It’s Thirsty Thursday so let’s throw out another If you had to… conundrum.
It’s inspired by my evening at the London Drinker last night. The two beers at the top of my hit list were Thornbridge’s Jaipur and Fuller’s London Porter (cask!). Two fantastic beers with similar ABVs (5.9 and 5.4 respectively) but two completely different beers. So…
If you had to... would you rather drink Pale beers or Dark beers for the rest of your drinking days?
No arguments about the spectrum of brown, I’m ignoring that, this is: Pale Beer (lagers, IPAs, golden ales, etc. – anything lighter than amber) vs. Dark Beer (mild, dark ales, stout, porter, etc. – we all know Wychwood’s Hobgoblin, so anything darker than that). Go!
It’s inspired by my evening at the London Drinker last night. The two beers at the top of my hit list were Thornbridge’s Jaipur and Fuller’s London Porter (cask!). Two fantastic beers with similar ABVs (5.9 and 5.4 respectively) but two completely different beers. So…
If you had to... would you rather drink Pale beers or Dark beers for the rest of your drinking days?
No arguments about the spectrum of brown, I’m ignoring that, this is: Pale Beer (lagers, IPAs, golden ales, etc. – anything lighter than amber) vs. Dark Beer (mild, dark ales, stout, porter, etc. – we all know Wychwood’s Hobgoblin, so anything darker than that). Go!
I've had a while to consider this one and it's difficult. I think ultimately I'd miss dark beers more than pale beers. I love the roast sweetness, mmmmmm. Plus there are some great hoppy dark beers (Great Divide Yeti, Dark Star Over the Moon, etc.)
ReplyDeleteSo yeah, Dark Beer me!
Dark please... no contest
ReplyDeleteA year or two ago I'd have answered Dark without hesitation. Despite being a born-again hopfreak, I still think I'd ultimately miss never having a dark beer again more. And you're right in your assertion that you can find big hops in dark beers like Over the Moon and Black Gold.
ReplyDeleteBut please don't take away my IPA...
I think I'd be for the dark side too.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of possible aromas, tastes and combination in dark beers that are difficult to find in pale beers styles. Not the same for the opposite.
But if I had a favourite style and this was a pale one... I'd change my mind :P
I'm not xenephobic, I like my bread baked and in burnt toast form.
ReplyDeleteBTW - glad you had a good time at teh London drinker. I'm going to give it a miss. While the beer may be good, I am too scared of being identified by CAMRA types on their own turf!
It is going to have to be pale beers for me. I love dark beers and I would miss porter particularly. On balance though I would miss zingy, zesty, hoppy beers on a sunny day too much to choose dark beers.
ReplyDeletePale, damn it!
ReplyDeleteWhat a sadistic question! I'm going to have to vote for "dark", even though Crouch Vale's Amarillo is one of the new joys in my life, and I can't bear the thought of abandoning IPAs for eternity.
ReplyDeleteThe clincher for me, though, was the hellish thought of never again tasting the Stone Brewing Company's sublime, transcendent Imperial Russian Stout - the only plausible challenge to atheism I've ever encountered...
Looks like dark is winning! I had a few votes on twitter for the darks too. I wonder how different it'd be if we were in California (like Wurst who voted Pale!)?! I reckon we'd get a lot more for the pale ones.
ReplyDeleteHey Michael, it is a tough question! There are pale beers that I couldn't bare to lose, a couple from Stone in particular. I've got their Imperial Stout at home and am very much looking forward to opening it sometime soon!
Dark. No contest. Mild in summer, stout in winter. With lashings of hop-laden Black IPA anytime of the year.
ReplyDeleteThis is a tough one-- I'm with Dubbel though. Dark wins by a small margin-- a year ago it would have won easily but I find myself a bit obsessed with hoppy IPAs at the moment.
ReplyDeleteStill, stout is lifeblood!