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March 29, 2024, 03:23:31 PM

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BEERS #2 - Beyond the Pale

Started by Shoulders?-Stomach!, March 30, 2020, 03:56:03 PM

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Sebastian Cobb

Not particularly interesting but I've been drinking a fair bit of bottled Budvar of late because two of my favourite pubs are indies that don't do Tennents and I find their alternatives (The Don/St Mungo) to be less appealing, Budvar's cheaper too.

shoulders

Just to break from type a sec - Tasty Pebble IPA by Kirkstall Brewery is really nice.

I tend to like classic strong bittersweet ambery West Coast stuff and dislike tropical fruit flavour Haze bois (sessions are passable).

Tasty Pebble West Coast IPA has more to it than than the typical. Resinous bitter and piney but strong and thick enough to balance those robust flavours out, they are brought into line to the benefit of its drinkability.

It also allows flavour - not bitterness - to linger in your mouth. Now and then you'll get a hoppy reminder that breaks through, which is not unpleasant.

I am having a half though.

Oh. Shit - the spell is ruined. Just remembered Belgian Tripels exist.


Sebastian Cobb

It kind of strikes me as daft that Bitter is called Bitter given compared to a lot of other beers it isn't really.

Rarely buy one in pubs or offies, usually only when back in the midlands and fancy a Banks's for nostalgia's sake and that. But when I go to an ale festival or something I usually very quickly decide it's one of my favourite types.

shoulders

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on June 30, 2022, 08:44:29 PMIt kind of strikes me as daft that Bitter is called Bitter given compared to a lot of other beers it isn't really.

Rarely buy one in pubs or offies, usually only when back in the midlands and fancy a Banks's for nostalgia's sake and that. But when I go to an ale festival or something I usually very quickly decide it's one of my favourite types.

I can see where this comes from and when you taste some of that swill they call bitter you'd not be far wrong.

My partner hates most hoppy bitterness so she is always useful to determine that English Bitter is, yes, really quite bitter despite the amber colour and often the sweetness. If you compare bitter with what is most commonly drunk by way of beer it is stridently markedly bitter.

I had a revival recipe, Kirkstall Extra Bitter earlier which is now close to being my favourite bitter 3 weeks since it came onto the pumps (This sounds reactionary but I like to think it isn't) and it is joyful, a song of brewing. And bitter, not in a showy way but a classic one.


Sebastian Cobb

I think I might have a similar palette to your partner then. I can't say I'm big on brewdogesque over-hopped stuff and the copycats mostly taste like they were scooped out of a fucking ditch to me. I like some hops though.

Martin Van Buren Stan

Currently sat in a Rotterdam gay bar and this is their selection of beers. Someone help me choose my next botty


shoulders

Westmalle Tripel if you're not pissed. If you are, their Dubbel.

Zero Gravitas

How can you be in a gay bar in the Netherlands and not be contemplating swallowing a quarter litre of radler?

I've had a pint of it myself this evening but had to make my own.

Crenners

Feel like pure shit just want



on tap

drinking a cellar chilled bottle from a nice salt glaze Steinkrug and listening to England pump dogshit down a funnel straight up Koach's rimmer

Can't beat life.

TrenterPercenter

Quote from: Martin Van Buren Stan on June 30, 2022, 08:58:44 PMCurrently sat in a Rotterdam gay bar and this is their selection of beers. Someone help me choose my next botty



Gay Fanta

shoulders

Picked up Greifenklau Hell and Kuchlbauer Hefeweizen from Raynville Superstore to see in a sunny warm evening here in Leeds.

Guy was literally finger on the shutters when I arrived.

As it happens I needn't have rushed, my better half informed me her mother got my a Lidl Belgian 6 pack special for a birthday present. Arrived back to find a Gulden Draak 9000 on the counter (among others).

king_tubby

Quote from: shoulders on July 01, 2022, 07:21:58 PMsunny warm evening here in Leeds

Are you in a different Leeds? Just had a two mediocre pints of Dissolution in the Myrtle and it pissed it down.

shoulders

Quote from: king_tubby on July 01, 2022, 08:06:34 PMAre you in a different Leeds? Just had a two mediocre pints of Dissolution in the Myrtle and it pissed it down.


Been really changeable, it was rinsing down at 5.30pm then by 6.30 lovely sunshine.

king_tubby

Yeah, fair enough, they're actually playing at Headingley too.

25 years for the North Bar today, definite trailblazers here. And 9 years for Northern Monk, who cover all bases from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Crenners

Got a stale bottle of Mahrs aU

Gonna kill myself

shoulders

Shame for me that North Bar spent the last 15 years getting progressively worse to the point where it is completely removed from the original concept. I suppose Further North still has a little bit of a Belgian Café vibe.

Has moved from my top 3 ports of call in Leeds centre to somewhere I'm at fewer than a 5 or 6 times a year.

Crenners

I don't drink a great deal of pale ale but I really like those Kernel offerings. The Table Beer is really nice at around 2.8% or something, perfect Saturday afternoon sup watching some Albert Finney kitchen sink drama. The Citra Pale is even better, full of flavour and the hops don't totally wipe out everything else. I think Verdant and Deya do some very good pale stuff but I'd have Kernel any time I see it out in the wild, which is never yet.

king_tubby

Yep, Kernel were one of the beers that made me go 'bloody hell!' when I was recommended one back in the day. You're right, the Table Beer is a delight, I need to get some of that in.

shoulders

Kernel is fairly easy to come by in cities and does a lot of online trade. Wouldn't have said the Table beer is anything special in terms of price vs performance. It's certainly a decent beer


But I honestly think if you exchanged it with Piedboeuf enough people wouldn't tell the difference.

amateur

Had a Sureshot Everyday Balloons today on draught.

NEIPA at 5.5%. Not a fan of the style when it's 6%+ but this one did the business.

Reminded me a bit of the Mikkeller Heated Seats, which is no bad thing.

purlieu

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on June 30, 2022, 08:44:29 PMIt kind of strikes me as daft that Bitter is called Bitter given compared to a lot of other beers it isn't really.
Of course its original name was Pale Ale. Both betray its origins in a time when all other beer was black and sweet or smokey - in comparison to mild, porter, stout and old ale, it's pale and bitter. Similarly, Indian Pale Ale was just a stronger, slightly hoppier version, hence trad IPAs like Shepherd Neame's being absolutely nothing like modern craft stuff, and confusing the hell out of a lot of drinkers.
Proper English amber IPA like that is up there with my absolute favourite styles. Masterpiece by Heritage Brewing is a great example of the style.

shoulders

Allsopps IPA is another, apparently one of the first.

QuoteSamuel Allsopp was the first to perfect Burton-brewed India Pale Ale. Some 200 years later, Allsopp & Sons invite you to savour this faithful recreation of the complex, beguiling, original Burton IPA.

It's very nice.

Crenners

Quote from: shoulders on July 02, 2022, 07:11:52 PMKernel is fairly easy to come by in cities and does a lot of online trade. Wouldn't have said the Table beer is anything special in terms of price vs performance. It's certainly a decent beer

I have to be honest, I really don't know the style so was much more than I was expecting. They actually threw a couple in because it was due to expire.

This bitter chat has got me intrigued to try some of the good stuff. I equate bitter with John Smiths and my grandad and so on but I realise that makes me a total dunce. I do tend to have a pint of whatever local ale is on if I leave my environs but I never pay that much attention. They're always called Badger something or something Badger.

shoulders

I personally don't drink bitter from bottles (unless for whatever reason that's the best option available, which at some family events it can be) as it's unrecognisable from cask beer.

Kirkstall Extra Bitter, which is a revival of a historic recipe is available at their Leeds pubs and that's one of the best (sic) best bitters I've had. Silk, great balance of flavour and drinkability.

Other trad ones I rate:

Moorhouses Premier Bitter
Tring Squadron Scramble
Hawkshead Bitter
Goose Eye Barmpot
Barngates Tag Lag
Woodforde Nelson's
Wantsum Imperium
Roosters Capability Brown
Great Newsome Frothingham Best
Settle Ribblehead
Otter Bitter
Purity Pure UBU
Coniston Bluebird
Purple Moose Glaslyn
Daleside Bitter
Bath Gem
Dark Horse Craven Bitter
Thornbridge Lord Marples
Welbeck Abbey Cathedral Beeches
Heritage Classic Bitter
Castle Rock Midlands Bitter
Ramsbury Deer Stalker

I have as many if not more I'd rate about 7/10 but these stood out a bit more. There's a good range of flavours and styles within the style too with Hawkshead being on the hoppy, truly bitter end, some lighter sessionable ale like Coniston that's delicate, fruity moreish.

I was saying the other day that trying a bitter for the first time is similar to a kellerbier in that you never know quite what's coming. There's a vast, loose range of flavours, textures and aromas all loitering within the same bracket.

Probably why a lot of people don't like it, the lack of certainty.

Cumbria and the Dales in particular seem to excel in reliable bitter, and the landscape  seems to lend itself to that. Stone cottages, roaring hearths, wild moorland, dog slumped by the table, vast Sunday lunch and pint of bitter in hand.

Martin Van Buren Stan


Kernel's dunkel was my introduction to the style and is a very decent stab at it, their taproom in Bermondsey is a pleasant enough place to spend a couple of hours and will usually choose one of their offerings over the alternatives (Brixton, Beavertown etc.) if I see them in the local corner shop.

Crenners

If it ever go to London a gain I'll go see they cunts

shoulders

Quote from: Crenners on July 05, 2022, 06:17:07 PMIf it ever go to London a gain I'll go see they cunts

Tory thread is that way mate

shoulders

'Italian pils' as a craft style is a load of bullshit and based on one single beer.

Glad to get that off my chest.

Just ffs make a good Bavarian or Bohemian lager... oh wait, you can't. Cheers.


Crenners

My mate made a post on FB about how Peroni was objectively the best lager and I edited my reply about forty times before just deactivating my account. Not spoken to him since, just can't get past it.