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.

Originally Posted by dizzyblonde

End of the day, its all about how you pull em.......

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.

Originally Posted by Dicky Ticker

My favourites were 80/- ale and Skol 2000 on draught for lager,neither are available as far as I know now.

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

[Bri w]

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.

Originally Posted by Sid Squid

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?

you would be amazed.

lets just settle this one and for all.

North > South

end off.

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.

Originally Posted by Bluepete

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

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 .

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.

Originally Posted by Lozzo

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.

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

Originally Posted by mjc

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.

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

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

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

Yum Blerdy yum