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In Reply to: The "King's Head"? Best Bitter?.... Pubs?... Vaguely decent beer?..... Surely not!.... posted by feet's too big on March 26, 2007 at 23:02:47:
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but quietly point out that the quality of product delivered from those units would define how significant a factor they may represent!...It think it likely that what might be regarded as "a pub" in the US would probably be regarded as "a theme-park caricature" by any in the UK who use "genuine" pubs and who avoid the similar UK-based "theme-park" abberations ("Irish Bars", etc.) by reflex...
There ARE genuine "cross-over" establishments scattered wherever the UK previously had an empire, which you will probably find if and when you travel to Australia, New Zealand, or Tasmania!...
Enjoy your travels!...
The quality of pour from U.S. microbreweries and brew pubs is all over the map, excellent to barely adequate. Of course the U.K doesn't offer a universally wonderful pour either. I remember "Burts", I think I have that right, from the Isle of Wight which was very yeastly, flat and odd.
The American pubs that make an effort to be an "authentic English pub" usually fail miserably. The "theme-park" comment is well taken. I can remember being in village pubs where (unrelated) old-age pensioners, punks and 50-ish aging hippys were engaged in conversation together over their pints. You just don't see that in the U.S. Not only are we "divided by a common language" but our culture is also quite different. There does seem to be a creeping trend toward Americanization in Europe and England especially which I hope will be vigorously resisted. We tend to export the worst of culture and keep the many, very fine, aspects of America at home.
simply resulting from the relative size of both our nations... The UK is essentially simply a fairly large island, which means that those who wish to sample an excellent beer are not likely to have to go far to be able to obtain it! As an example, I live on the outskirts of Birmingham, and within the literally hundreds of pubs within a twenty-mile radius I certainly do not have to struggle to find countless options which combine a congenial atmosphere and the availabitity of a wide range of excellent beers..."Not only are we "divided by a common language" but our culture is also quite different."...
I would have thought that there would be lots of different cultures throughout the sheer size of the US rather than being of one consistent characteristic, but I suggest that having folk of different ages and interests being sufficiently relaxed in each other's company to chat together over a pint would be a situation worth emulating, whichever culture one happened to be in...
There will always be those (the young, etc) who are immaturely swept up by the novelty of various options, (Theme-park bars, MacDonalds, etc) irrespective of the indifferent product that they may ultimately deliver... However, whilst novelty fades, traditional virtues remain!...
Maybe the US could have some welcome influence on the UK pub?Imaging wandering into the local Nag's Head.....
"A pint of best please"
"Would you like to go Supersize with that sir?"
When I arrived at "The Pear Tree" in Nottingham for a dinner-time pint, those in the Lounge consisted of myself, the barman, one of my friends and his workmate...I looked at the top of the bar, where 24 pints of draught Guinness were waiting...
Les noticed my raised-eyebrow visual query, and said,
"What's the problem?... It saves queuing..."...
UK logic is hard to argue against...
Bill.
I didn't mean to suggest that there was a single monolithic American culture but there are some cultural continuities in the U.S. that seem to bridge our regional differences."...I suggest that having folk of different ages and interests being sufficiently relaxed in each other's company to chat together over a pint would be a situation worth emulating, whichever culture one happened to be in..." -I completely agree but that would be a very rare situation in the U.S.
Are those "cultural continuities" elements that naturally rise from each culture, or are they by-products of values presented by the media as being "expected" of citizens?...I would be interested as to your view of what constitutes those cultural continuities...
Although our media likes to feel that it defines reactions and attitudes, my experience is that reactions and attitudes in the UK are more often shaped by discussions in pubs, where sometimes unexpected perspectives may be delivered by some old codger (who may have sailed on the Murmansk convoys in WWII and lost the majority of his close friends in the process, etc) who HAS, in fact, "seen it all"...
Our pubs vary greatly both in character and who uses them, with the obvious consequence that pubs in areas with a strong sense of "community" tend to reflect those characteristics, whilst (city-based?) pubs that exist purely for a reasonably pleasant thirst-quencher at lunch-time or before going home tend to have rather different characters...
When the barmaids know both you and your dog by name, ask whether you want "Your usual?" and do indeed serve good beer, then IMO that is likely to be a "pub" worthy of the name...
I spent a lot of time in the UK in a previous job. Being one who enjoys meeting new people and drinking fresh brews, I spent as much time as possible in pubs.
Once my ex and I visited her sister in Kensington. She spent the whole 10 days at museums and gardens. I spent ten days in the pubs.
NT.
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