/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.6860502]

Lots on here about craft beer, but curious to know what people think about non-craft English beer/ales.

Are they sold outside of UK? Does anyone like them? Any favourites?

[Anonymous No.6860507]

Nope. If they were any good, we would import it

[Anonymous No.6860538]

>>6860502
I live in NJ & I've never seen any of those

[Anonymous No.6860567]

>>6860502
I live in Chicago and enjoy Boddingtons and Fullers ESB, that's all that comes to mind for me when I think English non-craft though. Both much better than American non-craft beers however.

[Anonymous No.6860573]

>>6860567
My friend visited NYC and found pic related. Not sure if the exported version is the same as the UK version, but the UK version is very nice.

[Anonymous No.6860594]

I have never heard or seen any of those.

[Anonymous No.6860612]

European generic beers are old and boring tbh.

If I wanted to drink something boring I'd drink domestic and save the money.

[Anonymous No.6860620]

>>6860612
So which of these traditional English ales have you tried?

[Anonymous No.6860628]

>>6860620
Ask your mom.

[Anonymous No.6860631]

>>6860628
Why are you even here?

[Anonymous No.6860732]

>>6860502
the main reason British ales are only popular in the UK is because they do not travel well. I have spent quite some time working in English pubs and visiting small local breweries and they all confirm that the further the beer (or ale, as we call it) travels, the worse it tastes. this is down to the fact that, unlike larger, it has sediments at the bottom and whenever you move the barrel, those sediments make the beer cloudy and it needs at least 48 hours to settle. and no, you can't remove the sediments because, unlike with larger, this would reduce its shelf/cellar life. also, a barrel usually lasts for about a month, less if it's tapped. bottling it doesn't help much, as it affects the taste.

on top of that, ale has a very particular, bitter taste that many people do not like. also, in most pubs, it is not served at the "extra cold" temperature like beers such as Carlsberg or Carling, mainly because the line system does not allow it.

long story short op, if you want to taste real British ale, go to the UK. we're not trying to sound pretentious about it, but it is quite hard to get a decent pint outside.
as for whatever brands you may find outside the UK, I'm not sure how British they actually are. you can get American ales, but they are not the same thing.

[Anonymous No.6860735]

>>6860594
they're quite nice, London Pride is a classic, same with Spitfire. unfortunately you can only get proper ones only in the UK (even bottled) because they do not travel well.

[Anonymous No.6860785]

>>6860502
I have never had any of those op.
I am uncertain if these are micro or macro, but I have had the following.
>Fullers ESB
I did like that one quite a lot.
>Morland Hens Tooth
Honestly I fucking hate this beer. I don't know why typically I love that style but this one. Fuck Hens Tooth.
>Samuel Smith
I have had about every beer they offer except for their fruit beers. Just because I am not a fan of fruit beer. However I can say they are a fantastic brewery. I am also a fan of their cider.
>Newcastle brown
Eh its okay at best.
>Wychwood Brewery Hobgoblin
I really enjoyed that beer.
I have had couple of others that I can't remember off of the top of my head.
For the most part you bongs do make decent beer.

[Anonymous No.6860817]

>>6860502
I've tried them all except the far-right one and Old Peculier is easily my favourite of those. Spitfire's pretty good too.

But I'd say Boddingtons, a much larger brand and more widely available beer is nicer and smoother than any of those, even though it's a canned draught instead of a bottle. I guess that could be because it's only about 3.5% abv whereas I think those ales are all around 5%.

[Anonymous No.6860863]

>>6860502
Don't know what they are considered over there but I've had a few I liked mainly St. Peters and Samuel Smith. Old Speckled Hen isn't bad.

[Anonymous No.6860886]

>>6860732

None of the beers that OP listed are bottle conditioned. Removing the yeast and artificially carbonating it gives it a more than long enough shelf life to be shipped to the US. Ale, in my experience, lasts roughly 8 weeks when it has finings in before it starts to go a bit off. However, I have kept strongish (6.0%) beer unfined for over a year in a cask and it has been absolutely superb. Ale, as you say, does not have to be particularly bitter, as it's all down to the brewer's recipe. I, for one, do not brew particularly bitter beer as I don't like to drink beer that is overly bitter. You can feed cask beer lines through a python cooler and get it just as cold as a lager line, however, publicans do not do this because if beer gets too cold you will get "chill haze" which, as I understand, is when the residual proteins in the beer begin to reform. Long story short, you don't have a fucking clue what you're on about.

[Anonymous No.6860887]

>>6860502
Brit here, have drunk all of these and many more. Shepherd Neame are without a doubt the worst brewery around, ironic considering they've been in the game the longest. Fullers are probably the best "large scale" brewery along with badger who make some outstanding beers.

[Anonymous No.6860997]

>>6860502
I live in NorCal, and my favorite local pub has Fuller's London Pride on tap (actually several taps, it's their "house" beer) and I drink it frequently. I like it. I used to drink Boddington's a lot when I was younger, but it doesn't appeal to me the same way anymore. And, I drink a lot of Sam Smith's beers.

[Anonymous No.6861143]

>>6860573
We have that everywhere here in new york.

Its shit.

I had it in london as well.

It was still shit

[Anonymous No.6862882]

london pride is actually sold all over Europe

[Anonymous No.6862932]

London Pride is pretty decent. Available in most parts of the UK. A lot about the quality of these drinks comes down to how well they are kept. They are far more sensitive than lager. If the pub doesn't clean out the lines then no matter what it is, its not going to taste good.

[Anonymous No.6862948]

>>6860502
Alot of Fuller's beers and Bishop's Finger.
Sweden.

[Anonymous No.6862966]

>>6860502
I've only seen fuller's in the US. Maybe spitfire at a British pub on tap. Fuller's is pretty damn good.
On a side note, I thought it was funny that the British pub I went to had curries on their menu. It's probably the most accurate pub I've been to.

[Anonymous No.6862975]

>>6862966
A British pub in Britain? Or a British pub in a different country?

Curry is a pretty standard British pub dish. I worked as a pub chef for quite a few years. Most British pub food isn't actually British (although I guess if I was opening a British pub outside of Britain, i'd probably make it all British just to go with gimmick)

[Anonymous No.6862977]

I'm a huge fan of Samuel Smith's. Even their bad offerings are plenty drinkable.

I really like Hobgoblin. Old Speckled Hen is pretty good on tap (never cared for the bottled version). I used to like Newcastle a fair amount but have had too many skunky ones to give much of a shit, and serving it chilled is a crime. Fuller's porter and ESB are nice. I remember enjoying Theakston's Old Peculiar but it's really hard to find where I live.

[Anonymous No.6862978]

>>6862975
British pub in the US. I just laughed because of all the shit /ck/ gives "traditional" British food

[Anonymous No.6862999]

>>6862975
>Most British pub food isn't actually British

Such as?

[Anonymous No.6863023]

>>6862999
Maybe I should have said a lot of, rather than most. Typical dishes include things like curry, chilli con carne, hamburger, pasta which aren't British.

[Anonymous No.6863048]

>>6863023
Which is strange to this American, because I can think of no better drunk food than stereotypical British food. When would a pasty ever be appealing to anyone, unless he's been drinking?

[Anonymous No.6863065]

>>6863048
>When is a pasty ever appealing?

Shit son. Just about every moment of every day

[Anonymous No.6863155]

>>6863048
A pasty is good all the time dude. I practically grew up on them

[Anonymous No.6863300]

>>6860502
Out of the bottles in the picture I'd always opt for London Pride. The others are ok, but if they were the only real ales on offer in a pub I'd probably go for a lager.

The best thing about real ale is the variety based on where you are in the country. Woodfordes in Norfolk have some great beer, I particularly like Nelson's Revenge. I haven't seen it elsewhere, though I live fairly far away. The Fat Cat in Norwich is the best pub in the country for beer that I've visited.

Overall, I feel the whole 'craft beer' thing has actually had a negative effect on real ale. Went to a so called 'beer festival' the other day and 80% of the beer was sickly IPA's. On that note, Greene King IPA truly is the worst pint in the country.

[Anonymous No.6863318]

>>6863048
>When would a pasty ever be appealing to anyone, unless he's been drinking?
I don't like you.

[Anonymous No.6863322]

>>6863023
>Chain pub shite
No, scratch that, even chain pubs still serve pies, pasties, fry-ups, scotch eggs, chips, roasts and butties.
Go and fuck yourself and don't talk about things you have no understanding of again.

[Anonymous No.6863330]

>>6863322
Whats your problem? You're very angry. All that happened is a few typical British pub dishes were posted. No one said that those dishes you mentioned weren't served as well.

What makes you so angry about this topic?

[Anonymous No.6863332]

>>6860502
We have many brands over here in Sweden. My favorites are Spitfire, Bombardier(draft > bottle IMO) and London Pride.

[Anonymous No.6863342]

>>6863300
The British craft beer scene isn't that great, but I think we already had decent beers and ciders to begin with. As you mentioned, most pubs already serve some form of local beer. And often those breweries produce monthly varieties anyway.

I like craft beer, but typically dislike the people who are in to it. My dad ran a craft beer pub for a while. The guys who worked there would prefer to sit and look at a beer whilst they talk about it for hours before drinking it. It was constantly muh hops, muh IPA. A bit tedious for me.

[Anonymous No.6863344]

>>6863322
Are you upset that British cuisine is slowly disappearing or something?

[Anonymous No.6863383]

This is a tasty beer.

[Anonymous No.6863389]

also this

[Anonymous No.6863394]

>>6863048
>When would a pasty ever be appealing to anyone, unless he's been drinking?

I'ma jab you in da kisser m8.

[Anonymous No.6863432]

>>6860502
>clear glass bottles

[Anonymous No.6863448]

>>6863300
I just moved to Somerset, and the cider scene is great.

Noticed that same focus on overhopped IPAs compared to everything else though.

[Anonymous No.6863477]

>>68260502
I hate! HATE! London pride. Me and my brother grabbed 4 tall cans each and dumped them all. Tasted like perfume.

[Anonymous No.6863589]

>>6860502
love thornbridge tbh

[Anonymous No.6863805]

>>6860502
get a fair few fuller's beers at my old local bottlo, they do a solid job for the most part
samuel smiths do quite a few good ones
thornbridge I've had a bit of too, but they are probably fairly craft

can't really recall much of the rubbish

[Anonymous No.6863814]

>>6860502
those are litereally worse than budwieser

[Anonymous No.6863851]

>>6863814
Thats clearly not correct.

[Anonymous No.6865318]

This stuff is pretty good.

[Anonymous No.6865557]

>>6863589
same fam

[Anonymous No.6865600]

>>6860502
I've only ever tried newcastle brown and it tasted like lightly carbonated ice tea tbh

[Anonymous No.6865613]

>>6860502
The Master.

[Anonymous No.6865873]

>>6863814
You're litereally an idiot

[Anonymous No.6865887]

>>6860502
I like non craft beer as my supping everyday ales. Mostly go with black sheep, Osset or Theakstons simply because they're local. Also depending on if you count these as craft or not I aslo drink saltaire, shipley and ilkley when they're on tap at the pub.

[Anonymous No.6865903]

>>6860887
Shepherd Neame double stout and late red are good. I agree wrt bishops finger and others though

[Anonymous No.6865930]

>>6865613
>batemans

[Anonymous No.6866852]

>>6865930
>triple X

[Anonymous No.6867009]

>>6863589
Yeah, Chiron was/is one of my favourites. There are plenty good English and British ales that don't classify as craft, but still come from smaller independent breweries. Fulllers etc are all pretty garbage.

[Anonymous No.6867180]

>>6867009
Fullers deserves some credit imo, London Pride can definitely compete with a number of 'best' bitters produced by local breweries. Some of the beers like the HSB/ESB are good too. Personally don't like that Oliver's Island at all though; not to my tastes whatsoever.

>>6863448
It's strange how the cider scene doesn't really seem to exist elsewhere, at least where I've lived (most places now bar west mids/south west). Stowford Press is about as good as it gets where I live.

[Anonymous No.6867452]

>>6867180
Im from south west. When I was 18, I visited Leicester for a weekend to watch rugby. Getting a pint of cider was near impossible, and what I did get was disgusting - far too sweet.

I was quite shocked. I never imagined that cider would be so localised to the south, but it seems it really is.

[Anonymous No.6867479]

Newcastle is my favorite beer, does that make me an Amerifag?

[Anonymous No.6867482]

>>6867479
Americans have good taste

[Anonymous No.6867486]

>>6867482
Eh most of us drink IPAs with fruity shit in them. I just like my red ales.

[Anonymous No.6867491]

>>6867486
And brown. Smithwicks is my 2nd favorite. Newcastle werewolf is my shit and its right around the corner.

[Anonymous No.6867494]

>>6867486
>most of drink IPAs

So?

>with fruity shit in them

Or the "fruity" shit is coming from the hops themselves

>I just like my red ales

Good for you, jack

[Anonymous No.6867497]

>>6867479
Newcastle is the worst brown ale I've ever had

[Anonymous No.6867503]

>>6867494
The hop flavor doesn't need to be infused with orange or dandelion or whatever the fuck else makes it taste like grapefruit juice.

[Anonymous No.6867510]

>>6867503
It's not. There are different strains of hops that give off different flavors when used.

[Anonymous No.6867513]

I love this. I have trouble finding it though.

[Anonymous No.6867520]

>>6867513
Most of my family live in Bristol but I live in East London, their brewery is in West London. My dad went for an interview there so I went across to meet him.

We went in a Fullers pub afterwards for some lunch and a beer, and they had a thai restaurant inside. Apparently they were doing that in a lot of their pubs. English pub with thai food. It was really fucking weird, and not what I expected when I went for a pub lunch.

[Anonymous No.6867790]

>>6867510
Yeah Well Americans are stupid and fruit is stupid and hops are stupid and fuck you, youre stupid too. Nerd.

[Anonymous No.6868034]

>>6867520
>. English pub with thai food. It was really fucking weird

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOJj5xh0uG0

[Anonymous No.6868064]

>>6868034
haha thats great

[Anonymous No.6868772]

England beer is typically watery and low alcohol.
I can do without.

[Anonymous No.6868935]

>>6860502
I was excited to come to the US after reading so long about the craft brew explosion here. I even paid 6 quid for one bottle of sierra nevada back in 2011. Hated it because it was basic and shitty but put it down to it being in a shipping container for 6 months.

Come to today, two years of living in the US and trying everything I see. Alley cat amber is alright. Milk stout nitro is too. Your attempts at cider taste like apple juice from concentrate with some ethanol dropped in, and the IPAs are so fucking ham-fisted I just drink modelo because it strikes the balance between cost and taste that this fake craft shit cannot get near.

Boss goes over to the UK on holiday last year. Comes back with wide eyes and tales of hand pumped nutty ales cool but not so cold that you cant fucking taste them. Ringwood best! Irish reds, creamy, multi-dimensional stouts! We start exchanging six packs, but bevmo only carries some samuel smith shit I never saw ONCE back home and swear must be made up purely for the stupid americans market. They also have some adnam's and ESB, but it's not enough. Enough to get you interested. Nothing more.

I miss it. I'm bored of this basic shit. Half the craft brews I try taste no better than that fake craft brew shit put out by AB inbev with the blonde piece on the six pack. Fuck off, americans. Your shit is weak. WEAK SHIT

[Anonymous No.6869691]

>>6868772

[Anonymous No.6869778]

>>6860502

>>6860502

Spitfire and London Pride is sold in most supermarkets in Norway. The other ones are obtainable, but not in all shops. Eurospar, Meny and Ica usually have all or most. Me and my mates had a combined Premier League English beer tasting (aka binge drinking) day, shit was pretty good.

Me and my GF have this thing that when she does the weekend shopping and it's a Premier League weekend, she will always buy some Spitfires or other English import beers to "surprise" me. When she started doing that I knew I loved her.

[Anonymous No.6869818]

>>6867513
It's really nice, my local Fullers pub had it on rotation. I got far drunker than normal, didn't realise it was over 6%.

>>6867520
My Fullers one actually did that Thai thing too for a while; reverted back now. The food is actually really expensive, like £13 for a burger and chips. bizarre. The management seems to change hands all the time.

[Anonymous No.6869873]

>>6861143
Bass is shite.

Doom Bar is an excellent non-craft ale found all over the UK, not sure about export though.

Spitfire is probably the best one in OP's pic. Bombardier is good as well.

[Anonymous No.6869877]

>>6862977
Sam Smith's is the best, because if you go to one of their tap pubs the prices are insanely good, even in London.

[Anonymous No.6869881]

>>6863300
The Fat Cat? Shit, I lived near the Fat Cat in first year of uni, and near the Fat Cat &Canary the next two years. A great selection of beers.

Coach & Horses is really good too, lot of Redwells on tap.

And agreed about Woodforde's, really glad you can get them in the rest of the country. Nelson's Revenge and Wherry are two of my favourite pints. Also a lot of Adnams is good, especially Ghost Ship.