I know what you mean

Over on Stonch’s Beer Blog, Jeff has posted a piece on the seasonal crowd who only frequent pubs at this special time of the year and some of the challenges that they pose to the year round regulars and the staff of the pubs they visit.

I am experiencing the same sort of thing in the restaurant as the corporate party crowd descends and brings with it many ‘fresh heads’ who may never have even thought to visit a restaurant like ours. This is not always a bad thing and it can even be a great opportunity to snaffle a few loyal regulars from other places around who may have been taking them for granted.

It can be frustrating when a new guest complains about the fact that you don’t have his favourite spirit or beer, but these blokes are thankfully rare. It does bring up the point that Jeff made and that is; to what extent do you ‘gear up’ for the Christmas crowd and how far do you go to accommodate their whishes or whims? I see the chance to expose them to something they may not have had and might just find themselves liking. I will sometimes pick my mark carefully and offer him or her a ‘beer back guarantee’ – try the beer, if you really don’t like it, I’ll buy you another. We both win in the end.

It can also be a good opportunity to talk beer with people who are accustomed to being offered just the standard big brewery fare whenever they go out and these guys really appreciate the extra attention to their beer drinking needs.

You will always get the few who can’t, or just won’t, be swayed from their favourite brew and that’s fine too. Spend your time and experience on those who you might ‘convert’ and the Beer World gains another to its population. They are the ones you may see back again – it’s pointless wasting too much time and energy on peanuts that you really don’t want in the place again anyway.

A pub is certainly a different beast to a restaurant in that my people have usually come in as a guest of someone else and not made the decision themselves whereas, as Jeff points out, his ‘Once a year Regulars’ come in as a result of some vague concept that they should visit a proper pub at Christmas time even if they wouldn’t do it any other time.

I like using this time of the year as an opportunity to make a few new friends and to move some stock that might normally sit around the fridge or the cellar. If we all get a ‘win’ then I don’t feel too bad. Merry Christmas.

Cheers,
Prof. Pilsner

Drink and Click

Just a quick ‘heads up’ for readers who may be a bit of a dab hand at photography and also enjoy visiting places that might just serve beer-like beverages.

One of the regular stops on my daily blogging journey is Stonch’s Beer Blog, a very well written and assembled blog focussing on the ‘ins and outs and other bits’ of beer (and especially real ale) in Great Britain in general and London in particular. For those who haven’t yet paid a visit, click on the link at the side of this blog and check out some of Jeff’s stuff. There are regularly posted, easy and quick posts on all sorts of topics and there is always the chance of a bit of a stoush whenever a contentious opinion is raised with numbers of comments often topping double figures.

At the moment Jeff and Alan from A Good Beer Blog in Canada are combining to present a photography competition with a stack of prizes on offer to boot. They ran this together last year and this year looks to be even better supported. Especially if anyone bothers to read about it here!

I have started looking at beer and bars and restaurants differently over the last week with a mind to discovering a photographic angle from which to put a spotlight. It’s funny how pouring a beer suddenly takes on a new bent when you start trying to pour a big foamy head on a Bridge Road Pale Ale that sits above the rim just so you can see how it will look in a photo! Thank goodness for digital technology as my patience would no longer stretch to waiting for processing anymore.

The boys have arranged for different categories of prizes so that we over here across the waves can have a crack at the goodies as well. So dust off the Nikons, lads get your Kodaks out, girls get your Canons out (snigger, snigger) and start sippin’ and snappin’.

I was going to take photos of all the really nice beers I drink but I only have a 2 meg memory card.

Cheers,
Prof. Pilsner

PS: The picture at the top of this post, titled "Two pints of Bitter" taken by John Lewington was the winning picture from last year's competition. I think they may be 'tickers'. Thanks to Stonch for permission to reproduce it here.

Beer to make you better

My Beer Blog Brother from across the waves, Stonch, had a bit of a tumble recently and has been laid up with a gimpy foot so I thought I might look into the recuperative powers of beer from a researched and very scientific approach. Then I realised that would be far too much like boring old hard work and I changed my mind and decided on the next best thing. Make stuff up.

We all know just how good for you beer can be. In medieval times and onwards beer was seen as a safe and tasty alternative to the dodgy local water. The British Empire was spread wide in ‘the olden days’ and India, the jewel in the imperial crown, was responsible for the invention of the India Pale Ale style. So hoppy and preserved was it that it could almost be labelled as ‘medicinal’.

So to those who are ailing, unwell, sick or just sick of it, here are my Top Beers to Top Up Your Spirits. Without resorting to spirits. Now, there are two very different types of unwelledness that we need to address from the start because one type can be cured easily with beer while the other will make you worse. The first type is the physical unwelledness – aches, sprains, strains and all manner of brain-drains. Provided that the breaks, fractures and swellings are confined to areas other than the arms and hands, self medicating is a snap.

The second type of unwelledness is not the physical but the physically sick – the dodgy guts, the Delhi Belly, Thai Typhoid and any other ailment of the insides which may enforce the opinion of your mates that you can’t hold your grog. Literally. Do not attempt to redress the liquid imbalance in your bowel by adding more. Go to bed, have one of those iced lollies that taste like Gatorade after it’s been tipped over the sweaty head of the Super bowl winning head coach and rejoin the Beer World when you stop spray painting the porcelain.

So, with that unpleasantness behind us; on to the beers. There is always something therapeutic about porters and stouts and since Stonch is in England I will assume he has access to plenty and better than I could offer and we shall move on.

Any Belgian Abbey ale with enough alcohol by volume to disable a small mule will generally do the trick as far as numbing aches goes and if you are taking that particular course then you may as well seek out one that doesn’t kick like a mule all the way down. Red Hill Temptation has some very warming and comforting notes wrapped in a beautiful looking beer and the 8% alcohol makes you feel like you are getting that mule to kick the pain. In the arse.

Another favourite of mine when I am feeling poorly is a Weihenstephaner. Any of them, really but a Dunkel or a Korbinian would probably have more approval from a doctor because they look more ‘mediciney’ and that might trick your brain into thinking that this stuff in the glass may actually cure you. Unless the thing that needs curing is in fact your brain in which case you might be in a bit more strife than I can help you out of.

Have I pointed out before this point that I am not a real medical professional in any way and I don’t expect anybody to take this as real medical advice? Good. My last suggestion is to try mixing your alcohol with your medication as I seem to remember something about these two elements being taken together. The advice also had something to do with the operation of heavy industrial machinery but since the reason you are mixing beer and codeine is that you are injured, I guess you don’t have to worry too much about work so just go for it.

Stonch, hope you are up and about soon and that this advice has been as helpful as it has been inane. If pain persists, take two Beck’s and call me in the morning. Except that ‘morning’ for you is very late for me, so, on second thoughts just have another instead.

Cheers,
Prof. Pilsner
(Not a real doctor)