I’m spending my summer in England this year. Particularly northern England. I wanted to know if there are any beers that you guys/gals would recommend as a fabulous example of a great English brew?
Forgive me, this should probably be in e commercial beer forum. But that never gets many views, so I posted in the general
Where will you be staying? I read somewhere to find an older staff member of your hotel and ask him.
Sunderland. Which is the northern eastern coast near newcastle
Of course Guiness is the “go to” drink in the UK. It tastes much better there. Almost any local beers are excellent. London Pride etc… Also I would say that Newcastle Brown Ale is one you can’t miss since it would probably be quite fresh there in Newcastle. I would avoid “1894” or any of the lagers as they all seem to be a lot like Budweiser. Don’t forget if you ask for an imported beer, you will get a Budweiser, which to them, is an import.
20 years ago since I was in England and it was more southern towards London, but I still remember a beer called “Sterling Lager”. Not saying it was great, since 20 years ago I was drinking Coors light but I do still remember thinking that it was pretty good.
I’ve heard the Guiness is much better there as well. I’ve never had London’s Pride, but I heard great things about a number of their brews, one in particular it has a year as part of it’s name, i.e. 1900 I just can’t remember it exactly, but the local microbrew store in my area doesn’t carry it. Let us know some of the goods ones you bump into.
It looks like there are at least a couple of breweries in Sunderland: Darwin and Maxim; BrewLab does some training too.
It’s been over 15yrs since I lived over there, but Guiness was never really good in England. The best place to get it is in Ireland. There it’s a completely different drink and far better than the UK or US version.
If you’re traveling around, go visit Black Sheep Breweries in Masham and do their tour:
http://www.blacksheepbrewery.com/visito ... ery_tours/it’s about 60m sw of Sunderland.
Have fun!
+1 on Fullers London Pride. Another good one is Gale’s Festival Mild.
I’ve only had them here in the states but they’re both so good in the bottle that I have to believe they would be amazing fresh in the UK.
I would also recommend the London Pride. There is one pub here in Mass that has it on tap. It is great. It was almost as good in bottles.
You guys with the Guiness talk are really making me regret not trying it while I was in Ireland. I fell in love with Smithwick’s when I was there. Since I couldn’t get Smithwick’s in the US at the time I drank all I could get my hands on while I was there. I hadn’t heard that Guiness was better over there. I wasn’t a beer nerd then.
The best recommendation I can make while you are traveling is TRY EVERYTHING! Then report back to us when you find something amazing.
I don’t feel so bad posting about this since there are already many comments on Irish beers. If you can find it try Kilkenny. Every so often it becomes avaiable here in the US but I haven’t been able to track it down. First had it with lunch after touring the Kilkenny Castle and it was all I drank the rest of the trip. Best way I can think of to describe it is think Smithwicks served on a nitro-tap, but better. Also I would be interested to try Hobgoblin from Wychwood Brewery over there. I have no problem getting it here, but would like to see the differences if any when fresh.
I’ve actually had smithwicks in the US. at an irish pub IIRC. pretty good beer.
so far I’ve only had Green King IPA. and John Smiths extra smooth. I liked john smiths better, but its difficult to compare two completely different kinds of beer.
hope to try many more tonight
You should be able to find a good range of beers at Supermarkets.
Waitrose is always good as they source a range of beers from the areas around each store!
I like this one pretty good.
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/298/828Bluebird Bitter
Brewed by:
Coniston Brewing Co. Ltd visit their website
United Kingdom (England)
Style | ABV
English Bitter | 4.20% ABV
Remember, half the fun is experimenting. There are a lot of small breweries and you should always try the local drink. I’ve often wanted to try the “Strongbow” hard cider but always end up drinking the local beer instead. Just enjoy yourself. England is wonderful once you get used to it. Just be aware that if the bartender is a cornishman you won’t be able to understand a word he says. :cheers:
It’s a little pricy, but CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide might worth buying
http://www.camra.org.uk/gbgtradeMy advice is to only visit pubs that have real ale, as signified by the hand pumps. The most flavorful beers are served cask conditioned, IME. Ask the publican what beers are local, too. Greene King is everywhere, as they’re one of the bigger English breweries and pub owners. Look for pubs that say Free House for the widest selection. Many pubs are Tied Houses, meaning that they sell only beer from a certain brewery, with maybe one or two guest taps.
Jennings from Cumbria makes some nice stuff. Their Sneck Lifter is a beer I’ve tried to clone without success. It’s brown ale with all kinds of licorice and coffee notes going on. It may be in bottles at the Off-Licence.
I had a ‘Red Macgregor’ tonight, 4% ABV. very very nice beer. favorite that i’ve had so far. subtle roastyness, incredibly smooth, deep amber but very clear
there is a amarillo beer that is on the tap here, going to try some tomorrow
[quote=“BrewingRover”]It’s a little pricy, but CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide might worth buying
http://www.camra.org.uk/gbgtradeMy advice is to only visit pubs that have real ale, as signified by the hand pumps. The most flavorful beers are served cask conditioned, IME. Ask the publican what beers are local, too. Greene King is everywhere, as they’re one of the bigger English breweries and pub owners. Look for pubs that say Free House for the widest selection. Many pubs are Tied Houses, meaning that they sell only beer from a certain brewery, with maybe one or two guest taps.
Jennings from Cumbria makes some nice stuff. Their Sneck Lifter is a beer I’ve tried to clone without success. It’s brown ale with all kinds of licorice and coffee notes going on. It may be in bottles at the Off-Licence.[/quote]
Being served from a hand pump doesn’t gaurentee it’s real ale.
A friend of mine told me to look for an Italian beer here but from what i found its only available in the UK its Birra Peroni Gran Risvera
My favorite when across the pond is Caffrey’s Irish Ale. Can’t get it in the US. (You could for a very brief period in the late 90s, early 00s). She’s a beaut…
I was just over there last month in the Nottingham area. Some of my favorites were:
Timothy Taylor Landlord
Everything I tried by Theakston
Bombardier
Spitfire
Wychwood’s beers like Hobgoblin and King Goblin
Green King IPA
Abbot was good on draught
Tribute by St. Austell
Black Sheep’s beers
A lot of places just have local beers you can’t find all over the country. Try those!
Have a great time.
:cheers:
