beer (again)

[damian 0]

I went to a bar in The City (square mile) in London's disappointing old banking district. It was not a great bar but tried to be one. Basically lacked real atmosphere but so do most bars in the Square mile (they are nearly all franchise set ups). Anyway, I am used to this and need not comment on it further. But the beer needs comment: in this bar hey serve a home brew called Wallop, sounded good. It came served in a big metal jug and large metal mugs. It was sufficiently chilled and looked like a good colour. The taste was even ok. But the shock of my life was the bubbles! It was flat! Dead flat, like water from a puddle. There was not one single bit of fizz, nothing. I have never had a beer like that in my life.

[gamera 0]

Flat bubbles = almost no bubbles ?

[torihada 2]

That'll be Real Ale. None of that fizzy pop that keeps them cool down under.

 

The only way you can drink most lagers is ice cold, 'cause once they warm up they are undrinkable. My favourite beer; Theakston's 'Old Peculiar'. Black and flat.

 

We all hate living in London, we're only here for the money, all the real Londeners moved out years ago.

[damian 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by soubriquet:
Lets get this straight.

You hate your life, but you get paid shed-loads of money.

Tough shit.

Yeah, city living isnt so great. I am envious and excited for you guys living where you live leading into winter, and I loved your pictures from last weekend, especially the onsen. But seriously, WTF are you talking about?! I was simply establishing the context and setting for my latest unique beer experience. It was a pub that was trying to be original rather than the very typical lager franchise bars that have over-run the less atmospheric parts of this city, they are in every suburb just like pizza hut. The particular pub in question made some attempts at originality which were not so great (example, they have an industrial/commercial formica floor with 'rustic' sawdust on it. It didn't really look so good). The main point was that they served a beer that completely caught me off guard in every respect. I didn't drink much of it, but that is not important. I always thought that fizz, even a little, was a by-product of the beer brewing process.

[This is off topic, but for a guy that appears more mature and wiser than most, you sure erupt with some reactions that really let you down].

Torihada - I didn't know that there was a variety which is truly flat. You are right about larger needing to be cold. Although, this Realler Ale was colder than I expected, which was actually quite nice as it reduced the slightly musty aspect that it had. As for London, it is really only the Square Mile and the popular tourist areas that causes me real problems (for food and drink and character). I went to the Royal Oak in the midst of the Columbia Road flower market recently. A touch on the alternate gay side, but one of the best places to get pissed at 10am on the sabbath that I have seen in a while. Also a great part of the city (irrelevant aside, but I live in east London now and find a lot more character in the people and am having more fun).

That is the last time I talk about beer.

[Ocean11 0]

> That is the last time I talk about beer.

 

Don't be silly, no it's not. Your observations on beer (and food) are most welcome, even if they bring on weird fits of psychoanalysis.

 

In Bristol there used to be a pub-affiliated restaurant that served a beer they called 'Jollop' in pewter mugs. It was very popular and tasted pretty good, although I remember it as being fairly flat. A friend worked there for a while and I asked her what the Jollop was. Although sworn to secrecy, she told me it was Bass, hand mixed with some other ale whose type I forget.

 

Perhaps the Bristol franchise is in London too? Perhaps Jollop and Wallop are kin? And perhaps the bubbles disappear in the hand mixing and storage phases of the fraudulent operation?

 

You can pour Theakstons to have a head or not, as you please, but Jollop-type preparations will always tend to be flat.

 

Things rumoured to go on in pubs can be rather more interesting than you'd really like to know. Matters like 'returning slops to the cask' and other forbidden practices... The pub I used to frequent most in Manchester was reputed to use this 'technique' with its Marstons, which nevertheless tasted excellent. Perhaps it was just urban myth.

[farquah 0]

BPC- I know the place you are talking about (or at least think I do, same area and served in peuter mugs!)!!! I agree that tis not the best of bars in the area and I wouldn`t call it a pub, personally not a big fan of the pin stripe suit area all a bit pretentious. BUT love that beer. It`s a proper real ale and from a small brewery near Henley I think. THey also sometimes have a classic ale called Kamikaze and a great guest bitter called something like Rafters, as it`s supposed to leave you hanging from the rafters both are pretty damn potent, also real thick with a great after taste. Reccomend!

 

If youa re looking for a pretty good pub which serves some real ale and is more of a village local feel, I suggest taking a trip out to Muswell Hill area. There is a nice walk through a wodded area from Highgate up to Muswell HIll, with pretty good views over London and a local pub near the end of the trail called "The Grapes". Not owned by any chain and a real find.

[Ocean11 0]

I find talking about which beer I like and dislike quite a simple pleasure.

[wakaran 1]

Maybe not beer, but there's some brilliant bread.

[damian 0]

A simple pleasure in life is to be self-aware enough to think about why you enjoy something.

 

Or, you could just sit, guzzle and be primitive. As Ocean demonstrates, just because you are Anglo-Saxon does not mean you can't think about what goes in your mouth and why you put it in there, as opposed to what quantity of it you can fit in your mouth in the shortest period of time.

 

a quote from the news:

 

 Quote:

Television actor Tony Booth, Cherie Booth's father and a self-styled "serious boozer" in his younger days, says the plan to allow pubs to open 24 hours a day is "wrong, muddle-headed and terribly dangerous".

 

"Longer licensing hours won't suddenly turn us into a nation of Mediterranean sophisticates happy to make a small glass of red wine last an hour or two at some pavement cafe," Booth, 74, wrote in The Daily Mail newspaper.

 

"In this country we don't drink that way. We drink in a more primitive, frightening, Anglo-Saxon way. We drink to get drunk."

[Weegeoff 0]

I have got alcoholic constipation.

I cannot pass a pub.

[misorano 1]

Good one Geoff