Craft beer

[Rollin]

My current favourite is Pomona Island Session IPA.
Not available in cans though.

Looking forward to Manchester Beer Festival this weekend....It's a great day out!

[TameRacingDriver]

Another craft beer fan here. Always drank the likes of Stella and Kronenburg, my mates wouldn’t leave me alone until I tried their brewdog beers they brought along, I’d tasted beer before but usually the likes of Doombar, John Smiths, wasn’t keen. However, I did like the brewdog beers and have been unable to drink lager ever since, even Hop House which is good lager is no longer at all enjoyable to drink.

My favourite recently has been Peninne Pale Ale by Allendale Brewery, it tastes beautiful. Also been enjoying Green Mountain. The Vocation stuff is also very drinkable.

Being from Newcastle we also have Wylam Brewery on the doorstep, stuff like Jakehead, Hickey the Rake and so on. They also brew more beers on the Gateshead quayside (By The River Brewery).

Unpopular opinion but I still like a good Punk IPA, but its become fashionable to slag it off.

[Rollin]

Well the pubs and bars are shut!
But my local breweries are doing deliveries!!!

Cloudwater have 25% off their beer for keyworkers and have guest beers too.

Praise the Lord!! Pomona Island have started deliveries of crowlers of their usual keg only staples.
Local deliveries only though.
Burp

[C70R]

I've been doing my bit to keep the breweries' going. So far I've had deliveries from:
- Gipsy Hill (x3)
- Pressure Drop
- Duration
- Northern Monk
- Verdant
- BBNO

Still plenty of good stuff out there.

[Mark Benson]

Rollin said:

Well the pubs and bars are shut!
But my local breweries are doing deliveries!!!

Cloudwater have 25% off their beer for keyworkers and have guest beers too.

Praise the Lord!! Pomona Island have started deliveries of crowlers of their usual keg only staples.
Local deliveries only though.
Burp

Been using https://www.beerishere.org/ to find places local to me to try - I never knew there were so many.

[TameRacingDriver]

I want to support my local breweries but I'm not made of money, some of them are so expensive, approaching the same price as you would pay in the pub. I've never yet found a beer from an independent that was so much better than the usual Brewdog/Vocation/Goose type stuff you get in the supermarket for a quarter of the price.

[SCEtoAUX]

TameRacingDriver said:

I want to support my local breweries but I'm not made of money, some of them are so expensive, approaching the same price as you would pay in the pub. I've never yet found a beer from an independent that was so much better than the usual Brewdog/Vocation/Goose type stuff you get in the supermarket for a quarter of the price.

I was going to post exactly the same thing. Right now in Asda I can buy Hobgoblin in a couple of varieties, Ghost Ship, and Pedigree at £1.25 for 500ml. Spitfire and a couple of others are only £1.00 for 500ml. Incredible value and it's been that way for ages.

I've just browsed a few of the breweries on the Beer is Here website and you are looking at an absolute minimum of £2.75/bottle, with much at £3.00/bottle or more. Bring it in at £2.00, or £2.25 at a pinch I might be interested but at three times the price I ain't buying, it can't be that much better than Hobgoblin which I love.

[So]

Quite a fan of Chouffe Blonde. In fact just thinking about it makes me tempted to make an essential journey to the offy soon.

[C70R]

SCEtoAUX said:

TameRacingDriver said:

I want to support my local breweries but I'm not made of money, some of them are so expensive, approaching the same price as you would pay in the pub. I've never yet found a beer from an independent that was so much better than the usual Brewdog/Vocation/Goose type stuff you get in the supermarket for a quarter of the price.

I was going to post exactly the same thing. Right now in Asda I can buy Hobgoblin in a couple of varieties, Ghost Ship, and Pedigree at £1.25 for 500ml. Spitfire and a couple of others are only £1.00 for 500ml. Incredible value and it's been that way for ages.

I've just browsed a few of the breweries on the Beer is Here website and you are looking at an absolute minimum of £2.75/bottle, with much at £3.00/bottle or more. Bring it in at £2.00, or £2.25 at a pinch I might be interested but at three times the price I ain't buying, it can't be that much better than Hobgoblin which I love.

Either you guys don't really like craft ale (which is fine), or you haven't tried any decent stuff.

To compare Hobgoblin or Pedigree to some of the breweries mentioned here is like comparing boxed Jacob's Creek to a vintage Chateauneuf. It might do the same job, but the quality of production and output is significantly different.

Edited by C70R on Thursday 2nd April 18:24

[TameRacingDriver]

C70R said:

Either you guys don't really like craft IPA style beer (which is fine), or you haven't tried any decent stuff.

To compare Hobgoblin or Pedigree to some of the breweries mentioned here is like comparing boxed Jacob's Creek to a vintage Chateauneuf. It might do the same job, but the quality of production is significantly different.

My favourite beer at the moment is Penine Pale Ale by Allendale. It’s considerably better than decent, and It is no doubt better than Brewdog and the like, but much as I would like to, there’s no way I could justify switching entirely to these beers as I would be skint in short order. The likes of Punk IPA, Goose IPA, Life & Death etc are still really nice to my tastes, probably at least 90% as good and are a fraction of the price. I drink a fair bit of beer so the cost would mount up quickly. I don’t mind buying them occasionally when I see them in places like the Co-op.

[Rollin]

These arrived today amongst a few others. Needs to be drunk soon so best get started. £3 a can.

[Lotobear]

TameRacingDriver said:

My favourite beer at the moment is Penine Pale Ale by Allendale. It’s considerably better than decent, and It is no doubt better than Brewdog and the like, but much as I would like to, there’s no way I could justify switching entirely to these beers as I would be skint in short order. The likes of Punk IPA, Goose IPA, Life & Death etc are still really nice to my tastes, probably at least 90% as good and are a fraction of the price. I drink a fair bit of beer so the cost would mount up quickly. I don’t mind buying them occasionally when I see them in places like the Co-op.

+1 to that!

Pennine Pale is indeed superb and has been my all time favourite beer since it first arrived on the scene some 10 or so years ago.

If you like it you will also like Hawkshead Windemere Pale and their Mozaic but for me Pennine has it all (and is always on in the Crown Posada)

[Lotobear]

I was fortunate enough to procure a pin of Dryfe Blond from this little known Scottish micro brewery just after the lockdown and it's been keeping me well hydrated ever since - it's very nice and deceptively potent:

https://www.lowlandbrewery.co.uk/our-products

[cml24]

I have just had a quick look on beerishere and could only find one of the small local breweries.

Is there a criteria to appear on the website? Or is it up to the brewery to add themselves?

I'm only a few minutes walk to my closest brewery but they aren't shown.

I can understand the price issue above. And also some of the expensive do taste terrible as well (to me anyway), so I'm disappointed if I've spent that much and don't like it!

I've just order three bags in boxes from Southwark brewery. I really don't know if they count as craft beer though!

[TameRacingDriver]

Lotobear said:

+1 to that!

Pennine Pale is indeed superb and has been my all time favourite beer since it first arrived on the scene some 10 or so years ago.

If you like it you will also like Hawkshead Windemere Pale and their Mozaic but for me Pennine has it all (and is always on in the Crown Posada)

Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll check those out. I don’t really get in the Posada much but that’s given me a reason to go in, assuming it survives this crisis and still has it on. I remember being in a huff with the Crows Nest as they had it on but then removed it.

[Mark Benson]

cml24 said:

I have just had a quick look on beerishere and could only find one of the small local breweries.

Is there a criteria to appear on the website? Or is it up to the brewery to add themselves?

I'm only a few minutes walk to my closest brewery but they aren't shown.

I can understand the price issue above. And also some of the expensive do taste terrible as well (to me anyway), so I'm disappointed if I've spent that much and don't like it!

I've just order three bags in boxes from Southwark brewery. I really don't know if they count as craft beer though!

I think the brewery has to add themselves, AFAIK it's a fairly new site so maybe as word spreads it'll improve - I just thought it was a good idea to post up here, given the discussion.

I understand the price thing too, but I see buying beer from a smaller brewery as a treat - session beer from the bigger producers (or at my local normally), something a bit more niche from a smaller producer.

[RizzoTheRat]

Mark Benson said:

Been using https://www.beerishere.org/ to find places local to me to try - I never knew there were so many.

What a great site, I'd never heard of it before. My local brewery (Kompaan, who have now started both a drive through and local delivery) isn't on there but it seems to have some shops I'd never heard of, including one half an hour away that seems to do beer, wine and cheese. My kind of shop!

Agree about the prices of some beers online though. I'm lucky that my local supermarket stocks loads of my favourites like Gulden Draak, Zundert, Kasteel etc at decent prices.

[C70R]

TameRacingDriver said:

C70R said:

Either you guys don't really like craft IPA style beer (which is fine), or you haven't tried any decent stuff.

To compare Hobgoblin or Pedigree to some of the breweries mentioned here is like comparing boxed Jacob's Creek to a vintage Chateauneuf. It might do the same job, but the quality of production is significantly different.

My favourite beer at the moment is Penine Pale Ale by Allendale. It’s considerably better than decent, and It is no doubt better than Brewdog and the like, but much as I would like to, there’s no way I could justify switching entirely to these beers as I would be skint in short order. The likes of Punk IPA, Goose IPA, Life & Death etc are still really nice to my tastes, probably at least 90% as good and are a fraction of the price. I drink a fair bit of beer so the cost would mount up quickly. I don’t mind buying them occasionally when I see them in places like the Co-op.

That's fair enough. I don't tend to drink much at home usually (now that's out the window, of course), so I'm really only buying craft stuff when I'm at breweries/taprooms - although that's more often than it should be according to my waistline.

My way of thinking is that I'd gladly pay a couple of quid extra per pint/can for something that had enjoyed a bit of love and care, over the more mass-produced stuff.

Northern Monk order arrived this morning. 12 cans at £5-6 each is expensive, but I tend to only drink one or two in a 'session' at home. To be honest, I'd find it quite weird to sit at home and smash through 5+ pints of anything unless I was hosting a party.

[HM-2]

Both BrewDog and Wild Beer Co seem to have had some pretty decent sales, largely on their slightly more oddball/barrel aged stuff.
I've also got a Cloudwater order on its way, mostly NEIPA/West Coast IPAs and a few Imperials.

[Uncle John]

I’ve been supporting my local brewery, Pilgrim Brewery in Reigate.

When it all kicked off they had to throw barrels away as obviously pubs were not open anymore, they were close to going bust.... however seems that others have had the same idea & business is booming & he said they’re going to have to fire it all up again & brew more beer as they’re running out!!