Northern beer
 

I have just returned from my first foray into the "north" (Yorkshire and Lancashire) and was shocked to find 95% of the pubs I visited (I visited a lot :D) blew carbon dioxide through their real ale pumps, making the ales look like a pint of guinness, have a creamy head, and all taste atrocious! I was led to believe northern beer was best, but when I enquired as to the reason for all the froth I was told that everybody likes it like that and that if I didn't I was obviously a southerner. Has it always been like this? Who actually prefers their ale with a creamy head?? :sick:

I hasten to add, the Thwaites Bitter and Nutty Black in the Swan in Marsden was served without froth and was excellent!

Re: Northern beer
 

I agree about the gassy, frothy head - it's awful.

I come from Herefordshire where beer is served as it comes. Having said that, real ale pubs are getting fewer and further between. "Beer" (and I use that phrase very loosely) like John Smiths draught flow is only good for, well, nothing really.

That's why I brew my own.

Pete ;)

Re: Northern beer
 

Tennants lager needs a head on it, otherwise its nearly undrinkable...
(nearly ;0)

Re: Northern beer
 

Should have tried some Black Sheep or Theakstons from Masham... They are my fav...

+1 to the creamy head :0)

Re: Northern beer
 

i love a good head!!! and on my beer as well. Mines a pint of golden pippin :)

Re: Northern beer
 

Which is a bizarre belief that has always been cobblers.

Good beer comes from all over the place - the 'Southern beer is awful' line is just good old Northerner racism - the one thing they could do at all is now done better elsewhere, no wonder they're so bitter.

Particularly risible is the suggestion that Yorkshire beer is wonderful - some is, but then there's Sam Smiths, and John Smith's.

The prosecution rests - no more need be said.

Re: Northern beer
 

An inch of froff on top = an inch less ale - 'tis a ripoff that was supposed to have been sorted years ago.

Re: Northern beer
 

All beer is disgusting, I really don't know why I drank it for so many years when I never liked the taste to start with - peer pressure I suppose.

Re: Northern beer
 

It's not where it comes from, it's how it is served that makes the pint.

Real ale MUST have a head on it. If it's flat, it goes straight back to the bar.

Re: Northern beer
 

But why?! Its not naturally got a head on it! And the CO2 makes it taste all the same. I say real ale needs to be served as God intended it, no messing about with it.

Re: Northern beer
 

See that is the weird thing, I tried loads, including Black Sheep, the Pippin, Copper Dragon etc, but they all had a weird head. I have even had a whole keg of Black sheep at a party that didn't have a head, so I know it exists without one!

Stop ruining your beer, northerners ;)

Re: Northern beer
 

I thought of you when zooming past Manchester in my bro's VXR :D

Re: Northern beer
 

It doesn't have CO2 in it at all. It is served by forcing the beer through a sparkler (the plastic bit on the end of the pump) which aerates the beer, giving it the head and releasing the flavour. In the south, there is either no sparkler on the pump or it is very loosely attached, giving the flatter pint.

Re: Northern beer
 

I think you'll find its the southerners that ruin their real ale. Thing is the southern shandy drinker likes to get every mm of ale into a pint glass. There has to be a head, so that Amos Brearley has it stuck to his tash..

ohhh and Landlord is rather nice, most prefer that to the dishwather of Black sheep round here.

Or was it that the pubs you were frequenting realised 'you weren't from these parts' and were giving you the pee outta trough lad.

Re: Northern beer
 

I think you'll find theres a couple of pubs near to me, that would prove you very very very wrong.

Re: Northern beer
 

Nawh every one knows that every southerner ruins there ale ;)

Re: Northern beer
 

I'm not a fan of the frothy bevvy...prefer it with amber liquid to the top thank you!

Re: Northern beer
 

I bet its the ones which look the worst from the outside? :)

Re: Northern beer
 

Also true, but no matter what you did with Sam Smiths when serving it, it would still be awful.

Rather prescriptive - some beers aren't like that.

Re: Northern beer
 

That they do, they dont look particularly brilliant on the inside either

Re: Northern beer
 

Thems the best sort of pubs. :D


End of the day, its all about how you pull em, and I've certainly pulled enough pints in my time....got a good left arm to prove it:p

Re: Northern beer
 

I know that the silly Northerners would have it that all our pubs are dire - but that's a good thing altogether - there's nothing worse than having your boozer spoiled by Northerners.

I think I've pretty much covered the country by now and there's one thing I'm sure of; there's crap pubs all over it - fortunately there's good ones everywhere too, particularly in the South.

Did someone mention Lager? Off you go to another thread there's a good chap - the grown ups are discussing beer.

Re: Northern beer
 

There is one thing that I would advise when drinking real ale.

Never

I repeat never, ever ever ever ever drink Nettlethrasher, especially if you are a bloke. Your missus will divorce you in the morning, your behaviour won't be appreciated

Actually that, and any Christmas ale, like Rudolf Ruin or those to that effect!

Re: Northern beer
 

I always thought it was nitrogen that was responsible for that 'smoothflow' creamy head, but I know what you mean. I was brought up believing that southern beer was flat, tasteless and had bits of straw in it. Now I know better, and can't stomach that creamy stuff anymore.

I'm sure there are naturally creamy beers, but I fear I'll never enjoy them because I'll always associate it with the dodgy nitro ones.

Re: Northern beer
 

The South does have good beers, but only those sent down that way. London Pride :laughat:

ANY seasonal ale is a no no. If you brew a crap one; give it a festive or rude label and it'll sell :thumbsup:

Re: Northern beer
 

+1
Not to mention all the money wasted. :rolleyes:

Re: Northern beer
 

So, bit of Baby Cham man eh Lozzo? :wink:

(On a side note - It is really hard to find a pic of Baby Cham- Try googling baby cham. Some raegge artist has pimped the name!! Is nothing sacred anymore!?)

Re: Northern beer
 

A proud Lancastrian beer drinker here.

I will quite gladly drink a pint of of your southern dish water that is as flat as a witches tit and still packs a punch, but I much prefer my witches from them there dingles at Moorhouse in Burnley (only thing decent from the town). Try the Pendle Witches Brew, t'is very nice. failing that the pride of Pendle. Other lancs beers are acceptable such as the Thwaites Lancaster Bomber

No added gas. Just a sparkler. Actually when all the staff have gone home, taken off all the sparklers etc and I get to pour my own it tastes no different. But fails to stimulate the tongue in the same way.

My local is a CAMRA house and for a couple of southern puftas they take the sparkler off.

Re: Northern beer
 

to be honest if you think a bit of gas ruins the taste of the beer then you clearly have a poor palate. the taste of beer is so varied and intense while gas can make it taste "lighter" it does not ruin the taste. If you have a large head up here you get an oversized pint glass :)

Re: Northern beer
 

Of course! You're quite right - that's a piece of drinking technology that we haven't got down here yet. I wonder how such technical marvels could be made?

Re: Northern beer
 

When I was a kid and worked behind the bar in Scotland the beer came in wooden barrels and drawn up to the bar pumps with a water pump compressor in the cellar. There was no trace of chemical propellants but the beer was so frothy you needed three glasses to get a pint,taking the top off each with a wooden spatula and pouring it from glass to glass As soon as the heavy[Bitter to Southerners] started to loose the frothiness it was transferred to the light[Mild].
Thats what I call proper beer and not the chemical muck served up in many pubs today.
My favourites were 80/- ale and Skol 2000 on draught for lager,neither are available as far as I know now.

Re: Northern beer
 

That's true of so many things in life ;-)

I'm not a fan of any beer delivered under gas pressure. All beer should be hand-pumped, whether "real ale" or "keg".

All beer should have a head on it and that head should be generated by the sparkler. All beer should be served in oversize glasses with a mark on the side to show where the body of the beer should end and the head begins. Simples.

I agree, there are some great southern beers (and great Welsh ones too, e.g. Brains S.A.), just as there are some great northern beers. It's all to do with how they kept in the cellar, howe theyh are served and how clean the pipes are that transport the beer from barrel to pump.

All lagers available by the pint in this country come under the generic class of "Eurofizz". Want proper lager beer? Go to Belgium or Germany.

Re: Northern beer
 

I might be wrong, but I think you can still get 80/- in parts of Cumbria and the Lake District :thumbsup:

Re: Northern beer
 

Ah... Northern beer 'v' Southern beer.

When I was a lad, and Noah hadn't quite statrted drawing pension, good Southern beer was rare and good Northern beer wasn't. Nowadays you can get very good Southern beers/real ales, and still get very good Northern beers. Unfortunately some manufacturers have 'copied' continental beers and gassed them up far too much.

Head size; Hartley's of Ulverston always had a good head (30 odd yrs back) and was still a Real ale/excellent pint. And equally I've had some real ales without a head and its been cr@p.

As ever, talk to a local Northerner or Southerner and they'll point you in the direction of a decent pint.

Re: Northern beer
 

you would be amazed.

lets just settle this one and for all.

North > South

end off. :)

Re: Northern beer
 

Head on beer? Sure it wasnt lager? WPA, Black sheep, Barnsley bitters are all excellent and since they are hand pump so shouldn't have and CO2 in them...

Got to say I like Wychwood beers (Goliath is very yum!) but that is out of a bottle... which are southern ones.

Re: Northern beer
 

Bluepete is obviously a gentleman of fine and distinguished taste, and so he should be, hailing from such a fine county. He will doubtless be familiar with the best beer know to man, HPA purchased from The Barrels in Hereford :smt016.

The best pub for beer I've come across in the north is the Cumberland Arms in Newcastle, where the beer is usually served drawn by hand from the pump but on request you can get it the old fasioned way, straight from the barrel.

Re: Northern beer
 

Bloody hell, someone else knows the truth lol. +1

Re: Northern beer
 

One of my faves. Was there just a few days ago sampling one of their many deadly ciiideeerrrs :D

The whole Ouseburn is ace to be honest. Cluny, Tyne, Free Trade ...

Re: Northern beer
 

My local serves Live ales.. still get bits of yeast in the bottom....

Yum Blerdy yum :-)