Decline in British Pubs

Cask beer served from a beer engine, life-changing or not, is certainly different than anything out of a bottle or can. There's no two ways about that.

I'm not going to speak for @marquis, but I don't that taking that one sentence out of context, as you have, do his complete comments much justice.

 

There is a lot of difference between live and cask beers. I recall Ron Pattinson ('patto1ro ) saying that he was involved in the production of a beer in the US , half was live keg and the rest was cask. He found little difference on the first day but after that the cask improved so much that it was almost a different beer.
CAMRA describes bottle conditioned beer as "Real Ale in Bottle" but although an improvement on normal bottled beer it is markedly lacking compared with well kept cask beer. But the determining phrase is "well kept". A good cellarman can make a beer sing hymns.
In my youth I used to flit from pub to pub and sample the goods. All the beer came from the same brewery but I could tell which pub I was in by the taste.How excellence could exist in so many forms was a joy to discover.
It is believed by many that the transformation which occurs in the cask is the result of controlled and limited oxidation.This is probably why after a few days the beer goes dead, cardboardy and then vinegary.But a decent pub should have sold it all before then.
By the way, 1500 beers in 3 years is only 1.5 a day. I only drink on 3 days or so a week but probably manage 7 or 8 different beers.I have calmed my drinking down with old age

 

I well remember a few places in England that I visited in the early 70s. I was young and willing to learn, and had been taught to ask questions. I always asked the bartenders what they liked best. Very often it was a fine silky cask ale.

 

No offense to you or your friend, but I'm not sure why that anecdote should be any indication that UK cask beer at a pub isn't worth putting on a pedestal. In all seriousness, trying 1500 different beers in 3 years might even be a detriment to appreciating that pub scene.

 

Because if you say "I tried cask ale and I didn't like it" people are going to immediately assume since you don't agree with them that you are wrong, and the first thing they are going to say is that you don't know/understand good beer. That's clearly not the case.

But I don't really need to convince anyone that there's another side to the argument, since it seems to be slowly dying off once again.

 

You have a point, but if a different friend of yours also "clearly understands good beer" (however you want to determine that metric) but thinks that cask beer is the greatest drink on earth, would you re-evaluate your judgement just because of his opinion? Some love it, some hate it, know what I mean? Same goes for Coors Banquet and bourbon barrel stouts.

 

I agree, I wouldn't associate the two. I would also say Dive Bars are actually making a come back especially in the hipster crowd. Even outside of the hipster crowd there's a lot of interest. I've started to see some dive bars serving craft beer. The same thing with hidden Speak Easy's. People are looking for something different and both dive bars and speak easy's offer that. There's a place that sends you a new dive bar t-shirt every month along with a description of the bar. My wife bought me a 3 month subscription for my birthday, it was actually pretty cool even though I'm not into dive bars.

 

I agree with your general points but I still find that Boston is a bit pricier than one would expect based on cost of living. New York and San Francisco are much pricier markets than Boston in terms of real estate but I've found the beer prices to be comparable. And Chicago is a cheaper market than Boston but the beer prices struck me as really low for a major metropolitan area. The lack of a legal happy hour here in MA adds insult to injury a bit as well.

One way or another I guess the nice thing about drinking in Boston is that you pretty much never get sticker shock going anywhere else

 

Hey, the first time I thought it was thin water stuff. Now I love a well kept flavorful pint, silky mouthfeel, and you can wake up in the morning without damage due to the low ABV.

I have been homebrewing for 25 years, and am a National judge.

 

Probably your best point is that you don't get sticker shock going anywhere else

I've been drinking in this area since the early 90's so I'm probably more used to the local prices. The lower prices or equivalent prices I see elsewhere don't make me take notice. I probably drink more out of state than in state since I always go out when I travel (which I do for work) but when I'm home I drink more at home. Anyhow I've seen people mention the high prices a lot in the area and I wanted to shake my perception a bit.

 

I'm sort of living between two extremes in bar culture these days. On one hand, there are all the incredible Manhattan beer bars where I can get practically any beer I want after work; and on the other is my neighborhood spot where I'm lucky to find two craft taps out of the whole bunch.

The thing is, the NYC after work-crowd isn't too interested in socializing with others, and hardly anyone even goes as a single. So those places are all about the beer for me, and then I'm on my way.

But in the neighborhood place most people seem to know each other, and the more the merrier. Especially if a game is on the tube- you almost couldn't keep to yourself if you wanted to.

Now, to be in a place where the beer is incredible, plus the atmosphere is social and friendly, that's having it all, my friend.

 

What would be the rational behind taxing the Abv?

 

Southport Corridor.

 

I have traveled quite a bit to the UK (England and Scotland) in the past for business. I have visited a number of pubs and I have had cask ales that were excellent and cask ales that are just OK (or poor). FWIW I think it is due to a number of variables:

• How well the casks were cellared at the pub
• How 'old' the cask beer is (i.e., how long since it was first tapped)

I am personally a BIG fan of cask ale when it is in prime condition but needless to say this will not always be the case.

Cheers!