I have been in lots of pubs and when i am on a pub crawl i always start at opening time and often wait for a pub to open and when i have entered the pub the landlord/lady will either pull a couple of pints off or say i have already pulled a couple of pints off.Originally Posted by NickDavies
Beer should be served at the correct temperature whatever time of day is,if you went in a restaurant and a meal was served cold but cooked properley ime sure you would take it back.
Landlord/lady .... but if it's some wretch of an M&B assistant manager opening up you might not be so fortunate.
I took several pints back in summer last year [Red Lion, Horndean], it is a chain and must admit I felt sorry for poor barmaid in a fatherly sort of way, as all the beers were pouring extra frothy Sarson's and she was obviously out of her knowledge zone as to what to do, apart from pour yet more frothy Sarson's
Luckily a trained bar manager was on hand, diagnosed fault as cellar cooling duff, and stopped serving beer until fixed. I settled for a cider that lunchtime
One other experience last year was a new to me brew in a new to me pub, it was awful, I asked chap next to me to taste it, he reckoned it was OK [he and others were drinking it], so in that case I had to assume it was just cr@p beer. I may go back in another 40 years, in the unlikely event I live that long. I left my pint and the pub
I had to laugh at the offer of ice cubes to cure warm beer. Maybe candles on the tables are the cure for cold beer.
I'll usually take a dodgy pint back, but by the time I've noticed a bad half it's mostly gone down the throat so I don't bother as it would seem unreasonable on my part.
I've not really had any problem getting a replacement pint when I have asked, but there have been many pubs where I've thought better of mentioning it.
WE ARE THE BREADMEN - UP THE BEES 
I always take off beer back.
Also, I always take back good beer in dirty glasses,, which I have done here
http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/57831/
and here
http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/55755/
recently.
Usually I am given a new pint in a new (not always clean) glass, which is fine.
On one occasion here
http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/33144/
the beer from the first glass was poured into a second glass and topped up (see my review).
I find the whole thing is getting out of hand...not the thread, just trying to get a decent pint and what to do about it. Maybe I'm just getting picky in me old age........
By and large I have little trouble getting another, hopefully fresher, pint, but then I tend to drink in the same half-dozen or so pubs so I'm usually well known to the staff.
Several times over the years a barman has stopped pulling a pint because 'it doesn't feel right' and I've grown to recognise the signs so at least I'm usually warned about mostly empty barrels.
Also, in my local JDW especially, I get asked to try out a beer before the first one's sold or to give another customer advice on a beer
A long time ago I made a conscious decision not to drink duff beer anymore, it's not always been easy, but I find being quiet, unobtrusive and determined usually works. My advice is don't enter into specifics unless they are obvious and if no improvement is forthcoming then switch to lager, let 'em pour it then tell 'em you've changed your mind, they'll have to put it back. If you're quick you can be out of the pub and gone by the time they react. What always amazes me is the way they continue pouring the pint even when you're legging it..........
Pubs are a hobby, real ale is a passion. Oh, and like me dogs, fear no evil..........
Could be an age thing - amongst others I recollect many years ago when real ale was much rarer an extremly vinegarish half of Courage Best (complete with earwig) on gravity out of a barrel, which I managed to get down (I left the earwig). Nowadays it would be straight back to the bar, but I agree the "sorry it's not quite right" approach is usually the most effective.
I think I must have been lucky down the years, as the number of truly awful pints I've had I could count on one hand. However, the real problem I've found is what John Bonser(?) calls 'dilemma' pints, where they're not quite right, but possibly not worth returning to the bar.
Unfortunately, in my experience, some of the better real ale venues are just a gulity as bog standard pubs in rejecting customer concerns. One well known pub in Leeds springs to mind. Also, at the National Winter Ales festival I returned a beer after myself 'oldboots', 'ROBCamra' and a respected real ale pub landlord all thought it was off. The clip was reversed for a while, but it was disppointing to see the beer being sold a little later. Presumably someone had re-assessed it as OK. I'm pretty certain it wasn't a replacement barrel. If it's a lottery at a CAMRA festival, then there's probably no wonder there's some confusion on the high street.
'trainman' joked about the problems with wheat beer, but I had a 'saison' beer a while ago that was cloudy with supposed lambic sourness. If it had been another style, I'd have suggested pouring it down the sink, but I was assured it was true to form. Hmmm.
'And where he supped the past lived still. And where he sipped the glass brimmed full' John Barleycorn, Carol Ann Duffy.
I remember some problems with "wheat beers" at Durham beer festival when I was up north. One beer in particular was cloudly and phenolic, a quick call to the brewer who said it was in the style of the beer. Not an expert on these types of beer but if its unpleasant and to your disliking then surely you can take it back.
Also had my first Cantillon lambic at the same festival which is a totally different experience,as long as I didn't drink it expecting a "normal" tasting beer I found I quite enjoyed it, but probably wouldn't drink it out of choice.
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