In Norway a god tip is to find a place that serves Aass beer on tap (
http://www.aass.no/usa/us.htm ). This is primarily in their home city of Drammen, but occasionally can be found in Oslo. Thier "classic" is not great , but their Pilsener is IMO the best beer to be found in Norway, a true pilsener, made to German purity laws. Crushes the competition. Their Bock is decent too. Aass is not a popular beer, but this is down to distribution - their competitor Rignes Hansa makes god-awful beer, but has the distribution locked in. Nonetheless, if you find a place with Aass on tap, dont pass it up.
Originally Posted by
cyberdad
Definitely a good quaff....but hardly a cheap beer in North America. Cheapest Czech beer I've found is Staropramen. Not exactly cheap here, either, but usually less expensive than Budvar or Pilsner Urquell. A good brew, too.
When my daughter lived in Prague, she reported it to be one of the favorites if not the favorite of the locals. It was also her usual drink. At two Czech crowns for a pint, (62 cents then), she could even afford the stuff!
Actually Staropramen is cheap swill. If you have a closer investigation, you find that their beer is lagered the least of all the major Czech breweries, uses cheap ingredients, and consequently has least proper taste.
They brand Staropramen abroad as "quality", expensive stuff, but in fact it is manufactured to low standards and by cutting corners.
Budweiser Budvar is the one that actually makes the beer properly and with good ingredients. Costs more, but hey, its easy to make cheap beer, if you cut corners.
Pilsner Urquell is something in-between, but closer to Staropramen. There is a beer very common in Prage called
Gambrinus, which I found to be most ubiquitous.
In any case, dont confuse broad availability of beer in Europe with popularity or quality. European Breweries often have exclusive lock-in contracts with bars, so you dont get them all to chose from - that would be the proper test of popularity - and in the case of England, they even outright own the bars/pubs.
If you find yourself in Prague , forget Staropramen, have a Budvar Dark beer on tap - heavenly, Or better yet, take a day trip to Pilzen for some even better local brews, all of which are quite cheap over there. I think you'd see Staropramen for what they are after that: brands with history that have been .......ed by SAB-Miller or whatever global compay owns them now...
Originally Posted by
refluxboy
I have been around many breweries in the UK. From the small in coverted cattle sheds to large multinational chains. All offer FREE beer at the end of the tour and the tours are often FREE.
For really cheap but interesting beer , I recommend a tour round any of the CAMRA affiliated breweries in the UK.
It is not CAMRA-affiliated, because it isnt an "ale" but Samual Smiths organic lager on tap is a fantastic brew. And relativeley cheap by English standards. Samuel Smiths doesnt have many pubs left, but there was one in Maida Vale in London that had this brew on tap. Highly recommended. They also have a pub in Shad Thames south of Tower Bridge, but I dont remember seeing the organic ale there. Other good ones though...