...to want a decent pint of traditional British beer in the local pubs ?

[FloControl]

I am fed up to the back teeth of seeing nothing but yellow cask ale behind the bar. Everywhere it's blonde this, pale that or golden the bleeding other. It never seems to change from one month to the next. Great if you like this variety of bland, tasteless witchpiss (the publicans and pubcos might suggest this) but those who like beer to look like beer and taste like beer are increasingly alienated. What happened to proper beers like Riggwelter, Bateman's XXXB, Old Speckled Hen, Banks' Mild ? Stop pandering to the lager set and let's have some adequate choice please.

It's because American hops, which make this style of beer is cheaper than the English ones, to such an extent that English hop farms are going under. Also these beers are fashionable ATM. It will all change in a year or two

Fashion. The curse of good taste everywhere.

I feel your pain. I don't like hoppy beers - give me a nice porter any day, or at least a proper bitter.

But I help out at my local CAMRA beer festivals, and can't deny that the pale ones are more popular. And people who are new to drinking beer often ask "have you got anything that's like lager?" Makes me want to weep.

A couple of weeks ago I was in Portrush, Northern Ireland and went into a craft beer bar (the mere description was enough to annoy me if I'm honest). I asked if they had any dark beers (aside from Guinness) only to be told "no, they're all craft beers so they're pale" WTF?? Since when does craft mean pale? Ended up with a bottle of a dark porter which was lurking in the fridge which the barman didn't even realise was dark. Idiot.

The good news is that for our next festival I've been helping to pick some of the beers, and I've made sure we have plenty of bitter/porter/stouts! We're down the road in Barnsley so not far for you to come

I'm really hoping it's only a matter of time before the tide turns and the stouts are back in fashion!

I'm in Banks' Country (can smell the brewery from here) and mild no longer sells. Ever. Plum is from Titanic, great brewery. We have Abbott as often as we can and various Timothy Taylor. I know the same is true of all the pubs in my chain - fair few in Leeds!

Craft beer. Another ugly, fashionable cliché to have invaded British brewing. My trigger finger gets very itchy when I hear it.

I fear the rise of the yellows is partly a ploy to draw lager drinkers away from their usual pint and towards ale. I hope it fails.

Spuddington. Which chain do you work for ?

Little My's a girl. You're thinking of Snufkin.

It's your local pubs. My locals have a range of beers - yep they do lean towards American-style hoppy IPAs because that's what's fashionable at the minute, but there's other stuff available. I've had decent beer in plenty of country pubs in Yorkshire, shop about!

Stonegate.

Speckled Hen is my favourite beer

Well if that is your idea of 'proper beer' then you've no fucking idea, it is mass produced crap and has been since Greene King got their hands on it. I suspect even the weirdy beardy cask ale fundamentalists in Camera would tell you to get lost.

Like every brewing style there are good and bad examples of pale or golden styles, plus a lot of clueless wankers jumping on the bandwagon with 'craft ales'. However there are some really new and exciting beers out there if you think old speckled hen is the epitome of good beer and are prepared to write off whole brewing styles, then I strongly suggest that the problem is you closed mind and crap taste buds.

Loads here. Can't Move for Microbreweries and beer festivals. One of our local pubs still serves proper ale in great big hundred year old jugs.

Banks Mild? Gnats' piss. The yellow shite is preferable to that.

The Whitelocks used to do decent beer in the city centre but not been for a while now. The student pubs do some good ones too.

Look for Here Be Monsters beers (fairly local). Craft brewer and bloody lovely. But if you like bland beer, you can save your thanks and stick to Banks.

Sashkin. I know Little My is a girl, that's why my post stated a 'bearded male version'. I'll have a look at Snufkin though.

I concede that Speckled Hen is now a mass market product since the Abingdon brewery closed. But I still prefer it to pales and blondes. And SH still has some flavour and depth to it. Doom Bar tastes like old apples these days.

My taste buds are fully functional and serve me well. If they tell my brain that I dislike what is the current brewing fad then so be it. But the thing that really bothers me is the absence of choice I perceive. Maybe it's just this area. If fashion ever gains control of the pub industry it will be nothing but Prosecco, Gin and Pale Ale. Until they become yesterday.

I wonder if some brewers have posted on this thread, judging by the strong language and the post that MNHQ have hidden for the moment.

Loads on offer in deepest, darkest Dorset!

Like "lashings of Ginger Beer"?

Sounds like Leeds has really let itself go since I last went out there.
As it's such a nice day today I suggest you get someone to drive you out to fewston reservoir for a nice walk followed by a pint or two of Hen at the Sun Inn at Norwood.
Or jump on the train to Harrogate- there's a good pub next to the station which always has a good selection of darks on offer.

YANBU. Some very good recommendations by others. Get CAMRA involved if you are in an area without decent beer. Above all, never refer to Budweiser as beer and correct anyone who calls it that.

I live down the road from the Wadworth brewery. Plenty of decent real ale pubs around here. And I love the fact that Wadworths still deliver locally with their horses 💓

Harriet. The last time I tasted draught Banks' Mild was nearly twenty years ago in a newly-converted pub in Shrewsbury. It was perfect. Admittedly this was a long ago; perhaps BM isn't as good as it once was.

Whitelocks was great in the days of Younger No.3 in dimpled pint pots. Again, it's been a while but I venture those days are gone. The Wrens used to serve Ansell Mild and Bitter as well as Tetley. Lovely stuff.

I'm intrigued by the premise that cheap-to-grow American hops could have something to do with the rise of the yellow peril. Shame.

If I had more time and a bigger kitchen I'd brew my own; mild, stout, porter, best bitter. No pale/blonde .

I am so lucky! I live near a micropub (not a micro brewery), they only sell real ale, good local cider and soft drinks for drivers. Usually three different ales at any time and constantly changing.

No lager or spirits, basic pub snacks only (crisps, nuts, scratchings) and great conversation. I love it!

Don't get me wrong, I love a G&T, or a glass of wine or a decent cold lager on a warm day but if I want an ale I want a decent ale either straight from the cask as in my local or hand pulled, not fizzy tap stuff.

Ahhhhhh American Hops.
Curse of anything drinkable.
You should try to find a decent pint of proper beer in Bristol. Thankfully local and know where to go, but if you were visiting you'd come away with the idea that Bristolians only drink cider or fucking craft shit bastard ale. Horrible stuff. Anyone else note that it gives you a worse hangover from less drunk?
Am I correct in saying that CAMRA got a lot of grief for refusing to recognise Craft Ale when it first began to take hold?

Where on earth do you all live. There are plenty of great, locally brewed beers where I live and most pubs have a good selection on tap.

You need a better drinking circuit. There's tons of decent beer around if you go looking for it.

And the idea that there was once a time when pubs had a vast selection of local 'real' ales on tap is a complete fantasy. (Real ale being Camra marketing bullshit for cask ale)

Go back even 10 years and most run of the mill boozers had a choice of a cheap mass produced lager (Tenants/Fosters/Carling/Carlsburg) a more expensive export strength lager (Stella/Becks), a sweet and fizzy cider, a creamfow/smooth flow abomination by John Smith's or Worthington's and if they were feeling fancy, one or two if you were really lucky (often badly kept) mass produced and mass market cask beer of the Greene King Ilk. The situation in most pubs has changed beyond recognition.

There is more variety and quality in British pubs and more British breweries than at any point in my lifetime. If the op is able to put their prejudices to one side, they will discover something that they'll enjoy.

I haven't found it yet Boys. But you seem to be missing my point which is, lack of choice. My local pubs cater largely for folk who like to drink blonde and pale ales. If you prefer something more flavoursome and full-bodied, you are NOT catered for. That is what I have been saying.

Sorry but if you're in Leeds all you have to do is do a short train journey to get good beer. Timothy Taylor is in Keighley, which I'm sure you know. Skipton has loads of pubs with real ale in them. Loads more in the Dales.

Though maybe if you've got an 'itchy trigger finger' you should stay away from farmland where there may actually be guns...

There seems to be more choice of beers than ever in the pubs I go in. I think you need to change your boozer OP!

I'm from near Wolverhampton (home of Banks's) in a small town with two breweries all of its own. We like our beer in the Black Country! I live in Essex now and find there's choice in both places, but more in Wolvo