A Cracking Pub and Two Microbreweries

Did you know that Melbourne has more trams than anywhere else? Well, I think that's what was said.  I can confirm at least the place was hoaching* with them. A line on every corner, it seemed. Anyway, on our free day, we made use of them to explore. As well as walking our feet off, we visited one of the best markets I've ever been in - and I've visited plenty. The quality and range of the food was outstanding. We ate in one of the most Chinese Chinatowns I'd ever set foot in - we were the only gweilos in a very big restaurant. We also visited the oldest pub in Melbourne, the Mitre, where I enjoyed pints of Cooper's Pale Ale and observed, in the Central Business District at least, that lunchtime drinking was alive and well in this part of the world.

Of course, we went to the various tourist spots - and enjoyable they were too - but the lure of beer was strong, so we decided that a little train journey to a nearby suburb of Abbotsford was a plan. Two microbreweries were the aim and that required a visit to the fabulous Flinders St Station and the nearby Prince's Bridge Hotel, a large and handsome pub and just the place to people watch.  This had a fine front bar and a larger room to one side where some people ate and some simply socialised and drank.  The bar was basically full of drinkers of all ages and became so busy in our late afternoon visit that the main doors were closed and the less obvious side door were used to limit the ins and outs. This was a fab pub, and we left with considerable reluctance. 

We got on the wrong train. Well, not exactly wrong, but it was a limited stop which overshot our target station by one. We crossed over by going down to the road and amazingly a different micropub than the one intended was just over the street.  Be rude not to, we remarked. Bodriggy Brewery was quite small and very welcoming, and we enjoyed the banter with the barman and locals. I even won a free pint on a (free) scratch card - well, it was a half pint, but they gave me a pint anyway.  Going for a pee, I was shocked to see that behind the cosy front bar was a huge beer hall with the brewery at the back.  Blimey. How had we not noticed that?  Again, the staff were great - they even charged my mobile for me - and we had a fine time checking out the beers. Sadly - a recurring theme - none were remotely dark. 

We checked Google. Stomping Ground Brewery was only a ten-minute walk away. This was a much busier, more family oriented brewery. We ate there and enjoyed the beers and ambience.  We noted the age range of those visiting was more diverse than at home, and frankly all the better for that. Disappointingly, there were no dark beers again, but there was some shiny kit..

So, a successful day. No pint or schooner issues were encountered.  In the more southern parts, it seems imperial pints are fairly to very common. This didn't last, though.

More Aussie beer culture. Pints were commonly unetched nonics, even when lager was served, which was strange to this writer at least. Branded glasses seemed rare beasts though the pint barrel jug, sadly was not.  More of this soon. 

Next week I'll cover the outback and the North. Beer glass oddities will feature. In the meantime,I'm off to Dundee and the CAMRA Members Weekend and AGM.

* Look it up

Bee Off with Them

An interesting little tweet today inspired me to get off my lazy arse and write a blog. I've been busy/uninspired/whatever for a while, but here we are - inspiration. It's what we all need. In addition to lovely clear, cool, cask conditioned beer of course.

Joseph Holt, a well known Manchester Brewer, has come up with a beer glass which turns itself into the famous Manchester Bee.  Well it doesn't exactly metamorphose itself, but a nice sleeve glass has had the addition of some black stripes and if you add a pale, yellow beer, Hey Presto, you have a bee like appearance. Magic. Now I see one or two problems here. The famous Holt's Bitter is a sort of deep brown colour and the delicious Mild is, slightly, well black.  Hmm. These won't achieve the desired effect will they? Awards winning Holt's lager it is then.  I wonder if the glass is nucleated?

Holt's has also come up with the whizzy idea of buy five pints, get a card stamped and you'll get your glass free. Fine. A top tip from me. You can simply buy five pints of mild, eschew the lack of bee effect pro tem and thus gain your glass at minimum outlay.  The bee effect can then be achieved in the comfort of your own home with whatever cheap (or dear) yellow pong that floats your boat.

There is of course another way of gaining this coveted glass. If you aren't sure about what it is, contact Cooking Lager. He'll tell you.

The Manchester Bee of course was the logo of Boddingtons Brewery. Remember them? Their golden nectar would have done the job nicely.

Full details of the scheme are here in  I LoveManchester.Com

Glasses, Glassings and Doubtful Statistics

The Design Council has announced that is has developed two new prototype beer glasses to combat the problem of glasses being used as weapons in pubs and clubs. Basically the technology in one case offers a resin layer in the glass that will prevent glasses from sharding when broken, while the other is layered like a car windscreen, making it hard to smash and less dangerous than the current type of beer glass. They won't look or feel different, so well and good.

Along with this though there are some statistics which made me gasp with surprise. It seems that there are 87,000 glassings a year. Not innocent injuries caused by contact with a broken glass, say in picking one up that you've knocked over, but actual violence using a beer glass. What? That is an average of 238 a day. Now I don't know about you, but I find that hard to believe. I have been going in pubs for well over thirty years and been in some bloody rough ones, but thankfully I have never seen any glass related violence ever. I don't doubt for a second that it happens - and when it does it tends to be front page news - but 238 a day? Really? Does anyone else find that an unbelievable figure?

This is compounded (according to Alan Johnson the Home Secretary - pictured) by an alleged cost to the NHS of 2.7 billion pounds. What? That would suggest that each incident costs the NHS £31,000. Really? Can this possibly be true?

Anything that makes glasses safer without resorting to plastic is fine with me, but do we really need simple measures that sort out a minority problem to be accompanied by such obvious distortion and hyperbole? Pete Brown has already shown that government use of its own statistics is, shall we say, selective, but now it seems the government is heading towards Goebbels motto of "the bigger the lie, the more the people will believe it."

And that just won't do.

Photos of the new glasses will be available later today.

Twother Anyone?

The Government is set to change the law and allow two thirds of an imperial pint to become a legal measure in the UK. The industry believes it will offer greater flexibility for serving draught beer and cider, especially those with a higher alcohol content. “There is no question of replacing the British pint, but introducing the option of a new imperial measure is good news for consumers, providing them with more choice," said Science and Innovation Minister Lord Drayson.

I suppose there is a logic to this as thirds are a legal measure, but I suspect this is not so much a widening of choice, but a part of the continual demonising of alcohol by pushing smaller measures overall. I don't know of anyone who has campaigned for this and I've never heard it as a topic of conversation among drinkers, or indeed the trade. Will it make a difference? Well being of the persuasion that suspects the worst, it may be that some unscrupulous sellers of beer will use this as an excuse to either sell two thirds for the current price of a pint, or will sell two thirds not at pro rata, but at a premium. I can imagine that glass manufacturers will be trying to design a glass that looks as much like a pint glass as possible. I rather doubt if it will be done by using lined glasses with the two thirds being an option. The on trade has always resisted such glasses and as the push apparently comes from the trade, who have never bothered with using thirds, you have to suspect motives, especially when the Government goes along with it.

What do you think?

It isn't known when this will happen, as it needs a change to primary legislation.

Glasses

Yesterday we took a short stroll to the Highway to watch some of the marathon. Huge crowds greeted the red faced and clearly knackered section of runners we observed - the elite having finished hours ago were probably on a training run by then. We had to walk a fair way east before an underpass allowed us to cross the road and head down to Wapping High St. The Prospect of Whitby was straight ahead, so we popped in. The guest beer wasn't brown. It was golden. Hooray. It was also off, as in not available. Boo. GKIPA, Abbot or London Pride? I had the LP which tasted of little, but wasn't as sweet as it sometimes is. It was though in very good condition and at a cool temperature. No cellar skill problems here.

Our next stop was the keg only Captain Kydd. Sam Smith owned, with fine views across the river. I quite like it here and drink the wheat beer, while E drinks Pure Brewed Lager. Only problem - the glasses. I asked for a proper wheat beer glass, but was told they'd mostly been stolen. Hmm. The nonic pints and halves did nothing for either beer.

Maybe they could do a deposit system like Germany for the nice glasses, or, like some Dutch pubs, make the purchaser hand over one of their shoes? Given the fact the customers are a pretty affluent (though thieving) lot, I'd guess their footwear is worth more than a glass? It would certainly be a talking point and maybe give me a decent glass to drink out of.

Another Two Thirds Anyone?

I see that the National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML) are proposing in a consultation document that two third of a pint measures be made a legal measure for the dispense of draught beer in the UK. The NWML said the plan for two-thirds of a pint measures “has been proposed by the beer and pub trade to allow greater flexibility in the service of draught beers, especially those with a higher alcohol content”. It would be in addition to current legal measures of a pint, half-pint and third of a pint.

A spokesman for the British Beer and Pub Association said: "It would be a small change in the law, but a useful one – it won’t be for every venue or every customer, but it’s about giving customers more choice."Third pints are a legal measure, so why not make the law consistent and make two third legal as well? For some customers, some styles of beer will just seem right for a two thirds pint. So let’s allow the choice."

Well I didn't know that we had a National Weights and Measures Laboratory, but it is certainly an interesting proposal though I feel if the trade want it, then they must feel that there is something in it for them that isn't, to me at least, immediately obvious. That of course isn't a bad thing if there is something in it for the customer too, but it would mean buying a stocking different glasses and pricing would be an issue too. I haven't seen the trade rushing to supply the already legal third pint measure.

I'm not against this, but wonder what the driver really is. No-one has ever said to me that they would like this, but the trade obviously think there is some kind of advantage. What do you lot think?