American Beer
 

Following on from Pulaski's Budweiser thread, and the general consensus that all Corp American beer is sh1t (which it is)
I was wondering which beers you DO drink and/or which you think are half decent.
Being an American married to a Brit, I can honestly say that when we go over to visit her family, the time I look forward to the most is spent in supermarkets picking out beer to try ie, Theakstons Old Peculiar, Spitfire, Brains etc or sat in a pub cradling a glass of Caffreys or Murphys. I could cry thinking about it!

Some of the beer I don't mind in this country is - Yuengling is probably one of my fave of the US beers, Sam Adams Summer ale is another fave, Blue Moon is light, fruity, different and far more drinkable than all the regular crap. I have to say, when travelling in the south 3 years ago I found the beer in Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Georgia to, in general be of better quality than what we get up here in the north east coast.

Anyone got any good recommendations?

Re: American Beer
 

Boddingtons Draftflow from Albertsons or Publix is my prefered brew over here. God how I could murder a Black Sheep or an Old Speckled Hen or a Theakstons, or a good pint of freshly pulled Ruddles Country Mild now.


Also, why on earth is Heineken considered an expensive and top notch foreign brew?? Its bleedin' muck!

Re: American Beer
 

Sarah (the wife) says the same when she see's Bass or Harp served here at ridiculous prices. Always makes her balk at it "Lighter fluid" or "Gnats Piss" were her descriptions , so I didn't bother to try. I know what you mean about Henieken. I feel the same about Rolling Rock - i think its fricking garbage.

Re: American Beer
 

Gawd yep, I've not had either Bass or Harp ("Stays sharp to the bottom of the glass" - ask her if she remembers that ad) since I were a teenager supping bottles of the muck at dodgy parties....that and bottles of White Lightning Cider....aah fond, fond memories.

I now have this image of sitting in my old local "The Green Dragon" by the fire supping my Old Speckled Hen on a crisp winters night, chatting to me mates and generally dossing. Sniff. :(

Re: American Beer
 

I hesitate (but only for a second) to gloat and tell you that we have Black Sheep, Old Speckled Hen, Theakstons, Badger Bitter and many other great beers available at Central Market (HEB Groceries) and one of our local Beverage Centers here in Plano.

In fact, Central Market has a better range of bottled beers than I have seen anywhere in the UK.

Oh, and Maltesers in the local Kroger, which is almost as important if you ask me!

Re: American Beer
 

Mine too, and it's usually what I'll drink in a bar / pub. Though in some places round here you can get some 1/2 decent stuff like Boddingtons and occasionalyl Theakstons. There's also some of the Microbrew type stuff.

Funnily enough, most Americans I know readily acknowlege that Budweiser, Miller etc are indeed Gnats Piss.

Re: American Beer
 

There are a few places round here that have Speckled hen on tap, but they don't have a proper beer engine so it's not as good as it should be.
I don't think there is an English beer I want that I haven't found here, I can pretty easily get Old Peculiar, Spitfire and Brains plus a whole host of others be it at a grocery store, liquor store or homebrew store. In fact I have seen a better general selection overall here than any store in England, even the Stella is better!

The Northeast has some great breweries, being in PA you should be able to get Penn Brewing/Pennsylvania Brewing, Great Lakes and Brooklyn just for starters. There are thousands of different breweries in America and the craft beer market grew over 6% last year and should only get bigger.

Re: American Beer
 

You can get 'em from the grocery stores etc, but it still doesnt replace sitting in a big leather chair in front of a roaring fire in your local with your mates.

Re: American Beer
 

On a lads boating trip to the Norfolk Broads some years ago, we drank a local ale called Coltishal Weaslepiss! Drink one and the second is free.. no-one managed!!

Great line to use when asked if we have Budweiser in UK.. "yes, but its sold under a different name - Perrier!"

Re: American Beer
 

I found a bar in Rochester (NY) that serves Black Sheep and Old Speckled Hen. My local has Guinness, Bass and Boddingtons on tap. Newcastle Brown Ale is available from the local supermarket.

Third Avenue in NYC is great for British Beer. I even found Tetleys Smooth at a couple of places!

My parents just came over to visit and brought me two bottles of Bombardier and a bottle of Spitfire.

I would happily do time for a pint of Sneck Lifter though! :D :(

US beers: Yuengling Black and Tan, Saranac Pale Ale and Sam Adams (if nothing else is available). :)

:beer: :beer:

Re: American Beer
 

A Couple of grocery stores around here sell a good selection of Brit beers like the ones mentioned above. Plus we have a couple of pubs that serve a few on tap too. I personally stay away from 99% of the American beers in favor of a Mexican or Canadian brewski.

Re: American Beer
 

Well i can agree with the Budwieser and other us beer being crap. However i quite like Heiniken and often get Pilsner Urquell too - both usually at the same prices as domestics. I have managed to get Stella on occasion too.

You are all clearly all real ale drinkers rather than larger louts!! I'm not really a bit fan of the 'beer' - but am partial to sam adams, sierra nevada and shiner bock. While in the UK last week found a new pub with specialist beers from round the world - many from Germany - that was great fun but the hangover was not!!

Re: American Beer
 

I avoid imported bottled beer. Liquor stores and distributors are generally terrible about storing the stuff properly and invariably it tastes skunked by the time I buy it.

Re: American Beer
 

You can buy Morland Speckled Hen and Theakston's Old Peculiar here in Fort Myers. Lots of other brit beers too.

What I cannot buy is Carlsberg Elephant, which I really miss.

Re: American Beer
 

Heineken and Pilsner Urquell aren't American mass produced lagers so they don't fall under the same category as Bud and the like. Pilsner Urquell is the original pilsner and all others should be judged by it. Look for Czechvar too, the original Budweiser until Anheuser-Busch stole the name and sued the brewery. It's still called Budvar in any other country but not here. There are however plenty of great American lagers if you look.