Made three quick trips to downtown London (Hyde Park) from USA in Jan. I intended to sample numerous British Ales for my personal comparison on preferences to beer types. Exact beers I cant exactly recall (a bit foggy,you see). There were several milds, by Fuller Brewery, an English Pale, and one that purported to be “hoppy”. All hand pulled keg ales a bit over 4%ABV. I did not get to try a Best Bitter style. I’ve had Samuel Smiths Brown and Oatmeal Stout both good. Brown Castle in the USA --blah. I wanted to like the English beers. I know their general character. Iam not a hop head. But I’ve concluded that they are not for me. Interestingly, one large pub also had available an IPA by Devils Backbone Brewery, Lexington,Virginia and Lil Sumpin by Lagunta, CA.
BTW, I have enjoyed an English Pale by Old Butt Head Brewing, Warrenton, Virginia but the one in London sucked. Anybody else care to weigh-in? :blah:
:lol: [quote=“dannyboy58”]I think you mean Old Bust Head in Warrenton. Their Old English Ale is pretty good.
Old Butt Head is a cool name for a brewery![/quote]
I am laughing my posterior off right now. :lol: iPad thinks it is smarter than me and I guess it is cause I didn’t proof read.
BTW, the beer tasting was an aside purpose to my trips.
Butt Head Brewing with Beavis as Brewmaster :cheers:
I had a completely different experience. I went to England a couple times last year. I spent time in Reading and in/around St. Albans. Also explored some pubs in Slough. I found a variety of good to great ales everywhere I went. I avoided Fullers, Greene King, etc. They own a lot of pubs. I suspect that a lot of the pubs in central London cater to tourists.
[quote=“kcbeersnob”]I had a completely different experience. I went to England a couple times last year. I spent time in Reading and in/around St. Albans. Also explored some pubs in Slough. I found a variety of good to great ales everywhere I went. I avoided Fullers, Greene King, etc. They own a lot of pubs. I suspect that a lot of the pubs in central London cater to tourists.
I’m going back in a couple weeks and can’t wait to re-visit some of the pubs in St Albans.
Edit: you probably figured this out, but to the English “hoppy” does not mean the same thing that it does to Americans.[/quote]
My experience is the same, I love English beer for what it is. And yes, a lot of pubs in London aren’t very good. I like http://www.fancyapint.com/ as well for locating good ones.
I find Fullers’ pubs to be hit or miss, but fresh London Pride on cask is one of my favorite beers, so they’re worth a visit.
@ kcbeersnob: you are right regarding the London pubs I was at having a lot of tourist clientele.
I do remember YEARS ago about the time Fat Tire was only available around Boulder and Denver, having a tasty pint or two in Manchester and Birmingham. Would love to get into the countryside and visit some small pubs. The quest shall continue. Yeah, hoppy has a whole nother meaning there.
I spent a few months in England and got familiar with real ales. Honestly, as a whole, I was very disappointed. It wasn’t because of the low carbonation or warmer serving temperature, it was just because most of them were very lackluster. A lot of them had very little taste and were very one dimensional ( and those were the ‘good’ ones ). Many others were horribly oxidized, soured, vinegar-ey, or really funky ( in a bad way ). I did have AWESOME examples of English beer, but they were few and far between.
There’s a couple factors that come into play here. The “real ale” breweries are taxed a lot, and don’t make a ton of money. Usually the beer leaving their brewery is great, but the time it’s tapped at a bar it’s been too long. Then the bar handles them poorly by taping the cask and removing the spile keeping the cask open to the environment, or reusing spiles (seeing many of the pub cellars was pretty gross). They also hold onto the cask, while tapped, for too long (basically until costumers complain that it’s gone bad) to maximize profits. I also spent some time cleaning casks with a power washer, and you don’t want to know the things that came out… Another factor I noticed was so many of the breweries brewed extremely similar recipes, I’d say more than half of them made almost the same bitter (90% maris otter, 5% crystal 15-60, and 5% flaked barley. with goldings and/or fuggles around 30IBU).
Some beers I had were great. Most were not. Honestly, I enjoy America’s rendition of English ales a lot more than I like the “authentic” versions.
I’ve noticed several local breweries exhibiting an American influence and even claiming to have American style beers (mainly meaning they are more bitter, with a higher level of hop aroma and flavor, while using American and even Australian or NZ hop variates).
It appears to me that the UK is undergoing its own craft beer revolution.
They may be getting more into the American style beers. I visited Brew Dog a lot in Newcastle while I was across the pond. A little taste of home, haha.
I’ve since had Brew Dog in the states, and was not nearly as impressed as I was in the UK. I don’t know if that’s because the shipping to America decreased quality, or just the juxtoposition after being so accustom to the English ales. I suspect a little bit of both.
:cheers:
I’ve seen a few comments here and there about a lack of variety in british real ales. As a Brit I’ve grown up drinking pretty much only real ales. They all taste different (often very different) to me. On the other hand they all ought to taste like a british bitter - i.e. 90% 2-row (preferably maris otter) a little crystal etc…
I sometimes wonder if Americans are coming from a zoo (US craft scene - copying every beer style in the world and then adding some) to a dog show (UK real ale - essentially all variants of a single style) and wondering why there doesn’t seem to be much variety in the range of animals.
It does also really matter about finding pubs which keep their beer well.
On the other hand plenty of Brits don’t like real ale and will choose an import lager instead -so it does come down to taste. If you don’t like it that’s okay. I do think it’s an aquired taste (like good coffee) - so I’d find some really good ones and persevere a bit before finally deciding it’s not for you.
