The Beer You Are Drinking Right Now

[Hallucigenia]

Bit boring - a Marstons Pedigree

Had a couple of pints of Thwaites Sharp Intake the other night - lemony. Strangely can't find booger all info about it online - not listed on the Thwaites website.

It's nothing to do with Thwaites since they got out of the wholesale business, they sold brands like Wainwright to Marstons and Sharp Intake has been released under the Wainwright brand. It's all different faces to the same old Marstons stuff.

[JMN2]

Had a pint of Saaz by Mordue yesterday and it put me right off beer. Warmish and on its last legs, a tired lacklustre pint and on the brink of whether to take it back or not. I was planning to have a pint or two but just had water instead. Worst pint of the year.

Durham beer festival menu looks very promising though
http://www.durhambeerfestival.org.uk/beer

[UncleIan]

Was en Francais
On holiday
So drank rosé

But one night in the restaurant and fancied beer, well, lager, and I noticed that what I'd always assumed was called Jupiter (generic Belgian lager which tasted of sod all and almost watery in its nothingness) was actually Jupiler. That's what you get for not actually looking properly and letting your brain fill in the gaps.

Went back to the rosé after that. Very passable on a hot evening, especially at 5E a bottle.

Had some London Pride since I've been back, generic yes, but kept well.

[JMN2]

...
Durham beer festival menu looks very promising though
http://www.durhambeerfestival.org.uk/beer

I am skipping my regular mid-week beers in anticipation of next week's beer festival and am studying my bungalow's heating system and pipework instead. Fascinating. So it has been malted milk bickies and tea in the afternoons.

[Bink333]

Hoegaarden.

Slice of Lemon.

Took me back to the 90's that did.

[UncleEbenezer]

Hoegaarden.

Slice of Lemon.

Took me back to the 90's that did.

Hehe. I picked up one of those glasses (logo and all), and find it great for some of the fruit&veg juices I brew up in the juicer.

But I wouldn't normally choose Hoegarden. It's basically a very average weissbier at nearly twice the price of the German brews. And some of those taste better, too.

[JMN2]

Although Hoegaarden being Belgian is a Wit spiced with coriander and quite different from a German-style Hefeweizen which might have banana, clove and bubblegum flavours. I prefer the German take on a wheat beer.

I used to drink Hoegaarden in the late 90's, very trendy.

[AleisterCrowley]

I can remember drinking Hoegaarden when I lived in Norf Lahndan way back when - a bit pricey but better than some Islington pubs' take on 'real ale' though.
Last weekend I was at a music festival, and the bars were run by Otter Brewery. Good decent beer that just hits the spot, no gimmicks or rare hops. Reasonable price for a festival too , £4 maximum for the stronger stuff. Probably helps that the brewery is < 10 miles away

[DiamondEcho]

Although Hoegaarden being Belgian is a Wit spiced with coriander and quite different from a German-style Hefeweizen which might have banana, clove and bubblegum flavours. I prefer the German take on a wheat beer. I used to drink Hoegaarden in the late 90's, very trendy.

Speaking of wit/wheat beers...
I am just about to ... mmm, am enjoying a Weihenstephaner Hefe-Weissbier. '98%/World Class' on Beeradvocate https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/252/731/ Distinctive spicing, coriander being the most evident to me. Lovely and refreshing.

Talking of 'trendy', I know precisely what you mean re: Hoegaarden. It might have been one of the earlier wheat beers widely available in the UK in the early 90s. I remember occasionally drinking it as a bit of a treat. I'd start a session on one of those then revert onto cheaper staples.
This seems to be a theme in UK pubs, find a new product or style and market it on it's Unique Selling Point/s, having marked it up $ignificantly over other offerings. I remember them doing similar with Leffe back in the mid/late 90s. Kronenbourg/Stella might have been about £2.80/pint in London, meanwhile Leffe was around £5. They usually sell such products in fancy glasses 'so everyone knows how sophisticated you are'.

Does anyone remember Oranjeboom? The name has just popped into my head. It's a beer me and my work colleagues used to drink at a Dutch-styled pub somewhere nr Chinatown, just south of Shaftesbury Avenue IIRC. Haven't heard it's name mentioned in years but back then is was 'the thing', different, premium, £, etc. Lol, looking into it, it's from the same brewery as 'Breda Royal lager', purchasing which must rank as one of the more repulsive acts of desperation in the beer world IME. Oranjeboom '69%/Poor'. Seems they produce lager in Extra, Super and 'Mega' strong varieties. Mmmm klassy! https://www.beeradvocate.com/search/?q= ... om&qt=beer
Meanwhile it seems Breda rates as '79%/OK'. That's a surprise to me, as there is something weird about it that I don't like. https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/548/74911/

ps. From the BA site, in a review of Breda: 'The tinned variety of Breda has no comparison with the draught beer,' Maybe that's the problem, I occasionally drunk it tinned, having been shipped all the way to SE Asia to be sold as a 'discount beer' in 7-11 shops.

[DiamondEcho]

The Dutch styled pub is https://www.dehemspub.co.uk/drink Macclesfield Street, W1
Top pic on the page shows a row of beer taps, including Franziskaner weissbeer, a veeeery nice beer IME/O. No Oranjeboom in sight!

I laughed at their beer list, superficially impressive as it is... but those prices!!!
http://www.dehemspub.co.uk/content/dam/ ... drinks.pdf

[GrandOiseau]

Franziskaner is the tops but I can get 3 bottles for a £5 in Asda, which is less money than one pint of draught in that London pub.

[Hallucigenia]

Does anyone remember Oranjeboom?

Shepherd Neame brewed it under licence so it was the standard lager in their pubs for a good while - I guess they must have given it up 10 years ago?? It's been replaced in their portfolio by Asahi and Sam Adams, but I guess with Asahi getting a bigger UK footprint with the ABI-SAB leftovers like Peroni and Meantime then they'll be moving on from Sheps.

I'd never really thought about it, but coriander seeds have a lot of geraniol and linalool - as do Citra hops. It all gets processed slightly differently, but it's interesting to see those kinds of connections : http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 0428.x/pdf

[DiamondEcho]

Franziskaner is the tops but I can get 3 bottles for a £5 in Asda, which is less money than one pint of draught in that London pub.

About 5 years ago in Berlin I'd buy it from the super-market for circa Euro1.20/1.30* per 500ml bottle. So the deal you're getting sounds like a very good one to me!

* I recall the price range as that level was about the upper limit for any mainstream beer, however good the quality. Euro0.30 for swill, E0.85-.90 for solid quality everyday stuff. Say E1.25 at the upper end. The only ones above that had some very distinctive qualities like Progusta etc... https://www.braufactum.de/

[AleisterCrowley]

Does anyone remember Oranjeboom? The name has just popped into my head. It's a beer me and my work colleagues used to drink at a Dutch-styled pub somewhere nr Chinatown, just south of Shaftesbury Avenue IIRC. .

Yes, sadly I used to drink Oranjeboom at De Hem's (Chinatown sort of area. Macclesfield St) Usually followed by a full Chinese meal at one of the smaller places (on several floors, all rickety, very odd)
I had no taste in those days. I had a few cans of it on the train back from a wedding last year and it tasted like p155

[DiamondEcho]

but I guess with Asahi getting a bigger UK footprint

And what's the USP in the UK on Asahi Dry? Oh hang on 'dry', and 'ice' beers were a thing back in the 90s too
Asahi is suited to Japan, where they invariably have the 'Asian bitter gene', the genetic distaste for bitterness, in the case of beers that means low hopping. It also works in Japan esp as a summer beer, as the climate is savagely hot/humid and, well the typical 'salaryman' wants to go out after work and get completely lashed-up, but perhaps in a parallel to US Bud, they want strength with a thin/light flavour.

[I used to live in Tokyo, and there was a beer vending machine on the street outside. Very handy, and you see them all over Japan. Being Japan they weren't used/abused by the under-age. The one I used had a whole array of beers, incl Asahi from 100ml cans [!] through to a litre. Get one of those, put the coins in and KA-Boom! http://l450v.alamy.com/450v/anrkb0/vend ... anrkb0.jpg

[UncleEbenezer]

The Dutch styled pub is https://www.dehemspub.co.uk/drink Macclesfield Street, W1
Top pic on the page shows a row of beer taps, including Franziskaner weissbeer, a veeeery nice beer IME/O. No Oranjeboom in sight!

I laughed at their beer list, superficially impressive as it is... but those prices!!!
http://www.dehemspub.co.uk/content/dam/ ... drinks.pdf

Franziskaner already featured in this thread at viewtopic.php?f=20&t=3837&p=65205#p65205

I am just about to ... mmm, am enjoying a Weihenstephaner Hefe-Weissbier.

The other top choice of Weizenbier available in any of my usual supermarkets. You've named both in one afternoon . Sadly £1.80/bottle, compared to £1.50 for Franziskaner (and an astonishing £1.25 for Rheinbacher, which is not in quite the same league but still perfectly drinkable).

[JMN2]

Nightcap St Austell BIG Job 7.2% at £2 - what a bargain! Compliments of the Consett's Morrisons. Lovely Jubbly, too irresponsible beer to be sold south of the Irony Curtain.

[droopsnoot]

On trendy lagers, I remember one called, I think, "Sapporo", which was supplied in a fancy tin that you'd drink it from. I'm not sure how widespread it was, I'm up in Cheshire (though not the footballer bit) and it was a thing here for a short time. Quite expensive, I think I recall, for not quite a pint of not special lager.

A mate of mine was into Weissbiers for a while, and a fairly local pub had a selection. I think what put him off was one that was described as having a slightly smoky flavour, but in fact tasted as if someone had emptied an ashtray into it. Far too long ago to remember the name, I don't think he ever tried the same one more than once.

[DiamondEcho]

On trendy lagers, I remember one called, I think, "Sapporo", which was supplied in a fancy tin that you'd drink it from. I'm not sure how widespread it was, I'm up in Cheshire (though not the footballer bit) and it was a thing here for a short time. Quite expensive, I think I recall, for not quite a pint of not special lager.

Scroll down 1/4 to 1/3rd way on this page [c/o of a Google search: I am NOT a Kanye West fan ] http://www.kanyetothe.com/forum/index.p ... 3894249.90
And there is the steel Sapporo Premium can with the top that peels right off to form a cup to drink from. Clever idea, but it was a fad for a while [late 80s/early 90s in the City of London] and $$. The can was heavy as I recall, likely steel, and you'd have struggled to put much of a dent in one. And if you think I'm kidding, I was looking for a vid of the unusual way the top opens, but found this instead, a vehicle being lowered onto a can and it only denting it...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSdfNj3SWuk 'Sapporo Can Jack Stand in "How strong is a Sapporo can?" '
Yep in retrospect Sapporo Premium is nothing special. It is one the major historic breweries that dominated things before Japan started finding a market for niche brews, seasonal specials especially 'winter beers' and so on. Their Sapporo Ebisu brew is much better IME/O, it actually has a good taste and some body, but I don't think I've ever since it outside of Japan > https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/284/800/

A mate of mine was into Weissbiers for a while, and a fairly local pub had a selection. I think what put him off was one that was described as having a slightly smoky flavour, but in fact tasted as if someone had emptied an ashtray into it. Far too long ago to remember the name, I don't think he ever tried the same one more than once.

Rauchbier/'smoked beer'. Presumably the grains are smoked prior to brewing. I've had a couple in Germany, and on the Continent. Definitely an acquired taste IMO, like you say like an ash-tray has been emptied into it. Not for me, I found the first almost undrinkable, the 2nd I perhaps bought by accident. I still have one empty bottle, Rittmayer, perhaps to remind me never to buy it again - Example: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/12677/33137/ and here a list of smoked beers that are rated on their website > https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/7/

[redsturgeon]

I'm definitely with you on the smoked beers...I had one last year at the GBBF...disgusting!

John