tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post7418783290383417673..comments2024-03-28T06:20:10.699-07:00Comments on Shut up about Barclay Perkins: Why did British beer become blander in the 1980s? (part two)Ron Pattinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03095189986589865751noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-78299660791058882212023-11-10T10:31:05.913-08:002023-11-10T10:31:05.913-08:00Back in the 1974 to the 1980's Bass had troubl...Back in the 1974 to the 1980's Bass had trouble with wet milling black malt to produce the main ingredient for there xxxx mild. Problem was the black malted barley built up on the fluted mill rollers, causing the drive belts to break. This not only have to have new drive belts , but took hours setting up the rollers, which had to be within half a millimetre. This wasn't easy. So I beleave Greenall whitley in Warrington was asked how they did do their mild. I find this hard to believe that they did not make mild. They said they used to blend bitter with caramel to give the dark colour? Plus returned beer, which a lot of bereys I believe did?<br /><br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-21873449127226933022021-02-10T03:40:15.607-08:002021-02-10T03:40:15.607-08:00@Thom - some do, many don't use whole hops, bu...@Thom - some do, many don't use whole hops, but it's perhaps significant that those with a reputation for quality, like Tim Taylors, tend to be in the former camp.<br /><br />Keeping beer for a week at the brewery is reasonably common - once circumstances meant I had to take a cask just after filling and the brewer made me promise not to tap it before it had gone a week in cask.<br /><br />@Mike - you have to be a bit careful with the whole DNA comparison thing, but bear in mind that 71% in common is similar to the difference between humans and chickens - it's a massive difference. Personally I think the influence of the Debaryomyces gets overstated for their ordinary beers, the "magic" is more in the fact that it's a proper square yeast - a phenolic saison type. The phenolics in Harveys are subtle, but definitely there.<br /><br />@Ross - you have to remember that traditional BBBs need to be fresh - really fresh - to be drunk at anything like their best. Some of the best Pedi can be found at big sports grounds where the bars are knocking through a kil every 10-15 minutes. <br /><br />One of the best pints of cask I ever had was at an event where a Sheps pub was 4-deep at the bar and the beer was singing. We ended up going somewhere quieter but on the way home I called in to get another pint of the nectar - but by then the place was empty and the beer was just "normal" Sheps. Just a couple of hours made the difference between "wow" and "meh".qqnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-1957520587409588362021-02-10T03:32:35.235-08:002021-02-10T03:32:35.235-08:00Re: Tetley's hand pumps. Quality depended as w...Re: Tetley's hand pumps. Quality depended as well on turnover of beer. Me and a mate came across The Sheepscar by accident one afternoon in the late 70's. One of the best pints of Tet's bitter I've ever had. My mate was on mild and he insisted that we stop on 'til chucked out. We then hitched up to York to watch Dr Feelgood, well watered.<br />The standard of beer was because of demand for good stuff. I think a lot of the old residents came back to drink there, giving a good turnover in fresh beer. It was a bit of an Irish pub too and the creamy Guinness was flying as well. Sheepscar district is now a business area and the last time I looked I couldn't find the pub. RIP.<br />Those back street boozers often had the best beer as their customers were dedicated drinkers who spurned keg beer and lager.Owd Burnlyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08673405485750385796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-83954548396568693352021-02-08T12:26:35.534-08:002021-02-08T12:26:35.534-08:00On another note, well done on another great articl...On another note, well done on another great article Ron. As a beer fan of 35 I find myself bedevilled by the certainty that my fathers generation and above got to taste the beers that are still common today in ways I never will. Newcastle Brown Ale from what I can surmise is nothing remotely like the Newcastle brewed blended beer it was when my Dad fell for it in the 70’s. Similarly I have never found the legendary Marstons Pedigree to be anything but cheap and mediocre but I can at least pick up hints of the beer it once was in its case. Ross Slaughterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10846854909745030158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-29248368271223685052021-02-08T12:16:30.800-08:002021-02-08T12:16:30.800-08:00Just a small point Ron but as a fan of Sam Smiths ...Just a small point Ron but as a fan of Sam Smiths I am pretty sure they claim their yeast strain goes directly back to the 19th century. I am not saying you are wrong at all as I only tasted my first pint of it 8 years ago. I wonder what the truth really is then? I am sure though Sams would never reveal anything themselves.Ross Slaughterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10846854909745030158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-35785148323078596522021-02-08T05:50:14.460-08:002021-02-08T05:50:14.460-08:00Ron,
Great post. Yeast(s) and fermentation (ve...Ron, <br /><br />Great post. Yeast(s) and fermentation (vessel geometry, head pressure, etc) are leading candidates for me for flavor impact. I think a good piece of the magic of Harvey's is that, and while seemingly not an impact on their cask beer, (and as you know) they also have Debaryomyces in the mix, sharing 71% of the DNA of Brettanomyces, responsible for the Brett like aroma of their Le Coq Imperial Stout. Truly one of the world's most magical breweries. <br /><br />http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2016/10/london-goose-day-two-part-three.html<br /><br />Cheers,<br />Mike<br />Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11335878968063108279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-16774442418992227252021-02-07T16:20:32.573-08:002021-02-07T16:20:32.573-08:00Russell Gibbon here. I really like this post, Ron....Russell Gibbon here. I really like this post, Ron. You have given us a lot of things to reflect upon here. I find it especially interesting how sometimes a huge difference in beer quality is made by what seems on the face of it to be a tiny change. All that I would add is, while this is a comprehensive listing of potential chance changes and largely negative consequences for the quality of a beer, there´s one BIG reason beer has become crap: profit. I know one famous online Master Brewer who told me that one of the reasons that he left the brewing industry was the intentional, deliberate blanding and weakening of once good beers, by the big brewing companies. No accidents or unintended cockups here - we are talking about the intentional turning of proper beer into piss, to reach more people, increase sales and make more money.Russell Gibbonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15342906438697376442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-14703053612591879462021-02-07T10:39:39.476-08:002021-02-07T10:39:39.476-08:00Fermenting temperatures seem like another possible...Fermenting temperatures seem like another possible candidate. A lot of English yeasts can throw off different flavors, or a lot less flavor, within a pretty narrow range of temperatures, and the change in temperature during fermentation can matter too. It's possible some brewers got hung up on consistency or speeding up fermentation and wiped out a degree of yeast character even when the actual strain remained the same.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-64185359552849855862021-02-07T04:42:18.560-08:002021-02-07T04:42:18.560-08:00I remember around 1980 there was an article in the...I remember around 1980 there was an article in the tissue thin paper version of The Manchester Guardian that came in the mail to Nova Scotia. An elderly French chef explaining how dull food had become since he started out on his career in the 1920s. It was about then that I worked for a few months as a burger flipper at McDonalds, just when the hydrogenated oil was intoduced. it was almost undigestible and left a quarter inch of plaque on the bottom of your shoes that had to be peeled off after a shift. Like the 1890s it was a time of technical advance in mundane things. More TV channels. More shapes of pasta. Microwaves. Single servings of pudding in plastic containers. Distributing the novel may lead to flattening and corners but also innovation with McLuhan's promise of unintended consequences. Plus Reagan and Thatcher's promise of profits skimmed from everything.Alanhttp://agoodbeerblog.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-30501847175135894312021-02-07T04:07:29.748-08:002021-02-07T04:07:29.748-08:00"Miles Jenner told me that they stored casks ..."Miles Jenner told me that they stored casks in a warehouse for a week after filling" - John Keeling told me the same thing a few years ago about Fuller's. BryanBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03550482701819539081noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-79386656560660781302021-02-07T02:43:16.714-08:002021-02-07T02:43:16.714-08:00I wonder how many of the traditional British brewe...I wonder how many of the traditional British breweries still use whole hops as opposed to hop pellets.Thom Farrellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08769973975420792914noreply@blogger.com