Flat looking beer

Discussion in 'United Kingdom & Ireland' started by rogertb, Jan 16, 2020.

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  1. rogertb

    rogertb Initiate (0) Jan 18, 2017

    Hi chaps, I'm an amateur real ale drinker ... I go to a couple of micropubs and try out their beers now and then, being a bit of a stick in the mud I enjoy a good pint of bitter, all the normal big names (and a few from smaller breweries) but the micropubs serve their bitters straight from the barrel with no top pressure and they often look unappealing, usually taste ok with a bit of "brightness" but flat looking ... I find it difficult to get my head (excuse the pun) around this ... any observations please.
     
    #1 rogertb, Jan 16, 2020
  2. bbtkd

    bbtkd Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,790) Sep 20, 2015 South Dakota
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Could be what is called "cask", where no additional carbon dioxide or nitrogen are used at the pub, so the only carbonation is from the brewing process. Also, it could be a "still beer", which has almost no carbonation at all, even from the brewing process.
     
    #2 bbtkd, Jan 16, 2020
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  3. PapaGoose03

    PapaGoose03 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,057) May 30, 2005 Michigan
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    It sounds like you'll need to find a pub that doesn't serve the Bitter on cask.
     
    #3 PapaGoose03, Jan 16, 2020
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  4. rogertb

    rogertb Initiate (0) Jan 18, 2017

    Thanks chaps, well all the pubs I visit sell beer with a "head", cask conditioned, pulled up by hand pump but the 2 microbreweries, if I suggest that they "look" flat, generally say "that's what they should be" I'm just not sure that they're correct. They use a 'stillage' system and the beer comes straight out of the cask via a tap. Plenty of happy customers in them lots of camra members I seem to be the only one that thinks the beer tastes "dull". (I have some images but cannot add them without putting them on a site so I won't bother)
     
    #4 rogertb, Jan 17, 2020
  5. Dave_S

    Dave_S Crusader (429) May 18, 2017 England

    Whereabouts are you based? Particularly if you're in the North, it might be that the traditional pubs you're going to are serving the beer via a sparkler, whereas the micros aren't. See for instance
    https://boakandbailey.com/2008/03/sparklers-whats-the-fuss-about-then/
    and
    https://boakandbailey.com/2019/05/sparklers-in-summary/

    Otherwise, it might just be that the micropubs aren't that good at getting their cask into proper condition - does it have fizz but no head, or is it just flat? But it is also the case to some extent that different people have different standards for how much head and how much condition real ale should have, either based on personal preferences or regional tendencies. For instance (another Boak and Bailey link I'm afraid), people in Bristol apparently traditionally prefer their beer with no foam at all
    https://boakandbailey.com/2019/01/bristol-where-headless-pints-are-a-feature-not-a-bug/
    which a lot of other people would see as heresy.
     
    #5 Dave_S, Jan 17, 2020
  6. Malt_Man

    Malt_Man Initiate (0) Jul 4, 2014 England

    Yes, a lot of the new pop-up micropubs have great selections of beer, but are manned by inexperienced 'hipster' types who have no idea how to pour it properly.
     
    #6 Malt_Man, Jan 17, 2020
  7. alovelydrop

    alovelydrop Initiate (0) May 21, 2018 England

    I know exactly what you mean and the shortcomings of serving cask by 'gravity dispense' (i.e. straight from the cask without lines and a hand pump) are covered in this blog post: https://baileysbeerblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-gravity-of-dispense.html

    Basically it seems that it is harder to condition beer correctly using this method/without the benefit of a hand pump.

    I have also had a mix of experience in micropubs and have had some superbly conditioned pints served straight from the cask as well as a lot of bad ones. A lot of CAMRA types simply aren't that discerning and will often tell you that "it's supposed to be like that" when it definitely, definitely is not, as though you simply don't understand.

    Additionally, the art of correctly cellaring beer seems to be dying generally and a lot of people simply don't know what they are doing, regardless of how the beer is dispensed!
     
    #7 alovelydrop, Jan 20, 2020
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  8. WhatANicePub

    WhatANicePub Zealot (712) Jul 1, 2009 Scotland

    Many micropubs have crap beer. Find better ones to drink in.

    Some people will insist beer served by gravity is always flat. It's nonsense.
     
    #8 WhatANicePub, Jan 22, 2020
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