Bitter

So bitter.

Jimmy Page remastered all the Zep records and screwed them all up. Nice job, man. 

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London Pride is a nice bitter

shabtek said:

London Pride is a nice bitter

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was more a VB, victoria bitter,  kind of guy.

It's Ruddles for me.

Cheers

IAn

I was more a whatever bitter was on tap....

JR

They say a dash of Angostura, but I sometimes prefer five or six large dashes.

and then there is Bitburger..."bitter ein bit"

JR

Try a Jever (northern german). A lot of people say it´s too bitter, but I feel they are really just imbeciles...
Btw. I´m having one right now!

You guys are alright.

L´Andratté said:

Try a Jever (northern german). A lot of people say it´s too bitter, but I feel they are really just imbeciles...
Btw. I´m having one right now!

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I have had some good beer in Germany. I met our representative in Munich and we went to the Englische Garten (probably spelt that wrong) and had a stein each in the fresh air. Very enjoyable.

Some of the best bitter I ever tasted was in Dublin in the 1970s. I was sent there by Neve to fix a newly installed console. The fix turned out to be easy but as a reward they took me out that evening for a few beers in their local. There was a traditional  Irish band playing (complete with elbow operated bagpipes) and the bitter was some of the smoothest I have ever tasted. I slept really well that night.

Cheers

Ian

ruffrecords said:

I have had some good beer in Germany. I met our representative in Munich and we went to the Englische Garten (probably spelt that wrong) and had a stein each in the fresh air. Very enjoyable.

Some of the best bitter I ever tasted was in Dublin in the 1970s. I was sent there by Neve to fix a newly installed console. The fix turned out to be easy but as a reward they took me out that evening for a few beers in their local. There was a traditional  Irish band playing (complete with elbow operated bagpipes) and the bitter was some of the smoothest I have ever tasted. I slept really well that night.

Cheers

Ian

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I spent more time in germany than any other country other than US, and was a huge fan of the beer back in 1970, (especially compared to the 3.2% beer at Ft Riley KS. ), but over the decades I have gravitated away from light pilsners toward heavier ales (like stouts and porter. ) Dark beer in Germany seemed a pretty narrow niche (altbiers?).

I did enjoy the beer selection in UK pubs better. For fun I would try to come up with different black and tans from whatever was on tap. 

I would like to spend some time in Belgium just seeing what I could find in local brews (but I get a good local brew from my kitchen).  One time I brewed my own quasi-Belgian (double not a triple). Using some live yeast sediment from the bottom of a few belgian beers a friend carried to frankfurt messe for me one year. 

JR

@JR

While NOT usually bitter, their range of styles and production techniques from Belgium is fascinating...the book
" Wild Brews" by Jeff Sparrow
Describes this topic well :

.  When brewers allow organisms other than Saccharomyces yeast to influence the taste of their ales, a new family of flavors enters the beer vocabulary. Wild Brews explores the world of Lambics, Flanders red and brown beers and American interpretations of these special beers.   

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shabtek said:

@JR

While NOT usually bitter, their range of styles and production techniques from Belgium is fascinating...the book
" Wild Brews" by Jeff Sparrow
Describes this topic well :

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Yup, when everybody around you is brewing beer, the wild yeast in the air is often beer yeast... ;D  In ye olde days, beer and wine did not get added yeast, just whatever was in the air at the time.

The Belgian beers were notorious for their tripls (3x normal strength) that takes a special yeast strain tolerant of the high alcohol. Normal beer yeast is killed by alcohol.. To make tripls here we would generally use a champagne yeast that is good to 12% or so. Back in the day when I was young and stupid I would start with beer yeast to get the good beer flavor profile then after it died off from the high alcohol level, pitch some champagne yeast into the fermenter to finish it off.  (BTW high alcohol HA beers are called Barley Wines). IMO HA beers do not taste very good, the extra alcohol imparts a "hot" flavor. That said the belgian tripls were good tasting and the one beer to have when you are only having one.  ;D These days it's not about how fast can I get drunk, but more like session beer drinking. Can I drink a bunch without hurting my liver, etc> Last blood test panel passed with flying colors so my beer program is intact.  8) Lately I started cutting back on beer to lose weight (and it is working).

I probably should have finagled a side trip to Belgium when I was in Europe every year for the messe, but never did. More Peavey dealers to visit in Germany or UK., and I wasn't exactly on vaca. We had peeps in Belgium (like the friend who brought me the tripls), but I never justified that trip. Some PMs managed side trips to visit Amsterdam, back when it was a pot party, I got pot and LSD out of my system in the 60s.

JR

What a great thread this is  Unless I completely mistook it, the actual topic only exists for one line, and then it pleasantly sidetracks  ;D 

I guess after all that beer, nobody notices if that remastering was awful or not ? 

Agreed.  Let's talk beer.  A subject we can all agree to disagree about.

fazer said:

Agreed.  Let's talk beer.  A subject we can all agree to disagree about.

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Perfect, I'll bite 

When being outside of The Netherlands, my enjoyment is often affected when seeing the many 'tap-labels' of H**neken.
While I'd say each bottle of H**neken that leaves the country is a good bottle of H, it still puzzles me why that cr*p is so popular abroad.

Will this do ?!  ;D

clintrubber said:

Perfect, I'll bite 

When being outside of The Netherlands, my enjoyment is often affected when seeing the many 'tap-labels' of H**neken.
While I'd say each bottle of H**neken that leaves the country is a good bottle of H, it still puzzles me why that cr*p is so popular abroad.

Will this do ?!  ;D

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I drank plenty Heineken over the years because it was widely available around the world, and a consistent product, but it is not great beer. 

Serious beer comes in brown bottles because blue/green light can skunk up the beer...  The only thing worse than green bottles is clear bottles, but consumers like to see the beer and if the consumers don't buy your beer you are not successful, so Heineken is a successfully marketed beer, and reasonably well managed QA (I can't say I ever experienced much variation) if you don't mind the so-so taste profile. (not my fav).

Guinness is also widely distributed and much more to my taste preferences.  I do find it a little odd seeing Guinness trying to sell light beers and heineken, dark...  Line extension can be irresistible to large companies.

JR

JohnRoberts said:

I drank plenty Heineken over the years because it was widely available around the world, and a consistent product, but it is not great beer.

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Hadn't realized the similarities with McD before reading this.  You gotta give it to them, H indeed knows how to market their stuff.

Guinness is also widely distributed and much more to my taste preferences.  I do find it a little odd seeing Guinness trying to sell light beers and heineken, dark...  Line extension can be irresistible to large companies.

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Funny observation indeed.  It puzzles me a bit though that G gets away with the 'cumbersome' serving process. It might very well be part of the whole Guinness experience, ...

... but I mean, after having designed say a taxi-cab that requires to have its tyres inflated anew for each new customer and allowing for the paint to dry before departure, I would get sent back to the drawing board for streamlining the whole process! 

The current packaged u.s. version (made in ireland) of guiness extra is excellent--not as sweet and much silkier than the canadian stuff that used to come in 22oz bottles.
The standard dry has changed a little too but is good.

The summer wheat is no good.

clintrubber said:

Hadn't realized the similarities with McD before reading this.  You gotta give it to them, H indeed knows how to market their stuff.

Funny observation indeed.  It puzzles me a bit though that G gets away with the 'cumbersome' serving process. It might very well be part of the whole Guinness experience, ...

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Just like the clear bottles help some brand sales,  presentation matters, so Guiness is particular about the head. It was on tap in a local bar in MS and with the proper tap and set up properly it was not problematic. 

Worst beer drawing delay I recall was in a small hotel in Germany. Apparently the beer head was supposed to represent fresh beer and clean glasses so they figured some way to cause extra turbulence in the tap (or used odd pressure setting), whatever they did made it take multiple draws to fill a glass or pitcher. It was so bad you have to order your next beer when getting the first.  :

... but I mean, after having designed say a taxi-cab that requires to have its tyres inflated anew for each new customer and allowing for the paint to dry before departure, I would get sent back to the drawing board for streamlining the whole process! 

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Guinness is big on gadgets, like the plastic widget they  put inside beer cans to help create a head on the beer.  I like my stout better, but I have never sampled the mother's milk in Dublin.  That said it was nice to find Guinness stout in Hong Kong.

JR