Has the classic Best Bitter lost its flavour?

As a former Inn Keeper, I prided myself in keeping a quality Best Bitter. As I was brough up in Fullers country, I was weaned on London Pride and ESB on celebration days.
But I moved on and now down in Kent and even pre-Covid I noticed the insipid servings of what should have been a classic pumped Best Bitter. IMHO clearly adulterated by Accountants and so many Publicans who, doubtless stressed out, never had time or knowledge to care for a cask of Real ALE. Its painfully obvious when its badly served and you dont like to cause a fuss, just dont stay long - quietly walk away from his till.

When I had my small village Inn, I devised a method of keeping the beer lines to the minimum (always troublesome and as bad as a dirty dinner plate to serve from)
I got hold of a used Under counter larder fridge (no frost box). Now this was wide enough for a cask but not deep enough. So I developed the STRETCH FRIDGE. Yes I cut the fridge half way along and vertically so I could add a fillet ca 6" wide to give greater depth. I filled the gap with slabs of PU insulation foam, mad a hole in the top and installed a Spear - this a a vertical draw off dip tube and valve which connected to the beer engine directly above on the counter. It fitted well and the remarkable thing is that it worked fantastically well. It kept the cask at the optimum 55F and it was very stable. The cask needed installation overnight and the spear height could be adjusted so you drew off the clearest best first, and lowered it as needed.

The result of this ruse was a very well behaved brew that maintained its condition for a whole week (this was unheard of). The trick is to keep the optimum temp constant and no movement stirring up yeasts into ferment. The Fullers Area Manager came specially when I told them of my success and he was so impress that I was put on the list for all the special freebies that came with the turf. It was the finest quaff outside of their tap room he said

Sadly you will have noticed that I only did 1 cask a week cos real ale was not favoured by most of my regulars cos they were Army Officer WO types and Real ALe tended to give impolite whiffs on parade next morning (so it was Carling BL for them). But those few who knew came in specially for a sesh. - thats another story

In pursuit of the perfect pint I felt that Fuller LP is not the same quality it used to be - or is it my imagination - anyone else find this with a classic Best Bitter today?

I find it harder to find a pint of bitter these days, let alone a spectacular one. But that might just be related to where I live now. But the quality of bitter in different pubs was always variable, as your story shows. I was in Brighton recently, where I used to live, and the pints of Harvey's Sussex Best were as amazing as I remember them.

Great story by the way

I think the smaller brewers still make good bitter but the large overseas owners of our traditional breweries have no idea what is a bitter and call them Amber, Golden, Pale Ale and use US hops. The small brewers make my favourite bitters I.e.
Sussex
Five Points
Summer Lightning
Tribute
Jail Ale
Landlord
6X
Old Hooky
Exmoor Gold

Theakston's Best Bitter on cask is decent, in my opinion. Not sure if that counts as a small brewer.

but the large overseas owners of our traditional breweries have no idea what is a bitter and call them Amber, Golden, Pale Ale and use US hops.

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I remember Harveys - Sussex Best, a session ale no nonsense - like a cup of tea. Waddies, Old Hookie ah yes
I lived in Brighton for a few years off Western Rd near Old Market. It was never a place for Real Ale mostly dominated by Inde Coop IIRC but then there were a lot of small pubs all with speciality flavoured atmospheres. In general I never felt comfortable and avoided casual contacts. It was arthur or martha - either london crims or gays - just not for me and you didnt invite curiosity. I moved away to Folkestone/Sandgate much more civilised and NORMAL for an early 20s clean living lad.

PS Fullers was bought out by Asahi (Japanese giant) they pledged to continue with current brews, but account like vermin are bound to infiltrate. How ever, I dont underestimate the skill of Japanese brewers, they are fanatical about their Sake and have a tradition of adding rice to wort a special quality lager Asahi Super Dry

There have been 3 pints in semi recent memory that stick out as a "that really was a cracking pint".
In no particular order, Courage Directors in a Wetherspoons in Wigan, although that was some years ago. Abbot ale in the Pump House in Liverpool, Black Sheep Bitter in Ye Olde Fleece Inn in Kendal and finally Peninsula IPA from Peerless Brewing. All were pure nectar in a glass

Cheers Tom

We have to take into account that our taste buds degrade with age, like the rest of our bodies.

After trying many pubs in Manchester, I settled on The Grey Horse, it's a very small pub, I found the people in there great they would have to be, as I was using it as a stopping point, after girl cubs/scouts and still in my uniform before heading over to the Head Bangers Ball. The Hydes bitter always has a spot in my heart and room in my belly.
I just wish that I could find a decent homebrew kit that's almost identical.

A decent pint of bitter is a rare thing!
Two worth mentioning for me are....
About 5 years ago,Ye Olde Starre Inn,York,house bitter. Absolutely spot on,Yorkshire bitter. I've been back many times but seems it was a one off!
Last week...Liverpool Arms,Conwy. A pint I can't quite remember from which Brewery but had XSB or similar on the pump label and was hand pulled.
Describe by the server as an "amber ale" which prompted a conversation on the XSB on the pump....nevertheless it was a decent pint and we'll kept.

I was in Manchester a few weeks ago and it was nice to see bitter alive and well there. I liked Holt's Bitter.

Holds always was decent, well it was in the Duke of Wellington, never had it anywhere else

My experience, and some of the previous comments, paint a different picture. There appears to be a healthy supply of good Bitter in the more southern parts of the North West and the Peak District.

pubs cannot afford to throw away beer that is "past its best" so customers like me go elsewhere making it even harder for said publicans. The supply chain is also implicated, I believe EI contract with Stonegate, who in turn select publicans. Everyone gets a slice...makes it hard for the publican....

bobukbrewer said:

pubs cannot afford to throw away beer that is "past its best" so customers like me go elsewhere making it even harder for said publicans. The supply chain is also implicated, I believe EI contract with Stonegate, who in turn select publicans. Everyone gets a slice...makes it hard for the publican....

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IMHO anyone who takes on one of those tenancies must be completely mad. but nuff said and known about the Pub Cos - btw just look at the share price over the years to see how their fortunes are decimated with many of them technically insolvent, mortgaged by 3x the value of their assets (no domestic householder would get away with that). The only thing keeping them afloat is the cash flow which just pays the interest. Its a £3 billion deficit for one well known Pubco.

A fashion has developed for letting out ordinary shops as so-called microbreweries (con trick IMHO) but there is some relevance to it if done properly cos the rates on a low grade shop is so much cheaper than say a regular long established pub next door (know this for a fact as said pub RIP is now converted into flats and the shabby little shop has changed hands 3 times.

But if you can find the out back space for brewing then there's a lot to be said for brewing speciality craft ales with low ABV <3.5% (£9/litre of alcohol content = 16p on 1/2 litre glass of ale vs 64p for 5% Ale. if you run your trade below VAT level £90k and have very low rent and rates - then brew your own and build up old school trade with students and folk/customer music then IMHO you could probably make it selling £2 a pint (just keep out the town drunks)
45k pints 625 casks 12 cask/week. Its about what I did in My Inn years ago - worked for me but I only made £1/hour for 100hour/week - would you work for that money?

Sadfield said:

My experience, and some of the previous comments, paint a different picture. There appears to be a healthy supply of good Bitter in the more southern parts of the North West and the Peak District.

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Yes..definitely regional. Bitter as I find,is sometimes labelled as "amber" as its not fashionable to drink bitter. I wonder why drinking pish is fashionable?

If you're not making minimum wage after outgoings is it worth it?

Clint said:

Yes..definitely regional. Bitter as I find,is sometimes labelled as "amber" as its not fashionable to drink bitter. I wonder why drinking pish is fashionable?

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The ying and yang of the well known consumer group. For a lot of the good they did they also inadvertently created an stereotype real ale drinker. Couple that with a tendency to encourage pubs to have more pumps on the bar (more choice of beers for themselves) than could realistically be maintain in top condition, driving people to more slickly marketed and consisent lager.

Black Sheep, Theakstons, Timmy T, My House (I’m drinking a hand pull now) all do good ‘bitters’. My local always has a good 1 or 2 on.

I went into a local pub near me the other day and was mighty impressed to see three ‘Best Bitters’.
Three Tuns Best, TT Boltmaker and B&P Original (brewed by Brightside in Manchester I believe).
The Boltmaker was fairly average (perhaps unsurprising given I’m nowhere near the brewery).
The B&P Original however, absolutely singing. Glorious. And I’ve had this before and it’s been average.
Think it just goes to show a good bitter is all about the dying art of cellarship..