Beer prices at festivals

And Hoskin's Little Matty, Gales Festival Mild and Sarah Hughes Ruby are hugely flavoursome beasts by any stretch of the imagination.

BTN

Triplefff Pressed Rat & Warthog could never be described as wishy-washy either.

I have to admit to being slightly disappointed by the Lees GB Mild (winner of the Mild category in CBoB). It was pleasant, but didn't have a huge amount of character.

Cheers,

Martin

....but then, nor did the winner of the Bitter category, did it? :)

I'll get my coat...

KeithS

In message , PeterE wrote

Personally I have found many of the darker beers that I have tried in the last few months unpleasant because of the caramel taste i.e. the brewery's standard bitter with a lot of sweetening and darkening agent.

In a well run festival only a small amount of cash is held at the point where tokens are sold.

As with all festivals, pubs or shops there will be a point where all the cash is held before taking it to the bank but this location will not be made public knowledge for the casual thief.

You have forgotten one big advantage for the customer - SPEED.

In message , Steve Pickthall wrote

Customer do get served a lot quicker at busy times in a token festival - as long as the token system is designed to be simple.

Using volunteer staff not used to handling money in their day jobs and the empty ice cream tubs that don't quite substitute for a till that adds and calculates the change really does make a festival look amateurish.

IMO, the main problem with a lot of festivals is the poor condition of the beer in the last few days of festival. This is more likely to discourage new Real Ale drinkers because those 'in the know' visit festivals early in the week.

So you would advocate the use of tokens in pubs? Perhaps in a Wetherspoons late on a Friday night?

John B

The *winner* was Pale Rider, which is quite strong with a powerful flowery-hop character. Too much for a session beer, IMO, but a pint of it's very nice.

I hope you're off to a pub to give Pale Rider a try!

Well it would help in some pubs, but seriously it isn't possible to compare a pub which serves a huge range of products with a beer festival which comparatively serves a miniscule range. Because of that tokens can and do work but of course YMMV.

Errm, beg to differ Sue. Bitter category was GKIPA, CBOB was Pale Rider (which also won Strong Bitter category)

KeithS

I don't think anything but divine intervention can help you get served in a JDW on a Friday night. I advocate avoiding them:)

I recall that many years ago Lees brewed two milds, and the idea of GB mild was to replace them with a single one. Some people at the time felt that GB mild fell between two stools.

BRian

I can't really see why the range should make any difference. But if tokens are deemed easier then perhaps the monkeys that work in my local JDW might be able to cope better. Or maybe not.

John B

While others said it tasted like two stools :-(

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Crisps, lemondade, lemonade with lager, coffee, gin... There is no comparison with a beer festival typically serving real ale, cider, perry and maybe fruit wines.

Just mark them up as 'how many tokens' instead of £p.

If tokens are so helpful and improve speed of service why not?

John B

Yes very convincing.

I think you know the answer to that John.

But you don't say why not.

Seriously, I would like to know just why tokens are deemed to be *so* much better for festivals than cash. It is something that has occasionally raised its head in festivals I am involved in, and I agree with the Picthalls comment that they "seem odd to the first-timer" and could "ghettoise real ale" - although I cannot agree they make beer-festivals a "laughing stock".

I am fully aware of all the pitfalls over staff honesty and having cash in various positions, but any function/business has these issues to contend with. I question if they are so good why do other businesses that put service first [1] use cash? And secondly, if most festival organisers believe tokens to be preferable why don't all festivals use them?

Given enough good reasons I am sure I could be persuaded to change my mind on this one; its just that, as yet, no one has provided a truly convincing argument.

Perhaps a subject for a workshop or similar.

John B