*The Real Ale Thread

[ernestolynch]

The Real Ale Thread

LAGER FREE ZONE!


Post up your recommendations here, plus the latest news of the guest beers down the local Wetherspoons...

 

[blackadder]

The Real Ale shop on Lovat Rd in Preston, the owner endevours to provide the best foreign beer, wine and spirits. He also has a large stock of english country wines such as loa, damson elderberry etc. He has real ale on tap, which you can taste before you buy (in 2 litre bottles). Highly recommended if your passing through Preston.

 

[aqua]

<waits for Williams, Stigs and Longdogs arrival>

 

[ernestolynch]

Latest on the shelves in the supermarkets would be appreciated.

A twice-weekly trip to Sainsbury's for me at the moment thanks to the 4 bottles for a £5 offer on Coniston Bluebird - delicious hoppy stuff which one day I shall enjoy 'from straight glass' in a pub in the Lake District...

That Banana Bread Beer in Safeway's is a must as well.

 

[chez]

wychwoods organic circle master is very nice, they were 4 for 5 pound the other week in Asda.

my local village store is a co op and their organic ale goes down a treat aswell

 

[ajk]

Bushy's Oyster Stout, I'm not sure it's available on the mainland, but it's good stuff.

Nuptu Ale, also fine.

 

[Snorkelboy]

If you're anywhere near Gower, pop into the Joiners for a pint of Three Cliffs Gold or one of their other ales brewed by their own fine hands.

A recent supermarket discovery was the Co op own brand organic ale - v.nice.

 

[nuffsaid]

Youngs Special - my fav.

I also recommend Spitfire and Bishops Finger.

But if your ever in Brighton there's a real ale lover's dream pub -

Evening Star -


Paste from Brighton tourism site:

Home of the legendary Spiced Vice wheat beer. Constantly changing beer selection (at least 6 at any one time), all in pristine condition. Also brews its own beer - by Rob Jones of Dark Star fame (beer of the year at the National CAMRA beer festival a few years back).

Yum.

 

[rednblack]

summer lightening, at wetherspoons, lovely light ale. mmm

(damn it's too late to get down there for a quick pint!)

 

[Elpenor]

Don't go there now, cos not living in Bromley, but The Bricklayers Arms, and next door, the Bitter End (an offie with loads of ale), do quality real ale if you're unfortunate enough to live in Bromley. On Masons Hill.

 

[Griff]

Anyone been to The Fountain in Branscombe Devon?

Won the CAMRA award a few years on the trot.

A fine selection.

 

[General Ludd]

If you're in Cambridge I'd recommend the Live And Let Live, quality beers there, including Adnams which is great. If you're near a Sainsbury's I'd recommend seeing if your one stock Weston's Cider, it's proper stuff grown and bottled in Herefordshire about 3 miles from my mum's house. And if you're out that way Stowford Press is the cider to go for.

 

[brixtonvilla]

If you're in Herefordshire, Dunkertons is mighty fine too. Waitrose do it if you're not. Shout going out, big up the Pembridge massive...

 

[BL2ALLb]

Adnams

and Youngs...........special........

 

[Masseuse]

I've just got home from the Ramsgate Brewhouse. It was a jolly evening spent sampling various ales and coming last in a pub quiz.

Gadds no 3 was very nice, and Celise ale (American I think). Tried a couple of "Abbey" beers too. Those monks knew their stuff. ST can't cope, he's in bed already.

 

[moose]

Got to be Manchester's finest - the bitter or mild Holts for everyday(!) drinking. Tart enough to make a grown man wince, and cheap as chips. So popular in Salford, many pubs have 2 deliveries a day, even though it comes in hogsheads!

 

[Heath's A Pig]

Get yourself down to Coldharbour (not, not Brixton - it's a little village by Leith Hill, just south of Dorking). The pub called the Plough brew their own beer on site and it is the best stuff I have ever tasted. Best of all is called (I think) Crooked Furrow. It's nectar.

Of the generally available stuff I reckon it's hard to do better than Charles Wells' Bombardier.

 

[rubbershoes]

Otter ale is my local brew. It can be found at places in the Otter valley in Devon and Somerset. If you're in a town or village with otter in the name ( Upottery, Ottery St Mary etc) you're probably in the Otter valley and will be able to get a pint of Otter.

 

[Griff]

Yeah I like the old Otter. First discovered that in the Red Bull, Honiton.

Nice.

 

[Roadkill]

McEwan's 80/- is the finest ale known to man! Unfortunately, I've never seen it on draft anywhere south of Newcastle. You can get bottles of it in a lot of places though.

Mansfield's Dark Mild is mine and Longdogy's favourite poison. No idea how widely available it is, but the pub in Hull we usually drink in has it. Thankfully, since their other beers are dire.

 

[BL2ALLb]

Gales Ales.........

 

[hammerntongues]

IMO cant beat a pint of Adnams, I was at the CAMRA pub of the year last Friday The Swan at Little Totham in Essex,out in the sticks a bit but if your passing well worth the effort.
Have to agree with Summer Lightening being a top beer , also like Iceni brewery Fine Soft Day nice summer stuff.

 

[Griff]

Where's Little Totham BTW, H&T?

 

[hammerntongues]

Originally posted by Griff
Where's Little Totham BTW, H&T?

15 mins from Maldon towards Tiptree, great pub they have a beer fest in the summer as well.

 

[Brighton23]

If you're ever in East Sussex theres an excellent pub with it's own brewery called the Golden Galleon They've always got a fair few decent ale's on tap from their own stocks and they have really nice guest beers like Tanglefoot etc.

Well worth a visit! It's been a favourite of mine for years.

Oh, and the foods amazing and they won pub of the year...

 

[christonabike]

Batemans

and

Batemans XXXB

 

[Calva dosser]

I was raised on gravity Abbot Ale. Sadly this beer is now a shadow of it's former, IMO. However, this has forced me to be more adventurous. Ridley's Old Bob is a current favourite, along with Hopback Winter Lightning, Harvey's (Sussex), and when it's available the incomparable Exmoor Beast.

Any London drinkers noticed how no matter how well kept the beer, even 'average' bitters taste so much better a few hours West? I think the diesel in the air affects the beer-buds. No sooner than the doors-to-manual has been announced in Somerset and I'm hogging down the Cotleigh, Butcombe, and Exmoor feeling guilty for neglecting the cider.

 

[nuffsaid]

Anybody ever brewed their own - recommendations? pitfalls?

 

[Calva dosser]

Used to, in the days of the infamous Boots kits. These days you can buy all the proper ingredients, with luck and a following wind even beginners can come up with decent stuff. Try a google search of course, I think I saw a homebrew shop in Brighton the other week, if you're close.

 

[ViolentPanda]

A good mail-order home brewing supplier is "Brewmart".

their tel no is: 0114 274 6850

so ring and they'll probably send you a price list

I've used them myself, and they're pretty good, the only bummer is the £4 p&p charge which is applied even if you're only ordering £5 worth of stuff.