British beers and clear bottles

:-)

If I get back to Notts we'll explore this further over a few pints. As I said before, I'll stand for the first round.

 

LMAO High Life is their example !! Hahaha "Finest beer ever produced" yeah right. Another dumb statement from a company that appeals to the mass amount of sheep

 

The UK's best brewery only uses brown bottles:

 

Beers don't use them, but some Breweries do. Can you put the second sentence in English please?

 

Marketing

 

Why Innis & Gunn is not worried about light damage using their clear (colorless) glass bottles (scroll to bottom):

http://www.innisandgunnnews.com/2011/august.html#5

 

*part* of why i almost never buy british beer .

 

Newcastle!

 

Newcastle Brown's main (only?) rival, Double Maxim also comes in a clear bottle. That may be a case of one imitating the other.

 

All I can offer you folks is a half hearted apology on behalf of the A-holes breweries here who are pathetic enough to bottle their beers in clear glass. But rest assured that 99% of the best British beer never makes it to the States whether they be in clear or brown bottles.

And as for that poster claiming that the Kernel is the best Brewery in the UK I can't agree. The Kernel can certainly be seen as one of the best new British breweries but there is no consensus as to which brewery is head and shoulders above the rest.

 

Not wanting to get into a tit-for-tat, but I don't recall saying The Kernel was " head and shoulders above the rest", just that, IMO, it is the best that I have found (I lived in England for 40 years before moving to Cali four years ago).
Obviously, it's impossible to quantify such a statement but if your favourite styles are (WestCoast) IPAs, pale ales and big stouts, then I don't know of another UK brewery which can boast an equivalently broad and high caliber lineup.

 

I always assumed it was some sort of QC technique. It is a good way to ensure the beers taste the same, even if that sameness isn't desirable.

 

I'm guessing since it rains most of the time they figure it won't matter.

 

Sadly I don't buy Belhaven's Scottish Stout anymore, since they moved to clear bottles (too bad, cos it's a killer beer, as well)...also, I dislike Green King's business practices, but their Old Suffolk is quite good....if it wasn't in clear bottles I'd likely snag one now and again.

 

You make a good point in terms of general quantity and quality, I am of course aware of cask ale and it's history/popularity in the UK, but the point of this thread was the beer that is bottled.

 

True, indeed, but a sub thread deals with why so few reports of skunking in the UK. :-)

If the only beer you drink never comes from a bottle there are many fewer opportunities for skunking to take place in the store.

 

So I had my first Innis & Gunn Rum Cask Oak Aged beer tonight...from a clear bottle. At my first sip, I thought I noticed some very slight skunkiness, but after a few sips it was gone. I don't know if the original taste was all in my head or if the explanation from the Innis & Gunn folks was indeed accurate.

It was really enjoyable. A bit pricey ($12/4-pack at Total Wine) so I don't know how often I'll buy it, but it was tasty. Just enough rum & oakiness to make it pleasantly different.

 

I am not thrilled. I bought a pack of "Hen House" a four pack of : Hen's Tooth, Old Crafty Hen, Old Speckled Hen and Old Golden Hen.

I only had the Hen's Tooth and it was skunked!!! I mean it wasn't skunked that bad to the point of a drain pour, it was still drinkable and somewhat enjoyable at times. However, it certainly took away from a beer that I think I would have liked. My concern is that the rest of these bottles are skunked and I just wasted money.

By the way, The Old Golden Hen has a few "pieces" of things, I guess yeast, floating around at the bottom. Does that mean anything?

 

Quality is high with the Kernel no doubt and I always look forward to drinking their beers. But sometimes I wonder if they avoid potential problems with consistency by rarely brewing the same beer more than once.