Pub or Refectory?

On Friday evening, my lovely wife and I headed out for a couple of drinks at the Ruby Grand in Hammersmith before enjoying a great meal at Saigon Saigon on King Street. As the weather was pretty good on Friday, I enjoyed a nice pint of Kronenbourg 1664 at the RG and half a bottle of New Zealand Sauvingon Blanc with dinner. On our trip back through Hammersmith on our way back to Brook Green, my wife had an acute case of the dreaded FBS (full bladder syndrome). To alleviate the pain discomfort we ducked into The Plough and Harrow, W6's very own JDW house. It had been a long time since I had set foot in this place and not much had changed. Basically it reminds me more of the UCL refectory rather than a pub and was full of old geezers and drunks. While waiting patiently outside the ladies toilets for my wife to sort herself out I took a quick look into the kitchen. Row upon row of industrial microwave ovens were visible with two kitchen monkeys reheating as fast as possible. Luckily I was in and out of the shithole as fast as possible, but I am still getting flashbacks. You really do get what you pay for.

BTW - the photos didn't really turn out right, but you get the idea.

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CAMRA and JDW

It seems that people think that I have joined CAMRA to cause trouble. I assure you that this is not the case. Have a quick look through the contents of this blog. Over 80% of the posts I make are about Ale. I like Ale and I appreciate the effort CAMRA have done in the past so I can enjoy it today. As I have commented previously there are some aspects of the Campaign that I disagree with and I plan to address these during the week and state why I disagree. As for slinging shit on the real ale stereotype, I think I will continue to do so. It's funny and my posts always get a lot more hits when I have a crack at a bearded freak, but I will address the issue of the stereotype and how it relates to CAMRA in a more serious nature later in the week. For now, I want to discuss the nature of the relationship with CAMRA and Tim Martin's pubco J.D. Wetherspoons. The picture to the left is a discount coupon which I received in my membership pack. It entitles me to 50p off the price of a pint of real ale in a JDW drinking barn.
I don't want to reinvent the wheel about why I don't drink in 'spoons (Jeff has a good post here) but I will summarise briefly. I dislike;

• The drinking barn/warehouse like atmosphere
• The fact the toilets smell better than the pub interior
• The impersonal nature of the venues
• The business model which relies on low cost/high turnover of sales
• Hypocrisy in promoting responsible drinking, but selling cheap booze in high qualities (see above)
• Antisocial behaviour of some customers
• Low quality food
• Freezing temperature of cask ales (some venues)
• Being alcoholic friendly (well they are in London anyway)

My CAMRA membership card has "Campaigning for real ale, pubs & drinkers' rights since 1971" printed on it. Other paraphernalia included in my Membership pack says that CAMRA supports small independent breweries. Now in my reckoning, JDW and it's low cost business model is responsible for a significant number of pub closures across the UK. I know this is progressive capitalism and I get the point of consumer choice but when the rate of pubs closing is so high, then why is CAMRA supporting one of the key causes of pub closure?
CAMRA also supports breweries which produce 'real' ale, but JDW pubs use their massive buying power to negotiate sales prices which result in very little margin for the brewery. Of course the brewery has the right to sell his beer to other pubs at a higher rate, but the tied pub structure that exists in the UK (which CAMRA also happens to support) severely restricts the number of outlets a brewery can sell to. Overall the result is that these small breweries are really squeezed to the point of not being viable as a results of JDW's buying policies.
I also believe that when these coupons (pictured above) are used, then the sale of that pint is below cost. Selling alcohol below cost or even cheaply will result in people drinking higher quantities which is hardly promoting the responsible service of alcohol. I could continue, but the relationship between CAMRA and JDW serves only to advertise JDW which I feel will lead to more pub closures, and the closure or downscaling of smaller independent breweries. Surely this goes against the core values of the campaign and is highly hypocritical.

If you feel the same way as I do about this issue, then drop CAMRA's Senior Marketing Manager, Tony Jerome and email (tony.jerome@camra.org.uk). He is soliciting feedback both positive and negative on this issue.

Lučan

Its holiday season here in the UK and in my ventures to get some late sun action, I jetted off to The Algarve, Portugal. Whilst in the departure lounge at Gatwick I stumbled across Lučan (4.3% abv) an award winning Czech pilsner. This beer is really, really good even though it has been pasteurized. The beer is so good in fact that it was awarded "Best Beer" of the Czech Republic at the the Budweis beer competition in 2005.

The beer is deep amber in colour, maybe slightly darker than Budvar or Urquell and is not quite as bitter, but has a unique smokiness which goes well. The biggest problem is that it is only available at Weatherspoons pubs, so unless you like poor service and socialising with the great unwashed socially inept, pee smelling members of society its going to be a tough beer to drink!

Also as a surprise, my flight was actually early so I had to leave to get to the gate shortly after starting my pint. Never fear! I necked it pronto before joining the mad scramble to actually get a seat next to my wife on our EasyJet flight. Don't get me started on them!

Banks &Taylor Shefford Old Strong

I had the pleasure of drinking Banks and Taylors Shefford Old Strong (5% abv) at the Weatherspoons in afrringdom. Rich and I had been pubcrawling for a while and needed a bathrrom break and the 'spoons was the only thing open in the area. After the effort of relieving ourselves we were rewarded with a pint!

To be honest, I can't even remember drinking this pint because I was pretty smashed and because it was a few weeks ago now! The beer has a rather lame website, which does little to jog my memory, however some old chap/ticker has put together some notes!

Old gold with disappearing head. Some malt, some syrup. Not great condition.
It’s an ok strong ale, not huge flavours. Fine. Nice enough blend of malt and
hop. Hop has some crystallised fruit. Drinkable without being flashy.

Penny Black Porter

Penny Black is a 4.5% abv porter from the Hampshire Brewery, which I suppose is in Hampshire! This was the first hand pulled beer (besides the fosters, but that doesn’t count!) I have had this year and I drank it at “The Willow Walk” near Victoria train station. The beer was exceptionally tasty; however it wasn’t as robust as say a Fuller’s London porter but still exceeded itself in what has become one of my favourite beer styles. It was however a really smooth beer and definitely a good session ale that I could not find much information on. This is from the Hampshire brewery website;

Penny Black Porter
4.5% abv
Mellow and enticing aroma of black and
roasted malts, balanced by a clean bitterness and smooth full palate.
Available: December, January and February

The pub itself was nothing to comment on and was nothing more than a glorified drinking factory, but that is what you expect when you give your patronage to a J.D Wetherspoons tied house. One thing that ’spoons pubs do have going for them though is (a) they are really cheap, and (b) they have a good variety of regional ales. I lucked out last night and had a relatively fresh pint but I have had some very dodgy pints in my time from ‘spoons pubs.
The reason I was near Victoria station was that I went to see the London West End production of “Wicked” with our house guests. The production was ok as far as musicals go, so you may want to check it out.