Beer/Lager/Ale etc.

[McFsC]

Now, I'm a Northerner. I call Stella/Carling/Carlsberg etc Lager. I call Smiths, Tetleys etc Beer. When down south or the bar staff are foreign and I ask what Beers are on tap, they say, "Carling, Fosters." Is it just me that thinks, Ahhhh, it's all wrong?

What's the difference, how do you describe drinks?

[HughG]

I'm down south, to me there is lager, ale/bitter and collectively they are beer.

[AXlawrence]

Lager is a type of beer.

[227bhp]

They're all beer, simple.

[Lucas CAV]

McFsC said:

Now, I'm a Northerner. I call Stella/Carling/Carlsberg etc Lager. I call Smiths, Tetleys etc Beer. When down south or the bar staff are foreign and I ask what Beers are on tap, they say, "Carling, Fosters." Is it just me that thinks, Ahhhh, it's all wrong?

What's the difference, how do you describe drinks?

I would describe those examples as ditchwater, personally - but yes, all are beers -

[PorkInsider]

I'm a northerner, too, and agree with OP.

It always used to be understood that lager was lager and beer was beer.

Seems to be that 'beer' now covers lager as well as men's beer, unfortunately.

[bobbo89]

As a northerner I think your wrong, beer is beer!

Whether its lager, ale, bitter, mild, wheat, stout or a porter. Beer is beer!

[vournikas]

AXlawrence said:

Lager is a type of beer.

Strictly,

"Lagering" is a method of fermentation and storage of beer, basically using a bottom-fermenting yeast and subsequent storage in cold, dark cellars.

[McFsC]

So there's a Northerner that's with me - at least I'm not alone!

[SS2.]

Aside from 'going for a beer' which is generic for 'we're off to the pub', 'beer' in our circles most definitely means ales and not eurofizz (or John Smiths & Tetleys, for that matter..).

Oh, and I'm a southerner..

[Adam B]

PorkInsider said:

It always used to be understood that lager was lager and beer was beer.

by those who don't understand the definition of beer

My mates would go for a beer, ask "who wants a beer?", but the responses would be a pint of lager, pint of bitter, pint of pale ale etc (followed by a discussion on the particular brand/type)

Even the drivers will ask for a bitter shandy or (yuck) a lager shandy

[soad]

What is a stout/porter then? Both ales?

Dark lager can be mistaken for a porter?!

[Adam B]

From wiki

Stout
Stout and porter are dark beers made using roasted malts or roast barley, and typically brewed with slow fermenting yeast. There are a number of variations including Baltic porter, dry stout, and Imperial stout. The name Porter was first used in 1721 to describe a dark brown beer popular with the street and river porters of London.[94] This same beer later also became known as stout, though the word stout had been used as early as 1677.[95] The history and development of stout and porter are intertwined.[96]

[sbird]

Don't always trust wiki. Porters and Stouts taste very different.

I had the same problem, as the OP, when I was in America. I couldn't find any way of asking, that didn't result in the answer: "Bud, Bud Light, Millers, Coors....."


"What do you have on hand-pull" seems to be the easiest way of getting a list of 'beer' in the UK though.98

[Adam B]

I don't but regardless of taste they are all types of beer.

Local colloquialisms for "beer" is a different topic and what the OP was driving at I think.

Edited by Adam B on Tuesday 5th January 10:32

[hornetrider]

Bloody northerners.

[thebraketester]

Down south I think it's more common to refer to it as ale. i.e "what ales do you have on??"

Lager.
Beer/ale/bitter.

[thebraketester]

soad said:

What is a stout/porter then? Both ales?

Dark lager can be mistaken for a porter?!

Stout Think Guinness (ish)
Porter. Think very dark ale/bitter

[Black can man]

So what do we call all those beautiful Belgian beverages ?

[wibble cb]

Black can man said:

So what do we call all those beautiful Belgian beverages ?

god awful.........