The Meaning of Bri

BRi’s Blog:  The Meaning of Bri

There are 100’s of beer blogs out there right now and I don’t wish to disparage any of them but thought I would make it clear why I have joined their ranks and how mine may differ from many:

1                     Are You An Expert? - I don’t work within the brewing industry in any way so all my views and recommendations are mine alone and based on my own experiences. I don’t mention this as a disclaimer, as most phrases like this are, but to inform you that I’m just someone who is passionate about great beer and I just want to share the knowledge I have. I am not promoting pubs or beers on anyone’s behalf other than yours, dear reader. I have been drinking beer for a long time and continue to explore the huge variety of styles available both home and abroad so if you find you disagree with me often, and think I am wrong about your favourite beer, then either accept that my view is different from yours and continue to read my blog but get annoyed by it or stop reading my blog. I’m happy for debate and discussion on beer, pubs, brewing etc. but you just telling me I am wrong is not an argument. It’s a statement. So think on before saying ‘I don’t know what I’m talking about’ unless you can tell me why I am factually wrong. I have worked in pubs and at beer festivals but, more importantly, I have spent a fair bit of time on the other side of the bar drinking beers from all over the world. I am not a member of CAMRA.

2                     What Beers Do You Like? - Beers are as different as people so I will tell you what I like (usually just on a scale of 0 to 100) and will only occasionally go into great depth about the taste experience (grapefruity, coffee, stale scones etc) as most beers are amply covered in cyber-space by breweries, beer guides and bloggers so I don’t really think that many people will be that interested in my descriptions of every beer. I may well point out if I think a beer is not like it usually is and, especially if I believe the recipe has been changed drastically, but that is only for guidance. I fully appreciate that what I like, you may not. We are all like snowflakes: unique and likely to fall in upland areas. I favour very hoppy pale beers (especially Double/Imperial IPAs) but also love deep, dark stouts and porters (so Black IPAs have my name written on each cask). I’m not so fond of amber, brown and red beers but a great beer IS a great beer and I still enjoy the best styles that produce these colours but my preferences are at the polar opposites of the spectrum. Nevertheless, I will still credit a well made beer even though I usually go for the big flavours of the craft brewers so it’s not just the 6% beers that get rave reviews from me; there’s no reason that I won’t champion a 2.8% or a 22% if they are done well – and they sometimes are. I’m not averse to trying innovative and strange brews from any corner of the globe, either, as long as it has been made with the best ingredients and passion.

3                     What’s Your Blog About? - The dominant feature of Bri’s Beer Blog is to advise people of the very best pubs in a particular area (town, city, region) as this is what I would like to know when I go somewhere new so I hope to be able to help people from my experiences. I will not just tell you every pub I went in although I may tell you every beer I tried so you may get a feel for the sort of place it is. Remember, by the very nature of the sort of pubs I will recommend that they will be free of brewery tie and be able to choose whichever beers they bloody well like so the beers I mention may very likely not be for sale if you decide to venture in. If this is the case, feel free to say to the barstaff that my blog said certain beers were sold there and watch their blank expressions. Oh, and I rant. These are called ‘Briatribes’ and is generally me giving my tuppence worth on the state of the beer and brewing in an irreverent and meandering style that may best be referred to as ‘unstructured’.

4                     What Makes A Great Beer? - I am only really interested in what has become called craft beers. That is, beers brewed primarily for the purpose of producing the best possible beer with the best possible ingredients. The minute an accountant starts advising a brewery of how to cut costs then most, if not, all hope is lost. As will become abundantly clear, I am not saying that big brewers CANNOT brew great beer – indeed, many of them used to – but just that they DO NOT brew great beer; and that’s all I’m interested in. In fact, I don’t think I will use the term craft beer anymore as it has become as meaningless as the words traditional, IPA (not actually a word at all), best bitter or free house. That is why I tend to just use the phrase great beer as there can be no other interpretation.

5                     What Is The Aim Of These Blogs? - Although I will rant and rave with the best of ‘em about the vagaries of the breweries and the government, I really don’t think this blog will make a brewery have a rethink about using cheaper malts or adding dry hops to the brew. I may complain that they don’t but I’m more concerned about drinking the beers that are great and are available NOW. It’s called ‘voting with your feet’ and we should all walk away from ANY establishment that treats its customers with contempt by attempting to sell them bland, shoddy, poorly-produced, overpriced goods or services – and not just beers and pubs – they want our money so make them earn it! I know that if you want a pint and the only pub for miles is a national brewery pub it’s difficult but I now walk/bus/train to wherever the next great pub is or I go without! That is why independently brewed premium bottled ales are the beer market’s greatest growth sellers, at the moment, as people who demand quality would rather drink bottles at home if the only choice is the ubiquitous muck that passes for real ale in a majority of pubs. You may get used to an insipid beer but how much do you actually enjoy it? Why settle for mediocrity when greatness exists and is available (somewhere)? I am not campaigning but I do let my feet do the talking and they control where my wallet goes – if you’ll excuse the rather labored metaphorical platitudes (and the phrase ‘metaphorical platitudes’). If I can help one person make an informed choice of where to drink great beer before having put their hand in their pocket and wasted it on some BFD then I will feel these blogs will have been worthwhile.

6                     Why Now? - Brewing is an industry featuring professional companies that are run on principles no different than any other business – that is why Britain ended up with a handful of enormous breweries only a few hundred years or so after every house brewed their own beer; because of economies of scale and the drive for profits. It wasn’t just the best breweries with the best beers that prospered, rather the breweries with the best business acumen. And so it continues. But after a long period of dark days for the British drinker where there were only a few truly great beers because any new independent found itself competing against the giant corporations for the same drinkers so had to attempt to compete on price and not just on quality alone which invariably lead them down the road of what I call Beer Flavoured Drinks. BFD is the name I use for any drink that uses the traditional ingredients of beer - usually in such small proportions that they are barely discernible to any of the senses – then adds various cheap adjuncts (such as rice, wheat, wood shavings) to them so they at least taste of something (even if it is wood shavings) or to make them look nicer (my favourite one is the brewers who use to use formaldehyde in the beers as a preservative, a fining to make the beer clearer or to keep the white, foam head a bit longer depending on which explanation you accept as the best/correct reason. That’s right: embalming fluid!) As a general rule, I find that the quality of a beer is often inversely proportional to the size of the brewery that brews it. Obviously, I am not suggesting that all home-brewed beer is great and all international beers are undrinkable as some small brewers do make very nasty beers as, indeed, some mega-breweries have on occasion made a very nice beer - only they tend not to as they don’t need to – so this is merely my findings after years of research. I could add a graph to show you. But I won’t because I haven’t made one but I’m sure you get the picture. My aim is to drink the best beers possible at any given location so I openly admit I have all but given up drinking beers brewed by multi-national corporations. I’ll say it again: I’m not saying that they are unable to make a wonderful beer but they tend not to so I would rather give my business to a small, independent craft brewer and, if that beer is not so great, I don’t feel so stupid for trying it than if it was made in a giant factory by a computer and is as rubbish as I suspected it would have been all along. That’s what experience is: learning from your mistakes and, hopefully, not repeating them. I am eclectic in my favourite styles of beer, and which breweries make them, but I am not trying to be elitist. I don’t dislike national brewers’ beers because they are popular; I dislike them because they are made with cheap ingredients and mass produced with little care for the consumer. They are brewed to be not so much liked by many but disliked by few. A sorry marketing strategy that is, alas, successful. Yet, having said all that, I believe now is the best time in my lifetime so far to be able to get great beer so I want to help people find them and enjoy them. What a hero, eh?

BRIATRIBE #1 – BRAND NEW BEER

DO BREWERIES BELIEVE THE BRAND IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE BEER?

There comes a time when a beer has changed so significantly due to changes in the ingredients and the brewing process that it has become a totally different product. Some beers have even transformed from deep, rich, amber brews into pale, thin, hoppy beers but retained the same name but usually it is just, unfortunately, a general dumbing down of the beer to make it more palatable to more people or, in reality, less distinctive and therefore less offensive to more people.

I understand that this is just good, commercial sense: create a product of quality, gain a reputation for it then, once the brand is established, make the product more marketable - which often means blander unless you are going for a niche market– then, perhaps, when the product is a big success, sell the brand to the highest bidder before your market declines. Although this is misleading, often to the point of being deceitful, it is legal so is a very successful business model but surely there comes a time when it is complete misrepresentation? Take the most successful girl-group of this century (so far), the Sugababes* for example. Ten years into their existence the entire group became different from the one that started and what began as an innovative soul sound has transformed into a rather embarrassing, desperate, bandwagon-jumping, Frankenstein’s monster-style hybrid of everything that has been successful over the previous few months. In short, the cash-cow brand has been established now it must be milked at all costs until it is well and truly spent.

The beer example of this that comes to mind, historically, is the cream of Manchester: Boddington’s Bitter. I was lucky enough to have drunk it occasionally in my early drinking years when travelling in the north-west of England as it was only generally available there back then. It was a pale, hoppy, straw-coloured session beer that just oozed quality and flavour despite being only 3.5% alcohol. Not the best beer in the world but certainly one you were pleased to see on the bar. Then, it happened. What had happened to countless breweries in the latter half of the 20^thcentury: the umbrella of Whitbread breweries cast its shadow over Salford and Strangeway’s Brewery became part of that empire which, as history had already shown us, leads inevitably to takeover and closure. It took a while. The beer was revamped and heavily advertised on TV with parody storylines bursting the pretentious bubble of other products that had ideas above its station and championing Boddies as a down-to-earth Manchester beer drank by real locals. First to go was the hops. Too expensive. Then, most of the handpumps went as it was re-launched as one of the revolutionary new ‘smoothflow’ beers dispensed from ludicrously oversized founts by means of nitrogen rather than the gassier carbon dioxide of keg beers and lagers. Then, eventually, in 2004 the brewery itself was gone and the ‘Cream of Manchester’ was brewed in Wales whilst the cask version, what little remains of it, is seeing out its retirement as part of AB InBev (catchy little name) being contract brewed for them by Hyde’s Brewery in Manchester. You still see it on keg in Spain if you’re very unlucky.

Other familiar beers that a serious case of bean-counting or other debilitating afflictions has happened to over the years:

Fuller’s London Pride / Fuller’s ESB

Everard’s Old Original / Tiger

Young’s Special / Winter Warmer

Hopback Summer Lightning / Crop Circle

Deuchar’s IPA

Timothy Taylor’s Landlord etc.

I have spoken to brewers directly about how their beer and become unrecognisable from the beer it once was and they have denied it to the point of actually believing it themselves. I accept that ingredients change due to supply limitations. I also accept that taste-buds mature and evolve over time and my perception of a beer may be influenced by this and by the circumstances that I drank the beer – everybody knows an ice-cold lager served from a tall, shiny fount into a frosted glass taken fresh from the freezer and drank whilst sat in the sunshine by the pool on holiday with loved ones tastes better than the same beer served at room temperature poured from a can into a plastic beaker in the pouring rain on your own at home when the TV is bust. I even accept that a beer’s flavour can be influenced by what you have previously eaten or drank – the first beer on a Friday night will taste different to the last one no matter what it is – but these are minor variations whereas I am talking about wholesale changes to taste, colour and alcoholic strength.

Fortunately, for every brewery that starts saving money on hops, malt and any other elements of crafting a unique product rather than churning out a beer-flavoured drink there are at least two new brewers who will exploit the new gap in the market. Bitter and lager are being squeezed by innovative new flavours of beer and the big brewers are certainly aware of it and have jumped on the bandwagon (or brewer’s dray) calling some of their beers ‘craft’ and making single-hopped varieties. Ha ha ha ha ha. The last acts of desperate men and women. If any of them use this opportunity to make great beers then good luck to them. But they will not. They will make accountancy-directed brews. Nobody is going to forsake Buxton or Magic Rock beers for them. The best they can hope for is that people who drink Marston’s Pedigree or Bass give it a punt although I’m sure CAMRA will support their endeavours.

So, what’s in a name? The mega-breweries have reached their current status via the common practice of taking over and closing down the competition – if people don’t like your beer over a local product simply remove them from the market and they are left with Hobson’s choice (no reference to the fine Hobson’s brewery from Worcestershire intended).

Anyway, back to the late 1980s: Whitbread were not actually interested in the Boddington’s beer itself but the company had 280 pubs in its estate so it was purely the commercial decision to buy the brand, the estate and the brewing capacity (which was eventually disposed of and the capacity absorbed elsewhere). Yet the beer was mostly only readily available in the north-west of England originally so it wasn’t that famous nationwide and Whitbread already had plenty of beers of a similar strength to Boddies and they didn’t particularly need another beer in their portfolio. But they wanted to buy some credibility. The historic 18^thcentury brewery, started by Samuel Whitbread in London, had already muddied their reputation among beer drinkers by the fairly standard business practice of investing in smaller breweries - which was often referred to as the Whitbread umbrella - as although their financial muscle was perceived as securing the future of these smaller competitors it gave Whitbread an edge in terms of being able to step in with a takeover bid when one of them appeared lucrative.

Let us not forget though that Boddies itself had taken over the Oldham brewery in 1982 and Higson’s of Liverpool in 1985. Business is business. It’s a dog eat dog world and survival of the fittest, and all that, yet, behind all the monopolies and mergers - and where exactly were the Monopolies and Mergers Commission in all this? – the breweries had learned that it wasn’t how great their beer was that mattered but who could develop the most important brand. Image was everything. It was the eighties and if you watch a retro video show of music from that period you may find it hard to believe that people were swayed by such heavy-handed, crass marketing but they were. And still are to a degree. Bigger was best and greed was good, apparently. They weren’t the only ones at it as the brewing world was carved up mostly by half a dozen players until 1992 when the government’s Beer Orders came along to save us – ha ha ha. [See a later post on this topic.]

Global brewer Coors most recent sizeable gambit was buying the extremely dull brown beer brand of Sharp’s of Rock in Cornwall. They have bought volume for sure but unlike its predecessors it was not a great beer with a great reputation that is now on the wane but it was already an established brand. It never was a sought after beer just ubiquitous in the same way as Greene King boasts that their ‘IPA’ (in inverted commas, for obvious reasons) is the biggest selling cask beer in the country; Well that’s because it’s in nearly every pub! That’s the same way estate agents call large housing-estates‘popular areas’ when they actually mean ‘densely populated areas’ which is not the same as the implication that people desire to live there ahead of other areas. It is like saying the years between 1939 and 1945 were a popular time to die. Volume does not always equate to popularity. Most governments tend to assume power even though many more people DIDN’T vote for them than DID vote for them. More people DISLIKE Manchester United football club than SUPPORT them. This is just semantics, I know, but I wanted to make it clear that aggressive branding exercises do not necessarily make a product loved, trusted or even desired but can actually become counter-productive; Woolworths was known as a cheap and cheerful shop (low-end) so when they had to try and compete with really cheap shops or up their game and attempt to become known as a retail outlet that sold quality goods at a reasonable price (mid-market) they were left in no-persons-land and went belly-up (yes, I know there were other factors involved).

Brands can become a millstone as much as a meal-ticket. So why try and re-establish a dead brand? That’s what a brewery concern calling themselves Truman’s are doing. Truman’s was a very old brewery established in the centre of London in 1666 – at one time allegedly the largest brewery in the world - and when the brewery closed in 1989 the real-estate value was monumental. The beers were brewed elsewhere for a while but then were axed. All traces of Truman’s as a London business was all but gone save for a handful of their very decoratively tiled pubs that still live on. This new brewery venture will not likely be able to recreate the same recipes from quarter of a century ago and beyond (although they are attempting to) and they are not even on any of the sites where beer was brewed under that banner nor, I believe, is anyone related to anyone from the original family that started the brewery nearly 350 years ago. Why resurrect an archaic brand name when not that many people remember or care about the beer or brand anyway? Maybe they believe any history is better than none at all. If the beer is great I’ll drink it but I won’t just because it has the same name as a beer I remember from the past. That is the point of this piece: Do brewers believe that the brand is more important than the product?

The 21^stcentury consumer is savvier than the last century’s chump because advertising and branding is so well established now that it starts from birth if you are born in a hospital which has a fast-food chain in the foyer. The saturation in all media has made us blind to it. People can view a website and pick out the bits of information they want and not even read the ads anymore – it’s a skill that has evolved since the inception of the internet so is hereditary now and people who believe subliminal advertising works are missing the point that consumers no longer trust advertising: Probably the best beer in the world is probably not the best slogan in the world. Even a child recognises hyperbole. Today’s consumer may still buy into brands but they want to be seduced and encouraged to do so not deceived and corralled. Treating people like idiots is a sure way of upsetting them – even if they are idiots.

So rather than waste a lot of time, effort and money fighting for the consumer’s hard earned pennies I propose that manufacturers, businesses and corporations all simply make the best product they possibly can and let social media do the rest. The new brewers are doing that. Sure, they aim to define their brand with marketing and presentation and, let’s face it, nobody does that quite like BrewDog but they have the quality products to back up the hype and attitude or they would soon get found out by the discerning market they have courted. Now, I’m off to the Euston Tap to have a half of Summer Wine Brewery’s 10% Clynelish Barrel-Aged Kopikat Imperial Coffee Stout because I saw on Twitter that they have it on draft and somebody I trust told me it was very good.

* PS – Since beginning this Briatribe I hear that the original Sugababes, which is Mutya, Keisha and Siobhan, have got back together to record new music. This is the equivalent of the Strangeway’s Brewery reopening and brewing original Boddington’s Bitter again but also having a go at an IPA and a Saison. Hooray!

ROME, Italy

ROME, Italy: The 7 Ales of Rome

When I visited the Pig’s Ear Beer Festival in Hackney, East London in December 2011 I noticed a large Italian flag above an area where some of the casks of beer being dispensed were. Upon closer inspection I realised that the casks did indeed contain real ale that had been brewed in Italy. I admit to the following emotions that I felt upon this discovery: Pleased that there is more choice of craft beers available; Proud that the Italians have decided to emulate British beer styles and, I’m ashamed to admit, I was Patronising that little Italy is having an attempt at making proper beer, bless ‘em, even though they have little heritage for it and would probably be blindly stumbling their way around this strange new process of measuring larger amounts of hops and malt into the brew and having the yeast work at the other end of the fermenting vessel than they are used to. Yes, I felt like a father watching their 8 year old son in the school play: I knew it would not be very good but so glad they were trying their best. I was wrong. It turns out the boy has the talent of [insert favourite actor’s name here] playing [insert Shakespeare leading character’s name here]! I am still very pleased that the Italians have joined the craft revolution but they have taken inspiration from the USA, in the same way as England has done, by producing big flavoured IPAs and robust stouts and not the English style brown beers, I’m so glad to say. Obviously, cask beer travelling a thousand miles – yes even a proper IPA – is not the best way to prepare a beer but the ones I tried were excellent and certainly hinted at what they were attempting to achieve, even if they were a little under-conditioned, but fair play to Pig’s Ear for bringing them there and looking after them as well as they could after their long journey over land, sea and more land - but more on ‘travelling beer’ in another blog.

Italy is not the first of the Med countries to start brewing beer other than the yellow, fizzy stuff. Greece has had a craft brewery for over a decade, the appropriately named Craft Brewery in Athens. I’ve been. Their beers are excellent. I intend on doing a beer blog on Greece sometime as there a few small, craft breweries tucked away on their islands as well. Spain too has had some successes, notably in Barcelona thanks in no small way to the efforts of one man. There may be others but I’ve not discovered them. Yet.

If you are visiting Rome –and who wouldn’t – you will find a very walkable city, whatever that means, but the best bars for great beer are spread out a fair bit so you may wish to use the public transport which is plentiful and cheap – only €1 flat fare on any bus, tram or metro or a day travelcard is less than €5 – just don’t forget to validate your ticket or you can be fined. The locals don’t bother but it’s probably best if you do.

The first place to visit is the 'Ma Che Siete Venuti A Fa' football pub, as it calls itself, which roughly translated means ‘What did you do’ or something equally profound, which has a dozen taps of craft beers from mostly Italy but also some fine brews from other European countries. At €4 per half and €6 per pint for all the beers, irrelevant of ABV, it is comparable in price to many of the fashionable bars in Rome that only sell the ubiquitous Italian fizz and certainly no more than any European cities that are getting the craft beer bar bug - including London. They show football on the TV too.

I won’t always say what beers I drank as I am recommending places to drink great beer rather than telling you what I think you should drink but, in cases where I do comment on the brews in order to add some perspective, I rate beers out of a (100) to give you an idea of what I think. I’m sure your tastes will differ from mine but I am only concerned here with informing you of what styles and quality you can expect. This is not a travelogue. I will not state every bar I visited and tell you about every beer I drank. Even I am not interested in that so I doubt you will be either.

Toccalmatto Brewery from Videnza, Italy do a fantastic black IPA called 'B Space Invader' 6.3% (97). So good. Like Buxton’s Black Rocks. Smooth, roast malt flavour with big hop hit. It was after my first taste of this that I realised I had woefully underestimated Italy’s new breweries. I know it was the first beer I had drunk since the extremely nasty Nastro Azzuro chemical lager (that’s not it’s advertised name but it should be) the day before, or the thin, grainy Peroni bottled lager I had the day before that, but B Space Invader had just nudged itself into my current Top 10 beers in the world. Everything a black IPA should be. Superb. I wanted more but there was more that needed investigation.

I next tried the Brewfist Brewery Spaceman IPA 7% which is nice and rounded but with a lower IBU than I expected (90) but still very good, hazy US style craft beer. Maybe I should have also tried the Elav Techno DIPA 9.2% as they are all the same price. Maybe not at lunchtime! The place was very quite when I drank there on a Sunday lunchtime but packed on Sunday night, as were all the bars and restaurants in the area – and the trams!

This small, friendly specialist place is the must visit bar if in Rome. It's a tiny little charming bar in the quaint area of Trastevere which is picture postcard rustic pretty with a maze of narrow cobbled streets full of fashionable but enticing restaurants. An all round great experience.

The restaurant opposite called 'Bir & Fud' (which roughly translated means …. well, you try and work it out) also does an excellent range of Italian-only craft beers (from some of the 300 breweries in Italy) at €5 per 330ml. It is not very pubby although it is welcoming enough and plenty of people were just drinking ‘Bir’ there in the evening whereas the place was more ‘Fud’ at lunchtime, as is the way in Rome.

The historical centre of the city, Centro Storico, has plenty of wonderful restaurants but there isn’t the pub culture of what may be called central Europe (a line from Ireland in the West to say Czech Republic in the East) and hanging out all night in a bar is considered a bit rebellious or strange even but the world is getting smaller (not according to scientists, I know) and if Europe is homogenising like everywhere else then at least there may be some benefits, such as being able to get great beer in more places. I never considered that this would happen with corporate globalisation but it seems to be as niche products and markets become more viable in more places despite brand-name ubiquity. Hooray for global corporations!

Not far from the transport hub of Largo Argentina is a tucked away pub restaurant that serves plenty of Italian craft beers and also Brewdog beer on draft. It had dozens of beers on tap and handpump including St Austell Tribute, of all beers! It is called Baladin and has that American brew-pub feel to it. Everybody is eating but everybody is also drinking a beer from the huge range of beers from all over Europe. The entrance is through an unobtrusive door in Via del Specci (which means ‘Way of Mirrors’) in the area of Zona Campo dei Fiori (which means Zone of Field of Flowers! Excuse the Italian lesson but these are some crazy names). I never even photographed the entrance because it doesn’t look like it’s going to lead into a huge rectangular room packed with oblong tables and a long bar with stools all along. But it does. It was noisy but the good kind of noisy produced by high-spirited banter rather than drunkenness or obnoxiousness (I think you know those other sort of places I’m talking about!)

The final bar/restaurant of note is a bit out of town and is called Oasi Della Birra (again, a degree in Italian is not needed to translate). This is indeed an oasis on the square in the suburb of Testaccio not far from a Protestant Cemetery. I doubt many tourists will find their way out here but it looks like a great place to while away a few hours over some fine food and drink from an amazing array. I didn’t eat here as I was on my own at the time but it’s a special place to bring a friend or several.  It is just off the bus routes from the city (to Testaccio) and close to Pyramid station on Metro B and not that far from Roma-Ostia suburban railway station if you do fancy somewhere a bit special. You could even walk there in about half hour from Centro Storico if the weather is nice, and it will be, by following the River Tiber/Tevere from Tiber Island (Isola Tiberina) round to Testaccio Bridge then it’s a few minutes walk.

I didn't get out to Blind Pig, unfortunately, but that's for another time. I suspect that from these few but impressive beginnings Rome will blossom into a great city for drinking great beer – I would add that Rome wasn’t built in a day but I think you get the idea anyway. The more people that use them, the more there will be.

So, when in Rome, do as the Romans do or, at least, are beginning to do: drink craft beer. Now do I sign off this blog by saying ‘ciao’ or is that too cheesy? Think I’ll leave it.

Where to get Great Beer in ROME:

Bars/Restaurants:

Bir & Fud, Pizzeria Restaurant, Via di Benedetta 23, Trastevere  http://birefud.blogspot.co.uk/

Baladin, Via de Via Degli Specchi, 6 (Zona Campo dei fiori) http://www.openbaladin.com/homeroma

Ma Che Siete Venuti A Fa, Via di Benedetta 25, Trastevere    http://www.football-pub.com/   

Blind Pig, Craft Brewery in Rome, Via Gino Capponi, 45  http://www.blindpig.it/  (South east of Rome centre near Furio Camillo stop on Metro A or Roma-Tuscolana on the suburban train network. I did not get to this great sounding restaurant/bar a bit out of the centre but hope to if I get back to Rome. Note that it does not open at lunchtimes.)

Bottle Shops:

Bir & Fud, Bottega Bottle Shop, Via Luca Valerio, 41, Marconi http://birefud.blogspot.co.uk/ (A great bottle shop tucked away south of the centre and west of the river IF you happen to be in the area.)

Birrae Domus, Via Cavour 88 (Excellent bottled beer shop near Cavour stop on Metro A that has 300 different worldwide bottles and specialises in home brewing equipment as well. Bravo!)

Oasi Della BirraPiazza, Piazza Testaccio, 38, Testaccio   http://www.oasidellabirra.com/ (Website under construction when I looked. This is indeed an oasis on the square in the suburb of Testaccio not far from a Protestant Cemetery)

Useful links for Italian craft beer:

Italian Beer Chronicles blog (all things craft) http://www.cronachedibirra.it/

Rome Beer Festival (4^th to 6^th May 2012) http://www.degustatoribirra.it/index.php/italia-beer-festival/ibf-roma/

SOUTHAMPTON, England

Drinking In The Deep South

Every journey, no matter how long, begins with a single step and it also always starts at your own front door – unless you decide to start it by slipping out the back way. With that in mind I thought I would start my world beer tour with Southampton, England, the city where I live.

And what a place to start! Unfortunately, I don’t mean that in a good way. On the whole, Southampton epitomises what is wrong with the British pub at the moment. It took decades for small, independent brewers of quality beers to actually get their wares into the pubs of the city centre and, now that they have, there is a distinct lack of care in making sure these beers are in good condition when they reach the customer’s glass. I can see little point in listing those pubs where cellarmanship is clearly low on their priorities (but I will) and instead focus on those few that aim to please and invariably succeed.

Let us then start with the deservedly-crowned Wessex Pub of the Year 2010, The Guide Dog in Bevois Valley, winner of local CAMRA Pub of the Year several times. For many years Paul and Margaret have been building a reputation for running a lovely, cosy, gimmick-free little pub in the back streets just a mile or so from the city centre. They have been serving a seemingly never ending range of local beers in prime condition at just about the best prices in the city to a growing army of loyal regulars who travel from near and far to make it their local. Here, the only complaints I have ever heard about the pub is that it is sometimes too busy meaning seating can be at a premium – how many pubs would like to have that problem!? – Yet therein lies much of its appeal. If it were bigger, the comfortable, homely lounge feel it now has would be lost.

Like many pubs – good or bad – near the Southampton football ground the place is packed to bursting before a home game but, unlike many, it is a great choice for any travelling fans coming to St. Mary’s who have come for great beer and a real, friendly, welcoming pub. Everyone wears their team colours with pride but there is no singing, chanting or derisive banter between fans as everyone is there because of the beer – any footballing rivalries can wait until they are in the ground.

Similarly, because of its compact size, Friday and Saturday nights get very busy with standing room only but this transforms the place into a bustling, exciting venue which belies its front-parlour feel. When the thrill of the Friday night meat-draw is thrown into the mix then even vegetarians cannot help but be swept along with the fervour as Margaret announces each winning ticket with an enthusiasm rivalling announcing for the first time which country will be hosting the next Olympics. It’s not the winning that counts but the taking part – as my friend Trevor must agree as he has never won anything on the meat draw whereas Becki wins every time. C’est la vie.

The beers are nearly always from breweries within about 30 miles or so but there are always Bowman and Cheriton beers on several of the 8 pumps. There are a selection of bottled Belgian beers and a few specialist ciders too. They even sell a national lager on pump but it is rarely in action as even the staunchest lager fan can easily be swayed by one of the ales on offer as there is always a dark one (maybe, Cheriton Stottidge Stout or Keystone Porter) and always Fuller’s ESB for a deep ruby choice. There is often a mild as well but the mainstays are pale ales (such as Cheriton Perridge Pale or Bowman’s Elderado) and strong pales (such as Hopback Summer Lightning or Cheriton Gooden’s Gold).

There are no meals served but good value filled rolls are nearly always available and pickled eggs, of course, and there are takeaways nearby. By nearby, I mean about 2 minutes walk away and yet the pub is difficult to find as it’s tucked away off Bevois Valley and there is no road access to it from that main road so you will need to approach from Lodge Road by car. There is street parking but it is limited in such a residential area. The walk from the city will do you good, anyway, and it’s just off a bus route.

How they manage to fit a very good beer festival in the pub each October is beyond me but they do so very successfully with maybe 16 casks tucked in the area by the dart board and the 8 handpumps being in constant use as well.

If you have time to only visit one pub in Southampton … I think you know the rest of this sentence. If you have a bit more time then the next destination should be the South Western Arms which is on the east side of St Denys railway station so is therefore, obviously, very accessible by train. To walk there from the city is not that enticing a prospect although it is less than a mile on from The Guide Dog so is not beyond the realms of possibility.

This pub oozes character being a riot of bare brick and wood but is certainly no relic from an ancient time. It seems to hark back to earlier times but has evolved to be what it is now. Is that what timeless is? It does have the traditional sideshows for a pub but seems to do it here with some panache: the pool table takes up much of the mezzanine floor above and is certainly the most distinctive area I have ever wielded a cue. There are a couple of dart boards dotted around and the various artifacts on walls and just lying around add to the eclectic style.

But now, to the important part; the beer. For many years this was the pub to seek out for its dedication to choice, variety and quality of its beers but I have to say that this has waned a little over the last few years which has served to highlight just how expensive the place is – as much as 50p more for an identical beer in The Guide Dog which I struggle to rationalise other than its target clientele being maybe that bit younger than your average back-street boozer. Therein lies an anomaly itself as a new generation of drinkers are loving The Guide Dog’s genuine welcome – a real pub how it used to be but still is – whereas the South Western, like others of its ilk, are actually less appealing to many of the potential customers it is aiming at: Who wants to drink with drunk students except drunk students? Yet a community local appeals to all by its very nature; even drunk students when they want a quiet and good value night out.

So many real ale drinkers are put off this place by the prices but this was not such a problem until the range became less adventurous than in the past. It had always championed local independents but during my last visits I noticed how the same beers seemed to be on more regularly – possibly permanently – and some of these are the standard regional and national beers that I know some people like but are not the sort to draw people especially to that place when there are more diverse choices available. Remember, I am approaching this from my ‘Blogs perspective which is that the beer has to be great above all else, not just good. I have noticed on reviews of pubs on various sites describing a beer range as ‘okay’ or ‘decent’ or, probably the most damning of all, ‘standard’. I know these places do get custom but how they retain that custom is a mystery when their half-heartedness to the very reason people go in pubs – to drink – remains seriously flawed if not non-existent. I still don’t know how long people are going to continue paying four times the amount for exactly the same beer they can get in a supermarket – and in the case of national lagers especially as it really is EXACTLY the same drink – and I think the government realise this too so are therefore keen to let it continue or legislation would have been put in place by now to prevent it - but that is for another time.

Meanwhile, back at the bar of the SWA, as it is often abbreviated to. The staff are usually friendly and helpful and the atmosphere convivial but it doesn’t have the cosiness of a back street local but, then, that isn’t what it is going for. It can get very lively at times so compared to a city centre revelry spot maybe the prices aren’t that extreme. The Platform Tavern*  by Town Quay in the city centre is similar in that respect - and charges extra per pint when there is live music on in lieu of there being no door charge - but that is a smaller pub with a character more like a London bar.

The SWA has regular beer festivals but insists on a convoluted method of bags of tokens purchased at the bar with a festival glass needing to be purchased (unless you are willing  to drink from a plastic beaker) then you use the tokens at the temporary bar – about 3 metres away – to exchange the tokens for beer. There is no refund on the festival glass or on any unused tokens. The beer choice and quality is good though but I haven’t been for a while because I find the whole queuing twice thing in a packed bar a little less than relaxing especially as the chances of getting a seat are thin.

For all that, I still maintain that this is the second best pub in Southampton. I just find it difficult to go to it when the Guide Dog is only a mile away from it. Aside from these two, I truly couldn’t recommend any other pub within the entire city on beer choice and quality alone. There is certainly choice at the Waterloo Arms (Hopback Brewery tied) and Wellington Arms (free house with a dozen handpumps with usually at least 4 from local independents) in Freemantle but to say that the quality is variable is a euphemism for mostly poor. Many of the beers are serve too green so have not developed their proper flavours yet and the sheer array of beers means that they don’t all sell well enough to remain in top quality. I never enjoy Russian (stout) roulette so it is always with trepidation that I set foot in these pubs now. Do not confuse the Wellington Arms with the Duke Of Wellington, an historic old Wadworth’s pub in the Old Town which has everything you could want from a traditional pub – except great beer.

Certainly, the Hop Inn has started serving a Bowman beer regularly in good condition but the pub is way out of town near Riverside Park in Bitterne Park (at least another mile on from the SWA) so few visitors would venture this far on the off chance that it was on. If you are in the area though – and the walk along Riverside Park is certainly worth the trip – then do call in this lovely, homely little pub a little up the hill on Woodmill Road.

Oh, and even though there are four Wetherpoons in Southampton don’t think that they are a fall back option as real beer is not the main concern in any of them. Don’t be fooled by The Standing Order serving straight from the cask during their beer festivals, either, as they are not kept well and the chances of a great pint is very low whereas the chance of a warm, flat, vinegary less-than-a-pint is a near certainty. Shame really as just serving up to a dozen beers direct from the firkin shows willing but no prizes for effort, unfortunately, only results (boy, am I strict!) Please pass.

There are still many nice, old fashioned pubs in Southampton, as there are all over the country, and the world, and I don’t wish to disparage them, but their omission from my blogging is because they don’t serve great beer. It is not always their fault - it is usually because they are tied to what beers they can sell by the company that owns the pub – so they may keep the beer well and serve it in optimum condition but if it’s just not a very nice beer in the first place then I’m not interested. Sorry. Similarly, if a pub sells a dozen beers from great craft brewers but they all taste like gravy then, again, I’m not going to drink there and nor shall I advise you to. Hopefully, the day after I publish this one of these pubs will gain a publican that changes those shortcomings*. Until then, I won’t waste your time with them here although I will mention pubs of outstanding interest, by and by, just because some are worth seeing even if they are not worth drinking in currently.

I will add, though, that The Park Inn in Shirley  (about 5 minutes walk from the precinct) is a lovely, old-fashioned, street corner local with a welcoming relaxed atmosphere  but is a Wadworth brewery tied house and I cannot recommend their beers but they do have a very nice beer festival each year where they sell a dozen or so interesting beers well kept.

And that’s it, save for a mention for the wonderful Bitter Virtue off-license just off The Avenue towards Portswood. Not just an off-license, really, but the heart of beer drinking in Southampton ran by beer enthusiasts, (probably an understatement), Anne and Chris. They have hundreds of the best bottled beers from mostly breweries in the south of England but also an enviable range of Belgian, American craft and German beers as well. Breweriana and guide books abound too. Also, there is always a cask of something nice that you can get a four-pint carry out of – always a very good local beer at a very reasonable price. They supply the Southampton Beer Festival (each June) with international bottled beers and serve them there so are on hand to offer near encyclopedic knowledge of all things beer.

The Southampton Beer Festival sells out every session so it’s not like there isn’t demand for great beer in Southampton but there just aren’t many pubs that sell it. Yet. A big, old, untapped market just ready for the right outlets. Are you reading, Brew Dog, et al? (Probably not, actually).  So don’t come to Southampton for great beer but, if you are here, these are your best options. Sorry.

Where to get Great Beer in SOUTHAMPTON:

The Guide Dog, 38 Earl’s Rd, Bevois Valley SO14 6SF (Free House) [ESSENTIAL] www.theguidedogsouthampton.co.uk
South Western Arms, 38 Adelaide Rd, St. Denys, SO17 2HW (Free House) [WORTHWHILE]
Bitter Virtue, 70 Cambridge Rd, SO14 6US (Free House) [ESSENTIAL] www.bittervirtue.co.uk
Hop Inn, Woodmill La, SO18 2PH (Free House) Woodmill Road, Riverside Park, Bitterne Park [WORTHWHILE]
Wellington Arms, 56 Park Rd, Freemantle, SO15 3DE (Free House) [POSSIBLY]
Waterloo Arms, 101 Waterloo Rd, Freemantle (Hopback Brewery) [POSSIBLY]
The Park Inn, 37 Carlisle Road, Shirley SO16 4FN (Wadworth) [ANNUALLY]
Platform Tavern, Town Quay, SO14 2NY (Free House) [POSSIBLY]  www.platformtavern.com   Brews its own craft beer under the Dancing Man Brewery name. I will do a post on local breweries sometime and update then.