally is Blue Monkey Brewery's '99 Red Baboons' - for the quality of the pun, and pump clip artwork alongside the fantastic taste - and I'm quite partial to some of BrewDog's stuff on occasion too. Generally though, if any beer's put in front of me I won't complain!

 

[deltic1989]

Wychwood gets a second vote from me.
Hook Norton's Old Hooky is a great ale too.
Greene King Indian Pale Ale
Spitfire.
Batemans XXXB
Bombardier.
and in the absence of all the above, a pint of Guinness slips down the right way.

 

[Jordy]

Copper Dragon, Golden Pippin - lovely session ale, goes down nicely.

Big fan of that, the bottled version is very good too - I usually find bottled real ale is very hit and miss! I do drink most ales (although no wheat beers please!), I do particularly like any with some sort of citrus flavour though. I believe I've had Citra before - if it's the one I'm thinking of then it can get another vote from me!

 

[martinsh]

I feel duty bound to start off with Brains Reverend James - as the Rev James Buckley was my great great great grandfather ! Rest assured, the beer is actually pretty good.

My other favourites include

Brains SA
Growler Old Growler
Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby (not sure you can get this in bottles)
Exmoor Gold
Hook Norton Old Hooky
Robinsons Old Tom
Wells Banana Bread Beer (sounds yucky, but tastes nice)
Titanic Plum Porter
Slaters Top Totty
Phoenix Wobbly Bob

I could go on endlessly ...

 

[Zamracene749]

Too many to mention, although Yorksrob has it well covered.

I'd add Fullers beers in general to that list, along with Youngs bitter.

Non real ale, try Pilsner Urquell, Staropramen and proper Budvar from Czech if you like staroslav you'll like these more.

Most German beers are pretty good, and when you fancy a strong beer Belgium is the place to look.

Best advice is to find a bar that is well known for WELL KEPT real ales and have fun trying them all, real ale goes off quickly and needs looking after, sadly not everywhere that sells it takes care of it. I've never drunk around Manchester but apparently there are some good places around Victoria.

Failing that find somewhere having a beer festival (Newcastle is soon) and enjoy!

 

[yorksrob]

Big fan of that, the bottled version is very good too - I usually find bottled real ale is very hit and miss! I do drink most ales (although no wheat beers please!), I do particularly like any with some sort of citrus flavour though. I believe I've had Citra before - if it's the one I'm thinking of then it can get another vote from me!

I've not tried any citrusy ones but I have taken a liking to hoppy ones recently

 

[Cab2Cab]

Hi,

Just been to a real ale festival this weekend!!

My votes are

Copper dragon, golden pippen
Harvest pale,
Peak ale.

Cheers

 

[Welshman]

Courage Directors
Greene King Abbott Ale
Shepherd Neame Bishops Finger

but they must all be draught, not bottled.

 

[mullin]

As mentioned above, Reverend James is a lovely ale!

Other personal favourites of mine are
Prospect Brewery (Standish) - One Twenty
York Brewery - Centurian Ghost
Robinsons - Build a Rocket Boys (By the band Elbow)

 

[scotsman]

Spoons' real ale festival coming up soon...

(looks forward to yet another novelty t-shirt from HQ)

 

[theblackwatch]

I generally go for lighter ales - not into dark stuff, stouts, etc. Citra is nice, as are Belgian fruit beers, though I don't think they really class as 'real ale'.

Incidentally, if anyones interested, we have our Annual Easter Pub Crawl taking in the Calder Valley line, followed by a trip on the PLP Music Train on April 1st - see http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=80309 for more information, I expect to post a bit more info on it in the next 24 hours or so.

 

[Drsatan]

Favourites of mine:

• Otter Amber ale (brewed in Honiton)
• Flack's Blackjack Porter
• Wynchwood Hobgoblin
• Cotleigh Buzzard Ale
• Well's Bombardier

I also like proper cider and scrumpy too, as opposed to cider made from apple concentrate like Strongbow

 

[High Dyke]

In no particular order:

Oakham - Citra
Brewsters - Marquis or Hophead
Newby Wyke - HMS Warrior, Orsino, Banquo. Ooh i'm sure there's a Banquo in the cellar at Grantham Railway Club.
Banks's Bitter
Timmy Taylors - Landlord
Oldershaw - Heavenly Blonde, Caskade or Old Boy

and other brews as sampled on occasions

 

[martinsh]

Best advice is to find a bar that is well known for WELL KEPT real ales and have fun trying them all, real ale goes off quickly and needs looking after, sadly not everywhere that sells it takes care of it. I've never drunk around Manchester but apparently there are some good places around Victoria.

Stalybridge Station buffet !!

or

Bar Fringe, Manchester
The Crescent, Salford

or many others

 

[Ferret]

The Wellington in Brum will let you try anything before you buy if you ask them nicely! A top tip before spending your hard earned wonga on a pint!

One favourite beer I haven't mentioned - Sam Adams Boston Lager, or their seasonal wheat beer - just been and acquired 3 bottles of the former courtesy of Tesco. My drink of choice when over in the USA...

 

[Yew]

Anything from sam smiths on draft. As in their pubs its usually dirt cheap. And as a Mansfield lad, I'm partial to a Pint of Mansfield Bitter occasionally, unfortunately since the buy out in 1999 its made up in Wolverhampton, and not as good.

Personally I'm a big fan of stout, Fullers Black Cab Stout is one of the best I've had.

 

[High Dyke]

The Wellington in Brum ...

I really need to get in there again next time i'm over.

 

[table38]

I'm not keen on real ale with a "nutty", "fruity" or "spicy" aftertaste.

For me, beer should have a "beery" aftertaste

I'll put in a plug for the Smithfield in Manchester which had Manchester Bitter on for £1.95 a pint last time I was in there.

 

[starrymarkb]

Favourites of mine:

• Otter Amber ale (brewed in Honiton)
  [

Wish more places did that!

Also fond of Doom Bar, Hobgoblin, Tribute, Yellow Hammer,

I also love German Beers, is just a pity they are harder to find in the UK

 

[neilmc]

If I'm returning with work from Bristol to Manchester I usually leave an extra ten minutes to down a pint at the Knights Templar near Temple Meads - Beast Of Bodmin or Otter are my favourites.

Nice refreshment for just about the cost of a Cross_Country instant coffee!

 

[Robinson]

A selection from my favourites:

Arran, Blonde
Black Sheep, Best Bitter (my favourite)
Castle Rock, Harvest Pale
Dark Star, Hophead + American Pale Ale
Fuller's, London Pride
Lomond, Gold
Moorhouse's, Black Cat
Salopian, Shropshire Gold
Strathaven Ales, Old Mortality
Thwaites, Wainwright
Timothy Taylor, Landlord
Titanic, Mild
Triple fff, Alton's Pride

And a few that I'd personally avoid:

Fuller's, ESB
Greene King, Abbot Ale (in fact just about anything from them except Old Golden Hen)
Otter, Bitter
Ringwood (just about any of them except Boondoggle)
Whitstable, Oyster Stout

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

glancing through this thread is making me thirsty!

My favourites over the last few years -

Copper Dragon
Timothy Taylor - Landlord & Golden Best
Mws Pws (Purple Moose)
Potbelly (from Kettering)

Of those that are more nationally available I do enjoy a pint of Fullers
and others that I can't remember...the choice can be bewildering these days (as someone who remembers the dark days of the 1970's for real ale)

 

[NSE]

Loads mentioned already, but I Recently tried Russian Winter, was a strong one with a rich aftertaste, but worth persevering with.

 

[saracen43]

Surprised no one has mentioned the Everads ales, Tiger, Original, sunchaser, and Beacon, Tiger is my favourite a nice Toffee flavour.