# Top 5 Dark Beers



## Nolerama (Jan 16, 2009)

1. Delirium Nocturnum- Rich, tasty, and has a high alcohol content that gives a nice kick. In STL, it's about $8 a pint. But it's worth it (at times)

2. Guinness- It's my staple dark beer as of late. It can be interchanged with

3. Fat Tire- Goes great with a good burger and plate of fries.

4. Schlafly's Chocolate Stout- One of STL's local breweries puts out this thick, but delicious beverage. I prefer this one w/o any food. It's better enjoyed without crutches.

5. Anything classed as "Barley Wine". It's last because this tends to be a seasonal brew. So I don't get to drink it as often. When it's available, I'm all about it.


----------



## Steve (Jan 16, 2009)

Bert Grant's Perfect Porter...  I was so sad to see it go.  It had a smooth, nutty taste that was... well... perfect. 

Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout:  These tend to be less thick, a little sweeter and higher in alcohol content (~9% by volume) than an Irish Stout.  Very good beer.


----------



## Kreth (Jan 16, 2009)

Nolerama said:


> 2. Guinness- It's my staple dark beer as of late. It can be interchanged with


*The* dark beer. 



> 3. Fat Tire- Goes great with a good burger and plate of fries.


Great beer, been way too long since I had one of these.

Here's a good one from up by me.
This is a good seasonal from them as well.


----------



## crushing (Jan 16, 2009)

I guess I need to know how "Dark" is defined.  I wouldn't necessarily put an amber ale like Fat Tire into the dark category.  If you consider IPAs as dark, then Short's Humalupalicious and Bell's Two Hearted would top my dark list!

They are numbered, but I wouldn't put much in to their order.  

1.  Founder's Kentucky Bourbon Stout

2.  Bell's Expedition Stout

3.  Rogue Mocha Porter

4.  Flying Dog, Gonzo Imperial Porter

5.  Delirium Noël

For a 'barley wine' check out Flying Dog's Horn Dog Barley Wine Style Ale.  Flying Dog is selling a Canis Major 4-pack with four different beers.  I picked one up for my own Christmas present.  If it wasn't for the 4-pack, I wouldn't have had a barley win style ale.  I wish more stores allowed mix-n-match six packs, but I can understand how that can mess up shelf space and be difficult to maintain.


----------



## Tez3 (Jan 16, 2009)

If you like Guinness you'll love Murphys, just that bit smoother. Beautiful!


----------



## crushing (Jan 16, 2009)

stevebjj said:


> Bert Grant's Perfect Porter... I was so sad to see it go. It had a smooth, nutty taste that was... well... perfect.
> 
> Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout: These tend to be less thick, a little sweeter and higher in alcohol content (~9% by volume) than an Irish Stout. Very good beer.


 
Nice links to beer advocate!  I recently subscribed to their magazine and went to one of their parties last year at the Grand Rapids Hop Cat.


----------



## Kreth (Jan 16, 2009)

For anyone in the Philly area, there's a "deli" called Michael's (IIRC) in Valley Forge with a pretty good selection of micro-brews and international beers, and they let you mix and match.
I used to make a point to stop there every time I was working in the area.


----------



## Xue Sheng (Jan 16, 2009)

1) Guinness extra stout - warm
2) Krombacher Dark - warm
3) Mackeson Stout - warm
4) Any "Barley Wine"
5) Newcastle Brown Ale - Not exactly a dark but I do like it


----------



## Steve (Jan 16, 2009)

Tez3 said:


> If you like Guinness you'll love Murphys, just that bit smoother. Beautiful!


I've never had Murphy's on tap.  Don't have many beers on tap anymore, as they tend to frown on babies in the bar. 

In my area, Guinness and Murphy's are both available in a can with a nitrogen charge.  Pretty good alternative.  It's been a while since I had Murphy's out of the can, but it had a funny aftertaste that sent me back to Guiness.


----------



## Tez3 (Jan 16, 2009)

stevebjj said:


> I've never had Murphy's on tap. Don't have many beers on tap anymore, as they tend to frown on babies in the bar.
> 
> In my area, Guinness and Murphy's are both available in a can with a nitrogen charge. Pretty good alternative. It's been a while since I had Murphy's out of the can, but it had a funny aftertaste that sent me back to Guiness.


 
Could be the can. Both should be on draught and take ages to pour.
Newcastle Brown Ale in America, wow! I think it's ghastly lol!


----------



## exile (Jan 16, 2009)

My favorite 'dark' beers (in no particular order):

(i) Otter Head Bitter

(ii) Meantime Porter

(iii) Adnams Broadside

(iv) Guinness

(v) Murphy's

Otter Head and Adnam's are, officially. bitter ales, but quite a bit darker and maltier than the usual south-to-midlands UK bitter. Meantime, which makes a superb IPA, makes an equally terrific porter, and is a true bottled real ale, whose final fermentation is in bottle. Guinness and Murphy's are both Irish stouts and, as Tez says, Murphy's has a more approachable, lower-impact overall flavoerGuinness is distinctly bitter for a stout (and therefore high on my 'good' list of darks, which for my taste tend to underdo the hops).


----------



## Steve (Jan 16, 2009)

Tez3 said:


> Could be the can. Both should be on draught and take ages to pour.
> Newcastle Brown Ale in America, wow! I think it's ghastly lol!


I agree, but don't fear the can.  I have had a lot of Guinness on tap and also out of the can.  It's pretty good. The nitrogen is in a little widget that simulates pretty well the nitrogen tap necessary for a good pint.


----------



## Sukerkin (Jan 16, 2009)

Some good opinions coming up here, ladies and gents. 

Only last year, thanks to the knowledge of *Exile,* I was brought to the realisation that my opinions of American beer were based upon data that was, well, out of date .

He reckons that, these days, you chaps on the other side of the Atlantic now understand that beer should be brewed for it's flavour and served at (cellar) room temperature rather than near frozen.

My time in Canada showed me too that altho' it is nice to try and get a 'taste of home' in beer, it is often much better to drink what is brewed locally as many beverages do not travel at all well. 

For example, I had an atrocious pint of Nookie Brown in the so called English Pub in Calgary. It was so dire that it is the only beer I've ever taken back to the bar as being "undrinkably bad" . Kudos to the pub tho'; they took one listen to my accent as I explained what was up and offered up bottled Nookie Brown instead (no charge) for the rest of the night :tup:.


----------



## Xue Sheng (Jan 16, 2009)

Sukerkin said:


> Some good opinions coming up here, ladies and gents.
> 
> Only last year, thanks to the knowledge of *Exile,* I was brought to the realisation that my opinions of American beer were based upon data that was, well, out of date .
> 
> ...


 
I went to a Christmas party last month at a rather nice establishment and I ordered a Guinness and the bartender sat it on the bar.... Now I only get to drink a beer these days about once or twice a year so I was pretty happy they had a dark beer, since a year before they had none. But back to this last time. I took a sip and it was COLD:cuss: I called him back and asked him why on earth he would take a perfectly good beer and ruin it by refrigerating it. He looked at me like I was crazy and walked away. Luckily we had a bit of a wait so it had time to warm up before I drank it. You will still find an awful lot of people in the US drinking their beer cold. But then I don't even drink cold water anymore so maybe it's me.


----------



## exile (Jan 16, 2009)

Sukerkin said:


> My time in Canada showed me too that altho' it is nice to try and get a 'taste of home' in beer, it is often much better to drink what is brewed locally as many beverages do not travel at all well.



This is definitely the case with a number of excellent UK brews, S. For example, Coniston Bluebird Bitter regularly wins prizes in local CAMRA beer festivals and has won the Grand Championship at the All-Britain 'main event' CAMRA competition a couple of times; yet, in spite of the fact that it's bottle-conditioned&#8212;one of the very few of an increasing number of _bottled_ real ales from the UK to be imported here and reasonably available&#8212;it usually tastes watery and almost characterless. Since I've had Bluebird in a number of pubs in England itself, I _know_ that that's not the case with Coniston on its home ground&#8212;but clearly, it hates travel with a vengeance. Something similar has happened to the Wychwood beers on occasion, and as for Sam Smith's Old Brewery Pale Ale... better pass over _that_ one in silence. :waah: I remember how striking and complex it was when I first stumbled across it in the 1970s (in Santa Barbara, weirdly enough); now, it has almost as little character as a typical American piss-and-wind product like Coors Lite. Part of the problem may be quality decline at the source, but again, I've had it out of UK handpumps and there wasn't anything wrong with it _there_. So again, I think that a lot of British ales suffer in transit, and it wouldn't surprise me for some of ours to undergo a similar fate going the other way.

What I would expect, though, is that a lot of the Stone beers, or e.g. Bell's Two-Hearted Ale and the like, the very best of our 'San-Diego' double IPA style, would do quite well over on your side of the pond&#8212;because the massive alcohol content would tend to keep them in condition (7.2%), just as Meantime IPA, or Hoppy Otter at 6.9%, does very well over here for the same reasons. I'm not a big fan of hugely potent beers&#8212;I much prefer session ales, where you don't guarantee yourself a headache if you decide to have a second one before another 12 hours have elapsed&#8212;but I'm pretty sure they do keep better. Those beers are also aggressively hopped, which is why I like them so much. What I don't understand, or like very much, is the fact that increasingly I'm seeing intensely hopped beers also being the high alcohol ones. Why can't we get a beer with the savage bitterness of Stone Ruination Ale, say, but at a reasonably sane 4.8&#8211;5.0%? I can't figure out why you need extra alcohol when you make an extra-bitter beer...


----------



## Makalakumu (Jan 16, 2009)

We have terrible beer in Hawaii.  Poor choices overall, but there are some local brews that are diamonds in the ruff.

Maui Brewing Company over in Lahaina is a great place to tip back a few.  Especially on the dining area on the roof while the sun is setting.  The big swell IPA is great!


----------



## crushing (Jan 16, 2009)

Sukerkin said:


> He reckons that, these days, you chaps on the other side of the Atlantic now understand that beer should be brewed for it's flavour and *served at (cellar) room temperature rather than near frozen.*


 
The not so good beers are _better_ served ice cold as it helps with their 'drinkability', if you know what I mean.  I belong to a veteran's organization that has a canteen that serves beer.  The most 'exotic' beers we have are Anheuser Busch's Michelob Amber Bock and Labbatt Blue.  When I have a drink at the canteen with my comrades, I appreciate that the beer is cold.

On the other hand, when I go to a restaurant or pub that has some decent brews, I hate it when they serve it so cold and sometimes even in a frozen mug!


----------



## Xue Sheng (Jan 16, 2009)

maunakumu said:


> We have terrible beer in Hawaii. Poor choices overall, but there are some local brews that are diamonds in the ruff.
> 
> Maui Brewing Company over in Lahaina is a great place to tip back a few. Especially on the dining area on the roof while the sun is setting. The big swell IPA is great!


 
It's certainly not dark beer but Tsingtao is pretty good, as is Sapporo. Do they sell those in Hawaii?


----------



## Sukerkin (Jan 16, 2009)

crushing said:


> The not so good beers are _better_ served ice cold as it helps with their 'drinkability', if you know what I mean.


 
Quite so :tup:




crushing said:


> On the other hand, when I go to a restaurant or pub that has some decent brews, I hate it when they serve it so cold and sometimes even in a frozen mug!


 
Luckily I've not encountered that over here but I did in Calgary - as we were drinking Budd maybe that was just as well :lol:.


----------



## exile (Jan 16, 2009)

Sukerkin said:


> ...as we were drinking Budd maybe that was just as well :lol:.



Rest assured, Mark, you wouldn't have missed much even if had been served to you frozen solid!


----------



## Kreth (Jan 16, 2009)

Xue Sheng said:


> I went to a Christmas party last month at a rather nice establishment and I ordered a Guinness and the bartender sat it on the bar.... Now I only get to drink a beer these days about once or twice a year so I was pretty happy they had a dark beer, since a year before they had none. But back to this last time. I took a sip and it was COLD:cuss: I called him back and asked him why on earth he would take a perfectly good beer and ruin it by refrigerating it. He looked at me like I was crazy and walked away. Luckily we had a bit of a wait so it had time to warm up before I drank it. You will still find an awful lot of people in the US drinking their beer cold. But then I don't even drink cold water anymore so maybe it's me.


A lot of places have all their draft lines run to a single cooler where they store the kegs, whether CO2 or NO2.


----------



## Carol (Jan 16, 2009)

Hard to find, but worth the effort in finding it...

Spaten Optimator


----------



## Makalakumu (Jan 16, 2009)

Xue Sheng said:


> It's certainly not dark beer but Tsingtao is pretty good, as is Sapporo. Do they sell those in Hawaii?


 
Yeah, they have that, its okay.


----------



## Xue Sheng (Jan 16, 2009)

Kreth said:


> A lot of places have all their draft lines run to a single cooler where they store the kegs, whether CO2 or NO2.


 
True but there is more to the story, it was from a can and it was that or nothing.


----------



## Makalakumu (Jan 16, 2009)

Carol Kaur said:


> Hard to find, but worth the effort in finding it...
> 
> Spaten Optimator


 
You beat me to it.  I would suggest that one in a heart beat.  Impossible to find out here in Hawaii.

Actually, anything from Spaten is great.  

Paulaner Double Bock is also VERY good.  My favorite beers are Bocks.


----------



## Makalakumu (Jan 16, 2009)

In Minnesota/Wisconsin, you can drown in good beer.  There are so many breweries it's hard to decide.  In the Twin Ports, where I used to live, we have three hand crafted microbrews.  All of their beers were to die for.

I miss that beer.


----------



## Xue Sheng (Jan 16, 2009)

maunakumu said:


> In Minnesota/Wisconsin, you can drown in good beer. There are so many breweries it's hard to decide. In the Twin Ports, where I used to live, we have three hand crafted microbrews. All of their beers were to die for.
> 
> I miss that beer.


 
Ahh but you traded it all just to taunt us about Hawaii and surfing


----------



## Kreth (Jan 16, 2009)

Sled Dog Trippelbock Reserve from Wagner Valley Brewing Company is fantastic. I got a growler of this the last time I was up at Seneca Lake. It went way too fast. :cheers:


----------



## Makalakumu (Jan 16, 2009)

Kreth said:


> Sled Dog Trippelbock Reserve from Wagner Valley Brewing Company is fantastic. I got a growler of this the last time I was up at Seneca Lake. It went way too fast. :cheers:


Should have got a second one...


----------



## bushidomartialarts (Jan 16, 2009)

5.  Deschutes Brewery Black Butte Porter

4. Deschutes Brewery Black Butte Porter

3. Deschutes Brewery Black Butte Porter

2.  Deschutes Brewery Black Butte Porter

1.  Deschutes Brewery Black Butte Porter


----------



## Makalakumu (Jan 16, 2009)

Xue Sheng said:


> Ahh but you traded it all just to taunt us about Hawaii and surfing


 
Ah well, it certainly makes it easier to keep the pounds from piling up.

Anyway, no surfing today.  It's too windy and the waves are super massive.  I'd get smashed to smithereens in that surf.

What's interesting is that not many people drink crappy American beer here.  Most people will go out and get a twelve pack of Stella Artois, Heineken, or Steinlager.  Hawaii's a step above on the mainland when it comes to overall taste.

Kona Brewing Company over on the Big Island makes their Pipeline Porter.  It's a pretty good beer for Hawaiian standards.


----------



## Kreth (Jan 16, 2009)

bushidomartialarts said:


> 5.  Deschutes Brewery Black Butte Porter
> 
> 4. Deschutes Brewery Black Butte Porter
> 
> ...


Yeah, but can you say it 5 times *fast*? :lol:


----------



## Sukerkin (Jan 16, 2009)

Especially after five of them ?


----------



## Aefibird (Jan 18, 2009)

exile said:


> and as for Sam Smith's Old Brewery Pale Ale... better pass over _that_ one in silence. :waah:



Nothing wrong with the Sam Smith's over here, but I live quite close to the brewery, so it doesn't have to travel far to my usual watering-holes, so I think it must be down to the fact that it doesn't like the travel.

I used to love Ward's bitter, but as the company that ended up owning it went bust it's sadly no more...  The old Ward's brewery near me in Sheffield has been turned into some ghastly, over-priced, trendy, "we're-so-hip-it's-painful" apartments but the majority of the folk round here do have more sense than money and not the other way around so most of them are still empty. 

Some of my favourite ales are locally brewed where I live. 

http://www.kelhambrewery.co.uk/ - make Kelham Island Pale Rider, my current favourite pint.

http://www.acorn-brewery.co.uk/ - make Barnsley Bitter, which is pretty famous. I prefer their bottled ale though, as the draught sometimes has a funny aftertaste.

http://www.bradfieldbrewery.com/ - they make a special edition Sheffield Steelers ale, for my local ice hockey team. I have a crate of it in the cellar at the moment as I won it last week as part of a Steelers season ticket holders prize draw!


----------



## myusername (Jan 18, 2009)

If anyone gets the chance try anything from the Bath brewery in the UK! The barnstormer is particularly delicious!

http://www.bathales.com/ales/barnstormer.html


----------



## exile (Jan 18, 2009)

Aefibird said:


> Nothing wrong with the Sam Smith's over here, but I live quite close to the brewery, so it doesn't have to travel far to my usual watering-holes, so I think it must be down to the fact that it doesn't like the travel.



Yeah, as I say, I've had it in the UKin Yorkshire, in fact, though not in Tadcaster itselfand it was lovely. I usually like a bit more hoppy beer than SSOBPA, but when it's in good condition it more than makes up for the relative lack of hop _zing_. I agree that it must be the travel that does it in the case of the export bottlesthey warehouse the poor old things for months at a time, I suspect. With Meantime and some of the other newer exports from the UK, like Otter Head and Hoppy Otter, the turnaround time on the shipping is probably much less, because I've never had a stale bottle of either.



Aefibird said:


> I used to love Ward's bitter, but as the company that ended up owning it went bust it's sadly no more...  The old Ward's brewery near me in Sheffield has been turned into some ghastly, over-priced, trendy, "we're-so-hip-it's-painful" apartments but the majority of the folk round here do have more sense than money and not the other way around so most of them are still empty.



I always have found people in the North to have their heads screwed on the right waythe problem isn't going to be the locals, though, but the derivatives traders from the City buying little pieds-a-terre in the oh-so-quaint countryside to pop into their Astons and Maseratis and go visit a couple of times a year... hmmm, now I think of it, the economic conditions aren't exactly favorable to that sort of I-have-so-much-£££-I'll-never-be-able-to-spend-it-all!! kind of flash. Maybe those places will stay empty... 



Aefibird said:


> Some of my favourite ales are locally brewed where I live.
> 
> http://www.kelhambrewery.co.uk/ - make Kelham Island Pale Rider, my current favourite pint.
> 
> ...



I'm going to be back in the UK for several months in late summer and autumn this year, near Colchester, but Yorkshire is one of our very favorite parts of the country and we try to spend a bit of time there whenever we can (Helmsley is a particularly excellent place to stay, we've found), and I'm making up a must-try beer list for this next tripso I appreciate your suggestions and will add these to my list!


----------



## Tez3 (Jan 18, 2009)

exile said:


> Yeah, as I say, I've had it in the UKin Yorkshire, in fact, though not in Tadcaster itselfand it was lovely. I usually like a bit more hoppy beer than SSOBPA, but when it's in good condition it more than makes up for the relative lack of hop _zing_. I agree that it must be the travel that does it in the case of the export bottlesthey warehouse the poor old things for months at a time, I suspect. With Meantime and some of the other newer exports from the UK, like Otter Head and Hoppy Otter, the turnaround time on the shipping is probably much less, because I've never had a stale bottle of either.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 

Helmsley is just 40 mins down the road from me! I have a friend who's matron at Ampleforth College, near there. 

We have a couple of breweries here, the Black Sheep is probably the best
http://www.blacksheepbrewery.co.uk/.

When down in Cornwall last October we went to a real ale festival in Newquay, wonderful beers and ciders from all over!


----------



## exile (Jan 18, 2009)

Tez3 said:


> Helmsley is just 40 mins down the road from me! I have a friend who's matron at Ampleforth College, near there.



Cool&#8212;you live in beautiful country, Tez!



Tez3 said:


> We have a couple of breweries here, the Black Sheep is probably the best
> http://www.blacksheepbrewery.co.uk/.


 
When we were in the UK this summer we visited Masham, went to the Black Sheep visitors centre and had their tour, and terrific food and beer (time to retire those half-century-out-of-date legends about the British not being able to cook... everything we ate in the UK this past summer was at least good, usually _very_ good and on several occasions, really outstanding). The range of Black Sheep beers is very, very high quality&#8212;it's a funny story about how that Brewery got started, by a rogue (hence _black sheep_) member of the Theakston family...



Tez3 said:


> When down in Cornwall last October we went to a real ale festival in Newquay, wonderful beers and ciders from all over!



My main dreams for my next visit to the UK, so far as 'institutional' ambitions are concerned, is:

(i) attend at least one CAMRA real ale festival, and
(ii) attend an Iain Abernethy seminar

in no particular order!


----------



## Aefibird (Jan 18, 2009)

exile said:


> I'm going to be back in the UK for several months in late summer and autumn this year, near Colchester, but Yorkshire is one of our very favorite parts of the country and we try to spend a bit of time there whenever we can (Helmsley is a particularly excellent place to stay, we've found), and I'm making up a must-try beer list for this next tripso I appreciate your suggestions and will add these to my list!



If you've not already done so then you might like to sample the delicious offerings of Wentworth brewery:
http://www.wentworthbrewery.co.uk/

I particularly like their 3.5% Needles Eye, not only for the good quality taste but also for the history behind it and the fact it celebrates a local landmark (a stone monument shaped like a needle with a road passing through the 'eye'. Built, local legend has it, because one of the Earl Fitzwilliams took up a wager that said he couldn't drive his carriage through the eye of a needle...so he built one out of stone to prove the other man wrong!)

Wentworth Brewery supply both pubs in the village of Wentworth in South Yorkshire, which is a fascinating place. 

The village has had close ties with the Wentworth Estate of the Wentworth-Fitzwilliam family, who became Marquises of Rockingham and supplied Britain with several early Prime Ministers. 

It's one of the few remaining villages in England where almost all of the village is owned by the Wentworth Estate (although I think it is now the Estate Trust) and it has only been in recent years where privately owned properties were allowed. 

Unlike other villages in South Yorkshire where there have been cookie-cutter generic housing estates springing up at a rate of knots these last couple of decades, Wentworth is almost entirely without development (unless you count the hideous monstrosity known as the Garden Centre) and IMO is the much better for it.

Anyway, that's by the by and is getting seriously off-topic.

Back to the beer:

http://www.wellingtonsheffield.com/ - best pub in Sheffield for real ale but closely followed by:

http://www.risingsunsheffield.co.uk, which is the only pub owned by

http://www.abbeydalebrewery.co.uk/

There's also a variety of real ale brewed by http://www.sheffieldbrewery.com/ but I've only ever tried one pint of their wares. Because the majority of Sheffield  & South Yorks was affected by tremendous flooding in the summer of 2007, it meant that The Sheffield Brewery was out of action for a while, along with many of the pubs it supplied. They've started brewing again but I've not visited any of the places that sell their ales since they did so. Hmm, that could be a 'task' for me next week.... 

Sorry for the 'essay', hope there's some useful info for you there. If you need any more then just ask; as you can probably gather I'm a real ale connoisseur!


----------



## myusername (Jan 18, 2009)

I love beer! This is a bad thread for me as I am getting strong cravings to go down the pub!

My top beers are

1) Guinness (especially in Ireland as it tastes so much better there!)
2) Gem (Bath Brewery)
3) Hobgoblin (Wychwood brewery)
4) Tanglefoot (Badger Ales)
5) Adnams Broadside
6) Barnstormer (Bath Brewery)
7) Woodforde's Wherry (Being born in Norfolk I used to drink a lot of this!)
8) Bellringer (Abbey Ales)
9) Hen's Tooth (Greene King)
10) Redhead (Tipples Brewery)

Mmmmmmmm beeer!


----------



## exile (Jan 18, 2009)

Aefibird said:


> If you've not already done so then you might like to sample the delicious offerings of Wentworth brewery:
> http://www.wentworthbrewery.co.uk/
> 
> I particularly like their 3.5% Needles Eye, not only for the good quality taste but also for the history behind it and the fact it celebrates a local landmark (a stone monument shaped like a needle with a road passing through the 'eye'. Built, local legend has it, because one of the Earl Fitzwilliams took up a wager that said he couldn't drive his carriage through the eye of a needle...so he built one out of stone to prove the other man wrong!)



Great story, A. And at 3.5%, you can hoist a few of those and not feel as though someone had worked you over with a club the next day, which is the main problem with these big double IPA style beers. A great-tasting, low gravity beer gives you the best of both worlds, eh?



Aefibird said:


> Wentworth Brewery supply both pubs in the village of Wentworth in South Yorkshire, which is a fascinating place.
> 
> The village has had close ties with the Wentworth Estate of the Wentworth-Fitzwilliam family, who became Marquises of Rockingham and supplied Britain with several early Prime Ministers.
> 
> It's one of the few remaining villages in England where almost all of the village is owned by the Wentworth Estate (although I think it is now the Estate Trust) and it has only been in recent years where privately owned properties were allowed.



I'm very fond of places like thatLavenham is another such, almost perfectly preserved Tudor villagesimilar story to the Cotswolds: rolling in dough in the 13th century from the wool trade, and when the bottom dropped out of that in the 14th century, they were too poor to rebuild... so they had to wait 500 years until, during the Romantic movement, they were rediscovered by wealthy seekers after the 'picturesque' and started coining it again... the wheel coming full circle, so to speak. I've noticed that the pubs in such villages often serve particularly nice aleand some of those pubs are themselves National Trust properties.



Aefibird said:


> Unlike other villages in South Yorkshire where there have been cookie-cutter generic housing estates springing up at a rate of knots these last couple of decades, Wentworth is almost entirely without development (unless you count the hideous monstrosity known as the Garden Centre) and IMO is the much better for it.
> 
> Anyway, that's by the by and is getting seriously off-topic.
> 
> ...



Great information, for me and anyone planning to travel to the UK who appreciates the British styles of beermuch appreciated! 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			







Aefibird said:


> There's also a variety of real ale brewed by http://www.sheffieldbrewery.com/ but I've only ever tried one pint of their wares. Because the majority of Sheffield  & South Yorks was affected by tremendous flooding in the summer of 2007, it meant that The Sheffield Brewery was out of action for a while, along with many of the pubs it supplied. They've started brewing again but I've not visited any of the places that sell their ales since they did so. Hmm, that could be a 'task' for me next week....



Yes, by all means... it's an extra demand on your probably already too-busy schedule, but business before pleasure, eh? :lol:



Aefibird said:


> Sorry for the 'essay', hope there's some useful info for you there. If you need any more then just ask; as you can probably gather I'm a real ale connoisseur!



No, in all seriousness, this is very helpful information to know. And yes, I'll be more than happy to consult you and my other MT friends in the UK, which for me is to beer what Paris is to fashion and New York is to finance. Thanks, and next round is mine .... :cheers:


----------



## Kempojujutsu (Jan 18, 2009)

Since I started doing homebrewing, I prefer my own porters and stout beers. They are just as good as some of the big boys. The nice thing is I can make about 5 gallons of the good stuff for about $30.00

I have also made some good wheat, red ales, German oktoberfest style beers.


----------



## Cryozombie (Jan 18, 2009)

maunakumu said:


> Actually, anything from Spaten is great.


 
Indeed.

FWIW, I have been drinking a lot of Effes Dark latley.  I wouldnt call it the BEST dark, or even in the top five (its a bit sweet for a Dark beer) but I have been enjoying it.

Also, my Guiness drinking fans... I have been told by numerous Guiness drinkers that my Homebrew Stout puts it to shame.


----------



## Cryozombie (Jan 18, 2009)

Kempojujutsu said:


> Since I started doing homebrewing, I prefer my own porters and stout beers. They are just as good as some of the big boys. The nice thing is I can make about 5 gallons of the good stuff for about $30.00
> 
> I have also made some good wheat, red ales, German oktoberfest style beers.


 
Do you Extract or Mash Brew?


----------



## CoryKS (Jan 18, 2009)

Xue Sheng said:


> 3) Mackeson Stout - warm


 
I came in here to say this.  Wonderful beer.


----------



## exile (Jan 18, 2009)

myusername said:


> I love beer! This is a bad thread for me as I am getting strong cravings to go down the pub!
> 
> My top beers are
> 
> ...



... and onto the list for my late summer/autumn UK trip they go! :asian:

Actually, the Adnam's Broadside is _always_ on my list, or any beer from Adnams. Fortunately, Sole Bay won't be too far from where I'll be fetching up when I'm over there in August though the end of the year, most likely, or very nearly. I had some at a pub near where we were staying in London this past summer that was so good that I woke up the next morning literally _thinking_ about it... of course, when I went there in the afternoon for another pint, they were out!

It has to be said that you can't really know how good some of these are unless you drink them from handpump dispense somewhere not too far from the brewery. Real ales are reasonably robust, because fermentation is going on virtually till the server pulls you that pint; on the other hand, without gas pressure and added preservatives&#8212;which immediately disqualify a beer for the Real Ale accolade&#8212;they can deteriorate fast if the guv'nor isn't paying close attention, and if too much time goes in the transport to the pub. And that can happen easily if you're going a few hundred miles, let alone putting the stuff in bottles, trucking them to the warehouse, and flying 'em over to another warehouse till the distributor gets round to sending them out to the store.  By the time that happens, in many cases the game won't be worth the candle.


----------



## Kempojujutsu (Jan 18, 2009)

Cryozombie said:


> Do you Extract or Mash Brew?


 
I consider myself a beginner. Have doing this for about 2 years now. I mainly do extract for now. Have been doing a lot of experiementing. Adding spices, fruits to the beer kits I bought. I use Brewers Best Beer Kits. It has every thing in it to brew your own beer. Takes out a lot of the guessing. One of these days I am going to Mash my brew.


----------



## Cryozombie (Jan 20, 2009)

Kempojujutsu said:


> I consider myself a beginner. Have doing this for about 2 years now. I mainly do extract for now. Have been doing a lot of experiementing. Adding spices, fruits to the beer kits I bought. I use Brewers Best Beer Kits. It has every thing in it to brew your own beer. Takes out a lot of the guessing. One of these days I am going to Mash my brew.



This has been an invaluable resource for me...  in case you had not seen it...

The Cat's Meow 3

HUNDREDS of recipes for various types of Beers.  There is even a Printable format, I printed the whole thing and ring bound it so I have a recipe guide in the kitchen.

But those BB kits make good beer too.  I use them as well.  Sorry for hijacking the thread.


----------



## Kempojujutsu (Jan 21, 2009)

Here are a few more places to visit.

www.Brewboard.com It's a discussion board

www.Howtobrew.com It's a blog by John Palmer 

www.Leisure-time.com They have the cheapest prices on the Best Brewer Kits on the internet. I have not order form them in a while though.


----------

