[Closed] Restaurants and Beer Aparteid!

Beer isn't such as popular a beverage in China and Italy as it is here, perhaps? Italy certainly is better known for wine, surely? Beer is provided to satisfy beer-swilling Brits. Some of whom don't want to drink wine.

Take your own, if allowed. Bloody philistine. 🙄

TBH though, I can't imagine that beer is the ideal drink with Italian and Chinese food, although lager does go down exceedingly well with a curry. Yer Real Ales tend to go better with north European foods which are blander in flavour and allow the taste of the beer to stand out more distinctly.

I don't get it, normally ale tastes like diluted turds so thankfully these places you list sell nice lager.

Why is it that when i go for an:
Italian, they only have Peroni or such like?
A Curry house: Cobra/Kingfisher?
A Chinese restaurant: Singha/Tsingtao?

Because they're there to make money not ponce around with looking after ale
They therefore supply what most people will drink, in the sure knowledge that they won't be left with spoiled stock at the end of the month

Not sure I see the problem - given a stock of n drinks I think it's generally more fitting that they prioritise whatever's most consistent with the food (even if it's just something with a Chinese name or one of the common imports).

[i]But what about all the wonderful beers from these countries? The Chinese and Italians must have some, rather than these big name brands.[/i]

The big name imports are common because restaurants rely on drink for their best margins - the food isn't so profitable.

[i]Peroni. I had it back to back with another lager[/i]

Which one?

[i]Beer isn't such as popular a beverage in China and Italy as it is here, perhaps? Italy certainly is better known for wine, surely? Beer is provided to satisfy beer-swilling Brits.[/i]

Lager's pretty popular in Italy. Though last time I was there it seemed more popular with women than with men.

[i]Because they're there to make money not ponce around with looking after ale[/i]

Bottled beer doesn't need looking after.

toys19 - Member

I don't get it, normally ale tastes like diluted turds so thankfully these places you list sell nice lager.

wasn't a troll, you cannot be a troll just for not liking beer so go boil your head! In fact not liking beer is a sure sign I am not a troll.

The place in town serves over 60 bottled and draught ales, and allows you to bring your own food, neatly reversing your problem.

Because other countries have more common sense and better taste in beer than us and realise that 'real ale' tastes like dishwater and is drunk as a pennance by old wizened men with straggly beards, wearing socks and sandals and younger people who feel the need to prove their 'real' credentials 😉

yay clubber rules! I love lager, crisp, thirst quenching yum yum.

Peroni, Tsingtao, Singha....rubbish? - What?

They are some of my favourite beers.

yeah and me, the OP listed a recipe for some great nights out..

"They are some of my favourite beers."

Ah, but mass produced and tasteless fizz, with rice and other adjuncts in them are far from beers. Or organic.

😉

I love my ale but I wouldn't expect an Italian or Chinese restaurant to employ expert cellar keeping skills when it came to real ale, their core skills lie elsewhere. so for that reason I'm out

lager = fizzy mass produced chemical junk. drink proper beer. go to belgium, they have even more varieties of beer than we do, and even the "blond" beers are usually decent. apart from the fizzy mass produced chemical junk sold here under a faux french style

toys(out the pram) and clubber are clearly in league with satan and sniff each others bottoms. 😉
I see no problem with these places stocking lagers, but it begs the question why British beers are so marginalised in restaurants, clubs in the UK etc.
Im not expecting to see old grumble thumper on draft anytime soon in my local club, but why not bottled bitters or the like? Its almost like we're embarassed to sell our own beers. How sad!

Forum members in trivial differing of opinions shocker!

You like what you like and no opinion oh here is gonna change that!

But you dont see me slagging off lagers do you, when others have clearly got issues with british beers.

Its almost like we're embarassed to sell our own beers

Or that people understand that selling real ale in a nightclub is going to have very limited appeal.

If I think back to my late teens there's no way that I'd have bedded hundreds of young women if I was drinking a pint of 'Captains Bernards tripple dropped rusty nipple'

Ok so not in clubs, but why not in restaurants etc? Like I say there are lots of bottled beers available. I just think people are missing out.

I guess its all down to marketing then?

Now now this appears to be a nationalism issue for you bigyinn! This is ruddy laughable, I'm awfully sorry for hurting beers feelings by openly slagging it off. I just don't particularly like the stuff. If I'm skint and want a a pint and food, I'll often have a "british beer" as they frequently have bits of meat in them, but basically I love lager and don't really like beer, I'm not oppressing beer or embarrassed by beer, I just don't like it.

I guess its all down to marketing then?

Maybe, or supply and demand, more people like lager.

Hmmm, without being rude, I think a lot of people dont actually care what they drink, but will drink whatever may be fashionable (im not having a pop at you, this time toys19 and I respect your opinion).
British beer certainly isnt "cool".

No, it's often warm.

Very true but that's not to say that people who don't drink old man beer don't drink it because they don't know any better - they simply know that they don't like it.

Besides saying that 'lager' is all the same is silly. It can be anything from bargain booze crap to proper nice stuff. Apparently a bit like old man beer which I'm told can range very much the same 😉

But lovely.

Apparently a bit like old man beer which I'm told can range very much the same

This is true. Some 'real ale' is downright nasty. I drink what I like, sod all the hype. I like a nice proper Czech/German lager. I like German wheat beer. I like lots of 'real ales'. I just like beer, basically!

Too much snobbishness surrounding he drinking of beer. Too many people trying to 'out-niche' each other, prove how superior they are to the next man. Stupid.

Decent real ale is great ,Hobgoblin.Speckled Hen etc are lovely and each has a disrinct taste.German lager taste good as well but most pale generic fizzy lager tastes like cold piss

There's some very nice German stuff in Aldi at the mo

Not that the 'niche brigade' would be seen dead in there mind

Having never drunk cold (or even warm or hot) wee-wee, I can't actually substantiate your claims, Edric.

BYO curry house at the end of our road. Lager/bitter/wine - take what you like, drink what you like - in whatever order - sorted 😀

Lager is actually just a term for ageing beer, it's not a beer type. The marketing men have won 😳

I'll get my beard and woolly jumper on the way out.

[img] [/img]

Lager is actually just a term for ageing beer, it's not a beer type. The marketing men have won

🙄 Yes, I know (funnily enough I used to work in the brewing industry...)

Calling something by the name that it's commonly known means nothing other than you're not a pedant who'll say things that are more factually 'correct' just to make yourself look clever even if makes no sense in common speech or particularly in the context of this discussion where lager is distinct from old man beer aka bitter.

TJ - I saw a good response to that a while back which I can't find but the gist was just because it's got a flavour doesn't mean it's good. It was being compared to s**t as I recall..

Yes, but it means the marketing men have still won, doesn't it Clubber?

😉

Define won - yes, maybe they've got the word in usage. No, doesn't mean that people are drinking something they don't like and particularly it doesn't change the fact that people have a choice of something nicer (IMO of course...) than bitter and take advantage of that.

I'm not into defining things Clubber, that's for pedants surely? 😀

Each to their own I suppose, it doesn't change the fact that Fostaz and Carlinz is minging though. Plus, Carlsberg tastes like sweat.

it doesn't change the fact that Fostaz and Carlinz is minging though. Plus, Carlsberg tastes like sweat.

Absolutely. In the same way that even bitter-philes will say the same about crap bitters... 😉

I always wished that metal nightclubs would have served tea and cake, would have loved a nice cuppa and a slice of cake after a 1am Slayer windmilling thrash fest.

I'm off for a pint!

😉

Tsingtao, Cobra, Peroni, Kirin...some of people's "favourite beers". Thing is, read the labels...many are "brewed in the UK under license" and so, whether you like it of not, or however you try to dress it up clubber, they're all just exercises in marketing. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with drinking lager, but don't try dressing it up too much. Most of them are pish and if you took them out of a bottle and into a glass without the adverts and labels, most of us would struggle to tell the difference.

All that said, sometimes, there's nothing to beat a cool crisp lager on a hot day. And the lightweights amongst us are pleased with the advent of the four percenters like Becks Vier, Grolsch Blonde etc.

Curry houses could stock some nice bottled IPA if they wanted to give a different option to lagers.

most of us would struggle to tell the difference

Quite probably but that's true of lots of things - even many bitters.

'Brewed in the UK under license' - yes I know that bit having worked for one of the companies doing a lot of the brewing under license... doesn't really change whether it's nice to drink or not though. You don't have to drink the finest wines all the time to enjoy drinking wine.

Curry houses could stock some nice bottled IPA if they wanted to give a different option to lagers

And I'll bet they would if they though there was enough of a market for it.

I personally prefer a glass of Gewürztraminer or Riesling with my Curry.

[img] [/img]

Perhaps your average joe who drinks lager isnt aware of the existance of some wierd drink called IPA.
Hands up at this point, I like beer, I like british beer a lot and I was a member of CAMRA.
I that lager is a safe bet to most, whether you have Carling in Bath, Bournemouth or Briddlington it'll be the same, whereas people dont recognise most beer other than John Smiths (which everyone agrees is sheeeiite) so the local brew is passed by for something familiar like Carling.

This is lovely with a curry too:
[img] [/img]

they simply know that they don't like it

like the little kids that "don't like" sprouts so they've never actually had any 😉

no, I'd argue that, just maybe, they [i]don't[/i] know if they [i]do[/i] like it

Umm I've drunk loads of different types of bitter, still prefer lager.. Although I would drink bitter rather than carling or fosters.

doesn't really change whether it's nice to drink or not though

No, it doesn't. I'm not trying to persuade you ale is nicer to drink. You stick with your bland marketing exercises if you want. What I'm saying is that when you're popping open a San Miguel or a Cobra or a Tiger, you might not be getting that authentic experience that the marketeers and ad men are telling you you're getting. More likely it's been brewed in a big stainless steel monolith on an industrial park outside a minor city to an "authentic" (my arse) recipe and labeled and bottled according to how you feel it should look given the country from which you fancy drinking on that particular evening.

When I said:

most of us would struggle to tell the difference

I meant that outside of the bubble that the admen have created for you, you'd struggle to tell the difference between any of a number of "premium" continental lagers. Actually come to think of it, you might be able to tell the difference because the marketeers have now come up with different glasses (with the activation etched surface on the base to give you that "authentic" head) so that you know what you're drinking. 🙂 But I suspect you knew that anyway.

You may not be the only person around here with a bit of experience in the brewing industry 😉

I've had sprouts, and I know I don't like them.

The union flag is upside down on that beer bottle!!

The beer is distressed!

Because other countries have more common sense and better taste in beer than us

Tennent's Super is marketed as a premium lager in Italy...

I sampled quite a few beers whilst I was in New Zealand, it's amazing how many different colours of cold fizzy piss you can buy
.
I'd be happy to pay some sort of corkage if I could take my own bottles of St Peters or Bath ales into a restaurant

German hotels usually have a basement room with a sign "Lager". Sadly, the room usually contains junk - lager being German for "store".

"There's some very nice German stuff in Aldi at the mo"

Oooh! Will look, ta.

Deadly speaks absolute truth. I would be prepared to bet that I could go into a local pub that does ales and lagers on tap, have a sample of each in a clear glass and be unable to tell the difference between any of the lagers, (with the possible exception of Grolsch, which I used to drink a lot of once), whereas I could certainly tell the difference between the ales, in some instances just by the colour, but certainly by flavour.
Here's a story:
Bloke gets home from work at the Miller brewery, calls out, "hey honey, I'm home". Wife says, "hello dear, you sound cheerful, did you have a good day?"
"A good day? I had the [i]best[/i] day! I've invented a beer with absolutely [i]no[/i] flavour whatsoever! Now they've put me in charge of the brewery"