If you were sat next to us in a pub and overheard us talking to each other about the beer we’re drinking, you might notice a few of the following statements, before we’ve translated our reactions into la-di-dah blogger speak.
- We’ve brewed better — a serious criticism: professional brewers ought to make better beer than us (for now, at least).
- (Face pull) Had worse in Belgium — weird, rough around the edges by British standards, but not necessarily terrible. Interesting.
- Erm… a bit farty — ‘sulphurous’ in posh beer tasting speak — not necessarily bad!
- Bad home brew — a harsher criticism than ‘we’ve brewed better’ — it’s reminded us of that first, foul kit we made in a plastic bucket in the garage.
- It’s got that [Brewery X] thing — with reference to one of two or three breweries whose beers we generally don’t like.
- Sorry, I can’t drink that — it’s not ‘off’, just so unpleasant it’s no fun to consume. Gets abandoned.
- By ‘eck, it’s on good form tonight — cask ale, however consistently well made, varies from pub to pub, cask to cask, day to day.
- Ooh, zingy! — you know — zingy.
- Mmm, Germany… (sigh) — beer with a certain type of hoppiness that reminds us of drinking very fresh lager in a German beer garden. (Not said only of lager.)
- Ah, Sheffield… (sigh) — a high accolade bestowed upon the most satisfying very pale, hoppy session ales.
- Actually, that’s not so bad — getting to like a ‘meh’ pint about halfway down.
- Actually, I’m not so sure — realising that, once the first pleasant waft of hops have drifted on the wind, the underlying beer is a bit nasty.
- Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah…. that’s hit the spot (tummy rub) — said of any beer at the end of a long coastal walk, when it is impossible to judge beer quality.
- (Sulk, harrumph.) Want to swap? — we’re each drinking different beers and one of them is ‘meh’.
- Better than Guinness/John Smith’s/Peroni — faint praise of a fairly bland ‘real ale’/’craft beer’/Category D Beverage.
We liked the inclusion of ’emotional’ in these tasting notes by Bee; but we’re less impressed by a persistent tendency of beerier-than-thou types to assume that other people’s reactions to beer are faked, insincere or otherwise ‘stupid’.