How much beer is too much?

[Slid]

Hey, Wouter!

I seem to have re-learnt how to read some time today and notice that you are from Den Haag. Wonderful place. I spent 3/4 months there in 2006, commuting from Bolton in England and working for Shell. I remember it being 2006 on account of it being "ze wurldcup". Holland went out in the Quarters on the Friday night I travelled home.

Lovely city. I recall walking most of the time, not having a bicycle, with particular memories of the routes between the Shell offices and Scheviningen, through the little parkland and via the sand dunes, or the 20m high "hill" that was the highest point for many kilometres,

Fond memories on all fronts, except, curiously, beer, which was unexceptional, to give it all its due credit.

 

[Duxuk]

I've always thought that Holland has a wide variety of beers, many imported. It's certainly better than Germany with it's narrow focus on a very limited range of styles. In fact you have to make a special effort to find things like Alt Bier to avoid the monotony. Still, at least the Germans don't need to feel guilty if they drink more than 14 units a week! I've seen a thread on the 30 drunkest countries, based on average consumption. We're down at about 27th. The germans are up near the top, as are the Irish. I seem to remember that Belarus are number one. That's the only factoid I know about Belarus.
https://weather.com/en-GB/unitedkingdom/health/news/30-drunkest-countries-world-20140515

 

[Dmet]

I work for a German company. When I first went to the factory 18 years ago there was a beer vending machine next to the coke machine on the factory floor. In Bavaria it was normal to have beer for breakfast. 2 years ago I went to the town beer festival and at 9am there were old guys in the cafes drinking beer.

 

[Dmet]

And as an aside, i went to Austria a couple of years ago and the factory had a cigarette machine on the factory floor and there were people smoking while they worked.

 

[Dutto]

........ at 9am there were old guys in the cafes drinking beer.

In France, at that time of the day, they prefer a Kir (white wine with a splash of Cassis Liqueur) as a pick-me-up before driving to work!

I can recommend a morning coffee laced with Baileys instead of milk! :thumb:

 

[Gunge]

and at 9am there were old guys in the cafes drinking beer.

No different to our local Wetherspoon's, then.

 

[Gunge]

And as an aside, i went to Austria a couple of years ago and the factory had a cigarette machine on the factory floor and there were people smoking while they worked.

How it should be. We all used to walk around smoking our heads off at work too, until the lunatics introduced the ban. Lawd knows how many thousands of hours have been lost since then, due to everyone nipping outside for a cig every ten minutes.

 

[-Bezza-]

No different to our local Wetherspoon's, then.

Was going to say the same thing. Worries me the number of white vans parked outside spoons in the morning - fry up and a couple of pints, then off to play with power tools!

 

[Dmet]

How it should be. We all used to walk around smoking our heads off at work too, until the lunatics introduced the ban. Lawd knows how many thousands of hours have been lost since then, due to everyone nipping outside for a cig every ten minutes.

Just shows not all countries laws are equal. There are still bars you can smoke in in Germany.

 

[Dutto]

How it should be. We all used to walk around smoking our heads off at work too, until the lunatics introduced the ban. Lawd knows how many thousands of hours have been lost since then, due to everyone nipping outside for a cig every ten minutes.

Back when I was working for a living (and smoking up to 60 **** a day) I was at a Client's where my assigned work station was so far away from the Designated Smoking Point that, by the time I'd walked there and then back to my office, I needed another ***!

The answer came to me after the idle sod in charge of the Project I was working on explained to me that he had been "Firefighting all week." I hadn't actually seen him put in much more than ten minutes of actual work during the week so I explained that I needed to work from home in order to concentrate! He was so stupid that he agreed!

I gave up cigarettes, cigars, pipe, Beedy, chewing tobacco and snuff (all previous sources of nicotine for me) about ten years ago; and the really scary thing about giving up was that it was surprisingly easy!:thumb:

Just shows not all countries laws are equal. There are still bars you can smoke in in Germany.

Before they instigated a complete ban on smoking in public places they had a law where Bars had to provide a "Designated Non-Smoking Area".

In the village of St Dolay the Owner of the Bar provided two trestles, a couple scaffold planks, four garden chairs and a sign that said "Designated Non-Smoking Area" scrawled on to an A4 sheet of paper.

This was up some old and rickety stairs and positioned just outside the doors of some pretty unsavoury toilets. It was a place where I had never seen anyone venture as everyone much preferred the outside toilets; which were equally unsavoury but with a wind blowing through them!

The last time I was in the Bar (over two years since the total ban was brought into law) the lady at the back of the bar was smoking, as were the two men propping it up!

I love the French attitude to life. :thumb:

 

[Wouter]

Hey, Wouter!

I seem to have re-learnt how to read some time today and notice that you are from Den Haag. Wonderful place. I spent 3/4 months there in 2006, commuting from Bolton in England and working for Shell. I remember it being 2006 on account of it being "ze wurldcup". Holland went out in the Quarters on the Friday night I travelled home.

Lovely city. I recall walking most of the time, not having a bicycle, with particular memories of the routes between the Shell offices and Scheviningen, through the little parkland and via the sand dunes, or the 20m high "hill" that was the highest point for many kilometres,

Fond memories on all fronts, except, curiously, beer, which was unexceptional, to give it all its due credit.

I've always thought that Holland has a wide variety of beers, many imported. It's certainly better than Germany with it's narrow focus on a very limited range of styles. In fact you have to make a special effort to find things like Alt Bier to avoid the monotony. Still, at least the Germans don't need to feel guilty if they drink more than 14 units a week! I've seen a thread on the 30 drunkest countries, based on average consumption. We're down at about 27th. The germans are up near the top, as are the Irish. I seem to remember that Belarus are number one. That's the only factoid I know about Belarus.
https://weather.com/en-GB/unitedkingdom/health/news/30-drunkest-countries-world-20140515

Sounds good Slid! Yeah the Main offices are right next to the center right?
Lovely location, close to everything.

Actually, beer-wise a lot has changed since then.
Back then all you could get was specialty beers from Belgium. There were few bars with a good selection of beers.
However, a few years later the craft beer revolution had hit the Netherlands very hard.
Thank god! Because before that the Dutch beer culture was almost completely destroyed by the main brewers.
In 1985 there were only 21 breweries left in The Netherlands. Luckily there was some salvaging after that and some good breweries were founding.

Around 2006, right before the craft beer revolution, there were like 90 breweries. Right now, that has grown to 550. The Netherlands has actually surpassed Belgium in the amount of breweries. So you can imagine that with 6 times as many breweries the selection of beers has changed!
Currently about every restaurant, bar or anything has at least something like Westmalle. The amount of specialty beer pubs is unending.

 

[Duxuk]

The Dutch situation is similar to ours in the '70s. The massive amount of tied houses meant that pubs would only serve beers from their owners breweries and most pubs were owned by Whitbread, Allied breweries and a few others.
Then along came a surprising revolution. The number of tied houses was restricted to, I seem to remember, 2000 per brewery and pubs started serving guest beers. (I don't know if this was compulsory??).
The saviour of British beer...........................................Margret Thatcher!
In fairness she may not have actually come up with the idea but did preside over the government that brought it in.
We've lost a lot of the old traditional pubs in Chorley but in the last few years we've been blessed with about 10 micro pubs. Better beer, a friendlier atmosphere and an massive choice. Up the revolution:thumb:

 

[Dutto]

.............

The saviour of British beer...........................................Margret Thatcher!

...........

My God you had me worried there! :wave:

For about ten minutes I actually thought I had something to thank The Bitch for that didn't include the comedy show of her being thrown out of No.10 Downing Street.

Alas, I should have known better! It only took me ten minutes to discover that what she had actually done is described as "the worst of both worlds" for Breweries and Pub Landlords.

Here's a quote from BeerAdvocate:

Rather than let “foreign” beer into their pubs, the seven big brewers disposed of their tied estates. Not to individual publicans, but in job lots to investment companies, which, not being brewers, were allowed to tie as many pubs as they liked. The result was large pub companies owning thousands of pubs. These companies bought beer cheap from brewers and sold it with a hefty markup to their tenants.

It’s the worst of both worlds today. Tied, but paying a full market rent. In the old system brewers had a vested interest in their tenants maintaining attractive premises and good quality beer. Meanwhile, publicans got cheap rents, usually well below market rates, and technical support from the brewery.
​

So The Bitch was yet again helping her friends in The City to accumulate more wealth. Breweries were forced to sell assets that were snapped up by "investment companies" who knew nothing about brewing and who cared even less for beer drinkers than the Breweries.

"Saviour of British Beer?" I think not.

The "beer tie" that you wish to give her credit for removing wasn't discontinued until July 2016. This was over three years after she had gone to that place reserved for such people when they die.

Enjoy. :thumb:

References:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/articles/14473/the-history-of-englands-tied-houses/
https://www.ft.com/content/9f81f714-4f41-11e6-8172-e39ecd3b86fc

 

[Duxuk]

I was a student in Leeds and Tetley dominated the pubs. Now there is much more variety. Job done. Drinking at home has done more to close pubs than anything else.

 

[Duxuk]

Or is it those bloody home brewers who are responsible for closing the pubs? Cheapskates. They brew beer cheaply and pay no duty. It's so unfair.

 

[Dutto]

Or is it those bloody home brewers who are responsible for closing the pubs? Cheapskates. They brew beer cheaply and pay no duty. It's so unfair.

No.1 Son just said that "It's being caused by these young kids sat at home on their Tablets stoned out of their minds on cheap drugs!" :laugh:

What's really worrying about this statement is that WE HAVE A SON WHO LABELS PEOPLE IN HEIR TWENTIES AS "YOUNG KIDS"! :thumbd: :thumbd:

 

[BarnBrian]

No.1 Son just said that "It's being caused by these young kids sat at home on their Tablets stoned out of their minds on cheap drugs!" :laugh:

What's really worrying about this statement is that WE HAVE A SON WHO LABELS PEOPLE IN HEIR TWENTIES AS "YOUNG KIDS"! :thumbd: :thumbd:

On the other end of the spectrum, my Mum will be 90 this year, she refers to the others in the complex as old folks, I think they're all younger than her.

 

[Bigcol49]

When your number is up, it's up.

Hi!

 

[Dmet]

I believe that the another nail in the coffin of the pub was the relaxing of licenses coupled with longer supermarket opening hours. The availability of beer from them, garages and all other outlets open at all hours practically killed the off licenses and badly effected pubs. When you can buy 4 cans for the price of a pint, at any time of day or night, people are going to stay at home.

Although I have noticed that there does seem to be a shift with the micro pubs and beer bars and bottle shop / bars. The number of young people drinking good beer seems to be growing. I felt decidedly old on the Bermondsey beer mile the other week.

 

[Gunge]

Tonite I'm going to have the curry from hell, a thousand cigs and as much beer as I can stand. Would love a gubbinment bod to come round and point out the error of my ways. What am I supposed to do on a Saturday evening after a long, hard week doing nights... Horlicks and knitting or summat? Meanwhile, my 15-yr old son has just added 'ketamine' to the shopping list. How times change.