I was just wondering since Fuller's has absorbed Gale's in the past year, were any of the former Gales beers available at this years GBBF? I am especially interested in HSB & Festival Mild. If either of these were available, how were they vs a year ago when Gale's was still in business?
Cheers,
Bruce CAMRA member from New Jersey
In message , Spike writes
Festival mild was available, quality seemed OK, I think HSB was acailable also but did not drink it.
I think HSB and Festival Mild were indeed available on the Fuller's stand (they certainly appeared in Fullers advert in the programme) but no other Gales's beers.
Butser seems to have been quietly and quickly dropped - they might continue to brew it for the old Gales estate, but I couldn't find it in a couple of pubs in Southampton earlier this week (which both predictably had London Pride available).
BTN
Both beers were available on the Fuller's brewery bar. I did tasting cards for them both but not having done cards for them pre-Fuller's I don't have an objective comparison. I was never a big HSB fan, but I really like Festival, and I still do.
Cheers,
Martin
Ditto at The Bull in Sonning when I was there at the weekend. HSB still on, but the other pumps were Pride, Chiswick and Discovery.
Angela
Understandable.
It never had much of a following even in the area.
"Sir Benjamin Nunn" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net:
Butser is still around (and I believe will remain) in Gales pubs in Portsmouth whereas GB has gone, replaced everywhere by Pride, which is a pity. I was bored to tears of London Pride even before the takeover but quite used to like a GB as an alternative to getting mashed on HSB!
Festival Mild is going to be returned to a seasonal brew but I never quite got what the fuss was about. Wasn't it just doctored HSB with a bit of caramel thrown in?
The biggest difference in the beer since the takeover is the price - in many pubs there was a massive increase - 2.35 to 2.70 for HSB in my favourite ex-Gales pub with Pride stuffed in at the same price. I dare say that over the next few months or years there will be a creeping "Fullersisation" of Gales pubs and beers. I wonder if anyone from Fullers will have the nerve to show their face at the Portsmouth Guildhall BF this weekend.
Thank God in this part of the world we still have Oakleaf turning out superb beer on the other side of the Harbour or else things would be really bleak.
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