Which Country Produces the Best Beer?

Belgium and Germany.

them and Czech Republic and you've got it sewn up IMO

And England!

(i had to say that cuz i'm actually listening to the 4 Skins right now)

Yeah England's alright too. Just for ale though, we can't do lager for shit.

Voted CR.

I don't want to choose just one, so many have so much going for them. So many, admittedly, are rank and weird. But come on, don't make me choose..

i think at the end of the day it's belgium for originality, diversity, and quality. germany, cr, and england all bringing it up after that.

Voted England 'cause really there's nothing I like better than sinking that first pint of session ale.

"Belgium and Germany."

"them and Czech Republic and you've got it sewn up IMO"

hitler's secret agenda revealed

xposts Cains lager is perfectly pleasant.

england probably underrated by americans imo

the u.s. is good for boutique mad scientist my hops are bigger than your hops brews, but for consistently amazing mass-produced beers this country has a long way to go. sometimes i think i could drink nothing but german beer and be happy forever.

xpost vice versa also

There's some american beers of whichI am deeply fond, australians also.

ah Little Creatures.

Having had many, many beers in each of the US, Germany (Munich, surrounding Bavaria), China, and England, I would say that, out of those four, the US wins.

Greater variety, more effort to craft a quality variety, and, personally, no one does an IPA like us Californians.

"england probably underrated by americans imo"

i could probably live on whatever the sam smith brewery makes for me for the rest of my days as well.

This is not to besmirch the fine, fine products I DID consume en masse in other countries, but, being as objective as I can, I have to go with the US.

If you want to prove me wrong, send me some. I'll let you know how I like what you send.

wtf portugese beer?

I do think American beers are grossly underrated by Brits - everyone says all American beer is piss - this is bullshit - I've had plenty of nice beer in the US and that's just generic tap stuff like Sierra Nevada and Red Hook, Brooklyn Beer etc - all that stuff is decent IMO

b.l.a.m. are there any good Chinese beers?

I had one somewhere on the street in Beijing that was not terrible by any stretch. Sort of like Asahi dark, but more bubbly.

I do think American beers are grossly underrated by Brits - everyone says all American beer is piss - this is bullshit - I've had plenty of nice beer in the US and that's just generic tap stuff like Sierra Nevada and Red Hook, Brooklyn Beer etc - all that stuff is decent IMO

Holla back.

Now, this is not taking into account the fact that our beers in largest production - Bud, Coors, et al. - bring the American average WAY down. The fact that I could purchase a sixer of Budweiser from the corner store and know it was brewed in Reseda does not add to the allure.

US

other places def do mass beers better, but I'm drinking a bells two hearted ale right now and it is REAL

Ah, damn that stuff is GREAT. Bells is a rarity out here, and i relish it whenever I can score some.

germany 4 lyfe - fuck a rank ass micro brew

otm (since i'm drinking warsteiner atm)

but still, belgium. best best best.

Shouldn't really participate in this since I'm currently drinking mass-produced fake Danish lager that's probably brewed just outside Reading.

I would say the Belgish are right up there. I'm not particularly a fan, but I do recognize that they put out a wide variety of great beers.

i love a lot of belgian beer, and i have a real fondness for english ales because the u.k. was the first place i really had good beer, as a college student on an exchange program. but i pretty much only buy american microbrews now, because i really think there's a lot of good stuff, in a lot of different styles, and also it's just fresher, which makes more of a difference than is generally accounted for.

but i really hope there's a german beer tour sometime in my future. czech, too.

the u.s. definitely deserves a meddle for most-improved. the last 20 years have been a renaissance. not in the mass market, obv., but in the fact that you can go almost anywhere in the country and get a local microbrew, and a good number of them will be at least decent.

medal, i mean. for our mettle.

What this poll apparently asks one to do is to determine which is The Best Beer in the world, then look at the label to see where it was made.

I have not a clue which beer is best. I do know that the average quality of US beer is so dismal it could have been made behind a prison radiator. Despite that, I almost never drink imported beer. Instead I drink local microbrews, which are mostly very nice.

But, of the beer I might normally drink in any year, I like Guiness best, so, by the terms of the poll, I seem forced to vote for the Republic of Ireland.

The American average is not dismal, try living in Asia. I lived in averagetown America, but my grocery store still had a vast selection of local beers that were great.

Bud, Coors, etc. give the U.S. a really bad reputation. They drink shit, shit, shit beer in Japan but most Japanese assume it's better than American beer because they assume our beer all tastes like Bud. I've had similar conversations with Australians.

Yeah that's how it works here too. People think American beer is all Bud, Coors, Miller etc, cos that's all they sell over here.

No matter how you slice it, the average American beer is a Bud, a Miller Lite, a Coors, or some equally bland swill. Luckily, no one is forced to drink them.

Ugandan beer is ass but it def works

They drink shit, shit, shit beer in Japan

This is an odd statement. I wouldn't choose Japan in this poll, but Asahi, Sapporo, and Kirin are all fine beers. Ebisu is quite good. The Japanese definitely go for the lagers, but all of the major brewers also make very decent dark varieties.

Tsingtao is a nice beer from China. When I was in China, I drank a lot of Harbin, which is now surprisingly available in the U.S. Decent beer, that is. I also enjoy Singha.

Singha being from Thailand, just to be clear.

6xpost: I intentionally left it vague. I chose to answer "If you could only drink one country's beer, which would it be?" but if you think that, while Germany produces some fine lagers, Red Stripe is a sentimental fave, feel free to write in JA.

btw, tonight I had one of these:
http://beerme.com/graphics/brewery/5/5772/20765.jpg
followed by one of these:
http://www.carlsberggroup.com/brands/PublishingImages/Bottles/Laos/beerlao_dark.png
and I voted Germany

Tonight it was the Netherlands but probably overall I'd vote patriotically, there's just too much fantastic ale round here and probably 80% of my beer is English.

"Asahi, Sapporo, and Kirin are all fine beers"

Really? I wouldn't rate them that much higher than Bud. I'll give you Ebisu, though.

It's almost a moot point though, because 75% of the 'beer' market in Japan is actually this fake near-beer that has less malt to avoid beer taxes. It tastes like watery Keystone Light and gives you a wicked hangover, but it's what everybody drinks.

asahi/sapporo/kirin are all sort of tolerable if they're cold and you're in a japanese restaurant that doesn't have anything else. can't think of any other time i'd drink them.

In terms of which country produces the greatest number of great beers, the only real contenders are Germany, Belgium, US, and England. Some other nations with some great beers but lacking breadth/depth across styles. Surely Belgium has it locked down on a per capita basis.

It's almost a moot point though, because 75% of the 'beer' market in Japan is actually this fake near-beer that has less malt to avoid beer taxes. It tastes like watery Keystone Light and gives you a wicked hangover, but it's what everybody drinks.

I don't know where you got that 75% figure for happoshu's share of the market. The market share is actually about 30%. Happoshu is generally vile, but it's not "what everybody drinks" by any measure. When a six pack of beer costs north of $10, a lot of people will opt for something cheaper.

In any case, while Japan doesn't deserve to win this poll, it does deserve respect as a beer producing country. Goddamn it.

I vote for the Czech republic, but Poland deserves an honorable mention - the recent UK Polish influx brought with it half a dozen brands of lager brewed to the same standards as Czech and German beers, and every bit as good, notable Tyskie and Zywiec. Though I still struggle to pronounce Zywiec, even before I've had my first, much to the amusement of Polish speaking bar-staff. "Zwidtge", boomed out like the bloke out of Laibach is as close as I can get.

i love my local microbrews and could happily (and may well) go without ever having a non-australian beer again

Belgian beer FTW.

Most beers I drink through choice are Irish and Scottish. No Scotland on the list, so going to have to go for Ireland and its lovely lovely Guinness. Had some great beers in Belgium though, so that should probably win. But, Guinness...

another boring Belgian vote.

Beer-drinking countries quiz. Sixteen out of twenty - bit disappointed with that.

america fuiud

or germany

czech republic beer gives u aids

I don't know where you got that 75% figure for happoshu's share of the market.

The beer aisle in my local grocery store.

Not to be completely negative, I've had some amazing microbrews in Japan but they are impossible to find.

Too hard!

But anyone that votes for Spain is the most disgusting savage in the world imo.

Belgium > Germany > Britain > Czech Republic > Get Fucking Real

But anyone that votes for Spain is the most disgusting savage in the world imo

http://www.imagendiaria.com/fotos/voll-damm.jpg

I can't believe people vote for countries other than Belgium.

What.
The.
FUCK.

We have not only the best beer, but greatest variety. WE FUCKING RULE

This seems a good place to post this depressing story:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327253.400-climate-change-depresses-beer-drinkers.html

Of all native countries I've drank beer, Czech Republic has been the best, with Belgium a close second. England also v good, but I'm English so don't feel I can vote for my home country.

Seeing that South Korea is only one place behind my native Canada is a little disheartening. There are quite a few great things about this place (been here a year), but beer isn't one of them.

wtf portugese beer?

― velko, Saturday, 19 September 2009 00:24 (12 hours ago) Bookmark

Super Bock is possibly the best light lager I've ever had

Any beer called "super" is okay by me.

Belgium > England/USA (tie)

Voting Belgium, but England put in a mighty performance for second place.

prob belgium > US = Germany > CR = UK imo

I'm intrigued by Russia's high placing

once in Nanjing I asked the waitress to bring us two bottles of their best beer; she brought us two bottles of room temperature non-alcoholic beer instead (???)

xpost: You occasionally see a Russian beer called Baltika on tap in the UK. It's a decent continental-style lager, but nothing amazing.

kind of a given that belgium wins. but US gets points imo for the huge diversity/renaissance/experimentation going on during the past 10-20 years. it's awesome! germany's tradition is amazing obv but the home brewing/craft brewing community in the US is pretty cool and i'm really happy that it's continuing to grow and develop.

there are some really incredible US beers out there. imo they've done an awesome job:

1.) revering old-world styles, paying homage to older brewing traditions by crafting very faithful and pretty delicious versions of them (e.g. most of what Great Lakes Brewing Co. does, also Ommegang - they're basically a default Belgian brewery now and have won respect all over the world in brewing circles. hasn't Duvel basically acquired them by now?)

2.) re-interpreting older styles and making them completely their own. e.g the american IPA, the russian imperial stout. imo there is not a single brewery outside the US that makes a better version of either of these two styles. the better american IPAs and RISs are some of the most complex and interesting beers i've ever tasted

3.)even creating new styles, or resurrecting defunct ones and making them into something totally new. dogfish head is pretty hit or miss most of the time, sure, but the experimentation they've kind of ushered in is really cool and has won them a ton of respect and admiration among both US and european brewers. just about every brewery tour i've been on, the brewers have mentioned how exciting DFH is and how they've really encouraged brewers to innovate AS WELL as look to older and possibly extinct brewing traditions for inspiration.

I agree with everything mark said.

also i often wonder what the US brewing industry/tradition would look like today if it weren't for prohibition. apparently in 19th century the US had probably the most diverse and innovative brewing industry in the world. makes sense - the whole mix of immigrants from beer-brewing countries - england, ireland, germany, etc. temperance & prohibition basically ruined everything. what would it look like today? would we have the equivalent of big-ass in your face IPAs? or would it look a bit more traditional and conservative b/c the innovations made in the 1800s just hardened into their own traditional styles?

I mostly drink American beers because there's so much variety. I really like Belgian beers too, but in terms of variety I just see so many more interesting American beers (living in America, in the Northwest in specific, has a lot to do with this). Germany may have the lengthy history but since I'm not a huge fan of lagers this eliminates a lot of Germans for me.

The reverence for history and interest in reviving old styles combined with hairbrained experimentation and complete disregard for tradition leads to a lot of stuff I like to drink.

also everybody, i like budweiser. i think it's a good beer. the style is a light lager, so fuck if i'm in the mood for a light lager i will probably have a budweiser. fuck a bud light tho.

Germany may have the lengthy history but since I'm not a huge fan of lagers this eliminates a lot of Germans for me.

i felt this way for a while, too. but for whatever reason, this past year i've really opened up to lagers in a big way. i don't know why

mark OTM; Bud in a bottle is great

i would have said belgium a couple of years ago but since moving to england, and loving the real ale, i've gotta go w/ that

I'll have random pilsners and lagers every once in a while to see if I like them but I always end up wishing I'd had an ale instead - they always taste kind of skunky to me. But I do love High Life, Rainier, Olympia, Old Milwaukee, and PBR out of cans from time to time.

"also Ommegang"

props, but i think unibroue does this kinda thing even better. Hail Canada!

yeah unibroue is the bee's knees! But I can't think of any other good Canadian beers. They must be out there, am I just ignorant or do they not make it to the US or what?

"there are some really incredible US beers out there. imo they've done an awesome job"

i agree. and i've attempted to taste them all. there is actually a beer tasting fest happening right now down the street! but, alas, i have to work.

i think in my old age i've become more of a beer conservative. there's something so beautiful about the effortlessness of beer made the same way year in and year out for a century or two or three. when i have an erdinger weisse or whatever, it's just so...classic! it's perfect. no need for figs or cloves or experiments. i dig the simplicity. it's kinda like the big bold new wave grape guys in california. they want to put you in a headlock. but then i'll pick up some completely random bottle of french table wine and it's, like, totally sublime! the best wine i've had all year! and it's from some podunk vineyard i've never heard of that's been making the stuff for a thousand years, you know? (i actually think it's kinda cute when amerindie craft brewes try to make a "true" pilsner or whatever. it's like, aw, look, baby is trying to walk, ain't that adorable!)

I don't know, most american micros brew beers in very traditional styles and they do a really good job at it!

they often feel a step or two removed from the source though. i dunno, maybe it's the water! u.s. has definitely made the ipa its own though. how many u.s. micros have attempted a saison a la the god-like saison dupont? a bunch. but they just can't seem to get there. maybe its a yeast thing and i wouldn't understand.

oh god now i really want a saison dupont. i could drink them all day. i could substitute that beer for water. i think i might actually end up healthier if i did.

how many u.s. micros have attempted a saison a la the god-like saison dupont?

the saison dupont is great indeed but i'd argue that ommegang's hennepin is better

but otherwise most american saisons that i've tried fail somewhat

U.S. and Belgium

i m

okay uh sorry.

anyway i made the horrible mistake of trying to show off my drinking skills (which i don't have so why bother right?) in america. drank a gallon of bud (i think) and... well got insanely drunk. sigh

i think american beers are at their best when they try to do something innovative/interpretive--american takes on trad pilsners or hefes are pale, pale, comparisons to the originals.

Did the American Pale Ale (I'm always thinking of Sierra Nevada when I type that) start out as a conscious attempt to copy any English style, or was it a conscious attempt to stake a new claim, or somewhere in between?

no beer lao no credibility (but I voted CR anyway)

"england probably underrated by americans imo"

i could probably live on whatever the sam smith brewery makes for me for the rest of my days as well.

― scott seward, Friday, 18 September 2009 18:22 (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Sam Smith's is dreck in the same way that most US beer that makes it to the UK is.

My order probably goes

1) UK
2) Belgium
3) US
4) Czech Republic
5) Germany

Although the US probably deserves to drop down a bit for the over abundance of over-hoppy beers, why overhopping is considered a virtue I still can't understand. It seems to be a substitute for actually developing a decent flavour. (the equivalent sin in the UK is mediocre syrupy cask beers) That said the high points of the US brewers' art are are spectacular and you can't really argue with the wider popularity of microbrews in the states when compared to Real Ale drinking in the UK. That said, give me a hot day and a pint of cask Best Bitter (southern, no sparkler nonsense please) any day.

A particularly grusome experience was in a bar with a good ber rep here in Pittsburgh. they always have one cast and they had chosen to put some kind of hopped up rye beer on through a sparkler, it was utterly utterly grotesk.

that's an interesting opinion on sam smith! you would know for reals though i guess. i quite enjoy their porter & oatmeal stout, though I find their pale ale mediocre. i actually voted England on the strength of those beers and also Old Speckled Hen, which is my go-to beer at bar's that have it on tap. It's less reliably great in bottles I find.

I do not really like Belgian beers. I know there are surely ones I'd enjoy, but I haven't really found them I guess. Among Belgian beers I prefer the darker end of the spectrum in my experience. Totally open to suggestions, provided they're not prohibitively expensive or impossible to find. Mostly drink US microbrews. Some favorites: Old Rasputin, dofgish 60/stone IPA (not extreme IPAs but both with a high drinkability & respectable hop flavor imo), Six Point's Sweet Action & their rye ale, Rogue Deadguy, like the Brooklyn pilsner & their east india pale ale, which is an IPA decidedly unlike the west coast stylee.

drank sierra nevada's torpedo IPA and boddingtons last night btw.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/3818/38394

^out now. my favorite beer.

i agree w/ ed on sam smith. i don't know if i'd call it dreck but i'm pretty much never motivated to buy. the oatmeal stout is okay for a dry stout but there are many better ones. if you're in the US just pick any other oatmeal stout and it's likely better imo.

it's often the only oatmeal stout on any given bodega shelf a lot of the time :( shelves here definitely overcrowded with IPAs, summer ales & lager.

Spekled Hen is a beer I would class in the syrupy category and is almost guaranteed to give me a hangover. Heavy, without any of the goodness of a scottish "heavy".

Probably a little harsh on SS as the real muck is stuff like boddingntons and John Smiths and other nitrokeg terrors. I find SS beers to be thin and occasionally vinegary. the trouble with British beer is it is at its best when on Cask and Cask beer just doesn't travel (hence the invention of bottled IPA for export). The best place to enjoy a british beer is probably in a tied pub no more than a days drayhorse ride away from the brewery. One great disservice CAMRA has done has been to declare that Keg beer can't be "Real". There are some spectacular US keg beers and keg beers are easier to handle in bottles as well. It's led proper beer on two different tracks and its a shame that they both can't learn from each other.

I would like a US brewery to learn the wonders of Bitter and Mild for a start. I'd like British brewers to learn about the middle ground between larger and real ale.

I voted for Belgium, but fuck all the Budweiser hate, yo.

For sure České Budějovice finest product.

sam smith is not dreck! it's good normal beer! i'm not a big fan of the porter, but i like everything else. i find my tastes get less complicated with age. i want an old reliable. and that's what sam smith is to me. although the last two weeks all i drank was guinness. in the mood, i guess. and it's an old reliable.

maybe i'm just done with the wild and crazy days of tasting big fat beers every night. plus, my stomach can't handle them anymore. yes, my mind was blown by an aged thomas hardy ale in the early 90's and i went on a fancy beer rampage, but now i just want good decent simple stuff.

I'll agree with you in wanting an old reliable, simple beer. If only I could get a pint of Brakespears or Adnams or a bottle of St Peters over here. Incidentally I can't rate Anchor Steam highly enough in that category. I quite like Goose island honkers in that regard, although it doesn't really figure round here. I think you'd love the Fat Gary from our local East End Brewery, a brown ale that is tasty, simple and oh so very drinkable. The concept of a session beer is something else that the US could pick up from the UK. The same brewery had a fantastic beer back in the spring called "The Bitter End", a second running from a barleywine mash that was one of the tastiest, most drinkable, low gravity beers going, a real session beer. I wish there were more like it.

you can be sucker punched by american micros if you aren't careful. a month or so ago i picked up a six pack randomly. scanned the bottle, something about hoppy and floral, blah, blah. very drinkable. not heavy at all. four beers later i was COMPLETELY DRUNK. it was only while drinking my 5th that i noticed that it was 8.5 percent alc! should have had a big skull and crossbones on the front of the bottle.

a bottle of St Peters over here

you can get 'em in the chicago area, so they must have an american distributor.

Recommend me something to pick up while I'm in Atlanta next weekend.

Extreme IPA's are my favorite beers.

Really enjoying Three Floyds Dreadnaught IPA lately.

I had a double IPA a few weeks ago that was just TOO MUCH for me. I finished the glass and everything but it was not the easiest thing to do. Speakeasy double IPA iirc? i can hang with a green flash (which kinda smells like marijuana imo), find the dogfish 90 a bit syrupy, but i like my hop-level to be sort of middling to high, but not extreme.

i do love hops. the people who go overboard with hops...i can relate. weyerbacher made the best extreme hops beer. i love their stuff.

right now i'm drinking wolaver's pale ale. certified organic, don't you know. made right up the road from me in vermont. otter creek brewing. nice malt/hops balance.

I prefer my beer decidedly inorganic.

Recommend me something to pick up while I'm in Atlanta next weekend.

Try some Sweetwater 420. Also, Terrapin brews are really good, but that's an Athens beer.

Sweetwater 420! I haven't had that in years.

I got some Sweetwater 420 a couple of weeks ago. I agree, it's good stuff. Not stunt-hopped, which is an obnoxious "if you can eat this 72 oz. steak you get it free" type of gimmick. I'll probably get more of that along with something new.

you can be sucker punched by american micros if you aren't careful. a month or so ago i picked up a six pack randomly. scanned the bottle, something about hoppy and floral, blah, blah. very drinkable. not heavy at all. four beers later i was COMPLETELY DRUNK. it was only while drinking my 5th that i noticed that it was 8.5 percent alc! should have had a big skull and crossbones on the front of the bottle.

I picked up some bottled beers yesterday cos they were on special offer, perhaps the fact it was called Hardcore IPA might have been a clue but I didn't notice they were 9% alcohol! I only had 2 tho so I wasn't smashed.

i drink mostly american these days -- seriously, this country is producing some great, great beer this decade -- but i voted belgium.

also i would probably eat straight hops if they got you drunk. i am the poster child for the kind of drinker disdained by those microbrews who feel american brewing has gone down the wrong path of my-dick-is-bigger-than-yr-dick hops'ing.

at the same time i am kind of done with the "we brewed this with MOON ROCKS AND UNICORN'S SPERM" experimentalism. still want to try the dogfish head brewed with the hot rocks, though. just 'cause.

Yeah, I don't think I've ever had a beer and thought no, that's too hoppy. It's not the only thing I like nor do I specifically seek out ridiculous IPAs but I genuinely do really like them. I generally only drink one beer per day so there's that.

And I love that Dogfish Head exists and does crazy things but I generally don't want to drink their experimental beers that much. I'll try them once just to see but rarely want to have a second.

am i alone in liking regular (not lite) budweiser?

also anyone you meet in the world that likes asian beers but hates bud is so full of shit, they taste the same lots of times.

anyway there is a lot of good beer anywhere IMO.

my experience with Dogfish Head can be described by the word 'cloying' in nearly every sense of the word...

these days when I want a beer I usually go for something light; when I want complex flavors I'll brew a cup of single origin coffee

xp no matt, mark and I and others have repped bud upthread

yea matt i like bud:

also everybody, i like budweiser. i think it's a good beer. the style is a light lager, so fuck if i'm in the mood for a light lager i will probably have a budweiser. fuck a bud light tho.

― mark cl, Saturday, September 19, 2009 10:24 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

totally agree w/ you wrt to people who drink sapporo or some shit but rip on bud

by the way guys, don't get this

http://www.crufflerjj.com/adoption%20pics/Edited%20for%20Web/guangs.jpg

victory pils you guys

basically any German pils is better tho

i'll drink a budweiser. bottle preferably. mostly in the summer cuz it's easy to drink quick when a man is all sweaty & gnarls.

bud isn't bad but for american mass-produced i'm a gold-can coors guy

cheap ol' american assembly line beer is still plenty good when yr just trying to chill in the humid months

in the UK my go to "8 cans for £5" cheap lager is still carlsberg > fosters (never understood the hate for this stuff) >>>> carling (disgusting)

Voted england by the way due to bitter, ale, mild, etc. U.S. second because, although I don't like all that 9% made with real iron filings nonsense, and what is with putting pieces of fruit in my pint? i am an adult!, I have always had good luck with beer over there. moving to munich in weeks, so this may change things.

Voted England for porters and stouts but <3 American IPAs.

I think Ed and I are quite similar in our beer tastes. Sam Smith's is kinda unavoidable for the ILX Londoners cos Old Brewery is about the cheapest decent pint available in the capital and SS pubs have been the venue for many a FAP. I gave up on OB a while ago though - too many of those vinegary pints that Ed mentions.

Anchor Steam and Goose Island Honkers - yes! I'd still choose England from this list because, as wonderful as Belgian beer is, most of my experience in that realm tends towards the strong end of the scale and I can't face 7-10% exotica too often. Give me a decent pint of 4.5% Best anyday (though one of my favourite supermarket bottles of recent years has been Scottish - Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted).

though if i had to choose between bog-standard u.s. dad beer and a microbrew american white during the dog days, i know where i stand.

i'd put Italy in my top 5 incidentally

<3 US microbrews but major-label US beer = totally worthless IMO. Give me Labatt's or Molson over that shit.

I actually agree that commercial Asian beers tend to taste like Bud or Coor's, which makes them equally useless. Lion Stout from Sri Lanka = nice tho.

How does Italy make it into anyone's top 5? What Italian beers am I missing out on?

i had a sick ital beer at a restaurant 2 months ago but damned if i know what it was. had a pretty blonde on the label fwiw.

Belgium > Germany > Britain > Czech Republic > Get Fucking Real

OTM. Although maybe swapping the Czechs and Britain around. Belgium and Germany way out in front - I honestly cannot fathom why anyone would vote for the USA over either of them.

how many us beers have you had?

somehow i'm guessing we've had more foreign-type beers than vicey versey

I only have the evidence of a week's US drinking to go on but have spent the same amount of time in Belgium and the former really didn't match up. It's not bad per se and certainly you guys don't seem to widely export your best stuff but it's not up there with the sheer range you can get in Belgium, loads of it great. Neither is England for that matter.

Not being able to brew a decent lager is a big strike against the Brits.

http://www.mexico-travel.com/images/mexicofan.jpg

^^ probly doesn't deserve to win and i dunno if i'll vote for it but w/e, needs some attention itt

heh american beers might be a microcosm of the country itself: endless variation, usage of old styles from around the globe, outright theft of centuries of other ppl's traditions, reconfigured at will, more amazing goods than anyone could ever keep track of or enjoy in one liftime, you never need to have anything bad ever -- all of it completely dwarfed by unbelieveably shitty product marketed out to the gills and somehow taken as "ok" by a majority of the country, even resentfully so if u say different...

^^^well-put

goole so OTM

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Belgium > Germany > Czech Republic > US

My favorite style is lager/pilsner, hence the high placement of Germany and Czech Republic, but I've got to give respect to the Belgians. I don't drink Belgian beers as regularly as the others on the list, but I've tasted some really remarkable things from there, so I think they should win. My favorite non-Belgian Belgian is probably Unibroue - so go Canada! And special mention to Mexico for brewing better beers in the light lager style than the US - I'd take a Modelo Especial (in a can) over a Bud any day.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Ha, I had the same top 3, same order.

this seems like a reasonable result

England wuz robbed.

w/e

yeah these results seem pretty otm. Though I voted USA.

I wonder what Nigerian beer is like?

also voted USA, though i have no problem w/ belgium at the top of the list

czech republic tied with Germany? wha?

For Czech beer fans, this is a fun blog:

http://praguemonitor.com/beer/

Apparently, Czech Republic has the highest per capita beer consumption of any country:

Bottles Per Person Per Week

Czech Replublic 8.5
Ireland 7.1
Germany 6.3
Australia 6.0
United Kingdom 5.4
United States 4.4
Canada 3.7
South Africa 3.2
Mexico 2.8
Japan 2.8
Brazil 2.6
China 1.2

http://snippets.com/how-much-does-beer-consumption-vary-by-country.htm

^ Disappointing performance by British boozebags there

Doesn't include cider

Sad to miss this poll. I'd have voted Germany for many reasons, chiefly this one:

http://www.crackedkettle.com/store/images/EinbeckerD.jpg

England wuz robbed.

No way. Belgium WINS fair.

There's a brewery around the corner from our shop.

http://www.stadsomroep.com/images/DeHalveMaan.jpg

CZ beer is wonderful. You can't go to a bar here and get a bad beer. It's simply not an option. I just recently was introduced to the deliciousness that is Svijany. I'd probably say Belgium>US>CZ>Germany.

we need more czech beer in the states. someone get on that. urquell is the only omnipresent brew here.

There's Budvar, which is pretty good, and available, at least by me.

I also like Polish lagers.

The Polish delis in my neighbourhood have them some gooooood beer. Can't pronounce the names.

budvar is okay. maybe they don't export their best stuff? do we have some weird trade deal with czechrepublic? maybe budweiser still has a grudge or something and is keeping their stuff out.

zywiec is one of my fav lagers evar and it's so hard to find

^^move to chicago, bud

Pretty much every village in the CZ has its own brewery, but most of them are impossible to find outside of the area. Poutnik is another great one that I found in a small town south of Prague. A group of us stopped by a pub one day and they had it on tap for 13kc/.5liter (which is like 75 cents).

zywiec! yeah, that's the one!

Polish pronunciation: [ʑiviɛts]

zywiec is all over the place around here, CAD.
i'd mail you a sixer but i don't think it would be particularly cost effective?

lol yeah probably not. damn guys. i used to see single bottles at the big liquor store near me which just closed. i know i can get sixers and 12 packs at the polish grocery in a part of town i never go to. i should really hunt down another source.

"zywiec is one of my fav lagers evar and it's so hard to find"

It's really good. Pretty easy to find here in NJ.

Besides the always excellent Pilsner Urquell, I've found Staropramen, Budvar (labeled as Czechvar, presumably for trademark restriction reasons), and BrouCzech around where I live. Still only a small slice of the CZ beer universe though.

i agree with the results of this poll with one exception.

france really should have gotten some votes.

lol

i am serious! There are some amazing French Farmhouse ales and Biere de Gardes made in France.

he's right about the farmhouse ale thing. pretty good.

i remember a french farmhouse ale called "jenlain" (? not sure about the spelling) that one of the MPLS sidewalk bars used to have in big bottles in the summer and it was FANTASTIC. bar closed, never found it again.

yup i think you spelled it right! that beer is good! i usually see it around although i haven't noticed it recently.

yea farmhouse ales/saisons are like the best spring/summer beers ever

Maredsous Blonde <3 <3 <3

I AM DRINKING VERY YUMMY BEER TONIGHT.

people from the USA voting for the USA shocker.

well i voted for australian beer twice, so dunno what crazee country the other mongs voted for

I DIDN'T VOTE FOR THE U.S.A.

GERMANY GOT ROBBED THAT'S ALL I KNOW.

skot otm

Don't fucking slander me, man, I voted for Belgium.

i voted for the united states of america because i actually think the sheer breadth of american microbrews yields good odds that one of the best american beers is at least as good as one of the best any other beers, and that, most of the time, you can find a way to get a relatively cheap, quality beer in unexpected places.

i've also never been to belgium or germany, but w/e i'm probably right anyway

(actually: do any american microbrews get abroad? or are int'l laws/tariffs/whatever so stringent that only bigger labels get out there? if i can't buy dogfish head in MN (true), then what are the odds that a belgian has had a surly? is the belgian beer i'm buying considered the good stuff in belgium, or is it just "premium"? etc)

"is the belgian beer i'm buying considered the good stuff in belgium, or is it just "premium"? etc)"

there is a LOT of great belgian beer sold in the states. we are very lucky.

there's not so much of a concept of "the good stuff" in belgium ime because with the exception of cans of stella which are ridiculously common anything you get in a restaurant or cafe is really fuckin' good

right, ok, but what about in the other direction? there are THOUSANDS of microbreweries in America, esp if you consider brew pubs. some of the best beers are stupidly local, and are barely distributed outside the state. is it the same in europe, or can we actually get a decent picture of good-shit belgian beer in the states? cuz i would wager that they could not do the same in most places in europe

dunno, just struck by the thought because all my favorite american beers are pretty regional, but not by any means obscure

xp ok! so does that mean that the beer you're getting is made down the road, or? genuinely curious, because i see the same few brands of belgian beers here, and it seems like that can't possibly be the case ~in belgium

you can get a lot of belgians here tho i'm sure there are some that don't travel.

most brewpub beers i've had are mediocre at best.

agreed about brewpub beers

there are a lot of them, though!

there are a lot of good beers made in the states. lots of good microbrews. and i'm all for local fresh beers in beer-making pubs and all that. it's great. everyone should have a good alehouse in their town. but there is good and there is great. belgium and germany make what i consider the very apex of beer. it seems almost effortlessly great. it is consistently great. i'm drinking a chouffe from belgium right now and everything about it is, like, amazing. the insane head alone...it's like a living creature in my glass! there isn't a brewery in the united states that could make that foam! there are mad scientists galore in the states and they are bright and they love beer and in the case of places like dogfishhead they can come up with crazy frankenbeers that are memorable and fun and cool. (even if they also suffer from the cali wine industry's big dick syndrome of bigger deeper stronger at the expense of finesse and class. thus, they are thoroughly american. god bless the flag.) but there is something to be said for hundreds of years of uninterrupted obsession with making beer that tastes like heaven on earth. and that is all at once simple, elegant, and complex. thank you, belgium. thank you, germany.

ok!

chouffe rulez hard

i didn't vote because i didn't see this thread until the results were in, but Belgium makes the best beers in the world, without a doubt in my mind. The United States does make great beers, but i agree with Scott completely. The American beers i love are imperial stouts, imperial ipas, ridiculous barleywines. When I want to drink a regular (or special) lager or ale, i am drinking German or Czech or English. Spaten makes a bunch of my favorite beers, no doubt. But Belgium is the location of my favorite two brewers (De Dolle and De Glazen Toren).

oh shit de dolle

best fuckin brewery i know of

A spirited attempt to defend Budweiser. This perhaps indicates how low the bar has been set:

Budweiser does not taste like piss. Normal urine has a pH of 4.6 to 8.0. Budweiser, like most lagers, has a pH of around 4.0. Therefore, Budweiser is definitely more acidic than piss.

whatever despite that guy's protestations lagers brewed with rice will always taste gnarlier than lagers brewed w/just barley.

I guess it must be the rice I don't like. It does taste a bit weird to me. I had one last night - not by choice, it was either that or Bud Lite. I guess if I grew up on it I might like it though.

De Dolle!? The mad?

Oh, you mean De Dolle Brouwers ("the mad brewers")!

Let me translate (their beers are named in the local dialect)

Oerbier: "primordial beer"
Boskeun: "forest rabbit"
Dulle Teve: "crazy bitch" (dul = dol = mad/crazy, teve = teef = female dog and also woman)

I mean Dogfish and other American microbreweries experiment with all kinds of non-traditional grains (e.g., buckwheat, rye) in their beer, so why not rice? I have nothing against the idea in theory.

xp

stan what's arabier translate to?

Arab

But in Dutch, it ends in bier, so it's a kind of pun. Arabbeer

It's also kind of oldfashioned/not very pc to call arabs "arabier" and it's mostly used for arabian horses nowadays.

The only Nigerian beer I've had is the Nigerian Guinness which is just plain weird but not entirely unpleasant. Doesn't taste anything like Guinness.

i have a Kenyan beer in my fridge, purchases from Waitrose, untouched for several months now

Nigeria guinness is great stuff. It has sorghum and maize in which make sit sweeter. Its pretty fantastic ice cold on a hot day.

(actually: do any american microbrews get abroad?

Goose Island exports two or three to the UK (Honkers, IPA, maybe 312).

I've seen Sierra Nevada and Brooklyn in Britain.

is there anyone who actually likes those watery widget cans of guinness or boddingtons? great technology, i guess, but i don't want stout water.

er, not that boddingtons is stout water. boddingtons would be bitter water.

highly informative:

* Guinness Draught, sold in kegs, widget cans, and bottles: 4.1 to 4.3% alcohol by volume (ABV); the Extra Cold is served through a super cooler at 3.5°C (38.3°F)[29].
* Guinness Original/Extra Stout: 4.2 or 4.3% ABV in Ireland and the rest of Europe, 4.1% in Germany, 4.8% in Namibia and South Africa), 5% in the United States and Canada, and 6% in Australia and Japan.
* Guinness Foreign Extra Stout: 7.5% ABV version sold in Europe, Africa, the Caribbean and Asia. The basis is an unfermented but hopped Guinness wort extract shipped from Dublin, which is added to local ingredients and brewed locally. The strength can vary, for example, it is sold at 5% ABV in China, 6.5% ABV in Jamaica and East Africa, and 8% ABV in Singapore.[30][31] In Nigeria a proportion of sorghum is used. Foreign Extra Stout is blended with a small amount of intentionally soured beer.[32]
* Guinness Special Export Stout, sold in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, originally brewed in 1945 for the NAAFI to be sent to British troops stationed in Europe[33].
* Guinness Bitter, an English-style bitter beer: 4.4% ABV.
* Guinness Extra Smooth, a smoother stout sold in Ghana, Cameroon and Nigeria: 5.5% ABV.
* Malta Guinness, a non-alcoholic sweet drink, produced in Nigeria and exported to the UK and Malaysia.
* Guinness Mid-Strength, a low-alcohol stout test-marketed in Limerick, Ireland in March 2006[34] and Dublin from May 2007[35]: 2.8% ABV.
* Kaliber, a premium alcohol-free lager. It is brewed as a full strength lager; then at the end of the brewing process, the alcohol is removed: 0.05% ABV.
* Guinness Red, brewed in exactly the same way as Guinness except that the barley is only lightly roasted so that it produces a lighter, slightly fruitier red ale; test-marketed in Britain in February 2007: 4.1% ABV[36].
* 250 Anniversary Stout, released in the U.S., Australia and Singapore on 24 April 2009[37]: 5% ABV.

also interesting:

Withdrawn Guinness variants include Guinness's Brite Lager, Guinness's Brite Ale, Guinness Light, Guinness XXX Extra Strong Stout, Guinness Cream Stout, Guinness Gold, Guinness Pilsner, Guinness Breó (a slightly citrusy wheat beer), Guinness Shandy, and Guinness Special Light. Breó (meaning 'glow' in ancient Irish) was a wheat beer; it cost around 5 million Irish punts to develop.

For a short time in the late 1990s, Guinness produced the "St James's Gate" range of craft-style beers, available in a small number of Dublin pubs. The beers were: Pilsner Gold, Wicked Red Ale, Wildcat Wheat Beer and Dark Angel Lager.

yeah, sierra nevada, anchor steam and brooklyn are available in tesco. in the last few months i have seen sierra nevada on tap in a couple of leftist gastropubs. none of that crazy dogfish nonsense over here though.

got a bottle of duchesse de bourgogne last night

what do i do with it

drink it. duh.

I can't imagine anyone liking those smooth flow widget Boddingtons or Guinness. Export Guinness was and has been the best Guinness to drink for some time for me (although which of the varieties from that list I've no idea). Stronger and tastier than the dreadful stuff pubs seem to serve now.

For me Adnams is unmatchable. This in itself would have been enough for me to vote England, but in the end I didn't vote because my preferences in this are extremely culturally constrained.

I know that Belgium produces a remarkable array of beers, but I find them too strong and too tasty. I like the bitter, lightly hopped, session style beer that England can produce. Continuously drinkable for an indefinite period of time - it reminds me slightly of the cider produced in the north-west Asturias region of Spain, about 2.5%, which is designed to keep you perpetually merry rather than get you drunk.

Not as much as Bass, but less than Pride, Adnams will suffer at the hands of the pub keeping it. Well kept, it is almost a panacea - I once drank 16 pints of the stuff - the lines had just been cleaned and it was a fresh barrel - after a walk and woke up the next morning positively bursting with vitality. I steer clear of the Broadside.

Far too many pubs now try to lure the lager drinker by making blondish, light, summer beers, which to me are more or less revolting. I'd much rather drink a lager (I have a fondness for Kronenbourg - went off Budvar some time ago, but still like Pilsner Urquell).

Despite having lived there for a year I find Polish beers indifferent.

For some reason, Sam Smiths draught beers I've found utterly nauseating for some time (a Wetherspoons style staleness?) and can only drink the bottled stuff in their pubs, which takes away from their cheapness. Their Taddy Porter is great though.

At the moment I'd say that my top three beers are -

1) Adnams
2) Harveys Best
3) Fullers 1845

be aware that Brooklyn's Black Chocolate Stout is now available for the season. Though apparently only comes in 4 packs now and not 6 packs :(

btw i have been having many belgian beers lately (because of this thread) and i'm sold. belgium otm

Though apparently only comes in 4 packs now and not 6 packs :(

yeah i object to this trend of charging the same for a 4-pack as a normal 6-pack just because it's some fancy-dancy seasonal brew. i'm supposed to believe it costs them that much more to produce? all part of trying to create a high-end beer market, get people used to paying wine prices for beer. that way lies madness. one of the great things about beer is that, relative to other forms of alcohol, even the best stuff is pretty affordable. i'd like it to stay that way.

bout 2.5%, which is designed to keep you perpetually merry rather than get you drunk.

yea i think it would be awesome if more breweries put effort into really tasty, well-crafted session ales, like 3-4% would be great. unless i'm really in the mood for it, i'm kind of disappointed when i order tasty-sounding beer at a bar and it comes in a 8 oz. snifter b/c it's 10%

stone's levitation ale (from CA), which i've repped for before, is an awesome example of this. really really tasty amber ale that
s around 4%. tastes a lot heavier but while drinking it you notice that it was a lightness in it's effect on you due to the lower alcohol. i feel like most beers w/ the same flavor profile are around 6-7%

w/ all those typos in that post u'd think i just drank a lot of beer

this is the first i'm seeing of this poll and am really shocked to see the US at #2.

why

lol

http://thefullpint.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/premier-gourmet-inventory.jpeg

http://www.salon.com/life/food/eat_drink/2008/08/11/cheap_beer/story.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1346/906831827_3377b02871.jpg

http://www.genx40.com/images/2006a/4ales1.JPG

http://www.genx40.com/images/2004/fivepaleales.JPG

of those i've only had the st. peter's and the duchy originals. i like them both. oh wait, i also had fiddler's elbow and didn't love it.

I love the st. peter's bottles. I've only had their cream stout, which was all right but not my favorite.

wtf is leinie's doing so far west? and stroh's for that matter

lol ran out of room in the upper midwest afaict

why
honestly - just never really enjoyed american beer. i can think of just one us beer that i really enjoyed.

and what was it?

and i have since forgot the name. it's from Pittsburgh.

ha - DOGTITS

huh. it was not called dogtits.

DOGTITS

that is weird.

dogtits DUMPLINGS! [nabisco]

oops, DOGTITS DUMPLINGS! nitsh iirc

fucck
can a mod just delete my failure.

mmmm st peters is teh yum

i've had a lot of lagunitas the last couple of weeks.

St Petes is indeed v good! expensive tho.

I had their Hop Stoopid recently, very good if you like the very-hoppy style. They quote Steely Dan on the label to explain the use of hop extracts rather than raw hops in the brewing process.

Also had a Stone Imperial Russian Stout that I liked (10.5% abv).

"x-post, "their" being Lagunitas.

I'm drinking a Dogfish Head 60-minute IPA now (my third, in fact), and I love it. Very well balanced, I bought a 6-er because I keep seeing it recommended on various ILE beer threads; good choice, dudes!

yeah i'm not crazy about the nu-american ipa style but dogfish 60 is a winner.

i am drinking naragansett because i'm poor until tuesday

<3 gansett.

yeah it really is good shit

http://seps1816.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/supportcause.jpg

drinking campaign = the kind of cause i can really get behind

if the army had ever thought of that kind of campaign, i'd probably be a career soldier.

i actually bought a six pack of hofbrau dunkel. the beer of bavarian kings! cuz i couldn't remember if i'd ever tried it. i don't think i have. it's okay. i think it might have been sitting around for a while. a little flat.

I love American IPA's. Maybe my favorite now is Bear Republic's Racer 5. Also like Brooklyn Beer's East India Pale Ale. And Two Brothers Heavy Handed IPA.

And! Three Floyds Dreadnaught Imperial IPA. Forgot about that one, so good.

i agree about racer 5. it's especially good on tap. as is lagunitas ipa.

i haven't had a three floyds in years. since the 90's maybe.

wow if they rebuild the gansett brewery that's an ilx group trip if ever there was one

otm.

drinkin brooklyn's "post road pumpkin ale" atm.

I've been trying to track down a distributor of St Peters and I think I have found one in morgantown. I'm missing my beer.

ian is that any good? i like pumpkin ales as a brief seasonal thing but am always reluctant to buy an unfamiliar one in case it's gnar.

I can highly recommend the smuttynose pumpkin seasonal, I think its the best I've had.

I've been on a stout thing of late: Old standby Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout & Bell's Double-Cream Stout + Rye Stout (soooo good, if you can track some down). Any suggestions? I'm thinking of moving on to the Rogue varieties next, none of which I've tried before.

I like the Dogfish Punkin Ale. It taste like it's brewed with actual pumpkin, instead of just squirting some pumpkin syrup in it.

yeah guys i am down (and purchased this year) both the dogfish and the smutty--excellent and very different variations on the idea.

greece! mythos! hellas! ouzo

brits on here dissing sam smith but i already feel like buying some winter welcome with the nip in the air. or some oatmeal stout. how can you dis oatmeal stout? you can have it for breakfast!

the time of year when all the brewers churn out their christmas-y nutmeg-y bottles of cheer.

i think the brooklyn pumpkin is a bit better than the dogfish, but ymmv.

I need to try it!

Sam Smith's lager is pretty generic but I like most of the ales I've tried. The organic cider is nothing special though IMO.

Sam Smith's OS is nice b/c it brings the flavor when yr not in the mood for the density of a typical stout. The Nut Brown Ale is OK too. Others I've tried have been pretty underwhelming, tho it has been a looong time since I've gone for anything other than the OS.

i enjoy the organic lager from Sam Smith. It is pretty standard, but nice.

Racer 5 is probably my favorite IPA, I'm sad it took me so long to get over the crappy label and logo and finally buy one.

Sam Smith's OS is nice b/c it brings the flavor when yr not in the mood for the density of a typical stout.

that's pretty otom

otm lol

i've felt dogfish head is pretty hit or miss in general - got burned a lot on some of their weirder ones like midas touch & festine peche, both of which are terrible imo - but i've been on a huge DFH kick lately. the indian brown ale & raison d'etre are both pretty outstanding. have basically been the main beers in my fridge the past month

US IPAs I like, in no order:
Racer 5
Green Flash
Brooklyn
Dogfish
Stone

don't mind Smuttynose, Lagunitas is a bit floral for me.

i reaaaaally loathed the Raisin d'etre when I first had it but have been more appreciative on later tastings. still not a beer i'd buy for myself.

yea the racer 5 is a really good IPA. victory's hopdevil & hop wallop are both good too imo

yes it's true, i have consumed & enjoyed those. despite its awful label/branding, the blue point "hoptical illusion" is not bad.

Raisin d'etre - <3 this stuff

Founder's Centennial IPA is a great IPA
I also really like Ska's Modus Hoperandi... it is like candy!
I think the Green Flash is a quality IPA, but I was not a fan of their Imperial IPA.
I need to try Brooklyn's IPA, it just started being widely available in Chicago recently.

Dogfish Head... I agree with mark cl. They are hit and miss. It makes sense for them though, they try a lot of crazy stuff. I am mostly interested in their big beers, but they really miss with some of their weirder stuff. Dogfish Head beers I really like: 90 minute IPA, 120 minute IPA, Worldwide Stout, Raison D'Extra, Palo Santo Marron, and Old Skool Barleywine.

yea that palo santo is really interesting. i have some of that aging right now in my parent's basement (apt. living isn't meant for beer cellaring) that i'm going to try this this winter, looking forward to it. it's a really complex beer

I have a worldwide stout in my fridge right now. Maybe I should drink it tonight.

I really like the dogfish head lager, the one that used to be called golden shower. Haven't had it in ages though.

Are you talking about the Imperial Pilsner... Golden Era?

If so, I had the pleasure of trying it in NYC last month. I also had the "Squall IPA" which is just a bottle-conditioned 90 minute IPA. Both were quite good.

Yep, that was it. I only found a four pack at Binnys several years ago.

The Golden Era I had in NYC was aged... I think it was from '06. Personally, I have never seen it at Binny's, I think I would freak out if I found it.

Right now I am drinking a Lagunitas Imperial Red. It is one of my favorite brews from them. I am looking forward to being able to get the Brown Shugga again. I swear that the only reason I look forward to winter is the seasonal stuff that comes out.

tried beer lao today

not even all that

totally ok with these results