Your Favorite Beer That's Available On A Royal Ship?

[topnole]

Just now, baelor said:

Thanks for the rec; I was unaware of it since it is not listed in my menu!  7% ABV is generally my minimum just based on the beers I like to drink, so nice to know there is a somewhat strong beer at 8%.

May depend on the ship, but I had a couple on Allure in May.  I think they carry it in the Pubs if your ship has one.  And it was a great beer, but not the type where you have more than a couple in a sitting.  
 

Some years back I was on either Allure or Oasis and they had some great Sam Adams special brews.  They were 8-10% variety and I didn’t realize it.  I got smashed that night.  My wife was cracking up.   

[ARandomTraveler]

On 7/24/2022 at 10:13 AM, John&LaLa said:

 

Seriously, whats wrong with a big brewery. And why is beer better because you add Craft to the description. Plenty of craft beer is just awful. 

 

I just don't see a correlation between small and good.

I think the difference is that small batch craft beer has a lot more flavor (or to use a wine term, more "body" or more "spine").
 

Since they don't have to make enough to ship all over the country, they don't have to use ingredients that can be purchased in large consistent batches.
 

Most of the craft breweries in my area have a couple "staple" beers that they always make (or sometimes not even a couple,  but just one) and the rest are rotated as their ingredients run out, sometimes because they're seasonal ingredients, and sometimes because the ingredients are expensive so they buy them in small amounts.

 

"Big" brewery beer generally has a lot less flavor, in my opinion. Craft beer is like drinking a high quality wine. Big brewery beer is like drinking a Beringer 😉, it's not bad, but it's not good either. 

Edited July 26, 2022 by ARandomTraveler

[baelor]

2 minutes ago, ARandomTraveler said:

I think the difference is that small batch craft beer has a lot more flavor (or to use a wine term, more "body" or more "spine").
 

Since they don't have to make enough to ship all over the country, they don't have to use ingredients that can be purchased in large consistent batches.
 

Most of the craft breweries in my area have a couple "staple" beers that they always make (or sometimes not even a couple,  but just one) and the rest are rotated as their ingredients run out, sometimes because they're seasonal ingredients, and sometimes because the ingredients are expensive so they buy them in small amounts.

 

"Big" brewery beer generally has a lot less flavor, in my opinion. Craft beer is like drinking a high quality wine. Big brewery beer is like drinking a Beringer 😉, it's not bad, but it's not good either. 

In brief, craft beer does not taste like water, which in my experience almost all "big" brewery beers do.

[ARandomTraveler]

2 minutes ago, baelor said:

In brief, craft beer does not taste like water, which in my experience almost all "big" brewery beers do.

Exactly. Big brewery beer is made for the mass market, without a lot of flavor in order to appeal to the tastes of most people. Whereas craft beer is for a more seasoned pallete.

 

Nothing wrong with drinking a Coors light, that's how I cut my beer teeth. But you won't see me drinking it anymore, despite the fact that it's made just miles from my house. 

Edited July 26, 2022 by ARandomTraveler

[John&LaLa]

8 hours ago, baelor said:

Thanks for the rec; I was unaware of it since it is not listed in my menu!  7% ABV is generally my minimum just based on the beers I like to drink, so nice to know there is a somewhat strong beer at 8%.

 

If all you want is alcohol, drink an old fashioned

[baelor]

39 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

If all you want is alcohol, drink an old fashioned

It's not.  And if it were, I would opt for something other than an old-fashioned, which inlcudes non-alcoholic sugar!

[SeattleAl]

What bothers me is that it doesn't seem that their "pubs" have any beer or ale on tap. That's just wrong.

 

[big al]

On 7/23/2022 at 9:26 PM, KayRaeRae said:

None.  Their beer program is atrocious. 

Agree 100% ..and the bar tenders have told me that RCI has the worst beer program & choices on the 7 seas...NCL ( on their newer, bigger ships ) has the best- the District Brew House has 26 beers on draft, 80 in bottles, plus 12 TV's for sports and appetizers for a bit $$...fabulous place...

 

[time4u2go]

6 hours ago, ARandomTraveler said:

I think the difference is that small batch craft beer has a lot more flavor (or to use a wine term, more "body" or more "spine").
 

Since they don't have to make enough to ship all over the country, they don't have to use ingredients that can be purchased in large consistent batches.
 

Most of the craft breweries in my area have a couple "staple" beers that they always make (or sometimes not even a couple,  but just one) and the rest are rotated as their ingredients run out, sometimes because they're seasonal ingredients, and sometimes because the ingredients are expensive so they buy them in small amounts.

 

"Big" brewery beer generally has a lot less flavor, in my opinion. Craft beer is like drinking a high quality wine. Big brewery beer is like drinking a Beringer 😉, it's not bad, but it's not good either. 

I definitely agree.  That's a great way to state it.

[hotsauce126]

On 7/24/2022 at 12:13 PM, John&LaLa said:

 

Seriously, whats wrong with a big brewery. And why is beer better because you add Craft to the description. Plenty of craft beer is just awful. 

 

I just don't see a correlation between small and good.

That’s like saying what’s wrong with McDonald’s because plenty of regular restaurants have burgers that suck

[John&LaLa]

22 minutes ago, hotsauce126 said:

That’s like saying what’s wrong with McDonald’s because plenty of regular restaurants have burgers that suck

 

At least you know what you're going to get for the most part

[topnole]

53 minutes ago, hotsauce126 said:

That’s like saying what’s wrong with McDonald’s because plenty of regular restaurants have burgers that suck

This isn’t really true.  All of the big brewers make a variety of beers.  Many of them are great.  The definition of craft beer (used to be be called micro breweries) is based on volume produced.  It is an arbitrary number that somehow makes one beer high quality and another like water.   But the size isn’t why some think it is good or bad.  
 

I could set up 6 beers (3

from big brewers like AB InBev and 3 from craft brewers) and have all of blind taste test them.  None of you would know craft from major brewer and the success rate of picking would be no better than random guessing.  Many of you would claim you could, but you would be wrong.  I’ve done this before.  The most confident people I know could get them right.  
 

Comparing a craft beer to a bud light is silly.  You have to compare a craft stout to a mainstream stout like Murphys or Guinness.   Same goes for an IPA or whatever else.  The big brewers all have beers that fit in the varying niches (IPAs, stouts, bourbon ales, etc., etc.).  
 

Craft beer produces may use “higher quality” hops or more like barley versus rice, etc. as well as longer time periods to make the beer due to ingredients and process being different (fermentation method etc).  But that doesn’t mean the big producers don’t also make beers that use other process.  In fact, the big producers made their own special brews and then bought up many craft companies in an effort to capture the main growth component in the industry.  So all of the big producers also make craft beers either in name or in spirit.  Size isn’t the issue.  It is certainly brewing process (time, method, ingredients, etc.).  Doesn’t matter how big the batch is for the beer in question.  
 

With all that said, craft beers vary so much they can all hit you in different ways because the ingredients vary so much.  Some give me horrible headaches.  Some give me an uneasy stomach for a couple days.  That is the problem with craft beers.  I’m a beer lover of all kinds, but on a cruise I much prefer to stick to what I know so I’m not suffering the next day when I’m spending a bunch of money on my vacation.  At home I love trying new beers.  If I’m exploring Europe or on a cruise, I don’t want to have an off stomach or a splitting headache (many IPAs do this to me) for half the trip due to a few crazy beers with a cool name.  At least with the big beer names you know what you are getting.  But you can’t exactly try out crafts that aren’t sold in your home market.  There is a good reason the light beers are so popular.  Price, consistency, etc..  Not everyone wants some fruity hints in their IPA every time and lord knows the craft companies can’t stop their addiction to making some new form of IPAs. 

Edited July 26, 2022 by topnole

[topnole]

33 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

At least you know what you're going to get for the most part

This is a key reason I drink what I drink on vacation.  I want to know I’m not going to be suffering a horrible headache the next day.  I’ll try one or two craft beers max.  Then on to my normal beers that I enjoy very much and know they don’t make me feel horrible the next day. I’ve learned my lesson to many times being at craft only bars.  Always feel horrible the next day.  So much for those high quality ingredients.  

[Ret MP]

One person's watery tasting beer is another person's perfect beer.  

[John&LaLa]

5 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

One person's watery tasting beer is another person's perfect beer.  

 

As a group, 87% of people are fine with it 😉

[ARandomTraveler]

18 minutes ago, topnole said:

This isn’t really true.  All of the big brewers make a variety of beers.  Many of them are great.  The definition of craft beer (used to be be called micro breweries) is based on volume produced.  It is an arbitrary number that somehow makes one beer high quality and another like water.   But the size isn’t why some think it is good or bad.  
 

I could set up 6 beers (3

from big brewers like AB InBev and 3 from craft brewers) and have all of blind taste test them.  None of you would know craft from major brewer and the success rate of picking would be no better than random guessing.  Many of you would claim you could, but you would be wrong.  I’ve done this before.  The most confident people I know could get them right.  
 

Comparing a craft beer to a bud light is silly.  You have to compare a craft stout to a mainstream stout like Murphys or Guinness.   Same goes for an IPA or whatever else.  The big brewers all have beers that fit in the varying niches (IPAs, stouts, bourbon ales, etc., etc.).  
 

Craft beer produces may use “higher quality” hops or more like barley versus rice, etc. as well as longer time periods to make the beer due to ingredients and process being different (fermentation method etc).  But that doesn’t mean the big producers don’t also make beers that use other process.  In fact, the big producers made their own special brews and then bought up many craft companies in an effort to capture the main growth component in the industry.  So all of the big producers also make craft beers either in name or in spirit.  Size isn’t the issue.  It is certainly brewing process (time, method, ingredients, etc.).  Doesn’t matter how big the batch is for the beer in question.  
 

With all that said, craft beers vary so much they can all hit you in different ways because the ingredients vary so much.  Some give me horrible headaches.  Some give me an uneasy stomach for a couple days.  That is the problem with craft beers.  I’m a beer lover of all kinds, but on a cruise I much prefer to stick to what I know so I’m not suffering the next day when I’m spending a bunch of money on my vacation.  At home I love trying new beers.  If I’m exploring Europe or on a cruise, I don’t want to have an off stomach or a splitting headache (many IPAs do this to me) for half the trip due to a few crazy beers with a cool name.  At least with the big beer names you know what you are getting.  But you can’t exactly try out crafts that aren’t sold in your home market.  There is a good reason the light beers are so popular.  Price, consistency, etc..  Not everyone wants some fruity hints in their IPA every time and lord knows the craft companies can’t stop their addiction to making some new form of IPAs. 

Ok those are some fair points. I'd be curious to try your experiment with some

of my friends and see how we do. 
 

I'm still a fan of craft beer though, and my personal experience with it is that it tastes better, and I've actually had the opposite experience where I know if I'm drinking higher quality beer, I never get sick and I never get a headache no matter how much of it I drink. 
 

Signed,

 

A beer drinker who used to hate IPAs and now considers one of the "new forms" on my favorites list 😂

[topnole]

12 hours ago, ARandomTraveler said:

I think the difference is that small batch craft beer has a lot more flavor (or to use a wine term, more "body" or more "spine").
 

Since they don't have to make enough to ship all over the country, they don't have to use ingredients that can be purchased in large consistent batches.
 

Most of the craft breweries in my area have a couple "staple" beers that they always make (or sometimes not even a couple,  but just one) and the rest are rotated as their ingredients run out, sometimes because they're seasonal ingredients, and sometimes because the ingredients are expensive so they buy them in small amounts.

 

"Big" brewery beer generally has a lot less flavor, in my opinion. Craft beer is like drinking a high quality wine. Big brewery beer is like drinking a Beringer 😉, it's not bad, but it's not good either. 

Comparing beer and wine isn’t really a good example.  What makes wine better?   The grapes used and the process.  The differences in tastes in beers is derived from varying ingredients or how they are treated  such as roasting the barley (not the difference in the specific ingredient like the grape).  Now quality ingredients may matter, but bold versus plain flavor has zero to do with size of the brewery.  Cheap wines use the “bad grapes” for

example that are cheap.  This is a slight simplification, but wine making and brewing are very different because brewing involves many different ingredients and fermentation processes to get different types of beers.  Wine making relies heavily on the specific grape or mixture of grapes for the quality.  

Edited July 26, 2022 by topnole

[The Yorkshire Cruiser]

I wonder if anyone has ever looked into whether it is possible to serve real ale on a cruise ship? I imagine its impossible given the movement of the boat, but would be a great addition to the onboard pub.

 

My favourite beer is the cans of John Smiths on ships departing Southampton. 

[JOHN 57]

7 minutes ago, The Yorkshire Cruiser said:

I wonder if anyone has ever looked into whether it is possible to serve real ale on a cruise ship? I imagine its impossible given the movement of the boat, but would be a great addition to the onboard pub.

 

My favourite beer is the cans of John Smiths on ships departing Southampton. 

something to try

[Husky1987]

If only....

 

 

[JOHN 57]

never had a pliny the elder, will look it up

[JOHN 57]

looked it up, a Russian beer.

[dwp10mm]

At what point does a brewery get past the "craft" status.  Because I'm pretty sure Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada no longer qualify.  But if you go to any land based restaurant they show up as "craft" drafts on the menu.  For past cruises, my go-to beers have been Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Stone IPA in the promenade pub.  Nothing on draft even tempted me.  But two weeks on Odyssey changed me with Playmakers.  I've told this report in a few threads already.  Probably to the point that people who recognize me probably call me an IPAlcoholic.  But they had Terrapin Hopsecutioner on draft.  I originally went to find the Funky Buddha beers.  They had none.  Likely a supply chain issue as Bubba Gump in Fort Lauderdale the day before also had none.  I was perfectly content with the replacement.  After two weeks, I certainly came out ahead on those drink packages.  

[sanschag]

1 hour ago, JOHN 57 said:

looked it up, a Russian beer.

Um ... no. It's from Russian River in Santa Rosa, California (Sonoma Valley). It's excellent, considered to be one of the best IPAs in the world. (I've had the fortune to taste it at the brewery.)

[topnole]

2 hours ago, The Yorkshire Cruiser said:

I wonder if anyone has ever looked into whether it is possible to serve real ale on a cruise ship? I imagine its impossible given the movement of the boat, but would be a great addition to the onboard pub.

 

My favourite beer is the cans of John Smiths on ships departing Southampton. 

Aren’t British ales pretty much flat?   Seems it would be easier to have them?