Booze Thread

[Bada-Bing!]

Doing sober October so have sampled a few 0alc. Beers. The best is Erdinger by far, heineken, moretti and Guinness are all palatable.

It makes you realise the effect 2 beers have on you though because I'd never drink more than two of the 0.0s. Can't say the same about the real stuff...

I really didn’t like Fraziskaner wheat beer alcohol free - smelt like sweaty socks and nothing the real thing 🤢.

Alco free Peroni was another one I didn’t like. Tastes nothing like real lager. Even with added sprite I couldn’t finish one. Gave one to my parents to finish. But only realised after it has added sugar and they’re diabetic. 😬

Only one I’ve tried so far and rate is Big Drop pale ale as one which tastes closest to beer.

 

[BiggusLaddus]

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Nice pint of Thornbridge Jaipur IPA, albeit from a Spoons. But can’t complain at £3.69. Lovely lacing, which I think is a sign of a good quality beer.

It is a really nice ale, always nice to see it on at the bar. I've never forgiven thornbridge for stopping the 500ml bottles though, refuse to buy the 330ml out of principle (ok spite really).

 

[Bada-Bing!]

It is a really nice ale, always nice to see it on at the bar. I've never forgiven thornbridge for stopping the 500ml bottles though, refuse to buy the 330ml out of principle (ok spite really).

They do 6 litre mini kegs. But unsurprisingly sell out quickly.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Cost of living: Pub halves beer and cider choice to survive

A landlord is pinning energy bills to walls to show regulars why the cost of their pint has gone up.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[RedruthRFC]

Cost of living: Pub halves beer and cider choice to survive

A landlord is pinning energy bills to walls to show regulars why the cost of their pint has gone up.

www.bbc.co.uk

It really is a perfect storm for pubs. I sympathise with landpeople, but a combination of home drinking during lockdowns, rising prices and the cost of living crisis really has highlighted to me how little value the majority of places add to their products despite the high premium they are adding.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

It really is a perfect storm for pubs. I sympathise with landpeople, but a combination of home drinking during lockdowns, rising prices and the cost of living crisis really has highlighted to me how little value the majority of places add to their products despite the high premium they are adding.

Absolutely. I mean I love my ales - the real value of being a cask conditioned pint, but getting charged around £7/8 a pint at my local and I am like no thanks. Food isn’t that great either; mostly stuff I can cook myself or get a McDonald’s (even their price of a meal is going up).

Sad to say I am also a home drinker. Sad state of affairs and a lot more pubs are going to go to wall this winter. Especially local ones which are lifeblood of so many villages and small towns.

 

[RedruthRFC]

Absolutely. I mean I love my ales - the real value of being a cask conditioned pint, but getting charged around £7/8 a pint at my local and I am like no thanks. Food isn’t that great either; mostly stuff I can cook myself or get a McDonald’s (even their price of a meal is going up).

Sad to say I am also a home drinker. Sad state of affairs and a lot more pubs are going to go to wall this winter. Especially local ones which are lifeblood of so many villages and small towns.

At least with real ale, pubs are offering a point of difference over what you can drink at home. I'm following a low-carb diet at the moment, so a G+T is my drink of choice and I'm finding the price difference for a comparable product to what I can make at home for less than £1 is putting me off going to places that I don't know offer sensible prices. I manage the bar of a local social club, so I know that I make a very healthy 67% GPM selling a measure of gin for £1.30. At what point do you have to think that people who can't make money with these kinds of margins either aren't very good at what they're doing or that there isn't a market for the service that they're providing?

 

[Bada-Bing!]

At least with real ale, pubs are offering a point of difference over what you can drink at home.

The closest are bottle conditioned ales I drink like Sierra Nevada pale ale and Proper Job; otherwise got a nice Weihenstephaner Hefeweisse which is waiting for me to be drunken. 🍻.

 

[RedruthRFC]

The closest are bottle conditioned ales I drink like Sierra Nevada pale ale and Proper Job; otherwise got a nice Weihenstephaner Hefeweisse which is waiting for me to be drunken. 🍻.

Keep an eye out for Big Job DIPA, my local craft beer shop were advertising it on Facebook recently. They didn't specifically say it's bottle conditioned, but I guess it would be as the regular stuff is.

Given the popularity of craft beers, it's a shame that bottle conditioned beers are so hard to find these days. There were a lot more years ago.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Italian label maybe but the beer's British brewed

The global brewing giants highlight a brand's nationality but does it matter when they brew it overseas?

www.bbc.co.uk

Ah so the Birra Moretti I bought for £1 a bottle was brewed in Manchester. Still, a nice cold one still goes down like juice even in this cold weather.

 

[Le Frére Alpha]

Italian label maybe but the beer's British brewed

The global brewing giants highlight a brand's nationality but does it matter when they brew it overseas?

www.bbc.co.uk

Ah so the Birra Moretti I bought for £1 a bottle was brewed in Manchester. Still, a nice cold one still goes down like juice even in this cold weather.

Obviously why I pay €7+ for a pint of it. Importing from outside of Europe!

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Brewdog boss pays out £500,000 in gold can row

James Watt says he made some "costly mistakes" in ads offering people a chance to win gold cans.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[RedruthRFC]

Brewdog boss pays out £500,000 in gold can row

James Watt says he made some "costly mistakes" in ads offering people a chance to win gold cans.

www.bbc.co.uk

That guy's the Elon Musk of the craft beer world!

 

[Bada-Bing!]

What's behind Canada's drastic new alcohol guidance

A Canadian health agency has backed a report saying that even a little alcohol is too much alcohol.

www.bbc.co.uk

4 units a week recommended by Canadian health authorities. Compared to UK’s 14. 😳

 

[Reiser99]

What's behind Canada's drastic new alcohol guidance

A Canadian health agency has backed a report saying that even a little alcohol is too much alcohol.

www.bbc.co.uk

4 units a week recommended by Canadian health authorities. Compared to UK’s 14. 😳

Definitely feel like part of it because when people see a 10 or 15 drink rule, they often tend to drink all at once rather than spreading it out evenly over the week, which is even worse.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Definitely feel like part of it because when people see a 10 or 15 drink rule, they often tend to drink all at once rather than spreading it out evenly over the week, which is even worse.

True. From someone who is quite sensitive to alcohol anyway I have reduced by consumption to half of the UK’s recommended amount per week. But I wonder how many people here know what a unit even is and even if they did would they even follow it anyway, as you said. I think most people know too much alcohol is not good for them but knowing their limit is different for each of us.

It’s the normalising that kind of drinking in one session that’s the problem. Easy to do when out socialising or even at home without realising it.

 

[Le Frére Alpha]

What's behind Canada's drastic new alcohol guidance

A Canadian health agency has backed a report saying that even a little alcohol is too much alcohol.

www.bbc.co.uk

4 units a week recommended by Canadian health authorities. Compared to UK’s 14. 😳

Less than two pints of Guinness a week if I'm not mistaken? It's 17 units here.

I'm definitely going to cut back on my alcohol consumption this year. Still not settled enough to keep it consistent so some weeks will have more than others but averaging 17 units or less should be more than achievable. Keep improving from there!

 

[Which Tyler]

Whilst we're talking about reducing consumption - has anyone found any palatable no/low alcohol equivalents (beers, ciders, wines etc)?

I've not tried a huge range, but Guinness 0.0 is the only non-alcohol I've found drinkable, and it's still nowhere near as nice as real Guinness (or even what we call "real" in England). I've switched to drinking this whilst watching rugby now - when I'd be able to get through 3-4 pints (8-10 units) in a couple of hours (closest I get to binge drinking since Uni)
For low alcohol, I've only really found Bière Continentale at Morrisons, which, at 2.8% is lowish, rather than actually low. Even that is only if you actually like bières blonde

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Whilst we're talking about reducing consumption - has anyone found any palatable no/low alcohol equivalents (beers, ciders, wines etc)?

I've not tried a huge range, but Guinness 0.0 is the only non-alcohol I've found drinkable, and it's still nowhere near as nice as real Guinness (or even what we call "real" in England). I've switched to drinking this whilst watching rugby now - when I'd be able to get through 3-4 pints (8-10 units) in a couple of hours (closest I get to binge drinking since Uni)
For low alcohol, I've only really found Bière Continentale at Morrisons, which, at 2.8% is lowish, rather than actually low. Even that is only if you actually like bières blonde

I do recommend this one. You can probably find it in Morrisons if you don’t wanna buy 12 and just wanna try it. Managed to get them for £1 a bottle. Only 61 calories and gluten free. I like it as it’s closest to taste of pale ale and also I don’t get flushed drinking it.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I've jumped on the Dry January hype train after over indulging at Christmas 😅

Been nice to have a break tbh - not that I was on it every night or anything, but can definitely feel the difference in my quality of sleep on the weekend even if the hours I sleep are about the same. Bank balance feels a bit healthier too - pints in Birmingham (and presumably everywhere else) are getting a bit excessive, pint or two on a Friday lunch is verging on £15 before you even add food to the equation

Ending it with a gig on Feb 3rd so that might be a bit messsy