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Fetch Real Ale Drinkers (FRAD)

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Hills of Death (HOD) Aug 2016 2:14pm, 17 Aug 2016 32,513 posts	0 Hills of Death (HOD) You Slut Fizz
postieboy Aug 2016 9:54pm, 17 Aug 2016 3,658 posts	0 postieboy Can I have your thoughts on craft beer please. The Devil's piss or an acceptable beverage which is far better than mass produced keg urine?
BaronessBL Aug 2016 8:48am, 18 Aug 2016 5,781 posts	0 BaronessBL In my opinion a bit of both postieboy, but I'm slightly more of the belief that it's the former..... I've mainly only tried the Adnams ones and I didn't find any of them came close to the others in the Adnams range. But that's not to say all craft beers are bad... I just haven't found one I like yet although I'm more than willing to keep trying
Fitz Aug 2016 9:33am, 18 Aug 2016 1,583 posts	0 Fitz It depends. "Craft beer" is already a nebulous and somewhat abused term, I think. I like the fact that established brewers are doing small-batch or limited-run brews. McMullen's Gladstone and Fuller's Discovery are fondly-remembered favourites. And I like the fact that lots of new small brewers have sprung up, broadening the market - Redemption, Five Points, Sambrooks are local favourites. They're not afraid to try different beer styles and bring some choice back to the market. Even on the lagery side of things, it's good that newer players like Meantime () have become established and are broadening choice away from the increasingly consolidated major beer manufacturers, but a lot of their product I don't find particularly inspiring - I had a Meantime London Lager (bottled) last week and although it was different to StellaCarlsbergHeinekenPeroni, it wasn't that great - quite a dry biscuity finish and an odd after-taste. There's also an awful lot of over-hopped, over-chilled, over-strong pish masquerading as "craft" beer, unfortunately. () Meantime isn't quite the quirky independent startup any more, having been sold first to AB Inbev (Budweiser) and thence to Japanese mega brewer Asahi.
Dvorak Aug 2016 10:28am, 18 Aug 2016 12,046 posts	0 Dvorak "Craft beer" is a slipperey eel to define exactly. It may have been a bit clearer in the USA (where some independent craft breweries however are now the size which would be classed as an industrial brewery over here) but a real/craft dichotomy seems a bit artificial over here. Especially perhaps in Scotland where no regional brewers were left and many real ale breweries advertise themselves as craft eg jawbrew.co.uk "Jaw Brew is an independent, Glasgow based, real ale craft brewery" Also the much longer established Williams Bros, Harvieston, Skye and several others. A question: does your local Aldi have a special craft/local/ real ale selection? They do up here, having had about 15 choices for a while but now 20-25 (and a bi-annual Scottish Beer Festival with about 50 (sometimes very obscure) breweries represented).
mr d Aug 2016 1:20am, 19 Aug 2016 2,272 posts	0 mr d I know Brewdog are perceived as arrogant *****, but I do like punk ipa and dead pony club, stupid names. To back Baroness up, had Adnams Ease Up IPA the other night, it's ok, but not a patch on Explorer. Back in the real ale world had some Oakham JHB the other night, it was lovely. In the lakes, loved the Tinderbox IPA, very nice if quite strong.
Surrey Phil Aug 2016 1:10pm, 19 Aug 2016 1,581 posts	0 Surrey Phil Just got my first batch of Adnams via on-line delivery. Just got a few variety boxes with best before date of well into 2017 (thanks to everyone's advice regarding this). Didn't order Mosaic or Ease Up but may get around to ordering these in due course. Adnams delivery arrived within 48 hours. Free if order is over £60 (£2.99 if under). There is currently a £10 discount for online orders when signing up for their newsletter.
Perfect Organism Aug 2016 2:00pm, 19 Aug 2016 603 posts	0 Perfect Organism If a beer tastes good then I'll drink it. I'm not too fussed about labels and terminology. Last night I drank a Brighton Bier (4%) which was a nice, flavoursome, hoppy (just on the borderline of acceptable), bitter number. This was followed by a Brewdog Kingpin Pilsner (4.7%) which was, as you would expect, crisp, bold, and refreshing.
BaronessBL Aug 2016 4:49pm, 22 Aug 2016 5,808 posts	0 BaronessBL Talking of Craft Beer.... bbc.co.uk
Fitz Aug 2016 5:03pm, 22 Aug 2016 1,584 posts	0 Fitz 10/20. Pretty sure I've never heard of any of the real ones, so pure guesswork on my part.