Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 28, 2024, 11:54:42 AM

Login with username, password and session length

BEERS #2 - Beyond the Pale

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

Previous topic - Next topic

Ferris

The price of a "craft" pint in Ireland is also something to behold.

I don't know how the rules work there, but based on second hand information from mates it's a disaster.

Calistan

Everything is extortionately priced sadly. I have a soft spot for the likes of 8 Degrees and Kinnegar because in happier times I used to buy them after work in Galway and drink them in the backyard but there are very few standouts. 

GoblinAhFuckScary


Shoulders?-Stomach!

Well, I am heading home tomorrow but have been to Ireland twice this month and had beers from:

Guinness
Heineken (Murphys & Beamish)
Franciscian Well
Galway Hooker
Killarney Brew Co
Tom Creans in Kildare
Wicklow Wolf
Hope Brewery in Kilbeggan
9 White Deer in Ballyvourney
Dick Macks in Dingle
Tig Bhric, West Kerry Brewery Co

The microbrews were all safety first and quite off the shelf tasting beers, but fresh and well balanced, with the exception of Tig Bhric, West Kerry Brewery which was by far the standout. Their Porter and Red Ale especially good and cask dark mild on at their brewery tap.

It has been a major struggle and reinforces how in England even in chain pubs you will normally find one beer you won't see again all weekend or for perhaps weeks at a time. It's both good for the pub and for the brewing scene that remains the case.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Ffs, add Five Lamps Pale to the list of ridiculously overpriced shite. Manurey, chilled slush puppy dog shit with stale hops, €6.50 anyone?

Calistan

Hadn't even heard of Five Lamps before. Will avoid. This evening I picked up a few German beers to elevate my mood. So far I've had Hacker Pschorr's kellerbier which was absolutely lovely, would happily drink ten of them, then a Weihenstephaner festbier which was quite nice and now an Augustiner Oktoberfest Bier which is probably the best of the lot, phwoarrr.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Beer Dome CZ seem to have renegotiated terms with the courier as their shipping costs have been reduced to £30 a shipment. I'm away so can't take advantage right now but with that reduction that should take the price down to around £2 / 500ml.

I know some people will look at the brands and not know where to start so can recommend from the following:

Cans
Unetice 12
Svijany 450
Svijany Rytire
Konrad 11 (Tmavy/Dark)
Konrad 12
Bakalar Studena Chmieleny (cold hopped)
Staropramen Nefiltr (trust me on this, weirdly effective Zwickl type beer)
Regent President

Bottles
Muflon 11°
Muflon 12° (dark)
Uneticke 12°
Uneticke 10.7°
Cvikov Klic 12° (have had fluctuating fortunes with it but when on form it is magnificent, up there with Mahrs aU)
Monopol 12°
Uhrineves Alois 11°
Uhrineves Alois 13° (dark)
Labut 12°
Podripske 11°
Podripske Vidensky 12°
Nomad Decinak 11°

The bottle range is superior and has some genuinely independent small brewers whose bottles have a short shelf life as they are unpasteurised and unfiltered. The beer tastes vibrant, fresh, alive, just as the brewer intended (unless you have bad luck).

NattyDread 2

My local bottle shop has finally got in some German beers. Unfortunately they only seem to be available as part of an 'Oktoberfest Box'. 11 for £40 seems a bit steep but I'm a bit of a skinflint. Any good? Or would I be better trying to order this sort of stuff online? Delivery to the Highlands is often an arse-ache so never really looked into it. I like the sound of that Czech one Shoulders mentioned.

https://themistybottle.co.uk/products/oktoberfest-2021?_pos=1&_sid=3c5695ae4&_ss=r

Chedney Honks

They're all nice beers from what I've tried, can't go wrong, but that's probably a little expensive because of the box thing. You could order them individually for closer to £30, I reckon.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Quote from: NattyDread 2 on October 02, 2021, 02:29:29 PM
My local bottle shop has finally got in some German beers. Unfortunately they only seem to be available as part of an 'Oktoberfest Box'. 11 for £40 seems a bit steep but I'm a bit of a skinflint. Any good? Or would I be better trying to order this sort of stuff online? Delivery to the Highlands is often an arse-ache so never really looked into it. I like the sound of that Czech one Shoulders mentioned.

https://themistybottle.co.uk/products/oktoberfest-2021?_pos=1&_sid=3c5695ae4&_ss=r

That's shit and you would be mugged off if you bought it. Fruh Kolsch and Berliner Pilsner as part of an Oktoberfest pack... And a 330ml Austrian beer. This is just a business without the stock to back up the promotion they want to do hoping they'll get away with it.

To have zero, zero Oktoberfest beers in an Oktoberfest pack is quite something.

Buy the Kellerbier and the Dunkel and the Vollbier, perhaps the Tegernsee Helles and enjoy them individually.

NattyDread 2

Thanks for the tips. Might have to try some online suppliers. That shop is the only alternative to the co-op and Spar for about 70 miles. They're lovely folk but I do get a bit fed up of the fruity ipas they always have on the growler taps. They do some nice stouts now and then admittedly.

amateur

Had an Augustiner Helles earlier and it, as always, was a fucking treat.

Got a Tegenseer Helles to come later and I can't wait.

German lager is superb.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

QuoteGerman lager is superb.

It doesn't help itself by often being utter cack outside Bavaria.

Looking at you guys, Becks, Holstein, Radeburger Gruppe, Bitburger, Hasseroder, Berliner Kindl Schultheiss, Feldschlosschen, Distelhauser, Jever, Licher, Flensburger, Landskron, Engelhardt, Warsteiner, Veltins, DAB. Thanks for the barely passable lagers.

amateur

Fair play - I don't tend to explore much beyond Bavaria because there's so much good stuff there.

I picked up the Paulaner Octoberfest beer as well which I always find enjoyable - Anspach & Hobday have a Festival Lager which is great so I need to get those ordered as well. It's a lovely time for great lagers!

Johnny Foreigner

I have been to Tegernsee, but mostly drank Tegernseer Dunkel after climbing the mountains.

There was an atypically dark beer called Schwarzer Pfaff, which I heartily recommend; unfortunately, I don't know whether you might be able to get it here. Then, there were Graf Arco, König Ludwig and Wittmann Dultbier, ABK Dunkel and Poculator from Kloster Scheyern. All highly satisfying Bavarians if you are not a lager drinker.

Jerzy Bondov

Drinking Spaten Oktoberfest. Delightful.

amateur

Quote from: Jerzy Bondov on October 02, 2021, 09:32:28 PM
Drinking Spaten Oktoberfest. Delightful.

I haven't been able to get my hands on it! But I want it!

Jerzy Bondov

Trembling Madness still has it. I'm sure it didn't let me order more than one before but now it seems to.

Johnny Foreigner

If you want to get into the Oktoberfest spirit, you need to buy two, pour them both into a one-litre glass and charge yourself 15 quid whilst listening to a deafening brass band.

amateur

Quote from: Johnny Foreigner on October 02, 2021, 09:49:10 PM
If you want to get into the Oktoberfest spirit, you need to buy two, pour them both into a one-litre glass and charge yourself 15 quid whilst listening to a deafening brass band.

Nearly bought an Oktoberfest pack from one of the online merchants, but there was no way to get it without a honking great litre stein.

I simply don't need the potential for that much glass to break my toes during an oompah reverie.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Quote from: Johnny Foreigner on October 02, 2021, 09:09:37 PM
I have been to Tegernsee, but mostly drank Tegernseer Dunkel after climbing the mountains.

There was an atypically dark beer called Schwarzer Pfaff, which I heartily recommend; unfortunately, I don't know whether you might be able to get it here. Then, there were Graf Arco, König Ludwig and Wittmann Dultbier, ABK Dunkel and Poculator from Kloster Scheyern. All highly satisfying Bavarians if you are not a lager drinker.

I'll keep em peeled for Schwarzer Pfaff. Probably largely only available within the Regensburg, Landshut, Landau triangle. Nice reminder that it isn't all about Franconia (even though Franconian is the best).

Johnny Foreigner

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on October 02, 2021, 10:24:02 PM
(even though Franconian is the best).

My girl-friend (from the Erlangen area) is a bit sceptical about that assertion. But we do both greatly enjoy the Rauchbier from Bamberg.

I used to get my Schwarzer Pfaff from a village near Landshut. The local brewery there is Wittmann; they do their Dultbier doing the Dult season, which is a local fair. I regularly used to drink Wittmann on my forays to a Wirtshaus that was full of wooden benches and stag heads and whose staff consistently wore dirndls. Seems so long ago now.; good times they were.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

QuoteMy girl-friend (from the Erlangen area) is a bit sceptical about that assertion.

Is she proposing a different region is superior, if so, what?

Johnny Foreigner

It think it is more a matter of familiarity breeding contempt. Whenever I go down to Franconia, I am treated to small-scale brewery products: https://www.erlangen.info/bierorte/, but one does not appreciate that which one comes across every day. I never thought of Liefmans as anything special, because it seemed like a banality to me; everyone drank it at least occasionally and the money people in far-flung places pay for that stuff these days is mind-boggling to me.

Ferris

Quote from: Johnny Foreigner on October 02, 2021, 09:09:37 PM
I have been to Tegernsee, but mostly drank Tegernseer Dunkel after climbing the mountains.

I had a terrible row with an ex girlfriend at tegernsee, but ~10 years later went to andechs monastery for my stag do.

You could do a Ferris relationship crawl just inside Munich.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Quote from: Johnny Foreigner on October 02, 2021, 11:54:14 PM
It think it is more a matter of familiarity breeding contempt. Whenever I go down to Franconia, I am treated to small-scale brewery products: https://www.erlangen.info/bierorte/, but one does not appreciate that which one comes across every day. I never thought of Liefmans as anything special, because it seemed like a banality to me; everyone drank it at least occasionally and the money people in far-flung places pay for that stuff these days is mind-boggling to me.

I think that's true to an extent, though some examples are too blindingly obvious. It has the highest density of breweries per sq km by far of any German region, the most styles (including many beers which defy categories), small breweries and some homespun non industrial methods leading to a diversity in all senses. It is also by far the best value with some half litres going for as little as €2.20 even today, which barely gets you 0.2l of Kölsch in Köln. In every sense a cradle of brewing, whereas south Bavaria, at least south of Nuremberg is quite dominated by a small number of larger brewers from and around Munich, though granted it does still have plenty of small scale breweries in comparison to the rest of Germany.

Anyway, the heart of Lagerland is Bavaria and Bohemia, Plzen its spiritual capital. Genuine tossup whether Franconia or Bohemia take the crown. Franconia have had the benefit of few interruptions, relatively spared at the end of WW2, allowing methods to be passed down the family whereas Bohemia has gone through the removal of its German inhabitants and then Soviet common ownership, which was disastrous for small breweries and individual methods, only to rise again in the last 30 years, with a dynamic ruralist brewing scene emerging, particularly in the last 15 years.

Any key differences? Bohemian pale lager has the volume turned up. Wildly lingering, often drying bitterness, usually with more butteryness to compensate. Recent brews have accented this through being unfiltered and unpasteurised allowing for more spice, tang and texture too. Everything switched up.

Franconia? The archetypal Franconian kellerbier is mostly about aromatics, subtle sensations blending red fruit, nut, bread. A meadowy, harvest time, almost holistic feeling of "goodness" about the contents. Often referred to as Landbier, fittingly as it does feel like a countryside invention. Soft on the palate and a patina of flavour that develops over the course of the drink. Hugely unfashionable in today's brewing scene and therefore standing out a mile to me.

Johnny Foreigner

Oh aye, if Landbier is what you are after, you cannot go wrong in Nuremberg, Erlangen, Forchheim. Best drunk with a battered carp in an inn or a castle cellar (to my shame, I really, really hate horseradish). I enjoy Landbier a lot, especially ungespundet, but Bockbier remains my German beer of choice. I have no interest in lager.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Bock is lager too, bottom fermented, as will most Landbier be, but I know what you mean: pale, dry, hoppy, crisp fizzy lager, helles/pils, etc.






Johnny Foreigner

Yes, you are right. That's the literal meaning of lager. ,,Das Bier lagert sich." My mistake.