Would-be trendy pubs seem to think it’s compulsory to offer Timothy Taylor’s Landlord. Maybe it’s something to do with Madonna?
Last night, I went to a friend’s birthday party in a supposed “gastropub” (viz. they had square plates). It was a perfectly nice place, with very friendly bar staff and (impressively) a dog. But I wasn’t impressed with the TTL. It wasn’t off — it was just old and tasted dull, with no discernible hop flavour or aroma. In fact, it tasted of Marmite, which is not a quality I look for in a beer.
The last good pint of TTL I had in a pub was in 2005, at the Trafalgar in Greenwich. Since then, I must have had 10 or 12 off, hot, stale or just plain dull pints. It’s a nice beer when it’s on form but, like a lot of similar products, its reputation is being damaged by indiscriminate distribution and poor quality control.
It must be a real dilemma for smaller breweries — push to expand and risk losing control over the quality of the product, or keep control and never sell a pint more than two miles from the brewery.
5 replies on “The ubiquity of Timothy Taylor’s Landlord”
Thats interesting. I have heard alot of negative things about Landy recently. Its one of my favorates in large part due to the fact that it seems to travel in the bottle remarkibly well for such a modest ale.
I think there is a pragmatic argument for saying that pubs which just can’t handle cask ale should sell bottles instead. It’s far more reliable and, yes, TTL is usually pretty good in a bottle, pasteurising and filtering aside.
Come to the Loyal Trooper in South Anston in South Yorkshire for a good pint of Timothy Taylors Landlord.
David — thanks for stopping by. I imagine it is better closer to home!
[…] while back, I moaned that it had been a while since I’d had a good pint of Timothy Taylor Landlord. Well, I’ve broken my run of bad luck — the Nag’s Head in Walthamstow, east […]