HANK

TOPPER

Uncle Sam

IMHO...Top 10 beers:<BR><BR>1. Budvar....Czech Republic<BR>2. Augustinerbrau....Germany<BR>3. Paulaner Octoberfest Marzen...Germany<BR>4. Sam Adams...USA<BR>5. Belhaven Ale...Scotland<BR>6. Samuel Smith (virtually anything they brew....England<BR>7. Stella Artois...Belgium<BR>8. Stiglbrau...Austria<BR>9. Tenants Lager (the hightest version)...Scotland<BR>10. Shinerbock...USA (Texas)<BR><BR>BTW, Budweiser sells so much because they have a huge market, their advertising is excellent and their marketing works...their beer SUCKS!!!!!

Capo

Once again, this comes down to personal preference. I don't like beers that taste "watery" to me, mass-market American beers like Budweiser, Miller, etc., but I'd guess that the thousands of people who drink these beers don't drink them solely because of advertising or solely because of price. They probably like the taste compared to what they would see as "heavier" beers. <BR><BR>Michael Jackson -- the British Michael Jackson, that is -- and other beer experts may have their opinion as to what kind, or brand, of beer is "best" but that's only their opinion. It's not as if there's some secret 11th commandment from God, stating what the <BR>"best" beer is and that "thou shalt drink it."

HANK

<BR>“300 million captive users,” hmmm, do they let babies drink in the States now?<BR><BR>Yeah, Canada has some very good beers, I agree. However, as for source water how could you beat a rocky mountain stream such as the one in Golden, Colorado used by Coors? They have a great water source and still I can’t stand their beer.<BR><BR>I’ve had some really good, “pale” lagers in Japan, a place not ordinarily associated with beer. I found most of them to be very “American” in that they were light and heavily carbonated but unlike American beer, they packed a real punch. By the way, some of the breweries there have been in business for hundreds of years so they’re not just trying to be American knock-offs.<BR><BR>I don’t think being made in England, Germany, wherever is going to automatically constitute a good beer. One of the best I’ve ever had is from a small brewery in the college town of Lawrence, KS. (KU Jayhawks). It was an unfiltered wheat beer from a place called the Free State Brewery and it was really first class.<BR><BR>You never know where you’re going to find something exceptional where you least expected it.<BR> <BR>

Frank

Suppose the only ice cream you ever had eaten was soft freeze from Dairy Queen. Then you went to Italy and had gelati. Would you think it a little odd if on your return home you announced that you preferred soft freeze, and that no one could prove that gelati was any better. It's not that you'd be wrong, it's just ignoring a world of better alternatives. Fierce allegiance to a mediocre product means something more than taste is involved. Perverse national pride? Thought control?

Capo

Frank, if someone refuses to try alternatives, that's one thing. If they try alternatives, yet prefer something that others deem "substandard" or "not good", that's quite another. <BR><BR>Gelati may be "better" than what Dairy Queen serves for you, and me, but if someone prefers Dairy Queen over gelati, then it's not "better" for them, is it?

Frank

Capo<BR>If an occasional American chose the DQ over the gelati I could accept that as the norm. If 95% of Americans said they preferred gelati (the percent of beers sales by the mass produced US beermakers) I'd say "How peculiar." I also think the mass beer producers encourage their loyalists to not try the alternative (bitter beer face commercials) for fear they will lose their dominant market share.<BR>I concede your point though, that matters of taste are matters of taste. Just peculiar, is all.

trying

I, too, am a fan of Free State beers, though I do not like unfiltered wheats as a rule (just not my thing). A word of caution: For those of you who are quick to criticize certain beers (particularly US domestics), you may be more of a beer snob that a beer expert. I'm not trying to insult you; I am a reformed snob. "Good" beers come in varying forms and flavors, a beer continuum if you will (that may be stretching it). Whether we like it or not, too often our opinions are based on advertising (good or bad), or the perceived classiness of a beer (because it is imported or otherwise). Heinekin (sp?) has historically been marketed in the US as a high-class beer, but I have had a number of Heine's that didn't travel or age very well (though I generally like the beer). I'm sure a lot of people have thought they were pretty cool having a Heine, while actually drinking a greatly deteriorated beer, while expressing distain for the lowly Bud, which was probably reasonable fresh and tasty.

Frank

Oops<BR>I should have said, if 95% of Americans said they preferred DQ soft freeze....

statistics

<BR>PooPoo stated:<BR>"Bud sells more beer worldwide than its next three competitors combined" ???<BR>Production figures for 2000:<BR>Anheuser-Busch (Bud) - 159 million hectoliters<BR>Interbrew (Stella Artois) - 101 million hl<BR>Heineken - 72 million hl<BR>For the latter two, you can use the term "worldwide", but for Bud??

Fuzzbucket

Going back to the original post, (with a nice degree of humor) this person said that they HAD TRIED a great number of brews and DIDN’T LIKE THEM. The Poster also said that they didn’t like cooked beets. What of it?<BR><BR>I don’t think that the post was about beer, per se, so much as the fact that the person in question was tired of getting some sort of a, “well, if you don’t like this there’s something wrong with YOU,” attitude from the English and, YES, I’ve noticed it too.<BR><BR>I’m a man and I like a shandy sometimes after a meal. If you don’t know this is a beer/”lemonade” mixture almost always ordered by the ladies. I’ve actually had pub help pull me aside, trying to be kind in every way, and tell me that I shouldn’t order a shandy. Baloney!<BR><BR>I agree with the original poster. I can’t stand Guinness, I think it is absolutely the pits. As a lifelong beer drinker, if Guinness was all that was left I’d switch to tea. But in Britain saying you don’t like the “black bile” is like saying you think that the queen is a man or that Churchill liked dressing up dollies.<BR><BR>Brits in general, particularly the English, are first class beer snobs.<BR>

Gary

The very best beer bar none is the one you have when you want it!<BR>The second best beer is a free one!<BR>Gary

marko

An ice cold Castlemaine Fourex whilst watching the Maroons devastate the Blues in the first game of the state of origin. Or a Crown Lager when I am in a more reflective mood and watching the Reds beat any south african team in the super 12 Rugby. Now this is a post that should have a few people scratching their heads

Mina

Marko, enough talk of Rugby...let's talk about Australian Rules...which I hear is like rugby on crack (and I think Rugby is like American football on crack, so that's saying something!) ;-)<BR><BR>And I have been scratching my head...can't quite figure out how to get Crown here in the US. Don't think it's gonna happen.<BR><BR>I was told once by a farmer that he likes "better" beers like Sam Adams, Guinness, etc., but that it wasn't a "farm beer". After (or during) a tough day in the fields , he said you needed a watered down beer like Coors light, and so you drink what you're used to. (you don't want to be too buzzed playing around with farm gadgets, I think.) Made sense to me. I, myself, have never tried coors light, and since Los Angeles is as far removed from a farm as you can get, I don't think I ever will.<BR><BR>This has nothing to do with the original post, does it?<BR><BR>Cheers!

marko

Hi Mina, sorry but I think AFL (aussie rules) has had its "balls" removed, they report people for "wrestling" and fine or suspend them. It once was a mans game but now ...it's become a game for "sheilas" !!!!<BR>Mind you I think AFL, Rugby League and Rugby Union are games that are superior to American Football, which has become very contrived and controlled by the entities that broadcast it ! Personal opinion only

Keith

All beers have their place. In a pub, I drink bitter or heavy, depending what side of the border I'm on (preferred - Young's Special Bitter or McEwan's 80/-) but on a hot summer day the best thing is light lager like Kronenbourg or (yes) Bud.<BR><BR>As for drinking beer cold, it depends when you come here. Personally I hate stone cold lager in December.

Drinkee

My drink of choice is not beer. Not wine. Not Coke, Pepsi, or any other cola. It you think you draw condescension or a sneer when you order something your bartender doesn't approve of, try traveling as someone who drinks neither alcohol nor caffeine. <BR><BR>And I'll bet 9/10ths of you reading this have already rolled your eyes and thought, oh, gee, what's his problem? A Holy Roller? Jehovah's Witness? <BR><BR>And the look on your face, were we talking in person, would instantly provoke me into defensive explanations of the medical reasons why I don't ("I can't.....") drink any of that. Which proves my point. After all, why should I have to deal with your attitude that normalcy means beer, coffee, etc. and what's-wrong-with-him-anyway?<BR><BR>There may be fewer oddballs like me than there are people visiting the UK who like their lager cold. But I have to cope. You can.<BR><BR>

kate

I must admit I'm totally bemused about some of the comments about ordering drinks in British pubs. You're describing an alien country to me. In all my adult years, I've never been to a pub that didn't have cold lager on tap, and lager is drunk universally in pubs up and down the country. Many of my male friends will drink a shandy (if they've got a hangover) and have never met with an adverse reaction. Many people drink soft drinks in pubs (out of choice, becuse they're driving etc).<BR><BR>Just where have you people been going? The club house of the Campaign for Real Ale? (CAMRA)

david west

Kate,<BR><BR>I am also heartily confused by this stuff. I have never come accross a pub without at least one draught lager.<BR><BR>Its actually draught bitter that isn't always available (For instance if you go on the Jack The Ripper walk you end up in the Ten Bells (as in the film "From Hell") and this supposedly English pub doesn't sell any English beer!).<BR><BR>I am also amused by the idea of someone ordering a "hard cider". Two words that don't really go together.<BR><BR>Also it's called Castlemaine XXXX becuase Aussies can't spell beer.<BR><BR>And for what it's worth mass-produced American beer is like drinking wet air. The Micro brews are alright though.

Lynn

Nothing seems to get people going like a discussion of beer. Personal preferences are not character flaws. I like my beers with some body, like German beers, Samuel Adams, Penn Pilsner, etc., but if someone else prefers the watery Coors Lights of this world, what do I care? To each his own.<BR><BR>Part of the fun of traveling is trying new things, new tastes, new foods. I'm sure glad I had the opportunity to try a weissbier in Munchen, even though I wasn't wild about the taste, or a Pilsner Urquell on a train in Hungary. I better stop - it's too early in the morning for me to be thinking of that frosty cold mug!