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.

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