English beers

Where in England?

 

Can you get Courage Imperial Russian Stout or Good King Henry in the US? They're a couple of crackers.

 

Too bad you're not into cider...he's heading into great cider territory.
Not sure how far out of the way your friend is planning to go to get beer for you. Most bottle shops in London may be quite small compared to what you may be used to.
@Hoppsbabo mentions Courage Imperial Russian Stout and Good King Henry. If you're friend visits Borough Market, he might find those at Utobeer. Otherwise, he'd have to get lucky at a craft bar like Mother Kelly's or Craft Beer Co.
Looking at the top beers on this site for the UK, the easiest stuff to find will be the Fuller's and Samuel Smith's beers, but you may be able to find those at home anyway.

 

You'd be better of posting this in the UK forum for starters.

Buxton, Siren, Kernel and Thornbridge (plus Brewdog from Scotland) all made the top 100 brewers worldwide in the 2015 RB best awards so you won't go wrong by picking examples of the above.

The top 100 English beers listed on BA are largely reflective of what is available in the US so I wouldn't pay too much attention in terms of suggesting things to pick up over here.

Other folks will chip in with their own favourites but the above five are all solid.

If you want more traditional British styles ... low ABV goldes or bitters then of course there is a vast choice. Be wary of small batch / back of the pub stuff as infections can be commonplace.

On this front check out Oakham, Blue Monkey, Wold Top, Dark Star and Windsor & Eton to name but a few.

I doubt your friend is likely to bring a cask of beer back before anyone tells you that this is what British beer is all about.

 

Courage is widely available in USA

 

Kernel or Brew By Numbers

 

I have not had the pleasure of drinking this beer but I have heard a lot of good things about Deuchars IPA; it is 4.4% ABV so it is not an IPA by American style IPA standards.

Cheers!

 

Eek, I'd evaluate the credibility of your sources on that one.

 

It was in Michael Jackson's book for the top 500 beers of the world.

Or maybe you have a superior palate to Michael Jackson!?!

Cheers!

 

I agree, it ranked on the lower end of the beers I had during a trip to Scotland. Although that was one of the few beers I had from a regular CO2 draft line, not cask conditioned.

 

If you can find McCaffreys Irish Stout, it's a good example of a traditional Irish Stout. Americans versions are more bold, but you can drink this one for days.

 

I would also suggest getting out into the smaller towns out in the boonies and trying some of the local beer that was made for that town. In Scotland when you get out of the big cities, each town has different beers and a different take on styles. Its fun.

 

Tish and pish, that chap was from a bygone era. He once described Bass bitter as one of the most complex beers in Britain.

 

Cask and package versions are so completely different its not even fair to compare with this. One of my favorites on cask a few years ago when I worked in Scotland for a while. I have not had it for a few years, but have heard people say it is a shell of its former self, even on cask. Take that with a grain of salt as hearsay recollection from a friend

 

Hmm. some words I should add to my vocabulary!?!

Cheers!

 

"Tish and pish".

I am not really sure what that means but I figured I need some practice with these words!?!

Cheers!

 

The yeast has been cleaned up since then, and it isn't fermented via the union system, so he was undoubtedly talking about a beer of a bygone era as well.

 

Bass is still admired by many (when it's in good condition) as one of the greats...As for bottles, what about Fullers Bengal Lancer?