Recommend me some good beers!

[Crazy_Joe]

LOL i see someone suggested Hobgoblin, gotta love it.

Get some Absinthe, that'll sort you out!

[Elliot]

As you live in Kettering - try out the potbelly brewery - always worth trying whats local as beer normally is best if it travels short distances.

My fav, however, is:

Ale: London Pride or Abbot Ale
Lager: Staropramen or Lech

[HTH AMPS]

Anything from the 'Mordue' brewery (based in Wallsend - near Newcastle) and the 'Jarrow Brewery' beers are all very good too (my home town).

For stuff that'll be more widely available, try McEwans 80-shilling, Speckled Hen or Old Peculiar.  I'm also fond of the 'fruit' beers - cherry, raspberry and, err, banana :lol:

 :twisted:

[ToneMonkey]

I generally avoid Grolsh as it smells a bit too much like a fart when you open the bottle.  I'm nearly exclusively a Stella and Kronenburg man for largers.

For Ale then there are loads, good thing about Ale is that you can just buy anything and give it bash, it's generally all nice although I drink a fair bit of Adnams at the minute and always like a pint of Abbot Ale.  I had Nettle Thrasher once and it was bizare to say the least, but what do you expect when you make beer from stinging nettles.  Actually felt like it may be good for you wich was odd.

The best beer that I've ever had is from Amsterdam in a place that not of a lot of tourists go to.  My Dutch mate shown me it last time I went to visit him and we all nearly had to be carried home.  There's a windmill (funnily enough) that brews it's own beer and it's all the wobbly side of 6%.

[Afghan Dave]

Yes, Yes,YES..This is the best question I have ever read so here goes..

Carlsberg/Stella/Kronenberg/Guiness - These are the Dimarzios and Duncans of the beer world - They have tons of money and like to pretend that they are quality but they are made be economists and priced WAY above to pay for advertising.

I see that many of the previous comments have mentioned local or micro-breweries and that is a good thing as they tend to be the BKP's of brewing.

I will attempt to advise based on nationally available bottle conditioned beers for you to aquire a sense of adventure in the truly wonderful world of drinking which is about to unfold before your eyes.

There are three main types of REAL beer.

Larger/golden ales
Darker Ales, India Pale Ales / Stouts+porters
Barley Wine

If you walk into the Morrisons/Tesco in Kettering you will most likely find these following bottle conditioned recommendations.

Fullers Discovery / Honey Dew / Youngs Waggle Dance - delicious blonde beer. Light, fruity and thirst-quenching - A great place to start to progress from bubbly cr@p largers and get a taste for drinking real ales. (Irish Tours + Mules)

Fullers ESB or 1845 - ''an ample, grainy-nutty aroma and a broad, authoritative flavour, with lashings of dry marmalade-like bitters'' Great tasty beers these.(The Emerald/Riff Raffs)

Fullers London Porter - This is the style of beer that eventually developed into Guiness when taken to Ireland - My favourite type of more complicated stronger beers but not to suitable to all tastes.(Nailbombs)

Youngs Old Nick / Breakspere Triple / Old Tom - The Warpigs of the beer world, these will blow your socks off with their strength but are full of taste and the power is never at the expense of quality. Wonderful beers to drink when appropriate but be very careful, I've seen Royal Marine Commandos knocked bandy by a couple of these!.  

If you really like Larger try to drink Czech beers such as Staropramen or Budweiser Budvar (Miracle Man/Painkillers) These naturally have a very clean taste but with no shortage of strength and power.

In the Earl of Dalkeith you should be able to try any number of hand pulled ales as Weatherspoons pubs regularly have guest ales such as Summer Lightning and they are very cheap compared to the cr@p lagers they also serve.

Have a great time young Padawan learner and remember "The beer will be with you... always.

[Afghan Dave]

I just thought...

Try to buy a bottle of OLD TOM from the Co-op.. Kinda appropriate dontch think?  :P

[Canadian Steve]

Happy Birthday Tom!
If you can find it, look for a Japanese beer called TIGER!  It Niiiice!
For something a bit crispier, go for an Indian beer called COBRA!  I like!
To get really blocked, there is a Geman wheat beer called FRANZISKANER which will taste a lot different than regular beer but you might like it better!
Then there is always GUINNESS which is probably my favourite
 

Then again if you haven't tried BUCKFAST (tonic wine) now is the time! :twisted:

[ToneMonkey]

Yes, Yes,
If you really like Larger try to drink Czech beers such as Staropramen or Budweiser Budvar (Miracle Man/Painkillers)

There's a place in Nottingham where you can have a Happy Hemp Burger and pint of Budvar.  The ultimate hangover cure, especially as we all leave drunk again  :roll:

This thread sort of flys in the face of the "Drink Responsibly" campain.  

38thbettle - If your a whiskey man, you really should come round to mine.  I've got a bottle of Cardhu Special 15 year on the go.  Smooooth.

[Muso]

tonemonkey what place is that in Nottingham, it sounds interesting!

Hey Tom you should try special Brew I know its got quite a bad rep but I quite like it. Its only considered a tramps beer in England btw, in other countries its just like a normal beer.

I pretty much drink anything but I would say my fave is red wine, A bottle of Grenache SHiraz is the most tasty wine I've had yet.

[Sifu Ben]

My favourite tipples are Wadworth's 6X, it's the perfect bitter, with a rich almost Marmitey malt flavour mmmmmmmm.......... (and I don't even like marmite)
Leffe Blond, a Belgian blonde beer that's seriously strong (6.6%), really refreshing and with a good flavour. It's also ridiculously cheap. You know it's got to be good as it's what the Belgians actually drink. It's like a good meeting point between lager and beer, with the good points of both.
Happy birthday.

[blue]

Then again if you haven't tried BUCKFAST (tonic wine) now is the time! :twisted:

ah, the old Lurgan champagne!  a pub near me actually sells shots of that piss!

happy birthday Tom (i'm not sure what day this is but anyway)

if you wanna try Guinness, you gotta drink it in Ireland, from a tap that's got a good flow going.  one pint from an irregularly used tap will always be rotten.  there's a pub in a town called Westport where they have six taps, all going flat out!  that stuff practically drinks itself! (at least, that was my excuse)

[blue]

oh aye, Belgian beers!  that Leffe's not bad, also Duvel.  but if you really want to remove your socks with explosives, find yourself a bottle or two of Elephant Beer!  the most powerful beer i've ever drank, yet still quite tasty

[Afghan Dave]

if you wanna try Guinness, you gotta drink it in Ireland, from a tap that's got a good flow going.  one pint from an irregularly used tap will always be rotten.  there's a pub in a town called Westport where they have six taps, all going flat out!  that stuff practically drinks itself! (at least, that was my excuse)

Ah this is a tricky issue.

For a long time Guinness has been nitro-keg pumped or that awful "Extra Cold" - This is not "real" Guinness even in Ireland!

The strange thing is that Nigerian Guinness is the closest thing made nowadays to what Guinness "should" be. It is not distributed in Europe any more...  :(

I like a pint of Guinness "to be sure" but the heritage and flavour of this beer has been lost since the sale of the company.

I currently sits in the best of a bad lot category for me.

Sadly Hoegaarden has gone the same way since the brand was bought by InBev - hoegaarden is no longer the same beer and is not brewed in hoegaarden!

More and more great beers and history will be lost the way Guinness and Hoegaarden have been if we don't support real beer!

Beer not brands - fight the propaganda and lies!  

[Afghan Dave]

Hey Tom you should try special Brew I know its got quite a bad rep but I quite like it. Its only considered a tramps beer in England btw, in other countries its just like a normal beer.

Not quite true...



Here are two great sites for all you lovers of "Trampagne"  :roll:  :lol:

http://www.arrysbrewsite.co.uk/

http://www.trampjuice.tk/

[Fubar]

Then again if you haven't tried BUCKFAST (tonic wine) now is the time! :twisted:

If the conversation's headed that way then i'll recommend Special Brew, Tennents Super, Omega (synthetic cider - there's nowt to do with apples in that stuff!),any own brand vodka calling itself "imperial" and MD20/20

Any combination of the drinks above should lead to an entertaining evening!  :P  :lol: