Michael Jackson. writing in the Observer. notes that better beer is more likely to be avialable at the supermarket. Judging by the often very poor real ale I get in London pubs I'm inclined to agree, but another point is that many of us don't have much time to spend in pubs anymore.
M.
marcb - a made-up name if ever I've heard one - said
I can always find the time to spend in pubs :). I thought you were going to say "money" then. The way pub prices are going, I think all our front rooms will become informal pubs in the next few years, stocked with bottled ales from supermarkets.
I still think that bottled and canned ales don't taste anything like as nice as they do on draught in a good pub. Admittedly there are many pubs that don't serve/store them correctly, or at least that's how it tastes! Bottled/canned ales to me always seem to have gas, and less flavour. Long live the traditional country pub!
Dan
I'd spend more time in pubs if they banned smoking, but that's another story. At my local - now turned into a gastropub - both real ales were off the other day, although that didn't stop them serving them to others.
M.
Yes, the best pint I've had recently was the wonderful Harvey's at the White Horse in Ditchling - wish I could get anything like this near me in London, with the honourable exception of the Wenlock Arms (but which is contaminated with smokers).
M.
Have you tried the Royal Oak in Borough?
yes, i enjoyed the piece, and have been thinking along similar lines for years - I love bitter, but so few pubs, even ones with multiple handpumps do anything else (I was in a great little thatched GBG-listed pub last week - great fersh food, but the ale range was 5 mainly regional's bitters from 3.5%-4.8%abv plus OldPeculier)
but the beers MJ is writing about aren't the ordinary fizzy/bland canned/bottled UK beers(*), but full-flavoured top-quality craft-brewed beers, in unusual styles (US-IPA, 21%abv Stout!, etc) (*)not to say all UK packaged beers are fizzy/bland but lots are)
for Harvey's full range (including some bottled beauties like their LeCoq Russian Stout at least last time I was there) you could go to their pub - Royal Oak, Tabard St IIRC, SE1, nr London Bridge, it should be still in the GBG. For a wider range of breweries, styles & foreign stuff you could try somewhere like White Horse, Parsons Green, SW6 - with Harvey's, Highgate Dark, Adnam's, Rooster's, Trappist's, Lambic's, some US craftbrews, etc. MikeMcG
DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.