International Micro-Breweries

[Ó Flannagáin]

I was just reading the introduction post from peter, the Irish fellow, and it made me think. He was saying his interest in homebrew was sparked while in Oregon... I know Oregon is one of the top states for micro-breweries, but micro-breweries are quite prevelant in the states.

On my worldly travels, I have had a hard time finding brews from small, micro-breweries. In Germany, all I can find is paulaner, franziskaner and a few other hefeweizens + a ton of "pils" which are not that flavorful.

In Ireland, All I saw was Guinness, Murphy's, Smithwicks, Carlsburg and budweiser.

In England, I saw a few more options, Young's seemed to have a variety at some of the pubs, there were a few different ciders, etc...

...but for the most part, I've been to many, many bars in the states where they have 50-100 beers on tap, all micro-brewed... tons of barley wines, ipas, stouts, rye, specialties, so on and so forth...

I guess this is just an observation, hoping to spark a little discussion on the matter. America seems to be accepting the broad variety of beer, where other counties seem to stick with what they are known for. PURLY, my opion based on my experiences... maybe I've just hit up all the wrong spots.

 

[constrc]

If you happen back to Ireland, you'll have to visit Messrs. Maguire. Its located along the river Liffey at 1-2 Burgh Quay, Dublin 2.
If I remember right they brew about 6-7 different varities and was a great find for us in our travels.

 

[Mikey]

Depending where you are in Germany, you'll find lots of local beers and/or brewpubs too.

I always ran out of time before I ran out of beer.

 

[Orfy]

A little background to pubs in the England, there are several types.

Chain pubs that are owned by large corporations or breweries. They are told what beers to serve and have no choice. Then you get chain pubs that are told what to serve but have a prefered "guest" list that they can choose from and will have a choice of national and some regional "real" ales.
You then get "Freehold" pubs that are not owned by chains or breweries and can serve what they want.

The Majority of the "Chain" pubs in the UK will have "Taps" with the big swill brews on and most will have two "Pumps" with real ale on, usually a national brand like Old Peculiar and Green King IPA. You'll normally find that these beers a served super chilled and with a creamflow head. (Not for me)

In most towns you'll get a good selection of pubs that have a couple of "guest" Ales that they change from barrel to barrel and are easy to find though the quality of the beer is hit and miss depending on the pub.

Then again in most towns there are a couple of pubs the pride themselves on the beer. These are a joy to drink in. The swill taps will be there in the minority to feed the swill drinkers. But there will be a wonderful row of beer engines with great beer on tap. Unusually a few bitters. Maybe a Blonde or Wheat, an IPA or two, A porter or stout.

Without fail you'll usually have a Guinness tap in all of these places.

My nearest place is an hotel that has two guest "Real Ales" and 3 swill taps. The other pubs within a mile I would not drink at by choice. Mr proper local is 2.5 miles away and is "Freehold". It has 6 Hand Pumps and a barrel rarely lasts more than 2 days. They will repeat a popular brew once maybe every 3 months. So I can drink a different pint every time. :rockin: