Chuck wrote:sjw_11 wrote:
Coopers Extra and Southwark Old were always my top 2 favourites in Oz. Much heavier in style than the typical English stout, but terrific on a cold winter night.
Looks like you are in London. We are heading to Europe soon and would be interested in any Euro stouts you can recommend.
Carl
Tricky question to answer. In the UK you are looking at real ales which are generally seasonal and hence you won't see much stout unless you are here in winter. I mean, you also get Guiness in most pubs and Fuller's London Black Cab is perfectly fine, but beyond those.
If you come to London, I would recommend you visit The Glasshouse Stores in Soho. It is a Sam Smiths pub which means everything including the spirits is their own brand and everything is very cheap. They aren't my favourite beers but their stout and porter are pretty decent and the pub also has bar billiards.
Also you could try the Porterhouse off the back of Covent Garden. This is an outpost of a Dublin operation and their oyster stout is award winning. It is an unusual layout to say the least and gets a bit busy so maybe visit outside peak hour. If you are in that area you could also consider eating at Rules which is something of an institution, having opened in 1798 (I actually haven't been to it myself but keep meaning to... I doubt it is good QPR but for a dose of over the top old-timey kitsch I think it looks fun).
If we expand to dark beers, we could spend a long time just discussion the offerings from Belgium. I don't know how familiar you are with beers from Belgium but there are a lot of great options, not that many which I would call a "stout" but plenty which are very dark, heavy and strong!
Otherwise it depends where are you are going in Europe... UK, Ireland and Belgium are the main places I would think of for stout or terrific dark beer. I can't really think of any from France, Spain or Italy, but Italian craft beer especially has been having a bit of a moment. In more northern or CEE parts you will get dark beer (like dunkel, German dark lager) but not really stout, and it tends to be more a dark larger style.
All of that said, the craft beer movement seems to be spreading exponentially so keep your eyes open and who knows what you will find!
By the way, to add a wine related point- if you are spending time in London I have to plug the two guys making wine in a railway arch in Bethnal Green http
://renegadelondonwine.com/ ... so East London, so 2018.
) and it should hit prime time around 2025. I certainly would rate this in the mid-90's, and it's the best Pontet to date IMO. (that is not necessarily saying a huge amount, I only really rate the 09 and 10 of this Chateau)
