Camra

[Ish]

Sadly I'm still off the booze. Glad to see the ale is still being enjoyed though

[prinnysquad]

Hmm very interesting thread, just what I need when I am trying to give up the drink lol.

But Im sure I can maintain that this is respectable drinking and shall take up a real ale hobby now.

Some very funny post's in this thread from prinny and VP - I can just imagine what sampling beers with you guys is like - lol.

Pointers for a noob guys .... ?

Rule of thumb I generally have is to try different stuff if it's available. Sometimes it's medicore, sometimes not nice, sometimes legendary, but that's the joy of it, you really don't know what's going to turn up. Empty the local supermarkets out of bottles - try different ones every time then you'll have your favourites. Sometimes it's worth going back and re-trying the ones you pooh-poohed early on, cos once your palette has expanded you can really appreciate the eclectic ones.

Same with the cask - try loads of different ones cos you don't know how many are ltd editions.

And - this is optional - keep a record of everything you drink! You can create a useless ratings system to peruse later on, and remember good times and good beers!

Sadly I'm still off the booze. Glad to see the ale is still being enjoyed though

End of October, mate

[Robster]

Just heading down to asda to raid the real ale section, do you generally chill the ales in fridge or can I drink them at room temp - whats best?

[prinnysquad]

I always drink room temp. Just keep them in a cool-ish place.

[Plough Boy]

I love and hate this thread with equal amounts.
I love it because of the love of real ale, but hate it because I still live in London where real ale always tastes like ****e. The people down here have no idea of how to pull a decent pint. Even the off licenses are rubbish. The ale seems to be nowt but John Smiths. At least the thresher near me sells Tangle Foot.

If you pm me your postcode I will consult with the good beer guide and send you a list of the recommended pubs in your area. They only get in through the voting of Camra members so the beer is almost always good quality.
Sadly my only experience of drinking in London revolves around the 'tourist' area. The Coal Hole on The Strand has 4 cask ales on tap which have always been good quality when I've been in. Additionally near Covent Garden on a road that leads diagonally to the strand there's a pub called the Angel and the beer in there is excellent. 3 beers on cask and all guests from outside the London area. I had a couple of real randoms in there. I am told that the Wetherspoons called the Knights Templar (or something) near Holburn is also canny enough with an good selection.These will be almost certainly of no use but as I say the postcode option is there - as it is for anyone else.

@Robster - If it's from a decent pub things that you see a lot are worth testing. Black Sheep and Deuchars are the big two at the moment but both are actually really decent pints if kept well. Deuchars IPA is a former champion beer of Britain. You can never go wrong with Tim Taylors Landlord. In bottle form despite not being the most complex beer I love Wadworth 6X which is in all Tesco's.
If you still live in Scotland look out for the Caledonian Specials. They release a new beer every month alongside their core 3 beers and they're always worth a look - they can be a bit different - Lemonale is one of the favourite ones they did which I tried. Never managed to get the on off Rebus batch they did though.

[prinnysquad]

Real dark times for the Beer Quest at my end. The supply of newbies has tried up and there's no trip to far away suppliers for at least a few weeks yet.

Still, it's allowed me to re-sample some classics.

[Dunc]

I love and hate this thread with equal amounts.
I love it because of the love of real ale, but hate it because I still live in London where real ale always tastes like ****e. The people down here have no idea of how to pull a decent pint. Even the off licenses are rubbish. The ale seems to be nowt but John Smiths. At least the thresher near me sells Tangle Foot.

You do however have the opportunity to go to one of my favourite pubs in the world, and some of the best beer too - The Jerusalem Tavern in Clerkenwell (2 minute walk from Farringdon tube) the only St. Peter's pub in England, always make a stop there if im in London for a meeting or whatever. I know what you mean about the ale in London on the whole though, have you tried some of the Sam Smith's pubs? Usually pretty good, and a shedload cheaper than the usual suspects too...

[Robster]

Real dark times for the Beer Quest at my end. The supply of newbies has tried up and there's no trip to far away suppliers for at least a few weeks yet.

Still, it's allowed me to re-sample some classics.

Get yourself up to Scotland and we can taste caledonia's finest lol

Open to anyone else btw........

[prinnysquad]

heh. I've had most of Caledonians in bottle but very few on cask. I raided the whiskey heartlands last year on a beer hunt, visiting Cairngorm Brewery in Aviemore and Black Isle Brewery in, erm, Black Isle. Great stuff.

Had a very nice pint in The Waterhouse in Durham today, a 4% slightly smoky little number by Ossett Brewery called Big Red. Also picked up two bottles of Hill Island Brewery beers from the microbrewery itself, one of them a stout and the other a special brew to commemorate the 125th Durham Miner's Gala today. Friday night should see those boys sorted out. Hill Island also had pints of four different beers served from the cask, but I was a bit ropey off last night so had to pass on the prospect. Gutted.


Hey, PB, how about brewing a special homebrew, and calling it Lucky's Vomchoker? To herald the arrival of your offspring.

[Robster]

Not wanting to sound like a wimp here but what sort of calories etc are in real ale.

Are they generally worse than beer/lager, Ive worked hard over the last 6 months to get rid of my pot belly and dont want it coming back by the love of real ale!.

[prinnysquad]

Maybe 200 calories a pint?

http://www.familybrewers.co.uk/home/cask-beer/health-benefits-of-cask-ale

There's some good articles out there too about how lager is full of chemicals and very likely to skank you up.

[Robster]

Right after spending the day cooking for my Dad's b'day tomo I am about to reward myself with 4 ales from Morrisons supermarche!.

They are:

Greene Knight IPA
Summer Lightning
White Horse Dragon Hill
Maplemoon Mystical Maple Ale - Joe Holt

I would love to compare my uneducated palette against your's .


Also I love the name of the ales, its such a enjoyable experience picking what ale based on the name to try when I dont know alot just now.

Thoughts guys.............?

[prinnysquad]

Names are a good way to go. Often when confronted by dozens of newbies I used to go with the best names/labels. One of the first beers recorded in Ye Olde Tome of Beer, back in 2001, was On The Tiles by RCH, chosen purely because of the comedy pissed-up gentleman cat on the front:



Greene Knight - do you mean Greene King because if not then it's a new one on me? A steady-away beer probably good to accustomise a palette to this type of beer.

Summer Lightning, by Hop Back, has a great label, with a bronze bearded Celtic-looking chap on it. Brewed all the year round, such is its popularity. Again, a wise choice for a beginner. Different enough from Greene King and not harsh at all, though quite strong for a summer boy (5% IIRC).

White Horse ones are quite new to me, I had this recently. Another good label with one of those chalk landscape pictures on it, I believe? I seem to remember this one had quite a fruity taste, so it's quite different from the others. A bit difficult to remember without the beer to hand. I've only ever seen this in Morrisons so it's a good choice really - quite uncommon and you'll be unlikely to double on it later (which is what's really difficult to avoid doing past a certain point - sometimes I look through the beer book and I can't picture some of the beers at all, and I know I'll quite confidently buy it again thinking it was a newbie).

Most of the Joseph Holt beers are very solid indeed. Maplemoon is a very decent beer. Once again, different from the others, a quick google suggests grapefruit tones in the taste?

The good thing is, Robster, just go with your gut to start with. Pick the best names/labels or descriptions. Many of my top 10 may taste horrible to a beginner, or even a vet, because they're often unique or strong in the taste department. For example, I think Wells Banana Bread Beer is a tremendous beer, but loads of people hate it. People who don't like bananas for a start. It's very sweet too, so that's offputting to some. Plough Boy freely admits that some beers he poo-pooed at first, he's gone back to with his more accustomed palette and really enjoyed, like Youngs Double Chocolate Stout. VP still struggles with Stouts and porters, whereas I've grown to like them.

If you're going to join us beardy dweebs, you need a rating system. Both of mine and PB's have their limitations, so I'd suggest a 1-10 scale with 5 being average (very Edge-y), or a simple 5 star system. Do a re-rating every so often! One line in a note book per beer:

Date - Brewer - Beer - abv - rating

Simples!

[Robster]

PS it was greene king sorry and that was me sober too lol ,The results are in :

Greene King Ipa – taste like normal lager, in fact not as tasty as say Heineken or stella even!.

Summer lightning – just taste like normal lager I think with a slight zingysm I think my palette is not developed enough to detect the tastes mentioned in reviews?.

Maple ale - Dark ale, , lingering after taste that is not unpleasant, almost sweet like maple syrup but not quite!.

Bishops finger – strong bitter alcohol taste throughout combined with caramel flavour. Very strong after taste but it is 5.6 after all

Thwaites Wainwright golden ale – taste like a very good lager, I can’t seem to get used too drinking at room temp. I’m thinking I should maybe chill these before drinking?.

Adnums gunhill dark ale - full flavoured fruity taste, bitter after taste.Im finding alot of the real ales have a strong bitter after taste compared to popular beers/lager!.

Old tomcat strong ale 8.5% Fredric robinson – very dark ale and surprisingly not a very strong alcoholic taste. Very strong malty flavour with.... even a twist of liquorice lol!. Very strong taste of liquorice now, not much of a head either. Smells great too

1488 whiskey beer: Feck me lol what a kick and a lovely taste of whiskey at the end.7%, very nice but one is more than enough otherwise I won’t be able to type more lol. Not sure if this is classed as real ale but a novelty none the less and worth a mention.

Bought about 12 bottles tonight so more the come, great fun this

[prinnysquad]

Most of the ones you say are lagery are the summery, breezy beers. You'll probably like the darker, more wintery ales that pack a bigger punch. I do.

lol you may regret the lager comments later, after 6 months of these wildly different tastes, if you go back to an average canned lager it tastes of fizzy pop wrung out of a headache.

Wait til the winter beers hit the shelves!

And most importantly...

Try cask in pubs. I've very rarely come across a beer than tastes better in a bottle. Cask ale, if served well (look out for the Cask Marque award in pub windows) has next to no fizz and is served at a good temperature. Try cask for a couple of months and you'll have great fun. I had 6 newbies on Monday and 11 on Wednesday, enjoyed them all.