Local matters
Chef and Brewer's feedback site: will they respond?
Here’s my beer drinking week so far. It’s a tale of the importance of local choice when choosing and drinking beer.
Tuesday: I welcomed a friend from a distant land and we only had time for one beer before leaving Leeds. So it we chose Lotus IPA at Arcadia in Headingley – at a thumping 5.6%. I found that the alcohol overwhelmed all other tastes and envied the strawberry beer from Belgium that others seemed to be choosing. But was happy that mine had been brewed just ten miles up the road.
Wednesday: At the end of a visit to London, I found my way to my favourite boozer off Russell Square and enjoyed two pints of Young’s Gold. It’s brewed south of the Thames in Wandsworth, but is undeniably a local beer.
Friday: Time for fish and chips. Time I thought for a Daleside beer at the Smiths Arms in Beckwithshaw. But what’s this? A choice of Adnams Bitter, Greene King IPA and Black Sheep Bitter as a guest. Let’s take these in turn.
Adnams is an admirable business; on bad days I dream of Southwold and the Sole Bay Brewery. Suffolk is a very special place, but it’s not what I’m looking for in Yorkshire. I chose to drink it but the temperature was so numbing that the taste had little chance.
Greene King IPA. What can I say? Not local, not special, not a treat. From Suffolk (see above).
Black Sheep. Though at least from the same county, it’s ubiquitous round here so again not special.
The bar staff seemed unhappy. Clearly a decision has been imposed from head office, and I was given a feedback card that encourages me to ‘tell us about your experience.’ I will – and I just have.
