Well, I agree with Pompeymeowth about the breweries closing. I used to partake of a nice pint of HSB and one night I ordered one and immediately asked the landlord, what has happened to this? Of course, they had closed down the Brewery and the beer had the same pump label but was a pale shadow of its former self. Marsdons is at least a half decent brewery. When on holiday in Cornwall, I got a taste for Tribute, a great beer from the St Austall brewery. My fear is that it will go the same way. Always the same thing. Name me one good national brewer? baker? Butcher. It just doesn't compute.
Shepherd Neame is good too Was drinking 4-4-2 through the world cup..........No it wasn't out of date. I'll get my coat.
The bass brewery was in my home town along with courages and Phoenix many years ago. The original Directors from courage was lovely! That bass brewery I believe is now owned by the lot who supply St Marys.
Not a fan of wadworths, Kennett & Avon is the beer in that area I enjoy. I won't say no to a bishops tipple though.
I was at Ringwood recently and one of the guys working there said that Marstons are pretty good and let them get on with the brewing. He described them as a necessary marketing evil. Micro brewing has definitely had a renaissance. I don't know if it's true, but I was told in the early 80s you couldn't really get real ale and everywhere was larger
In the early 1960s, real ale/beer making went into decline in this country because real beer won't last and breweries wanted something easier to make and store, like lager for instance. So keg beer was made and pumped with artificial gas. It kept for much longer and you could handle it like lager. It tasted pretty much as ghastly, worse in many cases, if that is actually possible. Examples were: Ben Truman, Watney's Red Barrel, and Whitbread Trophy. What with the crap beer and a new generation of drinkers wanting something different from that rubbish, lager really made big steps into popularity. If real ale had continued unabated we'd all be a nation of beer drinkers still, in my opinion. However, what we may not have is the fantastic selection of excellent real ale/beers we have today, that started from the efforts of CAMRA in the 1970s and 80s. So you win some and you lose some. Lager drinkers can keep to their Fosters, Carling or whatever crap the advertising tells them they must buy to be cool, and there will be more or the good stuff for us. And yes, I do know that there is good lager out there as well.
The only problem is l currently reside in Dubai... however we do have what are termed 'Belgium Cafés'... so all is not so bad... Ramadan does however inhibit all sorts of eating and drinking.
One of the social clubs I frequent on rare occasions has Samuel Smiths Lager. Wuite nice although I prefer the 'Old Brewery'.
A long time ago, my parents became tennants of a great pub called the Greyfriar in the village of Chawton, just outside Alton. This was where I received my apprenticeship in the art of beer appreciation (I was 18 when we moved in). As it was a Gales pub, HSB was the main beer and a great pint. Unfortunately, shortly after, the pub was taken over by Whitbread and the new ale was one called Pompey Royal which, although not quite as good as HSB and despite it's name, was actually a good pint. I also remember a pub in Albrook (can't remember it's name) also serving a good pint of PR. Happy days!
Being associated with these chaps might put some people off Ale, to be fair we've all seen ale drinkers who carry on like this please log in to view this image
