Comments on: 7 Beers, 7 Countries: A Review

By: Rob Pendlenton

Rob Pendlenton — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 09:51:00 +0000

Interested to read your comments about one of my favourite beers. As a Geordie expat i am obviously partial but as someone who has lived in Canada and SE Asia as well as the UK I have sampled my share of beer and have to say Broon is still one of my favourites. Brown Ale obviously can’t be compared to lagers as it actually tastes of something. Unlike most UK real ales however, it is rare in being best served chilled. In common with other brown ales, it has a lovely nutty malty flavour and lacks the bitterness of ‘bitter’. Don’t be put off by this review. I’m a local and drink it with relish. Americans are particularly fortunate – you are the only people who can get ‘The One & Only’ in draught form. We English can only get it bottles.

By: Jonathan Bailey

Jonathan Bailey — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 08:19:45 +0000

Thanks for the information and suggestions, I've jotted down some notes for the next time we head to the store, which will probably be tomorrow.

I would love to tell you where the Foster's I got was brewed but I can't. Unlike the other six, I was so disgusted I forgot I was keeping the bottles. I'm glad to hear that it's not the best that Australia has to offer though, sadly, it is the only Aussie beer I can find locally with ease.

I kind of knew what I was getting into with the Newcastle. I really expected it to be last on the list. When the locals talk trash about their own beer, you know it has to be bad. I did get to sample some other UK beers though I neglected to get or remember names (it was 2 am local time).

Honestly, I was unaware of the Czech history with beer, that is interesting. When I think of beer countries I leap to Germany, Belgium, etc. Czech Republic never came up, that's fascinating, I learned something.

We do plan to keep on experimenting though we need to go to the store and see what our next move is...

By: Jonathan Bailey

Jonathan Bailey — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 03:19:45 +0000

By: Jonathan Bailey

Jonathan Bailey — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:19:45 +0000

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:32:09 +0000

Fosters is most definitely NOT the best beer Australia has to offer and I think you'd be hard pressed to find Australians who actually drink it. It's also mostly made under licence abroad. As the most important thing with beer is the water once the beer is made under licence then you're basically not drinking the beer (if that makes sense). There are plenty of well made Australian beers, such as Coopers, Little Creatures, James Boags and James Squires. However, judging from World Market's incredibly limited selection of Australian wine shown on the website, you might have to shop somewhere else to track down these beers.

Pretty much the same thing goes for English beers. Newky Brown is not exactly representative of the diverse range of beers available in the UK. Most Stella in the UK (especially on draught) is actually brewed in the UK - so yet again not representative of the 'real' thing (imported Stella tends to be about 5.2%abv, the locally brewed stuff about 5%abv).

I'm also not sure where you get the idea that the Czechs aren't known for their beers. At one stage (10th century) a law was passed sentencing anyone caught exporting hops (smuggling them out) from Bohemia to the death penalty. Czech hops remain some of the most highly prized and the country is home to some very exciting beers - try Budvar (which might be labelled Budweiser).

Keep on experimenting as you're bound to find something you like - but I'd really try to stick to imports and not anything mass produced.

Good luck!