Lets drink a beer

Coopers Stout is possibly the best Aussie mass market beer IMO. Makes me look forward to winter :D

The Cascade stout has been growing on me recently though. I recommend giving it a crack if you like the stouts.

Beer is a rip off these days :(

I have tried the Sail and Anchor DRAUGHT a few times now. It's pretty good for what it is and on the lower side of the stupid prices for a sessionable beer. There is a Sail and Anchor LAGER (I think) which is godawful so be careful if you decide to check it out.
 
Just finished a can of Bugle Bay Premier Bitter, from Aldi.

I'd rate it 5/10. Don't think I'll be buying that one again.

On the other hand, Shipstone's Crew Amber Ale (also from Aldi) is rather good- had some with a few friends and they rated it as one of the best ambers they've ever had.
 
Haven't tried Stout for years, but it's cold enough to give it a go at the mo.

Tried Sierra Nevada Porter, Coopers and Marston's Oyster and good ol bottled Guinness.

Coopers is tops for flavour and value IMO, but the 6.7% alc is a bit stiff.

Marston's was meh, has the bittersweetness, but too thin, missing many of the stout flavours, also the most sensible at 4.4%.

Would like to get hold of some Mackeson's milk stout, always remember enjoying that the most, but can't find it.

Any good un's at around 5% alc?
 
Most stouts aren't that strong anymore.
Last coopers stout I had was 6.3%
Guinness extra (made under licence) is 6.0%

Cascade stout is 5.8%

They're going to be over 5% because of the amount of grains in them bumping up the alcohol, and watering them down any more would make them taste weak and watery, like your Marston's was.
Other than that if you want something not as strong, I usually go for a porter.
I used to go for James Squires porter which is 5%, but haven't had it for a year or more.
Everything 'James Squires' went downhill a couple of years ago, and I see they've relabeled the squires porter to 'jack of spades', so not sure if they are making it any worse, but james squires porter used to be good.
 
Went to the local Woolies bottleshop yesterday and they have a beer "created by Ferran Adria" who is recognised as some kind of God amongst the foodie types.

It was $9 for a 750ml (I think) bottle, and I was feeling in an expansive move after having just got a work bonus, so i picked up a bottle.

While it's a nice enough lager with small bubbles (think Kronenbourg not Coopers), I think I drank it too cold to appreciate the flavour properly.
 
Just went to my local shop. I hate living where I am right now, cooper 750ml bottle $8.
They're only about $6 at a BWS and about $5ea if I buy a carton.
So no stout for me tonight.
This shop didn't even have any porters. It had the marston's though (that was it for stout, coopers or marstons, which I avoided based or drubbings opinion.)

I grabbed a bottle of "white rabbit" dark ale, some new Vic brewery. Mind you a 330ml bottle was $4.50. I had to get something as F1 is on tonight.
It's got sierra nevada disease, so sweet because of the malts.
I don't like bland beers without malt or hops flavour, but things are pretty ridiculous these days ever since SN and little creatures, and every one is copying them.
It's one of the main reasons why I like stouts, and coopers and german beers in general, they don't have the sweetness of many boutique beers, which I don't like.

I made a homebrew once, all malt syrup, and heaps of hops. I didn't like it because it was too sweet. But it seems many do like it like that for some reason as nearly every new boutique ale brew tastes like that.

Give me coopers ales, weihenstephaner, honest british ales, or any stout any day over these sweet modern day brews.
 
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Bugger...I have a bottle of that Marston's Oyster Stout in the fridge to try.

International beer shop in West leederville is always worth a visit when you become disgruntled with the typical offerings. My Bro-in-law spotted me a couple of nice Danish porters at Xmas which have gone down a treat recently.
 
SmallYetDeadly said:
Bugger...I have a bottle of that Marston's Oyster Stout in the fridge to try.
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Get it out, it needs to be room temp IMO, but that doesn't mean warm. Even then, the Marston's doesn't pack much flavour. Bought some more Coopers. It's even better when it's not ice cold. These beers were never meant to be fridge cold, it kills some of the flavour. At 6.3% you need to savour it a bit.

Picked up a bottle of Young's double chocolate to try.
 
Drubbing said:
These beers were never meant to be fridge cold, it kills some of the flavour.
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And the exact same reason why many lagers have to be fridge cold IMHO. If they are not cold enough you might taste how rank they are.
 
'room temp" at me place right now certainly couldn't be considered warm.
As I said before, best value buying cooper stout is by the carton, about $5 per 750ml bottle. Worth it as it will keep for a while and it's a lot cheaper.
I haven't seen it under $6.90 as a single, most places $7-8 a bottle. Probably could sell the bottles to a home brewer for 50c each as well, best bottles ever for strength and seal :D - Main reason why I'm buying 750ml bottles rather than stubbies. (edit: not to sell but for when I get back into home brew)

I keep the stouts 'warm' (bloody cold house here), and only put them into the fridge an hour or two before drinking. (Decent beers are best 10-13C IMHO)

BTW the guinness draught 4% (the imported 440ml cans) are $45 a carton at most BWS shops now.
I'd much prefer a real extra stout, but no local shops has a carton of coopers 750ml bottles, I went on search for james squires porter and they had none of that either.
Saw imported cans of guinness draught a couple of week ago at the wembley BWS (cnr of harborne and cambridge), saw it again in the the floreat store on tuesday (near cnr of selby and cambridge sts)
Not out of date either, but close too (sept)

Doesn't quite hit the spot of a real stout though like guinness extra or coopers, but a bit of a bargain, at least $20 off.
 
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Drubbing said:
Get it out, it needs to be room temp IMO, but that doesn't mean warm. Even then, the Marston's doesn't pack much flavour. Bought some more Coopers. It's even better when it's not ice cold. These beers were never meant to be fridge cold, it kills some of the flavour. At 6.3% you need to savour it a bit.

Picked up a bottle of Young's double chocolate to try.
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Of course you let it warm up ;)

The Marstons was thin and pretty bland. I actually quite liked their ale when
I tried it so a bit disappointing.

The Youngs is better but it too is afflicted like many of the English beers having a thin character which is annoying even when the flavours are good. Much prefer a fuller bodied mouthfeel.

Coopers Stout is brill to take to a party during winter. I don't need no stinkin' esky!
 
Inspired by this thread, and the positively chilly weather we are having here, I bought a 4 pack of Mildura Brewery's ChocHops Chocolate Stout.

Sad name I agree, but quite a nice beer on a cold day like today when I had to turn the fan down to 2.
 
Well I have fond memories of a Mexican beer called sol. On a hot Katherine day nothing goes so well as sol
 
It's official; I've given up on Coopers Pale. Just can't eek any flavour out of this one. I even drank it like stouts, as in not cold, and it made it worse. Coopers sparkling is great, but they can't seem to brew a great beer without stacking it with alcohol.

Much prefer Squires or Sierra Nevada in pales.
 
I expect i will be the odd man out here, but what else can be expected from the inventor of the TM system :)
I actually like Lagers - When I lioved in NZ my father worked for Lion Breweries the makers of Steinlager which as an employee he got regular supplies of free - so once a month or so I would receive a case thereof and have always regarded it with favour.
However a few years ago on a trek back to New Zild, I discovered Monteiths and in particular their Golden Lager which in my probably unsophisicated opinion is a very nice drop. It great in summer when it slides down almost unoticed and is even a pleasant drop at this time of year. I did buy a bottle of Fat Yak the other day but found it a bit thin in the mouth. Perhaps I need to give a six pack of it a go. Still this time of year I generally stick to my Jamesons Irish Whiskey and the occasional bottle of Laphroiagh when people are feeling generous.
 
Monteiths Golden is a nice drop. I have had a few cases of this at work Christmas parties at my previous employer. Our sales manager was a former Kiwi who worked in the brewing industry over there.

Was out on the town on Friday night and ended up with Squires Amber on tap. Was not bad, seemed like a fresh keg.

Will back Drubs on the Coopers Pale. Last few times I have bought it, there has always been disappointment. I think it was much better years ago, seems to gone downhill in the last 5-6 years.
 
NZ was way above Aus for lagers for a long time.

I would say as far as the big brewers are concerned this is still the case, but there are a lot of smaller and boutique breweries that have started to become more easily accessible, even in Darwin.
 
Picked up a 6ixer of Guinness stout in bottles.

Shock! Horror! It's brewed here under license - that's the death of any good beer, as happened with Heineken.

That said, it's good, smooth and nicer than the draught, which I always found to be thick beer, but pretty thin on taste. I need to get to the intl shop and try the real deal, but it's up at 7% I think.
 
Drubbing said:
Picked up a 6ixer of Guinness stout in bottles.

Shock! Horror! It's brewed here under license - that's the death of any good beer, as happened with Heineken.

That said, it's good, smooth and nicer than the draught, which I always found to be thick beer, but pretty thin on taste. I need to get to the intl shop and try the real deal, but it's up at 7% I think.
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The guinness extra stout with black label has always been made here for as long as I can remember, it least 12 years. (remember when VB switched up to 800ml bottles - they switched back down to 750ml bottles years ago - well guinness was made by CUB back then, as that was in 800ml bottles for a short while too, and that was 8 years ago I think).

It's not bad, but I prefer coopers extra stout. I liked swan/southwarks stout the best though when it was around, stronger, more coffee flavours.

The guinness export stout (yellow label I think) is the only strong stout made in ireland, and it's about 6.5+% and I've never even seen it here, though the int beer shop should have it (I still have never been there...).
 
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