My Favourite Beers You Can Get Anywhere
You might not know looking at this website, but the world is full of beers that aren’t independently brewed craft beers. In fact, these mass brewed beers, usually made by one of two companies, make up the majority of beer on sale world wide. Sometimes, this beer is all you can get in your average venue. Let’s all take a moment to be shocked.
The good news is, there are a few of these beers that I actually don’t mind ordering when there is nothing else on offer. Let’s all take another moment to be shocked.
When there is nothing else on offer I look to these widely available beers to get the job done.
Peroni
In it’s natural environment, next to some food. Image via Peroni.
In 1846, in the small northern Italian town of Vigevano, Francesco Peroni invented Peroni Nastro Azzurro, a pale lager in a bottle that seems to be greener than most somehow. From those humble beginnings Peroni is now owned by brewing giant Asahi and is available worldwide, often having it’s own gaudy tap at the bar and a toppling tall glass.
The reason I pick Peroni is that it has this distinct cool, clean & slightly hoppy flavour that you only seem to get in Italian lagers. Although I’d rather drink a Birra Moretti or Menabrea, Peroni is available basically anywhere you can get Italian food and my-oh-my does it go well next to some focaccia, arancini or a mortadella & provolone panini. I like to take Nigella Lawson’s advice on Italian beer and drink it ‘so cold that it hurts’.
Corona (hear me out)
Image via Corona and please hear me out.
If you’re still reading please please please hear me out. I know this might seem a controversial choice but it doesn’t change the fact that I genuinely and unironically like Corona. If someone walks in with a case of this on a hot day I’m cheering. When it comes to mixing for cocktails there is no beer better suited to the job. Cutting a wedge of lemon/lime just the right width that it sits in the neck of the bottle is an artform and one of life’s most satisfying feelings.
Corona doesn’t really have much of an origin stories. It’s originally brewed in Mexico by a few different breweries but is now brewed under contract all over the world using corn in the recognisable Mexican lager style. These days, craft brewers have started a big push towards ‘cerveza’ (Spanish for beer) with some openly admitting they are trying to ‘jazz up’ a Corona, as if the wedge of lemon wasn’t already doing that. They wouldn’t rip off this style if it wasn’t worth replicating, the only difference being I can get Corona by the bucket everywhere I go. Thank you for hearing me out.
Stone & Wood Pacific Ale
Making a darn mess. Image via Stone & Wood.
Starting life in the flower power NSW coastal town of Byron Bay, Stone & Wood pioneered the pacific ale style identifiable by tropical flavours, opaque and light golden hue and slightly lower alcohol content. Nowadays, Stone & Wood is owned by Aussie brewing conglomerate Lion which turned many craft beer fans off this highly acclaimed beer and onto the countless pacific ales brewed by independent breweries with access to the Australian coast. While many of these are great (7th Day Brewery making my favourite) none are as widely available or perhaps even as consistent as Stone & Wood.
For a lot of beer lovers, the taste of Stone & Wood Pacific Ale is in it’s own lane, crisp and earthy with a balanced and flavoursome profile. Personally, I think the morning after drinking a lot of Pacific Ales feels a lot more like a hug than a hangover. Although Stone & Wood is still only widely available in Australia, I have seen it in bars in London providing an almost Vegemitian taste of home for the modern reverse convicts.
Guinness
No table, no worries. Image via Guinness.
Rather than asking, the best way to find out if someone has been to Dublin is mention how you don’t like Guinness and 99/100 times they’ll tell you “it taste better in Dublin!” And yes, it does, it was nearly all I drank when I was last there and is far creamier, luscious, earthy and decadent than what you get elsewhere, while somehow still having a lighter body meaning you can smash more of them. To quote a guy I overheard in an Dublin pub “this is the mother’s milk.”
Like Peroni, Guinness is available worldwide and features an iconic tap and glass design in addition to a pouring procedure that bartenders are specifically trained for. Yes, it tastes ashier and more bitter than the stuff brewed by the Liffey but sometimes Guinness just seems like the only viable option in any average Australian pub. Mostly I drink it because it sends a message; I’ve had a helluva day but I’m tough enough to drink this shit so don’t effin start me.
Coopers Green & Red
Two very Aussie beers in two very Aussie contexts. Images via Coopers.
Another Aussie only beer, or should I say beers because as like most people I cannot write off Coopers Pale Ale (green) or Coopers Sparkling Ale (red). Currently, the Coopers (a surname that was literally the job title of barrel makers) are five generations into the family brewing business that started with Thomas Cooper in Adelaide, 1862. To this day, they are Australia’s largest independent brewery and unapologetically proud of it. I’ve reviewed a lot of their new beers over the years, but there are two I always go back to.
Their two most famous brews (green & red) are very common in bottles, cans or on tap everywhere booze is sold in Australia. Personally, I prefer the bottled variety that due to bottle conditioning are known for a little sediment at the bottom that can/should be swirled around before opening, usually by inverting the bottle or gently rolling it across the table. Although Sparkling Ale has a stronger flavour and alcohol percentage, green Pale Ale is my favourite and in my experience is the perfect accompaniment to literally anything you could eat but especially fish and chips.
