Ale, Beer, Stout appreciation

Yes I will do, I'd love to find one of these beers I can really enjoy as a nice dry beer can be perfect for a summer's afternoon. I'll look out for it and let you know.

Know what you're saying about prices, but then considering that many high quality beers are produced with no economy of scale and if imported by the pub or a speciality merchant then they are done so in very small quantities. Factor in how much more you enjoy a well crafted brew and the feeling of joy when you walk into a pub and are confronted with a broad and well chosen range of beers, plus bar staff and clientelle both knowledgable and easy on the eye and it starts to add up to good value.

yes. but i can go to various good pubs in the area and still have good beer. (dovetails/jerusalem/the peasant etc) for 'normal prices'.
im happy to pay for good beer or wine but in it's previous incarnation it still had good beer with 3-4 real ales on tap. if it was £3:50-£4.00 a pint i probably wouldn't have batted an eyelid but over £5?

Yeah, it's steep, there's certainly the competitive aspect to be taken into consideration. Sounds like the sort of place I would visit for a treat perhaps once a month.

I'm always relating this stuff back to my coffee experience. Here's a cool story bro...

Earlier in the year we had a tasting session of a range of coffees from about the most celebrated estate in the world Hacienda Esmeralda in Panama. The coffee was incredible, truly kaleidoscopic, every sip revealing a new flavour. Probably the best I've ever tasted, but not by a huge margin - at this level the returns diminish massively. The auction came and went with the top lot going to Japan for a cool $240 USD per kg. That's going to work out (at a conservative estimate) at around £8.00 per cup served.

Now whoever bought that is a brave soul as I can't imagine many people not balking at that price for a coffee, but someone believed in it enough to go for it and more power to their elbow.

This, to a lesser extent, is what's going on in some of these specialist pubs. Low volume, high quality, high priced beers being sold at a big risk (non sellers and wastage hitting hard). Of course along with all this you have to make the customer feel that the whole experience was good value and if they have failed to do this then they're in trouble.

i had a pint of Thornbridge in the southwark tavern a while ago, can't remember the price but it wasn't over a fiver. a pic from their website

i don't care how many beers the Cow stocks now they have just lost a few customers (6-8 people once a month) they are not the only quality beer pub in the area.

All this balls I've just been spouting, if I walk into a place that has London Pride I'm happy as a pig in muck.

for a fiver? :-)

No way Pedro.

I have four bottles of spotty chicken and a bottle of a new badger variety i hadn't seen before in the fridge. am waiting for lunch at the cricket to transfer them to a cool-bag and head for the balcony. TMS in my ear, good view of the action and the prospect of an England victory in the offing. Happy days!

I like Jaipur, but I had a pint once that had obviously not been kept well. It was possibly the least pleasant thing to ever have passed my lips (either way).

Recently discovered a liking for Sharp's Doombar. Anyone know which pubs in London have it on semi/ permanantly

You used to see it in Wetherspoon's a lot.

The last time I was in the Horseshoe, it had Sharp's ordinary on and that was very tasty indeed.

... £15.70 for a round of 3 pints. that really is taking the piss.
Fucking Christ!

For that money you could hop a train to Sheffield and drink all the Thornbridge you could possibly want! (They're connected with the Sheffield Tap, so you wouldn't even need to leave the station...)

Recently discovered a liking for Sharp's Doombar. Anyone know which pubs in London have it on semi/ permanantly

Visited the Sharps brewery the other day. Contrary to my posts earlier in this thread the Doombar I tried out there was lovely. Maybe it just doesn't travel very well.

Loads of London pubs stock it.

All this balls I've just been spouting, if I walk into a place that has London Pride I'm happy as a pig in muck.

If the only ales being served are Fullers* I'll be off to find another pub. London Pride is shit. The only drinkable ale Fullers make is Honey Dew, which is only acceptable.

*see also Marstons/Green King/Shepard Neame

OK pissy knickers, I'm not telling you to drink it.

^^get fucked. Their Porter is still the benchmark*.

*only on tap around Nov/Dec usually

(and why would you bother with London Pride, when there's ESB to be had?)

...

Loads of London pubs stock it.

For example?

Doombar in London

If the only ales being served are Fullers* I'll be off to find another pub. London Pride is shit. The only drinkable ale Fullers make is Honey Dew, which is only acceptable.

*see also Marstons/Green King/Shepard Neame

This

If the only ales being served are Fullers* I'll be off to find another pub. London Pride is shit. The only drinkable ale Fullers make is Honey Dew, which is only acceptable.

*see also Marstons/Green King/Shepard Neame

Rubbish! Honeydew's all sweet and sickly. Did the Fuller's tour last year, was great fun. Bengal Lancer's a great IPA if it's been kept properly. ESB's cracking, 1845 is very nice in bottles and Golden Pride'll blow your socks off.

And i'm quite happy with a pint of 'Pride.

^That

the bad news it was £15.70 for a round of 3 pints. that really is taking the piss.

Near that last night - mate's work near the market. There's a old man boozer and a Sam Smiths nearby if you're feeling cheap. The Smith's bitter was quite nice.

Recently discovered a liking for Sharp's Doombar. Anyone know which pubs in London have it on semi/ permanantly

Loads now. It's everywhere. Didn't someone say earlier it'd be taken over by a bigger company that was really pushing it out?

Don't mind Fullers myself. Never been keen on the Green King stuff but who are we really kidding.. you'll fuck neck whatever in whichever pub you're in with your mates.

^Exactly, I'll actively seek out pubs with interesting beer, go to beer festivals, take the good beer guide on holiday, but going for a pint isn't all about the beer. If they've got nothing more interesting than Fullers on it'll do nicely.