In message , MikeMcG wrote
As I understand it, a manager get his accreditation for running a pub with decent beer but then moves on (or is rotated to) a pub that has beer in c**p condition taking his CM with him. I wonder if this is the way that recently opened JDW pubs have a CM plaque?
In large barns of pubs the licensee/manager probably has little to do with the quality of the beer except for employing competent cellar staff.
The worst thing you can hear: "Your lucky, we've just managed to squeeze the last pint out of the cask for you"
The quality of the last pint depends on how much the cask is stooped but in my experience the taste can remain the same, and with no cloudiness, until the last one or two pints.
I agree that stopping can make a difference but in my experience SOME beers do remain brilliant right to the last drop.
Is the Wenlock local enough?
I don't drink in London much, I go to Cambridge and the excellent Cambridge Blue (smoke free) and Kingston Arms - two of the best pubs I have ever been into. Superbly kept wide range of beer in both.
Eh? I would have thought that "huge factories" was a pretty accurate description of the great regional breweries bequeathed to us by the Victorians. They brew beer using local water and traditional techniques and much of it is jolly good.
Conversely, many micro brewers are based in lock-up units on industrial estates, using mains water (i.e. the public supply) and some very innovative techniques, and much of their beer is excellent.
What happens to these beers between brewery and bar is another matter, of course, hence our interest in the Cask Marque scheme.
And again with the "Eh?" What's the connection between filtered beer and barrels being rolled along the floor? The filtering is done at the brewery.
Nothing wrong with rolling barrels, of course, that's what they're designed for. They should be washed down though once they're in the cellar, and they may need scrubbing round the bung hole and the keystone (says the late great Ivor Clissold in his seminal work, "Cellarmanship").
[Thnks: I wonder if Cask Marque publish a book on cellaring? Can't see any mention on their website - at - apart from an "Information Pack (for publicans)" which is probably about the Cask Marque scheme itself.][snip]
It would help if the award went to the one person who actually looks after the beer and can either ruin it or (to a limited extent) rescue it through their efforts. IOW, the cellarman. (Or cellarwoman.)
The last I knew they (like many other people in the industry) recommended the CAMRA publication on the subject.
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