But it really shouldn't be me to start it, I'm a cider drinker.

However, as almost every country in the finals with possible exception of Greece (and I may even be wrong there) has its own local brew, does someone more knowledgeable than me want to line up 16 representative ales?

Greece has Mythos, it's bloody horrible. Someone may be able to recommend something better.

For good beer I'd nominate Tomislav for Croatia, a really good and quite strong dunkel, unless PPV can recommend something better.

I'll also nominate Fullers ESB for England, though I guess we could argue all day about the best English beer.

Does France have anything better--and widely available--than Kronenbourg?

Pilsner Urquell for the Czech Republic, although you could make a solid case for the original Budweiser/Budvar.

Yesterday I watched a shocking documentary explaining how the standards of German beer have gone down due to the concentration of brands in the hands of just a few big players. They also argued that in the US the trend goes in the opposite direction, with mini-breweries getting a bigger and bigger market share because they and their customers care about quality (also meaning they're willing to pay a considerably higher price).

So I really should nominate something like this for Germany:



This is a minuscule brewerey about 50km east of Munich in the village of Loh. But as it should be in some way representative for the country, I pick the most drinkable of the biggies, Jever Pilsener:

America seems to have the best and the worst of the market now, with microbreweries seemingly more and more prevalent. It's very easy to find high-quality American beer even in London now, and certainly very easy in the States. Microbreweries are indeed flourishing, but the mass-produced likes of Bud, Miller, etc remain the worst of the worst.

Speaking as a big fan of Anchor Steam Brewing, the "first microbrewer", it's a marvelous thing. We are spoilt for choice.

At risk of taking this ever more off topic, I just wish more American craft beers found their way over to the UK. Hell, even some of the bigger breweries don't export a full range, I'd give anything to get my face round a Sam Adams Summer ale.

Anyway - I'd challenge scratchmonkey's choice for the Czechies and suggest Staropramen. For Italy, how about we fuck off the obvious (Peroni, Moretti) and go for the Sardinian variety, Ichnusa?

Can I second Staropramen?

For Spain, Cruzcampo or Estrella Galicia for me.

Two from Holland:

La Trappe tripel from the Netherlands only trappist brewery and Jopen Hoppenbier from Haarlem.

Estrella's probably your mainstream pic from Spain.

But this needs a country v country beer-off for each game, so let's get the weekend's games going.

Poland 3-1 Greece
Russia 1-4 Czech Republic

Holland 1-2 Denmark
Germany 5-1 Portugal

Spain 2-1 Italy
Ireland 1-2 Croatia

Staropramen is Ok when it's actually Czech, but it's one of those global brands now which gets brewed under licence in loads of places, so you have to be really careful. You can get Staropramen which is brewed in Romania for example. You can, but you shouldn't.

Anyway, on E10s match up, other than the obvious 2 (neither of which are any good), what beer comes from Denmark? Can someone recommend?

Incandenza wrote:


France has some truly wonderful beers, though they're all a bit niche. With France, you're best off ignoring Alsace altogether and heading for the Region du Nord. The most widely available (but also the least fun) of the Northern beers is Pelforth. Somewhat less widely available, but much better, is Jenlain. Other very good brands, available throughout France and occasionally seen elsewhere, include Ch'ti and La Choulette.

France has also had a real renaissance in local brewing lately. Unexpected places I've had great local beers include the Ardeche and Normandy. The latter was supposedly a "Viking" beer, actually not remotely Viking, but really delicious.

For the Czech Republic, my vote goes to Krusovice.

Szczesny Saxon Kyivs wrote:


Harvey's Sussex Bitter. Next question.

Scratchmonkey wrote:


:)

Do the tour if you're ever in San Francisco.

For Holland and as a wheat beer fan, La Trappe wit is wonderful. It definitely turned me off ever drinking Hoegaarden again if I can help it.

I agree with most of E10 Rifle's results, exceot that Italy (where there's been a microbrew explosion) will easily beat Spain (where there hasn't), and Holland will piss all over Denmark. South Limburg alone has more decent beer than Denmark.

Representative Dutch beer? Hmm, that's a tricky one. La Trappe is an excellent shout, as would be any of the t'IJ micros from Amsterdam. I'd like to speak up for Christoffel Blond, though: "just" a Pilsner, but an exceptionally fine one, which I'd happily put up against most competitors from Germany.