Lace up your drinking boots – Euro 2016 is upon as and we’re readying ourselves for a month of TV football and beer. To enhance the forthcoming beerathon our pals at Best of British Beers have assembled a special Euro beer box and they’ve sent one to us to put through its paces.
Each box contains 12 beers: six from either England or Wales and six from some of the other competing nations. Using a squad rotation policy, not every box will feature the same home nation beers, but with lagers and golden ales to the fore you can be sure each selection will be perfectly suited to summer swigging with lots of quality in depth.
They’ve also printed out a handy beer-scoring card to help you rate each country’s beery performance and boxes come with tasty snacks to help complete the living room drinking experience.
We’ll be joining the malty action and will guzzle the lot throughout the football fiesta and will announce our favourite brew at the end of the action in a special Beer of the Week column.
Here are the names on our teamsheet, each one vying to be crowned this year’s Euro champ…
Representing England
Camden Pils
A consistent performer this popular modern lager has built a loyal following of pilsner fans. A strong contender.
Crate Lager
We’re very familiar with Crate’s beers and their simple but effective brewing style. This lager is one of their best.
Freedom Brewery, King Koln
A Cologne Kölsch style beer brewed in England. It’s a controversial choice to represent the home nation but one we’re looking forward to trying.
London Fields Brewery, Craft Lager
We know very little about this brew so are keen to put it through its paces – but with plenty of quality lagers in the box how will it handle the pressure?
Battlefield Brewery, Shropshire Lager
A brewery whose skills we’ve yet to witness but our scouts have good things to say about this lager. Could be interesting.
Joseph Holt of Manchester, Crystal Gold
Never mind the red or blue of Manchester, this team is going for gold. We’re hoping for some smooth exchanges and a crisp finish.
Representing the rest of Europe
Czech Republic
Budweiser Budvar, Original
A veteran of the beer scene will be hoping to see off the young pretenders. Oozes class.
Turkey
Efes Draft
Kitted out in the tournament’s most unusual bottle, the plucky Turks will hoping its contents are enough to upset the more established brewing nations.
Switzerland
Schlöss Effenberg, Hop König
Brewed in a posh Swiss mansion, with a fancy cap, and calling itself the ‘hop king’, this extravagent player clearly has eyes on the top prize.
Belgium
Petrus Speciale
The Petrus line-up of beers is packed with star performers, giving this bottle the tag of ‘pre tournament favourite’. Can it live up to expectations?
France
Thiriez, Etoile du Nord
The host nation have thrown up a surprise by going with a beer we’ve never heard of, but early reports suggest it should easily progress through the early stages.
Germany
Sunner, Kölsch
Another Kölsch, but this time brewed in Cologne. Will be hoping to show the English version how it’s done.
To order your own Euro Party Kit head yourself over to Best of British Beer RIGHT NOW!
http://www.bestofbritishbeer.co.uk
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Our Euro 2016 predictions
To provide you with added amusement we’ve bravely stated our footy predictions. Check back at the end of the tournament to see how laughably wrong we are…
Nick’s predictions
Tournament winner
France. They have a habit of winning as hosts and possess one of the most exciting midfields in the tournament.
Tournament dark horse
Turkey. An attack minded outfit they should at least be fun to watch.
Golden boot winner
Robert Lewandowski. A Polish goal machine with 13 of them in qualifying .
Player of the tournament
Lorenzo Insigne. There’s usually an Italian who shines at tournaments and with no Pirlo it could well be Insigne’s turn
England vs Wales result
2-2. A late equaliser from an English defender salvages hope after an opening loss to Russia.
Something else to look out for
It has been a while since we were treated to some high quality goal celebrations. Like this:
Rich’s predictions
Tournament winner
Belgium. They often disappoint, but this team is choc full of superstars. They’ve got the skills, they’ve got the brawn. Expect microphone-haired, elbow-cheat Fellaini to make his own special mark on the opposition.
Tournament dark horse
Austria. Decent defence, massive striker up front in the shape of Janko. The hills shall ring with the sound of cheering.
Golden boot winner
Thomas Muller. He’s good at goals.
Player of the tournament
Kevin De Bruyne. Like a taller, slimmer, better Sammy Lee.
England vs Wales result
2-0 Wales. Bale will rip holes through our knock-kneed defence.
Something else to look out for
An animal pitch invasion
