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Thread: Disappointment of the week

  1. #161
    This Space For Hire Aqualung's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bucking Fastard View Post
    I got this second hand from aem,but apparently the young barman at The Craven Arms ,Birmingham has left which is a crying shame as he was responsible for the outstanding ale range here.Apparently Black Country Ales want the pub to revert to a more mainstream ale policy.

    None of this explains the ommission of The Craven Arms from the 2017 GBG,this apparently as a result of politics in the local CAMRA branch ,who must have felt that the ale in there was just too good.

    All very depressing
    I was in the Coopers Arms in Burton yesterday and the landlady was due to leave the next day to run the Craven Arms. The Coopers is getting new, currently unknown people next month. I've no idea how good or bad this is for either pub. It gives me an excuse to revisit both although I'm not that keen on visiting Brum although I'm sure I could get over it!
    The landlady of the Coopers is taking two very friendly dogs with her.

  2. #162
    Waterborne Beer Inspector Bucking Fastard's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aqualung View Post
    I was in the Coopers Arms in Burton yesterday and the landlady was due to leave the next day to run the Craven Arms. The Coopers is getting new, currently unknown people next month. I've no idea how good or bad this is for either pub. It gives me an excuse to revisit both although I'm not that keen on visiting Brum although I'm sure I could get over it!
    The landlady of the Coopers is taking two very friendly dogs with her.
    I would certainly be interested in any update when you next visit these two.In the past,from my point of view, these were the "go to" pubs in Burton and Brum.
    "Good people drink good beer" Hunter S Thompson

  3. #163
    This Space For Hire Aqualung's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bucking Fastard View Post
    I would certainly be interested in any update when you next visit these two.In the past,from my point of view, these were the "go to" pubs in Burton and Brum.
    I can't see them changing the Coopers and I can't see the new people being anything but Real Ale enthusiasts. From what I've heard the Craven may depend on BCA policy and I expect that someone will go there before I do.

  4. #164
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    Went to a new brewery tap in Penge.Southey brewery. Tried 2 cask and one keg but they were dreadful as was the taproom. Trains were a bit of a nightmare as well. A well onwards and upwards.

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    This Space For Hire Pubsignman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by london calling View Post
    Went to a new brewery tap in Penge.Southey brewery. Tried 2 cask and one keg but they were dreadful as was the taproom. Trains were a bit of a nightmare as well. A well onwards and upwards.
    Is Southey Brewery just a new name for the old Late Knights Brewery?

  6. #166
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pubsignman View Post
    Is Southey Brewery just a new name for the old Late Knights Brewery?
    Not really Late Knights is gone and I think this is an ex brewer who has bought the kit. Hard to believe that he was brewing at Late Knights.The original owner is opening a brewery in East Sussex.Holler Boys brewery I think.

  7. #167
    We're not really 'ere! trainman's Avatar
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    The paucity of pubs in SE London has lead to an unbelievable list for CAMRA poty. Perhaps they have a time-out before previous winners can be considered again, or maybe good places like the Blythe opt out, but the list includes Brockley Talbot and, wait for it, Brockley Barge! Yikes!

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    When in the new local micropub had an excellent beer from Kew brewery and decided to have a bottle of Weird Beards latest new beer at the reasonable price of £3.99.They have always done 500ml bottles but the barman produced a tiddly bottle.They have changed the size and reading their blog it seems a reasonable argument why but its about a 50% increase to me.I did not buy the bottle but went elsewhere where beer was £3.80 a pint.

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    Quote Originally Posted by trainman View Post
    The paucity of pubs in SE London has lead to an unbelievable list for CAMRA poty. Perhaps they have a time-out before previous winners can be considered again, or maybe good places like the Blythe opt out, but the list includes Brockley Talbot and, wait for it, Brockley Barge! Yikes!
    They seem to have a good selection of Camra recommended pubs in that area imo but the 6 contenders do look a bit dull.Some of my favourites for good beer are East Dulwich Tavern,Westow House,Stormbird,Oaka,Old Nuns Head and the Rake. Stormbird always have 3 or 4 cask beers on and they are only £3.00 a pint.

  10. #170
    Between pubs sheffield hatter's Avatar
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    I visited the Eagle Barge Inn on the Caledonian Canal when I was cycling in the area back in 2012. Unfortunately the pub was closed at the time of my visit and I always had it in mind to get back there some time when it was open. A recent cycling trip found me staying once again at the Great Glen hostel, which is just a mile away along the canal, and this time on an opening day for the pub. (As well as being regularly shut on Mondays and Tuesdays, the pub has a list displayed outside of when the crew are off at other times. Apparently there are only two people working here and they live over 100 miles away.)

    My route brought me to Laggan Locks a little earlier than intended - the pub was due to open at 4:30 and I had 45 minutes to kill, which I spent watching boats going through the lock gates and out onto Loch Lochy in the pleasant afternoon sunshine. When one of the staff turned up and changed the closed sign to one saying open, I was first through the door. There are four hand pumps on the bar, with a notice displayed next to them explaining about cask beer being served flat, which should have set alarm bells ringing.

    Beers available were Orkney Red MacGregor and Dark Island, and River Leven Traditional IPA. I'd had the Red earlier in the day, so went for halves of the other two. Unfortunately they were both going off, with a sour, apple-y taste. Not so off that you could smell it, just bad enough to make it difficult to drink, with the initial beery taste and flavour replaced at the swallow by one more redolent of cider. Other drinkers were coming in and buying their beers to take away (on a departing boat) or out onto the deck, and I could see that the Red was just as cloudy as my two halves, so there didn't seem much point asking for my beer to be changed. Anyway the person serving had disappeared into the galley to help her colleague prepare food. (The only alternatives would have been bottled beers as there were no keg fonts.) In the end I just left the part-consumed beers on the bar counter and departed.

    It seems to me that if you are running a pub that closes on Monday & Tuesday every week, you need to make sure that your beer is going to last from Sunday to Wednesday without going off. If your pub is a barge on a canal, it is not likely that the beer is going to be kept very cool, so its chances of making it through after the weekend are going to be slim if it's already been on for a couple of days. If your attitude towards cask ale is that it's supposed to be flat and should be consumed "with a smile on your face" (I'm regretting not having photographed that notice on the bar), it seems likely that no one will have trained you in how to keep it properly. Whatever, they should have been in the habit of checking the beer for quality when pulling it through. This had clearly not been done.

    What is so disappointing about this is that real ale is so hard to find in the Highlands that it's a double let down when a pub that does serve it is unable to look after it properly. Fortunately, I had the memories of my visits earlier in the trip to the Kinlochewe Hotel, The Torridon Inn and the Cluanie Inn to look back on.
    Come On You Hatters!

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