Beer

[Langers]

A pint of Holts Bitter in the Grafton Arms, Manchester in the year 2002: £1.09. And it was a really good pint too.

No idea how much it is now, or if the Grafton is still a decent pub, but I had many a great afternoon in there.

 

[vicarious wolf]

For cheapest prices, we have to look to Wetherspoons. There are one or two quite depressing ones in the vicinity, but there's a nice one at the Marina if you like looking at boats while you drink.

 

[Langers]

There are some excellent Wetherspoons pubs out there that really look after their beers. Went to one in Cornwall - I'd no idea it was a Wetherspoons until we saw the food menus on the way out! It was great.

 

[HAzelGroveWolf]

Pitfield Dark Star originated in an off licence in North London in the 1980s. They acquired their first pub, the Ship & Blue Ball around 1990. Quite why they moved to Brighton I'm not sure despite the fact I knew the brewer quite well in the early days.

EDIT: It seems Rob took the recipie with him on leaving Pitfield for whatever reason.

 

[Penk Wolf]

There are some excellent Wetherspoons pubs out there that really look after their beers. Went to one in Cornwall - I'd no idea it was a Wetherspoons until we saw the food menus on the way out! It was great.

The Moon has good beers on they just need to keep it better, but I guess when your main punters are drunks or Royal Mail workers it doesn't matter.

 

[Wolf Hunting]

In Brighton we pay anything from £3.20 (Dark Star Hophead) to £4.50 (Pilsner Urquell or Peroni). The five-quid pint is probably not too far away.

You'd better brace yourself if you come over here.... Not that long ago I ordered a Guiness and a glass of dry white wine, left a tenner (€10) on the bar and the barman just looked at me with both his arms spread out on the bar and laughed....

'You'll need a bit more than that m'lad', he guffawed.
€2.70 more than that to be accurate!

So a glass / mini bottle of dry white will set you back anything upwards of €6.50

You can buy a fucking bottle of the stuff for less than that!

 

[vicarious wolf]

In the '80s, when sterling and the punt parted company in disastrous style, my relatives in the south of Ireland would drive two miles over the border, stock up on petrol and alcohol, and bugger off back home again.

 

[broughtonwolf]

In the '80s, when sterling and the punt parted company in disastrous style, my relatives in the south of Ireland would drive two miles over the border, stock up on petrol and alcohol, and bugger off back home again.

Still happens to this day, although less so now that the Euro/£ rate has settled and the Republic is even worse off than us. The Asda Superstore in Newry just over the border from where WH lives was the most profitable WalMart store in the world on a square foot basis for a couple of years and the one in Enniskillen wasn't far behind.

 

[broughtonwolf]

On the beer front - Dr Hexter's Healer - West Berkshire Brewery is good.

 

[Murphy]

In the '80s, when sterling and the punt parted company in disastrous style, my relatives in the south of Ireland would drive two miles over the border, stock up on petrol and alcohol, and bugger off back home again.

It's weird how things change round I can remember doing the exact opposite.

 

[Wolf Hunting]

The Asda Superstore in Newry just over the border from where WH lives was the most profitable WalMart store in the world on a square foot basis for a couple of years and the one in Enniskillen wasn't far behind.

You may have a crossed wire there Broughton...
I wish, I wish there WAS an ASDA in Newry, but alas...
There is an ASDA but it 's a tiny one and it's out on the A2 somewhere near Rostrevor.
There is however one in Enniskillen which is mega rich as is the Sainsbury's.

It's the Sainsbury's in Newry that I go to.

Whilst I'm at it, Diesel is currently €1.54 at my local garage which I think is cheaper than the UK.

But a while back I used to work in Kingspan up in Castleblainey, and on the way home I used to nip into the 'North about 5 miles down a country lane to a village called Cullaville.

I'd fill up and as you leave the garage to return to 'The South', there are 4 road signs, one of which is a white, round one, with a red border but in the centre is a black silhouette of an IRA sniper..... Used to be a bit scary first few times I saw it!

 

[Murphy]

You may have a crossed wire there Broughton...
I wish, I wish there WAS an ASDA in Newry, but alas...
There is an ASDA but it 's a tiny one and it's out on the A2 somewhere near Rostrevor.
There is however one in Enniskillen which is mega rich as is the Sainsbury's.

It's the Sainsbury's in Newry that I go to.

Whilst I'm at it, Diesel is currently €1.54 at my local garage which I think is cheaper than the UK.

But a while back I used to work in Kingspan up in Castleblainey, and on the way home I used to nip into the 'North about 5 miles down a country lane to a village called Cullaville.

I'd fill up and as you leave the garage to return to 'The South', there are 4 road signs, one of which is a white, round one, with a red border but in the centre is a black silhouette of an IRA sniper..... Used to be a bit scary first few times I saw it!

Castleblaney, now then WH you are 6 miles from where my house is in Co Armagh. Keady to be precise. I'll take you on a tour of South Armagh when I'm next over where "the sniper at work" signs are still visible. People in this country always thought they were fake and didn't really exist.

Back on topic I'm afraid the beer in the pubs is pretty shit apart from the Guinness

 

[Wolf Hunting]

Castleblaney, now then WH you are 6 miles from where my house is in Co Armagh. Keady to be precise. I'll take you on a tour of South Armagh when I'm next over where "the sniper at work" signs are still visible. People in this country always thought they were fake and didn't really exist.

Back on topic I'm afraid the beer in the pubs is pretty shit apart from the Guinness

Really?

I went through Keady once on the way to Monaghan town.
Dull day, late afternoon/early evening, the place was very quiet, a little feeling of foreboding there was a lot of activity at the time and it was a little daunting right enough.
Shame about the beer though.
I suppose it's not really the sort of place that's going to encourage good ales to try...
Not being disparaging, but it's not really on the tourist trade routes so hard to entice new people in to bring in and try new beers.

 

[Dublin Drummer Wolf]

Castleblayney is a grim part of the World. I gigged there 2 years ago.....the whole town actually stinks of cowshite as there is a massive farm literally behind the main street. You can get into the farmers yard from the main street. Its awful. Very pro IRA. We were invited back to a house party after the gig and I remember being out in the garden with a couple of fellas who were pointing out that the distant lights were in Northern Ireland and they were all shouting and giving the finger to those lights and suggesting that the war was not really over....
We left that party and slept in a car in a car park beside the venue, being woken up by a Policeman tapping on the window at 8am. Not good times....

The only thing I know about Keady is that a lot of Irish people go there for cheap dental work. #Uselessfact

 

[Langers]

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2012/04/17/on-the-buses-for-a-luxury-restaurant-experience/

Oh yes. Oh yes.

 

[Wolf Hunting]

Not bad I suppose, but what happens when it's going around a roundabout?
Won't it spill the gravy stopping traffic lights and things?

 

[FrankMunro-371]

There are some excellent Wetherspoons pubs out there that really look after their beers. Went to one in Cornwall - I'd no idea it was a Wetherspoons until we saw the food menus on the way out! It was great.

This.

The Wetherspoons in Hinckley started doing guest beers a while back, and they have had some fine beers at a reasonable price, and surprisingly well looked after. The other evening I enjoyed a glass or two of Ruddles County. Very nice indeed.

 

[HAzelGroveWolf]

This.

The Wetherspoons in Hinckley started doing guest beers a while back, and they have had some fine beers at a reasonable price, and surprisingly well looked after. The other evening I enjoyed a glass or two of Ruddles County. Very nice indeed.

Ruddles hasn't been Ruddles for years, Green King now own the brand. Wetherspoon have Ruddles BITTER as its house bitter. Wetherspoons generally source their guests locally.

 

[Dublin Drummer Wolf]

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2012/04/17/on-the-buses-for-a-luxury-restaurant-experience/

Oh yes. Oh yes.

Members of the Campaign for Real Ale will board the bus in Stourbridge tomorrow, where they will be invited to tuck into a traditional Black Country meal of faggots and peas, and sample some of the real ales produced by Craddock’s microbrewery at the town’s Duke of Wellington pub.

Read more: http://www.expressandstar.com/news/...a-luxury-restaurant-experience/#ixzz1sQjbenpK

I'd say the noxious gases produced aboard that bus would be enough to power it around the midlands for days...

 

[Nando]

Currently enjoying a bottle of Badger Golden Champion. Very pleasant.