Discount for CAMRA members

The Font, round the corner from Manchester Oxford Road station gives a whopping 25% discount to CAMRA members. That reduced my pint of Magic Rock Ringmaster from an expensive £3.60 to a very reasonable £2.70. It presumably indicates that the margin on cask beer in this bar is pretty high.

The Indy admits bias against alcohol.

I wrote to The Independent to complain about its skewed reporting of alcohol matters.  Below is an extract of the reply I received from Will Gore, Deputy Managing Editor:

With regard to our stance on alcohol, as with a range of issues we may take an editorial line on a subject if we think it is the right one after proper analysis (independence is not synonymous with impartiality). 

In other words they admit that their reporting is not impartial. I hope that I'm not the only one to challenge them.

Liverpool Beer Festival 2014

I hope those who attended had a good time. The local CAMRA branch actually made tickets available via the internet this year. The problem is you'd have to be in the know to be aware of that. A kind soul informed me a few weeks after the closing date for applications. Maybe I'll manage to get a ticket next year. Or maybe not.

The Independent newsapers - No friend of alcohol

The Indy on Sunday sent my blood pressure soaring with their leader comment today.  I've noticed the bias of the Indy papers over recent times but today's unsubstantiated uttering moved me to reply:

 

Sir/Madam,

 

I have noted with dismay for some time an anti-alcohol consumption slant to the reporting by the Independent on Sunday and your sister daily newspaper. It  took your leader column today to rouse me in protest at your pronouncements.

 

You state ‘ Minimum pricing would certainly have a disproportionate effect on poor people who are not problem drinkers. In our view, that is a price worth paying for the wider social benefits of cutting alcohol consumption generally and problem in particular.’

 

Can you explain in more detail why cutting alcohol consumption of responsible drinkers is a good thing, especially in regard to those on low incomes who you admit will be hit the most? 

 

Yours,

 

Steve Hannigan

 

I urge you to complain also.

 

 

The first craft beer chain?

Collecting my daughter from Lime Street station on Monday night I parked my car and used the side entrance. In doing so, I passed a pub that I'd forgotten about - The Head of Steam. Once packed to the gunnels it had just a couple of hardy souls watching Sky footy.

Huddersfield

Was this part of the first chain of craft beer pubs?  The Liverpool pub had five beers, each with a different range of beers. Beers from around the world were available and I remember buying the new, O'Hanlons produced Thomas Hardy's Ale from the Huddersfield outlet in 1984.

The earliest memory of a pub that would now be classed as 'craft' was a rural one. The Mason's Arms, Cartmel Fell, hidden above Lake Windermere had a world beer list on each table. It stocked over 150 Belgian Beers in the mid 80's and was the first place that I drank beers from the excellent Dutch 't IJ brewery.