Thetownend.com

........why the Campaign for Real Ale was started.


http://www.retrowow.co.uk/retro_britain/keg_bitter/Watneys_pubs.html

http://www.retrowow.co.uk/retro_britain/keg_bitter/watneys_red_barrel.html


There was nothing quite like the local "Grotneys".  Europe's largest consumer organisation made sure that there was nothing quite like the local "Grotneys" ever again.

If I recall correctly, "Grotneys" was served (rented) at the Brunel Rooms when first opened. 

On the subject of CAMRA, I've been drinking more real ales lately rather than the tipple (cider).

I think I'm getting old. I'll be wearing tweed jackets with leather elbow patched and smoking a pipe next.

I'm too young to remember Watney's.  Sounds like a horror show.

While the brewing industry is going through a tough time, I think we can class the demise of Watney's (and other 1970s/1980s bad taste episodes, like Hofmeister) and the rise of real ale as a good news story.  I don't think there will ever be a return.


Sam - it happens to us all.  There comes a point in every man's life - usually some time in his mid/late 20s - where he realises that the fizz he's been drinking for the last 10 years was in fact 'piss' and would be better used commercially for clearing drains.  (That's a lager dig, btw.  Not cider.)  Buy a jacket if you must!  Hope your love affair with proper beer last a lifetime.

 The little red barrel key rings were great though...I think Bristhole Rovers may have once won the Watney Cup.

The small brewers aren't. Most of them are doing well and actually SIBA real ale sales are up about 11% It's mostly the macros and the pubcos and their tennants that are suffering at the moment. Oh and Archers.

I flipping love real ale, in fact recently I've stopped drinking as much guinness and got back on beer.  Had a few Bunny Hops on Saturday night, was lovely.  I very rarely drink lager thesedays not a patch on ale.

Which was first ,Red Barrel or Starlight ?   (serious question)

Get to the festival at STEAM, you will love it. real ale plus real ciders!

 Double Diamond was first brewed in 1876....in Burton.  TEF piss up next season?

Red Barrel was first - Starlight originated from the Phipps Brewery in Northampton which was acquired by Watneys in the late 60s

Brew XI anyone - that really was piss water. The Midlanders used to love it - probably still do.

Ansell's Bitter was another abomination from the centre of the country, but Brew XI ("for the men of the Midlands, boing") was available in some pubs in Swindon.  No, it didn't cool down my Biryani.

Apparently, Starlight was the fluid put in the Party 4 and Party 7 tins.

On the subject of stale weasel urine, the slogan I enjoyed most for lager was, "Wouldn't you rather be Hemeling?", or as it was often quoted, "Wouldn't you rather be Hemorrhaging?"

Hemeling was marketed by Bass who should have known better.

 

I have 3 pints of Fullers ESB every night waiting for the train

Purely medicinal of course, it cures my insomnia

That explains the loose tongue!

That was you she told off, not me mate !

Yeah to be fair it was, though I don't even recall swearing in that passage of speech.

I think it's when we were talking about Cass/Green Street 2 that really did it though :D

Jog on you caaaaant

Any recommendations for a hardened Lager drinker? I do also parttake of Caffreys and Guiness red when i can find them. Bear in mind Real Ale has always tasted weak and warm to me.

It's best warm, why does everything have to be "extra cold" all the time.  Gives me headache!

And real ale often tastes quite weak, but then the strength just hits you a few pints down the line.

.

Don't really know Sutton, perhaps something like RCH Pitchfork or Brewdog's IPA (both are in Tescos) and you can stick them in the fridge. Both have lots of flavour but they are pale and hoppy enough to survive being that cold without suffering too much.

And since the Brewdog is 6% and comes in small lager type bottles with a design that doesn't include any fairys, pixies or goblins, you won't feel weird drinking it either.

Depends what you are drinking, some types of beer taste better cold and develop different flavours when warm. Lagers are generally rancid when warm, unlike ales which would taste of nothing if cold.

I like Guinness cold as it tastes fresher and I think the head is better, but like ales at or around room temp as they taste of more that way.

I like Carling.

I am scum.

I'll drink Carling on away days because everything tastes shit out of cans so it may as well just be cheap and cold.

As in strength?

The best real ale I had was 8% from the orkney isles. If you go to a beer festival you're almost certain to find one you like.

Sorry not strength as in abv it just tastes watery, as a rule i dont go above 5% on lager as it gives me a headache.

sutton, try a golden ale, several around. Spitfire would be a good bet, as would Summer Lightning. My current fave is Butcombe Gold, but as that's local to Zummerset, you might have problems getting hold of that.

See Spitfire around a lot so will give that a go. Mind you if i wet the bed, you'll be to blame.

I bought some hobgoblin the other week, does that come under the real ale catagory? It was fookin lovely whater the catagory

That's a good call Coxy. My personal recommendation for a migrating lager drinker is Wychwood's Wychcraft.

http://www.wychwood.co.uk/beers_wychcraft.htm (http://www.wychwood.co.uk/beers_wychcraft.htm)

Available in most supermarkets in a bottle and in draught around Witney.

The best beer on the planet. I have a glass full now.

I did a Wychwood brewery tour a couple of months ago as my birthday present. There was an interesting beer tasting afterwards. Wychcraft (see above) featured, as did the bottle and draught versions of Hobgoblin. I didn't realise that the draught is a lot weaker than the bottled because publicans complained that they couldn't sell very much of the pump stuff as their customers were getting hammered  ;D

Well worth a go:

http://www.wychwood.co.uk/tours.htm (http://www.wychwood.co.uk/tours.htm)

I love hunting out little 'micro breweries'. Was up in Stow on the Wold the other weekend and popped into this place for a pint of SBA......

http://www.donnington-brewery.com/beers.php

Actually owned by a couple of the Arkells family now I believe!

Well i got a bottle of Fullers Honeydew whilst watching the pile of shite playing football, was ok after half a bottle, but made me full, lager is normally accused of being guilty of that , but doesn't do it to me, so i'm back on the lager. I'll try another one next time i go up the offy as not as bad as i thought it would be.

Donnington brewery has  been there for a good few years now...there used to be a decent pub not too far from the brewery, which sold it's brew.  It's one of those strange things, that you don't see it in many places, but it still keeps going.

I really used to rate Hook Norton ale....not sure about its status these days.

Good places to get some real ale is garden centres.

  Eh? Never seen any round ours, go on....

Most garden centres have a food section, for example dobbies in ciren. Thet do a massive range of beer and wine.

Sutton

For a real ale novice, my recommendation would be to get yourself three or four different bottles brewed by Badger which are freely available at any branch of Tesco.  Badger is a Dorset brewery that has been able to hugely extend its distribution capability by winning the Tesco account.  And while, as the good CAMRA member that I am, I wouldn't want to push Tesco at the expense of your hard-pushed local, it would be a great intro.

There are some very varied beers there, including 'Blandford Fly' which has a ginger aftertaste.  Not to everyone's taste, but maybe to yours.  If you're in central London (as I know you often are), then London Pride (Fuller's) is everywhere - and it's acclaimed as well, despite being mainstream(!)  In fact, there is so much more in the way of variation when it comes to beer, that you're bound to find a style that suits you.  Whether it's IPA (great in the summer), heavy, stout, porter...you'll soon find your own favourite.

Don't want to sound like a snob.  There are some great lagers out there...but (and this is just my own view) very few of them are brewed or sold in this country.  Germany, the Czech Republic...they know how to brew good lager there...but it's a different brew to the mass produced Anglo-Aussie muck that people chuck down their necks here.

We don't have a lager tradition in this country.  We brew beer.  And we still brew it locally.  Walk in to a pub in Swindon, and they will sell you a pint of beer that's brewed there.  Likewise any other town or county.  There are not many other industries that still provide a great product and also support the local businessman.

(I'll climb off my soap box now!)

PS  And next time you're in the Market Porter (best f##king pub in central London, if you ask me), maybe try one or two of the dozen beers they have on draft there?

I had 6 or 7 different oness last time I was in there, some very good stuff.

The Blackwych is a top drop, absolutely love it...probably not much help for a migrating lager drinker, sorry.

Sutton,

Wise words from Ardiles there. Badger beers are a good stepping stone with their use of sweet syrups and flavours making a change from the brown beers that probably put you off ale in the first place. But if Honeydew was a bit sickly you might not like them.

The trick would be to find a really good real ale pub and just ask for a free aste of the beers. Almost all good ones will let you try a couple - and that way you an easily get a idea what you like. The Market Porter in London would be good for this, or the Wellington in Brum, The Royal Oak in Twerton, Bath but weirdly not The Gluepot in Swindon as they don't like giving tasters. Which is odd.

There are some British craft lagers that are very nice, Cairns of Liverpool do a pretty good one but you don't see it that often down south and isn't an area I know much about. I can't even remember the one I had and really liked.

Ok plenty to refer to cheers all, I'm normally in the market porter every other week, so i'll try something when next in, and if sober enough post a review!

Best thread for ages this....... My staple is good old 6X but it does need to be kept properly by the landlord. My all time favourite I discovered in South Yorkshire in the 70's when I was a Student. Sam Smith's Old Brewery Bitter.
Imagine my delight before the Brissle Wovers game when I came upon a Pub in Brissle (in Queens Square I think) that was owned & run my Sam Smith's. The beer was as good as ever, & was £1.60 a pint. We almost missed the game. Talking to the land lady, she said that the owner of the brewery is very hands on, & owns the whole shebang, (brewery, transport & pubs). He has enough money for himself & rather than brewing for profit just wants to keep making a good honest pint.

I still find it difficult to believe that such an oasis exists in such a shit hole as Brissle.

As for Party 4's & Party 7's that used to be the standard entrance fee to a Party, but most of it would end up on the ceiling, which didn't really matter cos it was real crap.

Cider wise, if you are ever in South Sea try the Festival pub. They have a menu of 57 different Ciders draft & bottled, including the only cider I would drink in preference to a good pint of 6X would be Brothers Festival strength Pear Cider as sold at Glastonbury