On Beer

[English Bloke]

... this place T brugs beertje, it is a bar in Brugges in Belgium (a country with more beers per head of population than any other in the world)... Beer drinkers heaven !!!!

Bowser Hi.
Fixed your link http://www.brugsbeertje.be/index_en.htm

Great website. I've put it on my Pubs to do list

I bob across to Ieper (Ypres), Belgium fairly often and there are some good Pubs and great beer there too. Belgian Beer isn't all Jupiler and Stella. We should get together sometime and sort out a Belgian sesh! (Mix Kilts into the equation and we're laughin')

[thanmuwa]

Fascinating thread, just a couple of things to add. For our friends across the Atlantic, what you refer to as "warm beers" are the equivalent of the hand-crafted beers you get from the current crop of microbreweries over there. They are called "Real Ales" over here. It is mostly an English phenomenon (although you do see it to some extent in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, probably decreasing in that order). There is even a campaign but I think you need to have a huge beard to join .

The only beer I know of that is intentionally served at room temperature rather than cellar temperature is rare to find these days. If you find a real "old man's pub" in Dublin you can still find served what is called a "soft pint" (ie served at room temperature) of Guinness. You will only find it in certain traditional pubs, none very far away from the Guinness brewery and the Guinness has to be perfect for it to taste good (but when the conditions are right, it is sublime!). Guinness has never travelled well and even in my home town of Athlone, less than 100 miles from Dublin, the Guinness has been disturbed enough by it's journey that a soft pint is not served...

Unfortunately most people these days want to drink hard and fast, and flavour just seems to get in the way, hence the popularity of the flavourless chill-filtered Buds, Fosters ,Tennants etc. And whiskey that goes with coke. Ah well . Still, I now have a pub in Belgium on my to-do list .

[Casey_in_Carolina]

Well, this has certainly been a most fascinating, and educational thread. I'm quite glad to see that the old myth of warm beer is, in fact, just a myth. I've always enjoyed noticing the difference in flavors as a pint warms a bit, and the taste changes slightly.

Now I apparently have another vice to look into, namely these 'cask' ales that are mentioned, and the gravity pulled versus carbonation pumped pints. I'll have to start asking around and see if there's anyone local who does such a thing so I can give it a try.

Thanks for all of the great information.

Take care all,


Casey

[Nervous Jock]

Fascinating thread, just a couple of things to add. For our friends across the Atlantic, what you refer to as "warm beers" are the equivalent of the hand-crafted beers you get from the current crop of microbreweries over there. They are called "Real Ales" over here. It is mostly an English phenomenon (although you do see it to some extent in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, probably decreasing in that order). There is even a campaign but I think you need to have a huge beard to join .

Spoken like a true west coaster

[thanmuwa]

Spoken like a true west coaster

Which bit, the bit about the beards or the bit about the popularity of real ale ?

Seriously, I agree with you, which was kind of my point. Real ale is an England-wide phenomenon, quite popular in Wales, popular in Belfast (the major population centre in NI) but has only really taken off on the east of Scotland, not really on the west, which is why I tentatively put Scotland last on my imaginary Real-Ale popularity list.