Australian Beer

[GILD]

The Australian Beer discussion is threatening to jack the 'Quotes of the day thread so I figure we'd bring it here.

[Loosemoose]

Excellent beers available in this country include:

Grolsch - Dutch
Kronenbourg 1664 - French
Peroni - Italian
Cobra - Indian
Budweiser Budvar - Czech Republic

Excellent ales available in this country include:

Spitfire - UK (Kent)
Bishops Finger - UK (Kent)
Old Speckled Hen - UK (Oxfordshire)
Newcastle Brown - UK (Gateshead)
Old Peculier - UK (Yorkshire)
And obviously Guiness - Ireland
Anything by the Badger Brewery (Dorset), but especially
Golden Glory
Champion
Blandford Fly
and of course Tanglefoot

All of these are available in most supermarkets, and the ales are increasingly available in pubs. I can't wait until I see Tanglefoot on draft, I'm going to have a field day.

All of these beverages are united in one factor, and that is that they don't taste like crap. There are many, many more beers available in this country, but the vast majority of those taste like ditch water. Notable entrants into this category include:

Carlsburg
Carling
Budweiser (but not Budvar, off whom the Budweiser name was nicked)
Heineken

Loose.

[GILD]

One that particularly caught my eye during my depressingly short UK holiday was a thing called DoomBar that I drank down Cornwall way.

[Loosemoose]

There are many localised ales and beers in the UK, Doom Bar being of the Sharps Brewery in Cornwall.

Some others I forgot to mention:

The Greene King Brewery, produces:
Abbot Ale
Greene King IPA
Ruddles County
And also Old Speckled Hen, but I mentioned that.

All these are good.

Back to bad, and the obvious one I forgot to mention:
Fosters - Australian
Using the advertising slogan 'He who thinks Australian drinks Australian', or more correctly 'He who thinks Australian drinks like an idiot', since it tastes like condensed bathwater. I do know that Fosters is very under-represented in Australia itself, but thats no excuse. Australians would be wise to distance themselves from this henious crime of a beverage.

Loose.

[GILD]

Originally Posted by Loosemoose

And also Old Speckled Hen

Old Speckled Hen is one that occasionally appears in some of the better (non-franchised) pubs in South Africa. My personal favourite pub, The Jolly Roger in Parkhurst (big sign on the wall: 'Our Housewine is Jaegermeister', how can I not like it?) have recently started bringing in some of the Belgian 'blond' beers and I've been having fun with the likes of Leffe and Hoegaarden.
Normally just as something to drink while I wait for the pint of Guinness to de-arcticify.

[unicycle6869]

Originally Posted by GILD

...and Hoegaarden.
Normally just as something to drink while I wait for the pint of Guinness to de-arcticify.

Hoegaarden and Tuborg are my favorite European beers when I backpacked for 2 months around Europe. A Hieneken in Amsterdam isn't bad either.

[rob.northcott]

Originally Posted by Loosemoose

There are many localised ales and beers in the UK

I quite like Princetown Brewery's Jail Ale (even if they do use the American spelling - why can nobody spell gaol these days?...)

Originally Posted by Loosemoose

The Greene King Brewery, produces:
And also Old Speckled Hen

**Dons anorak** Something "quite interesting" about that is that it was named after the "old speckled 'un", an old MG car that was used at the (MG) factory as a workhorse, and was covered in flecks of paint. Nothing to do with hens at all.

Nothing to do with Australian beer either... how can I get back on topic... err... I drank a can of Fosters once... or was it?... oh I can't remember. I don't really give a XXXX anyway.

Rob

[Siege]

Aye, Grolsch is one of my favourites. I probably would have said something about Fosters but as has been mentioned, it is (rightly) shunned by most Australians so has been mentally blocked out. Boag's, James Squire and Cascade all produce some good beers. Heck...I only turned 18 last July. I've got plenty more beers to get through before i'm an expert. Funnily enough Beer is my last name so if anything I owe it to the family name. Any good Sooth Efricen drinks you can recommend GILD? I'll keep my eyes out for them.

Siege (Australia Day tomorrow...as good a reason as any to have a few!)

[gollum89]

There are two Countries that make good beer, Germany and Namibia (under German standards) Im sorry but this belgian, dutch, whatever crap tastes like dirt under your toenails.
@siege: look for tafel lager or windhoek lager, theyre two damn good beers from Namibia. The South african beers are maby good enough to water your plants...

sorry@ gild and everyone but thats how it is...

[GILD]

Originally Posted by Siege

Any good Sooth Efricen drinks you can recommend GILD? I'll keep my eyes out for them.

Castle is the ubiquitous Sefrican beer and is best avoided. Have one, just to be able to say that you have, but don't make a habit of it. It is one of the best examples of what's wrong with Lagers.
If you're stout oriented, they do make a rather nice Castle Milk Stout which is worth a go.

I'm personally partial to Black Label as an everyday beer.

If you ever see any of the Mitchell's Brewery products, have a taste. They do a Forrester's Ale which is rather piddly, a Bosun's Bitter which I quite like and a Raven Stout which just never quite gets going. Nice try tho.
(I see they now have some other products available, these are the ones I've tried.)

More recently we've seen a micro-brewery get going on the outskirts of JHB. This is an extremely rare occurrence as the SAB monolith basically owns the industry in this country.
This mb is called Gillroy's and they manufacture 4 beers, rosy ales and serious stouty type manoeuvres. All rather good fun and a nice change from the stuff they pipe into our treadmill-cubicles around here.

Our neighbouring country, Namibia, produces a couple of nice beers thru their Namibian Breweries.
A Reinheitsgebot Windhoek Lager and a strange 'winter-brew' called Urbock.
Worth a sniff if you're between interesting books and are looking for something interesting to quaff.

[GILD]

Originally Posted by gollum89

look for tafel lager

sorry@ gild and everyone but thats how it is...

Yeah, I forgot about Tafel, I buy that occasionally.
Do you know if NB are still doing Maibock in addition to Urbock?

No need to apologise, to each his own.
Besides, that's more for me.

[Loosemoose]

I've just found a place where I can get Tafel in the UK, suffice to say I will be purchasing a crate and sampling it.

Loose.

[GILD]

Be sure to let us know what you thought.

[Loosemoose]

I like the fact this thread has turned from a general Aussie beer bashing thread to a decent beer comparison conversation. Any more local delicacies of the alcoholic beverage variety I should try and track down?

Loose.

[GILD]

Zorgvliet's Petit Verdot.

If you're into redwine.

I'm having a bottle with some (very good) friends tonight.
Can't wait.