Club Arnage

 I've been up north for a week, and much too my disappointment the beer was total sh*t. do landlords ever clean the pipes, and whats even worse bank's and marston's served with a load of cream on top it. All i can say is, I'm glad to be  back here drinking well served. mind you I'm driving to Spain next week, gilles we'll be coming back to cherbourg, If we come in time , maybe i'll stop and have drink with you,  can you let me kknow how to contact you ?

Sorry guy's perhaps i should be more specific, as i have had superb ale inYorkshire, It's the area around market drayton,

Sav, I speak as someone who went to school in nearby Newport, Shrops. Drayton is a total dump. The beer is famously crap, unlike in Newport, where aged 16 I bought my first pint of beer in a pub (Marstons Pedigree in the Kings Head in 1979, 34p a pint, lovely).

Did you really expect anything better in Drayton? It is like Royston Vasey, tho not as bad as Grantham, Lincs. Were you there on medical research into the inhabitants?

 that's what I thought Andy, I didn't want to be too rude, We went along the the canal, and couldn't find a decent beer anywhere. thank god  for stores selling bottled beer

I'll tell you what Sav, you were seriously getting my dander up, before you excused Yorkshire from your beer rant.
I live in torment at not being able to sup hand-pulled Tetley Bitter.
It is, without question, the finest mixture of hops, barley and yeast in the known universe (Grimbergen excepted, of course).
Good beer needs a head on it also - and the head should stick to the glass, all the way down - oh Christ, the thought of a couple of pints of Budschmeiser tonight has me all depressed.....

My globe trotting mate told me most (90 % ) of American beer is LIGHT stuff and generally a little girly, and the thought of a pint of english stuff is enough to make them fall over with twinky induced heart failure.

Or i am wrong.

Again ....

No Robbo, you are absolutely correct. And so is Matt.

Budwheezer is piss, King of Beers my arse. Even worse are Coors Lite or Miller Lite. Ack! I'd rather drink French beer and that is saying something. Whilst the Yanks do have a few good darker ales, mainly to be found in the north east US/Boston etc, it is generally nothing that could be described as "beer", so far as I understand the word.

A nice cool pint of T t t t t t ttetleys would hit the spot in warmer cliamte of FLA, eh Matt? And their tea ain't bad either. I say T t t t t tetley as there was a bloke who used to come into my local pub in Birmingham with a bad stutter and ask for a "P p p p pint of  T t t t tetleys. One day the landlord asked him why he didn't just drink Ansells. We nearly pissed ourselves.

You unspeakable bastard, Zarse!
Just to reasure anyone who gives a flying fart, I only drink full-fat beer - never Lite Shite - the regular is watered down enough as it is.
American beer is not good - I can tolerate Sam Adams (Boston Beer) but it's still a poor imitation of the real thing. I've resorted to Guinness, where served without a dark grey head and Michelob if decent Nigerian is not available.
I don't miss income tax at 40% or scraping ice off my windscreen for half the year - but I really miss a decent pint of Tet or Timmy Taylors - or even John Smiths, at a pinch. Don't take it for granted - it's the food of the Gods.

Would have to agree on most of our big mass produced commercial brews, Bud, Miller, Coors, etc.  Pretty dreadful stuff.  Its beer for people who don't like the taste of beer.  There are hundreds of good micro-brews available here though.  These are generally produced by small local breweries.  Sierra Neveda Pale Ale, Rogue Dead Guy Ale from Portland and Anchor Steam out of Frisco are especially good examples.  Like you said just stay away from what we call TV beer.
Fax

Rogue Dead Guy Ale??!! What the blazes is that Fax?
I got crappers on Anchor Steam Beer at the Orlando Beer Festival last year, but didn't see any Rogue Dead Guy - well - not a beer anyway.
I have to retract - some of the micro brews in Cincinnati are pretty good - trouble is, I've always been too hammered by Joe Kellers' Jack Daniels measures to appreciate them.
The other Cinci brew (Hudi Gold?) tastes like witches piss, however....

My brother, my dad and a few lucky uncle's swear by Timothy Taylors , served in a  nice curry house in Bradford .

Only ever tttries the TTTea , and its flamin tetleys that one is.

Big southern puff ! Us northerners will drink you southern puffs under the table any day

Hi Matt, Rogues got a great taste and a fairly f**k*ng hilarious label to boot...A pretty standard Cincy night going here, Got pissed at Hap's,  Bud, Gwinn's & witches brew. Sitting here now in my shreddies scarfing down Skyline & Warstarters, life's not so bad after all, see you at Hendrick's Field!
John

Oh for f**k's sake.  Microbrew beer all has the same chemical, crap taste in the US.  I don't know why people rave on about it so much.

Was rather partial to VB in Australia - Zarse, were you quaffing that at all?

Was in London a few weeks back and must say I was served pretty much the most filthy tasting pint of Giunness I have ever had the misfortune to handle.  Undrinkable.  Will be in Berlin and Hamburg next week.  Any good recommendations for pubs, restaurants or beer?

Hi Dave, Whie I have never been to Germany you can not go far wrong with Warstarter or DAB ;D
Canada Phil

Dave .

You can always stroll down the rieperbahn....Strangely enough the local brew is Becks.....but the aforementioned street has a few more attractions which Le Mans is now missing!!!"!!

As far as eating out in Hamburg I am unable to help you.....but if you like Doner kebabs,there are plenty o kebab shops on Germany,due to the itinerant population of Turks

Wishy

I mostly drank VB whilst we were in Queensland last month.
However, I have to say, VB (or Victoria Bitter) is incorrectly named as Bitter it most certainly ain't !!
Most of the Aussy locals had the same opinion about XXXX and Fosters as our US CA'ers have about Budweiser and other gas 'beers'.

There were a couple of interesting bottled beers I came across (so to speak) in the off licenses but there names escape me - age induced amnesia!

On the subject of Aussy off licenses, these are locally known as 'bottle shops' and are almost universally 'drive in' - yes that's right.
They are large garage type places with some shelving to each side of the lanes.  There's a browsing lane where you get out of the car, or the express lane where you're drooling for a cold stubby and the shop assistants take your money and put the beer in your car for you - excellant.
However, the concept of cars and alcohol combined seems to be a bit bizarre to us Brits ??

I'd agree Steve - VB certainly isn't bitter - kind of fizzy, but not bad though.

We also have drive-through "beer shacks" for sake of a better word in more rural parts of the US.  All in the spirit of "For God's sake, don't make me walk anywhere... Just let me sit on my expanding ass cheeks in the car".  I think they're mostly a hick-town thing though.

Wishy - I think I could give one of my US clients a coronary taking him to the rieperbahn.  I sat across the aisle from him on a flight back from Aus to LA last month and he read his bible the whole flight!  At least it wasn't the Koran!

A trip to the Rieperbahn would probably do him the world of good then.  He'd be able to check out all the sinners and fornicators going about their 'business'.  He could treat it as a field trip.  ;D

Lads Lads we're talking about beer, not American or australian attempts at making urine palatable. Matt I have to take is issue about Tetleys, to my palate, I would rate a good 30 beers above that, sorry. It is after all a mattyer of taste

Spent a fortnight in Yorkshire this year, and very nice it was to.  The whole experience was made much better by the existance of a local brewery.  http://www.croptonbrewery.co.uk/

Now, I know that you northern chaps like a head on yer beer cause it's flat otherwise, which is total bo**ocks, and some other chaps like it without a half pint head, but Timothy Taylors, and Tetleys...........are you MAD

I stopped in one pub in Yorkshire (can't remember the town) and the ONLY beer on tap was John Smiths.............I nearly threw up.

Saveloy - Blasphemer!!!! Wash your mouth out with soap and water - you sinner!
Gibberish - erm, yes - qiute - that's exactly what you're talking.

The Joshua Tetley Brewery, in Hunslet, Leeds, produces the finest bitter ale in the world - this is totally irrefutable and I will not hear another word on the matter to the contrary.

Yes, it does have a creamy head that endures - and adds to the taste and visual appeal.

No, it is not strong - 3.8 abv, I believe. What this means is that one can quaff loads of it without getting bollixed. Good if you like beer - bad if you drink beer, purely to get shitfaced.

No, it doesn't taste like vinegar or look like cold tea that the barman has pissed in - that seems to be the preserve of the filthy concoctions I've been forced to endure in the south east.

The Tetley Bitter in The Brassmoulders Arms in Hunslet is breathtaking - the clientelle, somewhat scary - but it's worth running the gauntlet for such a superlative pint.

I am distraught, because I'm denied this pleasure, since leaving UK - I must admit that Tet doesn't travel too well. They have it on nitro-keg at an "English Pub" here in O'town and it's cack - it must be drunk within 30 miles of the brewery, in my view.

Rant over.

If you like good arse kicking real ale, then a trip to East Anglia is in order.
Beers like Adnams Broadside, Woodfordes Wherry, Green King Abbot, Crouch Vale Bitter and small breweries like St Peters, Mauldons, Nethergate, Old Chimneys, Bartrams, Old Cannon, Iceni etc mean I don't venture far from a local pub this time of the year.  ;)

Matt,

T t t t traditional T t t tetley is a bloody g g g good p p p p pint and make no m m m m mistake. Not as good as Tim Taylors landlord tho, one of the best.

But I hate that " Traditional, newly invented, nitrokeg, Smoothpour" piss, which tastes like something out of the pickled onion jar.

I do not know to which filthy Southern brews you are refering tho. Beer in this area is pretty good IMO. Even in London! What is wrong with Youngs or Fullers? Or a miriad of others? If you get a poor pint down here, you can be sure it was brewed oop north. eg Boddingtons, Tetly nitrokeg or John Smiths (the nations top selling beer BTW).

But just to kill the thread off once and for all, the finest beer in the world, bar none, is Harveys Sussex Bitter, a drink on it's own. Fully hopped, fruity and very very bitter, it's still brewed in wood and copper and unchanged for centuries. A proper English yeomans pint.

Zarce - I am told , although never tries it .

Gales Brewery , Horndean Special Brew ( HSB ) is the king. ask CAMRA followers ?   Aparrently

Lads I cede!!!!  the best beer in the World comes from Ringwood hampshire. No more Arguments!!!!!! , although in no particular Order so do  kent Sussex  Devon Cornwall cams Lincs  Worcestershire and a few more. Mind you The Germans do exceedingly fine beers.

....and Mr. Kipling makes a mean apple pie.....

Good call on the Timmy's, Mr Zee, but still only a valiant runner-up, in my view.

I spent a miserable year and a half, living in St Leonards on Sea in the mid '80s (what a shithole). There were some lovely pubs out in the Sussex countryside - particularly around your neck of the woods, but I couldn't hack the lifeless, vinegary beer (IPA, Youngs, Fullers, Whitbread, Shepherd Neame etc). I resorted to drinking lager, which got me into lots of punch-ups and a DUI after one too many Hurlemmans (?) - like Stella, only Swiss (same wife-beater effect).

Whilst I concede that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I'm somewhat predjudiced regarding Yorkshire's finest. It's crap in cans, nitro and wherever it has been shipped long distance, but in the correct circumstances, it's the dog's bollocks and I miss it very sorely.

Added to which, it's f**k*ng raining, we missed bonfire night and I've got the prospect of a 5 hour + flight, departing at 6.00am tomorrow - I'm homesick - let's change the frickin' subject!

 
 

Matt , Just read your new ish fighting talk under the picture of the Vette.

Oh a Mini , bloody fighting talk that one.

At least they are controlable , ask Powermites mucka , AJ , about Vette car control..........

Oh no - not the f**k*ng mini thread again!

Beer is far more interesting to talk about that minis.

Agreed, American beer is pooh.  So are minis.
Lots of Guinness makes you pooh - hmm, mini again.

Thinking that high performance is trundling around in a mini - well, enough said.

Matt - you appear to have dipped into depression over this whole beer issue.  Let it go man - there's always Zima and Bud Ice!  Smokie - weren't you drinking that at Sebring?

Let me at the little bleeder - I'll give 'im a good hiding, so I will!
Robbo - you raise an interesting and salient point.
All cars - and drivers, no matter what or who they are, have limitations and dramas can occur when the limits are passed.
Do I take it you never heard of anyone losing control of a Mini?
I don't know Powermite's mate - or if his C4 is stock or what? I can't comment - other than to reassure you that there is a world of difference between the C4 and C5 Corvette. the advent of GM active ride makes armfulls of opposite lock a thing of the past (unless you want to induce it, of course). So even with quite a significant power output and lots of torque, it all still goes in the right direction rather quickly.
I'm not thinking of chopping mine in against a Mini just yet, anyway.
Now - back to Northern Beer............

Oh ballocks, a huge and interesting thread on beer! and I nearly missed it!
I only have time to take a few notes and keep them in my back pocket for reference.
Missed the forum for a while, and work takes me to a miniscule island on the 24th parallel later on today for a month or so. Christ knows what beer will be there, but moderation and a plugged bottom will have to be my motto. Matt, I have to say one of the best pints I've ever had, and I can still picture it in my minds eye down to the last sud, was a pint of Tetleys outside a lone pub somewhere in the Peak District ("don't stray from the path"). And yes, it's sh*te once it's travelled.
I shall try to find a motor racing connection on this tiny oolitic rock and get on line and let you know, after all there's always some p*sshead in the bar whose met Stirling Moss, and badly embarrassed the pastor the night before.
Toodle pip
H

definitely leave mini's off this topic,  this is for beer and all related spin offs. not in the wildest imaginations of homer would a mini be related to beer.

Hey Matt, why on earth do you think I got the name  ;D

Well said Mr. Zarse.  Shame some other people can't get access to it.  ;D

Harveys do a fine range, Tim taylor's landlord is superb, but I stick by Ringwood 49er.

Is this the island whose emblem is the crossed cake stand and doilly, flanked by two surgical boots?

Don't worry H, you'll be back for Christmas. 2005!

it was cheap...

I've found the great thing about the American "Lite" beer (the only great thing of course), is that if you don't mind slotting into that particular "flavor", you can drink it with absolutely no worry of getting into trouble when intoxicated.  I once did a weekend at the DieHard 500 at Talladega, and all the crew had bought was Bud Lite.  Although dismal at first, once my taste buds had acclimated, I could swill the stuff the entire weekend with absolutely no consequences.  Made it much safer to participate in sampling the local moonshine and other optically risky concoctions.  Fax, I believe that's when your naked Dale Earnhardt dedication took place wasn't it?

What's worse - a weekend of chilled Bud Lite, or air temp 33 dumpies?
Hmmm, that's harder to answer than I thought it would be!

Oh Christ, the mere mention Degga makes my head spin & ass pucker.  Dave, spot on with the Bud Light, its a girlie beer but you can guzzle the stuff all fricking day and still retain control over your bodily functions.  If your lucky you can catch a moderate buzz off of it   Remember the year we decided to go shopping for something a bit more stout on the way to Talladega and almost found ourselves in the middle of a gang-banging (the American version that invloves AK-47's)  Jesus, what were we thinking?!
One last footnote on Budweiser....In an interview a couple of years ago some guy named FOGGERTY was asked what his favorite beer was....you guessed it.  
If its good enough for the man with the biggest brass balls on the planet...I'll have a pint thank you.
John

Fuller's 1845 @ 6.3% - luvverleeeeeyy!!! A whole meal in one pint, chewy as feck and rather splendid. Normally a bottled beer but recently this was available in cask at selected pubs but this short term thing came to an end before I could get to one! (Last Friday and only heard about it on the Wednesday!)  :(

Anyway, just my two (Euro)cents worth!!

 ;D

Robbo

HSB was my fave when I lived in Hants.

BTW robbo, was in your neck of the woods yesterday. Was taken to a pub called the Hawksley Inn near Rogate (NE of Petersfield?). Not that I am a beer bore, but it is CAMRA Portsmoth and SE Hants district Pub of the year 2003. Nine real ales and top food, lovely roast beef and yorkies, much as you could eat!