Duncan Roberts

I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread where people can post what decent beers are available to them, American or Import. I think it would be beneficial to both the old and the new people here, plus I like talking about beer!

Post the name of the beer, who brews it and if you know, what style it is and if it is draft only (D), bottle only (B) or draft and bottle (DB). If you want to write a review or rating then feel free to. If you know a website for the brewery or importer, post that as well.

A few to start off with.

Great Lakes Brewing
- Burning River Pale Ale. A hoppy American pale ale. 4/5. DB
- Dortmunder Gold. Nice Dortmund style larger. Not like stella, a little more malty and hoppy. 4/5. DB
- Eliot Ness. Good vienna style larger. Darker and more malty than stella type largers. 3.5/5. DB
- Edmund Fitzgerald. The best porter I've ever had. 5/5. DB
- Conways Irish Ale. Only available Jan-March. 5/5. DB

Titchski

Dammit, you're going to make me go beer shopping this weekend aren't you? You utter cad, I mean really, I was planning on doing the lawn and a couple of odd jobs round the house but noooo you want me to go and buy some beer and write extremely detailed reviews about it, thereby removing any possiblity of lawn maintenance. :curse:

Ok fine, you win, I'll go booze shopping tomorrow!

Excellent idea - I'll edit this post when I've got some beer in so it looks more "in sync" with yours

hatfield1

Great Idea, now just need to figure out how to type with a bottle in one hand and a glass in the other. EEK now I have a use for a straw.

Adnams

We are lucky and have an excellent off licence (sorry I will not say package store) near us that has a wide range of imported Brit beers . For instance: -

Speckled Hen
Greene King
Adnams
Newcastle (yuk but hubby is a Geordie)
Tanners Jack
Sparten
Pilsner Urqual
Singa
Kingfisher (always handy whe youre cooking a curry)
Cobra (ditto above)

The owner is originally from India and even gives OH free stuff to try when he gets new lines in. Perfect! With such good stock we tend to avoid the US brews.

Try though The Berkshire Brewing Companies lines if you can find them they aint half bad. BBC for short!

TRPardoe

We have a Total Wine warehouse. Its astonishing what variety they have, Skullsplitter, Old Engine Oil, Mackeson, Samichlaus, Black Sheep, Tennents, Guinness (bottle variety), Kingfisher, Olde Peculier.........I could go on and on and on.

Adnams

Mmmmm Olde Perculiar havent had that in a while, might have to take a trip to the Offy. Dont do Black Sheep at mine mores the pity

clover

Siera Nevada! Give me gas though
Pasifico Nice Mexican beer .Add a slice of lime.
Pilsner Urquel Chek it out.
Mirror Pond
Black bute Porter these two are dechutes brewing oregon

Wish i was on the Isle O wight Sinking a Burts though

TRPardoe

Or in the Jervis Arms in Onecote, Staffs., sinking a Burton Bridge or a Marston's Pedigree or one of the Titanic Brewery delights.

hatfield1

Sorry? Nice Mexican Beer? Whats that now?

Bob

Magic Hat have a pretty good collection of brews out.

Jan Alaska

Agree with you on the Burts close 2nd is Hartleys from Cumbria

Over here
Arcadia Scotch Ale (Kalamazoo, MI)
Dirty Basterd (Founders brewery, Grand Rapids, MI)
Casked Porter (North Peak Brewing Co. Traverse City, MI) bit regional this one but its soooo good.
Any Leinenkugels, even the summer shandy (I'm female i'm allowed to like shandy)
Bells Oberon *great on a summers day* (Kalamazoo, MI)
Hen's Tooth (Morlands, UK)
Okocim Porter (Poland) great stuff and comes in a 17oz bottle!
If you are after real beer look out for micro breweries or brewpubs in your area too

Jan

tonrob

A few of those aren't British... Anyhow, the problem is that is unlike most other countries' beers, the vast majority of British beers don't belong in a bottle - they're designed to be cask-conditioned - served via a hand-pump (I know you know this Adnams so this rant is for the benefit of others) so chances are your imported Brit bottle is going to be a poor shadow of what you remember from back home.

Negative rant over - if you're trying to decide what American beer to try next from your local offie then http://www.beeradvocate.com is a goldmine of info. Also includes good bar/brewpub reviews so if you're travelling you can get the scoop on the local beer scene before you arrive.

Anyhoo - aplologies again for the rant. Bit pissed.... (strange that for a Friday night)

Adnams

I knooooow they're not all British....but there are good beers from some other countries. Cant have a curry without a Kingsher and I cant have Nasi Goreng without Bintang (which I have yet to find here anyone ever found it?).

You are totally right, cask conditioned ale just doesnt work out of a can / bottle but when in need....one must.

One thing about the states is I actually avoid draft beer now here, I dont think they clean their pipes properly and you always end up with a shocking head the next day.

Duncan Roberts

Hmmm, that's not 100% true. Yes, you wont get a cask conditioned beer in a bottle. However, a bottled version of a cask ale is not the same as the cask version and is specifically designed for a bottle. You will usually find that the cask version is slightly weaker than the bottled one. Now, if they could just start using brown bottles instead of clear ones they would end up here in a better state, especially bottle conditioned ones.

Adnams

Oooh no dont get me started! OH is in the industry (glass) and I know all about the difference between flint and amber bottles r.e. preservation. Have been lectured on the issue sooooooooo many times.