elcoco said...full strength or nothing, what's the point in between?, not real taste
Very true elcoco but only as far as lager or Pilsner (same horse different jockey) is concerned. These styles need an ABV around 5-6% to give them a bit of mouthfeel and viscosity or they do come across as watery.
Once you move away from lagers to ales you can quite easily get away with an ABV of 3.5-4.5% Most of your English Bitter Ales sit around this sort of level and are a far better drink than the muck that CUB and Lion Nathan try to tell us is beer.
The next step up from here is IPA's (India Pale Ale) these were based off the English Bitter Ale recipe but had the ABV boosted up to 6-7% to help preserve the brew on it's travels to the continent from the Blighty. Now these things are real beer. Feral Brewery's Hop Hog is one of the best examples in the world and has taken out champion brew the last few years running at the Oz Beer Awards, it's worth a trip out to the brewery just for a Sunday sesh of this stuff on tap. Farking sensational beer and it is almost as good in bottle as it is on tap.
My personal favourite range of brews comes from the Anderson Valley Brewing company in California
avbc.com/our-beers-black-rice-ale/ their Boont Amber Ale is the best bottled beer I have ever had.
If anyone wants to check out some intersting beers try The Freo Doctor in Arundel St Freo, Mane Liquor - GE HWY Belmont, International Beer Shop - McCourt St Leederville, even the bottlo at The Whistling Kite has a pretty good range, but mainly English stuff.
cheers,
mick the boozehound
