The world of real ale all too often ignores or dismisses the common or garden ale in favour of the more exotic, or rare. This somewhat misguided snobbery means that some more widely available beers tend not to get mentioned by those of us that enthuse about ale. This narrow approach is not a healthy one. Just because an ale sells by the bucket load doesn’t make it a bad beer. So it is with Marston’s Pedigree. To some it will be just another boring brown beer but not so I. When Marston’s Pedigree is in top notch condition it is hot; a decent drop of stuff. True it’s brown, but boring it ain’t. This ale has sophistication. Could that be down to the fact that it is still brewed in the oak casks of the Burton Union? I like to think so. This exceptional premium ale with an ABV of 4.5% brings forth a bouquet of hop to the nose. Malt meanders around the tongue as this mildly sweet ale offers up floral notes along with marshmallow toffee-ness, all handily wrapped with hessian highlights and only the slightest hint of a bitter finish. Pedigree by name Pedigree by nature. This ale is spiffing!

#ukpubs#wetherspoon
In Mark Thomas’ book ‘The People’s Manifesto’ it is suggested that the Daily Mail should be forced to print the words “The Paper That Supported Hitler” on its masthead. Not a bad idea me thinks. I point this out because papers of their ilk are the enemy within.

Wetherspoon’s yesterday announced that they plan to open at 7am to capture what they presumably see as a lucrative breakfast trade. Rather tongue in cheek they suggested that they wanted to sell more breakfasts than McDonalds. Good luck to JDW I say. This is a creative use of the pub, and I hope it catches on with others. But what is the Daily Mail’s headline?
No it wasn’t Wetherspoon’s encouraging lesbian immigrant benefit scroungers, surprisingly, but “Bacon, eggs... and a beer”. Tossers!

This sort of propaganda really needs to be challenged at every opportunity.

#ukpubs
Those of you, like me, who subscribe to Google Alerts (other alert services are available) can’t have failed to notice the large number of blogs by ppcs* proclaiming allegiance to CAMRA’s Beer Drinkers and Pub Goers Charter. It would seem that parliamentary candidates of all persuasions are only too ready to please all of the people all of the time. I suppose when you are standing for parliament you must be desperate to win over as many people as possible.

The charter is a minimalist précis of much of CAMRA’s more recent policies, some of which I agree with, some that I don’t. At the risk of being accused of CAMRA bashing I think that the charter is a bit woolly and vaguely vague. In a way this will no doubt achieve what it set out to do, namely appeal across party lines to as many candidates as possible. CAMRA summarise the charter thus:

1) Promote the interests of Britain’s pub goers
2) Champion well-run community pubs
3) Rebalance alcohol taxation to support beer and pubs
4) Reform the beer tie to deliver a fair deal for consumers
5) Support the role of well-run pubs as solutions to alcohol misuse

What exactly is the definition of a well-run community pub? I’m not sure. Is it a ground breaking document? I don’t think so. But in fairness I suspect it never set out to be. It is a plan for all seasons. Sadly I would have hoped for a Beer Drinkers and Pub Goers Charter to be something a bit meatier. A slight but significant paperback that could be carried at all times and referred to in earnest at every pub based dilemma or conjecture. But sadly not.

Having said that it is helping to publicise real ale, and as we all know there is no such thing as bad publicity. So a result then?

The full charter can be found here: http://campaign.publicaffairsbriefing.co.uk/home.aspx?cid=2be1237f-cfc3-49b9-9cad-26d7c5107a9b

*prospective parliamentary candidates

When I first saw this Guardian headline I thought, “What a waste of good ale”. In principle I’m not against throwing beer over a Tory, but it really should be some nasty Euro-fizz lager and not an ale. Then I read that it was John Smith's Extra Smooth. Well that’s all right then I suppose!

It would seem that a disgruntled attention seeking Tory supporter who couldn’t get the ear of his MP threw his toys out of the pram. In this case his toy was a pint of nitro-keg. Whilst I wouldn’t want to encourage the throwing of beer over a politician, please remember that the nastier the beer the stronger the insult.

"Hundreds of pubs and venues, UK-wide. Thousands of people. Same questions. Same night. Same buzz. The Event? The World's Biggest Pub Quiz!
The Family Holiday Association is organising the World’s Biggest Pub Quiz on 25 March 2010 to raise funds for and awareness of our vital work changing lives by giving a break to young families coping with difficult circumstances.

Thousands of people around the UK will be taking part! It's all about having a great night out, being a part of a nationwide event and supporting a worthy charity."

For more information go to http://www.bigpubquiz.org/

Not the most jolly of occasions but had a tip top pint of GK IPA at a wake in Bury today. Others can say what they like, but this beer is still bloody good when it is good, which is usually on it's home turf.

There are many great brewing regions in the UK, and then, there’s Yorkshire. Yorkshire where the only decent brewery is one in exile from Suffolk, namely Wensleydale (formerly Lidstones). So I for one won’t be decrying Carlsberg’s decision to move Tetley’s cask brewing from Leeds to Marston’s brewery in Wolverhampton. Chances are that being brewed in the Midlands, and by the pretty decent brewer that Marston’s is, will no doubt improve the ale in leaps and bounds. I look forward to trying it when it finally moves.

#mild #wetherspoon
Today is the first day of Mild Month. Well it would be if a significant organisation within the beer world were to help make it so. What is needed is a forward thinking brewery organisation, pub chain or some other august body to promote Mild in March. So come on SIBA or JD Wetherspoon, how about it?

Any movers and shakers out there want to help Make March Mild Month?

Make MARCH Mild Month - Join the campaign!

Gent with his jumper tucked in his trousers hung a paint roller up on a hook along with his coat and flat cap tonight. Not an everyday occurrence in your average British pub I suspect, but possibly normal for Norfolk.

I was quite pleased to see this article on The Publican website last week. Hall & Woodhouse aren’t unique in taking a more progressive approach to their tied estate, several other companies/breweries have already started down this path, but more need to see the light. I have stated before that I don’t think that the law needs changing with respect to the ‘tie’, or that CAMRA need to be campaigning for that change. I firmly believe that any change in legislation etc., whilst possibly well meaning would no doubt end up making matters worse rather than better.

I’m not a lover of market forces but I think that I think the ideal solution for the ‘tie’ could well be to let the market prevail. I say this for two reasons. First because the bully-boy tactics of some of the larger pubcos are unsustainable and secondly because there are a few, mainly brewery owned chains that have actually realised that nurturing their tenants is actually more profitable in the long term than making a quick buck. The smart business is the one that knows that its employees/partners are its greatest asset. The smart business is the one that treats people superbly and compensates them fairly. There are signs that a few SME-sized breweries have cottoned onto this notion (or perhaps they have always operated on these principles).

I would suggest that there is a strong likelihood that the price of alcohol will continue to rise within the on-trade. I won’t mention supermarkets because their pricing would appear to defy the laws of gravity and besides they are not the issue as far as pubs are concerned. The current temperance mood within the corridors of power will see to continual upward price movement. If this happens it will make so many more pubs belonging to short-sighted pubcos unviable, unless they do something quite radical to change their pricing structures. Effectively they will be forced to adapt or die. They will have no choice. Of course before pubcos wake up thousands of ‘innocent’ people working in the industry are going to suffer by having their livelihoods brutally removed. Capitalism doesn’t take prisoners. The longer that the unenlightened pubcos slumber the more casualties there will be. No doubt more pubcos will also be amongst those casualties.

A sustainable business model for the tenanted tied pub has to be based on a reasonable return for all concerned parties. It also has to be based on an equitable symbiotic partnership, rather than the old bloodsucking-landlord/naive-anaemic-tenant strait-jacket. Wake up pub world!

In the final analysis the evil pubco scenario is a bit of a red herring. The pubco will change. It must. The pub industries woes will continue with or without the tie. Unless some smart Alec comes up with a brilliant new concept for the public house, a brilliant new concept that will bring people into pubs in their droves, then pubs will continue to close. It won’t make a blind bit of difference who you blame either, because blame doesn’t actually cure anything. The pub trade needs a revolution, and it needs it pretty soon!

The specimen what wrote this clichéd nonsense is a twat!
In my humble opinion you understand.
Arch-Deacon’s Chafed Nipple my arse!

This is such a great picture:

Caption anyone?

It appears with this article in a local paper. I wonder how many of the geezers are either called Arthur or Percy?
Once the flat cap was à la mode down at your actual local. Another tradition gone to the wall!

"Yorkshire pub judged ‘Best in Britain’

First pub to win CAMRA’s National Pub of the Year twice in a row!

CAMRA National Pub of the Year 2009

Winner: Kelham Island Tavern, 62 Russell Street, Sheffield, S3 8RW

CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, has today crowned the Kelham Island Tavern, Sheffield, as its National Pub of the Year for 2009.

Last year, the Kelham Island Tavern picked up the same award, making it the first pub in CAMRA’s history to win its most coveted accolade in consecutive years. Only two other pubs have ever won the award twice- the Fat Cat, Norwich (1998, 2004), and the Swan, Little Totham, Essex (2002, 2005)."

Think perhaps I should make the pilgrimage up there!
Or would that be being too much of an anorak?

Here in Norwich we probably have one of the best selection of pubs in the country. We have a goodly number of hostelries offering a wonderful and varied choice of real ale. We literally have more real ale than you can shake a stick at. My new abode which is but ten minutes walk from the city centre, is in a very long road that for the best part runs alongside the Wensum and then on to the ancient centre known as Tombland. Despite its length there is only one pub in the whole of the road, and in true law of the sods fashion it happens to be at the other end to where I live. The pub is called Kings (formerly the Nags Head – a much better name) and it is okay. They usually have two or three real ales, which in my experience have always been of acceptable quality. They have ‘entertainment’ at the weekends; karaoke or a DJ (what was once called a ‘disco’) so it’s best avoided on those nights. I don’t go there much as there are better pubs, and nearer. Not much more than a couple of hundred yards from where we live is a boarded up pub, The Ferry Boat. It’s an ex-Greene king establishment that was closed by them a couple of years ago and has since been the subject of a CAMRA campaign and various legal wrangling. It has recently been sold and it was announced the day before yesterday that it is to become an ‘eco-hostel’ and not a reopened pub as many had hoped. Bugger!

Whilst it is sad that this pub will not be reopening as a pub there is a glimmer of hope to keep the real ale enthusiast interested, and that is the hint that they may well incorporate a small pub or bar selling real ale within the site. Let’s hope it comes to fruition.

"There are only 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't"

"Lies, damned lies, and statistics"

I think I am right in saying that there is a South American tribe that only has three numbers in their language, one two and many. This seems to be a most excellent approach.

We continue to have statistics thrown at us about drinking habits along with health and drink related violence which very often seems incredible or just downright nonsense. From now on my attitude towards media numbers is going to be to ignore them. Well at least for the time being. This might be considered to be a bit of a head in the sand approach but I don’t care. The world of beer seems to have gone numbers mad at the moment, and whilst I’m quite a fan of maths I am finding these numbers games all a bit tedious. Whilst I don’t doubt that the statisticians that produce the data do so in a controlled and scientific manner to the best of their ability it’s what happens to that data once media types get their grubby mitts on it that so often causes a stir. This is of course what media types want. My attitude towards such beery numbers is to never take things at face value. Nothing is ever black and white. So for the moment I’m going to ignore it all and have another beer!

By the way I have the biggest knob out of all the beer bloggers in Christendom - official*

*source – a representative sample was asked “out of all the beer bloggers you know which one has the biggest appendage?”