Join Misslook and Angied0 for a beer!! (Beers - Comments & Comparison)

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Product:	Beers - Comments & Comparison
Date:	16/11/01 (20 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None for me, loads for Misslook

Disadvantages: Headaches, Calories, Wind!!

Angied0: For 11 years I was a publican running various pubs in London. The one thing that never failed to amaze me was the amount of beer men (and some women!) could consume. The only difference was that the ladies seemed to have to make several more trips to the loo, must be some biological reason for that?!

Misslook: I worked behind a bar while my son Jake was a baby, up until a fell pregnant with my daughter. I loved it, the atmosphere was great. I did find that the women tended to get more drunk then the men to be honest. Were you one of these nasty bosses that make your staff work through lock in's and don't let them have a beer whilst working Angie??

Angied0: Who me??? Yeh right!!! A newspaper once said that the pub was run by the world’s only Elaine Paige lookalike and her team of eccentric staff. My staff were all saying what do they mean, eccentric!!?? The next thing they were all out Morris dancing with bar towels!! I used to audition them rather than interview them…lol.
Anyway, as I was saying. Every year I'd serve literally thousands of pints of beer (and that in itself is an art form!), the largest proportion being lager. Again I could never understand the popularity of the stuff, the only way I'd entertain drinking lager was a very occasional half (with lime naturally!) on a very hot day. Oh except for the Mexican beer Sol, I liked that as I could get away with having a piece of fresh lime in the bottle that made it taste waaaay better.

Misslook: hang on, fruit in beer?? Sounds more like a desert than a drink!! Ang, how could you taint lovely lager that way???

Angied0: What can I say? If I could have worked out how to get a piece of chocolate in there I’d have resorted to that!! Hey do you remember the Japanese beer they tried to sell in the 80's called Sapporo??? Very weird tasting beer and it had a lid that sort of wound off, now if ever there was a recipe for
disaster that was it! That metal was very sharp and the lager was quite strong - ergo accidents would happen. Mind you when you'd finished the beer you had a pretty cool pen/pencil holder. The offices of Saatchi and Saatchi were near my pub and I have it on good authority every desk had at least one trendy penholder!!!

Misslook: Well I don't remember that Angie, LOL I am only young you know!


Angied0: Alright, I am way older than you are, I look young though :o).
To continue.....From a publicans point of view lager is a very easy product to look after, it comes ready to serve in a barrel that you connect easily to the dispense pipes and away you go! No waste either, as there's no sediment in the barrel. I did, on a number of occasions have men who wouldn't have the last pint of lager out of the barrel, saying there was something wrong with it. Now let me assure you guys, there is no top or bottom of a lager barrel!! Its preserved chemically rubbish so the last pints just the same as the first!! The only way you can possibly get problems with lager is if the barrel is faulty, (that would happen occasionally), the temperature of the cellar was wrong or the dispense pipes were not cleaned once a week.

Misslook: The best think about lager is, if it's poured right you get a good head.

Angied0: Actually, that brings me nicely on to the next thing, everyone's a beer expert. Just because you drink it does not make you an expert on the stuff!!!! The expert is the poor person who has probably had to go through lots of torturous training and spends hours every day cleaning the cellar, checking the temperature, rolling huge great barrels about, venting and tapping - which always results in hops and beer everywhere (I had great shiny hair from getting soaked every day!!), rechecking the state of the beer everyday, then patting and nurturing it until its ready to serve. I guess you can see why publicans lik
e to serve lager but not so much real ale, as it's a total pain to prepare for service.
So remember before you sit at the bar and criticise the beer, especially the bitter, good publicans take great pride in it and they are experts what constitutes a good pint. As a former fellow of the British Institute of Innkeeping I reckon I'm well qualified to say that!

Misslook: Lipstick around the rim I don't do, that's my only regular complaint.

Angied0: There’s another thing, what the heck are women doing drinking pints???
Now where was I? Oh yes, the range of hand pumped bitters available is extraordinary, until I worked in a pub I had no idea of the vast range. One of the most popular northern bitters that have found its way to the South is Tetley's. Here's a tip guys this has to be served with a decent size creamy head caused by a sparkler (a little plastic device that screws onto the dispense pipe). So, as I'm sure you can imagine, asking a bar person to fill the glass to the top is considered a bit of an insult, although asking for a Tetley's shandy can cause greater insult. The publican has spent hours looking after hand pumped bitters and you want to taint it with lemonade!!
I tried to vary the bitters available so ordered lots of variety in smaller 9 gallon barrels. One company even managed to make a St. Patrick's bitter which was bright green, I have to say personally I thought it tasted like fairy liquid as well as looking like it!! All breweries would make an effort to have St. Valentines bitters or Christmas bitters, which would then not be available until the next year.
They also occasionally made a very strong bitter the most famous is probably Dogs bollocks (excuse the French), it was extremely strong (not a lunchtime pint!!) and also caused great hilarity when someone had to order a pint!!!

Misslook: Dogs bollocks?? do you know something I don't ....lol.

>Angied0: Not about dogs b****cks, no!!Finally you should think about using beers in your cooking. If you use lager batter for fish or toad in the hole etc is beautifully light and fluffy. Cheaper cuts of meat, when marinated in bitter or Guinness for a few hours, will become very tender. Steak and ale pie or steak in Guinness are really great winter comfort food. Frankly as I'm sure you can guess I'd rather cook with it than drink it!!

Misslook: Beer in food ooohh I'll pass thanks I drink enough of the stuff without mixing it in with my dinner too. Although I do admit, I love my beer, if I ever go to a party or a friend’s house I always have a beer. I find that it tastes good, the hangovers are light, the effects a more calm. (not giddy like some wines). I used to drink pints but now I just drinks halves, beer in moderation is a really nice drink but I'm getting hammered days are over - well, until Christmas that is !!


Angied0: Hmmm…I don’t know, although it’s popular stuff and kept me in work for 11 years I'm not a beer fan at all. Infact the only bubbly yellow stuff I will drink is champagne ...Hick!!........
......cheers, from us both!!!!..

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