Lockdown beers......dry-January? no thanks.

mex

mex

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I have been getting into some really nice ales recently, if I fancied a pint I would have gone to my local and indulged in a few pints of Guinness, but as thats no longer an option I have been buying the odd bottle or can here and there, I did get into Brewdog 'Punk IPA' - very nice but more recently I have been into 'Bear Island' West coast IPA from Tesco (4 pint bottles for £6 !!) and I must say I'm a converted man. Anyone else indulge?
 
I quite enjoyed that style of IPA when in Canada a couple of years back. Has to be bottled for me though, since I always seem to taste the can.
 
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Those US style IPA's can be a bit too hoppy for me.
Quite like Shipyard and Ghost Ship, but Goose Island is too citrus.
Never drink tinned beer only bottles, mostly German beer for me these days.
Drink beer with my dinner every day, got into that in Germany too.
Depends what I'm eating as to what beer I have.
One Italian beer I am fond of is Peroni Doppio Malto, goes nicely with Red meat.
Things like Bratwurst or Pork Schnitzel washed down with something like Erdinger is very good too
 
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I used to drink craft beers and ales, typically Scottish ones were my preferred choice. Only drink whisky now, in particular the Arran ones preferring cask strength, non-chill filtered and natural colour. I do like to explore the various distilleries though.
 
I've been ordering online from the Isle of Skye brewery . I've drunk alot of ales and nothing comes close . Makes all these current pop up hipster micro brewerys taste like dung
 
tijuana taxi said:
Those US style IPA's can be a bit too hoppy for me.
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Ah, now, I live in Kent and I'm not entirely sure there can be such a thing as too hoppy :)

I've been combining drinking craft ales along with supporting my local businesses. There's a micro brewery less than 2 miles from here that makes lovely beer (and amazing sourdough bread) and if you order online, the brewer fetches it to your door. Now there's service :)

They even have one for townies on a trip to the seaside..... (1) DFL cans multipack – Docker Brew Co (dockerbrewery.com)
 
ancient_mariner said:
I quite enjoyed that style of IPA when in Canada a couple of years back. Has to be bottled for me though, since I always seem to taste the can.
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definitely better from a bottle than a can ,but neither come close to beer from a tap.
 
There's a lot of beer snobs about these days, the modern craft beer hipster types who sneer at you if you order a simple Smithwicks Ale or god forbid something like Budweiser. Actually, they're unlikely to see you do so because they're already gone to the nearest micro brewery. I've tried many of these 'craft beers' and IPA with all kinds of fruity madness going on along with, but always ended up back with a plain Ale or Guinness. I don't drink lager or beer of any kind these days, all about the cider, and y'know, there's many cider snobs too! "BULMERS!?? you mad? get some proper Scrumpy aged in oak barrels with a pig's head and onions in the mix or it aint 'real' cider" :ROFLMAO: End of the day, whatever tickles your own taste buds
 
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JonathanRyan said:
Ah, now, I live in Kent and I'm not entirely sure there can be such a thing as too hoppy :)

I've been combining drinking craft ales along with supporting my local businesses. There's a micro brewery less than 2 miles from here that makes lovely beer (and amazing sourdough bread) and if you order online, the brewer fetches it to your door. Now there's service :)

They even have one for townies on a trip to the seaside..... (1) DFL cans multipack – Docker Brew Co (dockerbrewery.com)
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We are well served in Kent as far as beer and micro breweries are concerned. Lots of good country pubs, serving great ale and food. Sadly, the last time I went to a pub was the Summer of 2019, but it was one of our favourite haunts - the Three Chimneys near Biddenden. I can also recommend the Smarden Bell. As far as lockdown beer is concerned, I always find the Shepherd Neame bottled beers very agreeable - Spitfire, 1698 and Bishop's Finger.

Contact Nelson Brewery, Chatham, Kent - Traditional Cask Ales - 01634 832828

Contact Us at Nelson Brewery.
www.nelsonbrewery.co.uk

The Three Chimneys Country Pub Freehouse : Biddenden Kent

thethreechimneys.co.uk
 
andya700 said:
We are well served in Kent as far as beer and micro breweries are concerned. Lots of good country pubs, serving great ale and food. Sadly, the last time I went to a pub was the Summer of 2019, but it was one of our favourite haunts - the Three Chimneys near Biddenden. I can also recommend the Smarden Bell. As far as lockdown beer is concerned, I always find the Shepherd Neame bottled beers very agreeable - Spitfire, 1698 and Bishop's Finger.

Contact Nelson Brewery, Chatham, Kent - Traditional Cask Ales - 01634 832828

Contact Us at Nelson Brewery.
www.nelsonbrewery.co.uk

The Three Chimneys Country Pub Freehouse : Biddenden Kent

thethreechimneys.co.uk
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Had a bottle of Bishops Finger with my dinner last night, very pleasant it was too.
Sheps Hurlimann draught lager was also very agreeable if memory serves right.
 
gman said:
I used to drink craft beers and ales, typically Scottish ones were my preferred choice. Only drink whisky now, in particular the Arran ones preferring cask strength, non-chill filtered and natural colour. I do like to explore the various distilleries though.
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Tried Highland Park? Another island distillery but a little further north.(y)
 
I’m partial to Hobgoblin Gold at the moment, available in bottles n cans, , Asda or Aldi seem to be the best price.
 
I'm a cider drinker. (Well, actually, "Oi'm a zoider drinkuur!") No pig's head in mine though - just the rat that drowned in the vat (which died happy!)
 
Nod said:
I'm a cider drinker. (Well, actually, "Oi'm a zoider drinkuur!") No pig's head in mine though - just the rat that drowned in the vat (which died happy!)
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I've tried various ciders over the years and some of them were just too full on, they'd have a strange after taste or overly bitter or sweet on the apple. I like Bulmers Lite, [Irish Bulmers, I think Magners in the UK?] it's doesn't taste strong at all, very refreshing and much less sweet than the non lite version - I tried some of that first time in ages over Christmas and found it sickly. Kopperberg is another I like during the summer, the mixed fruit or strawberry and lime, but that can get a bit sickly after a few too. With Bulmer's lite I could drink it till it was comin' out me ears :D never get 'drunk' on it either, just a nice tipsy
 
Fuji Dave said:
Most of the Lagers I get off Tesco delivery are going down very well with me.
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When i did drink lager I often took advantage of Tesco sales, like whatever they had in a 24 pack for €20, was usually Coors or Heineken or similar basic beers. They certainly do the job for a party [remember those!?!]
 
stumac said:
I've been ordering online from the Isle of Skye brewery . I've drunk alot of ales and nothing comes close . Makes all these current pop up hipster micro brewerys taste like dung
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Ah yes, Isle of Skye beers are pretty damn good, discovered them on our first trip to the Hebrides a few years ago! Skye Black was my favourite.
 
andya700 said:
:)They used to call it "Hooligan" at my local.
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They did at mine too, certainly had some mind altering qualities.
I slipped down between a train and the platform early one morning after a few the night before.
Friend woke up asleep in the dogs bed and some Dutch campers fell asleep buck naked outside their tent.
A strange brew indeed.

Bishops Finger was known by the less than pleasant simile Nuns Delight.
Shepherd Neame beers in general evoked the name "s*** hard and scream"
Still drank it though, rather partial to a pint of Master Brew at the time.
 
Stella is called wife beater here. Not real beer though!!!
 
Cagey75 said:
There's a lot of beer snobs about these days, the modern craft beer hipster types who sneer at you if you order a simple Smithwicks Ale or god forbid something like Budweiser. Actually, they're unlikely to see you do so because they're already gone to the nearest micro brewery. I've tried many of these 'craft beers' and IPA with all kinds of fruity madness going on along with, but always ended up back with a plain Ale or Guinness. I don't drink lager or beer of any kind these days, all about the cider, and y'know, there's many cider snobs too! "BULMERS!?? you mad? get some proper Scrumpy aged in oak barrels with a pig's head and onions in the mix or it aint 'real' cider" :ROFLMAO: End of the day, whatever tickles your own taste buds
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That last sentence made me laugh, when I was an apprentice, I was in college in Barnstaple, we would go to a pub there who did his own scrumpy, very cheap as I recall, but in the morning you would wake up not thinking 'where am I ' but 'who am I'.
 
Cagey75 said:
I've tried various ciders over the years and some of them were just too full on, they'd have a strange after taste or overly bitter or sweet on the apple. I like Bulmers Lite, [Irish Bulmers, I think Magners in the UK?] it's doesn't taste strong at all, very refreshing and much less sweet than the non lite version - I tried some of that first time in ages over Christmas and found it sickly. Kopperberg is another I like during the summer, the mixed fruit or strawberry and lime, but that can get a bit sickly after a few too. With Bulmer's lite I could drink it till it was comin' out me ears :D never get 'drunk' on it either, just a nice tipsy
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Aspalls is lovely, the best cider IMO
 
At this very moment I'm drinking 'Shipyard IPA' quite hoppy but very nice. For the cider drinkers, locally we have Black dragon (dry), very nice over ice but 6.5 and will let you now you've been on it, alternatively from the same brewery is Orchard gold (medium),not quite as strong but at 4.9 you'll know when youv'e had enough.
 
mj4456 said:
Tried Highland Park? Another island distillery but a little further north.(y)
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I quite like the 12 and it's good value when on offer, but prefer the Dragon Legend with its subtle extra smoke.

Any others you like?
 
cambsno said:
Aspalls is lovely, the best cider IMO
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I'm sure I've seen that someplace local, but it's pricey, at least in comparison to what i pay for cider normally [I get 8 x 500ml cans for €13/£11.50] - looking up Aspalls it's €3.50+ per 500ml bottle, but if it was real nice I'd try a few on top of my usual tins maybe.

Other ones I've tried recently are Orchard Thieves , a granny smith/crisp apple type, bit too sweet, I see they now have a lite version too though I might try. Also tried Rockshore cider from the Guinness company, similar to 'thieves. These types of cider you can drink all day and you're biggest issue will be the amount of times you have to leg it to the bog! I find cider tends to go through you a lot quicker than lager
 
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mex said:
That last sentence made me laugh, when I was an apprentice, I was in college in Barnstaple, we would go to a pub there who did his own scrumpy, very cheap as I recall, but in the morning you would wake up not thinking 'where am I ' but 'who am I'.
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Proper scrumpy can leave you asking "WHY am I?" or even simply "Am I?"!!!
 
gman said:
I quite like the 12 and it's good value when on offer, but prefer the Dragon Legend with its subtle extra smoke.
Any others you like?
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My favourite is the one somebody else pays for!:cool:
I really like Laghroaigh but the wife hates it, Bowmore is another I’ll buy.
 
mj4456 said:
My favourite is the one somebody else pays for!:cool:
I really like Laghroaigh but the wife hates it, Bowmore is another I’ll buy.
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Very hard to beat Laphroaig! but don't get the select, make sure its the 10 year old, much nicer.
 
mj4456 said:
My favourite is the one somebody else pays for!:cool:
I really like Laghroaigh but the wife hates it, Bowmore is another I’ll buy.
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I'm afraid I'm not a Laphroaig fan, too medicinal for my taste but then whisky is such a personal thing so no worries there! I've got a Machrie Moor Cask Strength coming tomorrow (first time trying that) along with a Bunnahabhain 12 Year Old as despite the lower price it gets excellent reviews, so I need to know what all the fuss is about! Currently enjoying an Arran Amarone Cask, great colour and plenty going on with it.

I find The Glenlivet 18 is a safe choice, but I quite fancy trying the Arran 21 Year Old.
 
I have a couple of those subscriptions where I get a box every few weeks. They're usually themed by a brewery, country or style. It's nice to get a variety.

Has anyone tried the flavoured sour ales? I've never heard of them before I received these boxes - they taste great and the flavours are very creative.
 
We made creme de mure back in the Summer from our blackberries and vodka. It certainly packs a punch and the fruit is definitely coming through.
 
gman said:
Maybe I'm reading you wrong, but more peaty/smokey is what creates the medicinal effect?
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nope, I mean unless it's one of the peaty or smokey whiskies its only medicinal, cant be doing with speysides or highland malts etc
 
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