Archive for the ‘Generalisations about beer culture’ Category

« Older Entries

Bristol Tap Needed Urgently

Sunday, August 15th, 2010

Waiting for a train to Keynsham at Bristol Temple Meads station this weekend, we found ourselves wishing that someone would roll the Sheffield Tap concept out across the country.

As it is, we went without a pint, not much fancying a light lager or keg bitter in a in plasticky pub/cafe/newsagent, with an atmosphere of oppressive gloom.

Opening a decent pub on the platform at Bristol would be easier said than done, though. Unlike Sheffield, where you can wander onto platform one without a ticket, Temple Meads is locked down tighter than Checkpoint Charlie. They’d have to redesign the whole station around the pub, which, we suspect, is not going to happen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbZpNYx3Vms

Tags:
Posted in Generalisations about beer culture, pubs | 9 Comments »

A classic cold beer

Monday, May 10th, 2010

A conversation between punter and barman overheard in a pub recently.

Man of indeterminate European origin

This time, I want a different beer. I had this last time [gestures at ale pump] and it was weird. It wasn’t — I’m not complaining — it just wasn’t really properly cold.

Barman

Ah, yeah, that’s British ale. It’s not really meant to be cold, just cool.

MOIEO

Oh, I get it. But it’s yellow, so I was confused. OK, this time, I just want a proper classic cold beer.

Barman

We’ve got a lager from a small German brewery…

MOIEO

No, just like, a classic cold beer. Fosters or something like that.

Barman

OK, there you go.

MOIEO

That is beautiful. Beautiful! Frosty cold. Just what I wanted. Thank you so very much.

Posted in Generalisations about beer culture, pubs | 9 Comments »

The tyranny of the ticking bug

Saturday, May 8th, 2010

We’re not Tickers, although we do understand what drives people to pursue an ultimately doomed, obsessive-compulsive mission to drink a bit of every beer in existence — it’s not like we haven’t spent whole holidays haring from one pub to the next, drinking halves of 10 different beers in each and, at the end of it all, wondering if we’d actually had fun.

On holiday in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, last year, it took us a day or two to realise there was no really exciting beer around and just relax. We enjoyed a few pints of Tribute here and there, picked up a few interesting bottles (once we’d stopped looking) and, y’know, made something other than beer the focus of the holiday.

Similarly, on our recent trip to Haworth, we kept coming back to the Fleece for Timothy Taylor. We could have tried a few more beers we’d not had before but, frankly, didn’t want to waste our time when there was something so good right at hand.

The only problem is, you don’t get much ammo for a blog that way.

Tags: ,
Posted in Generalisations about beer culture | 7 Comments »

Control beer

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

noun. A beer so familiar and consistent that it can fairly be used as an indicator of the quality of an unfamiliar pub. For example, Young’s Bitter.

Posted in Generalisations about beer culture, real ale | 5 Comments »

It’s only beer

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

Does anyone else get fed up of being told “it’s only beer” and not to take it too seriously?

Most people with hobbies know that the subject of their interest isn’t that important in the great scheme of things. Global financial crisis, climate change, careers, family — those are serious.

In our case, beer is something in which we’ve chosen to indulge our interest just seriously enough to occupy a few of the spare hours when we’re not worrying about all that other stuff.

We take lots of other things just as seriously, too — Bubble Bobble, the Beatles, curry, spaghetti westerns….

What’s the point of a hobby if you don’t thrown yourself into it?

Posted in Blogging and writing, Generalisations about beer culture | 16 Comments »

Rants and eulogies

Saturday, November 14th, 2009

Pete Brown has written a superb rant about the many headed beer industry. Read it here.

And then, for something completely different, a nice pair of posts on Pencil and Spoon, one where Mark writes about his long suffering missus, and then the right of reply from the long suffering missus herself.  Other long-suffering beer widows have commented.

This could run and run.

Posted in Blogging and writing, Generalisations about beer culture | No Comments »

Kids in the lounge

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

loungebar

I’m just about old enough to remember when pubs had separate saloon bars and lounges. In particular, I recall several miserable afternoons sitting on torn and stained couches in unheated ‘lounges’ because those were the only bits of the pub where kids were allowed. The fun bit — the bit of the pub where the action was, and the laughing, and the fruit machine — was the saloon.

These days, most pubs have knocked rooms through to make one big drinking hangar, or turned the lounge into a restaurant area.

Do I miss the lounge? No, not really. I’d rather drink my Panda Pop with everyone else.

Tags:
Posted in Generalisations about beer culture, pubs | 3 Comments »

What kind of pub is this?

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009

2399056409_e4b77ea1dc_o

There are certain signs which can indicate the kind of pub you’re about to walk into — or not!

Here are some of our favourites.

1. Sky Sports.

2. Illy Coffee sold here.

3. Free Wi-Fi.

4. A large George Flag.

5. A large rainbow flag.

6. Shots for £1! Two meals for £5!

7. Live Jazz here on Sunday afternoons.

8. This is PUB, not a CHILDREN’S PLAYGROUND — please keep your children under control.

9. Travellers by Appointment Only.

10. Drug dealing will not be tolerated on these premises.

Photo is of the British Lion in Haggerston, East London, nicked from EwanM (thanks, Ewan!). We think it’s a pub aimed at a very particular market.

Tags:
Posted in Generalisations about beer culture | 9 Comments »

In a perfect world

Sunday, July 12th, 2009

Jay Rayner writes restaurant reviews in the Observer, the Sunday version of the UK’s Guardian newspaper. In a review today he comes up with a valuable insight which applies just as much to pubs as it does to restaurants:

And the final bill for this lesson in crass mediocrity? A shameful £105. The point of the exercise? The simple realisation that restaurants in this country will only genuinely have improved when it’s possible to choose a place like this at random and eat well at a cost that will not make your eyes water with tears of either pain or misery.

So, to paraphrase for the beer-minded, we should be able to walk into any pub and find (as a bare minimum) a decent standard of service, one or two good quality beers in reasonable condition, all at a price we consider fair.

It’s all well and good having a handful of astounding pubs scattered across the country but, at the moment, choosing a pub at random is hit and miss.

Tags:
Posted in Generalisations about beer culture, opinion | 13 Comments »

Franconian beer and wine: surprisingly similar

Sunday, May 31st, 2009

A glass of wine in a beer garden in Franconia

Wüerzburg is a city which is not only blessed with wonderful beer gardens, but also highly regarded vineyards. Wherever you are in the city you can see them covering the steep hills all around.

Perhaps not surprisingly, then, when you’re in a beer garden, you’re almost as likely to see someone drinking the acclaimed local wine as you are to see them with a beer.

Although we’re not especially interested in wine, we certainly don’t dislike it, or subscribe to the view that you need to choose sides in an imaginary battle between beer and wine. So we decided to give it a go.

We tried white wines made with a couple of different varieties of grape (Riesling and Silvaner) and (bearing in mind we’re no experts) found them sweeter and more acid than we’re used to. We also began to notice that they really were floral and fruity. Elderflower, strawberry — all those flavours you hear wine critics banging on about really were there.

And, guess what? Those fruity flavours are also in the local beers. Do the very pale pilsners from Würzburger Hofbräu, Distelhäuser and Oechnser taste similar to the local wines because of the water? Because of the soil in which the grapes, barley and hops are grown? Maybe they just reflect a preference among the core market for these products — the local drinkers.

Tags:
Posted in Franconia, Generalisations about beer culture, Germany | 2 Comments »

« Older Entries