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We've had a discussion on here about the good stuff but what about the really bad ones. I bought a case of Shore Leave brewed by BrewDog today. I can't tell you how bad it is. Had to give it away. Waiting for a response from the person I gave it to.
I am not a fan of non alcoholic beer and rarely drink it. Becks Blue is tolerable but I’d rather have a lime and soda.
Madri? Bought some of that as it was on offer the other week - yet to try it.
Meeting a chum in London next week starting at the Chandos off Trafalgar Sq. They serve Samuel Smiths which is and always was dreadful. It’s not even cheap any more, but he likes it - but then he is pretty crazy.
I'm getting into low/non-alcoholic beer. It's way better than sugary soft drinks, way healthier too. I even prefer drinking it to drinking alcoholic beer, me being something of a lightweight and having alcohol dehydrates and tires me out even in reltively small quantities.
One thing that tickled me the other day, I bough a low alchol Erdinger at the Ferry Boat Inn in Old Felixstowe and from the bottle you'd be hard pushed to know that it was a low alcohol beer at all. It was being pushed as a refreshing, isotonic health drink. Which, to be fair, it is. The only mention of it being a wheat beer was in small print on the back of the bottle.
Italians start drinking Tennents and then elect far right president, go figure...
On a more serious note, Scotland had a concerted effort to restrict alcohol sales down to reasonable levels over the last decade or so and it seems to have had an effect. Of course there is an argument against 'nanny state' tactics but from my own personal and anecdotal experience Glasgow feels like a safer place to walk around in with an English accent.
And that's important when you roll out of a club onto Sauciehall Street at three in the morning.
Scotland was traditionally a bit Jekyll and Hyde when it comes to alcohol with a heavy drinking culture on the one hand and the teetotalism of Presbyterianism on the other which my parents tended to follow.
But this old song jokingly sums up the Glasgow stereotype.
I belong to Glasgow, Dear old Glasgow town, But there's something the matter with Glasgow, For it's going round and round! I'm only a common old workin' lad, As anyone can see, But when I get a couple o' drinks on a Saturday, Glasgow belongs to me!
McMullens. They have a brewery in Hertford & unfortunately 130 pubs as well, including the Nag's Head in Covent Garden. I avoid them like the plague. A member of the McMullen family is a member of my golf club & his golf is as bad as their beer so I avoid him as well.
With supposed continental lagers being the flavour of the month in the UK, and the watering down of alcoholic content, interesting to see from this article that full strength Tennant's Super and Extra have become somewhat trendy in Italy.
If you can't access the article, I thought this quote was great.
“In Scotland, it’s for beetroot-faced street jaikies who have shat themselves but huvnae noticed, in Italy, it’s for sipping cold under the sun in a classy piazza with breadsticks and olives,” wrote Redditor Ferguson00.
I was in Siena last month, found a lovely Aperitivo bar, and was astonished to see bottles of Tennant's Super in the beer fridge. Now I know why - thank you.
and a German Helles or Czech cut Pilsner (half dark / half light) are streets above any Lager in the UK.
Worst beer? Surely Doom Bar! Bland beyond belief. Tastes like wet old wallpaper scrapings. Surprised Ghost Ship getting some grief on here. If no unusual real ales on draught it's my go to beer as consistent pint, never had a bad one. Carlsberg of course is awful, has to be drunk quickly whilst very cold before it reaches room temperature and your taste buds realise it should be called Cardboard.
McMullens. They have a brewery in Hertford & unfortunately 130 pubs as well, including the Nag's Head in Covent Garden. I avoid them like the plague. A member of the McMullen family is a member of my golf club & his golf is as bad as their beer so I avoid him as well.
The brewery buildings have quite a bit of character though (somewhat marred nowadays by the Sainsburys plonked next to them.)
McMullens. They have a brewery in Hertford & unfortunately 130 pubs as well, including the Nag's Head in Covent Garden. I avoid them like the plague. A member of the McMullen family is a member of my golf club & his golf is as bad as their beer so I avoid him as well.
Ah, agree with you on the avoidance of the McMullens beers, The brewery is, as mentioned by Zombies elsewhere, interesting in its architecture, but when I used to live in Enfield and work in Covent Garden, there were far too many of their pubs around for my liking too.
Yes, the two I mentioned were the Maxwell by the station and a large bar in the centre.
[Post edited 22 Jul 2024 8:49]
The Maxwell, near the station, is still there. An old haunt. There is a place called the White Hart that I’m not sure if a real boozer and there’s not much more. The Anchor and Hope, Artichoke and others - long gone. A pub called the Broomwood, a minutes walk from my flat, a McDonalds. My football team’s haunt the Partridge: demolished. Etc etc.
Stuff here is always cold and overgassed even the craft beer. only beer I have tasted that works for me is Waikato bitter in a bottle take the top off and leave it for a while works for me. Do some great dark beers like Adnams Old which my wife just bought as a treat from home and remember the old guys in the pub in the 70's putting a poker in the fire and dunking it in the glass, looking to try that in my Tankard.
Does McKewans lager still exist in England? A lovely creamy drop back in the day, my mate at Mannings (when it got the 1995 refurb’) used to keep a barrel, but only me and my mate would drink it so it became unviable. My local, The White Horse in old Felixstowe, has been struggling to get deliveries from Punch Taverns, and on Sunday night only had Guinness and Coors in the pub. After a Coors I had a bottle of light ale off the shelf( they had Thatcher’s and a zero alcohol lager). It was a low point, but when the bitters come back I might go to my early 80’s drink of light and bitter, hopefully with the bitter to half way and a bottle of light making a pint and a third!
The Maxwell, near the station, is still there. An old haunt. There is a place called the White Hart that I’m not sure if a real boozer and there’s not much more. The Anchor and Hope, Artichoke and others - long gone. A pub called the Broomwood, a minutes walk from my flat, a McDonalds. My football team’s haunt the Partridge: demolished. Etc etc.
It’s a sad world
I know the Maxwell very well. I have friend in Bromley, and we meet up in Orpington as it is easy to get to by train, and we always go to the Maxwell before heading into the centre later to to get something to meet.
I know the Maxwell very well. I have friend in Bromley, and we meet up in Orpington as it is easy to get to by train, and we always go to the Maxwell before heading into the centre later to to get something to meet.
After a tour of the hostelries, we’d often wind up in the King Palace chinese (if we hadn’t been banned) opposite the war memorial then rock up to the Maxwell for a few late ‘finishers’ before heading to my mate’s house close by for poker or whatever. Happy days. I’m glad it’s still there. Not been in it since before Covid.
After a tour of the hostelries, we’d often wind up in the King Palace chinese (if we hadn’t been banned) opposite the war memorial then rock up to the Maxwell for a few late ‘finishers’ before heading to my mate’s house close by for poker or whatever. Happy days. I’m glad it’s still there. Not been in it since before Covid.
We've eaten several times in the King Palace too.
Last time we were there, we ventured further up the High Street and came across what is more a huge bar than a pub which is called GPO and I assume was the former post office.
As regards Orpington, it's so easy to get into central London, so I imagine many go there (or Bromley) for a night out, so that may be one of the reasons for the decline of pubs.
EDIT: According to its website, GPO describes itself as a bar and kitchen.
A guy who shared a house with me in the early 1980s was a light & bitter man. I went for a beer with him once; I was drinking Guinness. We were standing at the bar. After a couple of pints he said to me "You enjoying my light & bitter?" I had been picking up the drink nearest to me & had started drinking his light & bitter without noticing the difference.
According to my taste-buds (or maybe it's psychological, who knows) for lager-type beers, there's nothing available, produced at high volume (ie not 'micro' brewery), that's brewed in the UK and tastes good.
I try to seek out the genuine imports (as opposed to 'brewed under license in the UK'), and for the most part find them so much better. Notable exceptions to that though: FAXE FAXE 10
^^^ Both genuine Danish imports, but both of them genuinely awful!
Madri and Brewdog Lost Planet up there as some of the worst mass-market UK-brewed beers for me.
Worsts beers I've ever tasted:
Evil Twin Wake Up and Smell the Gose (Imperial Breakfast Gose, maple syrup, blueberry and salt, it was always going to be a tough ask for it to be palatable).
Wychwood Bah Humbug (which is probably even worse now that Carlsberg Marstons have closed the Oxfordshire Wychwood brewery and moved production to Burton-on-Trent along with everything else they own, RIP to the New Forest based Ringwood brewery too ).
Last time we were there, we ventured further up the High Street and came across what is more a huge bar than a pub which is called GPO and I assume was the former post office.
As regards Orpington, it's so easy to get into central London, so I imagine many go there (or Bromley) for a night out, so that may be one of the reasons for the decline of pubs.
EDIT: According to its website, GPO describes itself as a bar and kitchen.
[Post edited 23 Jul 2024 9:53]
Yes, it is the former post office building, though of course back in the day it wasn’t painted black.
The journey to London is really quick from there. It’s two stops from Bromley too. Bromley itself isn’t the greatest for pubs. A lot have gone, including The Railway that was next to the station. There is the Wetherspoons at Bromley South which is ok and a fair few in Bromley North along with places to eat.
In younger years me and chums tended stay in the area for convenience and cost. It was only when I got to work in London that I got to know a few of the pubs (mostly expensive and a bit rubbish).
One of the nicest though is called the Cross Keys in Endell St, not least because the tourists miss it. It’s a small traditional London pub serving decent beer at a tolerable price and it’s close to one of the best Indians in the area - The Punjab in Neal St.
Yes, it is the former post office building, though of course back in the day it wasn’t painted black.
The journey to London is really quick from there. It’s two stops from Bromley too. Bromley itself isn’t the greatest for pubs. A lot have gone, including The Railway that was next to the station. There is the Wetherspoons at Bromley South which is ok and a fair few in Bromley North along with places to eat.
In younger years me and chums tended stay in the area for convenience and cost. It was only when I got to work in London that I got to know a few of the pubs (mostly expensive and a bit rubbish).
One of the nicest though is called the Cross Keys in Endell St, not least because the tourists miss it. It’s a small traditional London pub serving decent beer at a tolerable price and it’s close to one of the best Indians in the area - The Punjab in Neal St.
Another approving nod to your last para.... The Punjab is indeed a fine Indian. The Cross Keys is a pub I've oft stayed in after work - especially after my favourite Covent Garden pub closed (The Cove, which used to be upstairs above the West Cornwall Pasty Company with a balcony opposite that of the Punch & Judy - that was a gem of a non-touristy hidden delight with about 6 Cornish beers on cask for about £1.80 a pint, until one day they realised they were missing out on the tourist buck, put the price up overnight to £3.90 and then again to something like £4.80, which obviously put the regulars that knew it was there off, and within about 3-4 months it had closed. A sad day.)
I've not managed to find a single BrewDog beer i like, they're all a little harsh on the palate. By far the worst beers I've ever tasted are Rogue Beard Beer and Castle Lager.
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). 