Late Saturday and time for a beer!

[Roy S]

Used to like this muck

[Marco]

There is the issue of 'travel' I agree, no doubt the best pint of anything is always the one you have in the brewery. As for treating it, well it is almost 30 years since I last worked as a cellarman, but there is nothing to it, you just plug into it the same as any keg beer.

Indeed, and that adversely affects the flavour - no question.

In terms of 'treatment', what I was referring to was in terms of pouring and settling. I'm reliably informed that in Dublin pubs it takes a good 5-6 mins, or so, before each (lined up in a row) pint of Guinness is ready to be served to a customer, as the glass is half filled, allowed to settle, then slowly topped up and allowed to settle once more, to ensure the thickest, creamiest head

All these things matter, to a connoisseur (or simply someone wanting to enjoy the perfect pint of Guinness). If I drank Guinness, that's the sort of stuff I'd value, as someone who likes things to be as good as they possibly can. In terms of cellar management, there's also the issue of how clean landlords keep their pipes - but that's another matter.

I also like drinking ales in a proper thick pint pot with a handle. Lagers/Pils I prefer in a nice thin, fluted glass, like this, which I was frequently drinking beer from in Germany. Bitburger is also one of my favourite Pils-style beers:



Now *that* is how you serve Pils-style beer (ice-cold in small glasses, to keep it cool), with a proper creamy head, not how 'lager' is usually served here in the UK, in mundane looking pint glasses, flat-looking and filled up to the brim, and not always exactly chilled. Quality, not just quantity!

I also bought some of those glasses direct from the brewery/museum in Bitburg, and brought them home: https://www.bitburger.de/brauerei-tr...uchen-sie-uns/

Fascinating place

Marco.

[Marco]

No. Long before, same as Castlemaine XXXX. Not seen that for a long time. They buggered that up too brewing it here. Was a great drop!

Castlemaine XXXX, now there's a blast from the past! I totally agree with you about buggering it up, by brewing it here. The same applies with pretty much any Pils-style lager/beer, including Kronenbourg 1664. That's another one that tastes like cats piss here, compared with what you get on draught in France!

San Miguel is a different animal in Spain, Grolsch in Holland - the list goes on! Let's fact it, Brits are piss-poor at brewing decent 'lager', and simply can't replicate the proper flavour of the foreign Pils-style beers, even by following the recipe.

The best I've ever tasted, in that respect, is draught Wrexham lager, simply because the brewery here was built by Germans, and the beer produced to a special Pils recipe, which has been strictly adhered to for years. Honestly, if you're ever in Wrexham, go to one of the local pubs and order a pint of Wrexham lager. It'll be the nearest thing you'll get to proper continental lager in the UK

Where it's *at*, in the UK, is in brewing real ales, not lager, and there are (probably 1000s) of superb varieties of such, from craft breweries. But lager, leave that to the foreigners!!

Marco.

[struth]

never liked any of the Aussie beer...piss water as it was called up here (guess it all is really) Grolsch made in Holland was great, but the English stuff was putrid.

[Yomanze]

never liked any of the Aussie beer...piss water as it was called up here (guess it all is really) Grolsch made in Holland was great, but the English stuff was putrid.

Don't take the piss out of Aussie beer...



...it needs all the flavour it can get!

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

[Pierre De Grenoble]

never liked any of the Aussie beer...piss water as it was called up here (guess it all is really) Grolsch made in Holland was great, but the English stuff was putrid.

A guy I used to work with and who lived in Holland 25-30 years ago maintained that Grolsch was the super market lager that the dutch only bought when they couldn't afford anything better. (that was everything else... )

Golsch was originally marketed as an upmarket product in the UK, anyone remember those white capped bottles??

[struth]

A guy I used to work with and who lived in Holland 25-30 years ago maintained that Grolsch was the super market lager that the dutch only bought when they couldn't afford anything better. (that was everything else... )

Golsch was originally marketed as an upmarket product in the UK, anyone remember those white capped bottles??

yeah, the big stopper bottles. it liked it for some time and my local kept a few cases for me. when they started making it in this country its taste went down hill, or maybe it was just me

[rmcin626]

Indeed, and that adversely affects the flavour - no question.

In terms of 'treatment', what I was referring to was in terms of pouring and settling. I'm reliably informed that in Dublin pubs it takes a good 5-6 mins, or so, before each (lined up in a row) pint of Guinness is ready to be served to a customer, as the glass is half filled, allowed to settle, then slowly topped up and allowed to settle once more, to ensure the thickest, creamiest head

All these things matter, to a connoisseur (or simply someone wanting to enjoy the perfect pint of Guinness). If I drank Guinness, that's the sort of stuff I'd value, as someone who likes things to be as good as they possibly can. In terms of cellar management, there's also the issue of how clean landlords keep their pipes - but that's another matter.

I also like drinking ales in a proper thick pint pot with a handle. Lagers/Pils I prefer in a nice thin, fluted glass, like this, which I was frequently drinking beer from in Germany. Bitburger is also one of my favourite Pils-style beers:



Now *that* is how you serve Pils-style beer (ice-cold in small glasses, to keep it cool), with a proper creamy head, not how 'lager' is usually served here in the UK, in mundane looking pint glasses, flat-looking and filled up to the brim, and not always exactly chilled. Quality, not just quantity!

I also bought some of those glasses direct from the brewery/museum in Bitburg: https://www.bitburger.de/brauerei-tr...uchen-sie-uns/

Fascinating place

Marco.

Always enjoyed a small glass of Bitburger when I lived in Germany for a couple of years.

[Marco]

Golsch was originally marketed as an upmarket product in the UK, anyone remember those white capped bottles??

Yes, 'Bros-ettes' (fans of the group Bros) used to put the white caps on their shoes!

Having visited holland this year, and stayed out in the sticks, I can indeed confirm that there are far better beers there than Grolsch. My favourite was Gulpener: http://www.gulpener.nl/onze-bieren/

Absolutely amazing stuff, and amongst the best I've tasted!

Marco.

[Marco]

Always enjoyed a small glass of Bitburger when I lived in Germany for a couple of years.

Nice one, Robin. You can get it in supermarkets here. I brought some back in the car, along with two sizes of glasses. I always like drinking beer out of a nice glass, preferably so that the beer matches with its own glass. They're big on that abroad. It's those little touches that for me add class!

Marco.