Beer is brain food

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pfx

Well-known member
Completely non-Trainz so apologies.

Until this week, my experience of US beer was Bud, Miller and all those other gassy liquids, brewed under license here, that make you pee a lot. I can't remember the last time I actually drank any of these.

My wife bought me a mixed case of obscure US beers for Valentine's and I have to say if you guys are getting this sort of stuff all the time, I'm well jealous. Got some bottles from Sierra Nevada, Odell, Brooklyn Brewery, Flying Dog and Victory. All are exceedingly tasty and addle the mind in just the way beer should. The Sierra Nevada Stout is a corker although it does lack the soup-like qualities of Guinness (no bad thing really).

The one that is filling me with fear is Victory's Golden Monkey at 9.5%! That's verging on fortified beer and the only other thing I drank like that was Carlsberg Special Brew (no, I'm not a wino). Report to follow. Hic!
 
EXCUSE ME sir, but if you like a drop of the old stout, but don't like the "soup-like qualities of Guinness", may I suggest a bottle of MANN'S Brown ale ?
A superb example of British brewed bottled ale, that unlike Mackeson, is not over sweet. :cool::wave:
 
Apparently the true "Bud" is actually Budvar from Czechoslovakia not to be confused with the gassy fermented corn juice of the US brand. The proper Budvar, both blonde and brown variants, can be purchased fairly easily in UK supermarkets.

I'm actually a fairly big fan of German beer though without paying £40 to import a case it tends to be limited to the wheat beers that the supermarkets stock. There's an off licence in Swindon Old Town which occasionally hosts a more varied selection - Lowenbrau Oktoberfest went down nicely. My ambition is to sample Augustiner Edelstoff - definitely on my "bucket list".

Then there's the Belgian beers. Chimay probably best known, the "Blue" tips the scales at around 9% alcohol but you wouldn't think it - dangerously drinkable. Duvel is also quitea nice drop though a bit of a sugary aftertaste.

US bottled imports tend to be a bit pricey in the UK particularly as they tend to be 330ml rather than 500ml bottles.
 
Odell is my local brew, Fort Collins, Colorado. For a while my band was named after their IPA.

http://odellbrewing.com/

along with New Belgium

http://www.newbelgium.com/

And many, many others. They all produce superb beer that shares little in common with a bottle from one of the big three. These beers win global competitions and are very highly rated. I hope that the International impression of US beer is not 'Bud'.
 
My favorite, that I buy whenever I'm down at Jungle Jim's in Cincinnati, is a brew from the Bierzai region of Lithuania. It's called 'Vampire' and it definitely will replace blood with alcohol with a content of 8.2%. It's a great beer. The bottle cap is imprinted with "Rinkuskiai" which is the Brewery (I think).

The little micro-breweries around the Eastern slope of Colorado are the finest in the States.

Bill
 
BLACKWATCH said:
EXCUSE ME sir, but if you like a drop of the old stout, but don't like the "soup-like qualities of Guinness", may I suggest a bottle of MANN'S Brown ale ?
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Oh, I love Guinness. Handy, as I lived in a pub in Dublin for a year. Mann's is also lovely but I haven't had a drop of it since I was at school.

Vern said:
Apparently the true "Bud" is actually Budvar from Czechoslovakia
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Sure is. US Bud even tried to sue the older Budvar for stealing the name... Belgian beers are deadly. I sat with my beer menu in a 'brown bar' and worked my way half way down the first page of the menu. I'm not sure what happened after that but I woke in my kitchen, sitting in the bin.

tariacuri said:
I hope that the International impression of US beer is not 'Bud'.
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Sadly, it's what most people here think of as 'Mercan beer. Thankfully, those who really appreciate their beer, know otherwise.
 
I would give anything for a Murphey's Irish stout on tap right now. Been over five years now since I was last in England. You can find it here occasionally, but it's just not the same.

Some of the best beer I ever had was from the micro breweries around Silver Springs Colorado. It was hard to find a bad one.

Dave......
 
sparky15 said:
I would give anything for a Murphey's Irish stout on tap right now. Been over five years now since I was last in England. You can find it here occasionally, but it's just not the same.

Some of the best beer I ever had was from the micro breweries around Silver Springs Colorado. It was hard to find a bad one.

Dave......
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Murphys doesn't seem to be available as much as it used to be over here at present, I usually prefer Guinness or Murphys, Manns I remember well but can't get that in this area now either, if it even still exists?
Must admit that my only experience of US beer came when docked at a US naval base in Japan and I wasn't that impressed, glad to hear that you do actually have decent stuff as well.

Just to keep it train related they do have canned Guinness on the Cross Country train I was on last week. ;)
 
clam1952 said:
Murphys doesn't seem to be available as much as it used to be over here at present, I usually prefer Guinness or Murphys, Manns I remember well but can't get that in this area now either, if it even still exists?
Must admit that my only experience of US beer came when docked at a US naval base in Japan and I wasn't that impressed, glad to hear that you do actually have decent stuff as well.

Just to keep it train related they do have canned Guinness on the Cross Country train I was on last week. ;)
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Not that you bought any ? not at that price
 
Personaly I prefer the hearty Australian brands ... but I have found that the commodity, that can be loaded and shipped in Trainz tankers and boxcars, to have absolutely no taste whatsoever. :p

QUESTION: Outback Steakhouse (in the US) does it have any connection, ownership, or Corporate in Australia ? Or is: Outback Steakhouse just a made up theme ?
 
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I'm pretty sure that Outback Steakhouse is just a theme restaurant - I've never seen one over here. I went to one near Las Vegas airport - good steak, but no roo on the menu... Not a very Australian experience really.

And yes, in both the UK and USA American beer = Miller + Budweiser. Personally I found I could usually get Sam Adams when I've been in the states, so not so bad really...

The same seems to be true of The British view of Australian beer - XXXX and Fosters. In reality Aus beer is pretty regional - in fact I didn't beleive anyone here actually drank XXXX until I went to Queensland last year. It's no better in it's native State though. Here is SA it's mostly Cooper's, the local brew - most drink the slightly cloudy Pale Ale.

Paul
 
Clam, if you're ever over at the FFestiniog Rly in Porthmadog, try a pint of the local micro brewery, it's called 'Purple Moose' & comes in 4or 5 varieties.
 
fran1 said:
He'll be singing Prince songs if he does.
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Hmm don't tempt me..... actually I'm more a Bluegrass and country rock person or was until I had to take up a Less demanding pastime due to an arthritic wrist :(. I've heard about that Purple Moose and am looking forward to sampling it!
Brains is a good pint as well, better than most of the peculiar fizzy stuff we get round here, Got a wedding to go to in April in North Wales so might just nip down to Porthmadog ...... to visit the Ffestiniog Railway of course. ;)
 
I honestly think it's very sad that people even buy Bud or Miller products. All it is is cheap rice beer. Isn't it illegal to brew beer with such fillers in Germany? And now Miller is saying in their ads that it's double hopped! I couldn't even tell that there is any hops in Bud or Miller. It's amazing what a good marketing scheme can do to sell that stuff. To me these beers are like liquid McDonald's. Crap for those who just don't care. I love so many different kinds of beer, different styles. Beer should be enjoyed like fine food or fine wine (I much prefer beer). And to quote my bottle of Flying Dog, which quotes Hunter S. Thompson, Good People Drink GOOD Beer! Cheers!
All of that aside, I will occasionally crack open an ice cold can of Bud, usually only when out fishing. There is a little bit of Americana to it, but that's about all it has going for it.
 
Hehe. This has become most amusing indeed. A bit of light hearted discussion on beer.

As motorbreath says, Flying Dog has a good quote. Also the proclamation on their Porter of "Good Beer, No S***", just the way it should be.

There was a lovely brew called Gillespie's Oat Malt Stout available in Scotland for a year or two. It couldn't have taken off very well as it disappeared without trace. I thought it gave Guinness and Murhpy's a bloody good run for their money.
 
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