Your favorite EUROPEAN country for beer...

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by 19etz55, Dec 10, 2014.

?

What is/are your favorite European beer country/countries?

Poll closed Aug 10, 2015.
  1. Belgium

    56.9%
  2. Germany

    25.8%
  3. England

    8.0%
  4. France

    0.7%
  5. Ireland/Scotland

    0.7%
  6. Austria/Switzerland

    1.0%
  7. Poland/Czechoslovakia

    2.2%
  8. Sweden/Denmark/Finland

    2.7%
  9. Other?

    2.2%
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  1. rozzom

    rozzom Pooh-Bah (2,534) Jan 22, 2011 New York
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Although I l've heard of a couple of places in the country who brew legitimately British-esque beers and serve them (properly) from a cask, in my experience the local cask option has generally been about as British as drinking Hoponius Union from das boot is German
     
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  2. Zimbo

    Zimbo Pooh-Bah (2,281) Aug 7, 2010 Scotland
    Pooh-Bah

    :slight_smile:
    Here here. A perfect response.
     
  3. BronxBirdFlu

    BronxBirdFlu Initiate (0) Feb 9, 2010 Germany

    If looking at just the beer: Belgium. But if you are looking at the whole beer culture of a country: Germany.
     
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  4. utopiajane

    utopiajane Initiate (0) Jun 11, 2013 New York

    There was some good lagers this past year. So from jacks abby in the spring, their maibock was good and their marzen, and cascadian shwarzbier were terrific. Firestone had oaktoberfest which was cracklin good. I had a czech? style pilsner where some new wort is mixed in with the beer and that of course makes it cloudy. But it has a vibrant sweetness and a fresh herbal. I had beers from heater allen that were fantastic and I had weizenbocks from southern tier and from victory.
     
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  5. wesbray

    wesbray Initiate (0) Feb 29, 2012 Canada (AB)

    It's really not a competition. Again, without visiting the source, I don't see how anyone can make a fair judgement.

    I spent my formative beer years in England so i'm a little biased, but I adore British pub culture. I have yet to find a suitable replacement for drinking a Mild in a traditional pub. In terms of imports (at least in Canada), Belgium rules, due in part to the fact that they bottle most of their good beers, and said beers also thrive in the bottle (high ABV, addition of candi sugar etc.). Their lambic beers are so far ahead of what anyone else can do with wild yeast (yes, including the US). I haven't been to Germany yet, which is very disappointing as I love the imports that I have had, despite knowing that they are not as their peak, but it is a pilgrimage I fully intend to make within the next few years and fall in love with their beer and beer culture.

    The point is that every country has its own beer culture, traditions and advantages and disadvantages, which is why its really hard to compare them directly (including to the US).
     
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  6. MrIncognito

    MrIncognito Initiate (0) Jan 30, 2008 Virginia

    Germany and Belgium were really close for me. Overall I decided I'd have a harder time never having another German beer again over not having another Belgian. Still a close call. I'm sure part of my decision is nostalgic since Germany is where I first came to love beer.
     
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  7. rozzom

    rozzom Pooh-Bah (2,534) Jan 22, 2011 New York
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    This should be the stock response to "best country for beer" threads, rather than the usual - "dude, belgium.... duh!"
     
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  8. halo3one

    halo3one Initiate (0) Jun 6, 2014 Georgia

    Portugal's easily the best.
     
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  9. Hoppsbabo

    Hoppsbabo Pooh-Bah (2,029) Jan 29, 2012 England
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Indeed it is. The obvious choice really.
     
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  10. atrocity

    atrocity Pooh-Bah (2,155) Dec 18, 2013 Virginia
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Belgium and it's not even close. Been there and drank at the source across a few cities as well as spent quite some time in England.
     
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  11. spartan1979

    spartan1979 Pundit (946) Dec 29, 2005 Missouri

    Easily Germany for me. I can spend weeks there drinking all the regional beers. After about three days in Belgium, I'm usually ready to move on.
     
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  12. BurgeoningBrewhead

    BurgeoningBrewhead Initiate (0) Jul 18, 2012 Pennsylvania

    Of the countries I have actually visited, the list would go Germany > Latvia > Lithuania > Poland.
    Of which country's beer I enjoy the most, it's a toss-up between Germany and Belgium. I'm not into sours at all otherwise I'm sure Cantillon would push it over for me, but eh.
     
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  13. Doctor_Bogenbroom

    Doctor_Bogenbroom Initiate (0) Nov 2, 2014 Pennsylvania

    I love Belgium, but Germany gets my vote on this one. Gotta love those German beers...
     
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  14. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Maria,

    If you ever get a chance to make it down to the Philly area I would recommend a visit to the Victory Brewpub (Downingtown, PA) so you can try their various German style beers. Below is a link to what is on tap today.

    I hope to be able to schedule a visit to the Brewpub this weekend to try their new beer of Hop Ticket Sticke Alt. If I was able to obtain a designated driver I would also be drinking plenty of:

    · Victory Lager: a tasty Helles beer!

    · Braumeister Pils: an excellent unfiltered Pilsner!!

    · Zeltbier: a Pale Oktoberfest beer; right there with Weihenstephaner Oktoberfestbier

    · Gose: I had one on my last visit to the Brewpub; very tasty!

    The Mad King’s Weiss is nice but I prefer their other hefeweizen called Sunrise Weissbier.

    Cheers!

    Jack

    http://www.victorybeer.com/brewpubs/downingtown/

    P.S. A few visits ago they had both their Dunkel and Doppelbock (St. Victorious) on tap; that was a GREAT visit!!
     
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  15. MNAle

    MNAle Initiate (0) Sep 6, 2011 Minnesota

    Since this is predominately an American forum, I suspect it is safe to assume that people are rating English beers on what is exported to here and/or the attempts to brew English styles by American brewers.

    None of those compare to the experience of drinking a locally brewed ale, bitter or mild, in an English pub. Of course, the pub experience has few parallels (that I have found) in USA bars, but also the exports we get here are merely an imitation of the pub ales directly from the tap.

    England got my vote.
     
  16. MNAle

    MNAle Initiate (0) Sep 6, 2011 Minnesota

    Not to mention the insult to Slovakia! :wink:
     
  17. morebeergood

    morebeergood Grand Pooh-Bah (3,278) Aug 13, 2004 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah

    I'm throwing my two cents in to vote for Liechtenstein!
     
  18. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Two cents sounds about right for Liechtenstein!:wink:

    Cheers!

    P.S. My apologies to any BAs from Liechtenstein.
     
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  19. MNAle

    MNAle Initiate (0) Sep 6, 2011 Minnesota

    Oh, I don't know... they have to get some props for having "stein" in their name!
     
  20. LampertLand

    LampertLand Grand Pooh-Bah (3,109) Nov 2, 2011 Canada (BC)
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Germany - we recently won our fourth star and it's not just for our beers :stuck_out_tongue: , prost
     
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