Wednesday, 12 October 2011

More Supermarket Beer Bollocks


Having an upmarket break from skulking around Lidl and Aldi, in Morrisons and having bought all the Branston Baked Beans I need for the foreseeable future (best standard baked beans bar none), I thought, like you do, I'd have a gander at the beery offerings. Bloody Hell they are cheap. No need to buy the fizzy pop so beloved of Cooking Lager, as you could get quite royally pissed for a tenner drinking some decent beers and reasonably merry for a fiver if you could force Courage Best down your neck. No wonder people drink at home.

However what caught my eye was this little shelf strap underneath Lees The Governor Ale (Brewed for top chef Marco Pierre White). I spotted something wrong with it. Know what it is? Well I'll tell you. Since it was only brewed for the first time earlier this year, it would have had a bit of a job being "2002 Supreme Champion Beer of Britain". ( In fact that honour went to Caledonian Deuchars IPA.)  While one might also look askance at the claim that it has "intense hop flavours" - in fact it is pretty damn malty - that could be regarded as a matter of opinion, but the 2002 claim clearly is not.


Now I don't know if this is a local or national problem, but don't these supermarket types check things out with people that know before shoving nonsense onto their shelves and thus misleading the public? Not that hard is it surely? 

Top Tip: There is a very good price on Moonraker Strong Ale - 7.5% for £1.85 and it is bloody lovely stuff  too.
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16 comments:

  1. Cooking Lager12 October 2011 at 13:59

    But why pay a tenner to get pissed only the once?

    You can get pissed 3 times on a £10 24 can slab.

    Glad to see you getting value for your quid, anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tandleman12 October 2011 at 14:02

    Sad to say I was only browsing. The pub gets my dosh.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown12 October 2011 at 14:14

    For that matter, the description isn't very imaginative either.

    ReplyDelete
  4. StringersBeer12 October 2011 at 14:17

    Did you raise this with the store? What did they say? Wouldn't this be a trading standards issue?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Tandleman12 October 2011 at 14:17

    Ah but it was taken from the Standard Book of Beer Descriptions for Supermarkets, so it must be right.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Tandleman12 October 2011 at 14:20

    Stringers - Not up to me really. But I have told Lees, (after I wrote the piece) who were aware of it already and have told Morrisons, who haven't yet sorted it. Doh.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous12 October 2011 at 14:31

    To be fair, Mozzas is probably the best of the big four supermarkets.

    Up here, we get a good selection of local beers (Double Maxim, Workie Ticket, Radgie Gadgie) as well as a changing selection of beers from elsewhere. The 4 for £5.50 deal is very good value.

    sainsbury's range is okay, but tends to be a bit bog-standard and not region-specific. Tesco and Asda aren't worth bothering with at all IMHO.

    ReplyDelete
  8. StringersBeer12 October 2011 at 16:41

    Genuinely, well-spotted. I think you're wrong though, surely it is up to us - as consumers. I think you'll find Trading Standards details on this page http://www.robcamra.org.uk/viewnode.php?id=56 :) Plus also, this seems to be falsely claiming an endorsement by CAMRA (without actually taking their name in vain). You'd hope CAMRA HQ would care. Or are they too busy hunting for yeast in keg products and campaigning for supermarket "value" lagers? Only joking.

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  9. Tandleman12 October 2011 at 16:46

    Stringers - I don't care THAT much. And it doesn't mention CAMRA exactly. Don't let me stop you though. Or maybe we could hand the case over to CAMRGB?

    And thanks for quoting my own CAMRA website. (-;

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  10. Private Poontang12 October 2011 at 18:48

    Pardon ?
    Did Cooking Lager say he could get pissed THREE times on just 24 cans of lout ?
    What a fucking piss-poor lightweight.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Neville Grundy12 October 2011 at 18:49

    I rarely drink bottled beer but in Tesco I've just bought four Moorhouses Old Crafty Hen (6.5%), priced at £2.79 each or 4 for £5!

    A good session beer.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Barry12 October 2011 at 19:05

    That's pretty bad, I have to say. I agree with Stringers that they should be reported.

    ReplyDelete
  13. GeordieManc13 October 2011 at 07:48

    Doesn't take long to raise it with trading standards - in fact pretty much cutting and pasting your piece into the form on their website would do it.

    If Lees have told Morrissons and they haven't acted, that's not suprising - Morrissons are the "big boys" in that relationship, so why would they bother. But with a trading standards officer stood over them, they'd act immediately.

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  14. Erlangernick14 October 2011 at 10:29

    I see there are no Morrison's in Manchester proper. Where should one go in the city to find decent bottled beer --especially bottle conditioned?

    Besides the Micro Bar, of course.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Rob Sterowski2 November 2011 at 00:57

    This is quite clearly a technical error. The description belonging to Deuchars IPA has been copied in the supermarket's stock system and applied to this product by accident.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Scyrene19 January 2012 at 00:19

    Erlangernick - they've opened a Booths in Salford. I don't know what that branch is like, but in general they have a great range of bottled beers.

    ReplyDelete

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