Please help resolve an argument

Beer taste is highly subjective, unless you are talking about Carlsberg, or green King IPA, which is objectively terrible.

Consider it a poll then.
But I guess I’m trying to discern if I’m in a gross minority, and if I need to be more open to the charms of Tiny Rebel, if it is just a Marmite-type product, or if my observations can be back by objective measures (the STW collective mind).

Oh, and I assume you meant ‘Carling’ where you write ‘Carlsberg’. 🧐

But Mrs SR likes it. As in everything of theirs she’s tried.

Who’s right?

She said she likes it but you're saying that she's lying and she doesn't like it?

Cwtch is one of my favourite beers

Domestic harmony comes before taste in beer so agree with Mrs SR and then buy your own stash for solo enjoyment!
Tiny Rebel - not for me either.
Wild Beer (if they're still trading) and Northern Monk are good.
I really enjoy German beer - the 'purity' of taste gives it an edge, IMO, to other beers; Früh Kölsch is consistently good and, at 4.8%, isn't challenging.
Brugse Zot from, as you may guess, Belgium is another favourite - but not the dubbel; Belgian beers are, generally, not to my liking.
I'm in Nottinghamshire and there's quite a number of breweries in the county and across the border in Lincolnshire but I don't rate many of their brews highly.
On occasion, I order direct from Vocation dependant on what they're offering; my standout from them was an Imperial Kirsch at 11%. Of their current range the chocolate and cherry imperial stout (black forest gateau) at 10% sounds similar - I'll know when I open it!
My last delivery included a USA pale and their 'yakima pilsner'.
For something really refreshing and low in alcohol try Schöfferhofer in either grapefruit or pineapple; 50% wheat beer, 50% fruit.
If you like quirky, Neon Raptor from Nottingham - an occasional can of their Vanilla Weisse is good but remember to roll the can before opening.
Top tip - find a local ale store and...enjoy yourself.

I don't recall ever having any of theirs. Is it one of these new-fangled 'craft' beers which sell in half-sized cans for double the price?

I feel much the same way about Brewdog. Their marketing is amusing but I've yet to find a beer I'd rate much more than "mediocre."

I don’t recall ever having any of theirs. Is it one of these new-fangled ‘craft’ beers which sell in half-sized cans for double the price?

No.

I first tried Tiny Rebel at Greenman several years ago, in particular Cwtch. I was rather sad when they ran out, but Purple Moose’s ‘Dark Side Of The Moose’ made up for it. Until that ran out.

This may be a novel observation, but different breweries have different ideas about what makes a good brew, and some of those ideas may not be appreciated by everyone who likes beer. I don’t necessarily like every brew that even my favourite brewery turns out, but that’s ok, because there’s always something else to try. Frome Brewery do a bunch of different beers, and I haven’t found anything yet that I don’t like. There’s a pub in Eddington, (a place of great importance to English history), called The Three Daggers, who have their own brewery, and my regular pub has one of theirs on tap at the moment, it’s a bit too hoppy for my liking, but I’ve loved several others of theirs in the past. Currently enjoying Frome Brewery’s Prohibition Ale, which is a very dark American ale, really a stout, and that’s incredibly more-ish.
Maybe we should all go back to the days of Watney’s Red Barrel, and Double Diamond…

and I assume you meant ‘Carling’ where you write ‘Carlsberg’

They are the same thing for the purpose of this debate 😉

I don't think tiny rebel are any better or worse, they are just jumping on the craft beer band wagon...

When it comes to 'trendy' beer, Vocation do some good ones, but Magic rock 'high wire' is a fave of mine, as it's farily normal...and the spin-off, high wire grape fruit.

If it's a hot day, salty kiss is superb, really tart if you like that kind of thing.

I should probably qualify that by saying I prefer Keg beers, rather than cask, as I like a little bit of fizz.

Never tried Tiny Rebel so will side with SR on this one as I’ve not seen a post from him in ages.

Tiny Rebel, like most brewdog offerings I don't actively dislike, but by the same token, it's a bit... mehh.... Will drink it if in a pub and all the other offerings are Carling etc. but would never by it from a shop/offie.  There are so many amazing 'mainstream' brews out there (Magic Rock, Vocation), not to  mention smaller producers. But Tiny Rebel... it's 'OK' at best.

I feel much the same way about Brewdog. Their marketing is amusing but I’ve yet to find a beer I’d rate much more than “mediocre.”

This is really very generous review. The pair of them are absolutely ****s. And the beer is rank.

Please help resolve an argument

That's not really what we do here.

I like Bass, Tribute and Guinness. Tend to avoid craft beers as I find them too hippy and fruity in the main.

Edit - autocorrect turned hoppy to hippy but I think it sort of fits so I won't change it.

I've had the Club Tropicana. It's extremely fruity, but quite watery, and lacks any body at all. It's strange also in that, at 5.5% abv, you'd expect a significant inebriation effect, but this acts more like a 3.5% session ale. 

4/10

I reckon I could drink Clwb Tropica until it filled me up to the point of drowning me!  It's lush.

See also Gamma Ray from Beavertown and Brewdog's Hazy Daze.

Also very fond of Guinness,  Ghost Ship, Old Speckled Hen, Landlord,.......

Each to their own!

The exception being Greene King IPA, which (as someone else already confirmed) is an abomination.

I don’t recall ever having any of theirs. Is it one of these new-fangled ‘craft’ beers which sell in half-sized cans for double the price?

Pretty much. Not a great fan, their stuff is generally a bit sweet and gimmicky for my tastes (as is much of the 'craft' genre). Note 'my tastes' though, it's all obviously subjective.

Well, other than Brewdog it is. Their beer tastes like petrol and the owner's a c**t, and that's cold hard fact.

You're both right, just because someone enjoys something doesn't mean it's good and likewise just because someone else doesn't enjoy something doesn't mean it's bad.

Had and did not enjoy Club Tropicana - it’s coloured my view to the point that at don’t want to try any more of their stuff.

Tiny rebel frequently break the (my) cardinal rule which is: never add fruit juice to your beer. 

The ones that don't are ok, but not my favourite. 

Ps. Fruity tastes from hoppyness are fine, but if there is fruit on the ingredients list it's out. 

I like Bass, Tribute and Guinness. Tend to avoid craft beers as I find them too hippy and fruity in the main.

Don't necessarily concur with your beer choices but I also find too many craft beers that are trying too hard and opt for a no nonsense pint where I can.

Their ESB was a rather pleasing drink (in full size cans too) though a touch lively. One of the cans exploded while upright on the shelf and I lost 25% of the stash. (The therapy is ongoing as loss of beer is a terrible thing).

I like Bass, Tribute and Guinness. Tend to avoid craft beers as I find them too hippy and fruity in the main.

I also find too many craft beers that are trying too hard and opt for a no nonsense pint where I can

Yup, this and this

.

My local had this on the other day. Very nice but couldn't drink more than one. Also a fan of Cwtch but don't see it around too often

Tiny Rebel have made some great beers. Cwtch isn’t for me though.

Try the jam doughnut flavoured one… very, very wrong. Delicious.

Please help resolve an argument

We can provide you with the correct answer, but only you and your wife can resolve the argument...

never even seen "tiny rebel"

Tastes in beer are subjective - there is no right answer.  I can't stand dark caramalised beers.  I love a well hopped IPA ( but not the over hopped ones)

I agree with the comments above about many of these craft beers just trying too hard. I also find that all of the Brewdog beers (which I don’t really like but sometimes end up with some) are really fizzy/foamy and I end up having to spit out a weird froth that seems to develop in my mouth - it’s very weird.

My preferred drink is just San Miguel - nice and hoppy with a really full flavour.

I only like niche beers you won't have heard of because I'm such a very special, sophisticated boy.

In fact, I have found their stuff – including their cider – to be insipid at best and putrid at worst

I've enjoyed a number of tiny rebel beers, your patter is insipid and putrid at worst.

I'm 100% with you OP. I should like their beer, but I'm always left disappointed. 

Cwtch is one of my favourite beers

This, but I rarely see it anywhere. I'd assumed they'd stopped making it, in favour of the flavoured beers, and I don't like those.

never even seen “tiny rebel”

Brewed near Newport, in the Valleys. (Cwmbran, iirc?) I guess it doesn't get a wide distribution?

“Yes dear. Just popping out to the pub.”

I've had Tin Rebel beers and you're right they are rank.  Now, Neck Oil from Beavertown on the other hand s lovely and is my normal Thursday night tipple in the pub after a ride.  My home cupboards however are filled with Belgiums (and Dutch) finest ales courtesy of a little visit to Vanuxeem in Ploegsteert.

Electric boogaloo is pretty decent. As for the brewery Tiny Rebel do like to make beers in the extreme.

Neck Oil from Beavertown

Beavertown is no longer 'craft' FWIW, they sold out to Heineken last year.

I'm with your wife, they're my favourite brewery.    Even the weird ones they occasionally do, like chocolate marshmallow stouts etc

Father in law had a subscription with them a while back so he had all sorts of their stuff to try. I reckon it was about a 20/80 hit rate (i.e. 20% 'alright', 80% turd)

I'm not a fan.

I reckon brewdog is about 60/40

That Cwtch stuff is pretty nice IMO.

Really enjoyed a marshmallow porter of theirs, but couldn't drink it all night.

My preferred drink is just San Miguel – nice and hoppy with a really full flavour.

Eh?  Ok its a not bad if the alternative is a cheapo lager but its not in the same universe as a proper ale.

its not in the same universe as a proper ale

Well no, because it's a different drink.

And god I hate the word 'ale'. Don't get me wrong, I like the drink, but the word just brings to mind bearded blowhards drinking Scrumptons Old Cockflap out of their own pewter tankard whilst their leather waistcoat and faded Runrig t-shirt is stretched to the point of rupture across their distended belly.

brings to mind bearded blowhards drinking Scrumptons Old Cockflap out of their own pewter tankard whilst their leather waistcoat and faded Runrig t-shirt is stretched to the point of rupture across their distended belly.

Have you been spying on me?

My preferred drink is just San Miguel – nice and hoppy with a really full flavour.

🤨

Tiny rebel are ok, but Vocation Life & Death is my go to.

Have you been spying on me?

You haven't got a beard 😉

tj - it's no surprise you haven't heard of Tiny Rebel as Fortnum & Mason, your grocer, don't stock it.

I have a regular craft beer sampling buddy. There is no concoction so foul sounding so as to to deter us. He loathes Tiny Rebel, I can't get enough. Make of that what you will.

Tiny Rebel make umpteen different beers, it's like saying you don't like Twinings because they make peppermint tea.

The sours can get in the sink.

Clwb Tropica is one of my favourites in the IPA style

Their  stouts are well worth trying if you like stout.

I’m with your wife

🤨

Fully agree with the stout comment Jim! Although they did have a 'glazed ham stout' a few years ago that was GRIM - but yeah, I love some of the TR beers, hate others, but I like what they're doing - loads of fun and wonderful flavoured beers so if you go to the Brewery bar (which is great!) then you can have loads and loads of halves with everything being a bit different

Most of their stuff I've tried tastes and smells synthetic but my wife likes it. The only two I've had that were actually nice were a hazy ipa and an imperial stout.

This is my favourite beer<br />

jimmy748
Full Member
Tbut Vocation Life & Death is my go to.

hadn't seen them until recently - really good, especially for a 6.5% beer

Now there's a surprise ^^^

Yes - Zesty aromatic and citrus - just like me 😉

This is my favourite beer

Good call. Supposedly named after a staff members long, bitter and twisted divorce came through...

Arguably not as nice as some of their other beers...

Cwtch is really tasty and I quite like Clb Tropica as well, mostly because it tastes a bit like Lilt and I used to love lilt. Not a fan of the pastry or weird flavoured beers but I just choose not to drink em.  Mostly drink stuff from my locals (Arundel Brewery, Little Monster and Staggeringly Good) but i'm a broad church when it comes to beer!  Had an amazing Burning Sky Saison recently.

And god I hate the word ‘ale’. Don’t get me wrong, I like the drink, but the word just brings to mind bearded blowhards drinking Scrumptons Old Cockflap out of their own pewter tankard whilst their leather waistcoat and faded Runrig t-shirt is stretched to the point of rupture across their distended belly.

I know what you mean but those fellas are just having a nice time, drinking what they enjoy, wearing what they want and bothering no one. Why the hate and judgement? Live and let live (he says balancing a pint of Scruttocks old dirigible on top of his mahoosive paunch).

My preferred drink is just San Miguel – nice and hoppy with a really full flavour

Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but that's just weird.

Vocation Life & Death is my go to.

Too strong to live off. Divide & Conquer at 5% was my lockdown survival ration (and canned beer perfection) but it’s dropped out of the core range…

I agree about Tiny Rebel too - never liked any of it.

Never heard of it  but I suspect that it is a trendy micro brewery thing.* If so, it will be excessively expensive and thus I doubt your judgement in any respect let alone beer.

*so, do we have a mega brewery, a  nearly micro brewery and a medium brewery as well? Just one more thing that gets on my tits.

Never heard of Tint rebel, but not really sure why someone has to be wrong. Surely it's an excuse to try more beers until you find one you agree is the best. Which hopefully never actually happens....

Tint rebel?
Is that a new brewery?

Cwmbran? How dare you, sir?! They're in Rogerstone (Tydu). Perfectly placed for a swift one on the way home after a ride up towards Cwmcarn or Sirhowey. 🙂

I like Cwtch, and Stay Puffed (the latter in smaller quantities, as it's so rich!) but I'm with the group who dislike fruity beers so tend to stick to those two when I pop in. If only they'd bring back Imperial Stay Puffed...

They also do great firework displays. 🙂

Tenuous link to the OP, but very sad news. Ringwood brewery to close. Love a drop of old thumper or forty niner. Too many breweries closing recently.  Woods brewery near me in Shropshire went not so long ago. These two are well established, decent sized breweries, not pop up microbreweries or newbies riding the craft beer fashion. 

I'm a Tiny Rebel fan, and I've had their beer advent calendar a few times too.  I'd put the hit/miss ratio in the positive, but I'd be lying if I said I liked everything.  Club Tropica and Electric Boogaloo are certainly favourites and if I weren't totally skint at the moment I'd be filling the fridge with Sleigh Puft and other delicious sounding beers

 and bothering no one. 

If only that part were true, eh? Beer/lager favourites are so subjective though. At the minute I'm enjoying Alhambra Especial (I like Spanish beer for my sins) and a Majorcan beer - Rosa Blanca. Hard to get though. 

I’d put the hit/miss ratio in the positive, but I’d be lying if I said I liked everything.

They definitely errr on the when in doubt try something approach.
Their "normal" beers are good and so are some of the more weird stuff. Bonus is since they make it clear what the weird stuff is you can always tell if its going to be a gamble.

The owner of our local pub has been educating us recently on what is involved with producing a good beer from the cask. There is a lot less work for the publican to do than there used to be as the breweries strive for a standard taste, but (at least for the gravity fed ones) it's fascinating to see what goes into it and to taste the difference between a beer on the first day it is ready compared with, say, the third. Or even the first hour compared with a few hours later hic. 

All of which is a long winded way of saying that it is not just the beer but how it is kept. Unless you are drinking it out of a bottle/can of course in which case you only have yourself to blame 🙂

Tiny Rebel tend to be a bit funky for my taste, but I've had some interesting festive offerings from the Fat Cat in Norwich if you ever find yourself in that neck of the woods.  

Tint rebel?<br />Is that a new brewery?

Yeah, they do a lovely beer called fat fingers can't type!

Am I the only person who laments the loss of traditional bitters, especially session bitters, and their replacement with over-hopped IPAs that taste like gone off squash?

No, I love a bitter and on the rare occasion these days there is a bitter on draught in a pub, I will always choose it. I quite like a mild too. It's not just IPAs, it's the proliferation of 'golden ales' which are invariably thin and tasteless or have an overpowering 'floral' flavour which is gipping. I don't mind a hoppy IPA, but it's been done to death with a thousand (slight) variations. One issue I think, is drinking at home. IPAs taste OK in cans and bottles, but I don't think bitters do. A good best bitter from a local brewery on draught from a well kept cellar is sublime, and always first choice. But in the supermarket I'll be grabbing Vocation et al because they work better in cans.

As a long term devotee of IPAs and then subsequently NEPA / APA type beers with Cascade / Mosaic / Citra type hops you would imagine a lot of these premium can type drinks would be right up my street. But i find them all far too thin. I've concluded that anything in a can or a keg has a synthetic, fizzy element to it that i just cant get on with. But if its in a cask (pub) or bottle (home) its much more enjoyable.

#makecraftcaskagain 😉

 I don’t mind a hoppy IPA, but it’s been done to death with a thousand (slight) variations.

Yes agreed, very bored of the trend now. 

I'm looking at relocating back to the North West and spent a bit of time around Hebden Bridge.....anyway, i went in one of the pubs (The Albion i think) and  they had Black Sheep on tap and it was the best Bitter i have ever had!! Especially having lived in the South East far so long! <br /><br /><br />

Will keep an eye out for Tiny Rebel!

not just the beer but how it is kept

And also if the landlord has annoyed the drayman! They have a habit of shaking beer casks in the cellar when annoyed at delivery time.

Am I the only person who laments the loss of traditional bitters, especially session bitters

They still get done but since they are less popular they dont tend to be core range.
Tiny Rebel for example have done some pretty nice ones but arent currently available in cans/bottles. Think they do have them as casks for pubs more frequently.

Think they do have them as casks for pubs more frequently.

Pub down the road (sunny Twickenham) had a TR beer I hadn’t seen before on cask. Forget the name but it was good.
Got this waiting for me for Xmas week

https://www.tinyrebel.co.uk/beer/stay-puft-xmas-pack
so that will be nice (for me, ymmv 🙂 )

Cwtch is nice, quite like the marshmallow stout as a morning pint on international day in the Tiny Rebel pub opposite the Millennium Stadium. The hoppy IPAs are all fine, not sure I could tell them apart from any of the other craft cans, other than they taste a bit different depending on how strong they are. The Glazed Ham stout someone mentioned is genuinely one of the worst drinks I've ever had, had to tip it down the sink.

Generally a thumbs up, Vocation edge it on consistency, don't think I've had anything from there I don't like

Bitter and Twisted is a lovely beer especially on tap. But my favourite Harvistoun beer is Old Engine Oil. It's hard to find and only comes in small bottles and is quite expensive but it is incredible.

I’ve drank a few beers from Tiny Rebel, they’re OK, but none stood out as being anything special.
There are lots of ‘craft’ brewers, big and small, making great beers of all kinds, in the UK right now.

For those seeking a decent bitter, you won’t go wrong with a pint of Fullers HSB (originally by Gales brewery, before Fullers took over). Unfortunately they don’t sell it in bottles now, but it’s always a treat when it’s on tap in a pub.