Wean me off cider!

Schism

As the title says.

I usually drink cider on a night out but I'm getting sick of it and so is my stomach. I enjoy whiskey also but my pockets don't and since I'm a poor student it's not the most viable substitute.

I'm looking for something along the lines of an easy going lager to get my taste buds accustomed to it. I've tried a few different lagers and I wasn't too impressed with the likes of Budweiser or Heineken.

So what would you guys recommend me then?

dr.bollocko

Hanky Bannister isn't a horrendous scotch if you are looking to save money.
In the world of lager, I would that something like Corona in a bottle with lime would wean you onto the beer. It's a gateway to a love of lager for many people.

Schism

Cheers doc, I'll give Corona a go tomorrow night.

Publin

Going by your post, I'm guessing you're not looking for premium or specialist beer suggestions, but more along the lines of something relatively cheap and readily available, preferably in pint form, for drinking on nights out...

Well I'm sure I'll get slated for this, but I'd recommend Miller. You can normally pick up good offers on 330ml bottles (20 or 24 case) for €1 a bottle or less. Plus some of your mates may also be drinking this so being a poor student you can scrounge a few off them :P. Miller is available on draught and bottle form in virtually every bar, and is easy to drink. IMO it's better than something like Budweiser, and not as bland and tasteless. Easy to drink as well. Plus it means you'll be able to drink the same stuff at home and in the pub/club as well, so you won't have to mix your drinks. I'd say give it a go anyway and hopefully it'll help you acquire a taste for lager.

Good luck, and well done for easing yourself off the Scrumpy ...

suckslikeafox

Corona and lime is excellent, also try snakebite (sometimes called red diesel). Its cider (bulmers obviously) and lager (works best with bud but carlsberg is ok either) with a dash of blackcurrant. Gorgeous, goes down easy and the same price as a normal pint

Schism

Maybe I should go to the off license instead and get a selection.

So I got Miller and Corona on the list at the moment, anything else I should be picking up?

Edit : cheers suckslikeafox I'll look for a snakebite next time I'm out.

lmtduffy

Give smithwicks a go,

or even wine.

Or just drink whiskey its generally cheaper than a pint.

Elem

He's a student and your trying to get him drinking neat or on the rocks whisky at at such an early time of his life? Why not try a Manhattan then, or a Grey Goose martini?

My personal favourte beer is Pilsner Urquell, beautful. It's what all beer should taste like..

lmtduffy

cause whiskey is cheaper than a pint,

and hairs on your chest etc.

Sam Kade

Shorts are deadly what you need is guinness it takes a bit of getting used to in the start but you won't regret it. Too much beer would cut the stomach out of you. Someone mentioned smithwicks that is dyke water.

BeerNut

Try a weissbier: Erdinger and Paulaner are commonly available on draught and bottled.

Schism

My father had me on Smithwicks years ago for what was "my first pint", didn't go down well to be honest.

I've actually never had Guinness I'm ashamed to say, I'll give Erdinger a go alright too. I've never seen that Pilsner around but I'll take a look soon.

As for wine, well I don't think it would work out heading up to the bar and getting a glass but I know what you're saying. It's a good change of pace if I'm having dinner out or something.

Whiskey neat is good but I couldn't drink it all the time, hence this thread!

Thanks for the recommendations btw, much appreciated.

keezer

suckslikeafox wrote: »

Corona and lime is excellent, also try snakebite (sometimes called red diesel). Its cider (bulmers obviously) and lager (works best with bud but carlsberg is ok either) with a dash of blackcurrant. Gorgeous, goes down easy and the same price as a normal pint

Have to say i like the taste of snake bite even though i only tryed it once and im a cider drinker tryin to go on the beer

Laurs_civic

cider done that to me too years ago, so i stopped drinking it and started on bud for awhile.

Sarky

Have you tried ciders like Kopparberg or Rekorderlig? They're much less acidic than the more "regular" ciders, might be worth a try as a stopgap while you find some other good drinks.

Your best bet might be the selection from an off licence idea. People have very personal tastes with alcohol, one man's ambrosia is another's hobo sweat.

For what it's worth though, try your hand at some weissbiers. They're pretty inoffensive and taste quite different from regular beers. I find them incredibly refreshing compared to Budweiser/Smithwicks/Miller/Harp/whatever.

And give Guinness a go, or Murphy's, they're both good (But oh, lordy, do you need to make sure you get a good pint. Ask around which pubs do the best Guinness. Seriously, if you get a bad or even average pint it could put you off it forever). I find that whiskey complements them pretty well as a between-pints drink. Of course, that leads into the debate on which whiskey to choose... Again, try as many different whiskies as you can (not all at once, that could be dangerous), there's a huge variation in flavour and harshness, some are great with some water, some are best neat, some are only fit for mixing with coke, and so on and so on.

Good luck on your search. You'll find some incredible stuff, I guarentee.

BeerNut

Sarky wrote: »

Have you tried ciders like Kopparberg or Rekorderlig? They're much less acidic than the more "regular" ciders.

This is because they're not really ciders. Rather than being purely fermented apple juice, they have other sorts of alcohol and flavourings in there as well.

Since we're running the gamut of alcoholic alternatives, how about some decent ales: a nice bottle of Bishop's Finger, Chimay or London Pride?

Or some local produce: bottled O'Hara's Stout or Red -- tastier than industrially processed Guinness or Smithwick's, and putting money back into the Carlow economy.

brianthebard

Some of those ales are nice but unlikely to convert someone coming off cider. I'd go with kilkenny or smithwicks first, and move outwards into better ales as the pallete grows.

BeerNut

You'll never grow your palate on Smithwick's or Kilkenny: they have less flavour than Bulmer's.

Life's too short to drink bad beer.

shanel23

Have a coke and a smile

brianthebard

BeerNut wrote: »

You'll never grow your palate on Smithwick's or Kilkenny: they have less flavour than Bulmer's.

Life's too short to drink bad beer.

you had a perfect palate from your first pint did you?

oblivious

brianthebard wrote: »

you had a perfect palate from your first pint did you?

I think he was suggest trying something like bottled O'Hara's Stout or Red or maybe even Glaway hooking, just something that not aimed the bland end of the market

BeerNut

brianthebard wrote: »

you had a perfect palate from your first pint did you?

I've no idea what you mean by "perfect palate". If something's not to my taste, I won't drink it again; but I've never thought "Ooo, that's a bit too tasty for me, can I have something blander please?"

Having been raised on Harp and Guinness, good beer was rarely an option at home until relatively recently -- you took what was there, and most it didn't taste of much. These days it's an awful lot easier to maintain a drinking career without having to resort to less tasty or chemical-loaded industrial gargle.

DonJose

I read somewhere that a bottle of cider has the same amount of calories as a double cheeseburger. When I drink a bottle of cider that fact springs to mind, I don't drink much cider now

Slunk

Im exactly the same. Cant drink anything but Bulmers. Its beginging to sicken me now. Cant drink many pints of it anymore so I end up on whiskey or vodka which is too expensive.

Its also a pain when on holidays. Cant drink any beer. Was drinking cocktails all through my last holiday or jagermiester but a night full of jager definately isnt good for the stomach and tends to hit you hard.

Tried Erdinger when I was in Germany and it was ok. I reckon that could be the way to go, and it seems to be available in quite a few places here.

Schism

I went and got some Miller and Corona the other day. Have to say the Corona wasn't too bad but I'd say I'm going to have to drink a bit of it before I'm used to it properly.

Never got to the Miller as it was nabbed from the fridge... :mad:

Another trip is in order I believe.

Slunk

Tried that Rekorderlig cider last night. Wasnt bad at all. A lot easier to drink thatn the bulmers. Tesco have it for €2.65 for a 500ml bottle.

brianthebard

Thats mad dear.Try prazsky,1.20 per can.

Blisterman

Don't know if they sell it in Ireland, but Peeterman Artois, from the same compnay that makes Stella, is a fairly easy drinking beer. Quite fruity flavoured. Very refreshing.

cson

That Pilsner Urquell stuff is absolute shyte, spent a week in Prague and drank this stuff the first two nights after one of my mates eulogising about how nice it is. Gave me two of the worst hangovers I've ever had and I didn't even drink that much of it. Horrific aftertaste. I had pints of it in about 7 different places too, and they were all equally as shyte.

If you're of the college going age, and you kinda sound like you are to me, then your defacto beer should be Bavaria. Decent beer at a knockdown price.

As for Guinness, I'd never had a pint til I went to College, but I love the stuff now. My experience was it took about 5 tough pints before you get used to it. Its very bitter/je ne sais pas for a first time drinker. Once you bate it into ya, you really get a taste for it though!

pdebarra

Aldi are selling Tyskie (Polish lager, perfectly drinkable (I rather like it)) and Spaten, a pleasant and easy-to-drink German offering - both for something around the €1.80 - €1.90 mark.

Both good for someone who's not yet sure if they like beer.

BeerNut, would Bishop's Finger not be a bit strongly flavoured for someone unused to drinking beer? I don't think I'd have enjoyed it if I'd tried it at the beginning of my career. The O'Hara's Red would be decent, though.

Or maybe something sweeter would be more appropriate for the cider drinker? I'll leave that to you, as I'm not a fan of the sweet beers.

cson

Kopperberg is an excellent warm weather drink - easy to go down even if its warm. Dunno why I'm telling someone who wants to get off the cider about that though

BeerNut

pdebarra wrote: »

BeerNut, would Bishop's Finger not be a bit strongly flavoured for someone unused to drinking beer? I don't think I'd have enjoyed it if I'd tried it at the beginning of my career.

You mightn't have enjoyed it at any point in your career, but you'd never find that out without drinking it. Not drinking things because of what they might taste like is a bit daft, IMO.

It's like if someone announced that they wanted to try whiskey for the first time and you suggested that they stay off the Black Bush or Jameson 1780 and maybe go with the Dunphy's instead. Or, instead of starting wine with the Chateauneuf, some Black Tower would probably be best to be going on with.

In both these examples, of course, there's a big difference in price between the good stuff and the mass market crap. The great thing about beer is that this doesn't happen: you can go out and buy a world class beer for about the same price, and sometimes cheaper, than tasteless factory-made rubbish.

Yes, there's such a thing as an acquired taste. And it's quite possible that anyone new to flavoursome beer will not like the taste of some of it. But you never know until you drink it.

I did suggest wheat beer (Paulaner, Erdinger) as an easy-drinking alternative earlier in the thread, but I can't see the harm of trying lots of different types of beer on the off-chance that you hit one you love.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

cson wrote: »

Kopperberg is an excellent warm weather drink - easy to go down even if its warm. Dunno why I'm telling someone who wants to get off the cider about that though

It's awful sweet for warm weather, I prefer something a bit sharper personally if I'm drinking in any significant quantity.

Fall_Guy

pdebarra wrote: »

Aldi are selling Tyskie (Polish lager, perfectly drinkable (I rather like it)) and Spaten, a pleasant and easy-to-drink German offering - both for something around the €1.80 - €1.90 mark.

Both good for someone who's not yet sure if they like beer.

BeerNut, would Bishop's Finger not be a bit strongly flavoured for someone unused to drinking beer? I don't think I'd have enjoyed it if I'd tried it at the beginning of my career. The O'Hara's Red would be decent, though.

Or maybe something sweeter would be more appropriate for the cider drinker? I'll leave that to you, as I'm not a fan of the sweet beers.

My thinking would be, if someone hasn't yet acquired a taste for the crappy beers, it would if anything be easier for them to adapt to more tasty beers than someone who has gotten used to bland tasteless beers over the years!