The most wonderful brew I've conjured up I threw in a quart of Molasses in the boil. Looked like Stout, tasted like good, heavy Bock. Frank
Seems that most of the beers on tap here are mainly Craft Beers from local brewers. The places we dine out at have all switch over to these. Might have a major brewers beer, but not like the old days. This gives me a chance to try something new with my meal. As a side note, most American Major Beers are less than 6% alcohol by volume. Examples: Budweiser 5% PBR 5% Miller 5% Miller Lite 4.2% Bud Lite 4.2% If you really want a kick, there's Samuel Adams Imperial Stout at 9.2% or Sierra Nevada Bigfoot coming in at 9.9% !
Many British Ales or Beers are far from light. Scottish draught beer is most often referred to as " heavy ", and in a Scottish pub a pint of Bitter is referred to as a pint of Heavy. Lancashire, where I currently live, has the largest selection of craft beers in Great Britain varying in strengh from 3.8% to 38% , though these tend to be bottled beers and not draught. There are stronger bottled beers going higher than 70% in Scotland , and the higher the abv the higher the price. Some of the stronger ales cost as much as a good bottle of Highland Malt Whisky. I like the local robinsons Old Tom which is 8.6% and available in draught. On the subject of strengh , bear in mind that anything above 6% tends to move upwards on the sweetness scale. Interestingly Old Tom retains a fair degree of bitterness so there are exceptions. I have seen some Samual Addams beer over here but not Imperial Stout. I will keep an eye out for that one. Good stouts in this country are few and far between , the market being cornered by Guiness and Murphy's.
I'll have a half glass of wine every few months, but I think I was about 20 the last time I had a beer. I never did like the stuff.
Neither did I.... I don't really like any alcohol now, not saying I never did but can't stand it now. Probably never liked the taste but would have a drink to relax or get drunk, lol.
There are quite a lot of Non-alcoholic beers in Europe and G.B. , and most are surprisingly good. I think they have quite a future over here. Fruit ciders are becoming very popular over here too, though I prefer Devon scrumpy myself All in all, though, I prefer red wine to anything else.
I really enjoy a cold one with pizza or when I have been working outside on a "hot" day. Most of American mass-produced beers have been low in alcohol since Prohibition (5% or lower), since that was what was encouraged after Prohibition was repealed. Some states even required beer to be no higher than 3.2%. Fortunately, Pre-Prohibition beers and ales are making a comeback in recent years , mostly due to small or craft breweries. I have never heard of a beer that would be 70% as mentioned in @Billie Lane's post above, as that would be strong even for whiskey (140 proof). You certainly couldn't easily drink an icy cold mug of it, even in Scotland!
I didn't start drinking beer until I was in my late 40s, but have slowly moved from light lagers to porters and stouts which I love, I used to like red wine but my tastes have changed in my dotage, there are plenty of draught dark ales in the UK in my experience, plus Guinness of course. I agree with @Don Alaska an ice cold beer on a hot day is hard to beat I also feel there is a future in low/no alcohol beers as @Billie Lane mentioned.
It's a shame that I can only get a 32-oz. "Super Stein" of Bud or Coors in "light" variety at our favorite restaurant "Steer & Stein". I can order beers in more robust strengths but they come in only 12-oz. bottles. Hal
The beer at 70% should read 70 degrees proof. Sorry about that, When I started in the wine trade British beer and spirits were measured in degrees proof. It wasn't until entering the E.E.C. that it was changed to % ABV. Another good reason for leaving the E.U. is to get our own measurement systems back, and to dump the political correctness of " Harmonisation ". My generation grew up with a duodecimal currency system, inches, feet and miles, pounds and ounces ,etc, and despite the E.U. threatening to fine anyone who used the old systems , most of my generation still do. The threat of fines was never carried through or Brexit would have happened a lot sooner.