best beers by popularity in the UK

One theory is that it got its "wife beater" nickname because of Stanley Kowalski beating up his wife in A Streetcar Named Desire ("Stelllllllaaaaaaaaa").

http://oldnick.coraider.com/Images/brandostella.JPG

If you must drink lager go for the German and Dutch stuff as they are governed by strict purity laws so no chemic there (check where it is made though as there are lots of continental beers are now made over here), if you want stella try and get the imported stuff the British Interbrew stuff  just addles the mind
Out of all the draught lagers, carling is probably the only one I'll drink in the pub as there is not a great choice  but usually its Guinness all the way.

As others have said though real ale is the way forward ( I'm addicted to Well's banana beer!  ) All the good stuff comes in bottles, avoid mass produced canned stuff as they WILL give you a bad head!

Down with Interbrew!   

Oh - that Banana Bread ale is gorgeous! 

Czech lagers are the best - the darker, the better!

I have always been a real ale/microbrew fan, so I guess I'm not the most partial.  Sometimes, if we go to the pub and all they have is "normal" lager, I just drink soda.

Some of my favorite nationally available ones are Badger beers (esp. Golden Glory and Blandford Fly), Hobgoblin, Pedigree, Black Sheep, Fursty Ferret, Double Maxim, 6X, Deuchar's IPA, Discovery...the list goes on.  If you get a chance to go to a beer festival, it can be very interesting to taste some of the local brews.  And you should try a proper cider and perry (not just Strongbow!), but be careful--they can make you really ill if you have too much.  Old Rosie is a good one, I forget who makes it, but it's quite strong.

And then there's Newcastle Brown, but I'm not sure if that really counts as real ale.  Pretty nice, though.

Fursty Ferret

My bf bought some of that last week! I'm not a beer/ale/lager drinker at all, but I loved the bottle and label so much that I took a pic of it!

Mander, where do you live?  I feel a UKY beer fest trip coming on!


Vicky

Old Rosie is great cider.  And the Wychwood brewery do one, too, that we finally tried a few weeks ago.

I LOVE Fursty Ferret! 

As a Kent-resident, I have to make sure that Spitfire gets a mention.  And Late Red is a good one, too.

I cannnot wait to get to the beer festival tonight!  They usually carry at least one Russian stout-type that they'll only sell in 1/2 pints because it's normally 13%+!  I try to make that my penultimate drink of the evening.

I'm not a beer/ale/lager drinker at all, but I loved the bottle and label so much that I took a pic of it!

I'm not either but I love the brown bottles and all interesting names and labels especially at Christmas time.

I cannnot wait to get to the beer festival tonight! 

Which one are you going to?

Vicky

Medway - it's not an "official" CAMRA beer festival (they parted ways a few years ago....).  But they had their first one the first year I lived here and we went for my birthday that year, so it's become a tradition!  (You're welcome to jump on a train and come down for it!  Today is the second day and it's on 11am - 11pm!)

Not much on lager, but I do enjoy Ringwood Best and 6X.

Mander, where do you live?  I feel a UKY beer fest trip coming on!


Vicky

Sorry, I've been swamped with work lately and haven't had a chance to reply!

I'm in the northeast (near Newcastle).  I went to a festival at the university a couple of years ago but I haven't been to one since we went to one in Bristol last summer.  Bad for the waistline, but oh so much fun!

If I hear of any upcoming ones I'll be sure and tell everyone.  One of these days I am going to join CAMRA for real.  I missed the recent one in York but they have a big one there every year, around the start of term.

You should join CAMRA...you'll get lists of all the beer festivals in your area, even the small ones.

Vicky