All Things Beer!

So that we don't hijack that Blue Moon thread too much, I thought I might start a thread dedicated to beer in general.  It can be anything! 

What's your favourite? Do you have a UK beer that you'd recommend?  Do you prefer stouts, ales, lagers, all of the above?  Do you brew your own?  Let's talk about beer!

I'll start by carrying over the pumpkin ale conversation a bit.  I know that it's just not here, so I'm going to start looking around for some Oktoberfest type beers for the Fall.  Has anyone come across any good ones here?

Also, any suggestions for places to purchase craft/mircobrewery beers here?  The selection in the supermarkets can be decent enough, but it's usually the more well-known stuff and I like to try random things I've never heard of.

A long time ago, way back in history, when all there was to drink was nothin but cups of tea. Along came a man by the name of Charlie Mops, and he invented a wonderful drink and he made it out of hops.

He must have been an admiral a sultan or a king, and to his praises we shall always sing.
Look what he has done for us he's filled us up with cheer! Lord bless Charlie Mops, the man who invented beer beer beer, tiddly beer beer beer.

Ahhh beer.  Love it. Love cider, love wine as well. Adore a great single malt. But sometimes you just need a really good beer.  

Well pumpkin beer for sure is my favourite ever and I think the US has loads of great microbrews, but I love UK beer!  (And Irish- a cold pint of Guinness hits the spot so many times!!!)

Campaign for Real Ale pubs will give you such a good sampling of proper beer (IMHO!  )

I regulary imbibe in beers at home from the following places: Black Isle Brewery   - Local, organic, the lady who does the tours knows us (  oops ) and darn tasty. I love their Scotch Ale and their Wheat Beer.

Cairngorm Brewery - Also local and their Black Gold is like drinking a sweetend pint of Guiness - its lovely. I also love the Sheepshagger

Orkney Brewery - Dark Island, Northern Light, and Skull Splitter are all delicious!!  

Black Cuillin and Red Cuillin make regular appearances in my home, these are from the Isle of Skye Brewing Company

I'm always up for trying different cask ales and things on tap in the pubs...

Of course, if I'm in Germany, this all goes out the window, because German beer is just lovely and in a league of its own!

A local shop here (Farm and Household, the best store ever! Who needs Lakeland!) has brew supplies- I wonder if I should give it a bash...
Yay for beer!  

If you want to try less well know stuff....look for local microbreweries, they'll often sell cases of bottles.
About once a year we take a trip to Bradfield on the outskirts of Sheffield for some beers from their brewery.
When we have out July 4th BBQ I get mini keg or 2 from a local brewery.
Recently went to Chester for the weekend, stopped off at a small brewery which was in a location with a lot of craft shops, called Frodsham Brewery and got 12 bottles (10 different beers) and they have all been excellent.
Morrison's probably have the best selection of any supermarket, but Asda tends to stock some local brews.
My local Asda regularly has Acorn (Barnsley), York Brewery and some Ossett Brewery beers in.
We also have an excellent local off-licence chain called Rhythm & Booze. Not only do they stock a good variety of ales, often from local breweries (Acorn, Bradfield, Wentworth, Ossett) but they are very reasonably priced. They usually have specials on as well, beers that are close to (or just past) the sell by date that they'll sell off at £1 a bottle. On occasion they've also had Sam Adams, Brooklyn Lager at knock down prices. It's down to what they can pick up cheap at the wholesaler, so I keep looking for some Blue Moon cropping up for the wife!

I regulary imbibe in beers at home from the following places: Black Isle Brewery   - Local, organic, the lady who does the tours knows us (  oops ) and darn tasty. I love their Scotch Ale and their Wheat Beer.

A friend has just come back from a holiday in the Highlands and brought me a bottle back from here, look forward to sampling that at the weekend.

A friend has just come back from a holiday in the Highlands and brought me a bottle back from here, look forward to sampling that at the weekend.

   Which kind do you have? 

I don't know if anyone has tried Okells but they have just won some big award in Europe..or something

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/Okells-Aile-best-in-Europe.6476975.jp

Dude, I was gonna suggest this:

Campaign for Real Ale pubs will give you such a good sampling of proper beer (IMHO!  )

 

Mr MLG has liked all of these Yorkshire breweries:
http://my-yorkshire.co.uk/food-drink/breweries.html

If you come to Dublin, after you have your obligatory pint of Guinness (yes, it is really better here) then you should head over to the Porterhouse Brewing Co. to sample their pints. There is a pub on Nassau Street (across from Trinity College) and there is on in Temple Bar. I'm a huge fan of the Porterhouse Red, but DH always gets Chiller.

http://www.porterhousebrewco.com/

Ahhh beer.  Love it. Love cider, love wine as well. Adore a great single malt. But sometimes you just need a really good beer.  

I think we are on the exact same page! 

Orkney Brewery - Dark Island, Northern Light, and Skull Splitter are all delicious!!  

There is a pub here on Byres road that carries a lot of the Orkney Brewery stuff.  I do like to get the Dark Island one from time to time.  It's fantastic!  I'll have to look out for the breweries you listed.

A local shop here (Farm and Household, the best store ever! Who needs Lakeland!) has brew supplies- I wonder if I should give it a bash...

You should definitely give it a go!  My BF and I made some of our own ale back in January.  It was the first time either of us tried it, and it didn't come out half bad!  The taste was alright, nothing amazing, but it had a higher alcohol content which made up for it.    It came from a kit, so the flavour could have been something completely out of our control, but I hope to get good enough at it that we can start doing stuff without needing a kit.  But that's ages from now.  One batch at a time...

We're going to start a Christmas ale in a couple of weeks as our second batch.  I'm excited, it makes me feel like a mad scientist!   

Morrison's probably have the best selection of any supermarket, but Asda tends to stock some local brews.

I have noticed that the Morrison's here in Partick has had the best selection of any other supermarkets I've been to.  There's a big Asda near where my BF lives, so I'll have to take a look at what they have.  The best Tesco gets here is Leffe and a couple of others and can't totally recall.  Otherwise it's practically all Tennents, Carling, and Guiness.

We also have an excellent local off-licence chain called Rhythm & Booze. Not only do they stock a good variety of ales, often from local breweries (Acorn, Bradfield, Wentworth, Ossett) but they are very reasonably priced. They usually have specials on as well, beers that are close to (or just past) the sell by date that they'll sell off at £1 a bottle. On occasion they've also had Sam Adams, Brooklyn Lager at knock down prices. It's down to what they can pick up cheap at the wholesaler, so I keep looking for some Blue Moon cropping up for the wife!

This is what I need to find! 

I love Guinness, Blue Moon, Honey Wheat, MGD and Corona. I've also been surprised that grocery stores carry San Miguel. I'm sure it's known as a Spanish beer, but, it's famous in the Philippines as well, and not too bad. I also love cider-pear's my favourite, but, I'll try anything. I really want to try the adult ginger beer, because I love ginger to bits. I also love beer blends. Like, shandies, and snake bites/black and tans. At my old work, they did a "black and blue" which was Young's chocolate stout with Blue Sea Dog. Never got to try it, though. :/

I also like wine and cocktails. :| And yes, I do miss drinking!!!

I really want to try the adult ginger beer, because I love ginger to bits.

Its REALLY good! I tried it for the first time tonight.

Its REALLY good! I tried it for the first time tonight.

YAY! I wonder if they'd have it pubs, though? Going to a workmate's birthday do at some place called Warmingham at the Bear's Paw. Fingers crossed for that there's ginger beer on tap!

I'm a traditionalist, so for me, it's nearly always a beautiful pint of Guinness! But I also like John Smith's Extra Smooth, Boddingtons and a good old bottle o' dog. (Newcastle Broon Ale!  ) I do drink lager from time to time, but I don't really care much about it, if that makes sense. It's kind of just there for me, regardless of what kind it is. I always prefer stouts and ales.  I like cider from time to time, too, but usually a dry one rather than a sweet one.

I have to admit that I haven't liked much cider I've tried. I did have a locally-brewed one in Glastonbury, and it was okay, but cider has not really grown on me.

My favourite is a french beer called Desperados. (I know, it hardly sounds french.) It's a light beer with a shot of tequila in it, and I haven't had tons of luck finding it outside of France, although I'm starting to notice it popping up a few places in London now. While on holiday in Bratislava a few months ago, I got really excited to see it on a drinks menu.  Myself and some friends managed to wipe out the restaurant's entire supply of it. Oops!