But happy new year to you all, I've been at my Mother in Law's in London and Brother in Law's in Pembury having a spiffy time involving lots of good beer and the kids getting spoilt rotten, unfortunately the lapdog's modem went caput so this is my first chance in a couple of weeks to say hello and wish everyone the best for 2004

Good beer in England? So you imported it, huh? SCNR ;-) Happy New Year!

Lol, some was imported, but some was native, wifey bought me a selection as part of the crimbo presents, - WaggleDance, Tanglefoot, bishops finger, Spitfire, Becks and DoppelBock, a few bottles of each, how she got the doppelbock I don't know - it's rare as rocking horse poo in the UK. :-)

Hi I see what you mean by good beer , one bottle = 3 US beer at least thats what I found when I was in the states. Saying that it only takes 3 pints to get me under the table anyway!! glad to here you had a good New Year Dave

HEY derjimi! Shall we compare English beers to the watery brews available in the US? Coors, Miller and Bud. No contest really. And lets talk about Bud for a second, which is a poor imitation of the original Budvar (which is Czech, so that argument doesn't really work).

We Brits have the best beer in the whole World. Bishops Finger and Spitfire I've tried. Becks is in pretty much every pub (but it's German, I think, so again not a good argument). Never heard of DoppelBock.

You should have called me Gog, I only live about 2 miles from Pembury village and could have helped you sample your beers. ;-)

OK, I'm gonna stop now, cause I just realised my favourite (Kroni 1664) is actually French, so I'm being a hypocrite. And I drink Absolut more than lager and that's Swedish.

I need a drink now.

I was going to Phil, but the modem went phut :-( otherwise I would have suggested meeting for a beer in Tun Wells. (From what I recall the Irish bar does a good pint of Kilkenny :-) ) DoppelBock is a dark german beer, very strong (about 11%) and tastes great slips down too easily though :-) very hard to get hold of outside Germany, but I got a taste for it while working in Nuremberg.

I've seen Americans absolutely plastered on one pint of Heineken! Bud sucks!

Glad to hear somebody else drinks Waggledance. Great beer from a local (to us) brewery.

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Drawbridgep, I'm not drinking american beer. I'm german. :-D I really dislike Coors and Milelrs. You can get it here, but it's more like a "hip drink" that some gals prefer here. No offense. Most time I drink Beck's (from Bremen), sometimes Ktritzer Black Beer or Gilde Br from Hannover. And I like Elephant Beer from Carlsberg, Denmark very much. A very strong beer with 7,5 % Alc. On my visits to britain I stuck to Lager and - of course - Guinness. :) Cheers, Jimi

Oh, p.s.: a good czech Budvar (called Budweiser in germany) is always a good thing, too. :-) Somebody mentioned DoppelBock - should be a german beer too, somewhere from Bavaria. Bock is a stronger type of beer.

Gilde Brau is a nice beer, drunk that a fair amount when I was in Munchen Gladbach You missed out on the best British beers, our home grown lager is nats compared to german brews, but the traditional ales are good to drink.

Gog - I'm wondering which Irish bar you go to. derjimi - ah, can't make fun of German beer. They are the masters. Except for that white one that looks like dishwater. I can never remember what it's called. (And can't pronounce it anyway) Anyone had Youngs Double Chocolate Beer? I used to like that until one of my friends made a whisky depth charge with it. I was not a well person and can't drink it now. When I'm in America, I tend to stick to Killians. I'm also going to teach them (some, not all) that you can't put all brews under the name BEER. I asked for a lager last time and it took me a while to explain what I wanted. And don't get me started on the whole biscuit, cookie, scone debate. I also intend to show them that English mustard is better than American, and to the wonder that is Marmite. :-)

Maybe it's Hoegaarden White I'm thinking of?

If so it isn't german beer. Sounds Danish to me. :) Stick to Beck's and you can't go wrong. ;-)

AH, it's from Belgium.

(but does look and taste like dishwater)

Maybe I can clean my dishes with it. ;-D

When I was in Berlin I drank a beer called Hieffe Wissen (excuse spelling), I haven't been to Germany for a few years and my German is very rusty. I was also introduced to a beer made by monks called Cloister or something similar, that was strong and very good and my friends thought I would keel over after one glass, but then they had forgotten that I'm Scottish and we are raised on alcohol. lol 8) Catlin

Ah, as the former beer coordinator for the world famous "California Festival of Beers", I can guarantee that nary a 'Bud', 'Miller', or 'Coors' would blacken our doorstep while I held the reins (can't speak for the last few, abyssmal years). The California microbrewery industry has set the standard for all American microbrews..., and these puppies do much better justice to the 'old world' beers than anything that came out of Milwaukee or St. Luis. Most of our beers are on the 'hoppy' side, although we have many fine browns, porters and stouts. We even have a couple that rival Hoegarten as a 'white Belgian ale.' So, a list of favorites, in no particular order or nationality: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA) Liberty Ale (Anchor Brewing, San Francisco, CA) Red Tail Ale (referencing the Red Tail Hawk from Mendecino Brewing, Hopland, CA) Guinness Draught (Ireland) Pilzner Urquell -only in the keg, the bottles ruin it- (Pilzen) Eidelweiss Hefe-trub (Austria) Oso Negro Stout (Los Osos Brewing Co. -my own label!-) and too many to list... Oh, and, "Lucas Electric: the reason Brits drink warm beer!"

I prefer beers like Guinness extra cool. The Scots aren't like the English when it comes to warm beer. lol 8) Catlin

Well, the Scot also know how to make a good whisky, too!

As long as it isn't ORANGEBOOM......

Yeah, Nukeboy is right! There are a lot of excellent brews coming out of microbreweries on the West coast of the U.S. There are a lot of great "brewpubs" in Portland,OR and Seattle too. I would only use Bud or Miller to drown the slugs in my garden,lol.

Ya cant beat a good kiwi brew and I'm not talking about Stienlager either.My favourites,Speights Old Dark,Montieths black,Dopplebock is available outside Germany,it is made in New Zealand as a limited production special by Montieths Brewery Greymouth N.Z. A jolly nice ale it is too. Cheers and good health GG.

Ooh, I knew there were good kiwi brews out there, but I haven't been able to find any (Steinlager the only one I've seen). Tell me if any export, or IM me to see if we can set up something. An aquaintance of mine retired from his business to become the exclusive importer of Eidelwiess in the US. Needless to say he is "well off" and happy! Sounds like an opportunity....

Bryster: Orangeboom... Some things should remain dead and buried, Laddie.

Nukeboy: Hear-hear!

All together now, Orangeboom, Orangeboom, It's a lager not a tune...

Used to get OB in South Africa....jeez it was awful!

Has anyone notice how we seem to manage to talk about alcohol in this forum more often than in any other forum. 8) I think that may be linked to the nuttyness of Bryce users, don't you think? 8) Catlin

We just talk, they drink. ;-) Me too, I'm enjoying a Bitburger Premium Pils now. :)

Oh! I forgot about Bitburger!!! I love that stuff!! Maybe the fact that we talk about alcohol more is because there's not a lot else to do whilst waiting for Bryce pictures to render?

Yes you are probably right, long render times and nothing else to do. Which reminds me, I have a little 10 year old malt waiting for me. 8) Catlin

Exactly, we're forced to drink because of the render times. big grin Catlin, would you mind to pass me a sip? I'd give you a bottle of good Bitburger for it. :-)

Lets hope Bryce 6 isn't TOO quick at rendering.

I think I'll render me a still.............boil up some Olde Brycian.....

Lol those two week renders can be hell though..........

Is this why I keep trying to render multi-mirror, transparent balls over endless seas...?

Jimi, open your mouth wide and I'll pour some of this fine Scottish fire water over the ether to you. 8) As for two week renders, if Bryce 6 takes longer than that we are all likely to be found lying in a alcoholic stupor. grin 8D Catlin

Cat, I have put the DSL cable in my mouth and will start sucking on it as soon as you pour the good stuff into your modem. ;-)) J.

Catlin gonna suck on WHAT?

No, I suck. I do everything for a good malt. ;-)

Well this is weird, I was at the store today picking up a six pack of Heineken. I've decided to go with half the beer for taste (I normally get a 12 pack of Molson Ice). But I'm trying to drink less, so I'm treating myself to a more expensive beer. Well at the store next to the Heinekens were Boddington's from England and I was sure that it had been mentioned in this thread so home I came to see if it was a positive mention or a negative mention only to find I can't find it mentioned here. Ah well. Bryster, I'm going to suck down this Heineken and then another and ... well I've only got six of them :(

Ang: Boddington's has a pretty good rep over here. It's certainly been advertised enough - the ads a pretty clever too. But remember, it's nothing like Heineken....

ok, so I'll stick with Heineken then. :-D

Oh go on, give the Boddington's a try Angela. I'm not a great beer drinker but even I like the Boddington's. Bryster's right about the ads for it on tv, it usually involves girls who will do just about anything to get their hands on some of the stuff, whether it be to drink, or use as a face pack. lol 8) Catlin

LOL, I realised one other turnoff to buying the Boddington's. It comes in a can, I prefer bottle, but I may just give it a try when the Heineken runs out. :-D I've got to start exploring more. I'm stuck in a rut. Also have had one of those bad days (Monday of course) So many little things gone wrong. Too much snow to ignore, had to shovel and use personal time to make up for being late for work. Being late for work meant no parking places, parked in a two hour spot and forgot, got a ticket. By the time I left work the ticket was frozen to my windshield, ended up in bits and pieces by the time I got it all peeled off. LOL, so I called in sick to my second job and came home to a nice dinner and a Heineken.