E17Avenue

That got your attention didn't it.

Who else knows the joke "what's American beer and making love in a boat have in common? Both f***ing close to water!"

But have you had any of the craft brews here? Michigan has a gazillion small breweries and one of them around the corner from us actually exports to the UK - Founders.

There's an organic brewery up the road that makes a nice bitter. There are two more breweries within half a mile of our house. And four more in the same city (one of which a Belgian style brewery with absolutely superb brews, inside an old funeral chapel for that Trappist feel). And another dozen within half an hour's drive... it's insane. I actually did a Bus Brew Crawl where we visited eight breweries in one day using the local bus service.

Who rarely drinks imported beer any more and has switched the local stuff? What are your favourites?

markonline1

I must admit, I still drink pretty much nothing but imported stuff. My local supermarket does Peroni which is probably my favourite beer so I stick with that.

Beaverstate

Mark you must get out more, the west coast has every type of beer imaginable from local microbreweries. Many in your area.

Ash UK/US

The last couple of opportunities I have had to go to Founders with friends I have not been able to make it.... maybe I should make sure I do

Ash UK/US

Not sure where in GR you are, but they just did a remodel on the Meijer at Knapps Corner and the Beltline, I noticed the other day they had a few English beers/ales in single bottles... this meijer store is now very similar to the corner stone store on 28th street.

tonrob

While I love British beer I only drink that when back in the UK. I have only found British beer on cask in the US (outside specialist festivals) 3 or 4 times and every time it was horrid. Its a unique product that does not travel well. I will not drink it in fizzy, bottled form as it just doesn't taste right that way.

I fell in love with American beer within about a year of arriving. There is so much variety that I could spend the rest of my life sampling and trying new, wonderful things. For that reason I haven't felt the need to drink any German or Belgian imports either.

Couldn't possibly name a favourite beer - but as far as styles go at the moment I'm loving West Coast IPAs, Black IPAs and big Imperial Stouts.

Southy_SWFC

That joke is outdated. These days American beers are just as good as they are in any country.
The fact that the Wetherspoons chain in England has just had an American beer festival shows it's getting more respect outside of the US now too

robin1234

I had an Ipswich IPA last week, in a restaurant in Wellfleet, MA. Very nice. I mostly drink the IPAs over here, I find most other beer styles a bit too sweet for my taste. But I never drink English beer over here. My wife, who likes stouts, oatmeal stouts etc. does drink the English ones, I don't think she's found an American one that comes up to the standard ...

steveq

That joke isn't even funny, its a bit like the way the Americans take the piss out of us for "warm" beer. The Weatherspoon's festival was a very interesting few weeks.

Yorkieabroad

I can't remember the last time I drank a European beer..these days the furthest import I drink Is Mexican

My beers of choice come mainly from local Texas breweries...No Label here in Katy have a couple of excellent ones, but also one (pale horse) that is so wide of the mark it's not funny. St. Arnold in Houston do a few good ones, with the advantage that they provide some ambiguity to your activities...."just going out the back to work on the lawnmower dear" has a totally different connotation.....in fact Lawnmower and Weedwhacker are very close to the top of my favorites list at the moment. And of course, pretty much anything out of Shiner is very drinkable.

robin1234

Yes that's the only time British beer is warm ....

steveq

ROFL

markonline1

Oh yeah, I know. My local is a small brew pub where funnily enough it does English style beers. English Ales just outside Monterey if any of you are in the area, I can highly recommend it. However, the yanks seem to have a liking for IPA's and dark bitter style beers which do nothing forms at all. I don't stick to European beer because I subscribe to the American beer is like cats piss (even though the mainstream beers are), it's simply because I'm a lager drinker and decent American lagers are very few and far between unfortunately. I'm always open to suggestions though

crabbygit

I like a wide assortment of beers and depending on how I feel will switch and change. Western Canada imports a large selection of beers so lots of choice, I will sometimes drink canned Boddington's which is a close as you can get to a pulled pint, Guinness is also a favourite.

In the summer I tend to drink Mexican, Trinidad (Carib) and Heineken and an all time favourite Newcastle Brown. Now it may seem like a drink a lot of beer, I don't, I tend to drink more red wine than anything and I usually have a bottle of Courvoisier Cognac bought for me at Christmas which always lasts me until next Christmas.

Duncan Roberts

Maybe I get something from Belgium from time to time and every now and again I'll get Hobgoblin but both are rare, mostly I get US made stuff and a good chunk of that is made within 30 or so miles from my house. I've been on a bigger cider kick over the last few months than I have been since I got here but that's made 5 miles from my house and most of it I pick up at the cidery.

The downsides of the US craft market now it's picking up steam rapidly is a) the good breweries are doing crazy experiments and producing some dross alongside the good stuff and b) there are a lot of crappy breweries opening up.