The Quality Thing

So now that beer festivalitis has temporarily left me, I can return to the normal world of beer. Saturday saw a pub crawl of Manchester, though unfortunately I missed out on the start at the Port St Beer House, which I like. It was a change from the usual haunts and I was delighted to note excellent beer quality in the Crown and Kettle, the Castle, the Soup Kitchen, the Piccadilly and the Bank. Not every beer was to my taste, but I certainly couldn't complain about the condition or temperature of any. That's a good thing and I will return to this theme of quality much more in the future. Top beer of the day? Well a half of Old Tom was sublime in the Castle. I'm not a fan of Robinson's beers, as I consider the house yeast far too dominant, but a beer such as Old Tom can push that into the background readily enough. On cask and 8.5%, it was probably the pick of a decent day's supping and certainly debunked the myth that you can't put strong beers on cask.

One issue did come up. Jaipur was on in the Bank and once again it failed to hit the mark. Overly sweet and sticky, it just didn't appeal to me or any of my drinking companions and while it may be hitting the spot still for some, I'll be approaching it with much more scepticism than previously as I just don't seem to get a good pint of it and haven't for well over a year.

Returning to the issue of quality, I have become aware of - or rather, been reacquainted with - a fairly widespread problem of pubs that aren't thriving, buying beer in cash as they go along, with many resulting quality problems, such as green beer, hazy beer and beer that has dropped bright, but has not yet conditioned. This affects many pubs and I was advised at NWAF that Adnams are countering this problem by conditioning their beer for longer in the brewery before releasing it. Other brewers may be doing this too or thinking about it, but it is a widespread problem, often affecting tenanted pubs of small regional brewers and is a hidden but pernicious aspect to the doubtful viability of some pubs.  The brewery knows a pub is in trouble when the dray order is dropped and the beer is being bought for cash. Alarm bells clang loudly. 

Next time you get a duff pint in a brewery owned tenanted pub, consider if you can, that it may not have been presented as the brewer intends for reasons other than cellar incompetence.

Busy Tied Houses

Prevailing opinion is that to succeed in the pub business, generally you have to be free of tie, or if not, the only pub for miles around and in a highly populated area. I know - not always the case - but I'm sure you recognise the broad picture I'm painting.

On Friday evening, a time when I am rarely in the pub due to "meeting E at the station duties", I met with a fellow CAMRA committee member to discuss some business. We decided to kill two birds with one stone and rendezvous in a conversion from smooth to cask. The pub is tied to Thwaites and at 7 pm it was heaving. We found a relatively quiet spot in the games room with our (excellent) pints of Wainwright, but lasted only 30 minutes or so before sheer weight of numbers and the volume of conversation drove us out. We decamped along the road to a Lees pub, hoping to try the new seasonal offering, Fool's Gold and complete our form filling. The pub was again full to bursting, with nowhere to sit in the lounge and just two seats in the packed vault. We squeezed into them enjoying the very bitter Fool's Gold and doing our best to finish our business against an atmospheric background of happily supping customers. It took us back to the old days, so beloved of Curmudgeon, when most pubs were like this and was heartening in the extreme.

It did make us realise though that pubs are regretfully rarely like this, but nonetheless we both felt real delight to see them doing so well.

The pubs were: Thwaites' Hare and Hounds, Oldham Rd, Middleton; Lees' Rose of Lancaster, Haigh Lane, Chadderton

Unexpected Boost for Pubs

It seems the recession is hitting night clubs hard with many drinkers preferring cheaper beer in late opening pubs than going on to a club. A total of 355 such clubs closed last year as cash pressed drinkers chose not to visit them for a late night tipple.

When I was younger in Liverpool, it was quite common to go to a club for a late night bevvy, as quite simply, if you wanted to continue boozing, there was little option as there was nowhere else to go. Most of us would have preferred to stay in the pub anyway, but now there is choice and fewer seem to want to pay a premium for the privilege.

No doubt some will blame the smoking ban though.

Recession Hitting Glasgow Hard

Seems things are bad in the "Dear Green Place". This sign says it all.

Recession Bites

Seems the recession is hitting discretionary spending in the US. The previously buoyant imported beer scene is taking a severe knock. According to the Wall St Journal, sales of imported beer fell 19% in the first two months of the year, as customers switched to cheaper domestic beer. Some craft brewers have responded by cutting some of their prices to ensure that the switch isn't to mega brewers. Overall spending is down by 4% year on year.

This one has some way to play yet, but in a perverse way presents opportunities for domestic brewers everywhere to grab back some market share. Be interesting to see how the weak pound has affected our imported beer sales.

Trading Well

Good pubs always do well even in a recession. Only three pubs visited this weekend. Firstly the Marble Arch on Friday night, where we simply couldn't get in comfortably it was so choc-a-bloc with customers. We fought our way towards the bar, but really there wasn't even elbow room, so we shot out the side door and round to the Angel, where despite it being busy, we were able to get a couple of pints, albeit in my case the last pint from two different casks. How unlucky is that? Both were just about OK, but had started to pick up a little bit of taste from the sediment and had that tell tale flatness.

On Sunday my local was busy to bursting with all the beer being in excellent condition and food doing a roaring trade. It was even warm enough for the hardier amongst us to sit outside. There were no polecats and the Landlady assured me they had been barred. Good. They have no place in a pub.

So three different but good pubs, the Marble a brew pub, the Angel a gastropub and the THT, a remote tied house, all doing well. The moral is that give the customers good things and a reason to be there and even in hard times, you'll do well.