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This is a thread dedicated to the praise of proper Booze.

Not your nambypamby foreign pish, but proper, Brown, Booze.

I've been a dedicated follower of the CAMRA cause (Campaign For Real Ale) for only a few months, and I cannot help but wonder what took me so long.

Not only does every brew taste different (blindfold me and I can tell you which one is Hobgoblin), not only is it cheaper (£2.90 per pint where I am) and not only is it arguably healthier, but in my case, and a few of my friends, thanks to the lack additives, it in now way makes us aggressive in the same way as the pissy foreign lagers, like Stella do.

Plus, I am yet to have an Ale related hangover.

ALL HAIL TO THE ALE!

heh, try buying it in pubs round here

options seem pretty limited: stella, carling, carlsberg, kronenberg (sp?) fosters XXXX, usual crap

Just got to find the right pub.

Generally, a pub selling proper booze and not that fizzy pish is filled with like minded individuals who just want a chinwag with their mates, a pleasent drink, and not to be stared at but some chinless inbred.

i would love to find such a pub, but all the locals are being closed to build yet more flats.

Bummer. Well, you're in London. Next Thursday get thee to Charing Cross, get a train to Tunbridge Wells, and let me know. I'll take you to the Royal Oak....Hobgob on tap!

I'm also a recent convert to (well in the last year anyway) basically I've grown bored of the lager mentality and as I've started taking my time over beer I realised that 'real' ales are not only generally cheaper but also far more tasty. The only Lagers I have time for now are the continental Lagers (Meaning real continental lagers not Stella!) which retain some flavour and aren't jammed full of chemicals. Even during the summer when its really hot I now generally prefer a Cider over a Lager to quench my thirst.

Also as MDK points out Ale gives a far lesser hangover than lagers, though admittedly they can cause some truly evil wind!

Luckily I live in Cumbria now, which as a county holds the most microbreweries in britain. So when I go to my local I actually have the privilege of being able to ask for the local ale. Nothing better than that.

Also I don't know any lager which makes a good accompaniment to food. Ale or Beer (which isn't another term for lager. Taking it back!) is the wine of the British common man.

At least you have real pubs..... Try explaining "full measure" to some pimple faced idiot at the local commercial bar =P

sounds like a plan mate, dont spose they done what a few have and thrown the age up to 21 have they?
bloody nightmare in london, every pub / club is 18 OR 21 :K


also, im in manchester on base, but live in london, so might have to take a trip if i get some free time.


could allways drive aswell
yet to test out the new car.

Well, with the wind thing...in the words of Johnny Fartpants....

Winnits on shreddies
And skidmarks on undies.
Farting at Blackpool on Holiday mondays.
Choking the dog with a ming from my ring.
These are a few of my favourite things.

Dropping my guts during Tea at the Vicars
Blowing a hole in the back of my knickers.
Dropping a depth charge that empties the bath
These are the things that make simpletons laugh!

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Bummer. Well, you're in London. Next Thursday get thee to Charing Cross, get a train to Tunbridge Wells, and let me know. I'll take you to the Royal Oak....Hobgob on tap!

Incidentally, on the way if you like, I recommend a pub in the arches underneath charing cross. Near, though far enough, from the gay club Heaven. I know for a fact you can get some good 'proper beer' there.

Fairly do's

However, I do object to spending £18 good drinking money just to get to 'That London' and then having to spend the part of both my Kidney's just to buy a single pint!

good luck mate
in venom carling is £4.20 a pint lol, bloody stupid when double VK redbull is only £3.80

And you pay that.

I reckon I could order my pint, and in the time it takes the Barman to put it on the Bar, and turn round to ring it up on the till, neck the pint and have long sinced scarpered...Free Lager is just about on the level with a decent Beer.

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Fairly do's

However, I do object to spending £18 good drinking money just to get to 'That London' and then having to spend the part of both my Kidney's just to buy a single pint!

Sure, I was meaning JD21290 since he said he finds a limited selction at most pubs in london.

But I know the feeling. I have been charged a fiver for a bottle of water at a certain club in london.

doc, dont have much choice, in soho prices in every place are through the roof.
went down to see a mate in portsmouth last week, £2 a pint
allthough the pub was a fething mess.

Hate London prices. The only justification is 'it's London' which is circular logic of the worst kind....

pay more to drink in englands biggest shithole

I'm quite happy for Londoners (sorry JD21290 ) to pay through their noses for beer tbh, after all they owe the rest of us for using our tax money on a certain sporting event in the next few years.

True on all above accounts.

Sick of hearing how the London Olympics (partially paid for by National Tax) will benefit the south east. Will it FOXTROT! Not as if London is short on accomodation. Fly in to Gatwick, Heathrow or Stanstead, and get a train straight to London. Get the Eurostar, straight to Victoria.

And I am paying for this because??????

Step 1. Pay tax to put on Olympics in London.
Step 2.
Step 3. BIG PROFIT!

heh, i plan on going to stay down in basingstoke with my girl
cant stand london atm, once thats going on, it'll be evil :k

Struth. If I had to pick on a map the place in the UK I feel is in most need of "redevelopment," london would have been my last choice.

By redevelopment, you of course meaning 'carpet bombing for a new start?

Can we not begin with Liverpool? Just to test theory?

I'd vote Middlesbrough over liverpool although timing it for a Boro vs. Everton game wouldn't be too bad a thing.

On the original topic anyone know how hard it is to home brew? You can get kits really cheap nowadays.

I prefer Newcastle Brown, myself. Although, when I've been home, I'll stick pretty much to bitters. We can't get a bitter at all in the states :(

Seems to be mainly a British conversation, no?

As beers go, I'll take any kind of Boulevard Wheat brew anyday over any other kind of beer. Somewhat expensive, but I tend to drink alone or with a small group of friends. Not only is it at least half as expensive, I enjoy it more. If any of you UK denizens can get your hands on some Boulevard, though, I strongly suggest trying it out.

Though I'll take a glass of Black Velvet Canadian Import Whiskey over that (Before you knock it, try it. Goes down smoother than anything).

Just speaking as representative of all the poor white trash out there, I consider the end effects of the beer to be more important than the high-falutin' concerns voiced in this thread. Cold-filtered beer rules, 6.5%!!! After eight or ten your sense of taste packs it up anyhow.

I have gotten to the point where I only drink Craft beers and micro brews when possible. The price is higher than the mass produced brands but the quality is what I am looking for. The closest I come to mass produced that I drink on a regular basis are Broken Halo IPA, and Arrogant Bastard. Halo is a good IPA that is somewhat smoother than most IPA's and can be kicked back through a late night of painting. I have gotten alot of work on armies done with this beer. Arrogant Bastard... is well... a huge Hoppy bitter slap you in the face kind of beer. It really is an aquired taste. It even has a label that most people won't like it on the bottle.

My everyday drinking beers are from a local micro brewery Callen St Arnold's. They have a line of year round beers and rotating seasonals. They follow the belief that there are only 4 ingredients in beer and stick to them. Nothing else added, just Malt, Hops, Water and Yeast. It is also made locally and they are so small that it is pretty much just a regional beer that doesn't make it out of the state. After drinking it for a while I really wonder how people can put back the large mass prodruced brands.

I'm a spirits man myself.

And I'd say I'm pretty happy with either, just not Guiness unless I'm really drunk.

sA

BEER!!

Agreeing with MDG so far. I used to be a CAMRA member, but I let it lapse. The HQ is St Albans is a right poo-hole, they need that subscription money!

@Crysa..: Newkie Brown is ace beer, but I'll bet you pay through the nose for it? I was in Canada a couple of years back and I found an "English Pub" (it was quite humbling and charming really, if completely ott) that served Newcastle Brown, but at something like $6C a pint.

Whilst we're recommending beers, do try (as Mad Dog said) to get hold of some Wychwood beers, particularly Hobgoblin. It's also worth getting hold of some Adnams beers, my favourite being Broadside. A good bitter beer, almost like dark chocolate, with a strong hoppy finish.

Man I love beer.