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You’d quite possibly like some more UK-style beers. Definitely a lot of US brewers tend to focus on the hops and bitterness, and there are a fair few beers out there measuring at least 11 on a scale of 1-10.

But regardless of where you are drinking, there is an enormous difference in flavour profiles both between the various types of beer, and even within them. That difference is even greater when seen between geographic regions. Generally speaking, for example, I don’t particularly like UK brown ales, but I almost always love Belgian brown ales.

Absolutely Jared. In all seriousness, I count my blessings each and every day.

Thanks Steve, very much.

I think you will enjoy later this week my report of our”taproom takeover” by the founder of Evan Evans brewery. This was supposed to be last week, but somebody cocked up the beer delivery. Anyhow, we will be sampling five ales. I will be asking the missus to keep copious notes in case I become incapable of doing so! 

When people speak about US beer tasting like piss, they tend to mean the mass-brewed lagers like Bud - which do tend to be pretty gosh darn awful. I’m yet to taste one of those that I like. But lagers brewed by micro-brewers and craft-brewers tend to be full of flavour.

I’ve met a lot of US craft beer drinkers that find a lot of UK real ales flavourless and/or bland, simply because their palate is used to the full on flavours of so many US craft beers. When you say craft beer to you is a brew with flavour, then you seem to be leaning towards what I already said is the difference between UK and US tastes, when it comes to beer. Craft brewers definitely make you notice and appreciate the art taken in the brewing process - but UK drinkers tend to like subtlety, and US drinkers in-your-face. All taste for beer is subjective by nature, but that subjectivity can be affected by a number of things outside an individual’s control, and the brewing trends of where in the world one drinks is one such thing.

I like the beers of Malta a great deal, both the lager-like Cisk (perfect in the midday sun) and the more hoppy Hopleaf, a rather good ale and the only decent one I have had outside the UK.

My experience of American beer is very limited. I have never been there. All I will say is that I hate the corporate “beers” such as Budweiser and that bloody awful Canadian goose piss whose name I forget. However, I am absolutely confident that my very learned and tasteful friends here on PA will be drinking proper beers, brewed in proper ways.

BTW, cool website. 

No, I didn’t go Jared. I actually found out about it a couple of weeks ago, but we had arrangements to see a couple of friends before that, so we couldn’t go. It was a real shame, because Pontardawe is only about 20 minutes up the road. BTW, as a point of interest, it is where the choir on Roger Waters Radio KAOS was recorded. 

Hopefully, Ian and Karnataka will be fully functioning again and it will not be too long before we get the opportunity to see them.