Tetley's Brewery was taken over by Carlsberg in 1998 and the beer was never quite as good.
It closed in 2011 and is now a car park.
A good pint of Tetley Bitter or Mild is something I still miss.
Lots of posts to reply to:
russc - that happened to lots of the smaller brewers and you know why because the big brewers were allowed to buy too may freehouses and put in managers and only stock their beers. They also ramped up the prices of everything, including soft drinks. I know because I had a friend who worked his **** off making money for the brewers. If he could have bought stock freely he could have paid less than half.
citizen 12403 - I hav'nt lived in the UK for over 23 years best to ask resident Brits for advice on current beers.
kodabmx - If I had to pay those prices I'd go teetotal.
Bonsai - it's a fallacy to talk about real ale being 'warm beer' it's not, it's served cool and as I explained commercial beer is dead, real ale is alive, that's the difference and it is a real one.
UKers - with Brexit, what are the import limits now?
If I was running a restaurant or two anywhere in the south I would take time out to tour around France and Spain and northern Portugal. There are some stonkingly good wines to be had. Robert Parker opened his gob and the price of southern Galician wine ramped up in price, great reds and whites but hop across the border into Portugal and you can buy the same for way less. Bordeaux has great wines at an enormous price but the Languedoc has a great range of wines and grape types not seen elsewhere. Gros Manseng has two types sweet and dry. The dry is two contrasting tastes - a sweet fruit but with a bone dry tart finish, serve well chilled, excellent. Chateaux Saint Cels is a 80 hectare estate run by the mother ( the best French businesses are run by French women, they know what they are doing). Check out their wines online - buy with confidence. I plan to visit next year. It's no good talking about laying down wines, at my age I buy to drink not leave for others to drink - they can buy their own.
russc - that happened to lots of the smaller brewers and you know why because the big brewers were allowed to buy too may freehouses and put in managers and only stock their beers. They also ramped up the prices of everything, including soft drinks. I know because I had a friend who worked his **** off making money for the brewers. If he could have bought stock freely he could have paid less than half.
citizen 12403 - I hav'nt lived in the UK for over 23 years best to ask resident Brits for advice on current beers.
kodabmx - If I had to pay those prices I'd go teetotal.
Bonsai - it's a fallacy to talk about real ale being 'warm beer' it's not, it's served cool and as I explained commercial beer is dead, real ale is alive, that's the difference and it is a real one.
UKers - with Brexit, what are the import limits now?
If I was running a restaurant or two anywhere in the south I would take time out to tour around France and Spain and northern Portugal. There are some stonkingly good wines to be had. Robert Parker opened his gob and the price of southern Galician wine ramped up in price, great reds and whites but hop across the border into Portugal and you can buy the same for way less. Bordeaux has great wines at an enormous price but the Languedoc has a great range of wines and grape types not seen elsewhere. Gros Manseng has two types sweet and dry. The dry is two contrasting tastes - a sweet fruit but with a bone dry tart finish, serve well chilled, excellent. Chateaux Saint Cels is a 80 hectare estate run by the mother ( the best French businesses are run by French women, they know what they are doing). Check out their wines online - buy with confidence. I plan to visit next year. It's no good talking about laying down wines, at my age I buy to drink not leave for others to drink - they can buy their own.
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OMG, that’s awful 😢
but they still have a website promoting their beer (under Carlsburg) so at least you can still get something for old times sake
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Yes - beer and bread was a staple in the Middle Ages in Europe. The alcohol levels were low but still afforded some protection from germs.
The Cloudwater Tap Room in Manchester UK is a micro brewery that does some wonderful stuff all the way up to 10 or 12% ABV. But one of my favourites is their ‘Sonoma’ at 3.8% IIRC - good session beer with a light fruity taste.
https://cloudwaterbrew.co/
https://cloudwaterbrew.co/
Many years ago I was living in an apartment and had a neighbor who had a keg in the back of
his pickup truck and called over to me to come have some since he did not want to waste it.
It was very warm (almost hot), and I was surprised that it actually tasted good.
his pickup truck and called over to me to come have some since he did not want to waste it.
It was very warm (almost hot), and I was surprised that it actually tasted good.
While on holiday I visited Banbury and and ye olde reinedeer inn.
I enjoyed a pint of Mild at 3% alcohol.
Very tasty proving you don't need a high alcohol content for a good flavour.
Made a pleasant change to find a) Mild and b) beer under 4%.
I enjoyed a pint of Mild at 3% alcohol.
Very tasty proving you don't need a high alcohol content for a good flavour.
Made a pleasant change to find a) Mild and b) beer under 4%.
we could also talk about cider.. thatchers Katy (high %) and then you have “old rosie” scrumpy.
We’re also near Silent Pool, and Albury Vineyards.
We’re also near Silent Pool, and Albury Vineyards.
This is not quite correct. Unfiltered, unpasteurized beer will keep several months when refrigerated. The yeast will remain viable, gradually degrading (autolyze) during this time. Commercial beer is usually pasteurized and is dead the moment it leaves the brewery's canning or bottling facility.
I used to brew beer at home. The yeast (top or bottom fermenting) from one batch was stored in a sterilized container in the fridge for pitching into the next batch, and for krauzening in the keg. In this way I was able to perpetuate the same yeast culture for many generations over several months.
I'm no longer actively brewing but beer is still my main libation. I keep it at room temperature and pour it over ice in a glass. The ice causes great head formation with long retention, releasing excess carbonation along with the wonderful bouquet of hops and malt in the bargain. Also brings down the alcohol content which for me is good thing.
Cheers!
No russc is right and beers not made in their country of origin are crap compared to the real thing. Guiness or porter made with the Liffey water is completely different to the foreign made. Sadly before we left the island most pubs were chilling Guinness and the bar staff had'nt got a clue how to pour a pint. Here in Carmaux at the street market on a Friday I buy a lot of veg from a French couple that are Guinness fanatics and love Ireland.
I agree with Bonsai and russc, relatively low alcohol beers can and do have lots of flavour and for a daytime session are the sensible choice - how I miss Landlord.
NickKUK - there is a pub at the foot of the Downs below Devil's Dyke called the Shepard and Dog. It use to have an owner who did a really great assortment of ploughman's.He also stocked a wonderful Sussex cider - Sedlescombe about 7.5% excellent flavour. more than 1 1/2 pints and it was very hard to get back up to the Dyke and back home. His assortment of cheeses were superb and he kept them the way they should be kept in a cool room not in a bloody fridge. In France you can buy wood and wire screen 'cages' especially made to store cheeses.
The man who introduced hang gliding to Europe, Bill Rayment who ran a cycle shop in Brighton near Preston Circus first 'flew' from the Devil's Dyke. It was amazing to see the birdmen in the sky, caused quite a few accidents on the road below and brought crowds just to watch, something I regret not doing. He joined the Paras under age just before WW11 ended that's how he got into hang gliding in the States.
Many years ago I organised a brewery trip to the other 'Smiths' in Tadcaster - Samuel Smith (no connection AFAIK to the singer of the similar name).
Sam Smith's is a traditional brewery, brewing in open slate squares and using oak casks.
Sam Smith's is a traditional brewery, brewing in open slate squares and using oak casks.
Oak casks - I'm sure beer used to taste way better in oak barrels than aluminium. Watneys Red came in barrels with the front painted red a good beer then the accountants got to work and almost killed the pub trade.
I don't think beer has ever been shipped in aluminium kegs. All the ones I have seen have been stainless steel.
Traditional English beer has always been served at cellar temperature.
I have home brew on a cooler that tracks at about cellar temperature by having only a small coil in the keg so that it tracks a bit below the room it is in. The good thing it that the small coil circulates the beer very slowly allowing it to deposit and cloudiness at the bottom as it goes round.
Traditional English beer has always been served at cellar temperature.
I have home brew on a cooler that tracks at about cellar temperature by having only a small coil in the keg so that it tracks a bit below the room it is in. The good thing it that the small coil circulates the beer very slowly allowing it to deposit and cloudiness at the bottom as it goes round.
You mean a pump to circulate the beer?
Aluminum is less healthy than stainless steel for liquids, even lacquer coated aluminum would have issues. Not preferable.
Oak casks, in shipping? What if they get thrown about and leak?
Aluminum is less healthy than stainless steel for liquids, even lacquer coated aluminum would have issues. Not preferable.
Oak casks, in shipping? What if they get thrown about and leak?
You maybe right but st/steel does'nt tarnish or look dull like aluminium, whatever - beer tastes better in wood. The French have never been stupid like the Brits, Spanish and Germans, they never cut down their oak forests so they make a lot of money selling oak for barrels and for construction. I could'nt believe how much quality oak was available for construction in France. If you can afford it, oak floors are nice. In the UK 'knocker boys' used to buy up old oak floorboards in Wales and get real carpenter/joiners to make fake antique furniture with diamond joints and use acids to age them. When I was living in Andaluz I became good friends with Enrique, an antique furniture restorer in Granada and he had friends who said to me "we do that too".
It's a shame that Brexit happened because if you want to buy quality furniture, Andaluz and Galicia have lots in all kinds of style.
For those into cider you should visit the restaurants of Oviedo in the Asturias, the waiters are past masters at pouring cider from a height into the glass, gives the cider extra fizz, not for amateurs to try.
I have a tint gear pump in a box with a heat pumped tank of water.
It has been in use for years.
"I should have added that real ale is a 'live' beer if you chill it, it literally dies."
Given where its going after I've drunk it, its going to be dead anyway.
Given where its going after I've drunk it, its going to be dead anyway.
They would struggle to outbid Aldi.
Aldi is family-owned and they are happy with a 2-5% profit margin while Sainsbury's for example has shareholders who want a dividend paid out plus a rising share price so they must charge more. For example Aldi pays more to the farmers for milk than any of the top UK supermarkets yet sells it at a lower price.
Also Aldi's own brand ketchup is Heinz with a different label on the (same) bottle but Heinz costs over £2.50 while Aldi sell theirs for 60p.
I've never tried Watneys Red but my BiL and his mates were serious real ale afficionados and none of them had a good word to say about that particular brew, only scorn and hatred.
Two of my own 3 favourite beers are Czech and one German and there was a really, really good Kenyan one but I forgot it's name.