American Beer

[RokDok]

I have to say I've had a similar problem is the States.

There is a place I went to in San Diego which apparently had the largest rang of craft beers in the world.

I'm afraid that all the ones I tried tasted very similar.

The problem is, I think , that they may well be craft brewed but that's where the craft ends.

They are pasteurised which kills the yeast and effectively boils off a lot of the flavouring compounds. They are then artificially carbonated and served excruciatingly cold which again makes it difficult to discern the remaining flavours.

I guess pouring them from glass to glass a few times to get rid of the excess CO2 and allowing them to warm up might help but there is still a lot of flavour lost in the processing above.


Re: the 'tasters' , Wetherspoons serves beer in 1/3 pt glasses during their beer festivals- so you can try 6 beers but drink only 2 pints. I haven't asked if they do that outside of their beer festivals but might give it a try.

Cheers

RD

 

[phettebs]

Our beers are served very cold regardless of style. I blame the German lager influence for that. ;-)

Craft beer has become rather ubiquitous over here. There are some really great ones but a lot of complete **** also. Chicago does have some pretty nice pubs with decent variety. Some Goose Island beers are very good and some I've dumped.

What was wrong with the beers you sampled?

 

[RokDok]

Our beers are served very cold regardless of style. I blame the German lager influence for that. ;-)

Craft beer has become rather ubiquitous over here. There are some really great ones but a lot of complete **** also. Chicago does have some pretty nice pubs with decent variety. Some Goose Island beers are very good and some I've dumped.

What was wrong with the beers you sampled?

Hi PL,

Nothing wrong just that although they looked very different they tasted quite similar, and too cold for my palate ( even colder than Wetherspoons over here ). I've never had bad beer in the States on my couple of visits there.

Are there craft beers which are served 'live' ?

A bunch of us ( the village 'brew crew' ) will be doing the E-> W coast trip in a few years, and will be heavily influenced as to where we stop over by the local beer.

Cheers

RD

 

[phettebs]

There are some local pubs that I avoid because their beers all taste the same to me. There are some here that will cask condition an ale and serve it via firkin but they are few and far between. Chicago would have some. We are just used to ice cold heavily force carbonated beer. Some places will even serve it to you in a frosted mug pulled from the freezer! :cry:

If I were doing a coast to coast trip, I'd make a list of breweries I wanted to visit in each area. Pubs are too spotty based on what they serve. Pretty much all of them are "free houses." Because of that, you never know what they will have on tap. The east and west coasts have some great breweries though and would be well worth visiting.

Baz

 

[simcoe soup]

I cant stand warm beer, the only beer I dont like chilled is stout. Not saying it needs to be ice cold but room temp beer really doesn't do it for me.

 

[RokDok]

Baz,

Thanks, I do like the idea of a trans US brewery tour !

Simcoe,

I think that different beers taste best at different temperatures- a bit like wine.



Cheers

RD

 

[Loetz]

I really enjoy doing beer tourism. You don't have to go all the way to America to check out good craft beer outside of the UK. I'd suggest doing some tours in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. I don't know how much the flights are from where you live, but when I lived in Berlin the flights to those countries were dirt cheap in April and May. I'm talking about 15 pounds for a round trip ticket! It was with low-cost airlines, so you have to pay for a bunch of add-ons, but it's not that bad if you just carry on a bag. The people there were very friendly and excited to have foreigners there trying their brews. I can truly say that I had some of the best beer in my life in those countries. I really think that they are at the head of the scene.
The menu at this bar blew my mind:
http://www.akkurat.se/

Itally is also meant to have a pretty good craft beer scene now too, but I have yet to check that out.

And Prague has a beer bar worth checking out too...
http://www.gastroinfo.cz/pivoklub/

Of course there is also Belgium if you're into that sort of thing:
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1232/
I used to go there once a year and spend three days in a row just drinking beer in that bar. After five years, I managed to try most of everything I was interested in and now I live in Vienna where the flights are a bit more expensive so I haven't been back lately.

 

[RokDok]

Loetz,

I'm trying to persuade the brew crew to go over to Dusseldorf- I worked there for a year or two 35 yrs ago. Some great brewpubs.

Meanwhile have persuaded SWMBO to have a weekend away at the pub below.

Two nights accommo for one for CAMRA members.

http://www.theanderson.co.uk/splashdri.htm

The owner is American as chance would have it, and he did have a craft ale when I was up there in the summer. Apart from being a bit cold & fizzy it was nice.

RD

 

[Loetz]

That's somewhat tempting, but I'm a bit strapped for cash these days. I don't think I'll be making any trips any time soon. :/