Franconia Beer Message Board
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| Posted by Nick B. on 2015-01-19 01:31:24 |
| I just spent two weeks exploring the most easterly bits of Kent by half-pint. I called in to as many pubs as I could manage without spending a fortune on taxis or completely neglecting Mrs & doggie. I was told "one doesn't drink half-pints, one drinks pints" at one point, by a lovely, crusty old regular at perhaps the most excellent of the pubs in Ramsgate that I got to, and my explanation that I was on limited time and doing as much beer exploration as possible didn't sway him. Go figure. If I were to *live* there though, I imagine I would settle into a routine of going down the pub every other night for a few pints of something I know and like. Maybe a half to try whatever's new on. Nearly non-sequitor. What I said, with a bit of sloppiness cleaned up, was: Bit of a difference between "poor quality" and "non-defect-free". It is based on my personal experience and assessment of Jeff's ratings, as overly-flashy as they may be, he does spot the same problems I do in a number of beers we've both drunk over here. So, I can imagine extrapolating his assessment to beers I've not drunk with reasonable surety. Except the whole "concrete" business, not sure what that's about. No, I've certainly not visited every brewery here, maybe I have had beer from half of them (140?) over the decade I've been here, I really don't know. I don't shy away from trying new ones when I encounter them, which is, yes, mostly bottled. But alas, my early zest for exploring the countryside waned after a few years here. I was a huge lager freak before we moved here and in my early years here. I did go off exploring the countryside by bike and train, and found that despite the huge variety to be found in lagers here, they were all still lagers, and the variation just isn't that great after all. After all. After years of exploration. Hell, I used to dump two cans of Henninger into a Masskrug in my pre-Franconia days in Oregon to simulate an affordable German lager experience. (I'd try that again now, actually, but won't promise I wouldn't dump it after a couple of sips.) When I look at a map and consider the breweries' beers in any given area, yes, I really do see that many of them, maybe even a majority, are not defect-free. A decade ago, this wouldn't have mattered -- it was lager, not IPA or Belgobier. Something different! Discovering real Real Ale on trips to Bighty after having lived here a couple of years served to complicate things: that became the new "grass is greener" beer for us: *so* much flavour and character, packed into so little ABV. And now I'm also on to Czech 10° (or whatever the 4% ABV beers are), but we're not travelling there til they get a smoking ban. I visit the same Keller(s) over and over because I know the beer there and like it, especially after a 70 - 120 minute bike tour. And because I know people there and enjoy socialising with them. See, for me, it's as much the experience as it is the beer...kind of like what you say below about the pub vs. just the beer in the pub. And because the couple or three I keep going to are the best ones in terms of setting and beer within a reasonable bike ride on a given summer afternoon. I haven't posted much on the brewery pages here, nor have I rated any but ONE beer at ratebeer, nor have I blogged about beer, simply because my interests have changed over the years. I can still discuss or describe beers like I used to as a (NON-certified!) homebrew judge 20 years ago, but it's just not a hobby of mine now. I feel like, if I were to start, then I would have to keep at it in fairness to every brewery I've visited, and I just don't want to go through that. AFA Jürgen's invitations to go tooling off into the distant countryside for a specific Hell...I'm not a good passenger in cars. I *really* don't like to be driven around. And I don't drink and drive over here at all, having learnt what I did studying for and getting my drivers licence. Getting there by train and bike...a 6 hour adventure for a specific Hell? Yes, I know, it's the experience of the place, not just the beer. I don't doubt that you all are right and it is the most fabulous countryside place ever to sit inside and drink Hell with the locals. If I never make it there, it will be my loss. The bottle we (?) shared a couple of years ago wasn't particularly impressive, but then we know all about bottled Franconian beer. Next time you're at Roppelt's Keller, ask some locals why they haven't visited Spielbach. I am somewhere between you and them. The crusty old chap in Ramsgate has met and shaken the hand of HM the Queen, FWIW, so I have shaken a hand that has shaken her hand. One degree of seperation? (Well, this certainly got long and stream-of-consciousness!) (Good thing you don't criticise my drinking habits, Herr Seidla-Trinker!) |
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 Oops... by Mark Andersen on 2015-01-19 07:13:47 |