Favourite beverage

[RevolutionRuleZ]

Regardless of if its in a theme park, after a long day at work or just to enjoy the sunshine in a beer garden, whats your go to beverage of choice?

 

[Howie]

 

[Nicky Borrill]

This has been done before I think...

But as I own a pub, my favourite draft beer on our bar is...



We also have Beavertown Neckoil, but I don't think it's as nice, and is more expensive.

However, if I'm not drinking from the bar, I've been mostly buying Salt beer or Cloudwater.

They have this one in Tesco, and it's very nice



Or if you're after a session you can't go wrong with Jute




But honestly, all of Salt's beer are incredible, they're definitely not shy with the hops!!!

If you really want a treat, feeling flush and can find this stuff, you're in luck...

 

[CanobieFan]

Honestly.... just water .....and maybe a nice iced tea if I'm out and about

 

[RevolutionRuleZ]

This has been done before I think...

But as I own a pub, my favourite draft beer on our bar is...

View attachment 26464

We also have Beavertown Neckoil, but I don't think it's as nice, and is more expensive.

However, if I'm not drinking from the bar, I've been mostly buying Salt beer or Cloudwater.

They have this one in Tesco, and it's very nice

View attachment 26465

Or if you're after a session you can't go wrong with Jute


View attachment 26466

But honestly, all of Salt's beer are incredible, they're definitely not shy with the hops!!!

If you really want a treat, feeling flush and can find this stuff, you're in luck...

View attachment 26467

Haven't tried those, will keep an ear out.

If you are an IPA fan and a coaster fan, if you ever find yourself in Southport you may like the tap and bottle, great little bar do there own brewing and are happy to give samples, or at least they were the last few times I have been in.

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

If I'm looking to get a buzz it's Canadian Club and water, but if I'm just wanting something to unwind it's red wine or a beer!

 

[davidm]

Haven't tried those, will keep an ear out.

Salt you can find in the UK supermarkets (Tesco - at least in "the north" anyway), Beavertown almost everywhere these days (used to really like Neckoil but since they sold out to Heineken I think their whole range is not as good as it used to be). I've seen the Lagunitas in local supermarkets too, but perhaps not recently - always a bit suspect of American beers (or Spanish, French, German for that matter) being on draft in the UK as they tend to be all brewed in the same brewery in Burton on license. (not all of course, but the mass-market ones for sure)

Cloudwater had a period of their beers being sold in Tesco (but brewed under contract by Brewdog of all people) they got a lot stick in the craft-beer-nerd community for that and don't do it anymore - shame as that was good supermarket beer. You'll have to go to bottle shops or online to get their stuff at the moment (or down their taproom which is pretty local for me) - I have had Chubbles (various varieties) on draft but only in Manchester venues or the Cloudwater taproom.

Track are my favourite local (Manchester) brewery though - their Sonoma session pale ale is the goat. (Their taproom is literally opposite Cloudwater's and just around the corner from Sureshot (who are ex-Cloudwater and also knocking out some good small-batch stuff at the moment).

Sounding like a beer-geek as well as a coaster geek - not really though, very much a "keen-tourist" level of beer-geekiness.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Salt you can find in the UK supermarkets (Tesco - at least in "the north" anyway), Beavertown almost everywhere these days (used to really like Neckoil but since they sold out to Heineken I think their whole range is not as good as it used to be). I've seen the Lagunitas in local supermarkets too, but perhaps not recently - always a bit suspect of American beers (or Spanish, French, German for that matter) being on draft in the UK as they tend to be all brewed in the same brewery in Burton on license. (not all of course, but the mass-market ones for sure)

Cloudwater had a period of their beers being sold in Tesco (but brewed under contract by Brewdog of all people) they got a lot stick in the craft-beer-nerd community for that and don't do it anymore - shame as that was good supermarket beer. You'll have to go to bottle shops or online to get their stuff at the moment (or down their taproom which is pretty local for me) - I have had Chubbles (various varieties) on draft but only in Manchester venues or the Cloudwater taproom.

Track are my favourite local (Manchester) brewery though - their Sonoma session pale ale is the goat. (Their taproom is literally opposite Cloudwater's and just around the corner from Sureshot (who are ex-Cloudwater and also knocking out some good small-batch stuff at the moment).

Sounding like a beer-geek as well as a coaster geek - not really though, very much a "keen-tourist" level of beer-geekiness.

Beavertown was never 'that' good though was it, honestly?

Lagunitas is actually under license to Heineken as well, not Molson Coors. Haven't seen Daytime in Supermarkets, have seen the IPA available somewhere, but not the Daytime, which is far superior. I think it's my favourite widely available session if you ignore the fact that Jute is widely available on draft now (and we can't have it on our bar just yet )

Salt has only recently popped up everywhere on tap, because they recently (about 6 to 8 months ago I think) signed a distribution deal with Molson Coors. (Note, distribution deal, not a license to brew, let's hope it stays that way!)

Being widely available doesn't make it inferior, it is just better for us, the consumer. (although I appreciate you were expressing surprise at somebody else never having come across these beers more than anything.)

Have tried a couple of Track's DDH beers, they were extremely nice. Not come across Sureshot yet myself, though I have seen them on Sellar.io (the wholesale platform many use for craft.)

I'm not a beer geek or hobbyist either, it's mostly work not pleasure for me. I have never visited a craft store in my life. But I do come across many small batch breweries at the beer festival trade days I obviously 'have' to attend.

Having said that, I WILL seek out bars with at least one or two craft options if I'm out out these days, I just really struggle to stomach mainstream lager brands if I have a choice, and I'm even increasingly finding most cask beers bland. Unfortunately, I don't go out out a lot, most of my pleasure 'drinking' lately has been at music festivals, where we've only just been blessed with the presence of the almighty 'Poo Dog' bars. Kendal Calling actually made 'Lost Lager' their main lager, and I honestly think I'd rather drink Carling...

On the subject of going off cask, I did like the Theakston x Tiny Rebel collab, Cwtch Gold, was expecting it to be more 'Theakston' than 'Rebel' and thought I'd hate it, but it was surprisingly nice. And obviously, being from Derbyshire, I won't hear a bad word said about Thornbridge's cask ales, nothing wrong with Crackendale whatsoever! Just p***ed off that I never got to try the Jaipur DDH.

 

[davidm]

Jaipur is another all-time-best-kinda-beer IMHO. Had the variations (like Double and DDH) but only at beer festivals I think.

Beavertown (especially Gamma Ray) was very good (I think) 7-8 years ago, or perhaps it just didn't have so much competition back then!

Beer at music events is almost universally awful and overpiced that I usually don't even bother (even if done by Brewdog, who despite their mainstream nature these days, still put out a fair amount of decent beers alongside their junk like the lager (and Punk has gone really down hill I think)).

Had a check and yes only had Lagunitas Daytime on draft, was the IPA I'd had in tins from Marks & Sparks.

Cask is hit and miss for me - find it generally a bit "soft" but sometimes that's fantastic. Had a lot of poor cask in my years though, I'll trust you keep your cask better than my locals though! (Having said that had a few cask Magic Rock 'High Wire' the other night and that was very good, despite them also selling out to big-beer in the last few years).

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Jaipur is another all-time-best-kinda-beer IMHO. Had the variations (like Double and DDH) but only at beer festivals I think.

Beavertown (especially Gamma Ray) was very good (I think) 7-8 years ago, or perhaps it just didn't have so much competition back then!

Beer at music events is almost universally awful and overpiced that I usually don't even bother (even if done by Brewdog, who despite their mainstream nature these days, still put out a fair amount of decent beers alongside their junk like the lager (and Punk has gone really down hill I think)).

Had a check and yes only had Lagunitas Daytime on draft, was the IPA I'd had in tins from Marks & Sparks.

Cask is hit and miss for me - find it generally a bit "soft" but sometimes that's fantastic. Had a lot of poor cask in my years though, I'll trust you keep your cask better than my locals though! (Having said that had a few cask Magic Rock 'High Wire' the other night and that was very good, despite them also selling out to big-beer in the last few years).

If I remember corrrectly, Brew Dog only had Lost Lager, Hazy Jane, Punk IPA and their Punk AF, despite having the entire rights to Kendal Calling (almost, Thatcher’s Cider were there too.) Such a shame really as they do have the odd decent beer still.

We do try with our cask, we’ve been looking after cask and conditioning it by the book for over 20 years now, back since it was pretty much just ‘Pedi.’ However, we’ve had a hell of a lot more quality issues beyond our control since lockdown… There’s been more entire firkins of ullage in the last 3 years than in the entire period before that. Greene King beers were very inconsistent for almost 2 years. They seem to be over it now. Things seem to be improving generally lately. No idea what caused it, my two main theories are along the lines of brewery equipment not being maintained to a standard during lockdown, or some sort of talent / skill shortage post lockdown.

The best example I can give is Abbot Ale, it’s pretty much a permanent on our bar for the old boys, we shift 3 or 4 firkins a week sometimes. (Though we’re slowly getting them onto things like Jaipur, Crackendale, Castle Rock Screech Owl etc.) Up until 2020 I’d never had to return an entire barrel of Abbot that just wouldn’t drop bright before. Since 2020, returns are now well into double figures (though the last bad batch was mid 2022.) The beers just wouldn’t drop bright, and would remain sickeningly sweet. This would happen in batches for a few weeks, and then the problem would go away, there were 4 or 5 periods / batches in total. Speaking to other landlords they had the same issues.

Greene King weren’t the only ones either, although they’re the ones that affected us the most as we sell so much Abbot. Abbot is a terrible beer at the best of times, it really wasn’t nice having to taste test it every time we’d gone to the effort of fully conditioning it for 2 days only to find it tasted like arse. I do wonder how many pubs just got on with it and sold these inferior beers rather than going through all the hassle of returning them.

Have you visited the Thornbridge Brewery in Bakewell before? They do tours and have a fairly decent on site bar. Worth a visit if you’re ever in this area.

 

[davidm]

^ I haven't - its "on the list" though ; I do try to visit such places when I'm out and about.
(Last one was Cantillon in Brussels the other week, bit niche them though )

 

[RickAstleyTheTall]

Water.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Some of the better beers from this week… Have been on a bit of a ‘Shiny’ binge…

The worst of the week was the North v South Collab, South version (Not pictured.) The best was, surprisingly, Shiny Wipeout.

 

[Matt N]

If we're talking all beverages, alcoholic or non-alcoholic; I have to say that nothing beats a nice, cold pint of Pepsi Max for me!

Although the beverage I drink by far the most of, and one that's grown on me a lot since I started drinking more of it, is plain old water!

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Don't mean to point out the obvious, but EVERYBODY drinks water, it's a given that we all consume more water than anything else...

Now that we've cleared that up, can we share some 'tasty' beverage tips please.

Where are the drunk riders when you need them?

(@Matt N Pepsi Max is god tier though, king of the sugar free colas. My soft drink of choice is sugar free cola, but sadly I have to stick to diet coke, as pepsi max gives me headaches... Bloody annoying too since it's the clear winner.)

 

[Matt N]

@Nicky Borrill On a side note, I must ask; as a pub owner yourself, do you think Pepsi Max (or similar) tastes different on tap in a pub (or similar) to how it does out of a bottle from the supermarket?

I only ask because I swear draught Pepsi Max or Diet Coke tastes different to buying it out of the supermarket, and I actually think draught might be the version that tastes the nicest in both cases…

Pouring it into a pint glass out of a 2 litre bottle is also pretty nice, but I’ve noticed that drinking directly out of the little bottles that you often get out of convenience stores and such are a little less nice, because they seem more acidy (?).

I’ve probably made myself sound utterly nuts across those few paragraphs, but I swear the same drink can sometimes taste marginally different from a different receptacle…

They’re all pretty nice, though… sugar free cola in general is a massive guilty pleasure of mine! I’d definitely pick Pepsi Max over any other if I had the choice, but Diet Pepsi is pretty great too. I’d pick Pepsi over Coke if I had the choice, but Diet Coke is also pretty good.

Oddly, though, I don’t like the supermarket brand sugar free colas (e.g. Tesco Diet Cola or Lidl Freeway Diet Cola) nearly as much as the name brands (e.g. Pepsi Max or Diet Coke). I also bizarrely don’t like full-sugar Coca-Cola or full-sugar Pepsi, which I’m guessing will be quite an unpopular opinion, particularly as someone who loves their diet equivalents!

 

[Nicky Borrill]

@Nicky Borrill On a side note, I must ask; as a pub owner yourself, do you think Pepsi Max (or similar) tastes different on tap in a pub (or similar) to how it does out of a bottle from the supermarket?

I only ask because I swear draught Pepsi Max or Diet Coke tastes different to buying it out of the supermarket, and I actually think draught might be the version that tastes the nicest in both cases…

Pouring it into a pint glass out of a 2 litre bottle is also pretty nice, but I’ve noticed that drinking directly out of the little bottles that you often get out of convenience stores and such are a little less nice, because they seem more acidy (?).

I’ve probably made myself sound utterly nuts across those few paragraphs, but I swear the same drink can sometimes taste marginally different from a different receptacle…

They’re all pretty nice, though… sugar free cola in general is a massive guilty pleasure of mine! I’d definitely pick Pepsi Max over any other if I had the choice, but Diet Pepsi is pretty great too. I’d pick Pepsi over Coke if I had the choice, but Diet Coke is also pretty good.

Oddly, though, I don’t like the supermarket brand sugar free colas (e.g. Tesco Diet Cola or Lidl Freeway Diet Cola) nearly as much as the name brands (e.g. Pepsi Max or Diet Coke). I also bizarrely don’t like full-sugar Coca-Cola or full-sugar Pepsi, which I’m guessing will be quite an unpopular opinion, particularly as someone who loves their diet equivalents!

Not the least bit nuts... There's definitely a difference. There's so many variables, the aluminium, or plastic, altering the flavour profile (or even scent, affecting your taste.) The level of carbonation, it varies massively across different postmix machines, never mind different packaging types. The amount of syrup in the mix can vary by very small, but very noticeable amounts, from one postmix machine to the other. Of course, in a perfect world, they're supposed to be calibrated to deliver the exact same ratios, but this isn't a perfect world. The handheld guns for example, dispense nothing but syrup when the button is partially pressed, this means that the speed at which the server presses the button in can even affect the mix ratio.

Trust me, tiny differences in the ratio make HUGE differences to the taste. I wanted to try and see if it was even nicer with a stronger mix, so knowing that I could just dispense syrup by half pressing the button, I made a super strong mix. It was disgusting, like completely undrinkable, gross, chemical tasting, disgusting.

Draught is best, by far. However the above means there is a caveat. Like any draught product, it depends on the venue, or more to the point, the person looking after it. I've genuinely been in pubs where they've just continued running the postmix machine when the gas is at a very low pressure, or when the built in cooler isn't functioning, and there's nothing worse than warm or flat postmix.

 

[davidm]

That Buxton is good, the NorthxFullCircle OK but not as good (all supermarket sourced for me them!)
never seen any "Shiny" though so interesting.

Had this last night (not supermarket sourced, and also not cheap) - was VERY VERY good though.



also : https://untappd.com/user/DaveFM if anyone is into that.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

That Buxton is good, the NorthxFullCircle OK but not as good (all supermarket sourced for me them!)
never seen any "Shiny" though so interesting.

Had this last night (not supermarket sourced, and also not cheap) - was VERY VERY good though.

View attachment 26726

also : https://untappd.com/user/DaveFM if anyone is into that.

Shiny is a local micro, bought a couple of their casks for the bar and they kindly sent me 4 different cans to try, and a couple of glasses free… There are ‘some’ perks Beer Metropolis is their can store, I promised them I’d pop over soon, so looks like I won’t be able to say I’ve never been in one before.

They used to do more traditional ales, and I didn’t rate them, so haven’t tried them for about 7 years!!! But they switched almost entirely to craft a few years ago, and it seems to have been a great move.

The 2 cask we put on today are very very nice, think we’ll be using them again.



That Summer Street doesn’t look cheap!!! Looks to be an import is it?

 

[davidm]

Yeah, it wasn't and it is - I reckon some importer brought over a container of them though as they suddenly appeared in every UK bottle shop going (according to Untappd anyway)