Real Ale

[SeanP]

Don't know how many ale drinkers there are out there but the Real Ale Store is giving away a case (12 - 500ml bottles) of mixed ales every week on Facebook. You can follow the link above to get to their Facebook page and enter to win.

My wife won a case a few weeks ago so it's legit. They deliver it to your door with no costs to you. Check it out

And no, sadly I'm not affiliated with them in anyway. Just like ales and they have a great selection.

[snooky]

Cheers Sean will give it a go, hope your wife shared the beers with you.

[Maduro Jeffrey]

Thats what I miss about being over here, proper ale.

[moidoid]

Thats what I miss about being over here, proper ale.

Mmmm, just having an Adnams as we speak.

Sorry MJ, am I putting you off?


Mmmmmm

[snooky]

Mmmm, just having an Adnams as we speak.

Sorry MJ, am I putting you off?


Mmmmmm

Adnams now we're talking. though just had a can of Ruddles county , best canned beer imho.

[satch]

just had three pints of Ossett Silverking with a couple of lads who got finished today. A good way to say farewell.
Support your local brewery!

[moidoid]

I live in the village where thay make Skrimshander & Leviathan.

We love our Hopdaemon here.

Just saw on the interweb that Youngs Double Chocolate Stout is available. I haven't been able to get that for a few years. lovely stuff. Gonna get me a case or two.

Chocolate & beer. What's not to like?

[cesara valverde]

Thats what I miss about being over here, proper ale.

That's what I always thought about the Americans, wouldn't know a proper beer if it pulled down their trousers and gave them a good spanking.

But then I was in South Carolina a couple of months ago; and realised something strange:

Whilst good ale straddles the line between scarcity and non-existence, good lager is another matter. Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada are kinds of beer that we don't really get over here: Good fizzy refrshing lager, with significant depth and a nutty sweetness. Lovely stuff.

It's not ale, but it is 110% lager, and the British drinking scene is poorer for its absence.

(Majestic stocks Sam Adams, and you can get Sierra Nevada in some posh pubs near me, but it's expensive, and not widely available.)

[Simon-JG-hr]

I certainly enjoyed some of what the micro-breweries and brew-pubs were serving when I was in Colorado a couple of years ago. There was some good variety and a couple of really nice beers (predominantly lager - I'm not usually a fan - but a couple of good IPA style beers too). The mass-produced fizzy-piss-water is what lets them down... Case in point, we did the Budweiser tour: we toured a 'factory' - when a brewery becomes a factory you understand why the end product is so bad.

As for me, I love real ale (card carrying member of CAMRA, part-time homebrewer and attender of many beer festivals). Personal favourites include:

• Church End Gravedigger - a really nice, dark mild. Drank at a festival, have been trying to get more ever since...
• Anything by Jennings - Cumberland Ale and Sneck Lifter lead the way (Cocker Hoop not quite so good, but still drinkable).
• Brakspear Oxford Gold - plus I get that hollow feeling of being superior because it's organic ().
• Sharps Doom Bar - a really nice Cornish pale ale, the best easily accessible beer in Plymouth.

I keep a little score book of the beers that I try. It's not as detailed as my cigar notes, but I can check up what I like and don't...

[SeanP]

Here are a few pics of what they offered in the winnings



The Bowland Cromwell Stout was very nice as was the Cotleigh Barn Owl. The Missus drinks lighter beers and I was surprised when she tried, and very much enjoyed, the St. Edmunds & Rebellion Blonde. Might get her drinking ale yet

And yes it is hard to find British ales in America but they are there if you search them out. Actually I was quite surprised to find Young's Double Chocolate Stout on tap while at a herf in very rural middle of nowhere Pennsylvania. So if you look, you shall find!

A lot of the wine outlets will carry bottled ales and a few bars will even have hand pumps in larger cities. If you are looking for a few good ones you can get Yards out of Philadelphia that is damn good as well as Rogue out of Oregon. And don't forget Stone's Arrogant Bastard...