My Education Into Beer Appreciation

[kook]

The Ruddles County used to be a fave drink of mine, now they make it with some ISO hop and it is blech! What a shame!

Jovial Monk

[post="62036"][/post]​

Mind if I ask where you got that info?

 

[nonicman]

Horrid site, Ruddles County

I note that the pale ale that is served at the pub is not the same colour as the lovely ale on display in the attached picture. h34r: Though the hop aroma Snow mentions is evident. Don't know about ISO hops, wasn't the impression I got. :blink:

 

[kook]

nonicman, many brewerys here have different recipes for the cask and bottle/nitro versions.

This has gone on for many years now, and some have great variations. This may be not only colour, but drastically different flavour and even ABV!

Some good examples:

Batemans Combined Harvest: Bottle 5.7%, Cask 5.9%
Black Sheep Riggwelter: Bottle 4.9%, Cask 4.7%
Fullers London Pride: Bottle 4.7%, Cask 4.1%
Fullers ESB: Bottle 5.9%, Cask 5.5%
Greene King Abbot Ale: Bottle 5%, Cask 4.9%
Morland Original: Bottle 4%, Cask 3.5%
Ruddles County: Bottle 4.7%, Cask 4.3%

 

[nonicman]

Good stuff, though Pale it tastes great, the hop armoa and taste has you pondering for a good time whilst the chatter is excluded to the background.

Look forward to trying the other variants. :beer:

Edit: Fullers ESB from the cask, hmmmm.

 

[THE DRUNK ARAB]

Edit: Fullers ESB from the cask, hmmmm.

[post="62073"][/post]​

In a word, awesome :beerbang: !

 

[Ross]

Edit: Fullers ESB from the cask, hmmmm.

[post="62073"][/post]​

In a word, awesome :beerbang: !

[post="62106"][/post]​

I can 2nd that :beer:

 

[warrenlw63]

3rd that.

Also ditto to cask Abbot Ale. First beer I ever had in the UK. Still one of my faves. :super:

Warren -

 

[Snow]

Ross, what are you experiences with Ruddles on tap. At the local Pig & Whistle they serve it from a sparkler, so it gets that thick creamy head which IMHO can thin a beer out a little and the head can suppress the aromas. Is it served as Real Ale or from a normal tap? I keep being drawn in for a pint, but each time feel a great beer is being suppressed by the sparkler (IMHO). It's like a cruel tease or is this as good as it gets?

edit: typo

edit: hope my old English teachers don't brew beer, typos

[post="62014"][/post]​

I had the Ruddles on tap at the Indooroopilly Pig and Whistle the other day. They had a sparkler, too. The beer was insipid, with very little hop aroma (although cigarette smoke in pubs always distorts my beer drinking senses). The bottled version, on the other hand, was like a completely different beer!

- Snow.

 

[kook]

Edit: Fullers ESB from the cask, hmmmm.

[post="62073"][/post]​

In a word, awesome :beerbang: !

[post="62106"][/post]​

Strange thing is, I'd much prefer a Chiswick Bitter to ESB on cask!

Wonderful hoppy pale dry bitter. And its cheap, low in ABV and doesnt get cloying or sweet. I wish you could get beers like that back home commercially.

 

[Sean]

Edit: Fullers ESB from the cask, hmmmm.

[post="62073"][/post]​

In a word, awesome :beerbang: !

[post="62106"][/post]​

Strange thing is, I'd much prefer a Chiswick Bitter to ESB on cask!

Wonderful hoppy pale dry bitter. And its cheap, low in ABV and doesnt get cloying or sweet. I wish you could get beers like that back home commercially.

[post="62155"][/post]​

Chiswick is, indeed, a truly stunning quaffing beer.

nonicman, many brewerys here have different recipes for the cask and bottle/nitro versions.

This has gone on for many years now, and some have great variations. This may be not only colour, but drastically different flavour and even ABV!

Some good examples:

Batemans Combined Harvest: Bottle 5.7%, Cask 5.9%
Black Sheep Riggwelter: Bottle 4.9%, Cask 4.7%
Fullers London Pride: Bottle 4.7%, Cask 4.1%
Fullers ESB: Bottle 5.9%, Cask 5.5%
Greene King Abbot Ale: Bottle 5%, Cask 4.9%
Morland Original: Bottle 4%, Cask 3.5%
Ruddles County: Bottle 4.7%, Cask 4.3%

[post="62052"][/post]​

Not to mention Adnams Broadside, which is vastly different in bottled form to cask.

The Ruddles County used to be a fave drink of mine, now they make it with some ISO hop and it is blech! What a shame!

Jovial Monk

[post="62036"][/post]​

That was probably when it was the real thing, brewed in Rutland, instead of an insipid copy of a copy manufactured in St Edmundsbury.

 

[Ross]

Sean,

Regardless of where it's now brewed - I don't think you could call the bottled Ruddles insipid, far from it!!! - Infact, when it was brewed in Rutland the bottled/canned version was very poor in my opinion, whereas the current drop is very nice indeed - I know it's all a mater of taste & personal preference, but insipid never....

 

[wee stu]

As for Gueuze, isn't Zimmermans available here in Oz? I seem to remember getting one a few months ago. I'm pretty sure it was the straight gueuze and not a fruit variant. I got it from The Grape in Chapel Hill, Brisbane.

Cheers - Snow

[post="61772"][/post]​

The straight, and the peach, are now available at the Belgian Beer Cafe in Adelaide, so probably throughout the franchise chain.

The straight geuze is a lovely drink, it's relationship to any normal beer you have tried can, however, seem rather distant. My advice, hang the expense and go the second bottle, it grows on you.

 

[Sean]

Sean,

Regardless of where it's now brewed - I don't think you could call the bottled Ruddles insipid, far from it!!! - Infact, when it was brewed in Rutland the bottled/canned version was very poor in my opinion,

[post="62194"][/post]​

Possibly. The cask version was excellent, but bottling/canning was never a big thing for Ruddles and I'm not sure I ever tried a bottled version of the real thing. Lots of smaller English breweries have never been all that hot at bottling/canning as it's such a small part of their market.

whereas the current drop is very nice indeed - I know it's all a mater of taste & personal preference, but insipid never....

Maybe insipid isn't the right word. Just a bit more polite. It's certainly not a great reflection of best of English brewing, though it is better than the Morland copy that it's a copy of.

 

[macr]

More Beers :chug:
We attacked a couple of beers last night. The Sam Adams, The Holgate, white, old pale and the Mt Macedon, The Budvar and the Triple Karmeleit.
The missus enjoyed the Budvar and the Mt Macedon, but didn't like the rest.
For me it took a bit to get used to the nose on the triple Karmeleit and the taste, not sure what I was tasting, but I don't think it will make the top of my drinking list.
The Budvar has a big hop aroma and aftertaste. I quite enjoyed it.
Very disappointed with the Holgate white ale. It was dead flat :angry: so maybe I will have to try that another day.
The Sam Adams, had a nice aroma to it and a nice taste, but the aftertaste was quite bitter in my opinion, but not bad enough to not have another one. I think this beer would be ok, once I got used to the after taste.
The Holgate Old Pale Ale, was suprising dark, for what I imagined a pale ale was meant to represent, but its flavour was quite nice, can't describe it any better as I was getting a wee bit drunk, so I will need to get another one of those to try again .

 

[sluggerdog]

hey macr, got a fav yet?

 

[macr]

Probably the Mt Macedon, then followed by the Budvar as it is very easy to drink. Tonight will be the heavier (I think) beers. Duvel, Chimay and Trappistes. Then tomorrow, I think it is time to bottle my Coopers Pale ale.

 

[kook]

Heres some education material I bought back from Belgium on the weekend.

 

[barfridge]

kook: you are a complete and utter *******! It's bad enough you're over there, without rubbing our faces in it.

Maybe you could redeem yourself by bringing me back something...all I want is a bottle of Westvleteren Abt 12. I'll be more than happy to pay you for your trouble.

 

[kook]

I'll see what I can do

 

[nonicman]

Kook, that is impressive. Can't wait for the Belgium Beer Festival at the Grande Palace this Sept.

A note on the Ruddles County that I and (I'm guessing) Snow have tried at the pig and Whistle branded pubs. Walked up to the bar and spotted a promo light with tap advertised Ruddles Smooth, after telling the barman no I don't want Redstripe (Jamacian VB at $7 a pop, second time they've pushed it on me) I asked for that, pointing at the promo light/tap (I thought it was a real tap, silly me) the barman went over to the tap labelled Ruddles County. Was informed that it is a "mid-strength" ale. Hence the colour and favour difference.