Beer!

[JonikW]

I like a hoppy beer. Hope this isn't off topic and we are in the lounge after all: some interesting news here on how Britain might help resolve a pending hops crisis in Europe.

Kent, my adopted county, still grows quite a lot of hops. The nearest hop field to me is maybe eight miles away but I live close to a lot of old oast houses, now turned into living spaces next to their farmhouses, and I was very pleased to spot some surviving hop bines growing in a hedge on a country lane near me, right by three former oast houses that stopped functioning in the 1950s.

I tried and failed to grow some cuttings last summer and took this pic of the hedge during a morning stroll on September 4 of this year. I love the sticky feel when you crush a piece in your fingers as well as the heady aroma.

[rmstevens2]

Enjoying some Pilsner Urquell this evening. This photo is not from my house. My wife and I are on a little short vacation in Branson, Missouri.

[Gray Fox]

Enjoying some Pilsner Urquell this evening. This photo is not from my house. My wife and I are on a little short vacation in Branson, Missouri.

Love Pilsner Urquel! Its hard to find where I'm at. I've only seen it twice and snagged it up both times.

[Gray Fox]

My favorite style and the best offering I've come across. I've only had it once, perhaps memory is distorting my objectivity a tad, but it was amazing. I've not been able to find it since. Of course, it was ridiculously expensive for a wimpy four pack, so probably better that its not readily available

[SMJ]

Sometime it's the location that matters too.

A pint of St Austell Proper Job outside the Galleon Inn, Broad Haven, Pembrokeshire, Wales.

[JonikW]

Sometime it's the location that matters too.

A pint of St Austell Proper Job outside the Galleon Inn, Broad Haven, Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Fully agree with you about the location SMJ (and your beer and location are two of the best). I've just drunk this very enjoyable Galician beer in a  beautiful but very dark park in Castellon, north of Valencia, after a meal in the town. Heading back to Kent tomorrow where I won't be able to sit out in 24 degrees C at 10pm (EDIT: that's 75.2F) as the English cold season approaches. That brings its own beery joys too of course, particularly of the darker and stronger ale variety for me. Roll on Halloween, Christmas and New Year.

[Gray Fox]

Can't go wrong with Yuengling!

[Albruic]

Sometime it's the location that matters too.

A pint of St Austell Proper Job outside the Galleon Inn, Broad Haven, Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Fully agree with you about the location SMJ (and your beer and location are two of the best). I've just drunk this very enjoyable Galician beer in a  beautiful but very dark park in Castellon, north of Valencia, after a meal in the town. Heading back to Kent tomorrow where I won't be able to sit out in 24 degrees C at 10pm (EDIT: that's 75.2F) as the English cold season approaches. That brings its own beery joys too of course, particularly of the darker and stronger ale variety for me. Roll on Halloween, Christmas and New Year.

Oh boy, I love this one! Would drink a fridge full of it if my pocket could handle hehehe

[Albruic]

Other than social events, I like to taste beer with some food. A good premium Italian-like Salami goes great with this one. 

[JonikW]

Other than social events, I like to taste beer with some food. A good premium Italian-like Salami goes great with this one. 

Agree about the combo of beer with a good snack Albruic (especially a meaty one like yours) or otherwise with a good meal. We’re big observers of Burns Night in my house and that's always the one meal in the year where the two elements of beer and food come together in perfect harmony for me. Before I go on, here's some info on the traditional supper of "haggis, neeps and tatties".

I've got a good number of lines of distant Scottish ancestry but the most recent known ancestor born and bred there (an Armstrong and quite possibly his wife too) is only ggg grandparent level so for me Burns Night is more about a great tradition from this island than anything else.

The first of my two beer pics was snapped in my local Wetherspoons pub this year. This is a nationwide chain with the lowest possible prices but also a wide selection of the best and freshest real ales from all over the country and a few beautiful buildings to boot. Some people are snobby about the chain but I love it. This was a Scottish ale in that country's traditional style, low in hops because of the local climate, high in malt and with a bigger head than was always the old style south of Yorkshire (annoyingly I don't remember the name but I think I made a note somewhere). I ate a meal too but the pub was doing this mini bowl of haggis, which I had as a snack with the delicious beer.

imgbb upload
The second pic is of our home table at Burns Night a few years ago. This is my default way of celebrating the feast: haggis washed down with Scotch and Guinness; it might not make complete sense but it all adds up to a taste sensation for me.

[rmstevens2]

Other than social events, I like to taste beer with some food. A good premium Italian-like Salami goes great with this one. 

Agree about the combo of beer with a good snack Albruic (especially a meaty one like yours) or otherwise with a good meal. We’re big observers of Burns Night in my house and that's always the one meal in the year where the two elements of beer and food come together in perfect harmony for me. Before I go on, here's some info on the traditional supper of "haggis, neeps and tatties".

I've got a good number of lines of distant Scottish ancestry but the most recent known ancestor born and bred there (an Armstrong and quite possibly his wife too) is only ggg grandparent level so for me Burns Night is more about a great tradition from this island than anything else.

The first of my two beer pics was snapped in my local Wetherspoons pub this year. This is a nationwide chain with the lowest possible prices but also a wide selection of the best and freshest real ales from all over the country and a few beautiful buildings to boot. Some people are snobby about the chain but I love it. This was a Scottish ale in that country's traditional style, low in hops because of the local climate, high in malt and with a bigger head than was always the old style south of Yorkshire (annoyingly I don't remember the name but I think I made a note somewhere). I ate a meal too but the pub was doing this mini bowl of haggis, which I had as a snack with the delicious beer.

imgbb upload
The second pic is of our home table at Burns Night a few years ago. This is my default way of celebrating the feast: haggis washed down with Scotch and Guinness; it might not make complete sense but it all adds up to a taste sensation for me.

Hey! I have a third great grandmother (on my Stevens Y-DNA line) who was an Armstrong! I used to belong to Clan Armstrong, but I got tired of paying the monthly dues. Her father was Matthew Armstrong who came to North America from someplace in Northern Ireland.

Right now I am drinking an Old Chub Scotch Ale from Oskar Blues Brewery, 8.0% ABV. Very tasty. Old photo below.

[rmstevens2]

Speaking of the Border Bandits - er, Reivers - Armstrong, here's a photo of something my daughters bought me a few years ago. 

[JonikW]

Speaking of the Border Bandits - er, Reivers - Armstrong, here's a photo of something my daughters bought me a few years ago. 

That's great Rich! My paternal grandmother liked to wear a silver Armstrong clan badge in honour of her ancestry and I often wonder what happened to it after her passing. I'm very interested in the Armstrongs and that whole border history of the Reivers in general.

Can I ask what those glasses are that you and Gray Fox drink from? I like the look of them but we haven't got them here. I would guess they’re based on jars that people will have reused and drunk from at home in the past..

[rmstevens2]

I have two glasses like that my youngest daughter Anna bought me for Christmas some years ago. They are based on Mason jars, which women use for "canning" various kinds of preserves. Mine have a rooster against a honeycomb background. I love them, mainly because my youngest daughter got them for me.

If I wanted to, I could get a screw-on Mason jar lid for those glasses, but I use them mainly to drink beer (iced tea occasionally), so I don't need the lids.

[Rober_tce]

Sometime it's the location that matters too.

A pint of St Austell Proper Job outside the Galleon Inn, Broad Haven, Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Fully agree with you about the location SMJ (and your beer and location are two of the best). I've just drunk this very enjoyable Galician beer in a  beautiful but very dark park in Castellon, north of Valencia, after a meal in the town. Heading back to Kent tomorrow where I won't be able to sit out in 24 degrees C at 10pm (EDIT: that's 75.2F) as the English cold season approaches. That brings its own beery joys too of course, particularly of the darker and stronger ale variety for me. Roll on Halloween, Christmas and New Year.

For me, one of the best beer of Spain, and I’m sure other compatriots think the same way.