tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58105929346331948122024-03-19T09:07:16.672-07:00Student BrewerThoughts and musings on beer, pubs, the on and off trade.Eddie86http://www.blogger.com/profile/03552007546467495543noreply@blogger.comBlogger87125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-12920679247510915162015-01-09T08:05:00.000-08:002015-01-09T08:05:05.330-08:00New Year, Beer & Food Matching, More DrinksEvery New Year, I start thinking about how I can start blogging again. Last year I considered posting about pubs and drinks up here in the Yorkshire Dales. Sadly there's not a lot that sparks enough in me to get me to write.<br />
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In the past, as a publican, there was always something cropping up in the trade press or similar that would get me going. Going through changes such as the smoking ban, the suggestion of a minimum price and the never-ending story of the tie gave plenty to pick and choose from. My post on<a href="http://studentbrewer.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/fast-cask-part-1.html" target="_blank"> Fast Cask </a>is a prime example.<br />
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The trouble up here is, there isn't much beer-related that I find interesting. I've stopped going out so much for a few reasons, but predominantly I'm bored of the beer selection up here. Visiting a few pubs around the area on darts night, every single one will have John Smiths, Black Sheep and Theakston's on the bar. Nothing wrong with those beers, but for someone who enjoys discovering beers, it's got tedious now.<br />
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With regards to trade news, all that seems to be filtering through now is Craft beer and the Beer Tie. Both of which don't inspire me to write very much.<br />
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However Christmas and New Year got me sparked up again - beer and food. Thanks to visiting the <a href="http://www.markettowntaverns.co.uk/tithe-bar.asp?Tavern=Tithe-Bar&Section=Main" target="_blank">Tithe Bar</a> and doing plenty of cooking alongside interesting bottled beers, I've found the direction of the blog going on this year. If anything else crops up that I feel interested about it'll have a place here, but there is certainly going to be more of a push towards cooking with beers, and matching drinks to food.<br />
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Looking forward to an interesting year, with a lot more activity from myself on it. For those interested in what I do now, I'll have another blog running next to this which focuses on social media. You can find it at <a href="http://socialted.blogspot.com/2015/01/a-year-of-social-posting.html" target="_blank">SocialTed</a><br />
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Speaking of social, feel free to leave a comment below.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115964633177020749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-78148301305434821832014-06-23T14:29:00.000-07:002014-06-23T14:29:40.979-07:00Are we loosing pubs in more ways than one?A simple question, and the answer is undoubtedly yes. But there's one particular way in which we're loosing them that's a little sneaky.<br />
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Beautiful pubs 100s of years old are being destroyed - by being modernised too much. Not just in the 'gastro' fashion - maybe a strange colour paint or the patterned carpet being torn up for cheap-looking wooden floor.<br />
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On the one hand it's good that the pubs are being given a new lease of life, but sometimes recently I've just thought it's worse that all that heritage has been thrown out to make a venue that can feel justified in charging you £4 a pint.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In what way is this a pub?</td></tr>
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Granted, I've only really noticed it recently, driving around this beautiful part of Yorkshire, exploring the county I now call home. But a fantastic looking black and white pub in a small village, I feel, looses something when the pub sign looks more like interpretive art, or when it proudly displays a 'pub and kitchen' type sign next to it's name.<br />
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Immaculately clean, tidy and presentable but not that vintage charm you expect in a country pub. Just because it works well in chain pubs on the outskirts of towns doesn't mean it works well in a village down dale. They feel cold and impersonal - the exact opposite of a pub.<br />
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Gone are the dust gatherers - the 100 or so bottles of beer long since forgotten on the shelves, or toby jugs dangling from the ceiling. Horse brasses, postcards, old pictures of the pub throughout the years, all thrown in the skip to be replaced with art for sale and easy-clean furniture.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Too much for some? Still better than none!</td></tr>
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Pubs are different to other alcohol shops - hotel bars, beer festivals, whatever. They are warm and cosy, personable, indeed they have a personality of their own. To treat them in such a cold-hearted matter is just rude. It may well work for a few years. Then the fashion will change again.<br />
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Whereas those who understand pubs, who retain their simple rustic charms and focus on doing the basics well will be around for 100s more years. The Cover Bridge is my local example of this. A stand alone pub a mile away from the nearest village, that granted has a small neat beer garden with the river running along the bottom. But it is always busy - with locals willing to walk the distance, ramblers, campers, cyclists, and those locals who stop for a pint on the way home from work, catching up on the day's news.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Cover Bridge Inn</td></tr>
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A pub with no house within a mile that always has at least 7 ales on - and I have never had a bad pint whatever day or time I pop in. It does simple, basic home-cooked food, but try and get in the door after 1pm on a Sunday and you won't get a shoe in. It's still got carpets, coal fires, dartboard, and no wifi or phone signal.<br />
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We talk about pubs closing and the 'heart of the community' being lost. Sometimes the pub doesn't have to close for that to happen. A pub is more than 4 walls and a bar with power points to charge your mobile and 'gourmet burger' on the menu. A pub is where people interact - where anyone could walk in and be your friend for the evening, or where you will always feel welcome. And these places are sadly becoming ghosts of their former selves for short term gain.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115964633177020749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-30902455584380754302014-05-22T10:14:00.001-07:002014-05-22T10:14:35.002-07:00A Year On<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Isn't it amazing how one little thing can change your life. And I'm extremely happy to say one of those little, tiny things happened in a pub...<br />
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It's been a year since I blogged. I don't particularly know why - it wasn't an active decision, premeditated in any way. It just happened like that. When I think what's changed in a year though, I'm not surprised. 365 days doesn't feel like a lot at the moment.<br />
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I mentioned in the last blog that I had a beautiful woman move into the house with me, but I want to go back to before that. I'd left Kilverts in March, needing a break from the day to day grind of pub work, in any sense. With no real plan, I casually mentioned the idea of doing some consultancy work for local microbreweries, offering them a publican's insight. This led to some exciting work, doing the initial ground work in setting up a bar in Wales.<br />
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The moment came shortly after this. A 28-day detox and muscle building plan at my local gym had ended. I'd missed Beer-X, the 6 Nations games down the pub, and St Patrick's night. So I did what anyone would do - headed to the pub for a couple of pints to ease my way back into drinking.<br />
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As I walked in, I saw her. She smiled at me, I smiled at her. That was it - I ordered a pint, sat at the bar and chatted to the barmaid about what I'd missed over the last month. Then a local came in, congratulated me on seeing the detox through and bought me a pint on the condition I came out and enjoyed it with him and the other locals. And her.<br />
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I'm so glad this happened at a pub, and not at a coffee shop or waiting for a bus - I've always believed that pubs are a vital social hub in our lives, and the fact I've met my future wife (she said yes!) in the pub just sealed that conviction.<br />
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I carried on with the work I had lined up - until at one stage it all got too much for me. It wasn't a build up thing, it was a sudden drop-of-a-cliff thing. Trying to keep so many balls afloat and struggling to deliver on my promises because of others stalling. I did the only thing I could think of - completely unprofessional, completely wrong and not the right way of dealing with things at all, but at the time it seemed the only solution. I unplugged the phone and the broadband, and turned off my mobile. For a week.<br />
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I learnt a hell of a lot about myself then. Mainly how to deal with being self employed - I'm a lot more comfortable now because of that steep learning curve. Knowing to allow time for unforeseen delays. Being confident enough to say when something isn't possible. But needless to say, it was a low point for me, and a massive wake up call. I can't blame anyone except myself for it. As a slight aside, I'm happy to say the bar opened and appears to be doing well, and I wish them luck with it.<br />
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So with my income gone, and my partner's seasonal work coming to an end, a very attractive option opened to us:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The stunning Yorkshire Dales</td></tr>
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We moved to Yorkshire, her homeland. Obvious really. A bit of time out, getting a feel for the place, then into work. A busy little town pub, a couple of bar shifts first before settling into the kitchen there. I still work in the kitchen, on reduced hours, while I get a couple of things set up. Primarily my own business, which is starting to pick up nicely, working with pubs to improve their online marketing and social media. I also freelance currently with the excellent Inapub team (I truly wish the software they offer for free was available when I was at the pub). Work like this gives me what I had been missing - more time for myself and for my family (both old and new!) I've got another business in the pipeline, completely separate to pubs and that came about through the weight loss I achieved over 18 months.</div>
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And in just over 7 weeks time I'll have another baby in my life.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq1SIzxbTNx8-GWicmt9TzHl_3PqHHOj5W9GId7-bCt0ua8CbNg4ExUBC7bxkGrLBM5CcO3Zf8pbgvc-_9THfyro54gAqqIjffNOW56TLkka_QZPKMYSJYbD7thI7QqWciN2E6d8fBQiw/s1600/20140508_141807.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq1SIzxbTNx8-GWicmt9TzHl_3PqHHOj5W9GId7-bCt0ua8CbNg4ExUBC7bxkGrLBM5CcO3Zf8pbgvc-_9THfyro54gAqqIjffNOW56TLkka_QZPKMYSJYbD7thI7QqWciN2E6d8fBQiw/s1600/20140508_141807.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a>So yes, plenty has been going on. But with the new style work, I'll have a lot more time for blogging, and a lot more things to blog about. Expect more on beers, pubs, breweries that I discover up here, with a bit of MTB thrown in.</div>
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Cheers</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115964633177020749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-66137007693981937452014-05-22T09:28:00.002-07:002014-05-22T09:28:52.337-07:00Wetherspoons- Britain's Biggest Supporter of Real Ale (BEER debate - against)<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This was a piece I wrote a while back for BEER - the CAMRA magazine. Each edition has a little debate at the back of it. I like a challenge, so I wrote a piece suggesting that JDW are not the biggest supporter of real ale. Enjoy</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm not going to lie - it's a tough side to argue. I'm sure the range and price of ales will be the forefront of the opposition's piece, so I'll start there. With regards to the range of beers, more times than not I've been presented with plenty of pumps, the majority with clips on facing the customer, yet only two or three beers actually available. Not the end of the world, I'll grant you, but frustrating. What I truly have a problem with is their 'beer festival' - 'The Biggest Real Ale & Cider Festival'. A quick google search for their 'festival' brings this up: To celebrate Spring in style, our April 2011 beer festival features 50 British & International ales and 10 ciders in all our pubs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Now to anyone who has read What's Brewing letter's pages shortly after a large CAMRA festival will know some people are always disappointed to turn up on the last day of the festival and not have every single ale available to them. Yet nobody appears to have a problem with JDW twice a year putting on a 'beer festival' where maybe 10 ales are available at most. I don't honestly know how they get away with it twice a year. Why is this bad for real ale? Real ale and pubs are intricately linked, and practices such as these show neither ale nor pubs in the best light to new potential ale drinkers.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">JDW buy beer from breweries at massively reduced rates, and obviously only from breweries large enough to meet their supply requirements. This means smaller breweries can't get on the bar, restricting choice for customers to those larger breweries. As well as this, the reduced prices JDW pay, and charge customers, is devaluing real ale and taking money out of the sector. It takes skill and knowledge to consistently brew good beer, and the reward to the brewer should be reasonable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But more importantly, customers will start to think of real ale as worth only £2 a pint. In the same way some members of a club think their membership entitles them to cheaper drinks than others such as regulars who support the pub all year round. Pubs without the buying power of JDW, independents for example, may see the scales of profit and loss tip the wrong way with a nearby JDW present, in much the same way a nearby supermarket can do for butchers and bakers, sucking money out the local economy at the same time. Real ale needs small independent pubs to survive and thrive.</span></span><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115964633177020749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-15416721418722851632013-07-14T05:23:00.001-07:002013-07-14T05:23:29.681-07:00Back to Brewing<i>This was written a couple of weeks ago but for some reason didn't publish...</i><br />
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Yes yes, it's been a while, but it turn's out a lot has been going on that generally leaves me far too tired to blog, or even think about blogging.<br />
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Whilst most of my work has seen me working quietly in the background, all being well it will soon come to fruition and I can talk openly about it. But mostly I've been busy with home-based things, like having a beautiful women move into the house. And learning to enjoy the smell of horse.*<br />
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So onto today, I'm brewing. First brew I did, years ago, was with Buster Grant, then head-brewer of Breconshire brewery. As a young manager of a free-house who saw a gap in the local market for a pub with a lot of good ale and cider, naturally I spent one day off a month at the local brewery, learning more about beer and it's preparation. This naturally developed into a house-beer for the pub, Kilvert's Gold, that I enjoyed brewing each month.<br />
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It's been a long time since I've brewed, so today I've come down to see Buster again at his own brewery, <a href="http://www.breconbrewing.co.uk/" target="_blank">Brecon Brewing</a>. 2 years old and going strong, the brewery has turned out some absolute cracking beer I'm happy to report, from limited edition Genesis series of beers to a one-off Bock (that I didn't get to try), the heart of this brewery is a good quality core range - beers not designed to be delight hop-heads or Belgian-lovers, but for the average man in the pub. Something personally I applaud - strong and special bottle beers have their place around the dinner table or next to the cheeseboard, but good pubs need good local beer at sensible a.b.v.s and prices.<br />
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Today's beer is Orange Beacons - a clear summer wheat-beer, infused with oranges and with a mix of US and UK hops. And it's brewed with a Saison yeast, so not quite as simple as I thought I'd be brewing one of the core range I mentioned earlier.<br />
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I'm writing this blog at the brewery so I don't miss any bits out, so here goes...<br />
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8am: Brewing Day starts. I'm not there yet.<br />
8:20am I arrive and jump straight in, tipping the various bags of malt into the mash tun as Buster doesn't have a grist case. I soon remembered that I'd forgotten that Buster's brewery is 20BBL, the old one being 10BBL. Buster grins as me and reminds me about digging out the mash tun...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mashing in complete</td></tr>
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10:30am - Nip out to get the Oranges from the local Greengrocer, come back and start breaking up hops. Hops come into the brewery tightly compressed and vacuum packed, and obviously for maximum effect in the boil they need breaking up to increase the surface area. This is done by hand as you weigh them out, leaving you with beautiful smelling hands (I love hops!). Then, to get the hop oils off your hands, you use a hand scrub which gets all oils and difficult to remove substances off your hands by removing several layers of skin.<br />
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11am - start the transfer of wort from mash tun to copper. Again a process that takes longer than I remember it taking before. 20BBLs is a lot...<br />
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13:30 - fire up the copper to bring the wort up to a rolling boil<br />
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2pm Lunch :)<br />
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4pm: Not sure what's happened to the time, but a massive mash tun has been dug out, hops and oranges added to the copper and we're currently re-circ'ing the contents of the copper before transferring it to the FT through the heat exchanger. Buster let's me brew by myself for a bit<br />
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4:30pm Transfer to FV<br />
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5:10pm pitch yeast. Starting to dawn on me how long a day brewing on this scale is - the transition times for liquids is so much longer than smaller breweries<br />
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6pm: Cleaning down<br />
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A cracking day - I miss brewing full days like today. Got me thinking I might pull out my old home-brew kit one day soon :)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115964633177020749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-83637113897012922292013-04-26T03:59:00.003-07:002013-04-26T03:59:50.228-07:00Tutored Tastings in CardiffI'm happy to kick-start this blog again with news I'll be doing a tutored tasting in Cardiff in a week's time.<br />
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Alongside Sue, the Brewster from Waen Brewery, I'll be found in Cardiff's Fire Island on Sunday night, talking about the range of beers from Waen and items from their BBQ menu that would mix nicely. It's going to be fun, with a couple of speciality beers such as the Chilli Plum Porter and Sick & Twisted, an Imperial Stout with a little coconut and cocoa in it.<br />
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So the 4 beers we'll be going through are:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sick & Twisted is limited edition & I couldn't get hold of any in bottle!</td></tr>
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Janner's Pride 4.0% - a malty best bitter</div>
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Landmark - 5.5% - a strong hoppy IPA</div>
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Chilli Plum Porter - 6.1% - a dark smoother Porter with (surprisingly) chilli and plum flavours</div>
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Sick & Twisted - 6.0% - A special collaborative brew with Downlands Brewery, Imperial stout with coconut and cocoa.</div>
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There will be two versions of the Porter available, one with extra chilli, and the newly improved Landmark which I'm looking forward to trying for the first time on the night (having previously drank the 'old' version!)</div>
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I'll be trying a couple of the beers in bottled form tonight - probably with a couple of tweets to go with from my @welsheddie86 twitter. So come and join us. Drink beer. Chat. Tell me why I'm wrong. Tell me why I'm right! Ask Sue complicated questions about the brewing process. It's why we're there.</div>
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Sunday 27th April 7pm ish £6</div>
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6pm at Fire Island, Cardiff</div>
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Phone <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;">029 2023 6091 to book tickets</span></div>
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@welsheddie86 @thewaenbrewery @fireislandcf @DLBrewery #WelshBeerTasting</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115964633177020749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-55815829149771377432013-04-19T03:10:00.001-07:002013-04-19T03:10:42.448-07:00Craft bars not beersNo, it's not about Craft or craft beer. Directly.<br />
<br />
I'm thinking about the bars. Personally I like good beer, no matter how it gets in the glass. Bottle, keg, cask, direct from the F.V. - as long as the end result tastes good to me I'm happy.<br />
<br />
But when it comes to venues, I prefer comfortable, cosy, traditional style. Will the two ever meet? Have they?<br />
<br />
The recipe for a craft beer bar at the moment appears to be:<br />
<br />
Stripped out large building, preferably ex-industrial<br />
Bare brick wall somewhere<br />
Wooden or flagged floor<br />
Shiny metal<br />
Uncomfortable wooden seating<br />
Half-painted logos<br />
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From what I can gather, this is a style that works both sides of the Atlantic. And I'm not knocking the style - the bars I've visiting like this have all been busy when I visit. I haven't been to a lot I'll be the first to admit. But think of any Brewdog bar, Jolly Butchers (one of my favourites but haven't been in nearly a year!), Zero degrees (Cardiff), the new Fire Island in Cardiff.<br />
<br />
Not all craft bars are like this - Craft in London is a bit more traditional, but still minimalist.<br />
The Grove Inn, Huddersfield, appears to be what I'm after (only going off photos I've seen on the internet, it's on my to do list though), and the Sheffield Tap has a more traditional style.<br />
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I wonder if this minimalistic style is just a faze and will die out, or if it's here to stay. Obviously a pub or bar is a lot more than just how it looks, but can 'craft' survive in a traditional setting. Just because the beer is 'urban' or 'hip' or whatever word the cool kids use, does that mean the bar selling it has to be?<br />
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Or can it be sold in a comfortable, traditional style. Are the beers cool enough to sell anywhere, or does the whole package have to be cool?<br />
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I'm going to be travelling a lot more this year, getting back into the beer scene so to speak, so hopefully I'll find more examples of both. Until then, any recommendations of places to add to my 'to-do' list are more than welcome.<br />
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Cheers!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115964633177020749noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-16652938352283860912013-03-14T08:25:00.002-07:002013-03-14T08:25:21.051-07:00Beer Blogging will be back soonYep, soon enough this blog will be up and running again, just as soon as I've got my personal life sorted. Here's the first thing I'll be talking about as it'll be my first beer in over a month:<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115964633177020749noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-74592572379478163622012-08-03T00:55:00.001-07:002012-08-03T00:55:46.258-07:00Charity Run<div><p>I'll post later about where I've been this year, but in the meantime somethats quite important to me: charity.</p>
<p>Basically I'm running 10k in October to raise money for Parkinsons. It's called the spooky sprint and is my first 10k. I'm hoping to build on this to run further and raise more for Parkinsons, but this seems a good place to start. I'd really appreciate it if you'd take a couple of minutes to donate a couple of quid here </p>
<p>http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/eddavies2</p>
<p>Cheers!</p>
<br/><img src='http://lh4.ggpht.com/-KDP8WN6Aik0/UBuD_2nhe5I/AAAAAAAAD8g/y_HsKHtDYkM/images.png' /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115964633177020749noreply@blogger.com1Hay-on-Wye, Hay-on-Wye52.0757 -3.125908tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-76733680718702202112012-01-11T11:47:00.001-08:002012-01-11T12:41:02.767-08:00What to look out for in 2012<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">I've tried to steer clear of the cask VS keg argument. I'm a firm believer that good beer is good beer. The way to find good beer is try lots of beer. One of the best ways to do that is to go to a good beer festival. Hold that thought.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><img src="http://beercollege.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/6a00d8341c54d153ef0105349816f8970b-800wi-290x300.png" border="0" alt="" style="text-align: center;color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 290px; height: 300px; " /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">So what am I looking forward to in 2012, a</div><div style="text-align: center;"> question I first asked myself after reading <a href="http://www.pencilandspoon.com/2012/01/thoughts-for-2012.html">Mark Dredge's blog here.</a> Now he knows his stuff, but I thought I'd have a go from over here on the Welsh borders.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">1) Local breweries.</div><div><span ><u><br /></u></span><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">I'm blessed to be situated where I am. Breweries 'local' to me as operated by our local branch of CAMRA include (in no particular order)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Wye Valley - a strong 'family brewer' sized brewery. Key descriptive word: Consistent - Butty Bach has never left the bar, and I can't see that changing.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Brecon Brewing - the brewery may have just been established, but Buster the Brewer has certainly been established for years. Cracking core range, small, close and friendly enough to let me play regularly. I'm looking forward to brewing a house ale soon.</div></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />Otley Brewery - I'm not allowed to describe them as the Welsh version of a Scottish brewery, and to be fair that wouldn't do them justice. They think in terms of beer evolution, as opposed to beer revolution. I've just taken out Erdinger in favour of their O7 Weissbier on the kegs, and I'm deadly serious about putting their CreosO on instead of a Copenhagen beer if they ever keg it. The best thing about these guys is they really do let the beer do the talking.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;">So straight off, I've got 3 excellent breweries, each offering something different and each of which will be regularly available. I've also lined up regular beer tastings and variants, starting with Brecon in Feb, Wye Valley in March and Otley in April.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">2) Better Service</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Something I'm a stickler for when I'm a customer, and a huge factor in the Value for Money stakes. With trading conditions likely to remain difficult, the days of just plonking a pint on the bar without saying more than 4 words to the customer are well and truly behind us. I love the opportunities I get to drink in London as the pubs I visit, and go well out of my way to visit, are ones that get these simple things right. A personal recommendation to publicans who sell many different beers/ales - get rid of branded glasses, or get your own branding on glasses. We've done this for the last 3 years on ales, keg should be this year. Apart from anything else, when someone nicks/buys one off you, their advertising your pub for you.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">3) Better Anti Alcohol propaganda</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Possibly I haven't phrased that correctly, but a more realistic approach is something I think the industry could get behind. I've often laughed at the notion that more than a pint and a half is 'binge drinking' and the concept of units. The latest suggestion from government advisers isn't laughable either - ditch the daily recommended limits, which handily ignore the simple fact that alcohol affects every single person slightly differently. Instead recommend that people have a couple of dry days a week.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This sensible advice may or may not have anything to do with Alcohol Concern's Don Shenker stepping down after their funding was cut.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">I'm going to limit myself to these top three, as I'd love to know what you think the future holds for pubs and good beer. And what do you consider to be the best beers out there at the moment, brewed in the UK?</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Apologies for the poor layout settings of the blog, Blogger have decided to dick around with their editor taking out key features such as resizing pictures.</i></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115964633177020749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-37752387587795293222012-01-03T00:52:00.000-08:002012-01-03T00:52:43.254-08:00Bye-bye CAMRAWell my eyes have well and truly been opened recently.<br />
<div><br />
</div><div>There's been a few things going on over on the CAMRA forums, that I've decided to keep out of and not get involved in, but one particular discussion I've been following with interest has been regarding the AGMs.</div><div><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The process to submit a motion</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div>I haven't been to one, read about one or chatted to anyone about one, so I have no idea what goes on. From what I can gather from What's Boring, it seems that after a complex procedure to submit a motion, nothing much happens. This, to be fair, could because the communication from HQ is poor. One of the points made in the fit for purpose review.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Back to the forum, what did interest me was the suggestion that the AGM could be recorded, or even better involve web-conferencing. This would be ideal for me, as I don't have the time or money to travel to any AGM (I doubt I'll be able to make any more GBBFs for that matter as well).</div><div><br />
</div><div>The chairman, Colin Valentine, graced the forum with his presence and had the following response to this suggestion:</div><div><br />
</div><div>{extract}<span style="background-color: #fae9bd; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Anyway, back to the thread. Personally, I am totally against webconferencing although, as I said to conference in Sheffield, it is conference's decision and the only way to influence conference is to actually go there.</span></div><span style="background-color: #fae9bd; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Just because someone is pathetic or dishonest enough to record parts of my address to conference (see you tube, search my name and join the other 845 views, 6 comments who watched 2 minutes 47 seconds of my (almost interminable) 16 minute speech) does not mean that we should record it and post it on the website.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fae9bd; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Colin{/extract}</span><br />
<div><span style="background-color: #fae9bd; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="line-height: 14px;">Now this grabbed by goat - I've read it back a few times and mulled over it for a couple of hours and still stand by my interpretation:</span></div><div><span style="line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="line-height: 14px;"><i>I'm not allowed to influence conference, specifically regarding access to it, because I can't make it to conference.</i></span></div><div><span style="line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="line-height: 14px;">It's the final straw for CAMRA and I, so I'll be trying to get a refund on the remainder of my membership fee. The NE appear to be stuck in their own world, full of hypocrisy (during his speech Colin refers to the 'blogerati' in a derogatory way, yet admits in his speech he only reads Tandleman's) and poor communication. In this day and age, with blogs, tweets, emails, websites etc, there is no excuse for poor communication. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 14px;">In the example above, be against web conferencing by all means, but at least have the decency to explain why!</span></div><div><span style="line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="line-height: 14px;">In my view this further demonstrates that CAMRA is stuck in it's ways and the NE won't change. As I still feel with trade bodies, organisations that claim to represent their members should make it as easy as possible for their members to get their views across.</span></div><div><span style="line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="line-height: 14px;">I'm not going to do a Brewdog and not sell any real ale in the pub - that would just be daft. But I doubt CAMRA will be around much longer - not because of 'craft beer', but because real ale has been saved - almost too much. There are beers and breweries out there that I won't put on the bar due to their quality and their attitude to the pub when quality issues are raised. There are a lot of good keg beers now that are far superior to these ales.</span></div><div><span style="line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="line-height: 14px;">I also certainly know of at least one large beer festival that will be showcasing amazing beers, be they cask or keg, coming up this year.</span></div><div><span style="line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="line-height: 14px;">Sound the bells, Cask has been saved. </span></div>Eddie86http://www.blogger.com/profile/03552007546467495543noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-30131761895043189442011-11-23T09:29:00.000-08:002011-11-23T09:29:30.399-08:00Local Beer & Food Matching<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilverts.co.uk/images/BeerAndFood/busterbeertalk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://kilverts.co.uk/images/BeerAndFood/busterbeertalk.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Just a quick heads up that we are again putting on a beer and food matching evening, with a little twist this time. Each of the beers will be from the newly established <a href="http://www.breconbrewing.co.uk/" target="_blank">Brecon Brewing</a>, and each of the dishes will involve cooking with beer (or cider in one example). The scary bit is I'll be cooking instead of taking part this time!<br />
<br />
These events really have grown in popularity, and are likely to be at least monthly in the new year. The menu for this <a href="http://www.kilverts.co.uk/" target="_blank">event can be found here</a>, and those of you who made it to this year's Ale & Literature Festival can vouch at just how well that Ysbrid y Ddraig goes with Stilton...Eddie86http://www.blogger.com/profile/03552007546467495543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-56132847152681816552011-11-16T03:17:00.000-08:002011-11-16T03:17:34.439-08:00We're a bunch of moaning....<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My word we're a bunch of moaning good-for-nothing sometimes. Publicans I mean. Obviously not all of us, but I really do despair of our public image.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I don't often read the Morning Advertiser website as every article lists the first line of comments made beneath it, and nearly every one is negative. I strongly believe in looking for the opportunity in everything, rather than the easy 'slag off and give up' approach that some appear to have.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't you just hate brands that produce elegant glassware</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They recently ran an article about the now-legal 'schooner', or 2/3 pint measure, <a href="http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/General-News/Two-thirds-pints-are-being-shunned" target="_blank">being shunned by 'pubs and pub-goers'</a>. I could go on about how this would appear to be a non-story, given the data comes from an online survey of 300 CAMRA members. This isn't meant to be taken as against CAMRA, except for one thing, which is 300 is <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">0.00227272727% of CAMRA's membership. Just over a fifth of 1%.*</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No, what really grabs my goat is the response from publicans on the forum.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">'Whats wrong with a half pint glass'</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">'Who would want to drink any beer in less than a pint quantity'</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">'No surprise here, as no-one wanted them'</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Come on chaps, lets look for the positive eh? For a start-off, lets give them a chance to get out there. Heineken are seemingly the first to get them out, and they've only just become available. I got my mitts on them yesterday, and they fit nicely in the hand, well weighted - exactly the same as the pint glasses, just slightly smaller. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Secondly, nobody is forcing you to stock them. I don't see what the fuss was about with the wine measures coming in. You don't need 3 different sized glasses for wine, you need one, unmarked, and 3 thimbles. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For the lagers, I'll probably keep half a dozen of each behind the bar (they don't take up much space as they're tall and slim). Where I really see the opportunity is with the ales.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As the majority of our ales are guest ales on rotation, we bought an amount of pint glasses branded with the pub - kindly sponsored by a couple of breweries who gave us a free firkin of ale in return for their name being on the back. We got the glasses lined at a third and a half, using them for our beer festivals as well. </span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.genx40.com/images/2005/ozbeersize.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.genx40.com/images/2005/ozbeersize.jpg" width="223" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://beerblog.genx40.com/archive/2005/january/aussieglass" target="_blank">Shamelessly stolen from A Good Beer Blog</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What we haven't got yet are branded half pint glasses. What we'll do now is get some branded 2/3 pint glasses, lined at a half. Elegant, table glasses that bottled beers would also look good in. If I can get them nucleated then they'll do for the lagers as well.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's so easy to be dismissive of something without trying it first - lets see if CAMRA festivals add another line at the 2/3 mark on their pint glasses and see how it goes. For stronger ales it's another selling point - for no extra work or expense. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Remember, it's not a problem, it's an opportunity. And it's not going to replace pints - pints will never disappear, ever. Having the leader of the free world enjoy a pint helps:</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.politico.com/global/news/090406_obama_beer_reuters_297.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://images.politico.com/global/news/090406_obama_beer_reuters_297.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The guy in the background either really likes beer or really like the president</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I would like to find a better name for them though...</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cheers</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">*This is an issue I have with many surveys and, more importantly, how their results are reported. Like I say, not CAMRA per se</span></div>Eddie86http://www.blogger.com/profile/03552007546467495543noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-9176218841054682932011-11-03T04:53:00.000-07:002011-11-03T04:53:10.731-07:00Head down and crack onFirstly, a big thank you to the staff and customers for making the pub what it is. Thanks to them, we've been included in a new guide: Great British Pubs<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rlS-cUCwXoE/Tqg4KLupryI/AAAAAAAABgA/LNT2jLZmdoo/s512/IMAG0006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rlS-cUCwXoE/Tqg4KLupryI/AAAAAAAABgA/LNT2jLZmdoo/s320/IMAG0006.jpg" width="191" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Busy times at the pub for us, which seems to be becoming the norm I'm pleased to say. A new chef in situ, with some cracking menu and events ideas. If you're interested, have a look at his <a href="http://kilverts.co.uk/images/Menus/christmas%20menu%2011.pdf">Christmas Menu</a> and <a href="http://kilverts.co.uk/images/Menus/new%20years%20eve%2011.pdf">New Year's Eve buffet menu</a>. Already we've got more bookings than last year, which I'm happy about. I'll be working with him to offer a beer & food matching evening, hopefully with the help of some friends from that there London as well as local brewers Brecon Brewing and Otley.<br />
<br />
It's that time of year again where I re-assess the lines on the bar - Peroni has more than earned its place on the bar for another year, whilst expected price increases will see Carlsberg off for Amstel. At the premium end, Pilsner Urquell isn't shifting enough, so that will be downgraded to bottles only leaving me with a pump spare. Whilst flirting with the idea of going exotic, or a guest keg, a couple of lagers have caught my eye whilst in pubs where the ale hasn't been up to scratch. The first is Heineken, which will give me so great support if I install it alongside Amstel, and the other is one I didn't previously know, Dortmunder Union Pils.<br />
<br />
In other news, <a href="http://www.kilverts.co.uk/" target="_blank">the website has been updated</a>, hopefully to a cleaner, more user-friendly style. We're going to add more local information to it, offering it as another online home for the people and friends of Hay on Wye. The pub is the social hub, so it makes sense for the website to be a local information hub. Any ideas or advice on this is greatly appreciated.<br />
<br />
The kitchen has also been completely refurbished (god I hate taking down and putting up ceilings), and we're off today to Norfolk to pick up some fantastic tables for the new-look function room, which will then officially be finished. We can then offer conference/training facilities as well as private dining.<br />
<br />
Personally, I've kept my online presence to a minimum recently (I note I haven't updated this blog in two months yet gained 3 followers, so presumably you lot like it when I say nothing). As well as being knee deep at the pub, I've been moving home and coping with an illness. Hopefully, normal service will be resumed shortly.<br />
<br />
Cheers!Eddie86http://www.blogger.com/profile/03552007546467495543noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-74651530934939650552011-09-03T01:35:00.000-07:002011-09-03T01:35:44.919-07:00Summary of the Festival<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilverts.co.uk/images/Festivalheader.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="45" src="http://kilverts.co.uk/images/Festivalheader.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">A week on from the festival, and there are few signs it took place in the marquee at the back. First of all, was it successful? Yes - less wastage, more beer sold and 2 fantastic beer & food matching dinners.<br />
<br />
There are things I can improve on, and those are being taken into account already. With some very kind offers of help in different areas of promoting the festival, next year looks to be the one that really takes off. I hope so, I think there really is scope for this kind of festival.<br />
<br />
<b>Highlights</b><br />
For me, these are quite simply the 2 dinners, the menus for which can be found in the previous two blog posts. I'm currently in the kitchen again, covering some staff holiday, and these two events have really got me thinking about the menus in different ways. Match of the entire weekend was a simple one for me - Ysbrid Y Ddraig, a whisky aged IPA, with Stilton. So simple, yet one of those combinations that improves everything about the individual ingredients.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MjsRHLtdJLI/TmFKOgRlIjI/AAAAAAAABWQ/jlidrZt4gtg/s1600/SAM_0203.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MjsRHLtdJLI/TmFKOgRlIjI/AAAAAAAABWQ/jlidrZt4gtg/s320/SAM_0203.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The second highlight for me came towards the end of the second dinner, which <a href="http://maltworms.blogspot.com/2011/08/light-and-dark.html">Adrian has written up here</a>. One of the guests had quietly spoken to me before the meal and had asked for a small glass of wine instead of the beers, as she was only there for her husband. At the end of the night, not a sip had been taken from the wine. It remained completely untouched.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5a8oETvfod8/TmFMDsIrgCI/AAAAAAAABXM/ZdKBwmT8B6I/s1600/SAM_0222.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5a8oETvfod8/TmFMDsIrgCI/AAAAAAAABXM/ZdKBwmT8B6I/s320/SAM_0222.JPG" width="240" /></a>I will certainly be holding these dinners again, and all that remains is for me to thank Pete Brown, Mark Dredge and Adrian Tierney-Jones for making the effort over August Bank Holiday to get to a small market town in the middle of nowhere. Should find something coming through the post shortly to you all.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">For pictures and videos from the whole weekend, there is a Picasa album:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table style="width: 194px;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="center" style="background: url(https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/transparent_album_background.gif) no-repeat left; height: 194px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/101980328198808867113/BeerBooks?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img height="160" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-2UzwxFh6m00/TmCKzXNJRYE/AAAAAAAABYE/51siak6l4A8/s160-c/BeerBooks.jpg" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 4px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 1px;" width="160" /></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/101980328198808867113/BeerBooks?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite" style="color: #4d4d4d; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Beer & Books</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: center;">Cheers<br />
<br />
</div>Eddie86http://www.blogger.com/profile/03552007546467495543noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-28967423255886789022011-08-26T03:23:00.000-07:002011-08-26T03:23:20.612-07:00Beer Vs Beer Dinner<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilverts.co.uk/images/Festivalheader.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="45" src="http://kilverts.co.uk/images/Festivalheader.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Just a quick one from me - with the festival starting today I realised I hadn't actually blogged about Adrian Tierney Jones & Mark Dredge coming over for a battle of the beers over one of our menus. So without further ado:<br />
<br />
<div align="CENTER" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="CENTER" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <span style="font-family: Papyrus, cursive;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Sponsored by Monty's Brewery</i></span></span></div><div align="CENTER" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <br />
</div><div align="CENTER" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <span style="font-family: Papyrus, cursive;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A chance to be talked through the wide range of flavours available in beer through different styles of beers alongside flavoursome fresh food</span></span></div><div align="CENTER" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="CENTER" class="western" style="font-style: normal;"> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus, cursive;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Stilton & roasted Shallot Rissoto</span></span></span></div><div align="CENTER" class="western" style="font-style: normal;"> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus, cursive;"><span style="font-size: medium;">with fresh parmesan shavings</span></span></span></div><div align="CENTER" class="western"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus, cursive;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Rochefort 8 Vs Orval</i></span></span></span></div><div align="CENTER" class="western"><br />
<br />
</div><div align="CENTER" class="western" style="font-style: normal;"> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus, cursive;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Fresh Filleted Sardines</span></span></span></div><div align="CENTER" class="western" style="font-style: normal;"> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus, cursive;"><span style="font-size: medium;">served with ratatouille</span></span></span></div><div align="CENTER" class="western"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus, cursive;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Jever Pilsner Vs Oxymoron 5.5%(Otley)</i></span></span></span></div><div align="CENTER" class="western"><br />
<br />
</div><div align="CENTER" class="western" style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus, cursive;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Beef Wellington</b></span></span></span></div><div align="CENTER" class="western" style="font-style: normal;"> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus, cursive;"><span style="font-size: medium;">served with Dauphinoise potatoes & roasted Cherry tomatoes</span></span></span></div><div align="CENTER" class="western"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus, cursive;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Schneider Adventus 8.8%Vs Goose Island IPA</i></span></span></span></div><div align="CENTER" class="western"><br />
<br />
</div><div align="CENTER" class="western" style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus, cursive;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Chocolate Fondant</b></span></span></span></div><div align="CENTER" class="western" style="font-style: normal;"> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus, cursive;"><span style="font-size: medium;">with Bucks Fizz Ice Cream</span></span></span></div><div align="CENTER" class="western"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus, cursive;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Ysbrid Y Ddraig 6.7% (Breconshire)Vs Porterhouse Blue 6.6% (Waen) </i></span></span></span> </div><div align="CENTER" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Please note Ysbrid Y Ddraig may be replaced with Boon Kreik </div><div align="CENTER" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="CENTER" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="CENTER" class="western" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <span style="font-family: Papyrus, cursive;"><span style="font-size: medium;">4 courses Inc. drinks £35</span></span></div><div align="CENTER" class="western" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <br />
</div><div align="CENTER" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div>Eddie86http://www.blogger.com/profile/03552007546467495543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-25328687636107497092011-08-18T12:51:00.000-07:002011-08-18T12:51:40.104-07:00Beer Vs Beer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilverts.co.uk/images/Festivalheader.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="56" src="http://kilverts.co.uk/images/Festivalheader.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">A couple of pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place today. The beers have been ordered and confirmed, the menus written and the first event completely finalised. First of all we have the ales, which thanks to an amazing site called www.yourround.co.uk I can display nicely here for you:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><script src="http://www.yourround.co.uk/Widgets/beerlist_festival.js" type="text/javascript">
</script> <script type="text/javascript">
showBeerList('http://www.yourround.co.uk/', 'WSsofi9b-94=', '400', '300','90','0','False')
</script><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">I should come clean about this - one of the above beers won't be cask, but keg. I won't spoil the surprise just yet though.<br />
<br />
The second thing I can confirm is the menu for Pete Brown's Beer & Food pairing event. 2 beers per course, the first an ale from the festival, the other a world beer. As I don't know how to embed a document here, I've just copied and pasted so excuse any nasty bits of layout:<br />
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Papyrus; font-size: 14.0pt;">Chicken Liver & Brandy Terrine</span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus; font-size: 14.0pt;">served with brown toast and red-onion marmalade</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Papyrus; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Glaslyn Ale 4.2% (Purple Moose) & Orval 6.2%</span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus; font-size: 14.0pt;">~ ~ ~</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Papyrus; font-size: 14.0pt;">Haddock topped with Welsh Rarebit</span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus; font-size: 14.0pt;">served with Ratatouille</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Papyrus; font-size: 14.0pt;">O7 Weissen 5% (Otley) vs Goose Island IPA 5.9%</span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus; font-size: 14.0pt;">~ ~ ~</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Papyrus; font-size: 14.0pt;">Slow Roast Belly Pork</span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus; font-size: 14.0pt;">served with courgette gratin & creamed potatoes</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Papyrus; font-size: 14.0pt;">Rhymney Export 5% (Rhymney) vs Trappiste Rochefort 8 9.2%</span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus; font-size: 14.0pt;">~ ~ ~</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Papyrus; font-size: 14.0pt;">Summer pudding and clotted cream</span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Papyrus; font-size: 14.0pt;">Blackberry Stout 3.8% (Waen) vs Boon Kreik 4%</span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Papyrus; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: HI; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">So there we go. Any queries/bookings get in touch</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus; font-size: 14pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Papyrus; font-size: 14pt;">Cheers</span></div></div>Eddie86http://www.blogger.com/profile/03552007546467495543noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-57579491875370835602011-08-10T08:36:00.000-07:002011-08-10T08:36:58.548-07:00Good MarketingWith <a href="http://www.pencilandspoon.com/2011/07/branding-my-biggest-beer-annoyance.html">Mark Dredge bemoaning terrible branding recently</a>, I was pleasantly surprised when a recent meeting with a brewery rep displayed every characteristic of a brewery taking their ales very seriously.<br />
<br />
The rep was from the <a href="http://www.otterbrewery.com/">Otter Brewery</a>, in Devon. Expecting the usual A4 sheet of paper with black and white thumbnails alongside the usual bland descriptions, a professional looking portfolio . There website is to the same standard - excellent photos, simple and easy-to-use site with tasting notes and quick descriptions of appearance, aroma and taste.<br />
<br />
Talk moved on to product support, which normally seems to be a dozen branded glasses - something we have no use for as we use our own branded glasses. A choice of bar towels (suitable for country pubs such as ours) or those rubber bar 'runners' that would be more suited to a town centre bar for example. Did you hear that DIAGEO? A CHOICE of POS that allows pubs to keep their branding/atmosphere/look etc in keeping with the character of the building.<br />
<br />
Sorry, slight bug of mine there - every Guinness POS we get sent through seems tailored for high st bars, not country pubs. Anyway...<br />
<br />
A branded Angram pump handle was offered, and proper ceramic pump clips for any beers we took on regularly. And an elegant poster, framed and ready for the wall. This, coupled with a sensible pricing structure, meant I agreed on the spot to order one of each, and try them out.<br />
<br />
They've all sold so well, I'm now on my third delivery of them. The reason why they've sold well is of particular interest to me though - that being my raison d'etre, to sell beer.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.otterbrewery.com/images/otterbeers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="274" src="http://www.otterbrewery.com/images/otterbeers.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I've stolen this picture from their website and take no credit for it whatsoever</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Looking at the picture above, the clips are elegant, simple and attractive to all. The names describe the beers, and the beers are the same colour as the clips (excluding bitter and presumably Head). Ladies, men, young, old, the entire spectrum of our customer base has talked about them. On the back of the pumps are simple tasting notes, which are a useful memory aid to staff working a bar where the beers change often.<br />
<br />
In summery, I find everything about the beers <i>accessible</i>, and I think that's a key word to consider if growth of cask is to continue. The beers themselves are good, solid examples of the beer styles they claim to be. My personal favourite so far has to be the Bright.<br />
<br />
This is how you do it. Lets see more breweries take this level of pride in their beer. Organising a beer festival for the bank holiday, any brewery without a website that at least listed their beers and an email address won't be present. Yet beers from Devon will constantly be available on my bar.<br />
<br />
Cheers<br />
<br />
Eddie86http://www.blogger.com/profile/03552007546467495543noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-18299842137350304372011-07-17T02:42:00.000-07:002011-07-17T02:42:17.805-07:00To booze or not too booze<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://hellosundaymorning.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/cheapbooze.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://hellosundaymorning.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/cheapbooze.jpg" width="257" /></a></div><br />
I may be letting myself in for some trouble here, but we'll soon find out. One word I cannot stand is Booze. Every connotation that word brings up* is negative to me. Now I expect to see it used in certain places. The Daily Mail, for example, or a certain chain of off-license that advertises 'bargains' to it's customers.<br />
<br />
But some places it's just not necessary - and a perfect example of this was last week in a program about what products contain fish. Kill it, Cut it, Use it was a BBC program hosted by Julia Bradbury explaining how parts of animals end up in different products, and in the fish episode she went to a rugby club and talked about 'booze' a lot.<br />
<br />
To some people there's nothing wrong with the word booze, but with a media that is hell bent on keeping all alcohol under one banner, regardless of place of purchase, type of alcohol, production method etc, I don't feel it does ale** any favours.<br />
<br />
Cheers<br />
<br />
*no pun intended<br />
**swap 'ale' for 'craft beer' if you like - I'm not getting into that oneEddie86http://www.blogger.com/profile/03552007546467495543noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-29556048668597653682011-06-08T08:56:00.000-07:002011-06-08T08:56:10.034-07:00The Dark Side of Social MediaSocial Media isn't always beneficial to a business. Yes, having a twitter account for your business (or yourself if you front your business) can bring results - raising awareness of special events with the full details on your website for example.<br />
<br />
However customers also have forms of social media that can damage business. My biggest hatred is of Tripadvisor.<br />
<br />
I have no problem that allows for customers to review a business and for the owner to easily respond. Tripadvisor allows customers to be as vague or specific as they like. It doesn't check the validity of the review. And it allows the customer to remain anonymous. I'll copy and paste our last two reviews from the site to show you what I mean:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div id="review_111941863" style="color: #2c2c2c; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="dyn_full_review" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="basic_review extended provider0 first" id="UR111941863" style="border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; height: 246px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 14px; padding-left: 9px; padding-right: 9px; padding-top: 2px;"><div class="col1of2" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 14px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 84px;"><div class="avatar profile_27B9051CDEA4FFAA794029B62D733982 " style="height: 74px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 74px;"><a href="http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/members/adi_armoni" rel="nofollow" style="color: #202d95; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" class="avatar" src="http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-f/01/2e/70/98/avatar024.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; height: 74px; margin-bottom: 3px; vertical-align: text-top; width: 74px;" /></a></div><div class="member_info" style="color: #656565; font: normal normal normal 0.9165em/normal Arial, Tahoma, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="username mo" style="height: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span id="UID_27B9051CDEA4FFAA794029B62D733982-SRC_111941863"><span class="expand_inline scrname hvrIE6 mbrName_27B9051CDEA4FFAA794029B62D733982" style="color: #202d95; cursor: pointer; font-size: 1.0905em;">adi_armon...</span></span></div><div class="location" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">london</div><div class="wrap" style="height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img class="recogTotalImg" id="lazyload_319898844_3" src="http://c1.tacdn.com/img2/icons/16/star_1a.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: text-top;" /><span class="recogTotalText" style="display: block; line-height: 19px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">4 reviews</span></div></div></div><div class="col2of2" style="height: 246px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 351px;"><div class="quote" style="font: normal normal bold 1.3335em/20px Arial, Tahoma, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; margin-bottom: 7px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g190755-d304315-r111941863-Kilverts_Inn-Hay_on_Wye_Powys_Wales.html#CHECK_RATES_CONT" id="r111941863" rel="nofollow" style="color: #202d95; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">“Expensive food, rude staff”</a></div><div class="rating reviewItemInline" style="height: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: -3px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="rate rate_s s10" style="display: block; float: left; font-style: normal; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 6px; margin-top: 2px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; width: 69px;"><img alt="1 of 5 stars" class="sprite-ratings" src="http://c1.tacdn.com/img2/x.gif" style="background-image: url(http://c1.tacdn.com/img2/langs/en_UK/gen/sprites/global_pack_1-vfa895e56952b4005120ca73af54741c.png); background-position: 0% -3314px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; height: 260px; left: -220px; position: absolute; top: -112px; vertical-align: text-top; width: 510px;" /></span><span class="ratingDate" style="color: #666666; font-size: 0.9em; vertical-align: bottom;">Reviewed 7 June 2011 - <span class="new" style="color: #e15a00; font-size: 0.9em; font: normal normal bold 0.9165em/normal Arial, Tahoma, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; line-height: 11px;">NEW</span></span></div><div class="entry" style="line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 6px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">This pub offers an extremely expensive food. The staff was rude to us (shouting at us twice !).</div></div><div class="rating-list" style="height: 32px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><ul class="recommend" style="height: 22px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="recommend-titleInline" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 8px;">Stayed June 2011, travelled with family</span></li>
</ul></div><div class="linkItem expanded" style="margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"><span class="fkLnk collapse" style="color: #202d95; cursor: pointer;">less<img alt="" class="textArrow_more sprite-textArrowUp_more" src="http://c1.tacdn.com/img2/x.gif" style="background-color: white; background-image: url(http://c1.tacdn.com/img2/langs/en_UK/gen/sprites/global_pack_1-vfa895e56952b4005120ca73af54741c.png); background-position: 0% -3972px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; cursor: pointer; height: 11px; left: 1px; position: relative; top: 4px; vertical-align: text-top; width: 10px;" /></span></div><div class="helpful" id="helpfulq111941863_expanded" style="font-size: 0.9em; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 4px;"><span class="isHelpful">Was this review helpful?</span> <a class="yes tgt_helpfulq111941863" href="http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/RateUserReview?returnTo=http%3A__2F____2F__www__2E__tripadvisor__2E__co__2E__uk__2F__Hotel__5F__Review__2D__g190755__2D__d304315__2D__Reviews__2D__Kilverts__5F__Inn__2D__Hay__5F__on__5F__Wye__5F__Powys__5F__Wales__2E__html%2523helpful111941863&src=111941863&geo=190755&uid=27B9051CDEA4FFAA794029B62D733982&rateValue=1" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; color: #202d95; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 3px; text-decoration: none;">Yes</a></div><div class="askQuestion" style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="pm227B9051CDEA4FFAA794029B62D733982 callback_ShowRecaptcha pid5038" href="http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/SendMessageRD?to=27B9051CDEA4FFAA794029B62D733982&lang=en&messagetype=2&d=304315&geo=&src=111941863&t=r&summary=Kilverts+Inn" rel="nofollow" style="color: #202d95; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">Ask adi_armoni about Kilverts Inn</a></div><div class="note" style="color: #9f9f9f; font-style: italic; font: normal normal normal 0.9165em/normal Arial, Tahoma, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC <span class="expandedProblem"><span class="problem fkLnk" id="ReportIAP_111941863" style="color: #202d95; cursor: pointer; font-size: 1em;">Report problem with review</span></span></div></div></div><div class="ad iab_inlineBanner" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 200 !important;"><div id="468X60" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative;"></div></div></div></div><div id="review_109213505" style="color: #2c2c2c; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; 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margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 74px;"><a href="http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/members/Mrgoffy" rel="nofollow" style="color: #202d95; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" class="avatar" src="http://c1.tacdn.com/img2/generic/site/no_user_photo-v1.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; height: 74px; margin-bottom: 3px; vertical-align: text-top; width: 74px;" /></a></div><div class="member_info" style="color: #656565; font: normal normal normal 0.9165em/normal Arial, Tahoma, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="username mo" style="height: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span id="UID_9A77C718B777913654E8A901126615D7-SRC_109213505"><span class="expand_inline scrname hvrIE6 mbrName_9A77C718B777913654E8A901126615D7" style="color: #202d95; cursor: pointer; font-size: 1.0905em;">Mrgoffy</span></span></div><div class="location" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"></div><div class="wrap" style="height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="recogTotalText" style="display: block; line-height: 19px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">1 review</span></div></div></div><div class="col2of2" style="height: 404px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 351px;"><div class="quote" style="font: normal normal bold 1.3335em/20px Arial, Tahoma, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; margin-bottom: 7px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g190755-d304315-r109213505-Kilverts_Inn-Hay_on_Wye_Powys_Wales.html#CHECK_RATES_CONT" id="r109213505" style="color: #202d95; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">“Rude Staff”</a></div><div class="rating reviewItemInline" style="height: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: -3px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="rate rate_s s10" style="display: block; float: left; font-style: normal; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 6px; margin-top: 2px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; width: 69px;"><img alt="1 of 5 stars" class="sprite-ratings" src="http://c1.tacdn.com/img2/x.gif" style="background-image: url(http://c1.tacdn.com/img2/langs/en_UK/gen/sprites/global_pack_1-vfa895e56952b4005120ca73af54741c.png); background-position: 0% -3314px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; height: 260px; left: -220px; position: absolute; top: -112px; vertical-align: text-top; width: 510px;" /></span><span class="ratingDate" style="color: #666666; font-size: 0.9em; vertical-align: bottom;">Reviewed 21 May 2011</span></div><div class="entry" style="line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 6px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Whilst the location & setting of the pub are good, the general attitude of the staff is awful. If you enjoy being treated like a fool, this is the place for you. I get the impression that the lack of competition in this small town, has bred a level of customer service which wouldn't feel out of place at Fawlty Towers. That said, the range of beers on tap is excellent. Pity about the rest.</div></div><div class="rating-list" style="height: 88px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><ul class="recommend" style="height: 78px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="recommend-titleInline" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 8px;">Stayed June 2010</span></li>
</ul></div></div></div></div></div><br />
Now I have no problem with negative reviews. I think they are good for business - if things are going to well it's easy to start missing the small things that lead onto larger problems. My issue with both the above is how vague they are, and the damage they do to our ranking and stats that Tripadvisor uses. For example, MrGoffy rated our 'rooms, cleanliness and value' as 2 out of 5. By the sounds of the review, he didn't stay with us. It can't be said that he ate with us.<br />
<br />
Given the time of the review, he may have visited during the Hay Festival, a busy time. Likewise for the top review - it's so vague I can't work to correct it. He may feel that the food is expensive (locally sourced, organic where possible and 100% home-made doesn't come cheap - staff wages are one of our highest overheads). Being shouted at twice - I'm sure I would have known about a member of staff shouting at a customer once, let alone twice. The only time over the festival that a customer was shouted at was when their toddler was climbing over the building site where the brewery should be built. Uneven surface, a spade, fork cement mixer amongst other tools were there. My dad shouted over to the parents, sitting with their back to the child. 5 minutes later, exactly the same thing happened - the parents weren't watching their young girl and she had started climbing over the site again.<br />
<br />
But my experience trying to write a reply to tripadvisor has been less than fruitful. You can't suggest anything, you can't advertise (asking a reviewer to check details on the website for example) and if you feel a review is fake you get 250 characters to explain why.<br />
<br />
I can't be bothered to try and get a response through tripadvisor's filters that I feel would do the Inn justice. With no chef and a busy bar, I've got enough on my hands. Hence the lack of decent blog posts!<br />
<br />
Do you use sites like tripadvisor? How much do they make a difference to you? Is it right people who haven't stayed at a BnB/Inn/Hotel can review it on a site that is primarily about accommodation?<br />
<br />
CheersEddie86http://www.blogger.com/profile/03552007546467495543noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-72619175314223717252011-06-02T11:27:00.000-07:002011-06-02T11:27:06.108-07:00Hay Festival HalfwayWe're currently halfway through the world famous Hay Festival, and trade has been unbelievably good. Now an event that saturates the town with up to 200 000 people in 10 days is bound to mean trade is good. But as our 4th festival, this has been the best by far.<br />
<br />
Firstly, the kitchen. The new head chef walked out a week before the festival started, saying that he'd been offered more money somewhere else. So a quickly written festival menu was put together, with the emphasis being on speed of service, with an evening restaurant menu that focused on classic fine dining. At times in previous years the waiting time may have reached over an hour for food. This year, although I can't say I timed every meal, I feel comfortable saying 95% of the food served was within 25 minutes. Serving just short of 300 meals a day, I don't think that's bad going.<br />
<br />
The bar is normally busy and more so over the festival, but the success story on it this year (so far) has been the cask sales. I've heard of 18s running dry quickly at beer festivals, especially when the awards are put up. I thought I'd be clever this year, as I was running the kitchen as well as the bar, and bought some guest ales in 18s to give the 9s time to settle and condition. Finding out that an 18 of Wye Valley's HPA went in just under 4 hours wasn't quite what I was expecting!<br />
<br />
Sadly the till died on Saturday, so I don't know how many pints of ale we sold. The replacement till (a spare borrowed from another outlet in town) then died on the Sunday. But on Monday morning the empty storage space was full, and the vast majority of it casks.<br />
<br />
With the end of half term weekend coming up, I'm looking forward to seeing how much more we can push out. It's one hell of a buzz to see empties coming out of the cellar that rapidly, and seeing that look of slight confusion on customer's faces when they were sure the last time they came to the bar 4 of the 6 ales where different.<br />
<br />
Similarly we've had a few confused customers over the weekend. 2 of my favourites where 'what's the difference between the Lamb and the Salmon' and 2 customers discussing what to have to eat at the bar:<br />
<br />
'What's in a suet pudding?'<br />
'Suet'<br />
<br />
We've also had an ale and cheese pairing event, live jazz on the lawn, and a completely packed out Open Mic session in the marquee out back. Hopefully I'll find time to talk more about those - there are some very exciting events coming up.<br />
<br />
CheersEddie86http://www.blogger.com/profile/03552007546467495543noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-78532134926847869182011-05-21T14:35:00.000-07:002011-05-21T14:35:30.180-07:00Finding time to manageThe past few weeks to some behind these scenes have been a waste. The new head chef has decided to take a job elsewhere, exclusively it appears due to better pay. This is less than a week until the Hay Festival - a time when Hay with its population of around 1800 sees nearly 200 000 visitors in 10 days.<br />
<br />
I wasn't surprised. For some reason I get a gut feeling about chefs within a couple of days - and sadly I've been right 100% of the time. But one thing I really did appreciate with having a chef was getting time to do my job 'managing' better. By being able to delegate and work with someone running the kitchen, I've had time to train all the new staff in things as simple as Irish coffees, line cleaning, describing beer and tasting the bottled beers we have in. I'm sorry, but there's no way in hell you can sell a range of American, Belgian and Czech beers without having a small taste.<br />
<br />
So now I have bar staff that are fully confident in checking a beer if it gets returned - recently the FastCask Bank's Ruby Mild turned sour and flat on day 2 of being on sale. I'm immensely proud of the staff being confident enough to say 'you're right, I'm not happy selling that, let me turn the clip around and get you a pint of something different. Would you like to try a taster first?'. That happened yesterday. Today, whilst in service, a shout came through 'the Bank's mild has gone'. 'Clean it and get Dorothy (Goodbody, May Queen) on' I said, happy in the knowledge that because I'd had the time to show every aspect of changing a barrel and the line cleaning process, they would do it successfully. Quizzing them afterwards, they had.<br />
<br />
This may sound like nothing special, but in the past the beer would have stayed off until I finished in the kitchen, at which point instead of taking an hour off I'd be line cleaning and getting the new beer on. In my hour off today I got to see my son for 20 minutes - that's clearly a good news story in my book.<br />
<br />
This also ties in with a bigger issue I see facing the trade as a whole - finding good staff. I'm a firm believer in hiring the attitude and teaching the skills, but it's getting harder and harder to find someone willing to do their job. I don't even mean going the extra mile - a KP who will sweep and mop the floor for example, rather than drag a dirty mop behind him on the way out. A barman who will check the toilets have enough towels in them and are presentable every hour without being asked.<br />
<br />
The team I've got at the moment are wonderful - I'm genuinely proud of them and tell them so. I also tell them when they've got it wrong. And they tell me how they think we can improve - it's fantastic to write up a menu and have one of the kitchen staff offer a better way of doing a dish, and one of the runners ask for one of the desserts to be swapped for a better seller. I've even got bar staff choosing which guest ales come on now - and nearly everyone who works here wants to be involved with the beer and food matching meals coming up. You can't pay for keenness, you can just try to nuture it when you see it.<br />
<br />
But to see it you need to spend time with the staff. And that's practically impossible when your day is full end to end of laptops, fryers, cellars and supplier reps. Finding time to manage, I feel, is one of the most important aspects of a good publican.<br />
<br />
CheersEddie86http://www.blogger.com/profile/03552007546467495543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-56933162511695875722011-05-17T07:27:00.000-07:002011-05-17T07:27:16.615-07:00Which goes best with cheese?I know it's a question you've all asked yourself - out of 3 local breweries, which of their beers goes best with a strong Welsh Cheese and a stinking Stilton? There's only one way to truly find out - 6 beers, 3 breweries, 3 brewers, 2 cheeses. Voting done from the crowd, brewers not knowing which beers their competitors are using (already 1 surprising entry!) and as a final challenge, which of the bottled beers currently available in the Kilverts' fridge and cellar goes best with a cheeseboard.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.fdin.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Screen-shot-2011-01-26-at-21.04.18-239x300.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.fdin.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Screen-shot-2011-01-26-at-21.04.18-239x300.png" width="254" /></a></div>The brewers in question:<br />
<br />
Nick Otley, Otley Brewery<br />
Buster Grant - Breconshire Brewery<br />
'Tucker' - Wye Valley Brewery<br />
<br />
Wednesday 1st June, 9pm, £6 a ticket includes cheese & beers<br />
at Kilverts, Hay on Wye (www.kilverts.co.uk)<br />
<br />
Full details will be launched next week when tickets will be £8 each - this is a special offer for readers of this blog. Contact me through ed AT kilverts DOT co DOT uk to take advantage of this offer this week.Eddie86http://www.blogger.com/profile/03552007546467495543noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-86171691131632140332011-04-19T15:10:00.000-07:002011-04-20T01:01:32.089-07:00Radio SilenceI've snuck away for 5 minutes to update this. Having moved house (alright, technically I'm <i>still moving</i> house as the home-brew kit and a few other odds and sods are still to go) I'm without internet or even mobile signal at home, meaning the only internet I can get at the moment is at work.<br />
<br />
Work's too busy for me to have internet time though.<br />
<br />
It feels like all the hard work is starting to pay off - although it's still hard work now. Good staff are hard to come by, and the small crew we've got are bloody good. We need to expand though - with bank holidays, the Festival, summer and off course our Ale & Literature festival it's a busy time ahead of us. But good beer is serving us well already.<br />
<br />
I've been lucky enough to keep at least 4 of the ales on over winter, raising to 6 at weekends. I'm currently on 6 ales all of the time, with the guest ales often changing within the second day, if not the same day they go on. Supplemented by about 100 bottles of European or World beers each week, beer certainly seems to be taking the edge on wine. Winning Silver in the local CAMRA Pub of the Year has helped - the big surprise was being outright winner of their Cider Pub of the Year which was nice, considering I don't do much (read: enough) to promote our cider offer (2 scrumpies, Stowford Press and a range of local bottles)<br />
<br />
We'll be looking to further that cause in the near future, with monthly beer and cider events - currently we've got those busy boys at Otley Brewery coming up on Wednesday 1st of June to match some of their beers to a buffet being put on by our new French Chef (more on him and his food later). Then towards the end of June or start of July, we'll have Adrian Tierney-Jones going head to head with one of the nicest wine blokes I've ever met. Details on that will be out next week after the bank holiday, but it's a cracker of a 5 course meal complimented by 2 very chatty blokes who know their drinks.<br />
<br />
Onto July and I've only got the outline of what we're doing and how, because we're looking at doing something American and Supersized with Melissa Cole in the garden marquee. Then August sees our supersize Welsh Ale & Literature weekend, from Thursday 25th - 29th, the Bank Holiday. Already confirmed is Mark Dredge, talking us through his explorations of the world with beer in hand.<br />
<br />
We'll also be seeing more of the terrible twosome of Adrian Tierney Jones and Tim Hampson, and hopefully Pete Brown will have picked out a shirt for the weekend shortly, amongst others.<br />
<br />
And something for me, that I've always wanted to be part of, in September, the month of my birth. A murder mystery weekend at the Inn, but this is currently in the 'I've just thought of it' part of the planning stage.<br />
<br />
If anyone has any ideas for what they'd like to see us put on at Kilverts, let me know. We're talking with a theater group to put on some Shakespeare in the garden, we've got Jazz-on-the-lawn, a live Jazz band on the garden to compliment your Sunday roast, and of course the constant Hay on Wye beer festival known locally as Kilverts' Bar.<br />
<br />
CheersEddie86http://www.blogger.com/profile/03552007546467495543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810592934633194812.post-54234817941337978532011-03-13T11:00:00.000-07:002011-03-13T11:00:23.974-07:00It's not a good time for pubs then?After my <a href="http://studentbrewer.blogspot.com/2011/03/golden-age-for-pubs.html">last blog</a> a couple of people suggested their experience of pubs in today's climate isn't quite the nirvana I was suggesting. Whilst I appreciate it's hard to see the positives when several of the pubs in your local area have got boarded up, I still believe there's never been a better time to be a pub-goer. When you hear the news of a new pub company has <a href="http://www.thepublican.com/story.asp?sectioncode=13&storycode=69163">opened 5 sites in the last year</a> and is looking forward to the future, I can't help thinking that today's licensee has got to work harder than ever, but more and more are.<br />
<br />
Mudge has got a poll going on his blog at the moment, asking which year you'd enjoy drinking in the most. I'm certainly in the now crowd, apart from the fact I wasn't alive in 81 and my fake ID didn't work when I was 5, or indeed 15.<br />
<br />
But there is something that worries me. I've mentioned before that if every licensee stuck a couple of casks on, that then didn't sell, you'd end up with a situation where cask beer is available everywhere, but quality hugely hit-and-miss. This would undoubtedly turn off the casual cask drinker back onto keg. If your going to spend £3 a pint, you want to know your going to get for your money, quality wise.<br />
<br />
The thing that worries me now is a blueprint for currently successful pubs being taken up by the majority. The blueprint I mean is:<br />
<br />
Minimalistic bar design. Exposed brick, scrubbed wood tables, floor that has had the carpet ripped up and then swept. Limited, uncomfortable seating. Punk IPA on keg. Jaipur on cask. Dark Star on cask. A London 'micro-brew' on keg. An American hop-bomb on keg. Beer served in dimpled jugs. Beer at £4 a pint. Shiny metal pipes around the place.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmr-pKHNy96JMHVovhi2Mq2sCZAdW3Wq-VHQdZA7IuBqy15AQNedCzUY7aThkYaZmjATNc8Hyizv1CBGd55zAIKBw2WpLS7ABvyaWEP05cf4pJue_Q5LpPTc4L7MBo16HyT4I0prT6UwEL/s200/euston+tap+bar+euston+london.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="200" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There's more to a good pub than just lots of beer</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
The thing that started me thinking about this was a recent trip to that there London. The Euston Tap especially - for the first time in a 'bar' I felt I was in a supermarket pub. Tiny space, join the queue, pay for your product and move away to make space. No banter. No chit-chat with the tired and fed-up looking staff. And a beer list that heavily featured Brewdog.<br />
<br />
Whilst this may suit some - and all power to the guys running it - I think I'm developing my simple idea of what makes a good pub. It's so simple, yet seemingly hard to find:<br />
<br />
Can you walk in, by yourself, and be made to feel comfortable, whether being left alone with a paper or perched up at the bar for a chat?<br />
<br />
At one end of the scale pubs are still closing in large numbers. At the other end we have a selection of 'craft' pubs that almost verge on being cold, in that 'too cool for school' sense. And in the middle a broad spectrum of pubs, bars and clubs. As long as wherever that pub fits in, it remembers the basics, it should do well.<br />
<br />
Clean<br />
Presentable<br />
Choice<br />
Quality<br />
Value for money<br />
<br />
(not in any order I hasten to add)<br />
<br />
CheersEddie86http://www.blogger.com/profile/03552007546467495543noreply@blogger.com4