Ale, Beer, Stout appreciation

And this afternoon with lunch, seeing we're having 2 consecutive days of sun, I'm having an Innis & Gunn oak aged beer. I, being the sceptic that I've grown up to be, didn't imagine the blurb to be much more than than that....just advertising tosh, fed to a welcoming public. Wrong. You can taste the oak-aging process with every sip. Its unusual and delicious. Reminiscent even of good whiskies.

In office. Jealous :(

i am a huge innis and gunn fan. look out for special editions, they did one aged in rum barrels. saw an ipa version today actually in sainsburys

Any takers?

In office. Jealous :(

In China, VERY jealous. The beer here is watery, bland and weak. I'd give my right arm for a nice ale in a proper pub. I really hope that British beer can survive as its something we do very very well and is often overlooked.

had a pint of this last week pub between parliament square and trafalgar
very nice pint of brains

Oh the rev! had it in Manorbier last year, bloody good that, knocked me over.

Hi all, shameless self-promotion to you ale drinkers out there: i'm selling two tickets to the Alton Real Ale Train (that is, an ale festival on a steam train) on this thread

hi all shameless self promotion for all you readers out there i got words for you too read. Oh yeah Badger brewery yummy the summer ale smells of blossom tastes sweet but not in a sickening way

Fursty Ferret + Tanglefoot = sub standard supermarket beers.

Ive just spent most of the afternoon in The Southampton Arms on Highgate Road.
Absolutely blummen lovely!
I'm a particular fan of Dragon Hill ale, from the White Horse Brewery. Went down a treat with some proper pork pie, serenaded by a real live pianist. It's probably what all pubs used to be like, I think I;ve just found my new local.

this place?

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?client=safari&q=The+Southampton+Arms&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF8&hl=en&cd=4&hq=The+Southampton+Arms&hnear=Highgate+Rd,+Camden+Town,+NW5,+UK&geocode=FUGwEgMddMT9_w&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=6.881357,14.941406&ll=51.556022,-0.145891&spn=0,0.018775&z=16&layer=c&cbll=51.556218,-0.14611&panoid=vCbi6njKi-slAJMMOFj36Q&cbp=12,202.31,,0,-7.16

been past that, and actually looked in the door. I opened it and a coupla old boys by the bar looked at me thinking 'he don't belong here does he' while i was looking at them thinking 'i don't belong here do I'

That's the place.
Apparently it used to be a real old boy's local, but new people took it over about 6 months ago. It still gets some of the old regulars, but it seemed to be a very mixed crowd. When I first got in there they were playing old blues and reggae tunes on a proper old record player behind the bar.

THe SA is fine, some of the North crowd go there early on Tuesday before the Flask. You can even bring your bike in and leave it at the back.

There was an nice old dear playing the piano in there last time I went

simple pleasures

And so, the World Cup is upon us. This leads unquestionably to beer consumption.

But what happens if ladies present feel like taking part in the TV spectacle?

Some ladies I know prefer wine to beer. But football and beer go together.

Soooooo.....I was thinking, might these selections tempt and possibly enamour the beer-adverse?

Meantime Coffee & Porter Style Ale
Bacchus Framboise [Raspberry flavoured beer]
Floris Apple
Crabbies Original Ginger Beer
Floris Chocolate
Bacchus Kriek [Cherry flavoured beer]
Fruli Strawberry
Mongozo Coconut
Floris Honey
Joseph Holt Maple Moon [Maple flavoured beer]
Floris Mango
Innis & Gunn Beer [divinity in a bottle]
Mongozo Banana

Would these be enough to get the fairer sex totally sozzled, so that everyone is yelling at the TV, telling the bleedin' foreigners to stop diving at get up? ;) Some of them seem nice-ish (in bold), but some appear that they might be too sweet or sickly. Chocolate or Coconut beer?

England 15 - Brazil 2.

That's my beer-affected prediction.

I'm not a fan of fruitybeer halfbreeds but the crabbies ginger beer is ace.
Other than that I reckon the best way to ease a beer shy person into the world real ale is to start them on a nice best, something fairly weak and refreshing like Youngs best (I'm only saying youngs best because it's a widely available best), with maybe a top of lemonade or ginger beer.

That Meantime coffee shit is horrible. Burnt coffee alcoholified. Normally I'd be up for such an abomination but not this time. Women will not like.. if they know what's good for them waves fist

Crabbies is the shit.. for one bottle..

The rest are just Belgian fruit beers and we all know you're of questionably sexuality drinking those.. male or female.

Drinking is bad for you anyway. Stick to a nice, cold refreshing glass of water*.

*I'm drunk. Opinions may vary in the morning.

Mal reckons all the ales she's tried taste like vomit.

She has a point.

I will make real ale ride plans soon. I promise. I have been very busy of late. And I will have to do my research thoroughly. I wouldn't want to lead you to a substandard pub would I?

Niall, in order to avoid getting too drunk during your research, I would advise you to only drink in small quantities, like asking for sample sizes. I know that you're of course only really interested in the flavour and not in the volume.

I can't believe I haven't contributed (any crap) to this thread..

I had this with lunch..

It tastes like bananas. It was odd. I liked it but I'm not sure it would be a regular choice.

The man has beat me to it.

On the......list. ;)

I'm going to pop into Mr.Lawrence tomorrow, and see whats in stock.

These below seem to be readily available, so out will come the credit card.

Meantime Raspberry Grand Cru
Daleside Chocolate Stout
Innis & Gunn
Boon Kriek & Framboise
Lindemans Kriek & Framboise
Fruli Strawberry

I'll be sleeping off a mega taste-testing tomorrow night I think.

Niall, in order to avoid getting too drunk during your research, I would advise you to only drink in small quantities, like asking for sample sizes. I know that you're of course only really interested in the flavour and not in the volume.

Good plan. Maybe only a couple of pints of each ale, just to make sure they are consistent.

Good point.
When ale tasting you must always have at least two pints of each ale.
The first pint establishes a 'base flavour' and helps to wash away the taste of the previous drink whilst the second pint is the actual 'taster' and the one that you really judge the ale on.
After a particularly strong tasting beer 3 pints may be needed before you can fullly appreciate the new one.