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Thread: Disappointment of the week

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    Quote Originally Posted by london calling View Post
    All cask beers should be pulled through a sparkler.
    "Beer is food." Morse, Colin Dexter

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    This Space For Hire Wittenden's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by london calling View Post
    All cask beers should be pulled through a sparkler.
    Not if brewed this side of Newark.
    "At that moment I would have given a kingdom, not for champagne or hock and soda, or hot coffee but for a glass of beer" Marquess Curzon of Kedlestone, Viceroy of India.

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    Quote Originally Posted by london calling View Post
    All cask beers should be pulled through a sparkler.
    Yup. I think the aeration improves the flavour, a bit like letting red wine 'breathe'. They also give head, which I like as this gives an improved mouth feel.

    Quote Originally Posted by Wittenden View Post
    Not if brewed this side of Newark.
    The 'enlightened South'.

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    Quote Originally Posted by london calling View Post
    All cask beers should be pulled through a sparkler.
    Quite wrong!

    Quote Originally Posted by Wittenden View Post
    Not if brewed this side of Newark.
    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...
    On leaving the bar, I felt a strong blow to the back of my head. Turning round, I discovered it was the pavement

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pangolin View Post
    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.
    Come On You Hatters!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pangolin View Post


    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...
    Agree! In my early drinking days in Kent,most of my local pubs served direct from the cask,from admittedly non-temperature controlled stillages, so I do tend to favour gravity over handpump.Especially now, when cooling is more reliable.
    "At that moment I would have given a kingdom, not for champagne or hock and soda, or hot coffee but for a glass of beer" Marquess Curzon of Kedlestone, Viceroy of India.

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    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.

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    Quote Originally Posted by sheffield hatter View Post
    Dove at Hammersmith.
    I didn't get any real ale when I visited.

    Quote Originally Posted by Pangolin View Post
    ...but they knock out flavours also.
    I find sparklers enliven flavour.

    Quote Originally Posted by Wittenden View Post
    Agree! In my early drinking days in Kent,most of my local pubs served direct from the cask,from admittedly non-temperature controlled stillages, so I do tend to favour gravity over handpump.Especially now, when cooling is more reliable.
    In my experience, albeit limited, I would never chose a beer from stillage; I find they taste dead.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tris39 View Post
    I didn't get any real ale when I visited.
    I guess that's because you don't like London Pride, but trust me: in the Dove at Hammersmith it was superb.


    Quote Originally Posted by Tris39 View Post
    I find sparklers enliven flavour.
    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.


    Quote Originally Posted by Tris39 View Post
    In my experience, albeit limited, I would never chose a beer from stillage; I find they taste dead.
    You should visit the Halfway House at (or outside) Brenchley in Kent. Nothing dead about the beers there!
    Come On You Hatters!

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    Quote Originally Posted by sheffield hatter View Post
    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.

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