Thrice times woe.
Wetherspoons are selling off 45 of its pubs. More to the point they are selling off my local 'spoons - The Regent in Walton on Thames.
Whatever will I do?
tinyurl.com/j6bkxbw
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They've sold one of my two locals and turned the other into a Wetherlodge hotel. Prices have risen to a point where they make the local Yates seem appealing.
I understand they made the decision to sell off so many due to the new minimum wage. A line was drawn at a set profit and any falling below that criteria were put up for sale.
Good news is a micro pub has opened selling just wines and beers (from stillage behind the bar). Another old pub has become 'artisan' selling artisan and craft beers (whatever they are).
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>> Another old pub has become 'artisan' selling artisan and craft beers (whatever
>> they are).
Euphemism for reassuringly expensive I believe.
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Craft Beers. Not to be confused wth "Real Ale"
Much loved by hipsters with beards. Mainly imported from all over but originating on the West Coat of the USA. As mentioned hugely expensive -£6 per pint and upwards. You need to ramble on about single hops and hop forward style and IBUs. Mostly undrinkable in any quantity. Avoid.
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A cousin here brews beer in a shed across the back lawn. He usually has two vats on the go. Sometimes though the brew goes wrong and the stuff is undrinkable.
It doesn't get wasted though. Yesterday Herself had me placing small containers of the sour beer around her flower and vegetable beds. They are slug traps: the slugs are attracted by the scent of beer, get drunk and fall in and drown. The beer and dead slugs make a very yucky black fluid which Herself chucks into the hedge somewhere.
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and craft beers (whatever
>> they are).
>>
Sort of somewhere between a lager and a bitter. They can be quite citrusy, often too much.Popular out in the US, although they are the ones that are too citrusy for me, the UK brewed ones are decent enough for a change.
Last edited by: sooty123 on Mon 30 May 16 at 15:52
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Talking of beers I did the tour at Windsor and Eton Brewery last weekend. It was a fantastic tour. One of the partners showed us round (not that there was far to go, it all happens in a moderate size warehouse) and he was so knowledgeable and enthusiastic - always been in the trade and clearly liked a drop himself, though he was as skinny as a rake.
Well recommended. £12.50 I think but I won tickets in a raffle. Plenty of generous tasters during the trip. (Best part of 3 hours IIRC, all a bit hazy... LOL)
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I went round the Guinness's brewery in Dublin once. Halves of every stout they made including a Stingo-like barley wine sort of thing, all served in frosty silver mugs if I remember right. Ended up as drunk as a skunk, as (very unusually) did my father with whom I had gone there.
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>> a Stingo-like barley wine sort of thing,
I have a vague memory of drinking a barley wine and bitter mixture, which for some reason were called 'Crash Hats'.
That was in my far off youth, of course.
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>> Whatever will I do?
>>
Talk the local McDonalds into getting a booze licence?
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A number of our local breweries have regular open nights. Copper Dragon/Greyhawk at Skipton open the first Friday of the month 5-9pm. The first hour its £2 a pint, thereafter £2.50
Saltaire Brewery do likewise, and they offer guest beers also... I think they have 13 real ales on tap. Plus a hog roast. £2 a pint all evening, but you need to obtain tickets in advance.
Naturally admission to both the above is free....
Cheaper beer than my local where it's £2.50 a pint ( Goose Eye brewery Chinook is always on and very hoppy) together with one from Kirkby Lonsdale. Local number 2 is £2.95 pint but has a lovely SW facing beer garden so worth paying a premium on a summers evening.
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Copper Dragon
had a few pints of that at the pub nearest the cottage last time I was holidaying in North Yorkshire, a nice pint. pity you can't get it outside the local area though.
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Oh woe, woe and.... - bathtub tom
