Doom Bar / London Pride - premium brew kit?

[Pavros]

Funny how most (if not all) of those beers are usually in the 4 for £6 offers in supermarkets or £1.25 in Aldi

 

[Horners]

And for interest (with apologies for going OT) here are the draught figures for last year for

Brand

Volume sales (HL)

Value sales (£m)

1) Doom Bar

238,013

137

2) Greene King IPA

161,953

89

3) London Pride

114,555

69

4) Abbot Ale

63,332

36

5) Deuchars IPA

57,048

35

6) Pedigree

50,604

28

7) Wainwright

44,014

24

8) Timothy Taylor's Landlord

38,793

25

9) Tribute

37,052

22

10) Old Speckled Hen

35,681

21

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Funny how most (if not all) of those beers are usually in the 4 for £6 offers in supermarkets or £1.25 in Aldi

I regularly buy Old Peclier, Old Speckled Hen, Furst Ferret and Bishops Finger i have tried others on the list but of the ones i have tried these are my favourites. (i haven't tried them all)

 

[terrym]

The reason Doombar is so popular is that it is brewed by Molson Coors (probably at Burton) and they have the clout to push it as a brand. Frankly there a lot better out there (but not John Smiths )

 

[Clint]

Out of those Greene king and Doombar are my least favourite. Deuchars IPA ,TT and Tribute I'll drink til my head falls off...London pride isn't bad.

 

[Portreath]

As another aside, when I was at Uni I worked a bar in my summer hols, back in Cornwall. Doom bar was always the cheapest of the draught ales, weak and not really a beer with a lot going for it. Then it was brewed at Rock, wadebridge. I'm suprised it's so popular now. I might nip into Sainsbury's tomorrow grab a bottle or two and see if it tastes like the DimeBar we used to serve to the tourists I do hope it's been pimped, looking at the sales figures it must be OK now.

 

[Horners]

Out of those Greene king and Doombar are my least favourite. Deuchars IPA ,TT and Tribute I'll drink til my head falls off...London pride isn't bad.

@Clint Must have similar taste buds - cant stand GK IPA and Doombar ubiquitous and dull. Will drink Pride under duress but I think its a bit of an acquired taste. Tribute I always go for and it seems to be more and more commonplace in London and TT is right up there IMHO albeit a bit scarcer down here.

 

[gazzza123]

I think a lot of this is down to personal preference now...

I love London Pride draught... But it's not so great from a supermarket bottle. Same goes for Doom Bar. Don't base your opinions of these beers on their taste out of the 4 for £6 bin!! Tribute however I feel is bad from a bottle and even worse on draught! All personal preference for sure...

Lesson learned though chaps and thanks for the advice... Perhaps I have tried to over simplify my search when limited to kits and that would be a fair point.

 

[Cwrw666]

When I first came across Doom Bar it was very nice indeed, then suddenly you could find it everywhere and it was seriously sh1te. It's improved a bit since then but nowhere near what it used to be.
Round here everyone seems to want Wye Valley's `Butty Bach'. Don't know why - it tastes like p1ss and after a pint gives you terrible cholic.
Of the supermarket beers I would usually go for Hobgoblin, which despite what it says on the bottle is a brown ale and I prefer brown ales to bitters. Brains `Dark' is not half bad either but that's a mild, though a fairly strong one for mild.

 

[Heshofcheese]

Milestone Lion's Pride kit is a reasonable approximation of London Pride.

 

[An Ankoù]

As I said above as far as I know they are not beers that have been discussed or reviewed here so I wasn't aware they were so popular if that is the case I am sure someone will have the answer, good luck with your search. :thumba:

Quite so. London Pride has an almost religious following among those who drink the stuff. I've tried it again and again since I was a kid, but never liked it much. Very mediocre. In fact I prefer Chiswick Bitter even if it is so weak that you'd drown in it before getting drunk! As for Doom Bar, if it was the only beer on sale in a pub, I'd walk on to the next pub. That's not to say that Fuller's don't brew some decent beer. So you're right, Chippy, there's a good reason they haven't been discussed or reviewed.

 

[gazzza123]

The numbers speak for themselves... Thanks for that Horners.

Always the case... We like them when they're seemingly unique and then when they become popular we disown them! Unfortunately it's a never ending circle and the good ones will inevitably always become popular at some point!

On that I take back what I said a about Tribute... Had a couple of draught pints last night as there was no other option and I'm pleased I did... Very nice... Maybe a bad batch I had previously but it was many years ago.

 

[gazzza123]

Milestone Lion's Pride kit is a reasonable approximation of London Pride.

Thanks for this... Now shortlisted for production!

 

[Cwrw666]

We like them when they're seemingly unique and then when they become popular we disown them!

On the other hand they might start off good, then become popular through discounting, then the brewers start shaving pennies off the production cost to turn a profit, and the result is an inferior version of itself.
Tescos do Hobgoblin and Bishops Finger for £1.29 a bottle last time I looked - not a lot of money in that for the brewery. Not per bottle anyway.

 

[Sandimas]

When I first came across Doom Bar it was very nice indeed, then suddenly you could find it everywhere and it was seriously sh1te. It's improved a bit since then but nowhere near what it used to be.
Round here everyone seems to want Wye Valley's `Butty Bach'. Don't know why - it tastes like p1ss and after a pint gives you terrible cholic.

+1 on Doom Bar. Used to holiday near Padstow in the mid 90s and remember heading into town for some Doom Bar, it was one of the best beers around back then. Maybe being bought out by a large brewer has shaved off some quality due to economies?

I love Butty Bach, had 2 pints last night - currently my favourite commercial brew. I'm not that far from the brewery though, I do wonder if many of these beers don't travel well? Another local brewery (Uley) steadfastly refuses to sell outside the locality. London Pride always tastes great in a Fuller London Pub like the Jugged Hare in Victoria but distinctly average elsewhere.