"Please tell us your views on pubs that offer overnight accommodation" the email said

I’ve just filled in a survey from these geezers (I use that term in the nicest possible way I might add). The survey was about accommodation in pubs. It’s quite some time since I’ve stayed in a pub. These days I prefer to stay in Premier Inns which ironically are owned by Whitbread, a onetime brewery.

I no longer stay in pubs because on the last few occasions I’ve always been underwhelmed by the mediocre quality and service levels. I’d rather have uniform quality than quirky shoddiness.

I worry that these days much of my commenting on pubs seems to be negative. But I do feel that many publicans, whilst I’m sure hard working, would rather stick their heads in the sand and blame the righteous and justified smoking ban or the red herring that is supermarket beer prices rather than offering customers a unique quality experience that will bring customers to their door. Publicans its ‘game upping’ that’s needed not crying into your beer!

Sorry!

More cheap beer bollocks

This Daily Telegraph* story sparked by a letter from “The heads of pubs, nightclubs and breweries… …pleading with David Cameron to stick to his plans to introduce a minimum alcohol price.” Is absolutely fucking ridiculous and all about greed rather than any concern for peoples’ welfare. Capitalists don’t give a shit about the welfare of people!

Sadly there is this myth that I firmly believe is totally unfounded that cheap supermarket beer and alcohol in general is causing the demise of pubs. Even sadder is that Camra seem to be prepared to sanction this misguided notion. Pubs are killing pubs with their lazy, dirty, ineffectual, uninspiring and couldn’t care less attitudes. Oi you, pubs! Give the punters what they want. And, rarely is it cheap alcohol. Care about them. Entice them.

Has supermarket coffee prices damaged Costa?

Why when I purchased my pint of Thornbridge Jaipur for the princely sum of 4.90 of our English pounds in the Norwich Tap House last Saturday, a place where all the beer is priced in similar fashion, was the place heaving? 

*Daily Telegraph – the thinking-but-uncaring-person’s Daily Mail

A bear of very little brain?

…Pooh Bear.

In my last post I promised to write about a good experience I’d had on that day and that experience is Pooh Bear from the Norwich Bear brewery. I’ve since been back for confirmation and it is a most excellent beer.

As the crow flies The Rose on City Road, Norwich is possibly my nearest pub. Although that accolade could go to the ‘spoons Queen Of Iceni on Riverside. I just can’t be arsed to even work it out. Sadly I too often eschew the Rose for the Kings Arms. That’s because I’m a bit of a beer whore. The Rose now seems to only do their own beer. Now don’t get me wrong, the beer is very good, it’s just that I’m always looking for something new so I tend to walk that little bit further often.

Anyway, back to the beer; Pooh Bear 4.2%. It’s a brown beer, but not just any brown beer, or brown bear come to that. Well actually it’s the golden side of brown, but hey all beers are on the brown spectrum aren’t they? What first hits you is that it has that distinctive and oh so appealing hamsterbedding taste, right from the first sip. This is followed by sweet maltiness along with some slight floral notes. I guess that’s the orange and the honey coming through, although I must say the orange is quite subtle. Nothing wrong with that I might add, subtle orange does just fine!

 

 

Pooh Bear is a most enjoyable ale and Norwich Bear a most useful brewery. It’s a no-brainer really.

Beer today gone tomorrow?

I became bored with this blog and being tied by the feeling that I had to write about every ale drinking experience. It is surprisingly liberating just going into a pub, ordering a pint and just enjoying it without even having to think about writing about it. But last Saturday I had a day of two pub halves and have felt the need once again to put fingers to keyboard.

Saturday lunchtime saw us out to lunch. I won’t name the pub but we’ll call it the Monarch’s Appendage or Appendages. Beautiful old pub in a picturesque village setting. A pleasant enough greeting but the service seemed a tad slow. Because I was driving I only had a couple of halves, but both were very well kept golden ales; the first Theakstons Lightfoot followed by Humpty Dumpty Swallowtail; most enjoyable. Sadly the lunch experience left us somewhat underwhelmed. The pub wasn’t heaving, there were three staff on doing both waiting and bar serving. More than enough it appears to deal with demand. There appeared to be a lot of walking back and forth but very little actual doing things. It took someone ages to take our order, despite a reminder. Getting a second drink from the bar took an unnecessarily long time. And our meal took around forty minutes to arrive and when it arrived it was rather disappointing. I wish pubs wouldn’t try their hand at what turns out to be pseudo gastro. Don’t get me wrong I like gastro when it’s done well. In fact there’s a pub in Norwich that does gastro outstandingly well. But if you can’t get it right then stick to pub grub. I’d rather have good pub grub than mediocre gastro any day.

Don’t let any licensee talk to me about cheap supermarket beer and being the reason for pubs closing because quite frankly its bollocks. Poor and mediocre service and fare are the reason for pub closures. Come on pubs get real. You want bums on seats you’ve got to earn them!

The day improved early evening when I called in at a very local pub and was pleasantly surprised. More about that in my next posting.

Beer is for life and not just for Christmas

The great thing about being known as an ale fan is that when it comes to birthdays and Christmas people thankfully plump for the obvious and buy me beer. You can never have enough beer I find, although there was a time when this perhaps wasn’t the case. Amongst the various beer gifts I was very pleased to receive this mini-cask of Adnams Broadside. I’d forgotten just how delicious and packed full of malty goodness Broadside is. I found out tonight when I opened it. Mmmm. Cheers!



Why, no wifi?

Much has been written and continues to be written about the plight of the British Pub. The current economic climate obviously doesn’t help but the economy doesn’t change the underlying fact that pubs continue to suffer and decline. Some people will blame the price of alcohol in supermarkets, but as I’ve said many times on this and other blogs in the past, “I don’t really buy that argument”. The smart pubs adapt and will survive and thrive. Some very traditional untouched pubs will also survive. Nostalgia and tradition are good selling points. But many pubs in the mediocre middle will continue to struggle and be lost. Of course there is no one magic formula that will secure the future of the pub but I feel sure the answer lies in diversity and quality/attention to detail. One thing that pubs can do if they are not already doing so is to offer free wifi. If I am out on my own I will purposely go for a pub with free wifi, assuming that the quality of the beer is good as well. Even if people only use the wifi for social networking it has to be a good thing. People telling their circle of friends that they are in their local or a specific pub must encourage others to either join them or just go down the pub. There is no such thing as bad advertising. Internet access would be an asset to so many pubs and I have no doubt that it does put bums on seats.

I do acknowledge that there are some pubs that ban mobile phone use along with piped music, TV and gambling machines. These oases of electronic quietness certainly have their own attraction and therefore free wifi would be wholly inappropriate but for many others it would be a useful and welcome addition.

Winter draws on

As some might have gathered from my blog I am avid golden ale drinker. I favour drinking this style of ale most of the year round. Having said that as soon as the weather takes that seasonal chilly dip my thoughts also turn to beers of a darker hue. So generally from say November to March I can also be spotted imbibing of darker brown beers, dark milds and the occasional stout. I have to confess that stout would rarely be my first choice when out drinking but under certain circumstances I would partake. Those circumstances are either ‘it’s the last beer of the evening’, ‘there are no exciting alternatives’ or ‘I’m eating chocolate pudding’. But I do like a nice drop of dark mild.

Recently in a pub in Norwich I came across Winter’s Mild 3.6%. Winter’s is a Norwich brewery and their mild is truly a magnificent pint that epitomises this dark non-bitter genre. It is smoky-nuttiness personified. Imagine if you will a briar pipe lovingly packed with hessian and beechnut husks, ignited, puffed and then billowing out its magic. That’s Winter’s Mild in a nutshell. Well a pint glass actually.