Real Ale

Besides being cynical and sarcastic, one of my passion is Real Ale. Now, Real Ale, for those that do not know and live their grey, dismal lives unaware of the pleasures that their poor tongues are missing out on, is an alternative to generic Bitters and Lagers.

Real Ale can please any taste buds:

There's dark smoky ales with rich and complex flavours.
Light fruity Ales that are best drank cold (but not too cold as it impairs the flavour ) on a sunny day.
Session Ales that remain drinkable and interesting pint after pint.
Full whack GIGABITTER with high alcohol percentages that make your liver bleed.
Thick creamy oaty stouts and dark Ales.
Smooth and light dark milds.
Ales with fruit infusions (Banana, Strawberry, Citrus fruits... Anything)

Now... Lager, as we all know, is just fizzy sugar laden tooth rotting filth, and it has one flavour. (Though *proper* lagers can be barely tolerable, and by proper, I do not mean Fosters, Carling, Carlsberg, Budweiser, Grolsch etc)

Bitter can be very boring after a few pints, and where Lager is reliable (it always tastes the same), Bitters can be temperamental, keeping the beer properly can significantly effect the flavour.

Cider is vile.

I brew Ale with my friend periodically, we have had more success with our darkies so far, which is good because I prefer darker Ales

So, any other brewers/enthusiasts here? What types of Ale do you prefer?

I was being sarcastic. I actually quite like Grolsch, but I think anybody can agree that Carling is vile...

waylander said:

mmm
Belgian beer. Delicious but highly dangerous as it is twice as strong as a std English pint.
Very fond of Chimay blue

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Regarding Belgian Beers... Chimay is my favourite, though, admittedly, I haven't tried many, but it's a nice potent little dark beer.

What's Chimay blue like? I've only tasted red

waylander said:

Yes, beer snob and real ale drinker here.
One of the most encouraging things about life here has been the growth of the small independent breweries since the dark days of the 70s when the conglomerates swallowed up the little local breweries, buying up their pub chains and threatening to leave us drowning in an undrinkable sea of Carling Black label and Watneys Red Barrel

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Yep. Thank goodness. There's a bit of a resurgence going on at the moment. Ale is very gradually coming back, judging by the number of independent breweries that are opening, the trend might continue. Oh, don't forget Worthingtons, the worst bitter ever.

SPMiller said:

There are some drinkable lagers, depending on what you mean when you say lager.

There are also some good ales, depending on what you mean when you say ale.

Of course, breaking beer into just two major styles is a bit silly, IMO.

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Yeah, there's lots of styles. But the distinction between Real Ales produced independently in small breweries and mass produced lagers like Carling is enormous. real Ales are all about flavour and ingredients, Carling is all about profit.

Saritams8 said:

Our local brewpub just brought on its October Fest and we brought home a keg. Mmmm, it's delicious.

For standard beer consumption, I'm in for dark porters and stouts, but can handle wheaty goodness in the summer. I guess what I'm saying is this: if it's good beer, then I can drink it. Samuel Smith's, Young's Double Chocolate (wow!) Bells, Rogues, Ommegang, Abita, Anchor...

Has anyone been to the Porterhouse in Dublin? They make this chocolate truffle stout that makes me want to die from happiness. The oyster stout isn't half bad, either.

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I drink dark mild in the summer

Can't beat Sammy Smiths! Low cost, great taste!

Anybody else tried making beer?