scrubbedexpat133

Talking about the price of beer on another thread got me thinking about beer.
It does not take much

What do you drink? What wont you drink?

Do you change depending on mood, time of year etc?

Do you buy local or spend silly money on imported?

Have your tastes changed over the years/since you have lived in Canada?

Do you have a preferred food to accompany the beer?

Cheers

For me :

I love Porter/Stout, Real Ales. I wont touch anything fruity, American IPA or Bud, Canadian, anything Lite etc.

I will drink Pilsners or Cider in the summer and will have a Kingfisher/Tiger when going for Curry.

Roughly even split between local brews and stuff from Europe. Yesterdays splurge was $5 on a bottle of Icelandic Porter

Not really. I have just added the local stuff to the list

Anything savoury - Pies, Sausage rolls or of course Pork Scratchings. With yesterdays aforementioned Icelandic Porter I had a couple of digestives that balanced it nicely

Danny B

I drink Molson Canadian, I will not drink Budweiser. Gives me a headache.

I mainly drink in the Summer when I'm BBQing and it's hot outside. Not so much in the Winter.

I never buy imported stuff.

Before moving to Canada I was a Guiness drinker, never drink the stuff at home anymore but if I am at a pub and they sell it on draft, I will always buy a pint over lager.

BBQ food goes great with beer in the Summer. If I do have one in the Winter, I normally wash down a hot Indian take-a-away with a few pints of cold Canadian beer.

Former Lancastrian

As you get older your tastes change and your drinking habits.

Teenager to say 30 its all about how many pints you can drink and at affordable prices.
30 - 40 You still drink beer but not as much as you might have been introduced to wines and spirits.
40 - 50 More emphasis on wines and spirits and less beer and trying different brands plus craft ales.
50 plus you tend to go for higher priced wines and spirits and the odd beer.

I also tend to think the penalties for DUI have an affect on how much and what you drink and how often.

I find it now harder to drink beer as my taste buds have changed but put a good amber rum in front of me and I will drink it. I don't drink red wine and wouldn't know a good scotch if it jumped up and bit me. I would probably find it hard to down a full pint of Guinness these days.

BristolUK

I barely drink the stuff now.
Back in the UK, Courage's Best or Directors, Ruddles, 6X, Marston's Pedigree, Flowers...most of the real ale types.

But it needs to be drunk in a pub. A proper pub. Ploughman's or cheese and onion doorstep sandwich.

I can happily drink a lager type - Stella, Grolsch anywhere or Heineken/Amstel in Greece.

But to drink a cold beer I need to be hot and when the weather is hot here, the air conditioning is on so I don't feel hot.

I'm more likely to use beer in cooking than to drink it.

Oink

Anything that’s cold yellow fizzy and cheap.

Partially discharged

Spoken like a true lager lout You probably like Hooters or the Tilted Kilt.

Partially discharged

I never had any interest in mass market lager..cold, wet and devoid of distinctive taste. I went through a stout phase, and then my real ale era (which I can easily go back to in a pinch). Now, I'm firmly an IPA guy and I prefer 1 or 2 pints of quality draught versus a 'bucket of splits' of Corona or similar swill.

I rarely drink imports as most UK imports have been on a boat for ages and Canada produces lots of great beers these days when you search a bit.

Parts of the USA (VT, NH, OR in particular) are meccas for quality beer.

I rarely have a drink at lunchtime if it is work related as I usually just want to sleep the afternoon away.

As per another poster with drink driving laws and general attitudes changing over the years, 1 pint over an hour usually with something to eat if driving is my limit. I know others who have exceeded that and ended up w/o a licence.

Paul_Shepherd

One of things I really miss about ol' blighty is REAL ale....a great selection of handpulled ales in a pub full of atmosphere. cant beat it.

When in the UK I drank a lot of the more local ales - my avatar Bathams bitter (its a local lengend!) its probably joint number one with Wyre Valley's HPA (Hereford Pale Ale) whcih I also loved. However I loved the choice on tap.

In the small village I used to live in the UK (Kinver) I was a member of the Constitutional club and they had 10 cask ales on at any one time....it was literally heaven! lol

Now in Canada of course its a different world....I cant stand the two biggest selling beers here Molson Canadian and Coors light... urgh!! I think my go to mainstream Canadian beer is Alexander Ketihs, it has a very distinct taste.

Since living in Canada (over 8 years now) I have noticed a shift in the taste of your average Canadian beer drinker.....they are definitely getting a taste for the craft ales now, in Peterborough alone there are two places that brew and serve their own craft ales, hardly heard of when I first arrived here.

I think its only a matter of time before these places start serving cask ale regulary...(one already does but is always sold out when I go in there! so that tells you something) There are some great spots in Toronto that serve great Canadian cask, my favourite is C'est What on Front Street being one of them, and the food is good too. Always pay them a visit when Im in Toronto and have taken a couple of cask ale loving visitors there too.

If i go to the beer store, I will buy a selection, This summer I have currrently been going through a phase of the continental style lagers, German, Dutch Italian Spanish etc

Funny thing is though, I only drink beer when I go out, or if im at a house party or bbq. If Im at home alone I drink wine, unless a friend pops around and it will be a beer. Weird. lol

Anyway Cheers!!! or as they say in Canada Cheers!!!

Partially discharged

I agree with a lot of your post but I don't find Alexander Keiths has a distinctive taste. It is alledgedly an IPA, but to me it tastes like Molson Ex or 50...its like saying the Police were a reggae band.

Does Kawartha Lakes Brewery have any cask ales.?

BristolUK

You certainly can't beat a good hand-pump variety.

Siouxie

I tend to drink wine with meals / at home / out for a couple of bevvies but still enjoy the odd beer once in a while... I've also discovered I really like a classic vodka martini (potato vodka), a little dirty, no ice - and I had my first frozen margharita this summer. I do enjoy a good single malt, no ice, no water - but a decent rum (straight again) goes down well too, as will a shot or two of gold tequila

When I do drink beer, then Guiness, Caffreys or Murphy's Amber (or Dark) are my beers of choice. I detest 'fizzy' beer, which includes most Canadian beers. At a pinch I'll drink Smithwicks or Old Speckled Hen.

caretaker

Yeah, me too. I don't drink anymore, but then again I don't drink any less either.
I don't drink much, but when I do I turn into a different person, and that person drinks a lot.

dbd33

I drink Pride at home and Arkell in the pub (unless the cask of the week is particularly interesting). We keep Corona in the fridge for the one "it's summer, let's drink a summer beer" day per year and PBR for beer can chicken. HID drinks Sam Adams so we have some of that too.

Simon Legree

Wells IPA (brewed in Bedfordshire) in NS and Fullers ESB or Pride in AZ. No fizzy stuff.

Paul_Shepherd

They say Keiths is an IPA, but not in the way we know it. What I meant by it having a distinctive flavour was that it has way more flavour than Molson Canadian or Coors light.... Your right in that it does taste similar to 50 and Molson Ex. I dont mind 50, its got some good flavour but never been a fan of Molson Ex....but unfortunately fizzy...

Im not a great fan of fizzy beer either, but thats mainly what North American beer is, then in turn many Canadians and Americans say that Brits drink warm flat beer....which is the biggest misguided myth on the planet! ITs not flat and its not room temperature!! Thankfully I know quite a few Canadians that know this already....as I said they are becoming a lot more educated now beyond the Canadian and Coors Light.

Although you still big purchases of Carling and Laker and Busch at the beer store! Nasty nasty stuff!


Kawartha Lakes Brewery doesnt have any cask ales as far as I have seen...but I do really think its only a matter of time.