Stella Artois...

...is it good bad or indifferent?

Decided to give my kidneys/liver a break after 10 years of cider. So bought a shot of Stella over the weekend. Getting used to it again, but am I pouring rank ****e down my throat? I remember Becks was nice enough, and am informed that Kronenburg is good.

What should I drink?

monkeyfudge

I think you should be drinking more than a shot... try a pint?

I find it's a very gassy beer.

monkeyfudge

monkeyfudge wrote:

I think you should be drinking more than a shot... try a pint?

For the more technically minded then, a 'rake' of Stella.

finlma

It's not nick-named "Wife Beater" for no reason.

Beastieboy

I love the ads for stella artois but i don't think they were thinking when they came up with there slogan. 'Reassuringly expensive' in alot of bars i've been it was confusingly on special or something and was cheaper than all the other beer. I don't drink stella but i've found it ok the times i've drank it.

Pighead

Conor do you know the way Godfather 3 got terrible reviews and the critics dismissed it as a dud just because it wasn't quite as good as the previous two efforts? Well for Godfather substitute Harp and for the critics substitute snobby beer know it alls who wouldn't know the difference between a Marquis D'Alesme Becker 1980 and a Marquis de Terme 1981. Drink the Harp and ignore the naysayers.

monkeyfudge

Oh yes. Harp is a nice beer... Too bad it's so hard to find these days.

If I'm the humour for a beer, I'm generally a Guinness and whiskey drinker, I'll go with pretty much anything that isn't Carlsberg, Heineken or Budwieser.

Kirin and Asahi are two Japanese beers that are lovely.

Tobias Greeshman

Drink whatever you want, but in all fairness how did you last so long drinking that cider tripe. :eek: Stella's not a bad beer, haven't really taken to it really, used to drink it when I was on the continent on holidays. Personally there's no substitute for good old heineken.

Drink whatever beer you like, sample a few of them till you find one that you like and get well p***ed in the process.

Pighead

Pighead wrote:

for the critics substitute snobby beer know it alls who wouldn't know the difference between a Marquis D'Alesme Becker 1980 and a Marquis de Terme 1981. Drink the Harp and ignore the naysayers.

As a converted cider drinker I wouldn't even know if Harp tastes good bad or indifferent, but heard that it tastes far better today than years back. It's just that I can't forgive them for the ads in the late 80s, the 'Quest for the Golden Fountainhead/Two pints of hard and a packet of dates Lawerence' campaign.

Tobias Greeshman

Harp tastes like p***, avoid it at all costs.

Pighead

Deleted User wrote:

As a converted cider drinker I wouldn't even know if Harp tastes good bad or indifferent, but heard that it tastes far better today than years back. It's just that I can't forgive them for the ads in the late 80s, the 'Quest for the Golden Fountainhead/Two pints of hard and a packet of dates Lawerence' campaign.

Forgive them Conor, its like this are you going to boycott the present day Manchester United team because of some dodgy transfers made by Wilf McGuinness back in 1970. Of course your not. You're gonna judge them by the dealings of their current regime. Enjoy the Harp
Pighead really really hopes you support Manchester United, otherwise this post is made redundant.

Pighead

Pighead wrote:

Pighead really really hopes you support Manchester United, otherwise this post is made redundant.

Pighead is wrong. I support Cork City. As for over there, I follow Leeds United. I DO judge the present day Manchester United by the dealings of the current regime...£30m for Rio went a long way to making up for the Cantona and Sharpe debacles...;)

Rockee

Every time I think of Stella I think of a music vid by The Streets or something....reminds me off the lager louts in the U.K. Its still lovely though!:D

Jim10000

Stella sends you mad. If you want lager advice, i'd say go with the Germans every time.

Reinheitsgebot.

Blub2k4

Stella is a nice beer for the price, a bottle at 1 euro and a very decent beer, I've been drinking it about 5 years now, It'd be time to stop for something to eat soon then .......*badum tish*

Rockee

Jim10000 wrote:

Stella sends you mad. If you want lager advice, i'd say go with the Germans every time.

Reinheitsgebot.

Can u get that in the porterhouse??? Some good (and bad!) stuff in there!

Jim10000

No, i should have said, that's the name of the law in Germany which prohibits them from putting anything in their beers except water, yeast, malt, hops (or whatever the 4 basic ingredients are). I'm pretty sure it's the case cos it says it on the side of their cans. So you should be grand with becks or whatever.

I think they must have an opposite law in Spain which says they have to put the most unnatural things they can think of in their beer.

noby

Rockee wrote:

Can u get that in the porterhouse??? Some good (and bad!) stuff in there!

I hope that was a lame joke, and you do know that is the German purity law.

As Blub says, for a cheap beer it is a steady drink. 20euro for 20 bottles is not to be sniffed at. Ignore any perceived reputation. Same goes for Harp's reputation.
There are nicer lagers at twice the price, but Stella is my everyday beer.

J.R.HARTLEY

it's all personal taste man, i like stella but i prefer carlsberg,remember when they had the best ads instead of "so good the danes hate to see it leave" - except it's actually brewed in ireland so it was never in denmark for the danes to see it leave in the first place, ****e ads but quality beer.

Blub2k4

Blub2k4 wrote:

Stella is a nice beer for the price, a bottle at 1 euro and a very decent beer, I've been drinking it about 5 years now, It'd be time to stop for something to eat soon then .......*badum tish*

Boom Boom.

But that's a valid point about the price. I mean, we could spend all day on Krug if it was affordable. And no doubting Stella is cheap - in fact price has been a bit of a push and pull factor too. Sick of spending 50 euros on a few pints of cider on a night out and Bulmers is NEVER a euro a can at the Off Licence...

noby

There was a time when it probably used to be. Cider has gone through this transformation from cheap 'tramp juice', with a clever marketing campaign, and now Bulmers costs a lot more than a pint of lager (in my local, anyway)

Blub2k4

Deleted User wrote:

Boom Boom.

But that's a valid point about the price. I mean, we could spend all day on Krug if it was affordable. And no doubting Stella is cheap - in fact price has been a bit of a push and pull factor too. Sick of spending 50 euros on a few pints of cider on a night out and Bulmers is NEVER a euro a can at the Off Licence...

It's not just the price though, I wont buy tramp juice if it costs 2c a bottle, the combination however of a pretty decent beer with the inexpensive price is a winner.
I used to drink Stella as a home staple, now I only get it when I cant get Warsteiner, which isn't too often these days.

Blub2k4

noby wrote:

Bulmers costs a lot more than a pint of lager (in my local, anyway)

Bulmers.....cider???

noby

Yes. Perhaps Conor can enlighten us more, as I never buy the stuff; but down here you could be paying well over the 4 euro for a pint bottle, when generic lager is anything from 3.70-3.90

Blub2k4

Sorry maybe I should have clarified that I was being a snob, I dont really class bulmers as a good drink, pretty terrible in fact and Stella is in a whole different class despite its very low price. It's not really a cheap beer, in fact for the euro companies exporting they are making a killing compared to their lower prices in Germany/Belgium whereever.

noby

Right, I get you now. Can't say I'm much of a fan of the stuff myself.

gurramok

Stella bottles are good but they do get very gassy when left for long time in fridge. Nice drink with a weak flavour taste to mouth but drinkable for anyone.

I've gone off drinking it consistently though as it doesn't have a particualr nice flavour like 1664 or Warsteiner etc.
Watch out for their 5.2% strength, they can get to your head very fast.
Still nicer on draught in pub than from a bottle strangely i've found, maybe its my terrible pouring
As said, still value for money bottled !

zuutroy

Personally, I find the Stella we get here thats brewed in the UK horrible. In fact, I can apply that to all beers brewed in the UK and Ireland.
It's a totally different beer in Belgium, and waaaay nicer. Same goes for Hoegaarden Kronenberg and most other continental beers that we've adopted.
I really cant see how anyone could drink beer in Ireland for pleasure. It's bland at best

brianthebard

Perhaps you could try some czech beers, they're usually quite good. Budvar is a better version of Budweiser ( which I don't consider to be piss to begin with but anyways.)

Prazsky is 1.20 a can in Londis, and is a very very nice pilsner.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

brianthebard wrote:

Perhaps you could try some czech beers, they're usually quite good. Budvar is a better version of Budweiser ( which I don't consider to be piss to begin with but anyways.)

Prazsky is 1.20 a can in Londis, and is a very very nice pilsner.

Prazsky is €7 for 6 cans in most off-licences i think, which puts it in the same price bracket as our golden friend from Holland, but it is far superior

brianthebard

sean_keevey wrote:

Prazsky is €7 for 6 cans in most off-licences i think, which puts it in the same price bracket as our golden friend from Holland, but it is far superior

I think its just cheap because its not an established brand, its a lovely drink.

rubadub

brianthebard wrote:

Budvar is a better version of Budweiser

All they share is 3 letters, they are totally different drinks, I won't even say the word beer in the same sentence as bud******

Most cheap beer is cheap since you are not paying the enormous marketing costs which are often far higher than the cost of the product. Budweiser being a prime example, and extremely quickly brewed drink made from ingredients including rice and potato waste (which they neglect to mention in their husky voice while horses gallop into the sunset) and VERY cheap to produce, especially in that scale.

I really cant see how anyone could drink beer in Ireland for pleasure. It's bland at best

go to a decent off licence and get the real versions, they are all out there. The brewed in the UK crap is totally altered on purpose, it is supposed to suit each countries particular taste.

zuutroy

rubadub wrote:

go to a decent off licence and get the real versions, they are all out there. The brewed in the UK crap is totally altered on purpose, it is supposed to suit each countries particular taste.

You reckon....I'd give me left arm for a proper bottle of Hoegaarden. 30c in the supermarkets in Belgium. 30c!!!!!!!! Any suggestions of where might have it?

Zebra3

Stella is the business, but defo one of those beers that should come with a 'we remind you to drink our beer safely etc' warnings!!! :eek:

Blub2k4

zuutroy wrote:

You reckon....I'd give me left arm for a proper bottle of Hoegaarden. 30c in the supermarkets in Belgium. 30c!!!!!!!! Any suggestions of where might have it?

I saw it in O'Briens in Sandymount yesterday, in the large bottles.

Blub2k4

brianthebard wrote:

Budvar is a better version of Budweiser

Ooooh there are assassination squads leaving the Czech Republic as we speak.....

noby

zuutroy wrote:

... I can apply that to all beers brewed in the UK and Ireland.

...I really cant see how anyone could drink beer in Ireland for pleasure. It's bland at best

They're very sweeping statements there, zuutroy. Try some Guinness Extra (or foreign extra), some O'Hara's stout, or their wheat beer (Curim), or Smithwicks, or any or the Porterhouse/Biddy Earley/Franciscan Well beers. You're telling me they're all bland? I'm sure there are plenty more. And that's only Ireland. Can you really say that all beers brewed in the UK are horrible? How many have you tasted?

Now if you actually meant macro lagers brewed under licence here, you may be closer to the truth.

noby

brianthebard wrote:

Budvar is a better version of Budweiser

Budvar is better than a lot of other lagers, but don't call it a 'version' of Budweiser.

zuutroy

noby wrote:

They're very sweeping statements there, zuutroy. Try some Guinness Extra (or foreign extra), some O'Hara's stout, or their wheat beer (Curim), or Smithwicks, or any or the Porterhouse/Biddy Earley/Franciscan Well beers. You're telling me they're all bland? I'm sure there are plenty more. And that's only Ireland. Can you really say that all beers brewed in the UK are horrible? How many have you tasted?

Now if you actually meant macro lagers brewed under licence here, you may be closer to the truth.

Obviously Guinness excluded...I'm talking about all the usual draught beers: Heineken, Carlsberg, Bud, and all the stuff you get in off licences, Kronenberg (including Grand Cru & White), Erdinger, yeah I suppose I mean all the one's brewed under license. Haven't tried the porterhouse.


Blub2k4: Was it the real deal or that Interbrew crap. Lousy Interbrew.

~Leanne~

I love bottled Miller / Coors light. Stella is nice too but its gotta be ice cold. For 1 euro a bottle you cant go wrong really!!

Blub2k4

zuutroy wrote:

Blub2k4: Was it the real deal or that Interbrew crap. Lousy Interbrew.

I have no idea but it was lined up in a fridge with Staropramen, Budwar, Russian beer, Polish beer, moosehead etc....
I dont rate hoegaarden at all, for a start it's a bitch to pronounce and secondly it tastes terrible, I had the Grand Cru one time in Belgos and it was vile vile stuff. I personally dont like overly strong beers and the taste of hoegaarden doesn't do it for me, I think I lived too long in Germany to like most Belgian beers.

<edit> if you're interested I can take a look the next time I'm in there, probably at the end of next week, I stocked up recently and have a case of warsteiner and enough Wyborowa and Stolichnaya to do me for a while.

rubadub

Blub2k4 wrote:

I saw it in O'Briens in Sandymount yesterday, in the large bottles.

Yeah I have seen hoegaarden in obriens ballybrack too.

I remember when obriends had staropramen for €1, had crates up to the ceiling. warsteiner and grolsch are still excellent choices for €1

zuutroy

Blub2k4 wrote:

I dont rate hoegaarden at all, for a start it's a bitch to pronounce and secondly it tastes terrible, I had the Grand Cru one time in Belgos and it was vile vile stuff.

I had the Grand Cru once, its horrendous...didnt make it to the bottom of the bottle.
Have you heard how the Belgians pronounce it...It's like hoo-haade or something!

Blub2k4 wrote:

I personally dont like overly strong beers and the taste of hoegaarden doesn't do it for me, I think I lived too long in Germany to like most Belgian beers.

Hoegaarden isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I'dve said the regular stuff is more sweet than strong. Stella, Jupiler, Maes, Crystal, Duvel, Leffe, are all lovely too!

Blub2k4

zuutroy wrote:

I had the Grand Cru once, its horrendous...didnt make it to the bottom of the bottle.
Have you heard how the Belgians pronounce it...It's like hoo-haade or something!


Hoegaarden isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I'dve said the regular stuff is more sweet than strong. Stella, Jupiler, Maes, Crystal, Duvel, Leffe, are all lovely too!

Duvel....Is there a puke icon on here?

ho-ghhhaaate was sorta like the dutch were pronouncing it to me when I asked, to get the ghaate you need to clear your throat of phlegm

brianthebard

noby wrote:

Budvar is better than a lot of other lagers, but don't call it a 'version' of Budweiser.

I understood it to be the original budweiser, or at least that's what a czech friend of mine told me.

Blub2k4

brianthebard wrote:

I understood it to be the original budweiser, or at least that's what a czech friend of mine told me.

Only in name, the original Budwar comes from Budweis and someone/thing from there is a budweiser, similar to a dublin person being a dubliner.
Some American starting a brewery thought it would be quaint...or something.
Interestingly in Germany they are not allowed to use the name Budweiser for that US pisswater and have to call it Anheuser-Busch as that name was older and recognised in Germany to mean Budwar exclusively.

rubadub

Blub2k4 wrote:

Interestingly in Germany they are not allowed to use the name Budweiser for that US pisswater

Proper order! Check out this little beauty!

Current Affairs | 21.12.2004
German Beer at the World Cup? Ja, Bitte!
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: You won't catch goalie Oli Kahn drinking American beer
Germans revere soccer almost as much as they do their beer, so fans of both found it hard to swallow the news that only American beer would be sold in stadiums when Germany hosts the World Cup. But things are looking up.



It was almost sacriligious. Fans crowding the stadiums for the 2006 World Cup would be limited to only one brand of beer to wet their whistles -- Budweiser, the product of US brewery Anheuser Busch.



The company had laid down $40 million (€29.8 million) for the rights to be one of the World Cup's main sponsors, and in return, was given a monopoly on beer sales in the World Cup stadiums.



While Budweiser might be a top seller stateside, in Germany -- renowned for the variety and purity of its brews -- Bud is looked down on with scornful disdain. It's watery and lacks any "kick," say German connoisseurs. For German soccer fans, things were looking grim.



Bitburger saves the day



But politicians and breweries refused to accept defeat, and on Tuesday, the head of marketing at German brewery Bitburger emerged triumphant. Bitburger has signed an agreement with Anheuser Busch that will allow its brand of pilsner to be sold alongside Budweiser.



The ace up Bitburger's sleeve? Years ago, the brewery had obtained a court ruling in its favor forbidding the advertising of Budweiser in Germany because there was a danger that German consumers would confuse "Bit" with "Bud."



What about the bratwurst?



For the sake of the World Cup, however, both breweries have agreed to peacefully co-exist, leaving German soccer fans to grumble about an equally weighty problem -- what exactly will they be washing down with their Bits and Buds?



Will the traditional bratwurst be on the menu, or will they be forced to resort to American hamburgers? After all, the US fast-food giant McDonald's is also a World Cup sponsor.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1435498,00.html

Blub2k4

Zuutroy, I was in O'Briens last night in Sandymount and asked there and they didn't have the Hoegaarden at the time but she says that they get it from Tennants brewery and it is Inbev that supply them, maybe that helps you?
The Leffe in the same fridge was Interbrew.

slumped

silas wrote:

Harp tastes like p***, avoid it at all costs.

So if you want to drink urine or engage in some kinky activity, then Harp it is. You heard it hear first!

ruprect

Stella (uk stuff) in o'briens (ballybrack anyway) is €1 for a bottle, buy a crate and get another crate for €10. so it works out about 71cent per bottle.

DOLEMAN

I quite like Stella. I drink it when I can't find any Fosters (where oh where did Fosters Ice go???)

I like the design of their cans as well. Quite pretty!