The Australian Beer discussion is threatening to jack the 'Quotes of the day thread so I figure we’d bring it here.
Excellent beers available in this country include:
Grolsch - Dutch
Kronenbourg 1664 - French
Peroni - Italian
Cobra - Indian
Budweiser Budvar - Czech Republic
Excellent ales available in this country include:
Spitfire - UK (Kent)
Bishops Finger - UK (Kent)
Old Speckled Hen - UK (Oxfordshire)
Newcastle Brown - UK (Gateshead)
Old Peculier - UK (Yorkshire)
And obviously Guiness - Ireland
Anything by the Badger Brewery I[/I], but especially
Golden Glory
Champion
Blandford Fly
and of course Tanglefoot
All of these are available in most supermarkets, and the ales are increasingly available in pubs. I can’t wait until I see Tanglefoot on draft, I’m going to have a field day.
All of these beverages are united in one factor, and that is that they don’t taste like crap. There are many, many more beers available in this country, but the vast majority of those taste like ditch water. Notable entrants into this category include:
Carlsburg
Carling
Budweiser (but not Budvar, off whom the Budweiser name was nicked)
Heineken
Loose.
One that particularly caught my eye during my depressingly short UK holiday was a thing called DoomBar that I drank down Cornwall way.
There are many localised ales and beers in the UK, Doom Bar being of the Sharps Brewery in Cornwall.
Some others I forgot to mention:
The Greene King Brewery, produces:
Abbot Ale
Greene King IPA
Ruddles County
And also Old Speckled Hen, but I mentioned that.
All these are good.
Back to bad, and the obvious one I forgot to mention:
Fosters - Australian
Using the advertising slogan ‘He who thinks Australian drinks Australian’, or more correctly ‘He who thinks Australian drinks like an idiot’, since it tastes like condensed bathwater. I do know that Fosters is very under-represented in Australia itself, but thats no excuse. Australians would be wise to distance themselves from this henious crime of a beverage.
Loose.
Old Speckled Hen is one that occasionally appears in some of the better (non-franchised) pubs in South Africa. My personal favourite pub, The Jolly Roger in Parkhurst (big sign on the wall: ‘Our Housewine is Jaegermeister’, how can I not like it?) have recently started bringing in some of the Belgian ‘blond’ beers and I’ve been having fun with the likes of Leffe and Hoegaarden.
Normally just as something to drink while I wait for the pint of Guinness to de-arcticify.
Hoegaarden and Tuborg are my favorite European beers when I backpacked for 2 months around Europe. A Hieneken in Amsterdam isn’t bad either.
I quite like Princetown Brewery’s Jail Ale (even if they do use the American spelling - why can nobody spell gaol these days?..)
Dons anorak Something “quite interesting” about that is that it was named after the “old speckled 'un”, an old MG car that was used at the (MG) factory as a workhorse, and was covered in flecks of paint. Nothing to do with hens at all.
Nothing to do with Australian beer either… how can I get back on topic… err… I drank a can of Fosters once… or was it?.. oh I can’t remember. I don’t really give a XXXX anyway.
Rob
Aye, Grolsch is one of my favourites. I probably would have said something about Fosters but as has been mentioned, it is (rightly) shunned by most Australians so has been mentally blocked out. Boag’s, James Squire and Cascade all produce some good beers. Heck…I only turned 18 last July. I’ve got plenty more beers to get through before i’m an expert. Funnily enough Beer is my last name so if anything I owe it to the family name. Any good Sooth Efricen drinks you can recommend GILD? I’ll keep my eyes out for them.
Siege (Australia Day tomorrow…as good a reason as any to have a few!)
There are two Countries that make good beer, Germany and Namibia (under German standards) Im sorry but this belgian, dutch, whatever crap tastes like dirt under your toenails.
@siege: look for tafel lager or windhoek lager, theyre two damn good beers from Namibia. The South african beers are maby good enough to water your plants…
sorry@ gild and everyone but thats how it is…
Castle is the ubiquitous Sefrican beer and is best avoided. Have one, just to be able to say that you have, but don’t make a habit of it. It is one of the best examples of what’s wrong with Lagers.
If you’re stout oriented, they do make a rather nice Castle Milk Stout which is worth a go.
I’m personally partial to Black Label as an everyday beer.
If you ever see any of the Mitchell’s Brewery products, have a taste. They do a Forrester’s Ale which is rather piddly, a Bosun’s Bitter which I quite like and a Raven Stout which just never quite gets going. Nice try tho.
(I see they now have some other products available, these are the ones I’ve tried.)
More recently we’ve seen a micro-brewery get going on the outskirts of JHB. This is an extremely rare occurrence as the SAB monolith basically owns the industry in this country.
This mb is called Gillroy’s and they manufacture 4 beers, rosy ales and serious stouty type manoeuvres. All rather good fun and a nice change from the stuff they pipe into our treadmill-cubicles around here.
Our neighbouring country, Namibia, produces a couple of nice beers thru their Namibian Breweries.
A Reinheitsgebot Windhoek Lager and a strange ‘winter-brew’ called Urbock.
Worth a sniff if you’re between interesting books and are looking for something interesting to quaff.
Yeah, I forgot about Tafel, I buy that occasionally.
Do you know if NB are still doing Maibock in addition to Urbock?
No need to apologise, to each his own.
Besides, that’s more for me.
I’ve just found a place where I can get Tafel in the UK, suffice to say I will be purchasing a crate and sampling it.
Loose.
Be sure to let us know what you thought.
I like the fact this thread has turned from a general Aussie beer bashing thread to a decent beer comparison conversation. Any more local delicacies of the alcoholic beverage variety I should try and track down?
Loose.
Zorgvliet’s Petit Verdot.
If you’re into redwine.
I’m having a bottle with some (very good) friends tonight.
Can’t wait.
Grolsch is awesome, It with a couple other asian beers and Alexander Keith’s India Pale ale are about the only ones I drink.
My favourites are as follows:
Grolsch (its pretty much the cheapest out of the beers I like and my tastebuds aren’t that refined that I have a favourite out of the ones I like)
Sapporro (its big I like the taste and it has a steal can)
Tsingtao (I probably shouldn’t put it in my favourites but I don’t mind it and if it is what is around I will drink it happily)
Keith’s (Its good and it is a decent price)
I also like Guinness and about 70 percent of the stuff my dad makes but generaly if I am at the LCBO (liquor store in Ontario) or the beer store I don’t buy them, and my dad doesn’t exactly give me more than a taste his beer.
That house wine sign is amazing, I have a bar in my basement that I have taken over and now I know what I need to complete it. My parents are really hoity toity about their wines so I think that would be perfect!
Around the US northwest, I can vouch for the Quail Springs pale ale. Mmm, yum. Time to go liberate one from the fridge as I’m finally caught up with my business class!
And the Hair of the Dog label, but it doesn’t stick around the stores much due to limited supply and 10% or more alcohol content.
those who live in glass houses shouldnt throw rocks Gild, south africa as u sed has crap urine tasting beer, and australia has its selection of dirt beers too, but in the end, its all up to whateva u prefer the taste of! So to bag one selected country becoz of their beers is ridiculous because someone could have different tastes comparing to another!!
Its all a matter of preference!
although my favorite is not an aussie beer, it is Stella Artois !!!
Ever notice how almost every country has its own local version of weak-flavored, p!ss yellow, vile tasting mass produced lager? The US of course is a major offender with Budweiser, Miller, Coors, and countless city-specific versions like Utica Club. No matter how many quality beers a country might produce, it seems like it has to have one of these horrid brews on tap for mass consumption.
One which I will forever appreciate–even though I’ll never drink it again–is “Stella Artois” from Belgium. I was introduced to this in a pub in Brussells, and its complete lack of flavor prompted me to ask the barkeep if they had anything with a bit more character and kick. That led to my first glass of Chimay, and I’ve been in love ever since.
It’s unfortunate that the Chimay Grande Reserve (Blue Label) is currently running about $10 a bottle in the Seattle area. I don’t get to have it as often as I’d like, but it’s a nice Saturday night treat.
Hang on, I didn’t start this, I just moved the thread here when it threatened to jack the Quotes thread.
…and chimed in after Rob did all the good work. Besides, we’re a couple of weeks away from Super 14 rugby so in the meantime we’re just going to have to pick on our respective countries’ beer making prowess. South Africa has prettier girsl as well…