Shakespeare's Stupidly Delicious Beers Tap Takeover

I think food is the obvious comparison.

 

Pay a bit more (if you want) and get something a lot better.

 

That extra you pay goes on better ingredients cooked with better equipment and made by more skilled cooks that care about what they are making.

Bang on. This is why I stopped going out with a few old friends. They always wanted to go somewhere cheap and cheerful. So for my birthday do I said we should go for Mexican food. 2 didn't like Mexican so wouldn't go. I said "Now you know what it feels like to be dragged around insipid bars paying money for crap beer you don't like". They didn't get this either...

Fortunately now I have better friends....

Unfortunately I couldn't try any of the special beers when I asked at 4pm because despite them being on the bar and on the board I was told they would only start serving at 5. I had to be elsewhere by 5 so couldn't wait around. So I left. Seems odd to turn a paying customer away from a nearly empty pub just because of some arbitrary timing issue.

Taxman, surely the bar-person or manager should have offered you a "free" half or taster, some people don't understand how to keep good customer happy!

Great evening. Really busy. Got there just before 5 because that was when the event started.

Well done to all involved.

Taxman, surely the bar-person or manager should have offered you a "free" half or taster, some people don't understand how to keep good customer happy!

I didn't want a free half or taster, I wanted to pay £3 for a half of StarBeer.

I didn't want much.

I guess it is a bit like when shops have the sale on. They announce something special is happening at a certain time and they don't let folks buy before that time. Otherwise, all the best stuff will be gone before the regular customers have a fair chance to sample it.

Under the circumstances I think that I would have used a bit of discretion and sold you the half pint of beer. The problem is, pubs, like many other places, don't always employ people who are capable of exercising discretion. They only know the rules and that's it.

The member of staff on duty at the time was the organiser of the event. Not only did he know the "rules", he made them.

I didn't want a free half or taster, I wanted to pay £3 for a half of StarBeer.

 

I didn't want much.

Does seem odd that. I had half of the StarBeer in the Barrel Drop during Nottingham Craft Beer Week and, with CAMRA discount, it was less than 3 quid. It was also a polarising beer. A couple of friends really didn't like the nutty taste, but I thought it was good.

What I particularly found strange about NCBW though was the amount of extremely good beer from Sheffield brewers that had made it's way down there and none of us had seen in Sheffield before. Not sure why that is.

Starbeer was the first to run out as it happens, less than two hours (I missed it!). But yeah I would still have been inclined to sell a half if someone just wanted one - different matter if they wanted to work through the list or have three pints of something before start time, but one half can't really hurt. I know I get annoyed when I see Brewpuppy have a new beer on so I traipse up only to be told it's not being 'launched' til 6

As for Nottingham... They just have more of a craft beer scene than Sheffield! The Lost Industry lads were saying they sell far more to Nottingham than Sheffield. Sad but true!

As for Nottingham... They just have more of a craft beer scene than Sheffield! The Lost Industry lads were saying they sell far more to Nottingham than Sheffield. Sad but true!

Sadly, Dave that's very true. I was massively impressed with some of the Nottingham bars offerings during NCBW. The Barrell Drop was far better than expected with a whole raft of keg lines to compliment the cask, Junkyard did great food and had a great range of beer, including several Lost Industry beers that I've never seen before - mostly the sour / fruity kegs that this kind of weather calls for. And as for Keans Head - a pub not that much different to any other, but with the added installation of ten craft kegs on the wall - all of which were taken up with Siren for NCBW - including the amazing Odyssey 008 and Bourbon Milkshake. I'd definitely go for another trip down there sometime.

Unfortunately many on this forum do fail to appreciate / admit just how far Sheffield is behind other cities on the craft beer front. Really wish I knew why. It's not as though Nottingham is any more accessible, for example. I love the effort that places like Shakespeares, the Rutland and the Beer Engine put into offering something different. But there just aren't enough of this type of place in Sheffield to encourage me to drink there too often.