Ale, Beer, Stout appreciation

I'm drinking a bottle of Adnam's Broadside. I like Broadside, but haven't had it for a while. Has the recipe changed, does anyone know? I'm asking because this bottle tastes fucking amazing. The most delicious boozy plummy syrupy flavour.

just had two bottles of this beauty. I rate it as highly as a bottle Of fullers ESB. Don't like ESB as a poured pub pint but as a bottle it's near unbeatable, as is the Broadside, only Broadside is great from a barrel too.
Had a bottle of timothy taylor landlord the other week, utter piss compared to my favourite pub pint. Funny how it can taste so differnt.

if you rate broadside that high, go try some actually great beer, you'll love it

(now I sound like an a-hole, and maybe I am, my point is though that if you can appreciate a good pint of broadside, there's loads more awesome to get in a great pint from a micro brewery)

had some "bloed zweet & tranem", delicious.

Tim Taylor bottled is rubbish. On tap it's awesome. Try a pint at The Woodbine. Tastes amazing there.

if you rate broadside that high, go try some actually great beer, you'll love it

(now I sound like an a-hole, and maybe I am, my point is though that if you can appreciate a good pint of broadside, there's loads more awesome to get in a great pint from a micro brewery)

I've got my very own micro brewery going at the moment, cocoa and coffee stout, 30 pints down, 10 left. Just bottled up a load of Belgium 8.5% abbey beer, and have got 40 pints of IPA fermenting away. It's all lovely stuff, but sometimes I crave a good bottle of broadside!

Many of the quality big brewers were micro breweries before that term was coined during the foodie circle-jerk of the 1990s. They became big breweries because they made really fucking good beer. Some of these breweries, having the nouse to capitalise on their success without compromising their quality, can teach many micros some lessons.

There are many great micro-breweries but too many are inexperienced chancers or hobbyists making it up as they go along producing an average product and dining out on the small producer / provenance / farmers market / green wellies bullshit.

An established brewery is not immediately inferior to a micro whatever their hype might suggest.

^ Would you apply that rule to the Stout monopoly held by Guinness?

p.s. I'd contend that much of some breweries growth can be attributed to good marketing & pub ownership (= product line control), not good beer.

Well I've had stout from micro breweries which I've enjoyed less than Guinness. I've had stout from micro breweries which has been far more interesting than Guinness. That's kind of the point, Guinness is the benchmark; it's ubiquitous but that doesn't mean it's poor quality.

I'm objecting to the point that if you like one widely available beer you're doing yourself a disservice by not drinking an equivalent beer from an obscure source. I think Broadside is delicious - complex, roasty, heavy and comforting on a cold evening and I would hazard that you would struggle to beat it in a blind tasting.

Don't get me wrong I love trying all kinds of beers, I go to beer festivals, I take my good beer guide on holiday, support my local micro breweries, all that. I just don't believe that the likes of Adnams, Whychwood, Fulers etc can't make great beer.

I get your point, and agree to an extent, except I'd argue that guiness isn't a good benchmark, it's just the benchmark.

This is based on product growth via it's fantastic t.v. adverts and presence in almost all pubs.

Doesn't make it a good benchmark, particularly now it's hardly posible to get draught guiness that isn't 'extra cold' so gas cooled they a widget. I'd describe s long of that as wet and bland.

Ales less so, but it was a close call. Boddingtons, Worthington and John Smiths were pushing the way of Guinness in the 90's. Thankfully they're not benchmark ales today.

Ale festival at the Alma in Newington Green was good last. Ride home to South London a bit hairy.

I've got my very own micro brewery going at the moment, cocoa and coffee stout, 30 pints down, 10 left. Just bottled up a load of Belgium 8.5% abbey beer, and have got 40 pints of IPA fermenting away. It's all lovely stuff, but sometimes I crave a good bottle of broadside!

nice! Planning to brew my first batch in a few weeks, really look forward to it

(also, you obviously know what you're talking about, hope no offence was taken from my last post)

No offence taken. I'm no ale expert at all, and my tastes constantly change. That's why I love the stuff, there's so much choice out there. My home brewing is pretty basic, only been doing it a couple of years, straight from kits but it's always drinkable and sometimes beautiful. As for Guiness, I'd rather drink the foreign export stuff, at least it has some taste. I've brewed 4 or so different stouts or porters and every time I try the first pint I'm dissapponted, always a 'unique' taste, but it always seems to grow on me.
Last week I bought 4 cans of tesco value bitter for 69p. it was bad. I mixed it with some bottom of the barrel, yeasty, flat homebrew. It was better.

Tonights tipples

Fursty Ferret
Adnams Ghost Ship
Ringwood Forty Niner
Humdinger

Never had 2 or 3 before, prefer 2, Ghost ship is probably a new favourite, need to try more though.

Forty Niner is nothing special.

Had a pint of Furry's Black IPA at lunch today. Black and pale.. wtf? Anyway, it was quite palatable.

lot of stouts in tesco at the moment, the st peters cream stout was lovely and a decent 6.5%

I had two bottles of Theakstons 'Old Peculiar' last night

Well nice and got me quite pissed. My old man swears by it so I thought I'd try it, I can't take the piss out of him any more for him always getting bladdered on it

i love that stuff, when i was a 'young man' you had to drink that when you lost at pool, i lost a lot.
most teenagers would hate it.

^ old peculiar is the first ale I really enjoyed, about 1995 if wondering...

had a few local Shropshire Ales on a visit this weekend, 2nd lunchtime pint of Ludlow Best on the go as we wait for train o'clock...

Camping near Minehead before the Beast of Exmoor sportive this weekend, and discovered a dubiously named, but exceptional ale last night called Smuggled Otter. Strong 5.8% and rich tasting. It is also a real loopy juice.

Just come home from the Southampton Arms. They have lots of very seasonal beers on at the mo, very dark and portery, lots of chocolaty, smoky flavours.
I was surprised at how much I liked them, I'm normally more of an IPA drinker.

a couple of overpriced bottles from the deli shop thing in st pancaras station.
kernel porter. think it was IPA export stout, lovely stuff very filling and took me ages to drink.
a rhubarb beer from france

nothing like a Belgian kreik. very fresh with a nice acidity.

Fucking love Kernel export stout. Really is a meal in a bottle. Never had anything quite so rich and satisfying.

Not keen on Sourced deli.

Beer fest on at the Pembury tavern. 20 + ales and a few ciders.
Other news, if all goes to plan hackney council will be installing bike
racks at the jolly butchers in January...

Is there ever not a beer festival on at the Pembury? :)