Weird News Tonight (or Today!!!!!)

[GA Russell]

2 hours ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

I'm kinda with Jim on this one... what's weird about people stealing the most steal-able cars in the world? This might be for an "Interesting News Tonight" thread.

Kevin, great idea!

I'll start an Interesting News Tonight thread.

[Rabshakeh]

Back on beer, a new pub has opened right next to my house (almost) called the Pocket. It specialises in microbrewery beers, has a great atmosphere with competent jazz band and/or traditional sing-along piano, charges by percentage alcohol (nice idea) and is a spin off of Kentish Town's much loved Southampton Arms. 

The only problem is that the beers are all incredibly terrible. They change selection almost daily but there are days when there is not a single beer of which i can get through a pint. It is not just the notorious over-hopped cheaply made IPAs but also rank rotten brown ales and horrible chewy porters. I am a bitter (drinking) man typically and I am used to ruefully ordering a Guinness because it is the only non-microbrewed beer in your average middle class London pub, but this is a particularly extreme example of its type.

Whilst micro breweries have made a difference (particularly in the US where the microbrewery scene is much better and the initial underlying beer culture was probably worse imo) they can be a curse. I'm always amazed at how many people will happily drink absolutely terrible beer from these places. It is even worse with the dreaded "bio-wines".

Inept, cheaply made chemical crap which tastes disgusting, goes with no food, and immediately goes off before it can be served. But with a shiny label and a premium price tag.

In the Pocket's defence it does not have that premium price tag (for an Islington pub it is very cheap) and it does, like the Southampton Arms, have an excellent selection of scrumpies, but I don't drink cider because I am a responsible adult (my wife is from the West and does go for a half of her native brew, from time to time). Micro brewing and bio cost-cutting has yet to hit cider it appears.

Edited Friday at 07:34 AM by Rabshakeh

[Kevin Bresnahan]

3 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

Back on beer, a new pub has opened right next to my house (almost) called the Pocket. It specialises in microbrewery beers, has a great atmosphere with competent jazz band and/or traditional sing-along piano, charges by percentage alcohol (nice idea) and is a spin off of Kentish Town's much loved Southampton Arms. 

The only problem is that the beers are all incredibly terrible. They change selection almost daily but there are days when there is not a single beer of which i can get through a pint. It is not just the notorious over-hopped cheaply made IPAs but also rank rotten brown ales and horrible chewy porters. I am a bitter (drinking) man typically and I am used to ruefully ordering a Guinness because it is the only non-microbrewed beer in your average middle class London pub, but this is a particularly extreme example of its type.

Whilst micro breweries have made a difference (particularly in the US where the microbrewery scene is much better and the initial underlying beer culture was probably worse imo) they can be a curse. I'm always amazed at how many people will happily drink absolutely terrible beer from these places. It is even worse with the dreaded "bio-wines".

Inept, cheaply made chemical crap which tastes disgusting, goes with no food, and immediately goes off before it can be served. But with a shiny label and a premium price tag.

In the Pocket's defence it does not have that premium price tag (for an Islington pub it is very cheap) and it does, like the Southampton Arms, have an excellent selection of scrumpies, but I don't drink cider because I am a responsible adult (my wife is from the West and does go for a half of her native brew, from time to time). Micro brewing and bio cost-cutting has yet to hit cider it appears.

I wish I had access to any pub near me that offered cask-conditioned ales. I really enjoy cask-conditioned ales and I miss being able to get one at a local pub. There was an English pub called the Coat of Arms in downtown Portsmouth, NH for many years but they closed.

I do get that it seems like many beer makers are going all in on overly hopped IPAs but I can't really blame them, as it seems to be all the craze. That said, it's worse when beer makers go the other way too. Bland lagers & pilsners are no better than over-hopped IPAs. I'm more of a stout/porter man myself, with my preferred being a milk stout.

[Rabshakeh]

33 minutes ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

I wish I had access to any pub near me that offered cask-conditioned ales. I really enjoy cask-conditioned ales and I miss being able to get one at a local pub. There was an English pub called the Coat of Arms in downtown Portsmouth, NH for many years but they closed.

I do get that it seems like many beer makers are going all in on overly hopped IPAs but I can't really blame them, as it seems to be all the craze. That said, it's worse when beer makers go the other way too. Bland lagers & pilsners are no better than over-hopped IPAs. I'm more of a stout/porter man myself, with my preferred being a milk stout.

As I say, cask conditioned bitter is my drink of choice, but generally these days porters and stouts are what I drink because changes in beer marketing mean they tend to be far and away the best on offer. Sadly it isn't easy to get decent ale in London at all any more.

That's even true outside of London these days. I was in a pub in deepest darkest Dartmoor recently which surprisingly had really excellent food, but sadly only the most terrible beer you can imagine. Triple hopped and hazy IPAs and other horrible stuff. And Dartmoor has some of the best water and best breweries in the UK, so it is a real shame.

I will as a rule always order a milk stout if I see a milk stout. No brewer without good taste makes milk stout, and it is a forgiving style anyway, so you are safe ground pretty much always. 

I was always surprised that cask conditioned bitter hasn't really caught on in the States. The US micro scene is really strong and people are knowledgeable. (It isn't like here where micro breweries are just a way of branding trendy crap.) You'd think that someone would go on holiday to Yorkshire or Bath and come back committed to brewing a rival to Old Peculiar or Landlord or a Gem or whatever. They're not that commercial due to the time it takes and the need for good water, but I am still surprised that its not really being tried.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

8 minutes ago, Rabshakeh said:

As I say, cask conditioned bitter is my drink of choice, but generally these days porters and stouts are what I drink because changes in beer marketing mean they tend to be far and away the best on offer. Sadly it isn't easy to get decent ale in London at all any more.

That's even true outside of London these days. I was in a pub in deepest darkest Dartmoor recently which surprisingly had really excellent food, but sadly only the most terrible beer you can imagine. Triple hopped and hazy IPAs and other horrible stuff. And Dartmoor has some of the best water and best breweries in the UK, so it is a real shame.

I will as a rule always order a milk stout if I see a milk stout. No brewer without good taste makes milk stout, and it is a forgiving style anyway, so you are safe ground pretty much always. 

I was always surprised that cask conditioned bitter hasn't really caught on in the States. The US micro scene is really strong and people are knowledgeable. (It isn't like here where micro breweries are just a way of branding trendy crap.) You'd think that someone would go on holiday to Yorkshire or Bath and come back committed to brewing a rival to Old Peculiar or Landlord or a Gem or whatever. They're not that commercial due to the time it takes and the need for good water, but I am still surprised that its not really being tried.

It's been many years since I've traveled to the UK, but I remember really enjoying Timothy Taylor's Landlord Ale. Good stuff.

[Dub Modal]

1 hour ago, Rabshakeh said:

The US micro scene is really strong

But weakening fast with many regional players now shuttering. In the US the entire alcohol industry is shrinking, with beer being the fastest shrinking segment within. Smaller breweries that can't compete with larger competitors are strapped and having to make the tough decision to close. One nearby brewery famous for its milk Stout has permanently closed and it's a tragedy. 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Some consolidation in the microbrewing industry had to happen, since the IPA craze caused an insane number of breweries to pop up. Also, my friend who runs a liquor store tells me that a lot of his customers have stopped drinking alcohol completely and those that still imbibe, stay away from from the higher alcohol beers like DIPA & TIPA. His business is way down overall, not just beer.