Northern Ireland
Heverlee
A
bit nothing. Fizzy water with a slight
taste of malt. No point in remembering
the name.
Hamerbock
Nice. If the nice barman or bargirl says this is
what they have, buy with confidence.
Clonmel 1650 OK
Harp Ice
Good. On tap in lots of places
Harp
Premium. OK but the Ice is better, which
is unusual in that the Ice products normally post-date the production of
standard beers and are for the younger market.
In this case, I think it is a better drink.
Smithwicks Superior Irish ale
1716 Very Very nice. In fact, Superior is an apt description. Buy it wherever it is on tap.
Reigele Aechtes Dunkel. A dark beer. A fair bit too sweet for me. As in one's enough. Carol's cider, the Orchard Thieves, was a class act and one is not enough.
Hapenny Bridge Inn ale. http://hapennybridgeinn.com/
Served by the barman, Chris, a sharpish lad who’s travelled far and wide on cruise liners (Seabourne) when young. Not a lot of taste initially but after a sip or two very nice drop. There is, too, the romance of having a pint or more at the Hapenny Bridge in friendly surroundings with a young man of considerable breeding and deportment. A very pleasant encounter indeed and one to be recommended to travelers to Dublin.
Served by the barman, Chris, a sharpish lad who’s travelled far and wide on cruise liners (Seabourne) when young. Not a lot of taste initially but after a sip or two very nice drop. There is, too, the romance of having a pint or more at the Hapenny Bridge in friendly surroundings with a young man of considerable breeding and deportment. A very pleasant encounter indeed and one to be recommended to travelers to Dublin.
O’Hara’s Irish lager, Helles Style. This is very nice indeed and probably the
pick of the lagers I had in Ireland. One
day when we were in Dublin, on a Thursday, it was summer for the whole day and
this was nice in the 22 degree heat.
Dublin Brewer Lager. Sharp, crisp full. Not sweet.
Great. Buy with confidence.
Guinness
West Indies Porter. https://www.guinness.com/en-us/our-beers/guinness-west-indies-porter/
Sharper than Guinness. I much prefer this to Guinness, which I think is too bland. This is very nice. Only just released and not widely available yet. Brought home to our B&B by the young sister of the unit owner – she works in a specialty liquor store and gets this newish stuff to try. This, to me who dislikes Guinness, was a very rich offering and would be great on the other 364 days of the year in Ireland which aren’t summer.
Sharper than Guinness. I much prefer this to Guinness, which I think is too bland. This is very nice. Only just released and not widely available yet. Brought home to our B&B by the young sister of the unit owner – she works in a specialty liquor store and gets this newish stuff to try. This, to me who dislikes Guinness, was a very rich offering and would be great on the other 364 days of the year in Ireland which aren’t summer.
Back
in Spain
Alhambra 1925. A specialty from Alhambra brewing. Not that special.
However,
Alhambra Especial, on draught, in Sevilla, was a very nice beer
indeed. Had quite a few in our 6 days
there and it is one of the best of the Spanish, along with Estrella Levante.
(Levante is still a family owned brewery)
St Bernardus Tripel
8%.
Dry and heady. Not the right time of the year to be drinking this. I’ll
try some other time.
Grevensteiner
A G&A
Veltins offering. Cloudy, a little darker than its advertised
blonde. Sharp, nice.
Baltika
Russian. Comes in grades i.e. 3,4,5 etc depending on
alc. % This was a 3 and was far too
sweet.
The 4 is a
darker lager and is not too bad at all.
Not too sharp, certainly not sweet.
Vastly different to the 3.
Tempelier by Corsendonk. Would have imagined more but not to be.
Monkey Amber Ale. In Maquilla Bar, a Seville
micro-brewery, rated very highly in Trip Adviser restaurant guide. This is more of a statistical aberration, as
they have some extremely high positives and only a couple of negatives. Nevertheless, the bar food is excellent
- I had a "Hot Dog", but it was with a
difference!!. A thick hot pork sausage in
a grilled Spanish crusty roll, covered with caramelised onions and
mustard. It was something special. They brew a couple of beers under licence,
and have a couple of Belgians in a tank or two but the Monkey is their own and
it is really nice. Also had a
Weisstephan Pils there but it was barely OK.
George Gale and Co’s Seafarer’s English Ale. https://www.fullers.co.uk/beer/explore-our-beers/seafarers
A Fuller's offering. From the people who give us many great beers.
Had the first and second ever pulled in Bianca’s Bar in Gibraltar. They had just installed the tap in the morning before I arrived after lunch. Very nice indeed, half way between an Ale and a Lager. Nice head that lasts all the way to the bottom. Crisp and a little bubbly, with a nice sour aftertaste. An English chappy had the third pint and I asked him what he thought of it – he was very complimentary about it.
A Fuller's offering. From the people who give us many great beers.
Had the first and second ever pulled in Bianca’s Bar in Gibraltar. They had just installed the tap in the morning before I arrived after lunch. Very nice indeed, half way between an Ale and a Lager. Nice head that lasts all the way to the bottom. Crisp and a little bubbly, with a nice sour aftertaste. An English chappy had the third pint and I asked him what he thought of it – he was very complimentary about it.
Tongerlo.
No
idea what gave rise to this name but available in Mercadonna in Spain. Quite nice.
A Belgian offering.
Carrefours own Abbaye.
As
with most of the large supermarket chains, Carrefours commissions beers with
fancy sounding names and you have no clue from which brewery they come. The breweries don’t want to eat into their
brand premium pricing and at the same time they want the volume that people
like Carrefours can get from them. This
one is a Belgian monastery brew ordered by Carrefours to compete with the
brand-name Belgians at about 1/3rd of the price. And very nice it is too if Belgian holy beer
is your tipple.
Kalnapilis Grand Select lager.5.4%
A
Lithuanian beer. Purchased from the
Russian lady in Almerimar. Nice enough
to start with but a bit too sweet on the aftertaste. Not as bad as the “3” Baltika but just enough
to put you off. If I was in Lithuania
and it was on tap I would drink it, though.
Fuller’s India Pale Ale
500ml
bottle, 5.3%
As I
guessed, this is far better than the American IPAs being sold today. None of the excessive fruity taste that they
have. Good with my Vindaloo tonight when
we went out to Khan’s restaurant for Johannes’ birthday.
Dorado
Canaries
beer. Supposed to be a Pils but a bit
sweet for that. Ok but only just. Well, only just if it was a mile to the next
bar and it was over 100.
Oettinger Weissbeer.
From
a brewery dating back to 1731. Not
usually a fan of wheat beers but occasionally I am. Would be nicer in summer. Good head on it, grassiness not too
pronounced.
Carib
BVI’s
most available beer, but not local. Very
pleasant and not a reason not to visit Road Town, Tortola.
Cuban Beer
Cristal.
Light,
like Corona, Dorado etc. Easy to drink
if nothing else available and not hard on the pocket at about CUC1.5 or say a
buck and a half.
Buccanero Fuerte.
Presidente Pils.
From
Barbados but available all over Cuba. My
pick of available beer in Havana.
Sol
One
of the many beers made in Guatemala and shipped all over the Carib. Not much to recommend it.
Monte
Carlo
Available
by the truckload (somebody overordered!) and nice enough indeed.
Another
from Guatemala. Very drinkable – I have
plenty on the boat. Must go to Guatemala
one day.
Dutch Windmill.
Yep,
a Dutch beer in a bar in Havana, near
the Cemeterio de Colon. They had Bavaria
too but that I’ve had before. Nice
enough but only a small 330ml can and no glass available to take away the taste
of tin. Would buy again if it saw it,
especially if on tap with a glass.
Mayable.
A
Cuban from the Bucanero brewery. Only
4%. A bit light on for taste.
Monte Cristo
Another
brewed in Guatemala. I bought this by
the dozen. Very nice.
Back in the USA
Up
there with the best of the USA is Yuengling.
One of my worldwide favourites.
Drank it a lot in Maryland, its home turf and was pleasantly surprised
to find it here in SW Florida. Knowing
that Yuengling is not widely distributed in the US, I was curious as to why it
was here and discovered that Yuengling has a brewery here in Tampa.
Carol
and I wandered off to visit and made it just in time for the afternoon
tour. At the end, we were treated to
some samples. As it was available,
without me having to make a purchase decision, I tried the Light, the Black and
Tan and the IPL. The light is like all
lights – barely flavoured water with nothing to recommend it. The IPL is just as bad as any IPA. However, the Black and Tan was very nice
indeed and I was disappointed that I couldn’t get its base, Yuengling’s Porter,
to try. As a visit, it was great. As a taste testing, I am confirmed in my
preference for Yuengling Lager. Got the
tee-shirt, too.
Had
lunch in a Mexican cantina restaurant in downtown Tampa. Nice arrangement of tacos with different
fillings. I had a Presidente, which I
had a lot in Cuba, and then tried a Modelo, a Mexican beer. Not impressed. Fairly tasteless.
Motorworks
Brewery http://motorworksbrewing.com/
Very
nice not-so-micro brewery here in Bradenton.
They have the usual sop for the effete amongst us (Lavender Lager?? Peach?? Pineapple IPA?) Still, they do run two very nice drops, the
Motorworks V-Twin Vienna Lager and a Cruiser Kolsch. The brewery itself is in nice surrounds, with
several pitches for bean bag tossing plus a couple of Bocce courts. They have a Yappy Hour every third Sunday
where they raise funds for retired greyhounds and also organise adoptions for
them.
Smaller
than Motorworks, they sell other micro-brewery offerings as well as their
own. I had a very nice Ale called
something like an Alameda Ale but it doesn’t appear on their website for some
reason. I even have a nice photo of it. Reasonable place to visit but probably better
if you’re a local and it’s your usual place of retreat.