As from tonight back in my cage drinking supermarket beers due to the latest virus news.
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As from tonight back in my cage drinking supermarket beers due to the latest virus news.
My hotly anticipated pint, ruined by keg.
A few people have mentioned the recent deterioration of Nicholsons pubs, and I hoped it would be a temporary Covid thing. But sadly not, it appears. my latest visit to the Philharmonic saw all 10 handpumps in action - but every single one serving boring standard national beers. Not a single local or even regional ale in sight. At this point, I'm thinking it must be a change in company policy. The rubbish piped music seems to have gone several notches louder too. Not sure I'll bother with it again for a while.
Nicholson's have a lot of pubs in and around London,and I would say that the dumbing down of the ale selection has been company policy since well before Covid.Once they got St Austell to brew their Nicholson's Pale,the offering often seems to be another St Austell ale,Tribute along with Sharp's Doom Bar and Fuller's London Pride.In London you may find a guest besides these regulars ,or you may not.
My last visit to the Philharmonic was in 2019 and the ale selection and conditioning was dire.I didn't update my review ,assuming that being an occasional visitor I just got unlucky on the night.Maybe not from what you have said.
I was in the Railway richmond .They had about 10 pumps with 8 with London Pride clips.Did not linger.
I can hear Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings playing. :(
two of the three Sams pubs in west London I tried to tick of yesterday were shut!!
I suppose disappointments are relative: went to The Wenlock Arms to find the bar blocked by seated barholes. When I finally managed to see what was on offer, there were 7/10 pumps in use (eight if you count the one used disrespectfully as a kitchen towel dispenser) almost all with beers below 4%, the plus being Redemption's Fellowship. I left and popped down the road to The Old Fountain and despite there being standing room only, there were just two out of five pumps in use: Oakham Citra and Five Points Railway Porter.
Some salvation came in the form of The Earl of Essex with three quality cask ales on; I hadn't realised that cask had been reintroduced and the place is vastly improved for it too.
I was there on Thursday evening (27th) between 20:15 and 21:05 - exactly the same situation. Bar blockers not content to just sit and talk but actually leaning towards the hand pumps as if deliberately obscuring them. And a rather disappointing Redemption Fellowship Porter 5.1% - very bland. I also had Block Best Bitter 4% (brewed on the premises) and Mighty Oak Captain Bob 3.8%, which were ok but unspectacular.
Good to see the Earl of Essex has again got cask.Used to be a must visit pub when I was in the area.
Almost ended up there last Friday, glad I didn't now, Instead opted for the Southampton Arms followed by The Kings Arms, both were excellent as usual, I don't think either have ever let me down.
As it happens, I was also at the Southampton Arms on Thursday - in the afternoon, when it's quiet. Of the eight hand pumps, two had beers from Thornbridge, two were from Buxton and one from North Brewing - as I pointed out to the lad behind the bar, I didn't come all the way from Sheffield to drink northern* beers! - and the Bristol Beer Factory offering was a chocolate mint stout :sick:, which left me with Howling Hops We Buy Teeth 5.5% (an American Brown) and Elusive Brewing Microball 3.7% (a dark MILD). Neither of which were particularly memorable.
* for the purpose of this rant, I'm treating Buxton and Bakewell as being in the north. I do know that they're in Derbyshire and therefore officially midlands.
I found worse than that in Nicholson's White Swan in Covent Garden last week: eight hand pumps, but just two ciders and Northern Monk Eternal IPA available. Apologies from the bar man, with the absence of other beers blamed on delivery problems.
Away from London, Nicholson's Scarbrough Hotel in Leeds had nine hand pumps yesterday (Sunday), with eight of them active: Eternal IPA was on here too, plus Tetleys and Landlord, both doubled, and Oakham Citra, Doom Bar and Leeds Pale. When I had been here exactly one week before, they looked like they were also the victims of delivery problems, with Tetleys doubled and just one other beer. When I asked for the Tetleys it had reached the bottom of the barrel, but the barman just poured mine from the other pump, which was connected to a different barrel.
Pretty much mirrors my experience on Saturday. Less busy than Friday when I didn't go in for lack of space, but on the Saturday it was less busy and about five bar hogs were congregating in front of the pumps with their backs to them, with another five or so of their friends talking to them; however, my pint of the Fellowship was excellent. I had exactly this problem at The Cock Tavern last Sunday, so had to carry on travelling up to The Rochester Castle (JD Wetherspoon) which is actually now quite good.
Yes. A huge improvement, both of my pints were excellent; I didn't have time to sample the Plateau and with any luck, they'll get the other two pumps up and running.
Yup. Both great choices, me not having been to the King's Arms for about 15 years until two months ago.
Yes. Their recent opting for Thornbridge beers is a bit mainstream and the BBF chocolate mint stout does sound awful. Then again, I discovered BBF's Espresso Dubs milk stout this week and found it excellent. And don't forget the Southampton was responsible for my Wild Weather Maple Latte the other week, which tasted like drinking a half of butterscotch flavour Angel Delight. :sick:
Got to say although I tick lots of new beers at the Southampton I cannot remember ever getting a great pint.They tend to be a bit flat for my liking.
Quite wrong!
Also wrong, although not as badly and some historical truth.
in the first place, it is of course down to personal preference and what you are used to. In the second place, it is also down to the beer and how the brewer intended it to be served. I recollect that the much-missed Gales (I don't count the poor Chiswick copy) brought in a brewer from somewhere Oop North who introduced a beer designed to be pulled through a tight sparkler, which at least didn't taste any the worse for the experience. This was certainly not true of their older recipes which tasted much better without - straight from the barrel ideally.
Personally I tend to prefer beer that is not under a thick layer of foam. Sparklers might well give a creamier feel and reduce suspended CO2 but they knock out flavours also.
And as for counting the aforementioned froth as part of the pint...
Yes, this is the nub of the matter! Beer drinkers have been trained, through advertising like "Whitbread Big Head Trophy Bitter" to believe that beer with very little head on it must have something wrong - it doesn't taste right without a head, does it? The use of swan necks and sparklers is a relatively recent introduction, but it's now almost ubiquitous in pubs in the south. I like my southern beers served the old style - examples that spring to mind are the Bricklayers Arms in Luton, the Bell at Aldworth and the Dove at Hammersmith.
I prefer it with a sparkler or at least.pulled through a hand pump.Ihave only been to a few Camra fests in the last 5 years are most of it is just dropped from the cask which I don't think does it justice.The Hope Carshalton seems to have mastered this method of serve at their fests and my local Ealing Camra fest is good but they are the exception rather than the norm.
I guess that's because you don't like London Pride, but trust me: in the Dove at Hammersmith it was superb.
I think what happens is some of the hop flavour is driven into the head, where it is not so detectable by the taste buds because the air bubbles confuse matters. There's probably a better scientific explanation, but I think what's happening is that you're accustomed to the mouth feel of the frothed up head, and your brain automatically thinks there's something wrong when you drink a beer without one.
You should visit the Halfway House at (or outside) Brenchley in Kent. Nothing dead about the beers there!
I used to like Pride under the old brewer/recipe, but I also find its ubiquity disheartening.
I don't like a huge head by any means, but I can't imagine my super Five Points Railway Porter yesterday without it.
I think you're probably right about stillage. My last experience of the stuff was at The Bree Louise but, landlady aside, I had no complaints at the otherwise excellent https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/22805/; her departure would get the score up markedly.
To bring this discussion back to where we started, I think one of the things that encourages licensees to use tight sparklers and swan necks on beers that weren't ever intended to be served that way (apart from serving short measure with a big frothy head) is that it gives the beer the appearance of being fresh when it's not. This is particularly so in pubs where the turnover of beer (or of particular beer types) is not sufficient to get all the beer sold before it shows signs of being past its best. If, on the other hand, they're serving the beers straight from the barrel, there's no hiding place.
Not sure at the time where anyone would go for a quality drink/pub round there. There's now the Euston Tap and Scottish Stores (now down to serving just Hammerton's N1) and I doubt the Queen's Head was what it is now.
Struggled for hygiene - smell those lavs throughout the pub (the carpet wasn't a highpoint either).
The beers tasted raw and without condition.
The service was terrible - I remember a very brusque barman (possibly the manager?) who was so covered with tattoos and piercings that he resembled a lizard. On my last visit - post my review - I asked for a pint and the barmaid picked up a one-third full pint from a random drip tray and then topped it up with my choice! I wonder if the manager had lost heart, given that it was to close: then and now.
Nothing like the same range, but it was usually The Doric Arch, The Euston Flyer, Mabel's Tavern, The Square Tavern or the Resting Hare.
Don't recall ever having a bad pint in any of these, but sometimes less is more.
That's a good point.Also CAMRA have gone to a lot of trouble in the GBG breweries section to (I assume) ask the brewer how their ale should be served, with sparkler or no sparkler,although not all brewers respond.It's a shame therefore when a publican ignores this bit of sensible advice.Just as some ales can be altered by a tight sparkler,drinking a Timothy Taylor ale served "southern" style can be equally disappointing. I do like a good lacing down my empty pint glass when in Keighley.
When drinking at home I always have a dark beer to finish but tonight's beers was a pale reddish/pink.i had bought a pavlova pastry sour rather than the pastry stout I thought it was.Drat!