Currently Drinking...

[43110andyb]

I must admit I haven’t tried many of the Durham beers on tap but bottled they are always exceptional to my taste! 
    The only one I have seen in Darlington regularly on tap is Magus and is always spot on when I have previously had it.

Edited August 14, 2022 by 43110andyb

[MarkC]

17 hours ago, MR Chuffer said:

My local, the Dog Inn in Whalley in East Lancs is renowned for the quality of its ever changing range of beers but this week it looks as though there's been a tap takeover as 5 out of the 6 handpumps is a Durham brew. By common consensus they are quite insipid by comparison to regulars such as Saltaire, Ossett, Roosters, Vocations, Brewsmiths and the many other popular beers we are used to.

 

Perhaps they don't travel well?

That's interesting - I'll pass that on to the brewery team.

 

Of course, it's possible that it's a local taste buds thing?

[MR Chuffer]

3 hours ago, MarkC said:

local taste buds thing

Of course, it might be as many Lancashire beers are different to Yorkshire beers, which I generally prefer due to  water quality. But let's get this right, I want as wide a range of beers available to taste and enjoy as possible and the whole batch of Durham beers delivered to the Dog has missed the mark so anything that can be done to up their game is beneficial to us all.

 

Take the Wakatu NZPA, I love a NZPA, Hawkshead being there at the top and I had a Hophurst NZPA in Hebden Bridge last Friday - delicious, but a week after it went on, Wakatu is still there, I couldn't face another pint of it yesterday so I actually had 2 pints of cider instead - sacrilege.

 

On the way out, a friend showed me his half finished pint in a straight glass, it was dead as a dodo, no froth clinging to the sides of the glass, as appealing as a glass of cold tea. Hawkshead, Ossett Excelsius, Brewsmiths APA and other heavy hitters go in little more than a day in our pub.

 

I also tried a couple of pints of 28 Days Later (IPA), similarly unenthused by the flat taste when there are so many other medium strength beers we have that are zingers, e.g. Goose Eye Chinook, Vocation Bread and Butter and Pride and Joy, Ossett White Rat and Silver King, etc., again, these only last 2 days at max.

 

Best wishes.

[Hobby]

Flat beer can be caused by many things, though, and some of them are out of the control of the brewer, such as how they are stored, even the best publican can make mistakes.

[MR Chuffer]

1 hour ago, Hobby said:

mistakes

Agreed, but over 5 different pumps from the same brewery? The Small World Summer Bank that went on at the same time is near to perfect, but a little on the light side for me.

 

The world can always do with more good beer....

[roundhouse]

It's an early beer o'clock for me today. My other half found that this can stored near to her work desk at home had popped. So I have poured it and it's fine.

 

[43110andyb]

4 hours ago, MR Chuffer said:

Of course, it might be as many Lancashire beers are different to Yorkshire beers, which I generally prefer due to  water quality. But let's get this right, I want as wide a range of beers available to taste and enjoy as possible and the whole batch of Durham beers delivered to the Dog has missed the mark so anything that can be done to up their game is beneficial to us all.

 

Take the Wakatu NZPA, I love a NZPA, Hawkshead being there at the top and I had a Hophurst NZPA in Hebden Bridge last Friday - delicious, but a week after it went on, Wakatu is still there, I couldn't face another pint of it yesterday so I actually had 2 pints of cider instead - sacrilege.

 

On the way out, a friend showed me his half finished pint in a straight glass, it was dead as a dodo, no froth clinging to the sides of the glass, as appealing as a glass of cold tea. Hawkshead, Ossett Excelsius, Brewsmiths APA and other heavy hitters go in little more than a day in our pub.

 

I also tried a couple of pints of 28 Days Later (IPA), similarly unenthused by the flat taste when there are so many other medium strength beers we have that are zingers, e.g. Goose Eye Chinook, Vocation Bread and Butter and Pride and Joy, Ossett White Rat and Silver King, etc., again, these only last 2 days at max.

 

Best wishes.

Sounds like there is a ghost somewhere in the machine!

    Ps- Possibly not a county based water issue if Beers from the Osset brewery, Hawkshead & Brewsmiths are flying off the taps with being based in 3 different counties! 
Edit- When Brown ale production was moved to Tadcaster it did change and that was blamed on the water if I remember rightly! 

Edited August 15, 2022 by 43110andyb
Content added

[MR Chuffer]

3 hours ago, 43110andyb said:

Possibly not a county based water issue

I think it possibly could be, after all, in the olden days, people in Lancashire got used to drinking beer from soft water and even though you can change the chemical composition in the water, it's what people got used to so Lancashire brews like Prospect, Bank Top, Thwaites and Moorhouses all have a "soft" edge to their beers and a well established market in Lancashire, but none makes a decent IPA (- prepared to be proved wrong...).

 

I also taste the same traits in the much lauded Marble Beers from Manchester, their IPA is too soft!

 

The exception being Brewsmith from Ramsbottom which tastes more like a Yorkshire beer than some Yorkshire beers, with its APA, NZPA, IPA - all great at various strengths and then there is their delightful Oatmeal Stout. And Hawkshead, is Cumbrian water hard?

 

On the other hand, most Yorkshire beers used harder water for a different beer and that's what their consumers got used to in the olden days, and is better suited to IPAs. The Lancashire beers sell in our pub but slower than Yorkshire ones. I blame those Americans and colonialists with all their fancy hops of the last few years which is why IPAs became so popular overnight.

 

And of course, the original IPA came from Bass and Worthington in Burton-on-Trent, sitting on a source of hard water, which nicely brings us round to the D299 thread and other railway related topics on RMWeb about beer and its distribution.

 

My theory anyway, I will have to do some more research.... :))

Edited August 15, 2022 by MR Chuffer
wrong brewery

[PhilJ W]

Usually hard water is better for brewing ales and beers. Thats why many brewers set up business where the underlying aquafer is chalk or limestone such as in Kent and some parts of East Anglia where there was the added advantage of barley and hops grown in those areas.

[43110andyb]

It’s a great debating point and a little digging I found this - which can be used to link the breweries water wise Hard/soft.
    I was thinking more mineral and other content differences between counties but I guess they are linked. 

   We don’t need to de-scale our kettle so we’re soft (not in the head 🍻) here in Darlington at least.

 

[43110andyb]

8-a-side football tonight and a celebratory beer after a 6-5 victory scoring 2 goals (extra bonus as not the oldest player on the pitch - 3rd oldest out of 16 😅). Pennine brewery - Black Forest dark ale 4% 

[roundhouse]

He sniffed the bottle but it was me drinking it

[Bert Cheese]

I've not been drinking much beer in recent months as it all started tasting too samey/familiar, and I've rediscovered a neglected taste for wine...even bought a decanter for the big reds recently!

 

Having said that I wandered up the local Sainsburys beer & cider aisle recently in the normal resigned fashion, not expecting to buy anything when this caught my eye.

Brewdog are long past being my brewery of choice but they've always been good with dark ales and stouts in particular, so I swallowed my pride and picked up a pair of these Rattle & Rum jobs.

Not bad at all I have to say, quite sweet as I sort of expected but decent at 7.4%....why they don't concentrate on stuff like this instead of the rubbish "IPA's" that all taste alike (and nothing like proper India IPA) is one of those mysteries I'll probably never understand...Candy Kittens & Urban Fog be gone with you 😩

[NHY 581]

On 15/08/2022 at 18:31, 43110andyb said:

It’s a great debating point and a little digging I found this - which can be used to link the breweries water wise Hard/soft.
    I was thinking more mineral and other content differences between counties but I guess they are linked. 

   We don’t need to de-scale our kettle so we’re soft (not in the head 🍻) here in Darlington at least.

 

 

 

I would take that with a pinch of salt....

 

Where I am in Cardiff, it is anything but soft water with regular descaling required. 

[black and decker boy]

The joys of living a nomadic work life arise again.

 

tonight’s delight is the Dodworth Tap, Barnsley.

 

Titanic Plum Porter, Franciscan Well Shannon Stout, Osset White Rat and Nailmaker Fall bitter among those on offer 

 

 

 

[MR Chuffer]

4 minutes ago, black and decker boy said:

The joys of living a nomadic work life arise again.

 

tonight’s delight is the Dodworth Tap, Barnsley.

 

Titanic Plum Porter, Franciscan Well Shannon Stout, Osset White Rat and Nailmaker Fall bitter among those on offer 

 

 

 

Titanic Plum Porter one of our landlord's favourites, he's got some in for his birthday later this week, and Ossett White Rat, top top beer even though it's a bit below my alcohol threshold (4.5 to 5%+) but so tasty, as most Ossett beers, how do they do it at this strength?

[roundhouse]

Titanic Plum Porter is one of our favourite brews but if it is slightly off it tastes horrible.  Luckily that has rarely been the case.

Edited October 7, 2022 by roundhouse

[43110andyb]

Byker Brown 4.8% is tonight’s post match beer! A 4-3 victory in our 8-a-side football and a hat-trick to boot are being well celebrated! Ps- I like the brewed in Newcastle not Yorkshire slogan on this occasion -even though I’m a Yorkshire beer fan!

 

[43110andyb]

A dry Christmas for all with no posts since October! Thought we need a stiff drink to boost the thread! 8-a-side game tonight during high winds and rain so a suitable beer needed to recover! Consett Ale Works - Red Dust 4.5% a hearty ale to fend off the poor weather!

[andytrains]

We are all to phished too post!

[airnimal]

I have just opened a bottle of Sam Smith's Stingo. This is a heavy weight dark sweet old ale and at 8% a truly fabulous beer. Sweet toffee and raisins not unlike a cough medicine of my childhood but with a powerful kick. Should really be drunk in an old fashioned pub on a dark night with a roaring open fire and a stone floor. 

[Hobby]

10 hours ago, airnimal said:

Should really be drunk in an old fashioned pub on a dark night with a roaring open fire and a stone floor. 

 

Nellies, then...

[black and decker boy]

My favourite weekend sport again this weekend - beer swaps with my neighbour.

 

his contribution: Adnams Both Barrels

 

my contribution: Great Corby Wasdale stout

 

a fine evening indeed 

 

[BR traction instructor]

On 04/10/2022 at 19:12, black and decker boy said:

The joys of living a nomadic work life arise again.

 

tonight’s delight is the Dodworth Tap, Barnsley.

 

Titanic Plum Porter, Franciscan Well Shannon Stout, Osset White Rat and Nailmaker Fall bitter among those on offer 

 

 

 

 

…is Shandon a typo on the glass then? 😀

[Black 5 Bear]

I'll have to make do with this tonight 😗

Cheers 🍻🍻