Attention Lager Drinkers

scientists have identified a yeast in Argentina . . .

[lawman]

. . . that led to the discovery of lager.

The researchers isolated the new species in the frozen forests of Patagonia in South America.

Their discovery suggests that this yeast crossed the Atlantic hundreds of years ago and combined with one traditionally used in Europe to make ale. [bbc.co.uk...]

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

Personally I am a confirmed Ale drinker.

[lucy24]

Raise your hand if you misread the topic title as "larger drinkers" ...

[Visit Thailand]

Interesting. I also prefer ale, although when it is very hot, a nice chilled lager can make a nice and refreshing change.

[Old_Honky]

Larger is only drinkable when ice cold, it is a vile drink that looks and tastes the same when it enters and leaves the body.

It is suitable for children (i.e.under 30's) and foreigners but us British prefer real ale or at a pinch Guinness.

[Visit Thailand]

What ales are the ale drinkers drinking?

We do not get many in Asia (apart from Black stuff - which isn't really an ale) but when I am in the UK I have some Greene King and quite a few others that I forget the name of.

[lucy24]

It will probably not surprise anyone to hear that in the US, all beer is drunk cold. Well, except for kegs consumed by underage frat boys who don't care what they're ingesting, so long as it's got alcohol in it. To your average grownup the very idea of warm beer is repugnant, presumably because you can then taste it. Ain't none of this beer vs. lager vs. stout vs. porter vs. ale vs. et cetera stuff. It's either beer or malt liquor, depending on alcohol content.

I once made the mistake of asking some Germans what »Weißbier«* is. The answer went on for several Forums pages.


* The regular kind. Not the dunkles.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

What ales are the ale drinkers drinking?

Unfortunately in my local village there are only two places that sell ale. One of them is horrendously expensive at almost £4 a pint so I have stopped going there. The other one only ever has one or two on at a time.

Last night I had a couple of pints of Bass, which was OK. Another popular ale in Scotland is Deuchar's or anything from the Caledonian Brewery.

I regularly travel into Glasgow (by train of course) with the sole purpose of trying a few real ales. I am afraid that my taste for ale has killed it for anything else. I just don't enjoy cask beers any more. I would rather drink bottled ale at home that drink some of the adulterated p*** that masquerades as beer in pubs nowadays.

I find that all of the most popular beers in the UK are totally lacking in taste. My theory is that if anything has a strong taste then there is inevitably going to be a percentage of people who will not like it. If the brewers make it as bland as possible then there is a better chance of people buying it.

Targeted marketing campaigns are all part of this process. They add "character" to a beer through TV adverts. John Smith's is a good example- terrible stuff but one of Britain's most popular. A bit like Bud in America.

[Old_Honky]

I don't drink beer that often nowadays but when I do I mainly drink Bitter or "Heavy" as it is called north of the border. There are many good bitters available from small local brewers and even some of the popular beers can taste good if they are kept properly and served direct from the barrel with only gravity and their own pressure forcing the beer out. Even Boddingtons if kept properly is greatly improved and can be quite drinkable.

The bland flavour is mainly caused by the C02 added to pressurize the beer. One of my favourite beers is Wadworths 6X, and when kept properly it is like nectar, when sold as "keg" i.e. pressurised fizzy beer, it is unspeakably vile and not fit to wash your socks with let alone drink.

For the same reason I avoid cans of beer containing "widgets" like the plague.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

Actually I don't think you can serve keg beer from a gravity feed. Kegs are just not built to do this. You can only do this with cask beers, which are still live and conditioned in the cask. :)

[tbear]

I always look forward to pub visits when I visit UK. Sadly in Spain, or at least where I am, the excuses for imported 'real ale' are pretty vile, so it's cold 'lager type' beers at home, often served in iced glasses. Mmmm, feeling thirsty, be right back!

[piatkow]

So many micro breweries these days, and so few traditional ones left.

What I drink depends on where I am, around London usually Pride or Adnams. Last week in Yorkshire Wold Top.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

so it's cold 'lager type' beers at home, often served in iced glasses.

It reached a sultry 16 deg in my part of Scotland today. Perhaps that's why many of us do not want our beer too cold. :)

[tbear]

In the mid 30s here at the moment, so it's not a good idea to order pints unless you are a fast drinker, which I am not.

In London or Herefordshire I love pints, at cellar temperature, of course. But then, it's usually winter when I get over there.

[johnhh]

It reached a sultry 16 deg in my part of Scotland today

You are lucky - the wife is still on hot-water bottles. Me maybe off to Malta or Sicily to get some summer.

[incrediBILL]

most any IPA - love the flavor

[phranque]

^^^ what he said.
preferably torpedo...

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

I had four pints of Harviestoun's Natural Blonde Ale last night - very nice but I prefer their Bitter and Twisted or Schiehallion.

[Planet13]

I live in the states and have to settle for the imported versions, but for ales I like Newcastle and I also like the Belgian Aflegam Ale (I am sure I totally misspelled that). I am kind of fond of Belgian ales. Unfortunately a waiter once insisted I tried some Belgian "wheat" ale or something like that and it was horrible.

Boddingtons's is served in cans in the US (with the widget), and much to Old_Honky's chagrin, actually tastes pretty good to me.

The only lager I drink is Harp, and even then I only drink it in a black and tan mixed with guiness (or mixed with cider)

@ Visit Thailand

I lived in Sri Yan (Dusit District) of Bangkok from 1991 to 1995 and the beer choices at that time - much like the transportation choices - were severely limited. It was either Singh or Chaang and since Singh is / was 7% at the time and Chaang was only like 4.5%, it was kind of a no brainer. I think at that time that POSSIBLY Carlsberg and Heinekin had breweries in Thailand? Not sure about that. They might have been located in Malaysia.

One of the biggest shocks for an American living in Thailand is seeing Budweiser listed as an "imported" beer, and hence being much more expensive than other beers. Even more incentive NOT to drink it.

[Leosghost]

(or mixed with cider) "snakebite" ..awfull awfull mix.

[Planet13]

I had four pints of Harviestoun's Natural Blonde Ale last night...

It's been a long time since I was a regular beer drinker. If I had four pints of anything I would end up in the hospital...

More power to you if you can do it.

[Leosghost]

I have a friend here ( about 1.5km away ) who makes authentic cider ( has his own orchard by the riverside ,150 year old cider apple press and oak barrels etc )..the kind that nowadays gets called "bio" ...gorgeous stuff .

Brittany is a cider producing region of France...

Cider ought not to be mixed with lager...lager should not be drunk.

[Planet13]

(or mixed with cider) "snakebite" ..awfull awfull mix.

Maybe, but it was real Irish folk who got me started on that. Maybe the Lager / Cider mix is just Ireland's revenge on England for the whole Oliver Cromwell thing...

I had a thing for Irish women back in the day. That alone probably ruined much more than just my taste buds. If I came out of it with just an injured sense of taste in beer, then I guess I should consider myself lucky.

[Leosghost]

As an Irishman ..I can assure you we don't drink "snakebite"..although some of my countrymen or countrywomen might try to persuade the "unsuspecting" otherwise ..

;-)

[johnhh]

Lager / Cider mix

never heard of that, sounds awful.

Here real cider is "scrumpy" , if you can find the real thing, preferably from a happy farmer. Best taken with a lemonade top if you are not used to it. Used to be so cheap and potent the pubs were asked not to sell it to tourists from overseas.

I understand Northern Spain does quite a nice version.