Brewdog Liverpool

My spies tell me that the new Brewdog bar in Liverpool will be off Colquitt Street in the Ropewalks area. There are a lot of late license bars and clubs nearby. I'm not sure if this is the right part of town to open a 'craft' bar. In fact I'll be interested to see how the Scousers take to the concept. They're pretty open minded on most things but they do like to drink beer in ferocious quantities so I'm not sure how they'll react to Tactical Nuclear Penguin.

Wirral Smith & Jones pubs closed

The Chronicle, Bebington

Wirral lost two pubs this week. The Chronicle in Bebington and The Ravenscroft in Heswall (named after the real surname of DJ John Peel, who was born in Heswall) both closed suddenly. The pubs traded under the Smith & Jones name and were two of the remaining pubs belonging to the Bramwell Pub Company which entered Administration in October. A number of pubs had already been sold, many to rival Pubco Stonegate.

 

The closures came as a bit of a shock to punters as both pubs seemed to operating reasonably well in the clone Wetherspoon sector. I've heard tales of managers receiving phone calls telling them to stop serving and throw out the customers half way through a session plus the administrators sending in the bailiffs to remove anything of value and cutting through the TV lead instead of just pulling out the plug. Both sold cask ale in reasonable condition, from an uninspiring list.

Christmas beers - again

Why do so many pubs end up with cellar loads of Christmas beers that don't sell? It is the 11th January and my usual haunt after Tranmere's games still had three seasonal offerings on sale. The pub nearest to the ground only had one cask beer available and that too had some awful Christmas pun for a name. Personally, I'm even less likely to drink them now than I was a few weeks ago - see http://birkonian.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/christmas-beers.html.

As we get near to the middle of January Christmas seems long gone and festive beers on the bar are probably well past their best - if they had a best.

Dry January - The last straw?

Giving up alcohol for January is the new fad. A bit like those 5:2 diets where you don't eat  for two days so you feel better about eating crap the rest of the week. Cutting back booze after Christmas is nothing new; money is tight, the weight has crept and to be honest we're a bit bloated and slightly fed up of drinking. But a whole month?

This year seems different. The 'health' lobby seem to be preaching in all the papers either through paid adverts or with the help of sympathetic editors. They encourage us to get sponsored and give up for charity. That way we're less likely to fall off the rails. The cynic in me thinks in future years they'll suggest that we make it January and February, or why not give up completely?

Where does this dry month leave our pubs? We know that many are struggling and pubs are still closing down in great numbers. As I said January has always been a poor month for sales, but encouraging large numbers of us to forsake alcohol for a whole month may well be the end for our beleaguered publicans. Most of the new abstainers will cease visiting pubs completely to avoid temptation rather than shift to soft drinks. Pub overheads don't change in January. The bills still have to be paid and heating and lighting costs are at their highest. So, before you're taken in by the anti-alcohol lobby be aware that giving up drink for January could mean no pub to return to in February.

Expensive 'craft' beer

There have been plenty of comments regarding the price of 'craft' beers and the perception that the mark up is excessive.

A seriously weird beer label
 

I was in Port Street Beer House on Sunday and would have been tempted by the X-Mas Zinnebir from the excellent de la Senne brewery in Brussels. However, the blackboard was showing a price of £10/pint! I know it's imported but I've seen plenty of other foreign beers on draught at different location much cheaper than that. I think a lot of Londoners would baulk at that price never mind Mancunians. The beer is 6.5% so it is not rocket fuel. I'll be interested to compare the price of say the 10.5% Gouden Carolus Christmas at the Manchester Velodrome festival next month, granted there will be lower overheads.

Why I don't like the Sheffield Tap

In Sheffield for the footy yesterday. The Sheffield Tap was the obvious first stop as long as we hide our football shirts. Why is such discrimination allowed? They have no problem with Rugby shirts and allow children in but they view all football fans as sub-normal IQ psychopaths.

That is a niggle but not my main grouse. The bar may have a superb choice of cask, bottled and 'craft' beers and has been extended to provide more seating but there were only two staff  serving a bar that contained about 80 customers. I managed to get served - note that the barmaid wasn't making any attempt to notice who had been waiting the longest - another bugbear is when she said "who is next?" but when my friend went up to get the next round it was obvious that there were dozen punters were waiting to be served because one of barmaids had gone out to collect empties.

The number serving in such a busy pub made Wetherpoons look over-staffed. So we gave up waiting and went to the Devonshire Cat where service was prompt and the cask beers excellent.

I don't think that this was a one-off because I've struggled to be served previously in the Sheffield Tap, so come on, show some consideration for the customer and employ more staff.

Inappropriate Beer Gifts

This is the time of year when the male of the species receives socks, after shave and deodorant. I've no problem with that. However, if you are recognised as liking the odd pint of beer there is a chance that you'll also receive an Inappropriate Beer Gift from a well meaning relative or friend. You force the false smile as you unwrap the Gift pack of 'World' lagers (nanufactured in South Wales and Northampton) or cans of Bombardier/Old Speckled Hen.

Those of us who take pride in a modicum of beer knowledge will be fully stocked with more suitable beers and will wait for a suitable opportunity to jettison the unwanted gifts at a party or pass them on to the less discerning (i.e. non geeky) drinker.

Today, I received a supposed example of the Unwanted Beer Gift, or so I thought. But upon opening I found a gift set of the Maredsous range of Belgian beers complete with beer glass (which I've wanted for years despite owning far too many glasses). I won't embarrass the givers of this excellent and unexpected gift by naming them here but Thank You and Merry Christmas!

Beers for Christmas

I've chosen some suitable beers for tonight and Christmas Day. It's a mixture of Belgian Christmas beers, some of which have been aged. For instance Stille Nacht Reserva 2005 which clocks in at a whopping 12%.

I've included the odd English special beer as well. A 75 cl Meantime IPA will offer a nice contrast to the heavier beers and I've also got a few Bateman's Vintage Ales which are good value from Aldi.

I've got plenty of other 75cl bottles for later in the week as long as I've got someone to share them with. It's just greedy drinking a 13% Winterkoninske on your own.

I always have a good of stock of special beers in for Christmas but presumably most people drink the same beers that they do the rest of the year; just more of them.