BEERS #3 - That's my bit of lager!

[shoulders]

A successor to the successful success that was BEERS#2

Please remove the Blu-tack and reapply.

[phes]

Fascinated by the phenomenon of people behind you at the bar buying the drink that you buy. Last three times now that I've been in the Kelham I've had touring groups behind me who have group ordered the same drink that I've ordered. Apparently anyone at the bar drinking Guinness is the single best advertisement for that beer. Makes you wonder about how many breweries have failed to develop a core range with a recognisable flagship beer

Updates forever. Post.

[chutnut]

Might buy some beers soon

[king_tubby]

Yep, same.

[madhair60]

Fascinated by the phenomenon of people behind you at the bar buying the drink that you buy. Last three times now that I've been in the Kelham I've had touring groups behind me who have group ordered the same drink that I've ordered. Apparently anyone at the bar drinking Guinness is the single best advertisement for that beer. Makes you wonder about how many breweries have failed to develop a core range with a recognisable flagship beer

Updates forever. Post.

i never know what to order, how can i? everything's fucking different everywhere. beer isn't cheap, fuckin pain in the arse knowing what to buy

[king_tubby]

Anywhere decent will let you have a taste before you buy, @madhair60. For example, I was in the pub on Sunday and tried an apricot sour. Then got a nice pint of something different.

[shoulders]

Finnish lager so far

Koff - shit
Karhu IV - shit
Platina - shit
Lapin Kulta - shit
Pilsnero - shit
Aura - shit
Karjala - shit

This isn't being particularly blithe and flippant, all worse even than Carlsberg, Cruzcampo etc

Average price for these is €6-8 for either 0.4/0.5l.

[phes]

i never know what to order, how can i? everything's fucking different everywhere. beer isn't cheap, fuckin pain in the arse knowing what to buy

I read about an experiment in a supermarket where nice jams were put out for sample and towards the checkout displayed for purchase. When they displayed a small range (4 I think) they sold many times more than when they displayed an absurdly large range. Now imagine they were displayed in an inaccessible fridge, 8 feet from you and all the labels look like magic eye pictures, with 2mm font. The state of many pubs selling craft beer right now. Last night in the head of steam, Sheffield (shite) I tried to buy one IPA can to take away. The staff had to select it, the first was out of date and got taken back to the bar, the second one made it home and once I'd taken a photo and zoomed in to see what was in the can, it was a weissbier. I swear 50%+ of this stuff must get sold to staff, the only people who can see it, and most of it at knock down out of date prices

For cask I usually ask if there's anything regular on. Anything popular they shift quantities of is less likely to be fucked. And pubs with a connection to brewery (e.g Kelham Island tavern, blue bee) is always a great sign. In most cases (but not all, see Kelham) I take a very big range of beer as red flag. The condition will often vary wildly and they're probably not great at serving anything

[amateur]

mmm lager

[shoulders]

Bottle ranges everywhere have drastically reduced, even at bottle shops. When even the customers get sniffy if the DIPA can is older than a month from brewing the market isn't ripe at the minute.

[DrGreggles]

Taking a long overdue trip to Beers of Europe on Friday.
They were my best friend during the lockdowns.

[phes]

Bottle ranges everywhere have drastically reduced, even at bottle shops. When even the customers get sniffy if the DIPA can is older than a month from brewing the market isn't ripe at the minute.

Multifactor devastation of recent years aside, pub on-trade in bottles and cans at that range has always seemed like it was doomed, coming about precisely at the time when average best-before dates shrunk, with good reason, from 12 months to 3-6. The waste I've seen at every regular place I've used is sky high. Not a surprise if even bottle shops are reducing range to try to mitigate unpredictability. Presumably that's a case of both reduced range available and their own decision to reduce their range

[shoulders]

The two near me, Raynville and Trembling Madness seem like great examples of running an aggressive business model of pushing loads of stuff you can't get everywhere, which then gets people talking and increases their profile.

Brownhill & Co in the city centre has changed hugely from a good bottle shop that used to do bottle shares to a bar which over the last  5 years did the best content on draft and fridge in Leeds

However, there has been significant shrinkage beginning with Belgian beers since Brexit, and now simply volume... maybe three fridges left with no beers from outside the UK, that does now have 2 cask lines. When the fridge selection is so weak and very highly priced no-one is going to come back, let alone remember your name. Morrisons have a superficially enormous range of beers and they're undercutting all this by half. Even Tesco in fucking Bramley of all places sells Bernardus 12 for £3.50.

[phes]

The fridge selections in the places I'm thinking of look like graveyards thesedays. Like you say though, if you put the time into curating and publicising a destination specialist range then you have a hope of not getting absolutely battered by the macros market share.

Those supermarket ranges of UK beer are shite. Each and every can that appears to be a craft beer is mediocre at best. Simply not worth the calories

[shoulders]

Just having my first ever Sahti.

Finnish ale with juniper berries.

Imagine weizenbock with a real ale texture then a juniper/rye fruity burn to finish (pardon the pun).

Banana, then best bitter, then craft rye. Quite a journey. Oh and this isn't the strong version at 8%, that's Finlandia Strong.

[Brian Freeze]

Please can I be recommended a place to buy tidy beer online.

A friend has done me a solid and I'd like to buy him a couple of bottles of very strong and unusual beer/lager to say thanks.

I tried to buy local but the excellent independent offie now only sells wine.

[shoulders]

Raynville Superstore and House of Trembling Madness are my go tos.

KraftWerks and the Inn at Newbury are others I tried in lockdown.

If you want an old school business Beers of Europe are still going, I believe.

Bear in mind that for free delivery you often have to put in a big order (one for you, one for me?)

[phes]

I'd love to recommend HOTM but both my previous orders have not arrived when they said they would and one was badly damaged. I found their responses really poor, bordering on outright arrogant. I didn't ever receive a replacement or refund for the broken bottles. Raynville have been excellent each time though

[Dr Marbles]

Fascinated by the phenomenon of people behind you at the bar buying the drink that you buy. Last three times now that I've been in the Kelham I've had touring groups behind me who have group ordered the same drink that I've ordered. Apparently anyone at the bar drinking Guinness is the single best advertisement for that beer. Makes you wonder about how many breweries have failed to develop a core range with a recognisable flagship beer

I like my Guinness but when I lived in London I wouldn't order it if I couldn't see someone else in the pub drinking it, for fear I was gonna get stout that was sat in the line since the day before.

If the guy ahead of me in the queue ordered it - that's the best green light.

Of course, now I live in Dublin that's ceased to be an issue.

[Vodkafone]

Oh yes oh yes oh yes! I just had my first bottle of Torrside Shiver Me Timbers and it's absolutely delicious, just my kind of thing. The smokiness is quite light but very much there. This is gonna be a new favourite, I can tell.

[Proactive]

One small cup of lager please.

[finnquark]

Oh yes oh yes oh yes! I just had my first bottle of Torrside Shiver Me Timbers and it's absolutely delicious, just my kind of thing. The smokiness is quite light but very much there. This is gonna be a new favourite, I can tell.

Monthly brewery taps start at the end of this month, if you're anywhere near New Mills? Fortunate enough to live 10 mins walk from the brewery - always really good food trucks and a really nice vibe.

[Brian Freeze]

Thanks for the beer delivery advice.

I looked at the Raynville website and got annoyed at some of the names of the beers, so refined the search to Belgian beers and had a good look, then noticed the price for free delivery and as I'm not drinking much myself lately I ended up at Browtons in Ashton U Lyne instead.

[Ferris]

Just drinking a beer now, it's called an "IPA". What will they think of next??

[chutnut]

Trembling Madness have always been friendly and helpful for me, had a few parcel force issues with delivery but thats obviously not their fault and they sorted it quickly every time

[shoulders]

The final embers of Meantime Brewery have been snuffed out. Asahi who inherited it from SAB Miller who originally bought it out and were then forced by law to divest market share because of competition laws who also own Fullers, Pilsner Urquell and many more have closed down the brewery site. The shitty Pale Ale and Lager with Meantime logo on will be brewed at Fullers

https://twitter.com/ATJbeer/status/1766066599230918894?t=B90RYqT54SsqTtvT5SGJkw&s=19

Worth reminding ourselves that once of a day Meantime produced some beer actually drinking.

[shoulders]

Utopian's 5th anniversary release "Augsburg Export" is very pleasant indeed, just picked up a can at Raynville Superstore (fair price too).

For those uninitiated, Export tends to be about 5.5%, sweetness matched by a bitterness which leads to a full, satisfying bready bitter beer.

What's astonishing is this is made entirely with British ingredients proving that good British lager with authentic flavour profile is possible without importing foreign ingredients.

I highly recommend anyone who is a fan of good lager to get stuck into this. I think it could combine the full spectrum of lager fans in consensus, actually.

[phes]

Drinking the delicious



and the Shiver me Timbers. Both excellent, and made even more enjoyable by the ludicrous coincidence that the barwoman in hop hideout grew up 5 doors along from me, 250 miles away, and is the cousin of my childhood friend. 

[phes]

Reaching the end of my Torrside appreciation day, having tried twice their Progress (bitter) and aforementioned Shiver and Kuro Neko. What a joy. Halfway through I went for a palate cleanser, a can of heist breweries 5.2% NEIPA. Very tasty and just the job, but a relatively eye-watering £6.50 - a clear £2 more and 60ml less than any of the Torrside beers. Torrside up there with Kernel, making better beer at lower prices, with labels that are clear, descriptive and distinct. I can see them in the fridge from yards away. Properly unshittified UK beer.

The final piece, an 11.5 black IPA. Not everyone's favourite style, but I have faith. I've added a freshly pulled shot of espresso to this, The craft wanker's vodka red bull



Strong recommend for hop hideout in Kommune, Sheffield. For the beer more than the bar, which is just a tiny bottle shop/bar in a food hall. Six keg lines that always has at least 3-4 really interesting beers on. Typically German, Czech or Belgian/influenced

[shoulders]

Here are the pubs hosting Zwanze Day 2024

(Cantillon Tap Takeover, v special, exclusive stuff)


Great Britain • six°north, The Marine Hotel - Stonehaven • Moor Beer - Bristol • That Beer Place - Chester • Belgium and Blues - Southampton • Hanging Bat - Edinburgh • Beermerchants Tap - London • Parish - Huddersfield • The Free Trade Inn - Newcastle