From: arthur@sgi.com (Arthur Evans)
Newsgroups: alt.beer
Subject: British Beers (was: Re: Double Diamond Ale)
Date: 31 Dec 92 00:11:46 GMT
Reply-To: arthur@chiba (Arthur Evans)
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.

In article <tom.725257178@dynamo.ecn.purdue.edu> tom@dynamo.ecn.purdue.edu (Tom McCain) writes:
>dhembrow@eoe.co.uk (David Hembrow) writes:
>
>
>: I found your posting most illuminating. It is in fact true that we
>: here in Britain would not let our dogs touch the stuff !
>
>: There are some truly excellent beers available in the UK and I'm
>: afraid that DD is not one of them. Oh well.
>
>Out of curiosity, what are a few of the everyday type beer/ale in the
>UK?  Bass, Whitbread ...?  Just wondering!

Bass and Whitbread are two of the big British conglomerates.
There are several others, including Scottish & Newcastle
(which owns such brands as McEwans, and I think Theakston,
makers of Old Peculiar).

CAMRA (Campaign For Real Ale) folks will generally portray
these big companies as the devil incarnate, since they swallow
up smaller breweries, eliminating regional beers and replacing
them with national brands.

Britain has a number of small breweries left, though, many
of which only distribute their beers locally.  So, the
"everyday" beers may vary quite a bit from place to place,
although there are also some quite good beers available nationally
(all right, I've said it--so kill me).

A few British brands which you can find in this country, with
a little work, include: Young's and Fuller's, both of London;
Felinfoel, from Wales; Samuel Smith's, from Yorkshire; and
Belhaven, from Scotland.  These may not be quite as "everyday"
in Britain as national brands from the big conglomerates
mentioned above, but I think they're all pretty widely available
in their respective locales.  Of course, international cheap-n-nasty
lagers like Lowenbrau and Castlemaine XXXX are also everyday beers
in this day and age.

Anyway, should you like to try some of these, here are the
beers from the above mentioned breweries which I've seen in
the states (these are all bottled beers, which may or may
not bear resemblence, in name or flavor, to beers these companies
sell in Britain).

Young's Special London Ale and Ramrod are both nice bitters (the Ramrod
being the heavier of the two), and Young's Old Nick is a strong
and dangerous brew indeed.  Fuller's produces London Pride and 
Fuller's ESB.

Felinfoel, a fairly small Welsh brewery (as I understand it) turns
out some delightful ales, marketed here as Welsh Bitter, Double Dragon,
(a stronger bitter), and Welsh Porter.  They also produce Felinfoel 
Festive Ale this time of year.  The Festive Ale is a delightfully 
rich winter beer, which I highly recommend y'all go out and grab
a few bottles of while you can.

That reminds me, Young's also makes a winter beer, Winter Warmer.
But I digress.

Samuel Smith's makes a huge number of ales, which I can't remember
half of offhand, although they include Pale Ale, Taddy Porter,
Oatmeal Stout, and a seasonal Winter Welcome ale.  Samuel Smith's
is a great brewery, but I find it hard to find their beer in good
condition in this country.  Maybe it's the clear bottles.  Also,
they're among the most expensive of the British imports.  Sigh.

I think Belhaven may only make one beer for import into this country.
Anyway, the one I can remember is, I think, simply called Belhaven
Scottish Ale.  I remember it as a sweetish, malty amber-colored beer,
fairly typical of beers I've had in Scotland.

Among national brands that deserve mention, if only for their
availability over here are Bass, Whitbread, Worthington's White Shield,
Guinness (not a British beer, but widely available in Britain),
McEwan's, Newcastle Brown Ale ... Theakston's Old Peculiar, though
produced by a megabrewery, is still a delightful beer, dark,
powerful, and eclectic.  Some people say it's gone downhill since
Theakston's was taken over, but it's still good.

Anyway, I've rambled long enough.  I haven't been in Britain in a 
few years, so maybe someone from over that side can clarify what's
"everyday" nowadays.  Personally, I hope to head over to London in
late February to reacquaint myself with the British beer market ...

OK
-arthur

P.S.--I should add, in reference to the original subject of this thread,
that the Double Diamond I've had in this country has been quite good.
Either they're packaging something completely different for export,
or our British friends are prejudiced against its keg-beer origins.
The Double Diamond available here, though not quite in competition
with fresh, local ales, is not for the dogs.

The queen, however, drinks Young's Special Bitter.

-ae-