h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

And the first jinnan tonnyx is out of the way

What do you mean, it's not Friday? It might not be your Friday but it's my Friday because I have the next two days off Now, if you don't mind, I've got another to deal with

We've got our weeks swapped. This week and last I'm working on your weekend, Monday through Thursday. Last week I was off Thursday because I don't work on Fridays when the 4th was observed, and this week because I'll be having my ethmoid sinus roto-rootered.


The timing is great. My local pub is closed this week while the proprietors are sunning and lubricating themselves in Cozumel.

I was in the pub tonight... and heard someone order a single shot of gin... no idea what brand/sort... but... made me - five quid a shot! I nearly fainted oer my beer!

Five notes for a gin? Bloody Nora

this pub, does 'specialise' in their gins; they've about 70 differnt ones..but... yeh... even so! sod that! five quid! - I'd far sooner just go buy a bottle ot have at home, at that price... - mind, a pint of beer, plus a diet coke for W was costing like £6 per round; we get ripped off on prices something chronic in Cambridge; another reason I'm... we're considering moving to Norwich... so muhc cheaper both for houses, beer, and indeed food etc... and, less pretentious s in Norwich, IMO

Okay, if it's a high-end gin then I guess a fiver for a shot might be justifiable, given pub mark-up. I'd still rather buy a bottle and drink it home though. I rarely drink anything but draught beer when I go to a pub or a bar. Occasionally a shot of bourbon, but not bottled beer. I don't see the point of drinking a bottled beer when you're in a place you can get it on tap, unless it's a beer that only comes in bottles and something *very* special.

Now the UK is switching back; bottled beers are cool or something. hence all these morons drinking craft beer, and gradually pushing out the decent beer. I don't understand it. sure, lets pay five quid for a bottled beer it makes no sense to me.

Yeah... besides my current trial at drinking Scotch (for my health, not my wealth) I'm pretty much over much of the craft beer craze. I still appreciate a good craft beer, but I also appreciate drinking a beer on multiple occasions. The best craft beer pub in my area rarely has any of the same beers on tap from week to week. And the few that they might, are typically overly hoppy, perfumey IPAs. I don't like those whatsoever, but the hopheads rule.

There's something quite nice about going to the pub and knowing what you'll be drinking before you get there, being able to order your "usual". I can still do that at my local pub most of the time, but even there I'm having some trouble because of the whims of distributors.

Steady on young 2legs, don't forget that craft beer (ie American beer) is my business Mind you, I did just find out about a new Austin brewery (what, another one? ) who claim to keg condition their beer. In other words, no forced carbonation like all other US beer, even the best craft beer. Except for the very few gallons of it that get put into firkins to be naturally carbonated and then poured at once-a-month cask nights.

http://strangelandbrewery.com/

The prose is a bit airy-fairy and pretentious, but I'm keen to try some. I know I saw the Entire Porter at the local co-op last week. And I have to go there tomorrow

That's something to be said for the tied house system, BG, (made illegal in the US by the three-tier system brought in after Prohibition). If the pub is owned by the brewery you know you'll always be getting their beer. Of course, if your local is owned by a brewery whose beers you don't care for then you might have a bit further to travel than to the end of the street.

But it's been my experience in Austin that most pubs and bars (the average number of taps seems to be 20-30) will have a handful of beers that are always on tap. One of which is Live Oak Hefeweizen. Which I can't stand. But the rest are across the board. If your local is changing beers from week to week it's more likely to be the whims of the breweries rather than the distributors. Brewers these days are never satisfied with brewing a beer for more than a month or two, it seems, and there's always the seasonal beers to fit in as well.

My local has a limited number of taps. He does try to keep most of them on permanently, like Guinness, Newcastle, Belhaven Scottish and Wee Heavy, etc. He also has a few taps that he uses for local and other craft beers. He makes up for a relatively small selection of taps (he recently expanded it a bit but it's still under twenty), by featuring beer mixes. But this is where the local distributors vex him. Because he's a small pub on the edge of the county, he's sometimes at their mercy when they decide to discontinue or just not offer certain beers he's had for years. And with the new craft beer craze, they are more often dropping beers as they add new ones, new ones he's not necessarily interested in offering. With the local beers, he doesn't mind so much as there is a big selection and not so much of the brand loyalty, but when they drop something like Boddington's or Newcastle, that puts him in a bind as it doesn't just put him out of one beer, but also several mixes.

On more than one occasion he has unloaded a large portion of vexation on his distributors.

Oh, and he's now having some problems with his Scotch selection. He hasn't had Highland Park for me for a couple of weeks.

But then again, maybe that's a good thing as I've had quite a few unexpected expenses recently including medical and vehicle repair so I should stick to the Clan MacGregor a bit more often anyways.

Again, it's not necessarily the distributors' fault. They can only stock what the breweries make, and are likely to stock what people want. That's free-market capitalism for you. They might hang on to a few slow-selling beers if they're a big distributor and have the resources and warehouse space, but if they're one of the smaller players they might not be able to do that. The major names in beer distribution are a huge lobby, not only within the business but also politically, handing over very large sums of cash to (mostly) Republican politicians and candidates.

Oh, I understand that they're (mostly) reacting to market forces, carrying what sells most, but that is thin comfort when I can't get my Rook*.






*Belhaven Wee Heavy on Newcastle Brown Ale, it's a Wee Castle... geddit?**



** Yes, I named that one. Aren't I clever? Unfortunately, when the menu went for printing it came back as "Rook and Wee Castle" and some of the young wait staff shorten this to "Rook and Wee" which makes me think of a rather damp corvid.

For me, the solution has been to find a beer or two that are almost always likely to be on tap, although my own local took one of them (Live Oak Pilz) off the tap wall some time ago and hasn't replaced it

Years ago I would happily drink the same beer all night, and night after night. I don't do that as often these days, unless one of my favourite seasonals or limited beers is on tap and I want to get as much of it down my neck as I can before it disappears again for another year, or if I'm just in the mood for one particular beer.

good beer pubs this side of the pond tend to keep some beers as their regulars, and then provide a regularly changing range of guest beers.
here is the list for my local. (not always up to date)
http://www.perfectpint.co.uk/pubs/the-trafalgar-south-wimbledon
The Shere Drop and Quadhop are normally on, the remainder of the handpumps generally have 3 guests.
The CF132 and Downton Dark delight were also on last night

Most of the pubs I go too, well the one I go to now, isn't a brewry pub, total indepedants. and they're moving all towards this top pressure rubbish as I see it... - tastes mainly ... well overly gasious, and ... well its not beer as far as i'm concerned, with a few notable expections; but, at like twice the price, a few notable exceptions is not worth money IMO... - the pub I use most now, as its nextdoor really, cahnged their few real ale pumps frequently, and rarely has the same stuff on, which is a pity... was nice coming back form hospital, other day, and just walking into a pub; and getting a pint of Adnams

Interesting. On the same day here at h2g2 I've seen a and a for Adnams beers.

I love them but I'm from that area of the country, so was kinda bought up on that flavour of beer... mind, plenty places can serve you a rubbish pint of any beer, if they try hard rnough - I had ghostship the other day, which is a fairly new one ... used to love broadside when I drank darker beers; chemo seems to have removed my love of darker beers; the taste... just don't work no more for me mind, chemo's also waved me a fortune, 2 to 4 pints is about my limit now

You can't beat a pint of Robinson's Best and I must say The Trooper is rather worthy, too.

That's rather spooky... I'm draining a glass of Trooper right now