Blog Tracker
22-01-2019, 07:00
Visit the Boak and Bailey's Beer Blog site (https://boakandbailey.com/2019/01/bristol-where-headless-pints-are-a-feature-not-a-bug/)
https://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/staple_hill_650.jpgThe William the Fourth, Staple Hill.Here’s a thing: the perfect Bristol pint doesn’t have foam. It comes up to the very brim, and the merest hint of scum might draw a tut.At least that’s what we’ve been told by several different people on several different occasions that this is the case, and that Bristol historically likes its pints ‘flat’.
Flat Bass is how they served it largely in Bristol.
Lovely pint 30 + years ago.
— Glen Young https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/11/72x72/1f1ea-1f1fa.pnghttps://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/11/72x72/1f1eb-1f1f4.pnghttps://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/11/72x72/1f339.png (@GlenYoungBRFC) July 11, 2018 (https://twitter.com/GlenYoungBRFC/status/1017027519000858624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
A few months ago we had to negotiate heads on our beers with a member of staff in a pub more often frequented by elderly men who angled the glass and trickled the last inches with great care: “Look, I agree with you, but I’ve been working here for a while and this lot have got me trained to serve it flat.”
At which point, an interruption from a grey-hair with a sad-looking decapitated pint: “Yeah, proper Bristol style, we’re not up north now.”
To Jess, this idea doesn’t seem so alien: she recalls a general preference for completely headless pints in East London before about, say, 2005.
There, it often seemed to be tied to the question of value, and a refusal to be at all influenced by the superficial: foam’s a marketing trick to make mug punters pay for air, innit?
In Bristol, we wonder if it’s a combination of that, plus the influence of scrumpy cider drinkers, whose pints are froth-free by default.
But we can’t say that in practice we’ve encountered many flat pints in Bristol, though, and one of the few handy sources, Fred Pearce’s 1975 guide to the pubs of Bristol (https://boakandbailey.com/2018/02/complete-guide-bristols-pubs-1976/), features plenty of shots of white-capped glasses.
Maybe we’re having our legs pulled, or perhaps this is more complex than we’ve realised – maybe only certain brands or styles get the millpond treatment – but either way, it would be a bit sad if a genuine bit of local beer culture has been lost.
Even if it’s good news for us as drinkers who very much prefer a bit of dressing around the top of the mug.
As you might have guessed, this is really our way of flushing out more information. Do comment below if you can tell us more.
Bristol, Where Headless Pints are a Feature, not a Bug (https://boakandbailey.com/2019/01/bristol-where-headless-pints-are-a-feature-not-a-bug/) originally posted at Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog (https://boakandbailey.com)
More... (https://boakandbailey.com/2019/01/bristol-where-headless-pints-are-a-feature-not-a-bug/)
https://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/staple_hill_650.jpgThe William the Fourth, Staple Hill.Here’s a thing: the perfect Bristol pint doesn’t have foam. It comes up to the very brim, and the merest hint of scum might draw a tut.At least that’s what we’ve been told by several different people on several different occasions that this is the case, and that Bristol historically likes its pints ‘flat’.
Flat Bass is how they served it largely in Bristol.
Lovely pint 30 + years ago.
— Glen Young https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/11/72x72/1f1ea-1f1fa.pnghttps://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/11/72x72/1f1eb-1f1f4.pnghttps://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/11/72x72/1f339.png (@GlenYoungBRFC) July 11, 2018 (https://twitter.com/GlenYoungBRFC/status/1017027519000858624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
A few months ago we had to negotiate heads on our beers with a member of staff in a pub more often frequented by elderly men who angled the glass and trickled the last inches with great care: “Look, I agree with you, but I’ve been working here for a while and this lot have got me trained to serve it flat.”
At which point, an interruption from a grey-hair with a sad-looking decapitated pint: “Yeah, proper Bristol style, we’re not up north now.”
To Jess, this idea doesn’t seem so alien: she recalls a general preference for completely headless pints in East London before about, say, 2005.
There, it often seemed to be tied to the question of value, and a refusal to be at all influenced by the superficial: foam’s a marketing trick to make mug punters pay for air, innit?
In Bristol, we wonder if it’s a combination of that, plus the influence of scrumpy cider drinkers, whose pints are froth-free by default.
But we can’t say that in practice we’ve encountered many flat pints in Bristol, though, and one of the few handy sources, Fred Pearce’s 1975 guide to the pubs of Bristol (https://boakandbailey.com/2018/02/complete-guide-bristols-pubs-1976/), features plenty of shots of white-capped glasses.
Maybe we’re having our legs pulled, or perhaps this is more complex than we’ve realised – maybe only certain brands or styles get the millpond treatment – but either way, it would be a bit sad if a genuine bit of local beer culture has been lost.
Even if it’s good news for us as drinkers who very much prefer a bit of dressing around the top of the mug.
As you might have guessed, this is really our way of flushing out more information. Do comment below if you can tell us more.
Bristol, Where Headless Pints are a Feature, not a Bug (https://boakandbailey.com/2019/01/bristol-where-headless-pints-are-a-feature-not-a-bug/) originally posted at Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog (https://boakandbailey.com)
More... (https://boakandbailey.com/2019/01/bristol-where-headless-pints-are-a-feature-not-a-bug/)