G'day. My favourite Oz lager? Swan, though I remember those megacans of real Fosters. That's the lager dealt with, now to the burning question. Given that most drinkers aren't that fussed about what they're drinking, it follows that where they're drinking matters. The beer palaces of yore - and you can expect lots of yore in beery blogs - were, for many men, the best places they'd be in their lives. The amount of money put into these places by the breweries is as surprising as the investment in the railway stations. There are plenty of apparent converted terrace houses to prove the point. Just shows how much money there was and is in the business. Funny, isn't it, how you can locate the offices in a strange pub even when you're just about fit to walk.
That's the architecture, now to enter. Strewth, I hate running the gauntlet of bouncers. No decent pub needs them. I remember a pub in Exmouth, only a couple of years back, now, where the total staff was one girl behind the bar. On t'other side, though, were several white-haired men, former Marines. No cracking of knuckles, just the feeling that nothing naughty could happen there. The best security for a pub, then is a lot of large men out for a quiet time. Trouble is, they can put beer away, but not quickly enough for the management's liking. And another point - managers tend to be that, half the time lacking the charisma of a tenant. Or the arrogance, rudeness, and misanthropy of a man trapped in a treadmill and pickling himself on his profits. But on the other hand again, a tenant would have more time to attract his or her own kind. Local business big shots, rugger players (worked in a pub with those, big but as safe as milk), campers,so you'd have a definite feeling of place and you'd be unlucky not to find an alernative nearby if you didn't like it.
As for the drinking part, when I worked in pubs I always made sure that a customer got what he wanted as soon as possible - I get thirsty too - with minimum fuss. Another pet hate, the question "Anything else?" I'd have said so already and I don't like people trying to chip more money out of me. I like to take in the range of pumps and the bottles, too. Again, the higher powers like a well-ordered life, where draught goes in pubs and bottles go to supermarkets. They're two different ways of drinking. Newcastle Brown was a poor man's way of getting stoned. 'Journey into Space', only 4.7% but with traces of something else. The London breweries, Young's and Fuller's, are or were good for this. London's good for this, two breweries each with its own style.
Choice, now. The enthusiasts' pubs, with a dozen different brews, are fine, but I feel a bit like a kiddie in a sweet shop. I want everything but can't have it. Drinking is a comfort thing - I like to look forward to the usual. I don't want it to disappear again. Seasonals can come and go - Adnam's Tally Ho - but I want my comfy stuff.
As for the other end of things, inthat Rugger pub where I worked one of the regulars was a young man, generally drinking Fullers ESB (strong!) and reading 'Nausea' by Sartre. He fancies a number two, off he goes, through the boys drinking beer by the bucket (London Pride). Toilet minus light, broken lock. He sits. Meanwhile, someone's full to the gills, must unload, Lurches into the bog, past stalls, occupied, Emegency chunder into the lockless necessarium... As someone later said, it probably helped Sartre fan on.
