Is anyone on here into Real Ales?

The original post.........Is anyone on here into Real Ales?

The correct answer........Does a fat dog fart

          Do bears shit in the woods

          Is the Pope  a catholic...............

All beer/ale (lager is beer/ale btw) starts life as real ale when it is fermented.

It is what happens to it afterwards which makes the difference.

Different yeasts are used in lagers, and so the whole brewing process for a real lager is based around this. 

Tony

I was a confirmed real ale man until we lived in Southern California in the eighties. There I found a cold refreshing beer much more appropriate in the relentless heat. Cold and refreshing doesn't necessarily mean lacking in taste. I've retained that preference since we came home and although I still enjoy a pint of Directors or Belhaven a decent lager is my first choice now.

And you call yourselves serious beer drinkers, yet failed to notice my 'deliberate' mistake above...the unreasonable quantities of Thwaites I consumed were *obviously* in BlackBURN....not BlackPOOL. No, I've never been to Blackpool either. 

Can't beat a pint or five of Adnams - the new'ish Ghost Ship is rather nice!

Vicar's Ruin

Description: This is our straw coloured best bitter. Delightful hop flavours soften to a delicate malt finish.

ABV: % 4.4

          One of my favourites from a local brewery in Nuneaton, and not far from where I live they have their own pub in Stoke Golding, Leicestershire. They only serve real ale [mostly their own] and not a commercial brewerys pint in sight.

By the way take NO notice of this beers ABV of 4.4% as far from it ruining you, it creeps up and mugs you after several pints rendering said drinker a gibbering wreck, although it`s fair to say that with any of their ales it tends to get a bit messy after a few

Rest In Peace

Description: Our strong beer for the brave or foolish. A light amber coloured bitter with a good malty mouthful. It is currently allowed to mature in barrels (36 gallons) until ready for release.

ABV: % 7.0

          Seen a few respectable people in an undignified state after this one    

I'd recommend a brewery tour at Bath Ales between Bath and Bristol. We went there expecting a few sips and were allowed constant pint refills from the barrel followed by a large gift pack of 3 bottles plus a pint glass. Needless to say I wasn't driving! Great beer, especially Gem and Wild Hare.

I'm also a Harvey's fan, but the stuff from Dark Star is absolutely excellent: I'd happily drive miles for a pint of Hophead (just the one!) Fortunately there are several pubs selling it within walking distance....

Hello Clare

Found Rat train on google no probs. Beer at £2 a pint looks good.

Thanks....Mista h

Hole hearted - Brewed in Gosport, Hants. (Oakleaf Brewery)

Liquid gold!!! nuff said.

Steve

Quaffing Ale? ...Deuchers IPA

Premium Ale? ...Bateman's XXXB

Where the hell am I ale? ...Delirium Nocturnum (bottled Belgian beer 8.5%)

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnx3 & http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01gf4l0 give a short view of what might be coming across the pond sometime soon.

From barrel ageing beer to sourcing intensely bitter hops, Dan Saladino reports on the latest trends in American brewing that are starting to influence British beer styles.

The US "craft beer" scene started to take shape 30 years ago. Prohibition in the 1920s and post-war industrialisation brought an end to one of the world's most diverse brewing cultures.

In 1979 President Jimmy Carter made home brewing legal again, and soon after, a network of adventurous brewers started to emerge. Known as craft brewers, they operate on a small scale and use traditional brewing techniques but also place great emphasis on experimentation and innovation.

American brewer and editor of The Oxford Companion to Beer, Garrett Oliver puts their quest for new flavours down to the US losing its own brewing culture and so being free to explore all others. Now a young generation of brewers in the UK are looking at these new US styles and discovering techniques like barrel aging as well embarking on experiments with new, intensely flavoured, hop varieties.

My local brewer is Shepherd Neame in Faversham Kent.

They are the oldest in England.

They make some great Ales.

If you like Steam Trains ?

You might want to look on there site?

You can book a ride on this one

from London to Faversham on the 1st Sept for not a lot of money.

Have a few beers and a fun day out..

Stu.

Not surprisingly real ale and preserved steam engines will come together at Barrow Hill's 'Rail Ale' festival this September.

http://www.barrowhill.org/

There is also Fairburn Ale brewed by the Ulverston Brewery for the Lakeside and Havethwaite Railway, in honour of their two preserved Fairburn 4-6-0 engines, quite nice (both the beer and locos).

Much as we like to think of ourselves as individuals, we do come under a few group clichés, Prog Rock, Real Ale and Steam Trains are definitely characteristics of a few of us here, gatherings where beards are compulsory, middle age spread optional, and having hair frowned upon, unless it is grey of course.

As for ales, Theakstons Old Peculier has long been a favourite of mine, and was served in four pint flagons from a 65 foot bar at the Theakstons Music Festival in 1982, headlined by Jethro Tull (no trains present there though).

I have long liked sweet strong ales, particularly from the North, but recently discovered a taste for sharp IPAs. Propper Job, St Austel brewery, and I believe CAMRA ale of the year a couple of years ago, is a lovely sharp refreshing IPA, and I have also developed a like for Meantime IPA (7.8% ABV) from the Greenwich brewery, sold in champagne style pressure bottles.

A couple of things I can greatly recommend here are presents I received from my partner Sarah.

I may not like, or even agree with all those in there, that I have tried, (London Pride, yuck), but a good read, and it does show that despite some Anglo Saxon prejudices, the USA has a healthy real ale culture that is expanding and brewing some good beers and lagers.

http://www.realale.com/ - do hampers of real ale, a box with eleven bottles and a tasting glass, great presents, as I well know, one very Christmas and also Valentines day.

Bombadier for me

Heart warming... Georgous ... One of my fave Suffolk beers..

Another Harveys Best Bitter fan here.  Or any of a number of other Harveys beers (Old Ale, Bonfire Boy, Georgian Dragon, Knots Of May, Armada, Kiss, Thomas Paine...).

Also partial to Timothy Taylor Landord.

Had a few nice pints of Thai Bo the other night - Welsh beer with kaffir lime leaf, galangal, lemongrass and lime skins.

Cheers

Ian

You call that real ale or indeed beer? They could have thrown some leeks in there to make it more authentic?