Imported English ale vs. local ale (English BLOWS away local!)

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TheCookieMonster

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Hi,

I have tried St. Peters English Ale and have compared it to my local award winning Ale's and pale ales.

The English Ale BLOWS the local variety out of the water and I'm wondering if this is because of the 2 Row/6 Row etc.

There is a flavor difference I can't put my finger on.

The local tastes 2 dimensional.

The English Ale imported from England.. wow.. it tasted 3D. Unbelievable. Damn it was so good I almost feel addicted.

Can someone please tell me what the difference between the two beers is? Water, 2 Row... what is it?

The St Peters English Ale was so good it was one of the best beers I've ever tasted.. I'm not a big beer connoisseur and have never had English beer, but OMG I was amazed. It's like it's been the 'missing link' this whole time. I took a couple of sips and it was like.. "ok.. wow *this* is the standard I need to compare all beers against".

Does that make sense to anyone?
 
Someone with sufficient experience and knowledge should be able to 'know' what the general difference is between the two.

Huh? You want us to know the differences in beers we've never had without knowing your ingredients, your process, your water, etc? Or are you talking about local Toronto microbrews beers and English imports? What style of beer? What brands?

My ESP is on the fritz today.
 
Huh? You want us to know the differences in beers we've never had without knowing your ingredients, your process, your water, etc? Or are you talking about local Toronto microbrews beers and English imports? What style of beer? What brands?

My ESP is on the fritz today.

Exactly. What beer are you comparing it to? You gave us the specific English beer, but not the local beer. There are plenty of 'ok' micro/craft brews in North America, but also plenty that could stand toe to toe with 'real' English Ales.

Being 'award winning' doesn't mean much either. Don't BMC beers win awards a GABF too? :drunk:

My ESP is on the fritz today.

And you better get that looked at Yooper...
 
Huh? You want us to know the differences in beers we've never had without knowing your ingredients, your process, your water, etc? Or are you talking about local Toronto microbrews beers and English imports? What style of beer? What brands?

My ESP is on the fritz today.

Nah ..Sorry bro.

Anyone who is experienced with brewing and beer would easily know the base recipe for a standard ale and what would be the differences between a British import, and a local variety.

I'm not dissing anyone. But honestly anyone with true experience and good at their craft would be able to answer this pretty straight fwd question.

There is a time when people can witness a separation between the men and the boys. This question unfortunate is one of those. :mug:

(the above statements are just personal opinion of course)
 
Nah ..Sorry bro.

Anyone who is experienced with brewing and beer would easily know the base recipe for a standard ale and what would be the differences between a British import, and a local variety.

I'm not dissing anyone. But honestly anyone with true experience and good at their craft would be able to answer this pretty straight fwd question.

There is a time when people can witness a separation between the men and the boys. This question unfortunate is one of those. :mug:

(the above statements are just personal opinion of course)

I'm not sure where to begin...

First Yooper isn't a 'bro' :D (who knew chicks can brew too?). Secondly, I have no idea what ingredients went into this particular beer you loved so much. I don't doubt that it was wonderful. But to say there could just be a categorical difference between 'English' beers and those made elswhere is false.

You could probably obtain or replicate pretty much all the ingredients in said beer (water, yeast, hops, grain), use similar processes and have basically the same outcome (provided you know what you are doing). I can buy English yeast strains and malts at my LHBS. Just because some local brews you compared it to dont stand up doesnt mean that English ales (which I love as well) are inherently better across the board.

The make some very tasty fish 'n chips in London too, but I have had some awesome ones here as well.

With the exception of some rare examples (lambics relying on specific wild yeast native to the area) I don't think location has much to do with it...

Without knowing the specifics of the beers you are comparing, we can't answer your original question.
 
Nah ..Sorry bro.

Anyone who is experienced with brewing and beer would easily know the base recipe for a standard ale and what would be the differences between a British import, and a local variety.

I'm not dissing anyone. But honestly anyone with true experience and good at their craft would be able to answer this pretty straight fwd question.

There is a time when people can witness a separation between the men and the boys. This question unfortunate is one of those. :mug:

(the above statements are just personal opinion of course)

Oh, well since this is only from "bro"s and experienced brewers, I guess you had better tell us the differences. I apparently am neither, since I can't guess what the differences are between a good beer that I never had and a bad beer that you won't identify. I am neither a man nor a boy, so will be unable to separate them.

I will say that if you are looking for a warm, biscuity, complex flavor, that comes from malts like maris otter or Golden Promise, along with some crystal and/or biscuit malt. Body is important, so mash at a fairly high temperature to preserve some of the long-chained dextrines. Yeast is important, too, so you could try a British yeast strain. If you like English beers, use English hops like EKG or fuggles.

Since there are many styles of English beers from milds to IPAs, I can't be more specific than that. An ESB will be very different from a porter, for example, and they have different ingredients. In order to nail down what it is that is "better", you'd have to know what style you were comparing a certain beer to. Roasty flavors would be out of place in a pale ale, but appropriate in a mild, as an example.

A "local" beer to me isn't in Toronto, so I can't possibly know what your local beer is or how it compares to a different beer.

Of course, if I was a better brewer I would be able to read your mind and know precisely what characteristics that beer had that you like.
 
Nah ..Sorry bro.

Anyone who is experienced with brewing and beer would easily know the base recipe for a standard ale and what would be the differences between a British import, and a local variety.

I'm not dissing anyone. But honestly anyone with true experience and good at their craft would be able to answer this pretty straight fwd question.

There is a time when people can witness a separation between the men and the boys. This question unfortunate is one of those. :mug:

(the above statements are just personal opinion of course)

I really appreciate that HBT has an ignore list. See ya.
 
I don't know why everyone is avoiding this mans question. Any really experienced brewer with testicles knows that English beers are better because the queen is magic. If Toronto had a queen then your local beers would be better.
 
I don't know why everyone is avoiding this mans question. Any really experienced brewer with testicles knows that English beers are better because the queen is magic. If Toronto had a queen then your local beers would be better.

If memory serves me right, the Canadians still submit amendments to their constitution to the English Parliament for formal approval.

Their beers should be magical, too.
 
Being close to a queen has never been magic for me.

I'm going to venture a guess and say it's either the hops, grains, water, or yeast.
 
I will throw in my $0.02 (0.0206 Canadian)....

I think St. Peter's beer aren't really that great. Would I take it over BMC? Doubt it for the price. I would gladly take any locally brewed beer over it. Maybe the focus of this revelation should not be on St. Peter's being good rather whatever beer you are comparing it to sucking. Just saying, it is a matter of perspective I guess.
 
I'm familiar with ST. Peters, they make some fine beers. They have a great Porter, a really fine Golden and I especially like to enjoy them at the Jerusalem Tavern in London where they have a lot of rares and seasonals on cask.. (when I can get there).

Also, I am slightly familiar with some of the Toronto breweries, but can only guess that he might be talking about Mill St.??

Maybe you are trying to compare their ESB to St Peters Ale?
 
What the heck, Every good Canadian knows that the best beers are made from the Queens saliva.

I think he must be comparing it to lakeport.
 
Nah ..Sorry bro.

Anyone who is experienced with brewing and beer would easily know the base recipe for a standard ale and what would be the differences between a British import, and a local variety.

I'm not dissing anyone. But honestly anyone with true experience and good at their craft would be able to answer this pretty straight fwd question.

There is a time when people can witness a separation between the men and the boys. This question unfortunate is one of those. :mug:

(the above statements are just personal opinion of course)

Well, your personal opinions show you to be a Internet jackass. The person you're insulting has shown her expertise, experience and good sense over and over. Go away.
 
I too am curious as to what the local beer is.

Also which specific St. Peter's? I've only had their Golden Ale, I recall liking it but not being mind blown.

Are your "local" beers a big company or a micro/craft brewery?

This may just be a case of finally having real beer.
 
Its no different than drinking Guinness in the US and drinking Guinness in Ireland. There is no comparison. Guinness in Ireland is hands down the better beer. They have the process, water profile and all the other variables controlled. Plus they let leprecauns (I hope I spelled that right) pee in the water supply. How can we duplicate that in the US..........
 
Its no different than drinking Guinness in the US and drinking Guinness in Ireland. There is no comparison. Guinness in Ireland is hands down the better beer. They have the process, water profile and all the other variables controlled. Plus they let leprecauns (I hope I spelled that right) pee in the water supply. How can we duplicate that in the US..........

I don't have direct experience, but my guess is that this is anecdotal ather than factual. Actually US Guinness is brewed in Dublin. Even Guinness states the following on their own website:

"GUINNESS® is GUINNESS® - wherever you are. We always use pure, fresh water from natural local sources for the GUINNESS® stout brewed outside Ireland. That said, in blind tests (with a bunch of highly cynical journalists) none of our sample could tell the difference between Irish-brewed GUINNESS® and the locally produced variety. All the GUINNESS® sold in the UK, Ireland and North America is brewed in Ireland at the historic St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin."
So while I'm sure it seems to tatse better in Ireland, it may not be so. Ireland is cool though :). Obviously, if you are having Guinness at a pub in the US that has very slow turnover of the product, it may not be as fresh as can be. I'm still not sure that where it was brewed is as much at fault though anyway.
 
My Oatmeal Stout recipe is better than Guinness.............
:eek::eek:GASP!..........Blasphemy!!...............Stone him!!!!
I'm just sayin.....

Funny thing though with our friend from Toronto, I understand where he's coming from, and I don't mean Mississauga. Many times I've tasted a beer and have been totally smitten and then after extensive searching I'm able to find it again only to be less than impressed. It does have alot to do with what you have been drinking and eating at the time. I've never had a St. Peters Ale I'll have to search it out, taste it, then try and clone it of course (I still like my oatmeal stout better than Guinness):eek:
 
I didn't make a broad generalization, I excluded the one brewery in Canada that anyone in any other country would give a crap if it disappeared tomorrow.

I have had the Steam Whistle Pilsner. If that is the best you can come up with, you are doing a better job of proving my point than I am.
 
I'm not dissing anyone. But honestly anyone with true experience and good at their craft would be able to answer this pretty straight fwd question.

Wow, you reminded me in 3 minutes why I thoroughly disliked my time in Toronto. Rudest, most obnoxious people I've ever met in my life, and you're just carrying on the stereotype, congrats.

"Anyone with true experience" who is "good at their craft" would tell you to go suck sand, because you are asking a nonsense question. I have an English Bitters fermenting in my basement as we speak... people in the UK make citrusy, grapefruity West Coast IPA's all the time. Beer taste has very little to do with location. There are STYLES, but we have no idea what STYLE you're comparing against unless you tell us the STYLE of the beer you felt the English Ale was superior to. You getting my drift? Until then, you fail at the Internet.
 
I didn't make a broad generalization, I excluded the one brewery in Canada that anyone in any other country would give a crap if it disappeared tomorrow.

I have had the Steam Whistle Pilsner. If that is the best you can come up with, you are doing a better job of proving my point than I am.


I'm rather fond of Unibroue.
 
I'm rather fond of Unibroue.

I like em okay, and I thought about giving the entire province of Quebec a pass, but frankly outside of a trip to Quebec City a couple of years ago, I haven't had a Unibroue beer in about 4 years and for me they don't pass the "I would care if they went away" test. There are plenty of real Belgian beers on the store shelves, Ommegang, RRBC, Boulevard, Lost Abbey and other US breweries compare very favorably to Unibroue in terms of Belgian style beers. Unibroue was more imporant 5-10 years ago but I think they are pretty redundant at this point.
 
Is it okay to add to this thread with another question? I don't want to step on the OP, but, I have this ingredient I tried in one of my beers...I didn't like it, please tell me why.

Please help, I'm at my wits end trying to understand!!!
 
At the risk of grossly misunderstanding this thread and offending its readers, I have to say that the first and only two English ales that I have tried (Fuller's London Pride and Marston's Pedigree) have humbled me with regard to beer.
 
Let us all understand that the vast majority of Canada is a barren wasteland where beer is not the same as many of us enjoy in the US. I only know a couple Canadians, but they think Molsten ice is "good" or "fancy" beer...

Saying "that English beer" is the best, is just like saying, "that US beer" is the best. England has thousands (ish) of breweries, just like most other countries. Some are good, some are bad, some are OK.

St. Peter's English Ale is an ordinary bitter. I have had a couple good bottles but usually they just taste past their prime...
 
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