Beer we go.. (My Top 5 Favourite Beers)

Member Name: gissing

Product:	My Top 5 Favourite Beers
Date:	02/04/01 (369 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: hoegaarden is incredible

Disadvantages: too expensive!

Beer. Lager. Well, whatever you want to call it, alcoholic beverages hold a special place in so many people's social lives, and therefore I decided to write a quick review of beers I like.

Following a comment from a fellow dooyoo-er I should like to point out the difference between beer and lager is that beers are fermented at the top, and lagers at the bottom. So there. People still mix them up, particularly when the US uses Beer to mean lager quite often. As you can probably tell from my choices, I'm not a CAMRA member, real ale lover or anything. I mean, I prefer my pint without twigs floating around in it :)


Starting from five, and working down to number one, I aim to describe each of my choices.

5 - Ashai
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I dont know too much about this one, but its wonderfully dry, and served ice cold is very refreshing. Hailing from Japan, this brew is one of the better imports around at the moment. Although the bottles we get here are brewed in Europe, not Japan. I bought a few bottles of this for the remarkable price of 59p from Jacksons food stores and home bargains. (the latter has a website at www.halfpriceorless.com - unsure as to whether they sell this beer here).


4 - LOWENBRAU Pils
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Goodness me - only had this a few times, but my word it has a kick to it. I managed to almost make a complete fool of myself drinking this (free) at a careers related function. I could hardly function at all after downing about 6 bottles of this in 30minutes or so. I really, really will not do that again! :) Its about 5.6% tastes fairly awful until the third bottle, after which you care not about such minor issues as taste and complexity!

3 - Fosters
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Yes, it isnt terribly strong, its fairly common, and not the most amazing pint in the world, but its MILES better than some of the other stock draught beers/lagers offered by pubs these days. I love the m
ock condensation covered plates on the pumps too - anyone seeing them will know exactly what I mean.



2 - Budweiser
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I know a lot of people dislike this popular beer, but to be honest, the quality of this, particularly when ice cold is unsurpassed as a thirst quenching drink. Having been to the Bud Beer School in Florida, I know all about this beer, in terms of its production, and how to serve it etc. here are a few facts and figures for you.

o Budweiser was first brewed in 1876.
o Budweiser is available in over 80 countries.
o Budweiser has been the world's best-selling beer since 1957.


Not to be confused with the Budvar bottled beer that can be found in the supermarkets and off licences around the country. This is a Czech beer, and uses the same hops as the US Bud (I think). Its a cracking drink in its own right, too.

1 - Hoegaarden
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If anyone has not tried this veritable brew, then I urge them to try it at least once. A wonderful white, creamy belgian beer, the taste of this pint is 10 times better than any of my previous choices. Having done a little research, I found that a bloke called Pierre Celis, who grew up in the small Flemish brewing town of Hoegaarden invented this pint. This small town which in the 18th century boasted 35 breweries for 3,000 inhabitants had breweries run by farmers using their own local cereal - wheat.

Brewing with wheat rather than barley apparently produces a very pale beer, which if unfiltered has a cloudy appearance. Hoegaarden has become famous for this 'white' beer, which sold widely in Belgium and more recently over here.

The natural unfiltered appearance of his Hoegaarden beer, has appealed to a new generation of drinkers and bars pretty much due to its wildly different taste.

Wheat beers are top fermented like English ales and some were originally spontaneously fermented u
sing wild yeasts. This resulted in quite a sour beet, and to balance this spices were added as well as hops. Pierre Celis used coriander seeds and curacao (orange peel) to provide a heady bouquet and soft spicy taste beneath its thick collar of white foam.

Hoegaarden is traditionally served in a chunky six-sided tumbler. It is said that the hexagonal glass allows barmen to use a spanner to prise the empty container from determined drinkers after closing time. Although quite how true this is, is not certain :) I definitely try and nick the glasses whenever possible!

Oh and it is pronounced "Who Garden", not "Ho Garden" :)

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