Bitter Beers

[Sweet Willie]

If given a choice I always choose the bitter beer, anyone else?

My favorite is XXXX Bitter from Australia, tops on my list, VERY tough to find in the US, if anyone does please email me, I'm tired of paying $30+ for a case of beer shipped from Oz.

I was in bitter heaven in London pubs as well.

Any on tap bitter beer in the US?

[bigbear]

.....

Any on tap bitter beer in the US?

Victory Brewing Co. makes a couple bitters that are draft only. They also list some Chicago taverns (Clark Street Alehouse, Hopleaf, Jak's Tap, The Map Room) as serving some of their products. Just maybe, one will have some.

[Jason Perlow]

Hey Bigbear. Where ya been?

[theakston]

Is this the one? Castlemaine:

http://ratebeer.com/Ratings/Beer/ShowBeer....asp?BeerID=1484

Doesn't sound that great. I've had their lager and wasn't impressed.

"Bitter" is a generic term that is used in England and Australia to distinguish the more hoppy pale ales from the "Mild" ales that are less hopped and often dark. The bitterness comes from the hops.

American Pale Ales are generally much more bitter than anything that the UK or Australia produces. There are some real "hop monsters" out there.

Try Stone Ruination or Buffalo Bill's Alimony Ale at over 100+ IBUs they are bitter in the extreme.

(IBU is international bittering units - a way of measuring the bitterness of the beer)

IPAs (India Pale Ales) are extra hoppy as the hops act as a preservative that allowed them to be shipped from England to India. This style has been adopted well in the USA and there are many excellent versions produced by American craft brewers.

[Sweet Willie]

.....

Any on tap bitter beer in the US?

Victory Brewing Co. makes a couple bitters that are draft only. They also list some Chicago taverns (Clark Street Alehouse, Hopleaf, Jak's Tap, The Map Room) as serving some of their products. Just maybe, one will have some.

some local info, thanks bigbear.

[theakston]

So you are in the Chicago area and really like British Bitters:

You should check out the "Real Ale Festival" next March

http://www.realalefestival.com/

If you can't wait until then try some of the Cask conditioned ales at Goose Island, or Flossmoor station. It's the cask conditioning that makes English draft Bitter unique. Keg just isn't the same.

Another bottled Bitter you should be able to get (even though it is W. Coast) is Rogues Brutal Bitter. This is the US interpretation and it really bitter and quite strong.

[Rich Pawlak]

So you are in the Chicago area and really like British Bitters:

You should check out the "Real Ale Festival" next March

http://www.realalefestival.com/

If you can't wait until then try some of the Cask conditioned ales at Goose Island, or Flossmoor station. It's the cask conditioning that makes English draft Bitter unique. Keg just isn't the same.

Another bottled Bitter you should be able to get (even though it is W. Coast) is Rogues Brutal Bitter. This is the US interpretation and it really bitter and quite strong.

The brewer at Flossmoor Station, Todd Ashman, a good friend, is one of the best brewers in the country, and does a lot of barrell- and bourbon-barrell- aging of his beers, with some incredible results. He also produces an IPA using Amarillo hops, producing an intensely bitter brew with a refreshingly sweet note in the finish, one of the very best beers I have ever had. Don't think the guy knows how to make a bad beer. An amazing talent, always one of the highlights of the Real Ale Fest and the Great American Beer Festival and the Oregon Brewers Festival.

But catch as many Flossmoor beers as you can, as soon as you can---Ashman will be opening his own place in Madison, WI in the very near future. Lucky lucky Madison.

[ctgm]

If given a choice I always choose the bitter beer, anyone else?

My favorite is XXXX Bitter from Australia, tops on my list, VERY tough to find in the US, if anyone does please email me, I'm tired of paying $30+ for a case of beer shipped from Oz.

I was in bitter heaven in London pubs as well.

Any on tap bitter beer in the US?

Sweet Willie - I am confused. The XXXX Bitter from Australia, was this Castlemaine? If so then this is not the best beer in the world, nor in OZ and the Aussies don't drink it - they prefer Victoria Bitter.

Bitter in Oz is very different from bitter in London. What is called Victoria Bitter in Oz is usually called Victoria Beer in England as they couldn't get away with calling it Bitter.

If it is Castlemaine XXXX that you are after, send me a PM and I might be able to help you out.

[Sweet Willie]

Sweet Willie - I am confused. The XXXX Bitter from Australia, was this Castlemaine? If so then this is not the best beer in the world, nor in OZ and the Aussies don't drink it - they prefer Victoria Bitter.

yes Castlemaine.

Now I'm confused. I was under the impression that there were basically two regions in Oz in terms of bitter beer drinking.

Victoria Bitter was referred to by those who despised it as VB or "Very Bad" beer

XXXX was referred to by those who despised it as the can has to be marked XXXX or else the morons who prefer it would not know how to recognize it.

The two times to Oz I noticed (what I perceived) as distint regions for preferring one over the other bitter.

[liamdc]

Yes, Castlemaine XXXX is produced in Queensland, Australia. I once heard a Sydney native derisively say about Queenslanders and XXXX, "They call it 4 X because they don't know how to spell 'piss.'"

I tried XXXX back in the '90s when they began importing it into the U.S. I was *not* impressed. It is no longer imported into the U.S. if my understanding is correct. We're not missing much.

Liam

[ctgm]

Not being a native of Oz, but I seem to remember

Western Australia - Swan

Northern Territory - NT Bitter

Queensland - XXXX

NSW - Tooeys (excuse the spelling)

Victoria - VB

can't remember South Australia apart from Coopers and Tasmania also eludes me. However you will VB throughout the land.

If you want a proper bitter, I remember drinking a Tooeys (sp?) Old which was pretty good but they are more specialist. Otherwise their Botters are more of a lager beer/ale than bitter

Canna remember where Fosters fits in but think that this is NSW/Vict

Edited September 17, 2003 by ctgm (log)