Common Ales

[RogerB]

Had a discussion down the pub on common ales which I thought would throw open to wider audience to compare it regionally. We had a few thoughts on whatt some of the regional nominations will be si it will be interesting to see what you all come out with.

Taking an imaginary freehouse with say, 4 hand pumps, what are the 4 worst ales that they could put on purely on the basis that they are found regularly everywhere else in your area? In London, I would have to say it would probably be Youngs Ordinary, Bombardier, London Pride and Greene King IPA.

[ETA]

Had a discussion down the pub on common ales which I thought would throw open to wider audience to compare it regionally. We had a few thoughts on whatt some of the regional nominations will be si it will be interesting to see what you all come out with.

Taking an imaginary freehouse with say, 4 hand pumps, what are the 4 worst ales that they could put on purely on the basis that they are found regularly everywhere else in your area? In London, I would have to say it would probably be Youngs Ordinary, Bombardier, London Pride and Greene King IPA.

For the Salisbury area I would only nominate 2 locals beers, Ringwood Best and Badger Best. We do see Landlord and Courage Best a fair bit, both of which I avoid if there's a choice.

[an_ecumenical_matter]

For the Salisbury area I would only nominate 2 locals beers, Ringwood Best and Badger Best. We do see Landlord and Courage Best a fair bit, both of which I avoid if there's a choice.

I wouldn't turn my nose up at Landlord being in every pub near me!!!!

Bristol was always Courage Best and Bass,but in recent years it seems a choice from Bath Gem,Sharps Doombar and Wells Bombardier.

[Conrad]

I wouldn't turn my nose up at Landlord being in every pub near me!!!!

Bristol was always Courage Best and Bass,but in recent years it seems a choice from Bath Gem,Sharps Doombar and Wells Bombardier.
Just to add Butcombe to that list, seems to be in any pub not doing the Doombar.

[Gann]

Had a discussion down the pub on common ales which I thought would throw open to wider audience to compare it regionally. We had a few thoughts on whatt some of the regional nominations will be si it will be interesting to see what you all come out with.

Taking an imaginary freehouse with say, 4 hand pumps, what are the 4 worst ales that they could put on purely on the basis that they are found regularly everywhere else in your area? In London, I would have to say it would probably be Youngs Ordinary, Bombardier, London Pride and Greene King IPA.

Yep, you've got it almost spot on for most London venues, with the possible exception of Old Speckled Hen replacing one of Youngs or CW Bombadier.
And if you replace the Youngs with Draft Bass, then you have my local Free House...

[Grailhunter]

Taking an imaginary freehouse with say, 4 hand pumps, what are the 4 worst ales that they could put on purely on the basis that they are found regularly everywhere else in your area?

In my neck of the woods it would be Greene King IPA and Old Speckled Hen, Marstons Pedigree and Brakspear bitter.
Strange really, years ago when it was brewed in Henley you couldn't get Brakspear in Oxford for love nor money. Now it's brewed by Wychwood it's as common as anything (and not as good !!). Brakspear special used to be my favourite beer.

[aleandhearty]

what are the 4 worst ales that they could put on purely on the basis that they are found regularly everywhere else in your area?


I wouldn't turn my nose up at Landlord being in every pub near me!!!!

In West Yorkshire we're probably talking John Smith's, Tetley's, Black Sheep Bitter and Landlord. Although, as AEM suggests, my heart never sinks when I see that green pump clip.Had a session on Landlord last Thursday that re-confirmed how good it is, when it's on form.

[oldboots]

what are the 4 worst ales that they could put on purely on the basis that they are found regularly everywhere else in your area?

North Yorks isn't much different to West Yorks. In order of the amount of depression their appearance engenders, most depressing first:-

Tetleys Cask
John Smiths Cask
Theakstons Best
Black Sheep Bitter

Ironically each brewer makes much better beers (except John Smiths now they've stopped Magnet), as examples; Tetley Mild, Theakstons XB and OP, Black Sheep Ale and Riggwelter. Taylors Landlord is pretty freely available but my heart only sinks when I taste a bad pint of it. Even Greene King makes Strong Suffolk and St Edmunds.

[Farway]

Round here it is Fullers London Pride & HSB, with a smattering of Ringwood "guesting"

Not that I mind as the LP & HSB are decent pints in the main

[ROBCamra]

In general we don't have the same problem around us. GK IPA gets a look in of course but
the most common beers around Rochdale are probably both from Phoenix, Navvy & Arizona and I don't mind a pint of either.

[Oggwyn Trench]

Far to many pubs round here have Bankss Bitter , Bankss Original (which i do like if its kept well) Marstons Pedigree and Marstons Bitter , Several pubs also have Jennings Cumberland on as the token guest which is normally kept awfully , i know it can be an OK pint but rarely is here

[Soup Dragon]

Mmmmmmm

I would go Pedigree, Spekky, London Pride and Bombardier, overall - i dont count Banks's as too often its on keg

Have you noticed Oggy, Banks's Original is being renamed - back to Banks's MILD (they do a Banks's Dark MILD too) - happy days, MILD maketh a comeback

[Strongers]

Had a discussion down the pub on common ales which I thought would throw open to wider audience to compare it regionally. We had a few thoughts on whatt some of the regional nominations will be si it will be interesting to see what you all come out with.

Taking an imaginary freehouse with say, 4 hand pumps, what are the 4 worst ales that they could put on purely on the basis that they are found regularly everywhere else in your area? In London, I would have to say it would probably be Youngs Ordinary, Bombardier, London Pride and Greene King IPA.

Sounds about right, but i'd try to slip Adnams in there somewhere.

[Alesonly]

Had a discussion down the pub on common ales which I thought would throw open to wider audience to compare it regionally. We had a few thoughts on whatt some of the regional nominations will be si it will be interesting to see what you all come out with.

Taking an imaginary freehouse with say, 4 hand pumps, what are the 4 worst ales that they could put on purely on the basis that they are found regularly everywhere else in your area? In London, I would have to say it would probably be Youngs Ordinary, Bombardier, London Pride and Greene King IPA.

I would say almost the same Ales but Courage Best, Bombardier, London Pride and Greene King IPA

[Maldenman]

Much of this goes back to choice. In the 80's most pubs were tied and had the local beer, when I moved to London, I would have been delighted to find Fullers or Youngs in the centre, but it was mostly stuff like Websters Yorkshire Bitter....how awful was that stuff? We now have an increasingly large choice, so we are a bit spoilt. I'd actually say, in a rather fussy selfish way, that as a London based drinker, I'm starting to get a bit fed up of the ubiquituous "guest" beers of Doom Bar and Landlord.

[HTM69]

Sounds about right, but i'd try to slip Adnams in there somewhere.

Roger's about right, but yes, Adnams Bitter - not Broadside, so much - is quite common in central London.

I was almost going to add TT's Landlord, but I guess I only think that due to the amount of visits I make to the Nicholson's chain!

There was a time when we may have all gone for Courage Best, but IMO, it's becoming less of a sighting.

[Eddie86]

Growing up in Norfolk Adnams was a welcome relief from the sea of IPA and Woodforde's wherry. Broadside was my favourite over there, but Woodforde's Nelson's Blood was also impressive.

Over here you can't really move for Butty Bach or DG's Golden Ale. Neither a particular problem, and on 6 pumps in ours only 1 is constant, the Butty Bach. A friend told me that your locals will drink in your bar whatever you sell. The one time a barrel of DG's Golden got put on by mistake (it had been racked in the Butty part of the cellar, and nobody had noticed) at least half a dozen locals walked in, asked for Butty, then walked out without drinking.

[arwkrite]

I will accept that one can suffer from local ale , or popular ale , fatigue .The sight of that beer clip ,that seems to be everywhere, causes a flash of disappointment on entering an establishment perhaps new to you. The need for something a bit different has been thwarted and perhaps that makes one over critical of the usual offerings.
Many of you have mentioned beers I would love to see in my area but which you consider perhaps second class as you drink them on most visits to the pub. As many of you know the only beer I dread to see when entering a pub is Green King IPA, a beer simply not to my taste, and often the only real ale on offer. Strangely in a county dominated by Marstons and GK my small town has offerings from neither.Hobsons and Sharps Doom Bar seem to be regulars whilst one pub does offer a differant guest ale such as Tribute ,Black Sheep ,Adnams Bitter. The third pub is a Wye Valley Brewery pub but when I walk in there I feel like Billy Nomates as I never see anyone I know. Its an OK pub though, likely over run on a weekend by internet pub reviewers:whistle:

Give me your tired and missbegotten ales......anything for a change.

[aleandhearty]

Websters Yorkshire Bitter....how awful was that stuff?

Oh God, yes! Over the years I'd managed to bury the traumatic memory of drinking the stuff deep in my mind. So thanks for re-awakening that. :) The only things worse than the beer itself, were the bloody awful TV adverts we had to endure. They made the John Smith's ads look like Fellini.

[ROBCamra]

Oh God, yes! Over the years I'd managed to bury the traumatic memory of drinking the stuff deep in my mind. So thanks for re-awakening that. :) The only things worse than the beer itself, were the bloody awful TV adverts we had to endure. They made the John Smith's ads look like Fellini.

I once had a brewery trip around Websters brewery. It was all very impressive and electronically controlled. Nothing even slightly haphazard like all the best breweries are.

When we got to the area where they had the huge fermenters the guide was telling us about how they were currently brewing their "wonderful" Websters Yorkshire Bitter.

One of our party asked her what the large red button was for, before she could reply an "unidentified" someone at the back said " When they press that it removes all the flavour" :whistle:

The guide was a bit grumpy with us all after that. :)

When we got to the free bar afterwards she even said " You won't want to drink any of that anyway will you?"

Sadly we did though.:p

[aleandhearty]

One of our party asked her what the large red button was for, before she could reply an "unidentified" someone at the back said " When they press that it removes all the flavour"........ ...Sadly we did though.:p

:D:D...............:eek:

[an_ecumenical_matter]

Ha. Websters Green Label was recently encountered in a former GBG pub in Bristol for £2.90 a pt.....:sick:

[aleandhearty]

Ha. Websters Green Label was recently encountered in a former GBG pub in Bristol for £2.90 a pt.....:sick:
My first thought was surely not! However, after a bit of googling I found it's still being brewed by Thomas Hardy/ Burtonwood in Warrington.Can't be any grimmer than the Halifax version. Haven't seen any round here, in any form, for years and years.

[Wittenden]

I saw this(Websters) in a pub in the Yorkshire dales last autumn. I too thought it was dead, but didn't dare try it, as the other beers that day were unutterably bad. Here in Kent, or at least my area, the common beers seem to be Pride, GK IPA, Adnams 'the bitter' , Sheps Masterbrew and Harveys Sussex best. I'm not gloating, but I can really only sneer at one of these, and naturally I haven't drunk that for years! Could it be that it isn't as bad as we all think it is? Being a mean sod, I'm not really prepared to fork out over £3 for purposes of research

[rpadam]

My first thought was surely not! However, after a bit of googling I found it's still being brewed by Thomas Hardy/ Burtonwood in Warrington.Can't be any grimmer than the Halifax version. Haven't seen any round here, in any form, for years and years.
They have Websters Green Label in our village club, for those members of the bowls team who worry about the tap water being a bit too strong for them...

[Eddie86]

I will accept that one can suffer from local ale , or popular ale , fatigue .The sight of that beer clip ,that seems to be everywhere, causes a flash of disappointment on entering an establishment perhaps new to you. The need for something a bit different has been thwarted and perhaps that makes one over critical of the usual offerings.
Many of you have mentioned beers I would love to see in my area but which you consider perhaps second class as you drink them on most visits to the pub. As many of you know the only beer I dread to see when entering a pub is Green King IPA, a beer simply not to my taste, and often the only real ale on offer. Strangely in a county dominated by Marstons and GK my small town has offerings from neither.Hobsons and Sharps Doom Bar seem to be regulars whilst one pub does offer a differant guest ale such as Tribute ,Black Sheep ,Adnams Bitter. The third pub is a Wye Valley Brewery pub but when I walk in there I feel like Billy Nomates as I never see anyone I know. Its an OK pub though, likely over run on a weekend by internet pub reviewers:whistle:

Give me your tired and missbegotten ales......anything for a change.

The thorny pussy cat by any chance :D

[RogerB]

Some interesting responses. I pretty much had Yorkshire spot on having been on a few visits to the area over the past 12 months. I expected Banks Bitter to rule the midlands area but wasn’t sure about the West Country – I expected Wadworths to be more prominent and didn’t expect Bath to be such a big player. Devon and Cornwall are sewn up mainly by Sharps Doom Bar and St Austell Tribute – try and find a pub without one of them! I seem to recall Tetleys being particularly frequent in Manchester although I suspect Hydes Bitter and Boddingtons run it close.

[arwkrite]

The thorny pussy cat by any chance :D
Visited again tonight. A pint of Butty Bach ( or two). Well named the thorny pussy cat. Again knew no one in a fairly busy bar.So sat by the front door, still no one I knew passed by. A moment of hope when approached by the pub cat. A thin tortoiseshell it took one disdainful sniff then stalked off. Must be fussy about the company it keeps. Beer superb as normal.

[RogerB]

Was in the Royal George near Euston station last night and they must hold some sort of record with 7 of the 8 pumps badged as Green King IPA, Speckled Hen, Pride, Bombardier, Youngs Ordinary, Abbott and Adnams. I can't believe they didn't have Courage Best (the 8th pump actually had Greene King Suffolk Swift which, even though it was only 3%, was the obvious choice for me). Luckily the Doric Arch and Bree Louise were a tad more interesting.

[trainman]

Royal George near Euston ... must hold some sort of record with 7 of the 8 pumps badged as Green King IPA, Speckled Hen, Pride, Bombardier, Youngs Ordinary, Abbott and Adnams.

Wow! That's some sort of record alright. As in, 'strike this pub from my records...'

[Eddie86]

I'll have to take an evening off and come and bore you some time. I haven't been that way, erm, in a long time to say the least! Just past the brewery from my end!