Does anyone remember...

[Arcs]

This is a discussion I'd like to bring to this forum as I remember this well. Working as a 19 year old in my local boozer back in the 1980's and having to wait for all pints to settle before serving. This was before the transition to nitrogen fused beers in the pub.

So does any one remember the carbonated frothy real pint served in your local and what was your tipple? What was your favourite thing about the stuff you used to drink too? Mine fyi was old style Guinness, served to the pristine recipe it was, the guinness breath, the heavy belly from drinking it but some other beers were nice too. So 3-2-1 go....

 

[foxbat]

Hand pull ales that have to be left to settle before a top up are normally being pulled through a sparkler tap. It's very much a northern thing and sadly gave rise to the disgusting should-be-illegal Autovac system.

 

[Arcs]

All I remember were frothy noses from carbon based beer in those days mate. Even the guinness. Even the hand pulled stuff now is way below par from when I was a barman back in the day.

Proper frothy heads not fast pulled beer and then left to settle, proper frothy heads on the beer even when left to stand back in the late 80's and prior

 

[jackthehat]

I too was a callow youth of 19 working in a few pubs in the early 80s.

One was a GK house, when they were still a reasonably-respected regional brewer. The draught ales were Mild, IPA and Abbot on handpump, King Keg and Guinness. On the advice of my future father-in-law, I developed a strong preference for the Mild.

Paddy the landlord was very protective of his cellar and wouldn't let anyone else down there. He collected all the slops and pull-through in a galvanised bucket and disappear down the steps. I strongly suspect that some of it reappeared in my glass.

 

[foxbat]

All I remember were frothy noses from carbon based beer in those days mate. Even the guinness. Even the hand pulled stuff now is way below par from when I was a barman back in the day.

Proper frothy heads not fast pulled beer and then left to settle, proper frothy heads on the beer even when left to stand back in the late 80's and prior

Yes that's how it should be done. As a Yorkshireman I remember well that a correctly poured pint of Youngers No.3 in Leeds formed a head that I've never been able to replicate at home. Sadly too many of the fast turnover pubs just can't resist pumping the slops back into the lines.

 

[Arcs]

I too was a callow youth of 19 working in a few pubs in the early 80s.

One was a GK house, when they were still a reasonably-respected regional brewer. The draught ales were Mild, IPA and Abbot on handpump, Kink Keg and Guinness. On the advice of my future father-in-law, I developed a strong preference for the Mild.

Paddy the landlord was very protective of his cellar and wouldn't let anyone else down there. He collected all the slops and pull-through in a galvanised bucket and disappear down the steps. I strongly suspect that some of it reappeared in my glass.

Aye, I can recant tales of such stuff in a certain local in my area, ended up as mild. /puke

 

[Arcs]

Actually there is an extract now named mad hops which will do that very same process if I remember correctly.

 

[Arcs]

So nobody has a tale to tell about their favourite tipple pre-nitro 90's?

 

[user 23602]

So nobody has a tale to tell about their favourite tipple pre-nitro 90's?

Only born in '85 sorry

 

[GerritT]

In the 80s I lived in lager-land, where 1 inch of foam was the standard. Speed was of the essence. Taste was not.

 

[Arcs]

In the 80s I lived in lager-land, where 1 inch of foam was the standard. Speed was of the essence. Taste was not.

I've never understood people's obsession with lager - although + 1 for head retention. And again, I've never understood people's obsession with people that drink dark beers and deeming them to be bad people, usually sad, dank and self-obsessed. Hang on, that's lager drinkers!! xD

 

[LED_ZEP]

I remember being in a pub in Leeds in the 80's when a drunk waiting to be served projectile vomited what looked like 4 or 5 pints over the bar. The bar staff diligently cleaned the bar and mopped the floor after escorting the gent out. About half hour later the landlord, who had been on a break came back and was told what had happened. "Did anyone turn the Autovac off?" he asked. "I didn't think to do that" came the reply.
I was 17 at the time and this was the first time I'd heard of the Autovac system. After this anytime I went in to a new pub my first question was, "Do you use Autovac?" If the answer was yes, I'd drink bottles.

 

[DavidHatton]

John smith's magnet, was the go to pint at the old Wapentake.

 

[bobukbrewer]

Phipps IPA, Ansells, M&B, Steward and Patterson................

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I've never understood people's obsession with lager -

How would we have drunk so many pints of Diesel or snakebite (lager,cider, blackcurrant) or whatever you call it locally without it.

 

[Arcs]

No mention of Black Velvet there -1 to rep I tend to find these days though, lager drinkers are of three types. Type 1 - the person who will do anything to 'fit' in with his/her peers. Type 2 - the person who has known nothing else but is too afraid to try something new to them ie everything else and does not want to appear to be flouting the 'rule of societal law' - rofl at duh you wanna drink alcoholic lemo upps lemonade then sure go ahead. Type 3 - the person that enjoys real ale but would never admit it in public lol

There's still a sham about beer drinkers these days in pubs. In the old days yer bloody drank what yer drank and to hell with anyone else. Now it's oooh look at him/her and what she's drinking and they aren't drinking what we are therefore they are weird. Errr ..... That stuff has no place on this forum and no place in pubs and certainly not any place in society. So much change in society at the moment, nothing has pride of place. But I will say this, back in the day, you could tell the person and who he/she was by what they drank and they were proud of drinking it. But enough about lager. Gimme more stories xD

 

[Norfolk79]

Only born in '85 sorry

That’s not an excuse

 

[Hoddy]

My dad used to drink pints of “light split” which I think was a bottle of light ale mixed with Toby bitter

 

[bobukbrewer]

light and bitter was a minimum of 3/4 pint bitter with a bottle of light ale - you went to the pub that was most generous with the bitter..............

 

[Spratt]

When I was a student at Exeter in the early 1970s, there was a pub called the White Lion in the village of Bradninch. It was run by a couple of old biddies, who were sisters, and in their late 70s or early 80s.

In those days there was no tax on cider (or maybe it was reduced tax, I'm not sure), which suited impecunious students and farm workers alike. They used to keep two big barrels of cider on trestles behind the bar (I think it was from Inch's in mid Devon), one sweet and one dry. They were both strong and a bit strong in flavour too. But, if they were mixed they were not too bad so the trick was to order a pint of half-in-half as they used to call it. Or if you were really feeling the pinch it was a half of half-in-half. After three of those it was quite a job to be able to order another! Enjoyable at the time but I realise now, that it put me off cider for about 40 years. Funnily enough I had almost forgotten about it until I brewed some turbo cider last year........

David