Sentinel brewhouse and eatery

[SteelCityAle 10]

I'll brew it and see ;-)

 

One-off cask for the shakey

[DnAuK 10]

Oh dear. Have I rattled your cage? Perhaps you need lime in your lager if you can't manage without the fruit.

Our local is a Thornbridge pub. It has around 200 pump clips on the wall from Thornbridge beers. These are the beers they brewed to be a bit different. They brewed most of them once and tested them on the public, and when the public rejected them they didn't brew them again. They have 5 or 6 regular beers that stood the test of time. These are the beers that folk tried and when they came back to the bar wanted another. That's how British beer evolved.

There are reasons why Tim Taylor's Landlord has been around for decades, and why most beers from micros are never brewed twice. So if you want your sprout stout that's up to you. A draught beer needs to sell quickly enough for it not to go off and require 3/4 of the barrel to be poured down the drain.

I tried rather a lot of beers at the 3 Valleys Festival. Some were better than others. Others might have different preferences, but ultimately a beer needs to sell. If it doesn't it won't be around for long.

I've invested in a number of breweries and been involved with others. I've seen them come and I've seen them go. I wouldn't put my money into one that tries to sell beer ar £6/pint. They might be making £4 on every pint they sell but it won't be enough pints to pay the bills.

 

Rattlked my cage? No you just highly amuse me is all. Especially with the likes of Timmy Ts being around for ages and such. Carling has been around for ages. Stella even more so. Are you seriuously arguing that these are quality beers? Just because they stick around and sell in spades? Nope, they stick around and sell in spades because they are brewed for a mass market with as little 'edginess' as possible so as to appeal to the most people they can reach. The time when things started to be served 'extra cold' was a wonderful example of brewers (even Guinness) recognising that the colder something is the less taste it has, so maybe if we make it LESS tasty we can sell it to more of the little darlings coming straight out of college with their sensitive palates. Like you maybe?

 

As you grow up you tend to demand more from life. More experience. Better quality. Remember when you were young and found a Vesta boil in the bag curry challenging? And now you comfortably eat a madras? Beer is a bit like that. Open your eyes to something different and quality and you'll start to appreciate just how boring most of our local stuff really is.

[Lurgh Mor 10]

I'll brew it and see ;-)

 

One-off cask for the shakey

 

Needs to be extra fizzy mind.

[DnAuK 10]

So if your beers use such wonderful ingredients why aren't you charging £6/pint? Or are others using better malt and hops than you?

 

Incidentally. Do you know Dave Corby?

 

Anyhow. I need to drink some. Goodnight.

 

As far as I'm aware Dave has a small brewery with limited resources and (if he won't mind me saying so) can't justify the outlay of importing the vast quantities of the very best stuff that some brewers can. But he does really well with what he does use.

 

I you really don't think a brew can be worth £6 or £7 a half, or bottle, let alone a pint may I suggest you try some of the following:

 

IPAS

 

Siren Tickle Monster

Beavertown Power of the Voodoo

Stone Arrogant B*stard

Founders Centennial

Great Divide Hercules

Evil Twin Molotov Cocktail

 

Stouts

 

Brooklyn Black Chocolate

Magic Rock Bearded Lady Dessert Edition

Evil Twin Biscotti Break

Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout

Siren Empress

 

Specials

 

Summer Wine Sin City

Buxton Wyoming Sheep Ranch

Schneider Meine Hopfenweisse

Brewdog Tactical Nuclear Penguin

 

to name but a few...

 

Or better still, to start your journet, as you live near a Thornbridge pub, have Halcyon and Wild Raven. They aren't the cutting edge beers they used to be any more, but they are still pretty good introduction to the craft world.

[foxy lady 10]

Rattlked my cage? No you just highly amuse me is all. Especially with the likes of Timmy Ts being around for ages and such. Carling has been around for ages. Stella even more so. Are you seriuously arguing that these are quality beers? Just because they stick around and sell in spades? Nope, they stick around and sell in spades because they are brewed for a mass market with as little 'edginess' as possible so as to appeal to the most people they can reach. The time when things started to be served 'extra cold' was a wonderful example of brewers (even Guinness) recognising that the colder something is the less taste it has, so maybe if we make it LESS tasty we can sell it to more of the little darlings coming straight out of college with their sensitive palates. Like you maybe?

 

As you grow up you tend to demand more from life. More experience. Better quality. Remember when you were young and found a Vesta boil in the bag curry challenging? And now you comfortably eat a madras? Beer is a bit like that. Open your eyes to something different and quality and you'll start to appreciate just how boring most of our local stuff really is.

 

Oh dear. You guys really crease me up. "It can't be any good because lots of folks like it"

I was at the 3 Valley's Festival at the weekend. Watching the pianist at the Manor House and watching people. More than half the folks there were not drinking the cask ales. They were drinking bottled cider, lager, wine, even coffee. It was their choice. There were the usual fat bellied blokes with beards looking at their murky pints and discussing the hops, but the majority of folks went to have a good time drinking what they wanted to drink.

Now I have an interest in 2 breweries. We brew real cask ale. We sell it to folk who want to drink it, but I'd be the last person to say someone who enjoyed Carling was an idiot with no taste. It's called freedom of choice. In the 1960s and 1970s the big brewes wanted to restrict the freedom of choice and force people to drink non descript tank beers. That's now a thing of the past because the public didn't want the product. You seem to have gone to the opposite extreme and think everyone should drink the same cask ale.

I'm happy for folk to go to the corporate Costa for their coffee. I do very well on the shares. I prefer the privately owned cafes myself. I'm happy that folk who enjoy Carling can drink Carling. I'm happy that Madonna likes Tim Taylors. I would really love you to tell us which inferior materials or practices they use that would disqualify it from being a quality beer.

Not all folk who drink the mass market products are students. There are millions of pensioners who drink them. It's what they want. And my taste buds are fine. I had one of the last glasses of Brimstone last night. I had double Brimstone at the weekend, but I also had wine, Peroni, and a bit of Scotch. It's choice you see. If you sell what folks want to buy at a price they are prepared to pay, then they will buy it.

[jemson 10]

Oh dear. You guys really crease me up. "It can't be any good because lots of folks like it"

 

.

 

Who said that, out of interest?

[vincentb 10]

cancelled - mis-posted

Edited June 9, 2016 by vincentb
mis-posted

[foxy lady 10]

Who said that, out of interest?

 

quote....

 

"Especially with the likes of Timmy Ts being around for ages and such. Carling has been around for ages. Stella even more so. Are you seriuously arguing that these are quality beers? Just because they stick around and sell in spades? Nope, they stick around and sell in spades because they are brewed for a mass market with as little 'edginess' as possible so as to appeal to the most people they can reach."

 

---------- Post added 09-06-2016 at 12:08 ----------

 

As far as I'm aware Dave has a small brewery with limited resources and (if he won't mind me saying so) can't justify the outlay of importing the vast quantities of the very best stuff that some brewers can. But he does really well with what he does use.

 

 

 

That's a real shame. Imagine having to brew knowing you aren't using the best ingredients.

Edited June 9, 2016 by foxy lady

[DnAuK 10]

Oh dear. You guys really crease me up. "It can't be any good because lots of folks like it"

I was at the 3 Valley's Festival at the weekend. Watching the pianist at the Manor House and watching people. More than half the folks there were not drinking the cask ales. They were drinking bottled cider, lager, wine, even coffee. It was their choice. There were the usual fat bellied blokes with beards looking at their murky pints and discussing the hops, but the majority of folks went to have a good time drinking what they wanted to drink.

Now I have an interest in 2 breweries. We brew real cask ale. We sell it to folk who want to drink it, but I'd be the last person to say someone who enjoyed Carling was an idiot with no taste. It's called freedom of choice. In the 1960s and 1970s the big breweries wanted to restrict the freedom of choice and force people to drink non descript tank beers. That's now a thing of the past because the public didn't want the product. You seem to have gone to the opposite extreme and think everyone should drink the same cask ale.

I'm happy for folk to go to the corporate Costa for their coffee. I do very well on the shares. I prefer the privately owned cafes myself. I'm happy that folk who enjoy Carling can drink Carling. I'm happy that Madonna likes Tim Taylors. I would really love you to tell us which inferior materials or practices they use that would disqualify it from being a quality beer.

Not all folk who drink the mass market products are students. There are millions of pensioners who drink them. It's what they want. And my taste buds are fine. I had one of the last glasses of Brimstone last night. I had double Brimstone at the weekend, but I also had wine, Peroni, and a bit of Scotch. It's choice you see. If you sell what folks want to buy at a price they are prepared to pay, then they will buy it.

 

I didn't say that - What I claimed is that you said it must be good because a lot drink it, or it's been around for a while, gave you examples of where that may not be the case, and why.

 

Just because you have 'interest' in a brewery or two doesn't mean you know anything about beer or brewing. Of the 'many wonderful local breweries' you have mentioned before I am sure many will agree with me that at least half of them know little about brewing either! Stancill anyone? Dukeries? Wentworth who have just gone out of business? But they pile it up and sell it cheaply so someone will drink it. The little darlings with underdeveloped tastebuds perhaps? Or the old guys who have killed theirs with 40 years of fags and haven't tried anything new since the 1970s. There's always a market for cr@p if you know how to sell it. Remember Ratners...

 

As for your beer choices at the weekend, well done for being adventurous! Peroni you say? I **** stronger stuff than that after a night out! And whilst I really do like many of the things Abbeydale are doing recently (Lady RaRa and Empress are excellent) I think Double Brimstone was a bit of a failure.

 

But hey, each to their own. We all have our own tastes. I'm just not one that says a beer can't be sold at £6 a pint when it hasn't won any awards! As I said originally, I think the Sentinel stuff is quality, but I won't pay £6 for it because it doesn't excite me. In the way, say, Magic Rock Cannonball would do at the same price.

Edited June 9, 2016 by DnAuK

[foxy lady 10]

 

Of the 'many wonderful local breweries' you have mentioned before I am sure many will agree with me that at least half of them know little about brewing either! Stancill anyone? Dukeries? Wentworth who have just gone out of business? But they pile it up and sell it cheaply so someone will drink it.

 

You really are a great advert for our local micro brewers. I'll pass on your comments.

 

---------- Post added 09-06-2016 at 12:40 ----------

 

 

As for your beer choices at the weekend, well done for being adventurous! Peroni you say? I **** stronger stuff than that after a night out!

 

Ah it's down to the strength now is it? Peroni Nastro Azzurro only 5.1 ABV. That doesn't say much for all those local breweries who make 3.8 ABV "session beers".

Edited June 9, 2016 by foxy lady

[SteelCityAle 10]

As far as I'm aware Dave has a small brewery with limited resources and (if he won't mind me saying so) can't justify the outlay of importing the vast quantities of the very best stuff that some brewers can. But he does really well with what he does use.

 

that bit I do mind ;-) we do use the best hops, and yes they're imported cos most British hops are rubbish. I don't import vast quantities, cos I don't brew vast quantities - in terms of kg per barrel, we use a LOT, and we use the best. That's why we can't knock out our beer at £50 a firkin

 

Why we don't charge £6 a pint (or rather set our wholesale price accordingly) is that we're mostly not kegging, we're not barrel-aging, and in most cases we're not adding expensive adjuncts.

 

---------- Post added 09-06-2016 at 13:27 ----------

 

That's a real shame. Imagine having to brew knowing you aren't using the best ingredients.

 

see above. I'll wager we and many other micros use much higher quality than Carling, Peroni or indeed Timmy T - and certainly a lot more of them!

 

Why is my beer cheaper than Peroni? because a fool and his money are soon parted, far too many value image over substance...

 

---------- Post added 09-06-2016 at 13:28 ----------

 

Ah it's down to the strength now is it? Peroni Nastro Azzurro only 5.1 ABV. That doesn't say much for all those local breweries who make 3.8 ABV "session beers".

 

it's about flavour. had plenty of 3.8% beers (and even 2.5% beers) with far more flavour than Peroni...

[DnAuK 10]

that bit I do mind ;-) we do use the best hops, and yes they're imported cos most British hops are rubbish. I don't import vast quantities, cos I don't brew vast quantities - in terms of kg per barrel, we use a LOT, and we use the best. That's why we can't knock out our beer at £50 a firkin

 

Why we don't charge £6 a pint (or rather set our wholesale price accordingly) is that we're mostly not kegging, we're not barrel-aging, and in most cases we're not adding expensive adjuncts.

 

LOL.. That's not what I meant and you know it! I meant you probably don't produce the quantity that ordering vast amounts of imported ingredients would justify, hence not having massive shipping and storage overheads that some of the larger breweries use to justify their costs...

 

---------- Post added 09-06-2016 at 13:32 ----------

 

You really are a great advert for our local micro brewers. I'll pass on your comments.

 

You don't have to. Most of them know how I feel about their attempts at brewing (especially Stancill) - i.e. that I can (and have) done better in half a rusty oil drum in my garage.

 

I'd like to think I was at least partially responsible for the downfall of Wentworth after having quite the worst pint of 'Blonde' ever and stating so quite vehemently to my many beer friends on social media. A month later they announced they were folding. I'd like to think that was service to the community. Preventing people spending their hard-earned cash on something literally quite revolting.

 

---------- Post added 09-06-2016 at 13:35 ----------

 

Ah it's down to the strength now is it? Peroni Nastro Azzurro only 5.1 ABV. That doesn't say much for all those local breweries who make 3.8 ABV "session beers".

 

And no, not the strength of ABV - strength of taste. I made a comment the other day that if some of your beloved 'award winning' breweries, like Black Sheep, managed to make a session beer with anywhere near as much taste as new kid on the block Hopjacker, with their 3.5% 'The Mark' then the world would be a better place.