Comments on: Look For Dates, Find Stories

By: Curmudgeon

Curmudgeon — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 17:30:53 +0000

Actually, my memory is that, while truly hoppy beers were rare in the 1970s, many beers then were actually more distinctive than they became maybe 15 or 20 years later, when they had been “dumbed down” to avoid offending anyone’s palate. I remember my first taste of Abbot Ale and finding it had an aggressive, earthy hoppiness that initially was a bit hard to get used to. May just be rose-tinted spectacles, of course, but I think the phenomenon of dumbing-down has been widely reported. By 1995, if not 1990, Boddingtons and Holts Bitters were nothing like they had been in the late 70s. I also subjectively remember many beers as being more aromatic than they later became.

By: Wee Beefy

Wee Beefy — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 14:25:55 +0000

I didn’t mind the Phipps beer, I drank it at the Ship Inn in Oundle last year, I think if its meant to be a recreation of a beer that was last brewed many decades ago, an accurate recreation would probably taste much less hoppy, probably thicker and much more malty than the beer we drink today. Could that render it dull?

It makes you wonder therefore, if we recreated many more dead beers especially those which were meant to have been woeful like Offilers and Devenish, would we be disapointed?

Meanwhile, beer and skittles is a fab book, I reckon you’ll like it, can’t remember if it had pics but there are some fantastic ones in The Death of The British Pub by Christopher Hutt, which no doubt you have a copy of.

By: Bailey

Bailey — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 16:32:07 +0000

Looking forward to reading it. Should have said that we ordered it because Des de Moor mentioned Becky’s on Twitter and a Google Books search turned up that and a couple of other books. (Another is Len Deighton’s 1967 London Dossier, apparently, also on its way…)

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 16:05:51 +0000

Reading it in about 1990 started my interest in beer. Much of the UK beer and pub scene then wasn’t much different to what he was describing in the mid 70s.

By: Bailey

Bailey — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 15:42:23 +0000

Funnily enough, we ordered a copy of that just this morning.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 15:21:02 +0000

Becky’s Dive Bar in Southwark was famous for its range of real ale in the ’60s, as described in Richard Boston’s “Beer and Skittles”

By: Barm

Barm — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 20:47:00 +0000

I was delighted to hear of the beer being brewed again under the NBC/Phipps name, especially since they used the old six-pointed brewers’ star logo. Sadly the one time I did encounter the beer on draught it was terrible. I shall give it another go if I ever see it again, though.

By: john g

john g — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 20:32:12 +0000

phipps are a pretend brewery.the beer is brewed by Grainstore brewery and imo is dull .cheers john