It was rumored that the Stella brewed in the UK had chemical additives wot other beers don't.

Leading to accelerated drunkenness, chemical rage, and the godfather of all hangovers.

I don't know how true that is, but wthat was the rumor I got 10 years ago when still in the UK

It does have a bite.
When I used to drink it I felt I was heading for trouble.
I no longer live in the UK but I remember when ordering a pint of Stella (and it was always a pint, no halves with Stella mate) there would be a few "you're brave" or "going for the Stella tonight are we?".
Odd really.

It used to be rumoured that some unscrupulous brewers would include additives in their beer with the express purppose of inducing a hangover. The theory was that the younger drinker would wake up feeling dreadful, conclude that they must have got really drunk the previous night, further conculde that this meant they must have had a good time and repeat the cycle.

If it is true, the offending chemical is far more likely to be a fermentation byproduct than a shadowy conspiracy involving gray aliens, InBev and the Rothschilds.

Aged 14. Consequently, a gulp of it reminds me of being sick on the front doorstep and the bollocking that followed the next morning.

That's why a gulp of it is all I'll ever have.

especially when combined with Chinese or Indian food. I assume its to do with MSG in the food. *

*I am not a food nutritionist

Stella in Belgium is a very low grade lager and has just been cleverly marketed to Brits as something a bit classier and we fell for it.
True?

I used to drink it quite a bit, but I won't touch the stuff now. I think I have a pavlovian response to the taste now: I get a hangover after about half a pint of it. Evil, evil, evil.

All lagers give me a hangover, even half a pint. I suspect this is probably some sort of allergy or sensitivity? I have quite a low tolerance for alcohol as a result, because I've never been able to become a seasoned drinker. If that makes sense?

Regarding MSG, as mentioned above (*not* The Michael Schenker Group!), that has been known to give some people hangover-like symptoms, or so I believe. I don't know if there is any actual medical evidence out there though.

but I happen to quite like Stella. It's never given me a particularly nasty hangover. In fact I reckon it's my second favourite beer after Hoegaarden. Asahi's good too.

with the brewing process, I think. When I lived in Germany, I got outside a lot of different beers in major quantities, and I did get hangovers, but not to the same killer degree as beers brewed outside Germany.(Grolsch was the worst) This was apparently due to the German Brewing Law that dated back to Luther or beyond, and decreed that hops, malt, barley and water was all that could go in to beer, or, as one German brewer, commenting on how much his countrymen enjoyed their tipple, said 'It's part of our diet. This isn't just drink, it's liquid bread'

As far as I know, the only 'foreign' beer allowed to be on general sale in Germany was/is Guinness, because it too had/has no additives.

You can't beat any Czech beers, especially Pilsner Urquell

Very difficult to drink any lager once you've spent a good amount of time getting used to lovely German/Czech pilsners. There are strict rules for brewers, certainly in Germany, possibly in the rest of that brewing region too, about only having the core three ingredients in the mix. If you add sugar, you can't call it beer. My guess is the fewer the additives, the better (less awful) the hangover. And these things are also 5%ers.

I spend more per bottle on beer now but I have nothing like the hangovers I used to have when drinking Girlsberg, Cooking Lager or the dreaded wifebeater.

Not sure if things have changed since it was published, but it gives a run down of the popular additives...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4942262.stm

Also, a number of Scotch whiskies have E150A (caramel colouring) otherwise they'd look a bit weedy. Given so much is made of the barley/highlands/purity etc in Scotch advertising, this is a bit of a grouse of mine...

Edit: also that a number of distillers use cheaper, imported barley from Poland/Ukraine these days rather than Scottish barley...

.....Elizabethan at...erm...22%.
I bet that gives you a hangover.
They only do it in half pints and I've never seen anyone have one.
Cost?
99p.
Never tried it, not likely to neither!

... told me the other day that the reason people get horrendous hangovers is because of caffeine withdrawal (i.e. they've not had as much coffee as they would drink usually) and is nothing to do with the alcohol. I've no idea if this is true but she sounded convincing. I fully concur with Brookster's Weissbier recommendations.

as it puts me in a foul temper. I guess I'm not the only one given its nicknames of 'wife beater' and 'act a twat'

Tell you what, I had a night on the alcohol free beer the other week - it gave me the worst hangover I've had for ages. Without even passing through the upside of being a bit squiffy.

No distinctively bad effects from Stella, apart from the obvious. Unlike Becks, which can bring me out in a brutal rash, or Red Stripe, which makes me wonder if my blood has been replaced by some fiendish, sluggish liquid.

That's why I'm in the Flann O Brien club;

'A pint of plain is your only man.'

Stella, infact a lot of the big commercial lagers here just leave me feeling rotten the day after. However I now live near a Japanese supermarket now and have become very partial to Asahi Super and Kirin, they keep their taste much better in cans and perfect for an early evening with some pickles and crackers. Really though, can't beat a well poured pint in a quiet pub, so good looking you want to paint it.

This was previously mentioned on the classic Drinks We Used To Drink thread, but Caffreys from the mid 90's must go down as giving the nastiest beer hangover ever (described as " giving the worst comedown since heroin withdrawal" .)

The problem lay in the fatal mix of it's 5% strength and how nitrogen was heavily pumped into the ale to make it more creamy. This was a marketing disaster as the hangover from a night on Caffreys was so evil, drinkers wouldn't go near it a second time, leading to it's swift demise

were from drinking Victoria Bitter when I lived in Oz. [Shudder]

in bottles and cans (just clap your hands) but I can't abide it on draught. It's got that nasty acidic taste that you know means you're going to be in trouble later on. I've certainly had one of my worst drinking experiences after just 4 pints of the stuff, so I steer clear.

Tend to be an ale drinker now, but lagerwise, Peroni is definitely worth having, as is Tsing Tao that you tend to get in Chinese Restaurants. It seems to have nothing nasty in it, and goes down far too easily.

it's worth looking for the cans with the stuff that's brewed in Belgium. Far superior taste, if memory serves. These days I tend to stick with Augustiner Helles. Guess where I live ;-)

There's nothing like a champagne hangover ....

almost done, now FUCK OFF!!

I was advised that Leffe is considered with disdain - a factory behind monastery walls, whilst Stella is completely beyond the pale.

It was also remarked upon that pub crawling stag parties are, if not rare in Brussels, then sharply curtailed by the strength of the beer quaffed.

like getting pished

because the bland sweet flavour and cold temp makes 5% beer easy to drink the addtion of maize won't help.

Much better to drink peroni, Schiehallion, one of san smith's brews, or perhaps a budvar or perhaps freedom brewery's lagers or just go German.

Alternativelt have summer ale or perhaps a IPA like white shield or maybe a glass of decent local cider.

Agree with the comments on Stella. I have avoided it for many years on the basis of the hangover. What trumps it here in NZ is Steinlager which seesm to deliver the hangover as you drink it, which hardly seems fair.

I seem to have developed a taste for Crown (Australia) and am quite partial to Macs Gold (NZ). Both taste very nice and not so harmful to the noggin the next day.

go to Le Sous Bock near Les Halles (49 rue Saint Honoré
Paris 75001). A fantastic beer menu running to several pages and they're all served in the correct glass. Budget alert: not a cheap night out but worth it, also open very late.

Guinness Enigma anyone? Remember that? Draughtflow lager. Didn't really catch on did it? 1995 seems so long ago now...

Seen in Waitrose tonight - Stella Artoise CIDER! Me, I was buying lemons for a Friday night G&T!

Seen in Waitrose tonight - Stella Artoise CIDER! Me, I was buying lemons for a Friday night G&T!

it means Devil, gorgeous when bought and served in a proper glass at correct temp. in Belgium, Antwerp's good.

Grolsch, not to mention other licensed brews have suffered terribly in the UK at the hands of licensed brewers, and aren't a patch on the original brews because of 'substituted ingredients' and adjuncts that wouldn't be allowed in German brews because of their purity laws.

The British seem to be branded as a nation of lager louts because of our apparent lack of taste and discernment yet there are some excellent high-strength beers to be found over here, both home-grown and imported.

Check out http://www.beersofeurope.co.uk for some examples.

Amsterdam Speciality Beers aka Grolsch in Holland produce some very nice high-strength brews. The strongest, Maximator comes in at 11.6% ABV, I don't know if it's available in the UK but it's the nicest strong beer I've ever had.

However it's nowhere near as powerful as Sink the Bismarck from controversial Scottish brewers BrewDog at a staggering 41% ABV.

At £40 a time it's one to be savoured though.

Stella in UK - drunk in pints, generally over a period of 3 hours (8 to closing time) as a means to get drunk

Stella in Belge - drunk in 25cls, generally for as long as the person wants to stay out as a means to enhance enjoyment of company, location etc

Insert smart arse point about continentals being better at alcohol than Brits here.

Sorry - I have little time for lagers and anything sold in a tin - with or without widgets.

Next time you go into a supermarket or pub even - check out the real ale alternative. There is a whole new world of drinks out there with far better taste than your chemical lagers and things made under licence in the UK.

I sit here typing and finishing off a bottle of Snecklifter from the Jennings brewery. Available in bottles from most decent supermarkets.

Fullers short lived attempt at a lager. Given their pedigree with London Pride, ESP and Honeydew - I would have hoped for a better stab than this pissy flavourless effort.

Don't get me started on Samuel Smith's - everything they produce tastes of soap. The Smiths pub in Westminster used to be the congregating point from every man in Leeds within the South East. All mad.

Can vouchsafe for the full Brew Dog range: Trashy Blonde, Punk IPA,
and 5 A.M. Saint Amber Ale. After drinking the lovely Punk IPA regularly I've found it pretty impossible to go back to bland Italian fizz. The only other bottled beer that runs it a close second for me is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Just a bit too moreish at 5.6% ABV.

Just back from Nice. Tried some different French stuff and can report that Monaco Panache was rather bloody good. Didn't know anything about it before. It's a fruity beer but you still know it's a beer if you know what I mean. And when I got back I tried McEwans Champion Ale. Now that was magic, I think it's around 7.2% so again you know it's a proper ale. Can recommend this too, give it a try.

More aldehydes and ketones than you can shake a shitty stick at, assuming you can still focus at all in the hours before your brain starts to shrink and your liver shudders at its outrageous workload.

... when a pint of regular fizzy lager was around 25p. One Friday night - it was payday after all - I felt like living it up and so I ordered a pint of Stella. I gave the bartender a 50p piece. I stood at the bar for about 5 minutes trying to catch the barman's eye. Finally he came over and asked if I wanted anything else. "Just my change" I said. "How much did you give me?" he asked. "50p" I said. "Yeah, that's right" he said. "50p?!!" I said incredulously. "Yeah" he said and walked off.

[sorry - brain error]