Beer

[machin05]

(their offerings in 2/3 pint sizes are jokeshop prices, ludicrous)

No they're not.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Yes, but you paid EIGHT POUNDS for a bottle of beer the other day. I suggest your viewpoint is a bit skewed from everyone else's.

Crazy stuff.

 

[machin05]

That's perfectly normal, barring one or two exceptions.

 

[Langers]

Daniel - you should visit Tilt in Brum city centre* if you think that's bad!

Even so, I find those sort of prices too much TBH.



*Tip - don't.

 

[machin05]

You get what you pay for, IMO. I would say most of those beers are far supeior to the ones on the cask list. Made with more ingredients, in smaller batches. It's not a question of pound-for-pound pricing. But enough people understand and appreciate that for it to be a relevant argument when talking about what makes a good craft beer bar.

I fully agree with your point about decor and atmos. They've not got that right yet.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

No-one's ever going to convince me that paying in excess of £5 pro rata for a pint is "normal" :icon_lol: Not this side of 2025 anyway.

I would expect Brum to have a few places with ideas above their station that liberate people with more money than sense from their cash, par for the course in a major city centre. I think I'll give Tilt a miss.

 

[Langers]

This is the beer menu at Tilt.

I like how it's in no way up its own arse.

 

[machin05]

Daniel - you should visit Tilt in Brum city centre* if you think that's bad!

Even so, I find those sort of prices too much TBH.



*Tip - don't.

Yet to visit Tilt, but I follow them on instagram and twitter etc. They get some absolutely superb beers in and their pricing isn't always out of kilter with the marketplace from what I've seen. I can't comment on how much the hipster-factor comes into play though tbf.

I mean, these places aren't making huge amounts of money, their profit margins will be pretty tight once the they've paid their insane alcohol taxes. What do you guys expect, for them to sell at a loss?

 

[machin05]

No-one's ever going to convince me that paying in excess of £5 pro rata for a pint is "normal" :icon_lol: Not this side of 2025 anyway.

Depends on what it's a pint of, surely.

 

[machin05]

I do love this conversation that we have periodically. We should have it in a pub, sometime int2:

 

[Langers]

I do love this conversation that we have periodically. We should have it in a pub, sometime int2:

Pub - yes. Pretentious shit hole bar surrounded by poncey hipsters - no.

 

[leedswolf]

The Combemere has been bang average for a fair few years. The Posada suffers depending on who is managing it. The Dog & Doublet is more consistent with it's celkar management now. The Lychgate still provides a good selection that is well kept and reasonably priced. I haven't been to Slater's yet though.

 

[machin05]

Pub - yes. Pretentious shit hole bar surrounded by poncey hipsters - no.

Yeah, this is what's annoying. If CAMRA endorsed kegged craft beer, then we might see it pop in more "Pubs" and the need for a hipster driven sub-culture would be dimnished.

 

[machin05]

The Combemere has been bang average for a fair few years. The Posada suffers depending on who is managing it. The Dog & Doublet is more consistent with it's celkar management now. The Lychgate still provides a good selection that is well kept and reasonably priced. I haven't been to Slater's yet though.

They've even taken down all the glib but characterful wall adornments in the back room of Combemere, so the walls are just plain white. Very soulless.

The Dog is good. Beer always seems in good nick, but I don't like how lacking in seating it is. Needs to decide what kind of venue it is IMO.

Lychgate I've not been to for a while and that's because the beer selection has just been really uninspiring for the last few visits. 8 different "golden" ales below 4.5%. How exciting! Last time I ended up drinking a Black IPA from Greene King which was crap then moved onto bottles of Orval. You don't go to a Black Country Ales pub to drink bottles.

Since Slaters has opened I've only really gone there as the beer selection is right up my street and I really want the place to be a success to hopefully encourage more pubs to broaden their range, or for more craft beer venues to open up. Sacre-Brew are hoping to open a tap-room in the city centre, but that's a long way off yet.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Those prices are absolutely abominable. Why?

Pint of Bathams every time please.

 

[machin05]

Those prices are absolutely abominable. Why?

Pint of Bathams every time please.

Using about 5x time the amount of hops, higher in abv (taxed more), more complex grains in larger amounts, produced in smaller batches, etc.

Like I said, you get what you pay for.

 

[The Bear]

£3.50 for 1/3 of a pint. Fuck off!!

 

[machin05]

Oh and DW, I didn't realise you liked stouts. You should have gone for the Old Ford Export. It would have smashed whichever Murphy's-esque pint you'd had for six. Superb drink.

 

[machin05]

£3.50 for 1/3 of a pint. Fuck off!!

Yeah, that'd be one of the exceptions I mentioned, but only becasue it's not a nice beer. Again quite common price for big double IPAs clocking in a ~9%

They had the Thronebridge Jaipur X (10% double IPA) for £3 for a third. That was worth it IMO. It's £3 for one drink that you'd woulnd't really want much more than a 3rd of anyway. I'd pay £3.50 for a third of Cloudwater DIPA or Beavertown Double Chin etc.

Quality > Quantity > Price

 

[Tyrannosaurus Dan]

For someone who enjoys all the different flavour combinations in their beer then I can see why they would pay those prices for something they are passionate about. For example, Machin can drink a beer and pick out several flavours. To my uneducated palate they all taste like different shades of 'beer'. Some make me nod my head and go 'mmm' and some make me pull a face but I couldn't pick out any flavour apart from 'beer' so I probably wouldn't be paying those prices!