drifting_adam

Best country for beer? - voting update

Hi all,

We've had a few more votes in for the best country for beer - the current rankings are tied for first place:

Equal 1st: Belgium
Equal 1st: Czech Republic
3rd: Germany

No surprises there! On the negative side, there seems to not be much consensus with a very wide range of countries selected, but leading the pack is ZIMBABWE.

Add your vote by going here: http://lonelyplanet.BestBeer.sgizmo.com

Cheers!

Adam

Current rankings:
1. Czech Republic
2. Germany
3. Belgium

Best country for beer?

Finally got a proper voting tool organised - go to the link below and vote for your favourite (and least favourite) country for beer:

http://lonelyplanet.BestBeer.sgizmo.com

I'm trying to get a feed back to this page for the results. Until then, I'll periodically update you guys on the results.

Cheers!

Adam

Hi Harry,

I like it! You've got an ambitious website going there. Where are you getting your data from? Is it all your own experiences so far? Are you pulling it in from a central database somewhere?

Good luck - I'll keep an eye on that site!

Adam

Nice one davis! You make a good point. I have some of my own happy memories drinking these fine drops:

Asahi in Japan
Tsingtao in China
Pilsner Urquel (or Kozel) in Czech Republic
Coopers in Australia (although I might be biased here, I'm originaly from this brewery's home town)

Update on the best beer of all time

Hi all,

After a solid start, voting seems to have dried up! If you haven't voted yet, reply to this post with your favourite beer. Thus far we have a fair spread of countries (including North Korea!), but the leaders are Germany, Czech Republic and the USA. Not really a surprise!

In no particular order:
Indio (Amber Ale, USA),
Harveys (Ale, UK),
Pilsner Urquel (Pilsner, Czech Republic),
Mortiz de Barcelona (Lager, Spain),
Hacker-Pschorr Octoberfest (Oktoberfest, Germany),
Spaten Munchen (Oktoberfest, Germany),
Kozel (Dark Lager, Czech Republic),
Chimay (Belgian Strong Ale, Belgium),
Taedong Beer (Lager? Ale?, North Korea),
Creemore Springs (Lager, Canada),
Ninkasi Beer (Ale, USA),
Gippsland Gold (Ale, Australia)

Thou shalt learn to say "Please" "Thank you" and "2 beers thanks" in the local language
Thou shalt not horde stupid trinkets (although we all fail that one)
Thou shalt travel with no more than 2 pairs of shoes

Greetings on the WAY to Sarajevo Ha! Love the Beer+Guidebook shot! This one was at cruising altitude on Qantas heading towards Europe (and the Balkans specifically). Rather impressed they served up James Squire, a tasty brew from Australia that is now probably far too large to be referred to as a microbrew.

****Note - please comment on this thread using the comment button, rather than posting a fresh thread in the main section. Thanks!!****

Gods of Beer?

Hi,

A recent post by a member drew my attention to "Ninkasi", the Sumerian goddess of beer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninkasi). It was certainly news to me that there was a GOD of beer. Now that is a religion I could go for!

It got me thinking about other ways that people have worshipped beer (in a very literal sense, rather than the exaggerated sense that we may use today). What other religious (or mythic) figures can you think of that are related to beer?

My first thought was of St. Arnaud (aka St. Arnold os Soissons), the patron saint of hop-pickers and Belgian brewers. He is often depicted holding a mashing rake, as well as a Bishops mitre. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Arnold)

Surely there must be others? Egyptian perhaps? Eastern European? Mythic?

Look forward to any insights and comments,

Adam,
worshipping the holy mash tun

beer is love voted for: Ninkasi Beer from Eugene, OR

Note from Adam:.... although.. to be fair... it's a pretty good bet that beerislove WORKS for Ninkasi Beer. Having said that, it looks like a pretty fair beer and has some interesting stuff to say on their website about the history of beer:

Quote "Ninkasi is named for the Sumerian Goddess of fermentation. The first recorded brewers were the Sumerians, who gave up their nomadic way of life to become agrarian to produce barley to make bread and beer. They were the first to write, have schools, laws and many other firsts including organized beer production."

Nog - you have a fine list of Victorian brews! Worth mentioning that you can visit the Mountain Goat brewery (in Richmond) on a Friday night for a few beers. They put on specialty beers on tap unavailable elsewhere, and you can get their rather tasty Surefoot Stout.

As far as specialty beers, you can try Grain & Grape (a home brew store) in Footscray - I think they import their own stuff. Otherwise Dan Murphy's (liquor store) might have some...maybe..

Hi Ilukasz,

Wow - how the hell did you get your hands on a North Korean beer? were you actually in North Korea? What was that like (from a beer perspective?).

Cheers,

drifting_adam

Prips Bla! Wow - that brings back memories! I remember drinking that one when I was living in Sweden back in '02 - terrible, terrible beer. Unfortunately there wasn't much else on offer (that I found). One brewery did an interesting series of clone beers though - I recall they called their dark beer "Svart" (not very original - it just means 'Black' in sweden). They also did a Pilsner Urquell knock off and weren't too extortionately priced. Ah - brings back fond memories of lining up at the Systembolaget (state run liquor store) to get your booze for the weekend before it closed.