Food Drink Cooking

Love a good beer

Oberon Session IPA

Please don’t think I am an expert in beer. I’m not. But I do love a good beer. And if you do too, you will know that the Belgians do good beer, and so do the Dutch and the Germans. Before I came to England I never thought the English did good beer. And when I tried ale for the first time I couldn’t understand why anyone enjoyed this lifeless, warm liquid. As people raved about it I kept trying. And then I tried some more… with the trying came curiosity about local and seasonal ales, a bit of reading and some more tasting.

And now I don’t understand how anyone would not enjoy this comforting, smooth and creamy liquid that tastes of cereal and is served at room temperature. Ales are wonderful beers. They can be enjoyed on their own but also go well with a nice pub lunch. They won’t sit on the top of your food like most lagers do. They will flow gently down with the food and give you a satisfied feeling in the process.

I have tried many ales and loved quite a few. Here I post a selection of the some of them and some other beers (that are not ales) that I have loved in equal measure. You may disagree with my choices and that’s ok, I do have a bias towards pale ales and IPAs and am not the biggest fan of very strong, heavy, sweet or fruity beers. I tend to prefer light, malty, corn-husk tasting beers, which may not be your thing. Anyhow, here are some of my recent favourites. I thoroughly recommend them.

Brewdog Dead Pony Pale Ale – stunning American pale ale, light and fresh, grassy in flavour.

Brewdog Dead Pony Ale

The ‘cleanest’ ale I have drank – Einstök, Icelandic White Ale. A cross between a white beer and an ale made with the purest Icelandic water (so they say!). It is so crisp, smooth and citrusy! Body is a little cloudy in the true spirit of the white beer. Love this.

Einstok Icelandic White Ale

Oberon Session IPA by Wharfe Bank Brewery – an earthy, easy to drink IPA tasting of cereal. Very decent IPA, enough for me to take a picture and post it here 😉

Oberon Session IPA

Isis Pale, Compass – a well-balanced, easy to drink ale with a malty flavour and a lovely colour (on the darker side of the typical ale colour, I guess). Really enjoyed this.

Beer Isis Pale

Lagerbier Hell – a lager, I know! But a really clean, malty and really well rounded beer. A light lager made in Germany that would compete for my attention with an ale on any evening (and not many do!).

Lagerbier Hell

If you are as excited about good ales/beers as I am and have your own favourites, please share! And I will swiftly buy a bottle or two and share my own views.

Happy drinking!

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4 Comments

  • Reply Andrea October 28, 2015 at 19:18

    I don’t like beer but you’ve made me think of trying it! Einstock looks interesting. 🙂

    • Reply The Copper Kettle October 29, 2015 at 10:24

      Hi Andrea, not sure I could change your mind if you don’t like beer! It all depends on what beers you have tried and why you didn’t like them.

  • Reply The Hungry Mum November 7, 2015 at 10:30

    I am a wine drinker but when I do have a beer I prfer my tried and true. Having said that I do like to try beers from craft beer makers, esp in summer.

    • Reply The Copper Kettle November 9, 2015 at 14:52

      Thanks for dropping by, Hungry Mum. I love wine too but I find that some country pubs in England just beg for a nice pint of ale. What beer do you usually go for?

    Leave a Reply to Andrea Cancel Reply