Beer

[Boozad]

But a lot of pubs have some decent beers at much less than £5 a pint. I think you are being ripped off if you pay that for a glass of beer.

These 'decent beers' really aren't to my tastes. If I'm going to be paying £3 a pop I'll stay at home and drink bottles of stuff I enjoy drinking. It's down to taste you see, if you're happy drinking what you drink then carry on, I don't think you'll find me telling you otherwise anywhere in this thread. And I'm certainly not being ripped off, again I could say anyone who pays good money for Ruddles or Spitfire is being ripped off but I don't because it's all down to preference.

Yes I read the links, but I despair at the beer snobbery on here.

Absolute horseshit. There is no snobbery, just people stating what they'd prefer to see available, it's not their fault some people take offence to the fact they'd be happy to pay more for a superior (in their eyes) product.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

For the record, my standpoint is that if people enjoy those beers and want to pay that level of money for them then absolutely no problem. You enjoy what you enjoy. I'm sure there's a lot to recommend them, they just aren't my bag (right now anyway, maybe I'll have another go at some point).

My issue is that you can't ever pretend this will become anything like mainstream in the next couple of decades unless something seriously weird happens. You can't slate pubs, customers, whoever for not getting on board with allocating pump space to drinks pitched at that level of pricing, you only sell what people will buy. Not enough people are going to pay that kind of money.

As for snobbery, no-one on here's ever had a go at me for drinking absolute rubbish :icon_lol: so I don't think that's an issue unless you want to make it one.

 

[The Bear]

I agree with Dan completely. When I was browsing the beer sections over Christmas, the amount of people I saw carrying off packs of Stella, Carling and Carlsberg astounded me. So much choice these days yet people still drink the same old swill. Maybe the next generation might be more likely to drink other beers more regularly but I wouldn't hold my breath.

 

[Boozad]

My issue is that you can't ever pretend this will become anything like mainstream in the next couple of decades unless something seriously weird happens. You can't slate pubs, customers, whoever for not getting on board with allocating pump space to drinks pitched at that level of pricing, you only sell what people will buy. Not enough people are going to pay that kind of money.

I agree, which is why I've said I'm more than happy to sit at home drinking stuff I like. I'm an anti-social fucker at the best of times anyway so it really doesn't bother me. But on the flipside of that I then get told there are loads of quality beers out there at less than £5 a pint (there aren't loads at all, not in my opinion anyway which is what it's all about of course), that I'm being ripped off and there's actual desperation at the snobbery on here!

All I've said is I'm happy to drink what I like where I want to at a price point I'm happy to pay. That's all. I couldn't give a flying fuck about what pubs serve and what they don't because I very rarely go in them. Pretty simple really. I'm under no illusions that the beers I prefer to drink will be readily available in pubs locally anytime soon, although it is happening (albeit very small scale) despite what people think.

As for snobbery, no-one on here's ever had a go at me for drinking absolute rubbish :icon_lol: so I don't think that's an issue unless you want to make it one.

To be fair I only ever mention it when it's levelled my way which it has been on a couple of occasions. It's certainly not me who has the issue with it!

 

[Jinky]

I agree with Dan completely. When I was browsing the beer sections over Christmas, the amount of people I saw carrying off packs of Stella, Carling and Carlsberg astounded me. So much choice these days yet people still drink the same old swill. Maybe the next generation might be more likely to drink other beers more regularly but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Doubt it, also. All of the 19-20 year old lads I work with go for quantity over quality. If there's an offer on Carling, Stella etc - they'll always go for that to get the most beer for the least amount of money.

There is one exception who is a 19 year old lad who has started coming to the off license with me and getting a wide variety of beers/ales to try for a higher price - but he is paying for quality and is almost certainly an exception to the rule.

 

[So Long Architect]

As an idiot who doesn't mind paying way too much for his beer, I was pleased to get a whole load for Christmas and my birthday.

4 Innis&Gunn bottles from the kids.
A couple of Vocation beers from the wife (she had to buy presents beginning with V this year)
A selection from the local Hogs Back Brewery from my folks (traditional ales but all very nice)
And two months of Honest Brew subscription from my folks for my birthday.

This to add to the pre-Christmas batch I bought myself.

I really don't drink very much these days so that lot will probably keep me going until the summer.

 

[Langers]

there aren't loads at all, not in my opinion anyway which is what it's all about of course

I don't understand this line - I get why you like craft beers and I understand why you rate them higher than the more traditional kind, as you know I think some of them are bloody lush and I welcome the many recommendations from you - but there truly are a shitload of excellent breweries out there who don't charge around £5 for a pint. Even from around this area - this is a very very good area for real ale.

There is so much out there, traditional, craft, old, new - from where the industry used to be, we're spoilt for choice!

 

[SSB]

but there truly are a shitload of excellent breweries out there who don't charge around £5 for a pint. Even from around this area - this is a very very good area for real ale.

I was just about to post similar. I hope Boozad is trying to say "I then get told there are loads of quality craft beers out there at less than £5 a pint"

I have certainly never paid more the £5 for a pint of real ale and as Langer says there are plenty of great real ales to be found out there.

 

[Boozad]

I hope Boozad is trying to say "I then get told there are loads of quality craft beers out there at less than £5 a pint"

Well no, it's not what I'm trying to say. The original two quotes to me were 'There are still plenty of top beers available for far less though' and 'But a lot of pubs have some decent beers at much less than £5 a pint. I think you are being ripped off if you pay that for a glass of beer', nothing alluding to craft beers. I suppose I need to clarify here and say that yes I am talking about craft beer, it's my preference and what I prefer to drink by a country mile. Yes, there are plenty of real ales that are out there and if I'm in a situation where I have to choose between those or mass produced crap lager or bitter then I'll take them all day. But I'd much prefer to have a glass of, say, Axe Edge or Gamma Ray or Jack Hammer and pay a premium for it over the price of a real ale.

I've drunk loads of real ales over the past ten years or so and I'm well aware that a lot of them are decent. Ringwood or Slaters would probably be my real ale brewer of choice (Forty-Niner and Haka are pretty decent). But I wouldn't choose them over a really good craft beer, not once. So I'm struggling to see why I should just pay less for a beer I'm not going to enjoy as much? I also really don't understand why it's a problem that I'm prepared to pay those prices for something I'm going to be drinking? As Langers has rightly said, 'we're spoilt for choice', and I've made mine. I don't think I ever make a fuss about what other people drink or how much they want to pay, I just don't get why some are making a fuss over what I drink or am prepared to pay.

 

[Johnny75]

I do love a craft beer for taste and would happily drink 2/3rds of a pint rather than a pint as too much liquid is waste and I've never really been sold on quantity when most of it disappears down the urinal.

I have unfortunately met CAMRA people in Wolves and up here in Stoke/ North Staffs and to a man they were utter fucking arsehats. Condescending, beard scratching pricks who thought they had the keys to the real ale kingdom. CAMRA can disappear up its own arse and the beer world would be a better place for it.

 

[machin05]

For the record, my standpoint is that if people enjoy those beers and want to pay that level of money for them then absolutely no problem. You enjoy what you enjoy. I'm sure there's a lot to recommend them, they just aren't my bag (right now anyway, maybe I'll have another go at some point).

My issue is that you can't ever pretend this will become anything like mainstream in the next couple of decades unless something seriously weird happens. You can't slate pubs, customers, whoever for not getting on board with allocating pump space to drinks pitched at that level of pricing, you only sell what people will buy. Not enough people are going to pay that kind of money.

As for snobbery, no-one on here's ever had a go at me for drinking absolute rubbish :icon_lol: so I don't think that's an issue unless you want to make it one.

Plenty of places up and down the country already charge around that much, it's just only on keg products.

There's a stigma/fear/reticence to charge the same price for the same drink dispensed from cask. There's no good reason and that's what I want to see change.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I really don't think most people even know the difference between cask and keg let alone care. You know a lot about it, hardly anyone in the grand scheme of things does.

 

[machin05]

Most beer drinkers do. But a hell of a lot of them presume that cask needs to be cheaper.

 

[Langers]

Most beer drinkers do. But a hell of a lot of them presume that cask needs to be cheaper.

Would you agree that some are very difficult to determine?

There's a LOT of crossover.

Nice beer is nice beer at the end of the day.

 

[Wilf Wolf]

Unless enough people drink the expensive beer it will be a self defeating exercise as once a cask is opened it has a limited shelf life so if not sold quickly the quality will plummet below that of other real ales. Given that the kind of pub that might have a chance of flogging craft beer at £5 a pint will have plenty of other choices at “normal” prices I think few pubs will pull it off however good the beer.

 

[Wilf Wolf]

Oh and forgot to add The Shrewsbury Arms has been transformed. Add in The Floodgate on Newport Road, The Rose and Crown (Joules), The Sun (Titanic) and The Greyhound and the desert that Stafford once was is becoming an oasis for real ale.

 

[machin05]

Would you agree that some are very difficult to determine?

There's a LOT of crossover.

Nice beer is nice beer at the end of the day.

You mean without seeing how it's poured?

If you're asking whether its difficult to determine what's "craft" and what's "real ale" - in the words of David Brent, the two don't have to be mutually exclusive

 

[leedswolf]

Beer brewed for taste versus beer brewed for volume. You pay your money and you make your choice.

 

[machin05]

 

[machin05]

Some interesting points on the whole cask debate here - http://www.beercompurgation.co.uk/2017/01/the-state-of-cask-part-1-how-do-brewers.html

Particularly the conversation with a brewer at Northern Monk about their True North cask-only beer.