Despite the greatness of (many) Australian beers, especially with the recent emergence of craft beers and local microbreweries, the allure of the ‘foreign beer’ has always been an exciting prospect.
Beer and travel has always been a match made in heaven for me. I mean heck, I love travel…my wife and I travel a lot…I love beer…bingo!
Not long after a trip is booked (often before!) the research begins to see if there are breweries near by to visit, or to at least find out what the local brews are.
I can’t imagine sitting on a small plastic chair in the middle of Hanoi’s ancient quarter in 40 degree heat and drinking a Heineken! Pleeeease…
My global search for beer greatness begins in the UK, but will also include most of Europe and Asia. Something can be said for pretty much every country (even every city); however with the risk that you will close the browser after about two countries…I will split this into Part I – UK, Part II – Europe and Part III – Asia.
So lets start with the United Kingdom.
It was 2002/03, the sun was shining and the beers were ice cold. Wait, wrong story. Wrong place. That isn’t it…
It actually was 2002/03; however it was a working holiday to the UK. At the time my beer drinking selection was pretty much just lager. Didn’t know much about Ales or Bitters, and to be honest didn’t care to try. Looking back I hate that I didn’t try them and next time I go to the UK I will certainly be trying them all! Well some of them anyway.
What shocked me the most in the UK (or at least in 2002/03) is that if you want a pint of lager, the options on tap are always Fosters and maybe one or two others. When the other choices are basically a rotation of Stella or Becks or something uninspiringly similar, I found myself ordering Fosters. Oh the shame, but it seemed to be the one constant in every pub if you wanted a lager. So it was kinda ‘easy’.
To my surprise it wasn’t that bad (pause for sledging…). Besides, the good thing about drinking a beer that may be a tad embarrassing (okay is embarrassing), is that it could be anything inside that pint glass in my hand!
“This here? Oh I’m drinking a pint of Innis & Gunn. It’s aged in oak barrels. Those crazy Scots…”
I also want to mention the Campaign for Real Ale Great British Beer Festival.
The 2003 ‘CAMRA Great British Beer Festival’ in London was the first real opportunity for me to try different types of beer other than just lager. Not much more than a massive hall filled with beer stalls, the Beer Festival was a massive eye opener for me in terms of trying quality beer. Looking back on it the two main things I remember of the day were - it was almost 40 degrees in London (yuck), and if my wife stepped forward to ask to try a particular beer, our glasses were filled a lot higher than if I did! I’m not proud of peddling my wife’s assets to get more beer (I mean her Aussie accent), but it probably won’t be the last time I do it either (hey we’re talking free beer here!)…
Beer highlights? Too long ago to recall to be honest, and many hours of sampling the best from Adnams, Fuller's and Wentworth's probably meant I didn’t remember the very next day. I did purchase a Hicks Special Draught t-shirt and still have it today…so I’m guessing that went down okay!
Unfortunately any mention of the Beer Festival leads to death like stares from my wife. How was I supposed to know Melbourne's wind would knock over and smash the souvenir pint glass we kept? Hey we got 4 or 5 years use out of it!
Sadly the main aim living in London was to find drinkable beer at the lowest price. This often meant drinking at home, and by drinking I mean grabbing 500ml cans of the cheapest lager from the local supermarket. Who pays 2 quid if say Carlsberg is on special for 60p? Whooooo?!
I reckon that’s enough for the UK for now. Living there and travelling around leads to many beer related stories, but we’re all a bit tired so it’s time to move on.
But that’s not it folks! Stayed tuned soon for ‘The Global Search for Greatness – Part II (Europe)’.
Till then,
Cheers!…Prost!...Salute!...Kampai!
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