Think I need an educmacation

[PuggledPrune]

I drink lager almost exclusively mostly peroni or other "premium" European lagers but want to expand my horizons. I quite like the odd pint of Guinness but sometimes it seems to be rubbish (Can the way a pint is poured really affect the taste THAT much?)

Anyway I'm looking for some recommendations of commercial drinks to try... or just generally to know more about beer. I really couldn't identify what hops taste like for example.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Archtronics]

Experiment with hand pulls most pubs let you taste before you buy. :thumb:

 

[no1troyboy]

guinness is a funny 1 because if its been sat in the line to long its vile also the bar person should pore 3/4 of a pint with the glass tilted at 90o left to stand untill settled then the leaver pushed backwards with the nozel just above the head to get the perfect pint with a nice 5mm head thats the perfect pint og guiness.. if you want to try ale ive realy only been drinking it for about 2 years but do like a nice larger the check ones are my faverate try a couple of the blond beers there nice and fruity with a good crisp tast always go real ale none of that keg **** try somthing at about 4.5% ur pallet will tell u if u like the of not

 

[RobWalker]

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is available in most supermarkets and tastes great. Most of my non-ale drinking mates enjoy it. That's a pretty obvious example of cascade :p

 

[calumscott]

What hops taste like!?!?!?

Wow! You are going to have the beer equivalent of a second birth!!!

Hops are so diverse that there is no answer but, a great place to start is go for something where the hops really thump you round the head - that will enable you to separate the hop and malt flavours in beer.

Go buy yourself a bottle (not a can - doesn't have the same ooomph) of Brewdog's Punk IPA. (Don't get Hardcore, it's a totally different beast).

Nearly all the flavour you'll get from your first bottle will be hop - they use mountains of 'em!

Then from there, well just start buying beer! After a stupid hop bomb, you'll quickly be able to identify the hop flavours, then once you have those you'll get the other things, the malt and the esters from some yeasts coming through.

Then the world is your enlightening oyster!

 

[pittsy]

just stand in the beer section , at a supermarket and look for bottles , we all have different tastes so you have to try em yourself, look for IPA's , wheatbeers(hefeweizen,Erdinger), Belgian Ales ,German Pils , Kolsch ,Witbeer (hoegaarden) to start you off.

 

[jarenault]

It's funny how a beer like Peroni is considered "premium" here in the UK, while in Italia it's very much a €1 out the fridge of a cafe fare.
And, conversely, a beverage like Tennent's Super - nothing more than tramp fuel round these parts - is a premium choice in Italy. I was very surprised to see it offered draught for a pretty penny in an upmarket Rome restaurant earlier this year. Different marketing for different markets I guess.

 

[PuggledPrune]

Yep, I couldn't identify a hop if my life depended on it haha! I'm currently having a bottle of Lia Fail which is really tasty.

I'll be sure to try a Punk IPA. I remember buying a load of brew dog beers with my mate a couple of years ago. I was wrecked! Haha!

Funny you say that about Peroni. I was talking to some French guys in Edinburgh recently who said the same about Kronenbourg. They called it **** water. Haha! Kronenbourg and Peroni are my favourites.

The reason for asking on here is I didnt want to spend a fortune on average or rubbish beers.

Thanks again!

 

[PD]

No matter what people suggest or tell you to drink...you drink what you like. At first play lucky dip in the bottle beer section of the supermarket, your bound to find something you like. Then target that type of beer, whether its IPA, APA Lager Stouts Belgium Wheats whatever.
When you have found one you like...then go All Grain brewing and make similar and even better ones.
Everyone's tastes and preferences are different ( I for one can't abide wheat beers, sorry Pittsy )
But apart from those sorry folk that really enjoy Carlsberg, the world of beer is your mollusc.

 

[calumscott]

Yep, I couldn't identify a hop if my life depended on it haha! I'm currently having a bottle of Lia Fail which is really tasty.

I'll be sure to try a Punk IPA. I remember buying a load of brew dog beers with my mate a couple of years ago. I was wrecked! Haha!

Funny you say that about Peroni. I was talking to some French guys in Edinburgh recently who said the same about Kronenbourg. They called it **** water. Haha! Kronenbourg and Peroni are my favourites.

The reason for asking on here is I didnt want to spend a fortune on average or rubbish beers.

Thanks again!

Lia Fail is utterly superb beer, big on the malt, easy on the bitterness. I'm going to try to clone it over the festive brewing period.

Punk is the complete opposite, all bitterness and hop flavour. :

 

[DirtyCaner]

mmm Carlsberg! Clean, crisp and light, perfect to chug down after a mid week workout! But each to their own...

Lia Fail... my favourite of all the inveralmond brews... always been a cracker. My hometown brewery so maybe I'm biased.

Could also do a lot worse than a Williams bros 80/- for a nice malty one...

DirtyC

 

[calumscott]

Lia Fail... my favourite of all the inveralmond brews... always been a cracker. My hometown brewery so maybe I'm biased.

Didn't realise you're a Perthite too! Oakbank and High School, you? :)

Haven't lived there for a long time tho but all my family is still there...

 

[PuggledPrune]

Aye, the fact it was a local (ish) brewery was one of the reasons I chose it. As I'm a lager drinker I thought it like the lighter beers but I had a bottle of Ossian (spelling?) as well but didn't like it that much. So lia fail is malty, what's Ossian?

Bit of a sore head this morning, mixing my drinks!

 

[calumscott]

Aye, the fact it was a local (ish) brewery

Local-ish is where? :

 

[narmour]

mmm Carlsberg! Clean, crisp and light, perfect to chug down after a mid week workout! But each to their own...DirtyC

I have to admit to drinking Carlsberg occasionally too :nono: , but in my defence the selection of beers available in pubs in Belfast is usually pretty pitiful. Harp, Carlsberg, Guinness and Tennants. Of those 4, Carlsberg is the only one that's even nearly palatable. It's also a useful drink for when you want to have a drink but keep your head about you, I can drink it all day and not get drunk which can help when I'm on a stag do with my binge drinking friends, thanks to it's weak as **** alcohol content. :whistle: as long as I stay out of the shot rounds I have a fighting chance of making it to the end of the night....

 

[PuggledPrune]

I used to drink 8 cans of carlsberg before going out on the lash. It really is a false economy tho. I was still sober by the time I got out.

Drinking some Pilsner Urquell just now. It's REALLY tasty!! And only £1.25 a bottle at Asda just now. According to the blurb its intensely hoppy with a balance of subtle sweetness and velvety bitterness wrapped in a gloriously crisp body. No idea what that means but it's GOOD!


Sneaked in some more Lia Fail as I enjoyed it so much. Really need to find a kit that tastes similar to that....

 

[alanywiseman.]

Brew Dog have just released Hoppy Christmas which is a Simcoe IPA. Single hop so well worth a shout.

 

[Baz Chaz]

I must admit there's generally one thing I judge a pub by ........

wander up to the bar, if I ask about say 2 or 3 of their beers and I can have a small sample/taste of each to decide which I prefer, generally find it's a good pub :thumb:

 

[PuggledPrune]

Going to have to try a few brew dog beers. Not sure what's available locally but will have a nosey.

My local is a weather spoons. Could never call it a good pub but they've always got a selection of real ales and they let u have a taster. The nearest proper pub is Edinburgh as far as I'm aware. Bit too far....

 

[PuggledPrune]

Aye, the fact it was a local (ish) brewery

Local-ish is where? :

Just noticed this. I'm in Glenrothes, unfortunately.