More reasons to boycott Wetherspoons

[WTFH]

I agree, their food is worse than crap. But if they are going to promote British producers, wtf do you think is wrong with that? Do you think you'll ever get English sparkling wine or craft beer in a French bar?

Funnily enough, their PR is all about English sparkling wine from Denbies and Whitedown and then at the end it mentions Hardy's of Australia.
The current massive EU tariff on sparkling wine from Australia is €0.24 per bottle.
Although 'spoons PR is that:
“It imposes tariffs on the 93 per cent of the world that is not in the EU, keeping prices high for UK consumers."

So, will their customers see a massive drop in the price of the Aussie wine? I doubt it.
Will they sell Denbies sparkling at £25 a bottle, or will it be on there at £45, while Hardy's sparkling Chardonnay goes on as the £25 option?

As for their "craft" beer options, there's only one that might be considered craft - Brewdog. The others are Diageo/TCB/ABI derivatives.
Your comment about getting English sparkling wine in French bars is very true. You don't. There's a simple reason for that. A local Cremant in France retails at €8-15 per bottle. An English sparkling in the UK retails at £20-40. Why would a bar try to sell something that's 3x the price of their local produce?

And why is UK wine so expensive?
Because of UK duty on the manufacturing. Nothing to do with the EU, or anywhere else. In the UK, to produce a bottle of sparkling wine, the manufacturer will pay approx 45% duty. In France, the figure is 5%.

[original PM]

Brewdog sold out....

The REAL story behind BrewDog’s ‘sellout’ is that crowdfunding will only get you so far | Zythophile

[WTFH]

Brewdog sold out....

The REAL story behind BrewDog’s ‘sellout’ is that crowdfunding will only get you so far | Zythophile

I was wondering why 'spoons was selling it, I guess BrewDog had to go commercial to be able to get an equity firm interested. But an equity firm behind the worst beer in the US? (and there's stiff competition in that category!)

[original PM]

I was wondering why 'spoons was selling it, I guess BrewDog had to go commercial to be able to get an equity firm interested. But an equity firm behind the worst beer in the US? (and there's stiff competition in that category!)

Yeah - effectively they wanted to make loads of money and did not give a damn about the 'product'

There are still plenty of small brewery's who want to stay that way which i think was what really pissed people off - especially those who pumped money into brew dog in the beginning.

Got to be honest I used to like their stuff - but I really have gone off 'craft' beer recently - just seems to be a competition to see who can get the most 'hoppiness' which just manifests it's self as bad grapefruit juice according to my taste buds. (on the light ones anyway - do not tend to go for the darker ones)

[Old Greg]

Yeah - effectively they wanted to make loads of money and did not give a damn about the 'product'

There are still plenty of small brewery's who want to stay that way which i think was what really pissed people off - especially those who pumped money into brew dog in the beginning.

Got to be honest I used to like their stuff - but I really have gone off 'craft' beer recently - just seems to be a competition to see who can get the most 'hoppiness' which just manifests it's self as bad grapefruit juice according to my taste buds. (on the light ones anyway - do not tend to go for the darker ones)

There is still some good craft beer around, but I agree that the quest for maximum hoppiness is not producing good beer.

[sasguru]

There is still some good craft beer around, but I agree that the quest for maximum hoppiness is not producing good beer.

IMHO beer is one of those things that has been perfected already:

1 If you want a refreshing lager on a hot day, the best ones are Czech (Pilsner Urquell in partiuclar) and Belgian, with maybe 1 or 2 German ones.
2. If you want an ale, British companies do that best and there are umpteen very good ales. I like London Pride, it's been consistent for years.

[WTFH]

Yeah - effectively they wanted to make loads of money and did not give a damn about the 'product'

There are still plenty of small brewery's who want to stay that way which i think was what really pissed people off - especially those who pumped money into brew dog in the beginning.

Got to be honest I used to like their stuff - but I really have gone off 'craft' beer recently - just seems to be a competition to see who can get the most 'hoppiness' which just manifests it's self as bad grapefruit juice according to my taste buds. (on the light ones anyway - do not tend to go for the darker ones)

Congratulations on your 10,000th post!

Yes, there's lots of small breweries producing good beer, and if you ever make it as far south as Surrey, let me know.

Our Beers - Tilly Beer

Some of them (such as Hop Troll) are very hoppy, others, like Dormouse, are a proper English Ale. And then there's Whakahari. I could drink that until I fall over.

[WTFH]

There is still some good craft beer around, but I agree that the quest for maximum hoppiness is not producing good beer.

Have you tried anything from Five Lamps?
I've been told it's good, but not had a chance to try it yet. Maybe on my next trip to Dublin I'll get some.

[Old Greg]

Have you tried anything from Five Lamps?
I've been told it's good, but not had a chance to try it yet. Maybe on my next trip to Dublin I'll get some.

I've seen it around but not tried it yet. Will give it a go next time and report back.

[WTFH]

I've seen it around but not tried it yet. Will give it a go next time and report back.

Please do. Also, have you any recommendations for good local beers for an upcoming business trip to Dublin?