Happy Days

I couldn't let a discussion concerning best beers go without adding my own valid contribution, so in reverse order, here goes:

7

Richmond (Richbrau) You wouldn't think that America would be a good place to start, being the home to such toilet water as Budweiser, Miller & Coors. Budweisers' plainly patronising adverts simply confirm they know as much about beer as they do about football, despite what they say. I once had a free afternoon at the launch of Coors in the UK, and we still left half way through to go to the nearest pub.

But in the middle of Richmond, Virginia, is a brew-pub / night-club / pool hall where decent beer is king. We had to try each and every beer on offer, and there wasn't a bad one amongst them. As we left, it started snowing. We didn't care, but we soon established that trying to flag a taxi down in the middle of the street in the good-ole-u-s-of-a is a different prospect to Market Square at chuck out time. The porter in the hotel opposite got a little bit alarmed at two English lads stumbling round reception asking for a taxi and use of their toilets.

6

Cruzcampo American beers, Spanish lagers, hardly the beer choice of a hardened real-ale fan. During the summer months, you need something cold, frothy yet tasty to chew on, the last being an attribute Magners could well do with thinking about. Cruzcampo, now sadly missing from the BPitW, was the summer time drink of choice during 2005, and is one of the reasons why a holiday to the Canaries looks on next year.

5

Timothy Taylor Landlord Ah, that's better, a proper real-ale for proper real-ale drinkers. A decent pint you can find in plenty of differing places in Nottingham.

4

Kimberley Classic / Olde Trip A throwback to the days of teenage drinking, 2 hour sessions on a Sunday lunch-time, free beef cobs and towels down the pool table pockets. The Beechdale, god bless you. The Best Bitter was my drink of choice as a 16/17 year old, until the Kimberley Classic came out in 1991. Nowadays, you can't get much better than a pint of Olde Trip in the courtyard outside the oldest pub in the world. Greene King's take-over might mean the end of brewing in Nottinghamshire. Shipstones & Mansfield have both gone and I was working for Scottish & Newcastle when they closed the Home Brewery. To save the Kimberley brewery, visit the campaign site here.

3

Pride of Romsey / Red Cuillin The BPitW isn't the BPitW for no reason. Brews its own beers, sells beers from all over world, good atmosphere, 5 minutes walk from my house (15 on the way back), a beer-garden & authentic Thai food make it a fantastic place. Their shop next door selling bottled real-ales & lagers from their own brewery and again from all over the world makes it quite easily the BPitW. The Pride of Romsey is probably the best one I've had from there, whereas the Red Cuillin reminds me of the Aberdeen beer festival. Exactly the same as the Nottingham beer festival but with pint glasses. And in Aberdeen.

2

Brush Bitter The best beer from the BPitW. Sit down, try one of each, talk a lot, go home. A fantastic evenings entertainment.

And no 1

Deuchars IPA When I lived in Scotland, this was my regular drink in my local pub, the Red Lion, Fochabers. You can't beat being able to walk into a pub and the bar-staff pouring your pint before you've even sat down & ordered. Scottish drinking laws also forbid you having an empty glass, so as you get to about 2/3 of the way down ,they start pouring you another one. Superb. Plenty of places down south sell it and it always reminds me of Scotland. Shame you can't get the deep fried Haggis supper here as well.

not so good

With all good things come those that simply don't compare, the Sonny to Cher, the Little to Large, Phil to Gary (and Gary too, if we're honest).

I never liked Boddingtons, but their ad campaign spawned dozens of chemically created, headache inducing wanabees of beer hell. If your beer hasn't got a decent head on it, you're either in London (in which case c**p beer is the least of your worries) or the beer hasn't been properly looked after. That doesn't mean adding a 'widget' to pump s**t into beer to create a head. Caffrey's was an attempt to jump on the back of this AND the Oirish band wagon common in pub redevelopments at the time. Show me the pub in Ireland where people really park their bikes on the ceiling and I'll take it all back. (I'm going to look a fool if this is actually common place when I go in two weeks, although I'm not overly concerned).

Following on from this are any beers with the words 'smooth' or 'cold' in the title. The colder something is, the less you can tell that actually it tastes like cat's p**s. And how smooth exactly do you want a drink made predominantly out of water to be ?

The final word has to go to Magners cider, a fine piece of advertising and a fantastic angle, getting pubs to serve your drink with ice in the summer. Genius. With Guinness you've got the 'Theatre of the Pour', with bar-staff having to take lessons to learn how to pour it properly. With Magners you look like an expert because you're drinking it over ice. Rubbish, you look like a sap who would cut off one of your own legs if told to by television.