Wetherspoons serves Arran in handy places

I really don't care what anybody else says, I'm grateful for Wetherspoons.  Edinburgh airport and a pint of Arran Sunset. Bliss

Munro’s, midges, and monuments with Oban Bay, Arran and Broughton

Location: Killin area Perth and Kinross

Moodmusic: Up in the clouds and away from the crowds

Weekend memories and soundbites

Drive up to Killin and Loch Tay turn northwest, past Moirlanich Longhouse an early 20^th century cottage providing a glimpse of rural life in this part of the world up until the 1960’s. On to Meall Ghaordie 1039m (a shoulder arm or hand) a long sprawling Munro full of bog.  A night camping beside the loch ….. with no midges …. horaah! Then off to Ben Lawers NNR, central Highlands’ highest peak, but more impressive to me were the deer and sheep exclusion areas which have allowed native woodland and flora to re-establish themselves on the limestone, so a great mixture of harebells, scabious and ladies mantle.  Meall Corranaich 1069m (the prickly hill), Meall a-Chquiree Leith 926 (lump of the grey quarry) through the Megganie estate and into Glenlyon. On to Fortingall alongside the river and the churchyard to see a 5,000 year old yew, amongst fields strewn with druid stones and an obelisk.  The weekend felt like a proper holiday.

Drinks

I think I probably need to point out at this stage, because the list is pretty long, that I am not a lush, I am not drinking these beers alone and I am not consuming pints of the stuff in any one sitting!!  Its just that real ale is too good not to collect and to savour in all it's variety.

Location: Base camp home the Borders

Broughton, Old Jock (6.7%)

Reactions

Emotional: Aaah refreshing and honest

Critical: Nice pint.  Sweetish.  Uncontroversial.  Fully rounded flavour although lacking some base notes. Light on hops, a bit more malt and a hint of caramel. Clean finish.

Arran, Arran Blonde (5%)

Reactions

Emotional: Oh yes, yes, yes …… more of this one please

Critical: balanced ale which is light and fresh whilst maintaining depth of flavour.  Lemon sherbet fresh citrus top notes, deep hoppy malt that somehow reflects summer time warmth underneath. Very, very quaffable.  Slips down too easy.

Innis and Gunn, Original (6.6%)

Reactions

Emotional: OMG … died and gone to heaven

Critical: This is an extraordinary complex and very full-flavoured ale.  It takes you on a journey past hops and malt, elderberry and tangerine, through salty seaweed vanilla and oak.  Who would have thought whisky cask  maturation could lead to such joy in a beer?

Location: Cruachan Farm

Inveralmond, Lia Fail (4.7%)

Reactions

Emotional: Mmm yes great after a hard days walking …. Like this one …. Very much

Critical: Clean honest ale with a light bite.  Medium bodied. Hoppy, hints of chocolate.  Ruby red and rich.  Thin head. Slightly fruity hoppy aroma.  Well deserving of its many awards.

Oban Bay, Kilt Lifter (3.9%)

Reactions

Emotional: Oh yea a great IPA ... very good

Critical: Nice head, lovely golden colour.  Citrus and hay, summer flavours. Lemony, gingery, fruity.  Zingy. 

Oban Bay, Skelpt Lug (4.2%)

Reactions

Emotional: Not sure ..

Critical: A very light colour for what is called a dark ale.  Pretty fizzy when poured which may detract from taste. Caramel, with a bit of chocolate.  Mashy, hashy sourness. Not as complex as expected. Slight disappointment.

Location: The Ewe, Fortingall

Bellhaven, Bellhaven Best (3.2%)

Reactions

Emotional: Mmmmm well OK,

Critical: It’s a mass produced beer. Not unpleasant when there is nothing else on. Dudgeon & Company's Belhaven Brewery is a legend founded in Dunbar in 1719.

Location: Home again

Broughton, Greenmantle (3.9%)

Reactions

Emotional: Too tired to manage any more words.

Critical: Thin head.  Mossy, oaty, medium bodied beer. 



Colours of the hills



Interesting hazards



The 5,000 year old yew



Bagging the 189th Munro for a friend - if only my 3rd! .... knowingly anyway ......



What's the point of pubs?

With pubs closing at a rate of knots, do they still have a role to play in the modern age?  Radio 4 debates. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01m16ph

Dee valley hill walk finishing with Merlin's and Honey Trap

Location: Corwen and area

Moodmusic:  Thoughtful reflection on a sunny day

Today's memories and soundbites
It was a lazy sunny summer weekend again.  Got a good walk in on Saturday.  No tasty sound bites really apart from one from a fisherman and his mate on the banks of the Dee, he took his mobile phone out to show me a picture of a salmon caught on this water recently.  "Oh" said his mate "Your'e not showing her that picture again are you, does it get bigger each time you take it out?"  whereapon the assembled company collapsed in fits of laughter. ......

Drinks

Bridge End Inn Ruabon
CAMRA pub of the year 2011.

Spitting Feathers, Honey Trap (4.1%)
Apparently this pale amber beer is brewed using honey from the brewery's own bees.
Reactions
Emotional: Very, very interesting - something to savour
Critical: Golden amber with smooth head.  Yeasty grassy aroma.  Full and rounded flavour with very strong tones of grassy, hay and silage, slight hint of roast parsnips with a clean abrupt finish.

Merlin, Merlins Gold (3.8%)
Reactions
Emotional: Woooow ...... bitter bitter ......
Critical: Light and floral aroma and on first taste, plenty of top notes, followed by metallic grapefruit sort of long bitter finish. 


Dee Valley view

Sunny lovely lowlands and lodges with Guinness

Location: Polbeth, Camilty woodlands and the Pentland Hills

Moodmusic: Happy back in the lowlands for the fourth time this year

Today’s memories and soundbites

A beautifully warm and sunny trip to the Scottish lowlands I have landed at the Gatehouse Lodge of Harburn House.  I really don’t believe it, but the story of Cromwell which has unfolded throughout this summer’s wanderings continues.  It seems Cromwell was here too in 1650 during the second phase of the Civil War with the Scottish campaign.  The original Harburn House was destroyed at that time.  It was rebuilt in 1804 for Alexander Young part of the family to which James Paraffin Young belonged.  James Young had a massive influence on the area here around West Calder and Bathgate.  Paraffin Young patented a process for distilling at a low heat crude oil from cannel coal a deep mined oil-bearing shale and went into business with partners E.W. Binney & Co. at Bathgate and E. Meldrum & Co. in Glasgow.  From 1851 onwards these companies refined oil at such quantity that for a  few years Scotland was the major oil-producing nation of the world.  At it’s peak the industry comprised 120 oil works extracting more than 100 million litres (22 million gallons) of oil from 3 million tonnes of shale annually in West Lothian, and employing up to 40,000 people. By the second decade of the 20th century, the industry began meeting competition from crude oil pumped directly from the ground in the USA and the Middle East.  The waste material from the oil shale extraction work was dumped in the form of “bings” which dominate the local landscape.  I have spent the last few days at the base of one of the Five Sisters.  Shale bings have become important to local ecologies, with more than 350 of the 800 species plant species that have been recorded in West Lothian, including some of the rarest, found on them.  Livingstone continues to provide the impression of a thriving industrial past in that it feels like a town bigger than its boots.  Today the area looks more rural than industrial, and an early evening walk last night involved honeysuckle, a hedgehog, deer, kestrels and farmers hay carting.

Moved on to Hamilton.  Not much to say about the place other than it has some nice old buildings and is very, very bereft of real ale houses.  Even an emergency call on Twitter didn’t help.  I did laugh again though when I found yet another reminder of my old friend Cromwell.  A plaque on the Cadzow bridge over the Cadzow burn in the middle of Hamilton commemorates the Battle of Heiton against the English forces in 1650.

Drinks

The Golf club

Went to the local golf club in search of ale, but it seems there are no local brews or much in the way of real ale in the area.  Settled for a Guinness a rather than a Tennants.
Guinness, Guinness (4.2%)

Reactions

Emotional: Aaah well ….

Critical: Easy drinking when there is nothing else, but seems to lack body compared to the last time I drank this in 1998!

The Windsor, Hamilton

Guinness, Guinness (4.2%)

Emotional: better than the golf club

Critical: Ambience in the pub makes up for the factory-style brew

Andiamo, Hamilton

Peroni, Nastro Azzurro (5%)

Emotional: Aaah well …. again ………

Critical: Easy to drink in a very hot room, on a very muggy night.  What more need be said?

West Calder view

Summer grass, I love it, and Pentlands on the horizon

The far end of Five Sisters bing at 240m high

My digs, nicer than a Premier Inn surely?

A pint of beer is every woman's right!

You tell them sister!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/14/pint-beer-woman-right

Rampart, Growler and Fullers on the ocean wave

Location: Menai Straits and Cearnarfon Bar

Moodmusic: Lift a glass to those we have loved

Today's memories and soundbites
A very unexpected weekend, on a boat, on the Menai Straits passing through the Swellies (bad reputation if you don't pick the right slack window) and out beyond to the sea.  Cearnarfon from the sea looked pretty amazing, everything a walled European citadell should look like, with a pub tucked onto a quay under the castellations.  On to a night moored in a pool at Abermenai point.  Sounds of curlew, tern and oyster catcher.  Music from Ireland and Africa as accompaniment, along with beer even though limited to bottle again but who cares in a place like this?  Walked today after lovely slow Sunday morning, looking a across to Fort Belan which was built in 1775 originally to fend off American privateers from the Irish sea by Lord Newborough. Picked samphire for lunch, unlucky with the fish line although saw seabass jumping and shoaling mackerel mashing and blipping the sonar, before washing up and heading home.  A great weekend holiday.

Drinks

1. Conwy, Rampart (4.5%)
Reaction
Emotional: Aaaahhhh I needed that!
Critical: Nice bitter tart bitter hops with a bit of citrus breaking through.  Lovely crisp finish and a smooth texture.  Not too watery.

2. Nethergate, Old Growler, Strong English Ale (5.6%)

Reaction
Emotional: Oh dear ..... this is going to my head!!
Critical: A strong and flavoursome drink.  Toffee hops and then breaking into porridge caramel. English to the core.  Both refreshing and comforting on a warm moonlit night.

3. Fullers, 1845 (6.3%)
Reaction
Emotional: Wooow .... time to slow down now
Critical: Fullers is always steady! Aroma is hoppy and hazlenuts.  Toasted malt, little bit of chocolate at the back, caramel and fruity.  Complexity.  ends well with nice lasting bitterness.

Menai view

Britannia Bridge, built by Stephenson in 1845

Cearnarfon city walls and castle

Three Sheets at the docks

Location: Docklands, Bangor

Moodmusic:  Joining up again before another day of action learning

Today's memories and soundbites
"Simon says - Spent pants"
New tasting and ranking procedure ..... best beer is the fastest disappearing?  If it's being supped quickly it must rank better than a pint slower to go.  By this token the Bank's Sunbeam is a better beer than the Three Sheets?

Drinks

Location: The Boat Yard
1. Ringwood, Three Sheets (4.6%)
Reactions
Emotional: Well, not bad ..... not brilliant but not bad
Critical:  Nice colour, gives a smooth creamy head. Metallic sweet, slightly citrusy crisp beer. Sharp finish.  Likely a great session beer.


2. Bank's, Sunbeam
As good as it was in Shrewsbury.  See blog of June 12th


Location: The Tap and Spile
3. Batemans, Summer Swallow (3.9%)
Reactions
Emotional: This is just right for such a beautiful summers night (3 days and nights of warm sunshine - not for us the rain and storm!)
Critical:  Aroma yeasty.  Beautiful golden colour. Medium body.  Tangy, hay flavours.  Long astringent then bitter finish.  Delicious.  Refreshing.

Breweries up and pubs down - getting to grips with structure of the industry?

Location: the internet

Moodmusic: Am I drinking enough?
So I woke up this morning wondering about beer sales and pub closures. On the one hand it seems to me that there are many more breweries and micro-breweries today than there used to be, and lots more ales on sale?  If that's true does it mean that the market for beer is booming?  But how does this sit against the big story about pub closures?  Walking through Chester the other night I was struck by just how many pubs there were there, and how packed to the gunells they were too.  I feel confused.  I've just not been keeping up with what's going on obviously.  Having spent so much time living and working overseas there are great chunks of my knowledge about UK social history and culture just missing.  Time to get educated.  Not wanting to spend too many hours researching the question (whoooaaa .... a bit too much like being at the office ....) the quickly acquired and charted data came up with the following.

Brewery openings are up over the last 20 years. Some of these are new, and some of them are "cuckoo" breweries, projects or sub sections of producing "craft beer" within bigger bewery. A testament to the macros being inspired by the success of micros.  There are also "brewpubs" included.  The closures of breweries happens too of course but there seems to be a net gain over time.

A big change to the pub landscape happened in 1989-1992 with the Beer Orders which saw Parliament break the brewing and retailing ties of the large 6 breweries on their pubs. As a result the large breweries split brewing from retail and over 11,000 pubs were sold to newly created pub-owning companies. These 'brewcos' focused on profitable efficient retailing and on large volume, mainly city center pubs, and have increased their holdings (e.g. JD Wetherspoon).  The less profitable small turnover pubs were left as tenancy and leasehold businesses.

Numbers of pubs took a step down in response to this restructuring post 1992, and then took a very steep decline from 2005/06.  

Margins and profits may have been affected by the smoking ban that was introduced in 2006/07, and the beer duty escalator which was introduced in 2008.  According to other sources, the rate of pub closure has actually slowed down over the past 9 months.  It is the managed pubs and tenancies which have suffered the greatest part of the decline.  But why, what's preventing profitable business?  What does beer production and consumption look like?  Its a surprise to find that there has been little change in the total volume of beer brewed in the UK between 1820 and 2000.      

Pub retail figures suggest that as pubs have changed in character, the customer base may have increased and diversified, but total beer sales are declining. However, there has been a rise in the popularity of premium beers, which are defined as brands with alcohol contents in excess of 4.2%.  The 'brewco' managed houses are successful and take in excess of £10,000 per week with an annual turnover of £0.5 million considered only marginal, most of them taking far more.  So for these high volume pubs, trade is good.  This trade is partly dependent on the quality and variety of product - beer - to ensure repeat trade.  So perhaps the brewcos are good for breweries and the range of beers by micro-breweries, real ale and craft beer producers. they diversify the offer and service customer choice.  But aside from the economics of beer sales and profitability, it seems that it is not really a fair market place.  Tenants, licensees pay high lease prices (average of £70,000 p.a.), and generate low profits (average £23,000 p.a. which needs to include cover for capital outlay), whilst trading with continuing restrictions placed on what beers they can sell under remaining forms of tie agreements.  Then, when the tenanted pubs are closed down, there are often restrictive covenants placed on them preventing others from re-opening pubs and making successful businesses.  It is argued that these covenants exist as restrictive practices simply as a means to protect other pubs which breweries or brewcos own within the vicinity. In addition, planning regulations do not protect pubs since permission is not needed when changing the use of pub to, for example, a residential dwelling.  The path is open for speculative development to make easy profit.  

What I discovered was it's a complicated picture, with success for some, and distress for the small traditional pub and landlord.  Causes of change and pressures on pubs are economic and social.

Sources of info

J.D. Pratten.  2005. A new landlord? A study of the changing demands on the UK publichouse manager. Hospitality Management 24: 331–343.

J.D. Pratten.  2005. Can the leaseholder survive in the UK licensed trade? Hospitality Management 24: 345–357

J. Pinkse and M E. Slade, 2004. Mergers, brand competition, and the price of a pint. European Economic Review 48: 617 – 643

Clare Elwood Williams.  1996.  The British Pub - An industry in transition. Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly: December 61-73

Updates

CAMRA publishes new Good Beer Guide and announces that brewery numbers in the UK have reached a 70 year high, taking the total to beyond 1,000.  Its got people talking @:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19571803   

http://www.channel4.com/news/ale-and-hearty-breweries-thrive-during-tough-times 

http://money.uk.msn.com/number-of-breweries-tops-1000  

Boak and Bailey think about when the beer boom might be coming to an end by looking at the trends in breweries and products.

http://boakandbailey.com/2013/01/beer-boom-end-nigh/

Boak and Bailey had fun mapping the opening of new breweries too

https://twitter.com/BoakandBailey/status/291632936556560384 

New to Beer?  Here's some information on how to taste what you are drinking

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19199104

Sports success. Surely a reason for more beer?

Well even to a  non-sports fan, it was an exciting evening, surely?  I think its a great reason to celebrate. With beer.

Chester madness with Welsh Black

Location:  Chester, Roman end of town

Moodmusic: Let us not be who we were.  Let us be who we would be at this moment forward.

Today's memories and soundbites
A balmy summer's night and nothing better to do, so another spontaneous decision to do something a bit different which took me to having a picnic at the open air theater this evening, a companion piece to Twelfth Night - Masters are you Mad.  The sentiment was interesting.  The execution much like the review.  

Drinks
1. Great Orme, Welsh Black (4%)
Reactions
Emotional: Went alongside the picnic quite well
Critical: Immediate hit of chocolate, ending in treacle.  Medium bitter mild. Hint of coffee toasted smokiness. Smooth but thin.  Made just down the road. Perfectly palatable and enjoyable if not over-exciting.

Chester view

Beer and cheese - save earthquake cheesemakers

Cheese Aid.  Follow this link to support the cheese makers of Northern Italy hit during the recent earthquakes. http://saveacheese.com/

So much choice so little time inn Bristol

Location: Bristol
Moodmusic:  Here we are again .... hey ho

Back to my home city.  I even saw my old school today and remembered a schoolgirl haunt at Henleaze lake natural swimming pool as we drove past it.  I was hoping to report on west country fare but too many meetings and a desire to get home, see me standing on an overpacked train instead.  I've no idea why they run this route with just 2 carriages. Hohum.  Will just need to put down a marker for next time instead .... like this ....   Bristol Pubs and Bars | Bristol Pubs and Bars and renew my intention to revisit the place was a barmaid for a fair while and honed my pint pulling skills.


Train view
sunshiney evening and full moon tonight over the sea