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Strong Bottled Ales - What's Your Favourite?

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I like strong bottled ales - and I'm talking about proper old-fashioned ales here, not those dozens of expensive ,trendy craft IPA's that are in abundance these days.  I like the ales that are beween 6% and 8% alcohol, because anything below 6% tastes weak and feeble and anything above 8% tastes too thick, treacly & claggy. Among my favourites are

Adnam's Broadside

Morland's Old Crafty Hen

Shepherd Neame Kentish Strong Ale

Innis & Gunn "original" and Blood Red sky

King Goblin

McEwan's Champion

Young's Ramrod

 

A couple that I didn't like at all were Old Tom ( too claggy) & McEwan's  Headspace (unpleasant after-taste) . Also, does anyone know what happened to Worthington's White Shield? It was only 5.6%, but it tasted lovely . I  used to really like White Shield, but haven't seen it around for years.

Edited by FIRETHORN1

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Quite keen on McEwan's Champion, but overall would prefer to go for something Belgian, they seem to have mastered the art of strong ale without being too sweet. Jaipur is also nice, but I tend to avoid Thornbridge because I have a major problem with the owner.

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Batemans Victory Ale and Fuller’s 1845 are two of my favorites, I do enjoy a glass or two of strong ale once the dark nights start drawing in.

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On 17/09/2021 at 22:15, Delbow said:

Quite keen on McEwan's Champion, but overall would prefer to go for something Belgian, they seem to have mastered the art of strong ale without being too sweet. Jaipur is also nice, but I tend to avoid Thornbridge because I have a major problem with the owner.

I purchased a couple of bottles from my local Tesco yesterday, £1.49 a bottle is really cheap for such a strong ale.

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McEwans Champion is often on offer for £1.49 a bottle in most supermarkets and Morrison's quite often do a 4 for £6 offer on quite a few of their ales.  I've a;so .recently developed a big liking for Guinness Foreign Extra - it's 7.5 percent and much tastier than normal strength Guinness.

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Worthington White Shield disappeared from Tesco's shelves about 3 years ago. It cost about £2.20 which was slightly more expensive than other premium pale ales but in my opinion it was much more subtle & refined than any of them. I think it is still available from the BeersofEurope website at £3.69 per bottle.

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Just for your information, Worthington White Shield used to be brewed in Burton . Then tanked up to Hope Brewery in Sheffield, sterile filtered  yeast added then sterile bottled (not pasteurised ) to enable the yeast to work in the bottle !

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On 17/01/2022 at 23:22, feederfil said:

Just for your information, Worthington White Shield used to be brewed in Burton . Then tanked up to Hope Brewery in Sheffield, sterile filtered  yeast added then sterile bottled (not pasteurised ) to enable the yeast to work in the bottle !

Interesting. No wonder it was a bit more expensive! I tried several times to make this beer from grain using yeast cultured from the yeast residue but it was always a bit disappointing. From your post, it sounds like I needed the yeast they used at Burton.

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On 17/01/2022 at 17:51, FIRETHORN1 said:

McEwans Champion is often on offer for £1.49 a bottle in most supermarkets and Morrison's quite often do a 4 for £6 offer on quite a few of their ales.  I've a;so .recently developed a big liking for Guinness Foreign Extra - it's 7.5 percent and much tastier than normal strength Guinness.

I agree, it’s a lovely drink to have in front of the fire on a cold winter evening. Guinness West Indies Porter is very nice as well. 

Edited by websters gue

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I'm not a massive fan of most of the trendy craft beers - a lot them are overpriced, but I do quite like some of the Brewdog  IPA's. Punk IPA is quite nice, as is Hazy Jane . My favourite Brewdog is Mr President - it's 9% , which would usually be a bit strong and treacly for me -  but it's really tasty and goes down a treat. It's expensive though. The Belgian beer, Duvel, is quite nice too - but more like a strong lager than like an ale. I like trying new beers and will give anything a go - but I tend to gravitate more towards the traditional ales and stouts. 

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My favorite IPA at the moment is Proper Job from Cornwall. Again £1.49 from Tesco and it’s a nice strength at 5.5% ABV.

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I've recently got more and more into drinking Brewdog's Mr President IPA. It's very strong- at 9.2% - but very more-ish. Tesco sell it in 440ml cans - not just the titchy 330ml bottles. Quite expensive though - at £3.50 a can. I also recently tried a can of a super-strong IPA from Northern Monk, which I bought in Morrison's - again over 9% and very tasty - but even pricier - at £4.50 for a 44oml can. I guess I'm a bit of a self-indulgent fool for paying this much for a single can of beer. Its daylight robbery really- but my excuse is that it's an occasional treat - and with beer this strong, you only need one can (or maybe two, at a push) to give you a proper beer-buzz.

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