Real Ales - Stupid Question

People should really be required to know something when working in a place that serves craft beer. I guess if the taps are purely bmc is makes no difference, but I find myself very commonly annoyed with bartenders and their beer ignorance.

 

You should have asked for a real bartender. Guy sounds like a jerk

 

It appears the bartender was a firkin jerkoff.


Yep. I did that, and you saw it.

 

God, it's years since I saw one of those. Where did you take that photo? And when?

 

I got it from a Google search of the internet.You wouldn't believe how difficult it was to find anything , I just thought that an image search of "electric metered beer pump" would do the trick-just try it!
The reinstallation of handpumps came about remarkably quickly but then the electric ones gave a guaranteed half pint of liquid per throw but a handpump/pint to line glass gives a little less beer to the customer.

 

I feel weirdly nostalgic for the things. That photo looks like the type that Home Ales used. I used to find it fascinating watching the plunger move from side to side.

 

This is a very good question.

 

Not sure if this has already been said, and I didn't feel like reading 45+ replies.

But, why didn't you just explain to the bartender (who was a dick), "No... your sign over there says 'real ale', that's what I meant.... is that a type of beer, or was that just a joke poking fun at other bars? Sorry if I misunderstood."

And, then if he continued to be a dick, I'd jump over the bar and kick him in the junk.

 

Those were the ones I saw most of, Home owned most of our local pubs.I think Shippos has them as well.I also saw ones which went up and down and if I remember correctly Kimberley used transparent Perspex cubes with a diaphragm inside which flopped over from side to side. Happy days and all for a few pence a pint!

 

A cube with a sphere inside - I remember those. I think that was the type Tetley used. Tennant, who owned the pub on our caravan site, used the type in the photo. Not sure if the beer was cask or not.

You got Holes from electric pumps, but that was bright beer. Not that bad, if I'm honest. If only I could remember what their Mild was called. I worked at the brewery. I should remember. John Clarke couldn't either. Did you ever drink it?

 

I'll go for another angle. The guy was messing with you and you didn't roll with the punches and it was a porter on cask / real and he was offering you both the hand pulled and the regular one in his left handed treatment of the matter.

 

Rather than *any* extraneous CO2 - cask rebreathers, which allow atmospheric CO2 into a cask once it's tapped to aid shelf life, are frowned upon by CAMRA as well.

 

Yes, otherwise the cask is just a giant bottle conditioned er bottle. It's the limited air access which develops the beer, else it gets no better than when it left the brewery. Which could of course be pretty good .

 

There sorted

 

I've looked at the beers you have reviewed and wonder how many of them would now be available had it not been for the existence of CAMRA. It was an organisation devoted to beer quality which showed that there was a market for better beer. As a result we had the microbrewery revival which together with Michael Jackson's work encouraged the spread of small breweries in the US (and other countries)
In essence it's about saying-if you can, give beer a chance to be consumed at its best and to develop its full potential.

 

This does nothing unless the bartender owns the place, which I highly doubt.
Instead, I think the best course of action is to continue drinking there then stiff him on the tip.
Hit them in the wallet, that is how they will learn their lesson.

 

ABC in Harrisburg used to forget they had a handpump; had to ask all the time what was pouring through it. Good advice above to always ask, if you see one behind the bar.

Back when Stoudt's was getting BATF label approval, they used to have the words "Real Beer" on the label. That didn't fly; BATF's rationale was that then everybody else's beer wasn't "real" and it would hurt their sales ! I wonder how the Texas brewery (or any other using some version of this term) got its name/beers approved?

 

I wouldn't use that term here in the states, it's more of an English beer term imo. but the bartender was still a jerk.

 

Pretty sure that the "real ale" can be any style from a cask that has been conditioned in the cask. It's a form of yeast if I'm not mistaken, that's specifically made for cask ales. Normally I'll just ask about the beers that are on cask and I never use the term "Real Ale".