A moan about some real ale pubs...

[PaulOfHorsham]

Is it reasonable to sit down and come to the conclusion that "this week all our customers will want to drink stouts" - and "next week all our customers will want hoppy ales"? I wouldn't have thought so.

It may be that some have simply do not shift as quickly as others which were on a few days earlier so, on your visit, you find an unbalanced selection.

This lack of real choice is, though, a real bug-bear of mine. A selection of London Pride, Harveys Sussex and, say, Bombardier is, to me, not really much of a choice, and this is all too common in London and Sussex. My theory has always been that these are stocked by unimaginative landlords who've looked at the charts, decided which ones are the top-sellers and thought "if I stock 3 of the top 5, I'll sell loads and make a fortune".

[Farway]

God, you lot are spoiled, around here, without a bus ride etc, the choice is Hobson's

I can have Fuller's, or Marston's, and one ale only at the nearest one, which can be whatever Enterprise have on the "ale" list that week, lately it is 6x, Havant Forgotten or Doom Bar, not that I object to any of the offerings, it makes me smile a bit when some say "only" 8 ales, or above, on offer. A different world exists outside cities

I would love a local choice of "London Pride, Harveys Sussex and, say, Bombardier" like POH

[Moonraker]

I like my beer to be a dark brown colour. Although some of these 'citrusy' ales can taste all right in small doses, they look like lager! Give me a good pint of HSD any day!

[gillhalfpint]

HSD is a favourite of mine and I did a crawl of St Austell and never found it. Was in Cornwall around 9 weeks before I found HSD in 2 pubs in Fowey. I like that any day over the citrussy pale beers around these days.

[Wittenden]

I like my beer to be a dark brown colour. Although some of these 'citrusy' ales can taste all right in small doses, they look like lager! Give me a good pint of HSD any day!

Looking at this thread and the Changing taste... thread, I sense a renaisance of interest in brown bitters. I do enjoy pale 'n' hoppy as a freshener, but find the darker types more complex. The beer recently drunk that I think about most is Otter Amber,which I found multi layered.I'm not sure what hops were used,but it does'nt look like lager!

[Wittenden]

I like my beer to be a dark brown colour. Although some of these 'citrusy' ales can taste all right in small doses, they look like lager! Give me a good pint of HSD any day!

Looking at this thread and the Changing taste... thread, I sense a renaisance of interest in brown bitters. I do enjoy pale 'n' hoppy as a freshener, but find the darker types more complex. The beer recently drunk that I think about most is Otter Amber,which I found multi layered.I'm not sure what hops were used,but it does'nt look like lager!

[NickDavies]

God, you lot are spoiled, around here, without a bus ride etc, the choice is Hobson's

If only we had Hobson's Best round out way

[hondo]

Looking at this thread and the Changing taste... thread, I sense a renaisance of interest in brown bitters. I do enjoy pale 'n' hoppy as a freshener, but find the darker types more complex. The beer recently drunk that I think about most is Otter Amber,which I found multi layered.I'm not sure what hops were used,but it does'nt look like lager!

http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/otter-amber/100663/20036/

[Oggwyn Trench]

If only we had Hobson's Best round out way

Loads of it up here , the Milds even better

[Spinko]

One thing I've noticed is that younger drinkers <35 go for the paler, hoppier, cleaner tasting beers and the older drinkers go for the brown old-style bitters. You tend to find there'll be more interesting keg beers at the former type of establishment too (as an example in Leeds, paler beers and younger ale fans can be found in Foleys and The Hop, whereas darker beers and an older clientele locate in Scarbrough Hotel or The Grove).

Or am I talking ballcocks