English beers and ciders

Long story...but;

I need to present a selection of English beers (and I'll try to get a cider in there to) to a bunch of kiwis.

Any suggestions on good ones easily available in most bottleshops/dairies/liquor store/supermarkets?
(I'm in the central North Island, but might have access all over)

thanks

Hi, if it helps, my fav one when I lived in England was Newcastle Brown. It is usually pretty easy to find, hope you're lucky.

Cheers,
Maria

Don't know of anywhere NI but I've found a lot of little bottle-shops in ChCh often have one or two British imports (with appropriately steep prices) tucked away in the chiller. Richmond Liquor (?) on the corner of Stanmore Road and North Avon Road in Christchurch has things like Old Speckled Hen and Bishops Finger (?or simialr name). Not sure if it's any use but best I have to offer.

#1 "Newkie Brown" is indeed an excellent choice - best drunk cool, not cold; a fridge will kill it.

#2 Speckled Hen is also good - there are 2 different beers, Bishop's Finger and Bishop's Tipple.

I have no idea if you can get them in NZ, but my recommendation to try would be any of the "Black Sheep Brewery" offerings - Black Sheep Bitter, Emmerdale or Riggwelter.

Fuller's London Pride (although southern) is a good 'un as is Wadsworth 6X.

Happy drinking :-))

We live in Wellington and have no problem buying British ales from New World. Pick your area though.....one that we sometimes go to doesn't have any, but it's out in the burbs, the three in the city have quite a large selection.

Not sure about cider though.

Young's Barley Wine Ale.

New World should have it.

It's fantastic sh*t.

Sometimes you see gift packs of British beers in the supermarkets. From what I remember they have about 4 or 5 bottles in them.

cool

thanks guys, that gives me enough starters to go on with.

Boddingtons is the Manchester beer, and readily available in most bottle shops.

Comes in 4 packs of tall cans with those gas widgets in to give it a nice creamy head.

Otherwise most people in England these days seem to drink carlsberg and stella in pubs.

"Boddi's" is more of a mainstream beer though, imo - akin to Carlsberg & Stella (by that, I don't mean it's a lager, just that all 3 are mainstream and - apart from Stella, which is Belgian anyway - don't have a lot going for them). It's not bad, just not great. Actually, I think it was the first bitter to come with a widget and thus was fantastic, as canned bitter used to be dire.

Basically, there are 3 general types of English beer - Bitter, Real Ale (which is a buzz word for stronger, more traditional bitters with a stronger flavour) and stout/porters which are thick, creamy and full of flavour and hard to find these days. But there are also loads of side shoots, like Brown Ale (eg Newcastle Brown), Pale/Light Ale and Mild - the latter tends to be a bit weaker than bitter but dark and strong in flavour. And cider, of course, but that's a very different animal.

The beers mentioned above are all far superior (and probably more expensive) and if you can find them, leave the cans alone.

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>Young's Barley Wine Ale<hr></blockquote> Isn't that a contradiction? Wine/ale?? Actually, I used to drink Gold Lable Barley Wine when I was about 17 or so - I think it was about 12% and came in bottles just over 1/3 pint - rocket fuel :-))

Cheers!

Barley wine ale is a pretty ancient brew......a pre-cursor to today's bottom fermented ales. A cousin to mead.

Young's are one of the only breweries to do a version of it. Slightly bitter, slightly sweet.....it has that roasted malt depth yet goes down like a cold lager on a hot day.

It's 7.2% and around $3.50 for a 500ml stubby.

Here it is reviewed by people...

Bai jiu.

You remember that stuff, Tim. ;-)

Another vote for Young's Barley wine. I'm sure it doesn't mind travelling. Good stuff.
But English beer, real beer that is, lives. It lives in a cask and needs nurturing. My favourite pub on the Welsh borders (The Boat, near Monmouth) has a prize selection with all the barrels cooled by a natural stream percolating through the cellar.
Putting this stuff in a can or bottle and shipping it halfway around the world?
No.
It depends on your motive. If it's just English labels, sure, go buy anything recommended in previous posts. But if it's real British beer you're after, try microbreweries (I know that's a buzzword, but it works in my area of Western Canada) and present your mates with something local that's brewed using traditionally British savvi.
Good luck on your quest.

thanks

Hi Jon. Bai Jiu is memorable indeed, but we have a Singaporean guy doing that...