tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post1708121693664736013..comments2024-03-19T03:07:24.942-07:00Comments on Shut up about Barclay Perkins: Black CountryRon Pattinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03095189986589865751noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-23974740904138017232011-09-09T04:12:07.835-07:002011-09-09T04:12:07.835-07:00I remember making a pilgrimage to the Old Swan in...I remember making a pilgrimage to the Old Swan in about 1975. Guess it's really time I paid a return visit. Unless my memory has gone wonky, they also carried a Simpkiss beer as well as their own stuff. We also visited another pub in Dudley which served Old Swan beer on that trip - the White Swan. We were expecting something similar to the Old Swan but it turned out to be a modern place with a less than welcoming atmosphere. But the phrase "friendly local" in the GBG could often be something of a warning sign back then.chrisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04237048759619426609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-30187868296537165102011-09-08T12:13:05.047-07:002011-09-08T12:13:05.047-07:00Interesting about the grainy and possibly wild qua...Interesting about the grainy and possibly wild quality of the Spingo. <br /><br />I guess what I am wondering is, do these beers bear hallmarks of the "home-brewed ales" which were so admired by, say, Thomson & Stewart in the 1800's? Was/is there something particular about a very small scale of production and one obviously taking place over a very long period? <br /><br />It may depend on the type of equipment, e.g., wood vs. metal vessels, conicals vs. open fermenters, the type and degree of (any) cooling, etc.<br /><br />I can't recall now where I saw this, but an observer in the pre-Second World War era wrote that he could always tell an estate-brewed ale from a commercial one: he meant one brewed at a great house or a college. I was always curious what he meant by that and whether that is true of the surviving, long-established home-brew pubs.<br /><br />GaryGary Gillmannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-10433051176473323182011-09-08T11:31:14.589-07:002011-09-08T11:31:14.589-07:00I was lucky enough to get to all three of the West...I was lucky enough to get to all three of the West Midlands/Welsh Borders "last of the originals" home-brew pubs in the 1970s - my favourite was the All Nations, an utterly unassuming, plain pub selling just one beer, a light mild, made on the premises, just as hundreds of other pubs must have been doing in the region as late as the 1920s. (Didn't get to the Blue Anchor until the 1980s …)Martyn Cornellhttp://zythophile.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-70380483393341481322011-09-08T02:22:27.168-07:002011-09-08T02:22:27.168-07:00Brilliant.
There are quite a few pubs with brewer...Brilliant.<br /><br />There are quite a few pubs with breweries down here in Cornwall, too. One claims to have been brewing continuously since the 15th century; others are newer but in the same tradition, i.e. a few straightforward beers brewed for sale in the attached pub. On paper, the beers sound unremarkable but they are quietly arresting -- grainier, perhaps, than the products of bigger breweries? Spingo at the Blue Anchor in Helston has been a touch 'wild' when we've had it, but in a good way.Baileyhttp://boakandbailey.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-56674464611486488122011-09-07T09:05:59.493-07:002011-09-07T09:05:59.493-07:00Ron, were you able to have a look at the brewery? ...Ron, were you able to have a look at the brewery? If so, what kind of fermenters do they use? Any other comments on the equipment in there?<br /><br />Also, would you say the beers, by virtue of being home-brewed, are "different" in some way? Thanks as always.<br /><br />GaryGary Gillmannoreply@blogger.com