Real Ale & Interest In Pubs: The Link

[arwkrite]

A fascinating thread. I suppose I could recite what features my favourite pub would have but then think of a totally different pub which I have enjoyed immensely.
Is it all about what a pub serves, looks like or its position ? I have visited pubs that look great an a secondnd serve good beer but have never felt tempted to revisit.
I would say that we are all a gregarious lot and that that is a very important point for us. A empty pub , however good the beer , lacks atmosphere which can help even a second rate pub go down. I hate empty pubs even when I want a solitary drink. Its nice to have people around.

As an aside I got plastered in the eighties at the Three Tuns , Bishops Castle. I mixed in with a group of well spoken, well dressed chaps who turned out to be pilots for a well known national airline. None of us needed wings to fly home that night.

[Delboy20]

Unless any lager-lovers suddenly decide to crawl out of the woodwork, I have long been under the impression that the majority of us here are all real ale aficionados. I have often wondered if there is a link between those who drink ale and those who have a genuine love and affection for the public house. And I think there is. You see, as ale drinkers, we have to take a little more care in our drinking surroundings. Despite a seeming increase in the number of outlets selling cask-conditioned beers, as enthusiasts, I feel we take a little more note and care in deciding where we drink. It seems to me that with interesting beer selections comes more interesting pubs. We tend to visit a wider selection of establishment to satisfy our love and as a result, we start to pay more of an interest in the hostelry we happen to be supping in. With lager drinkers – and this is the prime reason as to why they seems less interested in where they choose to drink – they get the same everywhere. As a result, there is a lessened chance of them seeking out pubs other than the handful they would usually socialise in. We ale-drinkers like variety. And with enjoying a variety of ales, comes enjoying a variety of pubs.

Am I on the right track, here?

Hi all,

I may as well crawl out of the woodwork and put my 2 pence worth in . I mainly drink lager and believe it or not I like lager !!
Having said that I also drink ale. Most of my sessions include at least one real ale - it all depends which pubs i go in.

As I have said before it is more about the pub than the beer for me. I love pubs and i want to go in every one I see. I suppose I started sticking to lager for consistency. After years of drinking in pubs near football grounds packed out with drunken football fans it seems much easier to shout for a Carling than to ask what ales they have on ! It is not easy to see the handpulls when you are three deep at the bar !!

The same applies to years of clubs and wine bars. Bottles of lager are just easier.

If i walk into a grotty little pub I couldn't walk out if they didn't have a selection of ales. I just have a pint of lager.

Not all lager drinkers are knuckle dragging yobs - just like not all real alers are middle aged men with beards !!

It is all about choice and I can only speak for myself. I drink lager and I am passionate about pubs of all varieties.

Cheers,

Del

[arwkrite]

It was so hot this evening the ale was heavy going. I had to order a pint of extra cold lager. That disappeared surprisingly quickly.So did the next two. I had a bender last night so thought it wise to go home early tonight.Something was running around my stomach with hobnail boots on.

[Conrad]

Are you just the exception that proves the rule though Del?

Have to admit to liking a Lager shandy for cooling down in this weather. So both lightweight and Lager, a double sin.

[Farway]

In my yoof I used to drink lager & lime. Oh the shame of it now , still a nice drink on hot day though

And during my Cornwall trip last week I often finished the night with a couple of Cornish Rattlers http://www.cornishrattler.co.uk/

[Quinno]

Revival of this old thread as I stumbled across it just now. In the intervening years we have added a new reviewer who likes craft beer (as well as real ale). Not quite a lager drinker but you get my drift

Can't think of anyone else though!!

[Blackthorn]

I'm a cider drinker! That's not to say I don't ever have a real ale, I often do, but it tends to be at the end of the night when sometimes too many ciders can get a bit much. I don't think I've ever started out an evening on ale. Possibly it's just because it's the first pint I ever had at a school leaving do (in The Granary incidentally for those who know Bristol, which was a bit of a heavy metal club type venue. It's a Loch Fyne and trendy apartments these days), and partly I'm sure because we get fairly decent stuff in this neck of the woods. If I lived somewhere where the only thing I could get was Strongbow or Aspalls, I may well have gone down a different route. Even Blackthorn used to be made to a sweeter recipe for areas other than the South West.

And on top of that, I don't even like proper Scrumpy, give me a Thatcher's Gold or an Ashton Press and I'm happy! But when I have my odd ale, I do try different ones, and will generally try something local. There are a number of new micros that have sprung up around here recently, in fact I only came across the New Bristol Brewery in the last week.

But as I'm sure most people have realised, I do of course like trying different pubs, and like Gill says with her beer, I'd probably say I haven't found my favourite yet! Anything old and cosy generally fits the bill for me. I eat out quite a lot, so do sometimes try pubs based on food reputation, but fully appreciate that can be to the detriment of it's pubbiness and it isn't of interest to everyone.

[Quinno]

I'm a cider drinker!

[Aqualung]

Revival of this old thread as I stumbled across it just now. In the intervening years we have added a new reviewer who likes craft beer (as well as real ale). Not quite a lager drinker but you get my drift

Can't think of anyone else though!!

I've tried many Brodie's keg "craft" beers in the Leyton William IV and thoroughly enjoyed most of them especially in the hot weather. Since the prices went through the roof I don't even look at them (they were a blanket £3.30 which rose to £3.40).
At the Brodie's Easter Festival I tried the Elizabethan 22% beer on both cask and keg as it was the same price for a third of a pint and I thought they were identical.
It seems to me that most places that do "craft" keg just use it as an excuse to overcharge and what is this sour beer nonsense all about? I've had several tasters of these and they have all been absolutely rank. I've enjoyed Belgian fruit beers in the past but this stuff is terrible!

To me beer choice, quality and price is everything, but I don't like trendy places with for example loads of lit candles in full daylight (which obviously adds to the beer prices).

[bcfczuluarmy]

I'm lager all the way as Blackthorn knows until I stumble on the odd place that doesn't sell it e.g from memory Beerd along with a few others so I order a real ale to cross the pub off the list of having a pint in every pub.

The odd thing was I was real ale when drinking underage in pubs, got smashed on 4 cans of Strongbow Super in 20 minutes and ended up in hospital when 14 so that knocked cider on the head as a drink of choice although I've had a few since especially with a slice as is the norm in some local pubs around Bristol.

Moving to Bristol and drinking cans in student house as a student put pay to real ale as it cost more than 4 cans off Hofmeister... By Christmas 1995 I was drinking lager in pubs for every pint rather than real ale.

As with others I prefer the experience of visiting a new pub over what drink to have in one, I'm sure landlords don't care what I drink when I turn up as long as I'm putting money in the till and keeping the place in business.