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Great beers of the great fishing destinations of the world!

4K views 34 replies 22 participants last post by  SSPey 
#1 ·
First, I should explain that I am a beer snob. I love micro brewed beers and high quality imports. None of that massed produced “light crap” for me. And as I was tying up some flies for my next trip to Quebec for Atlantic salmon, I was thinking of some of the great beers I have had up there. Some of the locally brewed micros are fantastic. And it is easy to get some great exports in up there. You can tell the Quebecois love good beer.

Some of my favorites from Quebec are McAuslan, Brasseurs RJ, Boreale, and of course Unibroue with there fantastic Belgian style beers. You can get most of these in any supermarket or even in gas stations up there. And there is this one little pub in the town of Gaspe that serve’s Leffe Brown, probably my favorite Belgian Abbey beer of all time! :p

So what Beer is good where you fish and what are your favorites?

Charlie
 
#6 ·
Used to be Widmer Heff with a lemon to accompany pacific northwest butter clams steamed before a spring chinook filet alder planked in the Columbia tribs territory but it's gone bigtime lately and not sure if it's quite a micro anymore...

Wachusett right here in central MA has a good selection and definitely still micro status.

When on Cape, the Buzzards Bay gets my nod at the Squire with steamers!

And there's something about that first Kalik after a long tropical bonefishing day on Acklins!
 
#9 ·
Yucatan / Cabo = Dos Equis :smokin:

But seriously, when in Balina Co. Mayo after a hard day on Lough Conn, a few pints of Smithwicks in the Ridge Pool Bar goes down nice with a shot or two of Jamesons. For the Guiness afficionados, it's a fact that the product sold in the Emerald Isle is far superior to the stuff that gets exported.

In mainland UK we are 'spoiled' since there will generally be a high quality brew with a couple of miles of any point on the compass:smokin: Classics would include any member of the Youngs familly from their Bitter to the seasonal winter warmer. Old speckled hen, Marsdons, London Pride, Theakstons Old Peculier (sp? - to be taken in moderation). The list goes on and on...
 
#10 ·
Adrian said:
In mainland UK we are 'spoiled' since there will generally be a high quality brew with a couple of miles of any point on the compass:smokin: Classics would include any member of the Youngs familly from their Bitter to the seasonal winter warmer. Old speckled hen, Marsdons, London Pride, Theakstons Old Peculier (sp? - to be taken in moderation). The list goes on and on...
Let us not forget such fine brews as Samuel Smith's and the Fuller's line up from the far side of the pond! Other favorites includ the Shepard Neame ales such as Bishop's Finger.

Still....nothing says summer quite like a large Tanqueray and Tonic.

God Bless The Queen.
 
#11 ·
Smuttynose "Big A" IPA

Last summer I did a lot of fishing right near downtown Portsmouth, NH - the home of the Smuttynose Brewing Company.

I often fished for stripers in the Piscataqua River. On the paddle home from the river I pass a few of my lobster traps. I haul the traps from my meager kayak.

There is nothing finer than steaming lobster up back at home and then washing the lobster down with a 22 oz. bottle of Smuttynose "Big A" IPA.

Do not confuse this beer with the small bottle Smuttynose IPA. I am talking about the 22 oz. bottle with the old school boxer on the label.

Damn good....
 
#13 ·
Being a North Shore native, I'm a bit partial to Ipswich Ale- an unfiltered ale in the old colonial tradition. Not for the faint of heart....
As for the "mass brews", my current fave is from north of the border- Molson Ice.
Flydoc
 
#14 · (Edited)
I live in the Northwest and am fortunate to be next to some of the greatest brew pubs in the region. Widmer, McMinamin's, Rogue Ales (anyone ever had a "Brutal Bitter"?), et al., et al., et al.

But

The quintessential beer? Guinness.

-- Cheers, Ein Prosit, and whatever that Gaelic thing is,

-- Eric
 
#16 ·
You all know a good beer when you taste one. Thank god Americans found the brew pub and we no longer suffer with Bud and Miller. I read somewhere that Americans were strictly Ale drinkers before World War 1. But the troops got turned on to different types of beer and Ale fell out of grace except in Rhode Island where Pickwick Ale continued to be king for years.

My favorites came from long ago while sailing to places such as Tahiti and Indonesia.
In Tahiti there is a beer called Hinano. This beer is not a great beer but the label a colorfull reproduction of an oil painting of a beautiful native girl was truely a visual pleasure. Did a google search on Hinano and they have modernized the label but still one of the nicest labels one will find anywhere.

In Indonesia a beer called Bintang Bir Pilsner or just Bintang is outstanding for a commercial beer. The Dutch who once colonized Indonesia must have started a Heineken brewing factory there many years ago. After they got kicked out of Indonesia or gave the country of 3000 islands their independence the Indonesians continued to make the beer but changed the name to Bintang. The label is still the same as the old Heineken label except it says Bintang instead of Heineken. If I remember right it tasted better than even the Heineken one gets in Europe. It came in quart bottles, cost 8 cents a bottle in 1971. There was very little refrigeration in Indo back then so it was served warm but if one had the courage to ask for ice cubes and took the risk of getting the runs from the ice you got a great tropical beer. How does a country on the equator grow hops and good wheat and barley?:smokin:
 
#17 ·
Taped a documentary on the Battle of Tarawa one night-during the fighting a couple of Marines found some bottles of Japanese Kirin beer, and one was actually caught on film taking a swig of the stuff by a combat cameraman, as bullets whizzed by them. Never a bad time for a beer!:hihi:
Flydoc
P.S.- the Marine in question survived the war, so I guess the beer hadn't been poisoned....
 
#18 ·
Never met a beer I didn't like. Always try the local micros when travelling. Fallback is Bass Ale or that “light crap” Bud light. Pickwick ale, that was some good rot gut. A co-worker had a third interest in a place called Pickwicks Pub in the 80's. Served pickwicks on draft long after I thought the brand was defunct. Before the so-called microes you could get some pretty crappy local beers around the country like Narragannset here in the northeast or Hamms in minnisota or wisconsin. Mmm mmm good.
 
#19 ·
If you can find it, try "Endurance" - it a Boston brewed beer - pictur of a guy smoking a pipe on the lable - the beer is loosely inspired by Shackleton, his misadventures in the antartic - and the first mate, who is pictured.

I'm not an IPA fan but I like this beer - crisp hops finish without being edgy or biting
 
#20 ·
Fred, as a kid I remember many times going into my dad's bar in Weymouth at 0700 and the bar was lined up with good hard working night shift folks just sitting down to a shot of Old Thompson Wiskey and a Pickwick Ale, long neck of course. Both flavors and a Boston Hearld were the main stay in those days.
 
#25 ·
My day-to-day- Sea Dog IPA, in my mug at the pub in Bangor;

Geary's Hampshire Special Ale, coming in at a whopping 7%;

Former favorite- Otter Creek Copper Ale- brewed in my last hometown;

Got to agree with Fly doc and the Ipswich- one of my all time favorites.

Anyone have the 60 minute or 120 Minute IPA from Dogfish? Like Barleywine, but tasty- Their worldwide stout is amazing, like port.
:hihi:
 
#26 ·
Dogfish IPA

The Dogfish Head IPAs are fantastic...but I really like IPAs.

And Ditto on the Ipswich Ale. It has been a while since I drank that beer. I will have to change that ASAP.

I tried the Long Trail "Double Bag" a few weeks ago at a bar in Portsmouth and I must admit that I love that beer as well (on draught).

Good thread!

Mike
 
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