[John_D]

Re: Watered down Budweiser? : Thu Feb 28, 2013 9:26 am  

wigan_rlfc wrote:

I won't buy 'guest' beers anymore because depending on how well it's kept it can taste awful.

You quickly learn which pubs keep a decent cellar and which don't. One pub in town is terrible, despite it's fancy claims. One a gentle lob of a stone away from it makes no claims and concentrates on the beer. That is where I go.

wigan_rlfc wrote:

If the normal bitter is a nitro keg one I'm usually happy enough with that because at least you know what you are getting.

Fair enough, but you also know you're getting ice-cold, flavourless (at best) crap. If you're happy with that, fine. I'm not.
I agree with your point, to an extent, about beers made specifically to be different. I'm no fan of strong beers made solely for the reason of being strong. If it's strength comes as a result of the way it's made, i.e. with flavour in mind, fine. Same with the heat in curries. Also, I'm fed up of the current trend to very light, over-hopped beers which everyone seems to be making. Whatever happened to a nut-brown ale? But not everyone is the same and long may that continue.

Re: Watered down Budweiser? : Thu Feb 28, 2013 10:05 am  

I'm not sure why some people keep revolving the issue of "snobbery". What has this got to do with it?

If a person, friend or stranger, tries to help you to sample a better and tastier product, surely that's a good thing?

Most drinkers of nitrokeg have no idea about the diference between what they are drinking and how it's produced, and what they could be drinking. If you are so precious and touchy that you don't want any friendly advice and conversation about the subject you're indulging in, then so be it, but why get all on the defensive? Many thousands of people have eventually recognised the facts, and that is why among all beers only cask ale is increasing in sales, craft breweries are burgeoning, and CAMRA has record membership.

The facts that (a) some people might be like Dally's imaginary mate, and (b) not all real ale sold is of a high standard, doesn't detract from the fact that nitrokeg is an inferior, bland, tasteless (comparatively), overchilled concoction of sterile liquid mixed with a cocktail of gases. If someone points this out to you, it's almost always because they want to spread the good word. "Snobbery" has nothing to do with it; a "snob" is a person who believes that their tastes are superior to those of other people. I don't, I actually know that real ale is superior to nitrokeg, and I've givven a potted explanation of exactly why that is. Dally, or anybody, could make the same discovery if they chose to do so and nobody who has gone on and done it that I know of has ever looked back. We just want to share our experience, as well as (in my case at least) seeing each extra pint of real ale sold as a poke in the eye for the big, profit-driven multinational mass-producers of pap masquerading as a quality drink.

Re: Watered down Budweiser? : Thu Feb 28, 2013 10:10 am  

Pat Bateman wrote:

I hate snobbery too! it reminds me of my dear trainer when i was an apprentice and still wet behind the ears. he once invited me to his house for a 'drink', when he called off at the shops for a 24 box of carling. i thought wow thats alot between us. got to his house where he turned his gas fire on. it was mid summer. he then opened all 24 cans and lay them in front of the fire for 20 minutes where he then showed me around the house, came back, nd then started to drink all the cans to himself warm and flat.... i had a cup of tea. true legend of the drinking world.

I like that story.
I lke it a lot.

Reminds me of my mates old man on our old council estate.
Used to brew his own lager in the cupboard under his stairs.
Plenty of sugar in so it was super strength and always made sure me and his lad had a couple of pints before we set off for school.

Re: Watered down Budweiser? : Thu Feb 28, 2013 10:38 am  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

I'm not sure why some people keep revolving the issue of "snobbery". What has this got to do with it?

If a person, friend or stranger, tries to help you to sample a better and tastier product, surely that's a good thing?

Most drinkers of nitrokeg have no idea about the diference between what they are drinking and how it's produced, and what they could be drinking. If you are so precious and touchy that you don't want any friendly advice and conversation about the subject you're indulging in, then so be it, but why get all on the defensive? Many thousands of people have eventually recognised the facts, and that is why among all beers only cask ale is increasing in sales, craft breweries are burgeoning, and CAMRA has record membership.

The facts that (a) some people might be like Dally's imaginary mate, and (b) not all real ale sold is of a high standard, doesn't detract from the fact that nitrokeg is an inferior, bland, tasteless (comparatively), overchilled concoction of sterile liquid mixed with a cocktail of gases. If someone points this out to you, it's almost always because they want to spread the good word. "Snobbery" has nothing to do with it; a "snob" is a person who believes that their tastes are superior to those of other people. I don't, I actually know that real ale is superior to nitrokeg, and I've givven a potted explanation of exactly why that is. Dally, or anybody, could make the same discovery if they chose to do so and nobody who has gone on and done it that I know of has ever looked back. We just want to share our experience, as well as (in my case at least) seeing each extra pint of real ale sold as a poke in the eye for the big, profit-driven multinational mass-producers of pap masquerading as a quality drink.

Nail on the head.

Re: Watered down Budweiser? : Thu Feb 28, 2013 11:58 am  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

... ...doesn't detract from the fact that nitrokeg is an inferior, bland, tasteless (comparatively), overchilled concoction of sterile liquid mixed with a cocktail of gases...

Amongst which is Guinness.
How people can venerate such pap is beyond me.
Even the slow inefficient serving method is held up as some sort of bloody worship.

Re: Watered down Budweiser? : Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:22 pm  

John_D wrote:

Even if it does take you 33 minutes to get served.


Still bitter.

Still a world record, Norris McWhirter, everything.

Re: Watered down Budweiser? : Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:28 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

I'm not sure why some people keep revolving the issue of "snobbery". What has this got to do with it?

If a person, friend or stranger, tries to help you to sample a better and tastier product, surely that's a good thing?

Most drinkers of nitrokeg have no idea about the diference between what they are drinking and how it's produced, and what they could be drinking. If you are so precious and touchy that you don't want any friendly advice and conversation about the subject you're indulging in, then so be it, but why get all on the defensive? Many thousands of people have eventually recognised the facts, and that is why among all beers only cask ale is increasing in sales, craft breweries are burgeoning, and CAMRA has record membership.

The facts that (a) some people might be like Dally's imaginary mate, and (b) not all real ale sold is of a high standard, doesn't detract from the fact that nitrokeg is an inferior, bland, tasteless (comparatively), overchilled concoction of sterile liquid mixed with a cocktail of gases. If someone points this out to you, it's almost always because they want to spread the good word. "Snobbery" has nothing to do with it; a "snob" is a person who believes that their tastes are superior to those of other people. I don't, I actually know that real ale is superior to nitrokeg, and I've givven a potted explanation of exactly why that is. Dally, or anybody, could make the same discovery if they chose to do so and nobody who has gone on and done it that I know of has ever looked back. We just want to share our experience, as well as (in my case at least) seeing each extra pint of real ale sold as a poke in the eye for the big, profit-driven multinational mass-producers of pap masquerading as a quality drink.

Spot on... and the reason that people drink this muck is because of all the hype and mass advertising brainwashing that goes on. The suits tell you it tastes good and is macho, and the gullible believe it. Let the taste buds do the talking!

[John_D]

Re: Watered down Budweiser? : Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:33 pm  

El Barbudo wrote:

Amongst which is Guinness.
How people can venerate such pap is beyond me.
Even the slow inefficient serving method is held up as some sort of bloody worship.

Served as cold as possible to reduce the risk of tasting anything.
Got more into my stouts and porters lately. A whole world of fun to be had, even if it's goes against JerryChicken's mantra of "never drink owt you can't see through".

Incidentally, on the back of my increased appreciation for and consumption of rum, I got accused of turning into you t'other night.

Re: Watered down Budweiser? : Thu Feb 28, 2013 2:27 pm  

El Barbudo wrote:

Amongst which is Guinness.
How people can venerate such pap is beyond me.
Even the slow inefficient serving method is held up as some sort of bloody worship.

I was in Dublin once, a few years back, and drinking in company which included a guy who'd previously worked a long time at Guinness. Now I'd heard that the Guinness over there could be a different proposition, but not really given it much thought. We were in O'Donoghue's, which is some place. But I digress. I tasted the stuff, and it was bloody lovely. Went through some that weekend, I can tell you. Amazing drink. At one point I asked Gerry if he could shed any light on why it was a different drink altogether, and he explained that everything they ship out is first sterilised, but the stuff they supplied to the nearby outlets wasn't, as there was no point, as it didn't last long enough and so, it was the real deal, living, breathing beer.

Which does reinforce the point I was making.

Re: Watered down Budweiser? : Thu Feb 28, 2013 2:52 pm  

John_D wrote:

... Incidentally, on the back of my increased appreciation for and consumption of rum, I got accused of turning into you t'other night.

Brother dotcom, over on Southstander, is also a convert to the cause.

I don't know how far your career in rum drinking has progressed but a rough rule of thumb is that if it's made on a French-speaking island, it's probably made from fresh cane juice rather than molasses.
Imparts a slight "grassy" flavour to the finish.
My favourites are from Martinique ( I have visited (or peered through the gates to see if I could visit) every distillery on that beautiul island), Guadaloupe or Marie Galante.
They call cane-juice rum "Rhum Agricole", and it's usually (maybe always) a single-estate bottling and as close to a "single-malt" in the rum world as you're going to get.
It's even got Apellation Controllee status ... unique outside the French mainland.
Molasses rum gets the moniker "Rhum industrielle".

I recently discovered "Masters of Malt" online.
They do tiny sample-size bottles of rum (as well as the usual Scotch whisky), it's a bit expensive per cubic centimetre ... but a way of trying a larger number.