The great beer dispute

Nothing against English beers but I think the Belgs are brewing the best beers of the world. Just try the Westmalle Triple (with depot) or the Duvel. But do not drink to much. Those beers are really strong.

Carl (Dutch)

 

They are not beer.
They are more lagers, but called bier.
Proper beer is an ale, like old pec or butcombe, no one can brew that as good as we can.

 

The first time I tried Duvel was in Amsterdam (yes I know thats in Holland) and it was very strong - never again, but then I was also drinking vodka straight that night.

 

Hello Penance and Amazingtrade,

I promise you to try them, next time I'm in England!

Buth you have to try that Duvel again and forget the Wodka that night.

(and I of course believe that a lot of beers/lagers or whatever you call it are very nice, but I do not like most German beers and certainly not our Heineken).

Carl

 

bier != beer

 

I like german beer - Hefe

 

I may be wrong but in Amsterdam I am sure Duvel was 12%, in the UK it seems to be about 7%.

 

Arr, I could just do with a good pint (or 2) of Otter Ale right now, instead I have a cup of Mint hot chocolate, no comparisum really.
When I can't get an Ale, Grolish is quite nice (though it gives me a thick head the next day).
Used to be a Stella drinker, thankfully gave that up 5 year aso!
Heineken always tasted like fisy water to me.
XXXX was ok, but a bit on the gassy side for my liking. Don't like drinks that fill my stumick with gas, end up burping all night and there is less room for the beer / Ale.
For home always keep a few cans of Fosters in the fridge for those Friday nights
:beer:

 

For larger, I just tried something at Tesco which was very nice. They used to have some Tesco's own cans, but they have stopped those now and have something which says 'Imported just for Tesco' and they are really nice! Sorry I can't remember the exact name. They are cheap too. About £2.80 for four.

There is a Real Ale festival in Dartford now and again which is very nice. You can choose from around 100 different local ales and there are also a few stouts. MMMmmm.

Becks from a big bottle is nice also.

 

The large variety of lagers, ales, stouts and porters (my fave) made in the UK are amongst best in the world. Find a good free house or independent shop and investigate , and have a look here; http://beer-pages.com (which also has a great selection of world beers).

 

Penance,

FYI, Belgian beers especially the Trappist ones are classed as ales not lagers. The Germans brew ales in the form of Kellar bier and Alt bier. The French also brew bière de garde in the North that looks and tastes like English ale. Some of the French brews even use Kentish hops. I even drank a very nice copper coloured beer in Austria at Vienna airport that was unpasteurised. The Czechs and Slovaks both brew dark and unpasteurised beer, and I remember drinking a pint of Herold imported from CZ in Wetherspoons from the cask a few months back.

I really hate this jingoistic bigotry that leads us to believe that anything imported is lager. The reality is that our importers usually only pick the bland lagers from the continent like Beck's.

 

Duvel is 8.5%.

Belgian beers tend to come in four categories:

Bog standard pils-type beer - Stella Artois, Jupiler, Loburg and Maas Pils. Of that lot I'd rate the Maas as being the best followed by the Jupiler.

Then you've got Bières d'Abbeye that are essentially meant to taste like Trappist beers but are not. The best examples are Leffe and Grimbergen and they are usually around the 6 to 9% abv mark.

The real McCoy is the Trappist beers of which there are only five - including Westmalle, Orval (my personal favourite), Chimay, Rochefort and another whose name escapes me. All of these can come as either light coloured or dark.

Then you have the special beers like Duvel, Delirium Tremens etc. - are usually very strong (>8%) but not chewy like Carlsberg Special Brew or Tennents Super.

 

I'm with Penance on this one, the best beers in the world are live draught hoppy ales/bitters produced in Great Britain.

 

I like English real ale but they add refined sugar and the hops used include both male and female flowers. Only the female flowers impart the aroma. Continental beers often contain only female flower hops as well as the stock ingredients of water, malt (barley and/or wheat) hops and yeast.

A belgian beer called Gueuze doesn't even contain added yeast - it is brewed from taking airborn yeast.

 

I am quite partial to Croatian bottled beer

 

Quality Belgian beers are excellent. However, UK ales are amongst the best in the world. If you haven't tried any decent ones, get your arse down to one of the many beer festivals held throughout the country. Ooh! There's one in Troon this weekend, handy that.

 

Mr Toy,
I stand corrected, please dont hate me!
I still prefer English ales tho.

 

english beers contain too many addivtives etc - thats why u feel rough the next morning...too many gimmicks that claim the perfect head etc....sigh...

 

um, no they dont, that would be lager.

 

Methinks you haven't tried many "English" beers, unless it's the chain-pub cat's piss served up in a lot of pubs that don't have proper hand pumps. Anything promising the "perfect head" should be avoided at all costs.

Get a pint of Bitter and Twisted doon yer thrapple. I'm sure you will feel much better.