Philistine alert

[rodabod]

If you go in a Wetherspoons try the Sixpoint beers in cans, American ales - Bengali Tiger, Sweet Action, Crisp. £1.99, great value.

Currently all 99p in the north of Scotland. I bought a large quantity and was told not to take them out the bar, so I didn't*.

*actually, I did.

Bangali Tiger really is great.

 

[clibit]

Yeah I love Bengali Tiger

 

[mike-os]

Any suggestions for a good kit along the lines of goose island?

 

[HisDudeness]

Some people think Youngs American IPA is similar but I didn't think it was that close, I didn't get the best result with mine though for various reasons

 

[pms67]

Some people think Youngs American IPA is similar but I didn't think it was that close, I didn't get the best result with mine though for various reasons

What do you think of your Golden Stag?
Its a nice pint.

 

[mike-os]

Why was that hisdudness?

Brew youngs aipa with dme or dextrose?

 

[HisDudeness]

What do you think of your Golden Stag?
Its a nice pint.

Yeah the golden stag came out a bit better than the AIPA for me anyway, my AIPA was fermented a bit too hot and didn't really have much hop aroma, it was ok just didn't quite live up to expectations. That being said lots of other people think it's great and it has been compared to Goose Island but it's definitely not a clone as such. Goose island has a quite interesting mix of English and American hops that I don't think you will find in any kit brew

 

[HisDudeness]

Why was that hisdudness?

Brew youngs aipa with dme or dextrose?

It's a complete kit so you don't need to buy additional fermentables, as I remember it does have a bit of dextrose in the kit to boost the abv a bit

 

[mike-os]

Ah ok... know which one now :-)

Better visit the local shop ... then her don't know lol

 

[LarryF]

I bump all my kits up, be it a tin of Lyons Golden Syrup into a wherry or 100g of honey into John Bull kit, 4% just don't do it for me. Throw in a hop tea and a dry hop and for a couple quid you can turn a run of the mill kit into something memorable.

 

[rodabod]

I had a Goose Island IPA last night. Hadn't had one for a while. What an excellent beer.

 

[clibit]

I had a Goose Island IPA last night. Hadn't had one for a while. What an excellent beer.

It's a bit unnerving really that AB inBev can take over a brewery like Goose Island and then produce the beer consistently well and distribute it far and wide. It suggests that perhaps the new beer styles created by the microbrewing revolution will be adopted by the big breweries and it will become harder for micros to survive, without its niche market and with greater unit costs. The big breweries are gradually introducing beers of a modern, craft nature, produced in technologically advanced breweries with much more quality control etc.

And a number of the more successful micros are being bought up, or are increasing their size and marketing via investment and morphing into something different.

A good or a bad thing?!

 

[rodabod]

Good point.

One thing that saddens me slightly is that Goose Island started in 1988, amongst other US microbreweries. What were we doing up until around ten years ago? We had great real ales and European lager. But why didn't we jump on the bandwagon sooner, and help define our own new-world beer styles?

I now feel that whenever someone in the UK brews a new ale, possibly with a new-on-the-market hop, then the first thing that people will suggest is that it's an American style, especially if it's hoppy. The irony is that we were the first country to make very, very hoppy ales almost 200 years ago.*

*I'm not trying to sound nationalistic here, in case it comes across that way.

 

[rodabod]

why didn't we jump on the bandwagon sooner, and help define our own new-world beer styles?

Thinking about it, the Americans had to do something as the majority of their own "beer" (Pabst Blue Ribbon, Schlitz, Coors, etc.) was absolutely awful.

 

[pms67]

I think Greene King make East Coast IPA and its decent,and cheap.
Like you say,the big boys will try and whitewash the market with "craft" beers.
The marketing guys will do their homework and realise that a lot of people are changing what they buy,my local supermarket used to have stacks upon stacks of crates of "beer" Bud,etc but now more than half the isle is quality ales and the like.
Good or not? Good for the guy wanting cheap beer that actually tastes of something but bad for the small breweries trying to produce top notch stuff that is affordable.

 

[mike-os]

so rather than start a new thread I will revive this one...

loving the IPA's and one or 2 others :wink:

looking for some good bitters or stout/cream stout (used to love guinness but seems to have changed in recent years)... so what do you guys recommend?

also whats a good stout kit? partial mash would be fine/good.... might as well take it up a notch

 

[dad_of_jon]

so rather than start a new thread I will revive this one...

loving the IPA's and one or 2 others :wink:

looking for some good bitters or stout/cream stout (used to love guinness but seems to have changed in recent years)... so what do you guys recommend?

also whats a good stout kit? partial mash would be fine/good.... might as well take it up a notch

Try Hopback's entire stout - available in Morrisons or the Youngs double chocolate stout is also a nice brew

 

[brumbrew]

Try maybe a Brooklyn Lager, Sierra Nevada Pale, or Goose Island IPA. Lager-y fizziness with loads more flavour.

+1 goose island

 

[mike-os]

goose is a great beer.... :drink:

 

[Bevvied]

I love this thread, as I love discovering new brews and differing opinions of them.
For a long time all I ever drank was Guinness. The Missus got so fed up of me moaning about how it's changed (or my taste buds have?) that she bought me a dozen bottles of Mud City Stout (summat/summit like that) to shut me up.
It shut me up all right. I quaffed the lot and woke up in the greenhouse.