The great beer debate

[RoganJosh]

Wusti and Octavius.

Stressedlines, do you still follow the Reinheitsgebot?

[CptMike]

Guys,

Don't quarrel. It will be hard to make objective assessments about beer on a forum

But I have a solution : I propose that all of you send me beers from where you are. I will taste all of them following different criteria and will provide you the results!

Fair enough ?

[CptMike]

For each beer I will receive from one of you, I will send Belgian beer in exchange so that you can judge by yourself

[Tom Bombadil]

I like Miller Lite.

Sue me.

[dargorygel]

I like Miller Lite.

Sue me.

And you eat at McDonald's. And shop at Wal-mart. And hate puppies.

[Tom Bombadil]

But really. America has good beer. I'm less experienced with non-American beer - but I like what I've had.

Founders Breakfast Stout is my favorite American beer.

[Octavious]

Well, agree to disagree I think. But it might be that the trend played out differently in different places. Like, no offense, but I'm not surprised a brit would focus on British ales. In Scandinavia? Sorry, you guys had little to no impact on the trend here. The only British microbrewery that can compete is Brewdog, and they arrived in the late 00's.

Once a microbrewery starts making inroads into international markets you have to question how micro it actually is :p. The entire point is that it's small scale, high quality, and local.

And what on earth is Brewdog?

[Octavious]

Ah... just looked them up. I vaguely remember them doing some publicity stunts. I wouldn't really call them a microbrewery

[Stressedlines]

Wusti and Octavius.

Stressedlines, do you still follow the Reinheitsgebot?

I'm American I don't have to and happy for it lol

[Stressedlines]

Rogan. My father is from Bavaria. I'm from the state's.

[RoganJosh]

Once a microbrewery starts making inroads into international markets you have to question how micro it actually is :p. The entire point is that it's small scale, high quality, and local.

Sure! But when it's ~10 years old and started in a garage, then I'm fine with calling it "micro." The ones which are high quality tend to grow pretty fast nowadays. I guess "craft" is a better word, but I never liked how the "craft" label allowed the old elephants to pretend they were, you know, "almost small scale."

[shigzeo]

But really. America has good beer. I'm less experienced with non-American beer - but I like what I've had.

Founders Breakfast Stout is my favorite American beer.

That Founder's beer is great.

[Octavious]

Sure! But when it's ~10 years old and started in a garage, then I'm fine with calling it "micro." The ones which are high quality tend to grow pretty fast nowadays. I guess "craft" is a better word, but I never liked how the "craft" label allowed the old elephants to pretend they were, you know, "almost small scale."

The growth is the issue, though. McDonald's started off as a family run food stand, and growth changed it. The word craft is an American nonsense that doesn't really mean anything and isn't used much in the UK outside of the spoon whittling industry.

There's no harm at all in new breweries challenging older breweries for a share of national and global markets, and probably a lot of good in it, but it's not something that I'm particularly interested in. It's the rise of localism that's the heart and soul of the beer and cider revival.

[MajorMitchell]

@Rogan_Josh, please don't treat Wusti without proper respect, on page one of this thread he acknowledged the prominence of Australian beers & I saw a mention of New Zealand beers in someone else's post. An Australian brewery that exports a reasonable amount of beer, or as they call it, Ale, is Cooper's. So for your poor blighters in Europe or North America, there's a fair chance you might be able to get some Cooper's Ale. I'd suggest you start out with a Cooper's Pale Ale rather than the stronger Cooper's Ale (red label, and because it's a traditional Ale and "completes" fermentation in the bottle it has a small amount of sediment in each stubby or longneck bottle... So try a Pale Ale first is my tip. )

There's also the can v bottle debate.. personally I was in the "tastes better from a bottle camp", but I gave up drinking beer when I was about thirty, I drank too much of it from sixteen to thirty.

[MajorMitchell]

From memory a Cooper's Red label Ale is about 5.7% alcohol, and a Peace Ale is less, probably around the 4.5% range

[kestasjk]

My fave is the West Australian brew Little Creatures Pale Ale, which happened when they wanted to make an American Pale Ale over here, and it took off like crazy.

I do like a nice English real ale, but it's hit and miss and you need to be in the mood.

[RoganJosh]

It's the rise of localism that's the heart and soul of the beer and cider revival.

I think good beer is the hops and malt of the beer revolution. That said, local is fun and should be encouraged. But small isn't good just because it's small. Nor is good necessarily small.

Since everyone is mentioning their favorite beers from down under: Tuatara, New Zealand. They make an excellent APA.

[Octavious]

Small is fundamentally good because small means variety. Beer also doesn't travel well. Small means you're usually close to the source, which means you're more likely to get better quality.

Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Mild can be particularly nice, if a bit strong. Dark Star Aurora is a great beer. Green Valley Cider, Medium, the 7.5% one... pure heaven on a summer's day...