Misleading or What?

On Tuesday I did some pub surveys for the Good Beer Guide and then, the car having been dumped, Graham and I went to my home town Middleton for a few pints of Lees. If you don't drink Lees in Midd, basically, you have to get out of town.

Thus, Lees having been done to death, in hope more than expectation, we went to the local JDW. This has all the faults of the worst of JDW with little of the aspirational or redeeming stuff. Two guests were on offer. The Deuchar's IPA was chosen. Yes. Boring I know but the other was Nethergate Old Growler, so we thought we'd try the weaker beer first. It was off. A few tugs of the handpull gave only a few spits of froth. Why didn't the bar staff know? Well, see above. I told you it was at the bottom end of the JDW spectrum.

The Old Growler was surprisingly good. In top condition, dark, chocolatey, malty with balancing bitter hops. It was very moreish. Incidentally there's a beer name that could be looked at by the pumpclip police or, conversely, sold in the sort of stripper joint frequented by certain other bloggers!

However it was not this that caught my attention, but a sign proclaiming "Pricewatch at JDW". This is alleged to show how much cheaper JDW is for the same drinks bought in nearby establishments. Now in this rundown pub in a suburb of Rochdale, the comparison was with a number of destination pubs in Manchester City Centre, five and a half miles away. Do you think this is reasonable? That's the trouble with JDW. It aims for high standards but the reality is so very different. In this case I would say, as my old boss said elsewhere more famously, they are being at best, "economical with the truth".

Sorry for the grainy photo. the third comparison (not shown) was with Kro Bar in Piccadilly Gardens.