I thought an update was well overdue, particularly as some at the club have worked very hard to improve the beer selection. On the whole this has worked well with some very nice ales being offered from time to time over the past months. Timothy Taylor Landlord, Charles Wells Bombadier, Fullers London Pride, Everards Tiger, Adnams Broadside, Digfield Barnwell Bitter to name but a few. My thanks to those that pushed for these as they have been very well received (by yours truly) and all appear to have sold well.
However, if I am honest there does still seem to be a default position whereby the cheap and nasty ales are the fallback. Last night was a classic - the supping ale was 'Swedish Blonde', about as tacky as the name suggests; the premium ale was a 4.7% IPA - just the job if you want to lose your licence in the morning! Where is the stock middle ground? Why still summer ales in the middle of winter? Will we get 'Winter Warmer' in July? Why is the club different to every other pub in the area in that it doesn't have a stock supping ale, a normal 4%-ish bitter always available? I'm sure it is down to margin and this odd (Imho) view that only the cheapest beers will make the required profit.
On a related subject (now that I am in full flow) and by way of feedback to ponder...
My son turned 18 last week. I got him and a friend application forms to join the club. The response from both was very negative. Along the lines of; 'We don't care how cheap it is, if Carling and Carlsberg are the only lagers on sale we ain't joining. Let us know when they start selling something decent like Stella and we'll join then.'
As I am not a lager drinker I'll leave it there on that one
