Not that many years ago we were given to believe that the big bad boys in the pub trade were breweries with large chains of ‘tied’ pubs. Then the government waded in with the Beer Orders which amongst other things decreed that brewers must reduce their tied chains to a maximum of 2000 outlets.
This was retrospective legislation, as the breweries had done nothing illegal and could sensibly argue that by building up large profitable chains they were protecting thousands of brewery jobs.
There is a common misconception amongst pubgoers in that it is generally thought that a publican gets an allowance for wasteage from the brewer. Nothing could be further from the truth for the majority of publicans, as the bulk of licencees in the UK are now self-employed businessmen and women who simply purchase produce from their suppliers. Any wasteage incurred is down to the publican – and this can represent a considerable loss of revenue. A publican will get a Credit Note when there is a fault with the product on delivery and occasionally he/she may get a credit from a brewery technical services engineer who has had to waste beer on his visit.
There is nothing worse than looking forward to a well-deserved pint of ale, after a day’s work, only to be presented with something that would be more suited to being poured over fish and chips !
There are many reasons for beer not being at its best, for example :
1) Too many ales on sale resulting in some of the barrels not being shifted quickly enough. From the time that a fresh barrel goes on sale it should be sold within 3 days.
The following are a few snippets of advice from a publican who has learned by his mistakes and experience over the past
twenty one years !
DO NOT SERVE BEER IN ANYTHING OTHER THAN A CLEAN, COLD, DRY GLASS. There is nothing worse than any drink being dispensed in a warm or a hot glass, but his practice seems to becoming more prevalent owing to badly-trained or undisciplined staff working on bars. A warm or a hot glass instantly ruins any drink, be it real ale, lager, wine, or whatever. I REPEAT, ALWAYS USE A CLEAN, COLD GLASS OR RISK CHASING CUSTOMERS OUT OF THE DOOR.
DO not stock too many real ales. A barrel should be shifted in 3 days maximum. If ales are on sale too long, flavour of the slow selling beers will deteriorate. Too many ales on sale is definitely the most common cause of bad beer. Have no hesitation in reducing the number of ales sold if there is a throughput problem.
Britain is rapidly becoming the Obesity Epicentre of western Europe. Our national dress is in danger of becoming the Elasticated Trouser.
There is a clear correlation between the huge amount of shelf space devoted to alcohol in our supermarkets and the Fat tsunami, as alcohol is high in calories. Before long our supermarket aisles will need widening. This has already happened to cars. By 2084 we will need fatter roads.