British Ales

Hi Denn, you in Cumbria or bit further south Manchester way?


Lots of friendly beer discussions to be had here

 

Here in the Boston, MA area we are fortunate to have 2 NERAX events each year. Cask conditioned, real ale. I look forward to them each year. Plenty of British ales on hand, great event.

 

Craft beer is an evil modern word, please use it sparingly in these parts, it splits opinion and confuses folks round here who dont or wont recognise its meaning! Just ask regular UK forum contributor Mark Wiss !!!

 

Hi Denn. I haven't seen a £2.10 pint for a while. You're a lucky man. The American craft scene is more like the international scene nowadays. It's being mirrored in the UK, Australia, NZ, Brazil, Italy, Japan and even here in South Korea, albeit to a very small audience.

Three years ago I was mostly ignorant of beer outside of the UK but in Korea I've been forced to sample continental and American imports and here is where my voyage of discovery outside of Real Ale began.

That said, my tastes have really gone full circle and I can't wait to sink my first pint of bitter when I get home this summer. The only difference is now I pay way more attention to barley wines and strong stouts.

Welcome to the site. You'll learn a lot.

 

Small Village!!! Skipton is a Market Town and 'Gateway to the Dales'. I'll be working there.

 

Had a superb pint of Wolf Brewery's Woild Moild (4.8% ABV) for £1.70 a week or so ago. It was of course at a Wetherspoon's ; I don't share the dislike of Spoons which I see widely expressed. In these parts they are well run pubs which keep their beer in good nick. What they lack is atmosphere but that isn't what they exist for.

 

I've found there's a big disparity between the different Wetherspoons and it's really apparent in my hometown. I was a regular at The Draper's Arms, which was (and still is) a proper Real Ale pub furnished in wooden panelling. The other 'Spoons though, The College Arms, is a young reveller's pub and more akin to a Yate's dive bar, and certainly no cask ale. Seems it's luck of the draw.

£1.70, bloody hell! In contrast I went to a pub in Seoul last week which sold small bottles of Chimay Blue for £28 each. It was selling as well.

 

Strange thing is that we don't let the price affect where we go. It's nice that it's cheap in Spoons but for example today I went to the same town; the White Lion was buzzing though the beer costs twice as much.Had some lovely Belvoir Dark Horse Mild there.

 

Well, we were lured in by the skirt. Marquis, you are a man who likes his milds.

 

I wish I had access to all of the wonderful real ale that you guys get. I heard the knocks on spoons pubs while visiting as well, but i have to agree w marquis...i didnt find them too bad. i knew what to expect. the beer always seemed in order and well kept. for the most part they were all clean and taken care of. not a ton of character, but when u need to get off your feet from walking and want a pint, they fit my bill just fine.

 

I'm new here too. More Merseyside than Manchester. Am I alone in being tired of all the "me too" maris otter and grapefruit flavoured ales turning up week after week as guest beers? You hope for a bit of variety and all you seem to find is more of the same. The fad will pass. For now, I am asking to taste before I buy.

 

No, you're not alone. I was in a pub last week when we discussed this topic and a surprising number of people were getting bored with the grapefruity pale beers. I love hops when they taste of hops.

 

I come across hop forward beers so rarely, due to my home town having a piss poor choice of beers, that I have a good while left before hop monsters bore the tits off me.

 

My fear is that that England becomes like the US with everything IPA, double IPA, hopmonster this and hopbomb that. Many bars serve nothing but on the 20 or so draft dispensers. I love beer but am forces to order wine. I am in a HUGE minority but my consolation has been trips to England for real ale that rarely has anything to do with grapefruit and pine trees. I don't understand hippetheth's reference to "maris otter" tasting beers but many ales are brewed with that grain and taste great. My goal is to retire and spend much of my time in the UK just for the beer unless the trend continues.