Thursday 26 March 2009

Jumping on the Bandwagon


Polls on blogs seem all the rage at the moment, so I thought I'd join in the fun. My poll is prompted by last night when I had no intention of going out and I quite fancied a drink. "I know" I thought, "I'll do that side by side comparison of Guinness Foreign Extra Stout and Guinness Special Extra Stout that I've been meaning to do for ages."

What usually happens, happened. They are in the fridge, ready to take out and warm up slightly, so I went to the fridge, picked them up and as usual hesitated. I looked at three or four rare BCA's I had got from Oldham Beer Fest. I hesitated again, then sighing to myself, put the kettle on. You see I just don't really drink at home and when I reach for a bottle of beer, some kind of mechanism kicks in and I usually leave it. That's why beers in my "cellar" more often than not find themselves in a stew, sorry, carbonade. I'm a pub drinker and always have been.

Now I know many of my readers and many bloggers do drink beer at home, so this little poll is designed to tease out how much.

It's not scientific, just a bit of fun.

23 comments:

Alistair Reece said...

Generally a pub drinker, most of the bottles in the flat are from outside the Czech Repoublic or rarely seen on tap. Plus, pubs are just nicer places to drink.

Unknown said...

I answered one or two, but I live in a pub, so I'm also drinking them in a pub.

I drink quite a lot of cask beer at home as well - you see there are some fringe benefits of running a pub.

Ed said...

I have a lot of homebrew in the house at the moment, mostly not in bottles, but I must drink the equivalent of 7+ bottles a week.

Tandleman said...

I must admit, I wasn't thinking of home brew, but I reckon, as it isn't pub drinking, it can be lumped in with bottled beers.

Neville Grundy said...

I rarely drink bottled beers at home; if I do drink at home, it's more likely to be wine (red, of course).

Barry M said...

I used to be like you. I just couldn't drink at home unless there were people around. It felt wrong somehow to open a bottle and drink alone (ok, my wife would be there too, but you know what I mean). Now, however, I have one or two most nights exactly so my cellar doesn't fill up with beer that has to be cooked. Well, that's my excuse.

jefffrane said...

If I had a worthwhile local to visit, I might well drink there more than at home. Or not. I do tend to stay in once I've gotten home from work. Fix dinner, fix a drink or open a beer, and kick back. Going out seems too much effort without a regular pattern to follow.

Curmudgeon said...

I go out two or three nights a week, but when I'm in I'll usually have a bottle or two, so over a week it probably adds up to over seven.

Realistically, the Internet is a powerful reason to stay at home rather than going to the pub.

Anonymous said...

Another homebrewer - have a pint or two each night.

Neville Grundy said...

"Realistically, the Internet is a powerful reason to stay at home rather than going to the pub."

That is the saddest thing I have ever read on this blog.

Curmudgeon said...

RedNav, firstly, it is a statement of fact;

Secondly, speaking personally, I am actively involved in a (non beer related) interest group which has an active internet chat room, where I can find more stimulating conversation than my local pub every night of the week.

Am I a saddo in finding this more appealing than sitting in a corner of the local staring at my pint in silence?

I do visit far more pubs, and drink far more in pubs, than the average person, but teh attractions of the Internet can't be denied.

Alex Cooke said...

I used to do my drinking almost exclusively in the local. Why would I not when my local was the ten handpumped SIBA-only Royal Oak in Twerton, Bath? Now living in the tundra that is South Bristol and with a pregnant partner most of my drinking is at home.

Erlangernick said...

Frane, I'd kill to have some of your pubs. No, they're not the same as English pubs, but still.

The routine of daily life can be problematic though, especially if one likes to cook, eat, and enjoy evenings at home. I ticked "7+" or whatever the maximum number is, though that's about how many half-litre bottles I drink on average at home in two days, as opposed to per week.

If I had Tandleman's pubs near me, I'd be out and about more often too.

You lot with day jobs who get to spend a good deal of time in the local--where and when do you eat?

Anonymous said...

I visit the pub much less frequently since my son was born four years ago. A bottle or two of beer in the evening (either home-brewed or commercial) after he's in bed is my only option most nights.

TIW said...

We've only got two decent (three at a push) ale pubs in our bit of the East End. All the others are very lager-y, with a dusty pump of London Pride or Courage Best. I try and get to one of the ale pubs at least once a week - usually a friday. On sunday I'll nip into 'town' with a mate for a pint or three. The rest of the week it's bottles on the sofa.

Paul Garrard said...

My average per week is probably 4. I sometimes like a bottle with a meal, or sometimes when I'm blogging.

Anonymous said...

Can you let us know how the test goes? You might want to include the Special Export Stout in there too and maybe the Nigerian one. If you can find it.

As for beer: I do most of my drinking in the pub. I do like the odd bottle at home (usually stuff I can't get in the pub - anything that isn't bitter or mild basically).

Ron Pattinson said...

My average per day is a bout 4. Then again, I don't live in Britain.

Tandleman said...

You are still entitled to a vote Ron, so I hope you did.

Boak said...

Interesting stuff. We drink a lot at home, then again, we drink a lot in pubs too. More nights than not we'll have a bottle or two with dinner.

Curmudgeon said...

On average, I suppose I drink maybe 12 to 15 pints in pubs each week, although it varies depending on what I'm doing. That is more than six times as much as the average British adult. But I always feel that other people are "carrying" those pubs, and if everyone adopted my consumption level, there would be a lot fewer pubs.

There's a pub not far from me, which is reasonable enough, and serves real ale, but which just doesn't float my particular boat. But whenever I go in, at whatever time of day, the same people seem to be in there.

Dubbel said...

I'm with you here Tandleman. Maybe a bottle or two a week at home, despite my swollen accumulated stash that I rarely dip in to. Probably 7-12 pints a week in pubs.

It's not that I'm uncomfortable drinking at home without a 'reason' to do so - it's just that I love the cask product so much and, for me, bottled beers seldom live up to the real thing.

Anonymous said...

I do like bottled stout, which of course should NEVER be chilled