Ruddles @ Wetherspoons
phil
any other ales under 5.2%)
Is the Ruddles actually 'real ale'? It tasted like a beer flavoured
smoothflow type of thing. It wasn't 'off' but didn't taste like a 'real
ale'.
cheers, phil
Malcolm Lee
Ruddles is no longer real Ruddles - ie brewed in Oakham, Rutland.
Greene King bought and closed the Ruddles brewery many years ago.
Ruddles now comes from Greene King's brewery in Bury St Edmunds.
Although it produces "real ale" in the technical sense, many
real ale drinkers steer well clear of any Greene King pubs or
any beers originating from them.
In my opinion, Ruddles County and Greene King Abbot were two of
the really great beers 20 plus years ago. I wouldn't consider
drinking either now.
Malcolm
Esra Sdrawkcab
I check our local spoons for quality (or lack of, recently).
some chaps I meet are beholden to Abbot; it's like the Bass drinkers of
yesteryear.
>
> Malcolm
>
>
--
[dash dash space newline sig]
"Nuns! NUNS! Reverse! Reverse!"
Peter Fox
and many other fine beers of the 70s and 80s that live on in name but are now
brewed by accountants.
[1] One-inch beer ie. The very best: You're meeting up again with friends after
a while and have so much to say when the conversation suddenly stops!
Grins appear as you look at the lacing, savour the tastes and bathe in the
mutual enjoyment of superlative beer. Not at the first sip but after drinking an
inch.
Please, please, somebody tell me this still happens.
--
Peter 'Prof' Fox
Multitude of things for beer, cycling and curiosities at www.vulpeculox.net
Malcolm Lee
>> some chaps I meet are beholden to Abbot; it's like the Bass drinkers of
> Why don't they learn? Never go back. I remember Bass - proper one-inch
> beer[1]
> and many other fine beers of the 70s and 80s that live on in name but
> are now brewed by accountants.
>
>
Quite - that's why I won't drink Abbot any more - it's now bland and
innocuous. Adnams bitter has gone the same way - my local (in Suffolk)
has Adnams and 1 or 2 guest beers. The Adnams is mainly drunk by the
tourists - the regulars drink ABA - "Anything But Adnams"
>
> [1] One-inch beer ie. The very best: You're meeting up again with
> friends after a while and have so much to say when the conversation
> suddenly stops!
> Grins appear as you look at the lacing, savour the tastes and bathe in
> the mutual enjoyment of superlative beer. Not at the first sip but after
> drinking an inch.
>
> Please, please, somebody tell me this still happens.
It can do - occasionally. The TT Landlord we had recently was exactly
like this.
Malcolm
Peter Fox
> innocuous. Adnams bitter has gone the same way - my local (in Suffolk)
> has Adnams and 1 or 2 guest beers. The Adnams is mainly drunk by the
> tourists - the regulars drink ABA - "Anything But Adnams"
>> Please, please, somebody tell me this still happens.
>
> It can do - occasionally. The TT Landlord we had recently was exactly
> like this.
Hooray.
awavey
>On Sun, 03 Jul 2011 11:57:57 +0100, phil wrote:
>
>> I had a pint of Ruddles at a Wetherspoons last night ( due to the lack
>> of any other ales under 5.2%)
>> Is the Ruddles actually 'real ale'? It tasted like a beer flavoured
>> smoothflow type of thing. It wasn't 'off' but didn't taste like a 'real
>> ale'.
>
>Although it produces "real ale" in the technical sense, many
>real ale drinkers steer well clear of any Greene King pubs or
>any beers originating from them.
but 'spoons are bit all over the place sometimes on "real ale" i find alot of
their beers can taste smoothflowed, though by rights shouldnt be,such that
their beer festivals can often feel a bit lacklustre sometimes. dunno havent
quite worked out what they are doing that makes it that way yet, is it that
its just such the end of life stock they get, its just never going to be good
however much care they take, or is it some 'spoons just dont care at all.
>In my opinion, Ruddles County and Greene King Abbot were two of
>the really great beers 20 plus years ago. I wouldn't consider
>drinking either now.
which gets into a bit of a temporal loop, because most real ale drinkers
eschew GK (1 billion pound turnover) because when theyve tried it they didnt
like it, most real ale pubs never stock the stuff, the only places that do are
GK estate or a 'spoons or somesuch other chain. alot of which dont look after
the beer, its rack it sell it, and every so often you try it again and dont
like it, which leads to it only being stocked etc etc etc.
I tried it once at the gbbf and it actually tasted alright, not spectacular,
but not half as bad as its reputation, or normal experience belies, so theres
something going wrong in the chain somewhere.
Malcolm Lee
> In article <a3k6e8-...@giganews.com>, Malcolm Lee
> <malcRE...@canREMtab.net> wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
>>In my opinion, Ruddles County and Greene King Abbot were two of the
>>really great beers 20 plus years ago. I wouldn't consider drinking
>>either now.
>
> which gets into a bit of a temporal loop, because most real ale drinkers
> eschew GK (1 billion pound turnover) because when theyve tried it they
> didnt like it, most real ale pubs never stock the stuff, the only places
> that do are GK estate or a 'spoons or somesuch other chain. alot of
> which dont look after the beer, its rack it sell it, and every so often
> you try it again and dont like it, which leads to it only being stocked
> etc etc etc.
>
This may well be true but the complaint of many (including myself)
about GK has nothing to do with how well it is kept. It's the fact that
Ruddles County and Abbot were both once very distinctive beers and both
when on-form were "one-inch" beers to borrow Peter Fox's very apt
description. Neither, even when supremely well kept, are worth seeking
out now because GK (presumably deliberately) has made both of them
blander in the hope of appealing to a more mass market.
There's also another reason many people boycott GK. That's their
policy of buying perfectly viable breweries (mainly I guess to
acquire their tied house estates) and then shutting the brewery.
They've done this to Rayments, Ridleys, Morlands, Ruddles,
Hardy & Hansons, Belhaven and possibly others. Some great beers have
been lost as a result and a lot of people will not forgive them for
that.
> [snip]
Malcolm
Esra Sdrawkcab
<malcRE...@canremtab.net> wrote:
[snip]
>
> There's also another reason many people boycott GK. That's their
> policy of buying perfectly viable breweries (mainly I guess to
> acquire their tied house estates) and then shutting the brewery.
> They've done this to Rayments, Ridleys, Morlands, Ruddles,
> Hardy & Hansons, Belhaven and possibly others. Some great beers have
> been lost as a result and a lot of people will not forgive them for
> that.
>
>> [snip]
>
Remember Greenall Whitley?
http://www.cambridge-camra.org.uk/ale/284/answers.html
Ian Clifton
[...]
>
> Remember Greenall Whitley?
>
> http://www.cambridge-camra.org.uk/ale/284/answers.html
>
As a former inhabitant of “Greenall Whitley Land”, I certainly do—what
happened to them?
--
Ian ◎
Malcolm Lee
> On Wed, 06 Jul 2011 10:05:12 +0100, Malcolm Lee
> <malcRE...@canremtab.net> wrote:
>
> [snip]
>>
>> There's also another reason many people boycott GK. That's their
>> policy of buying perfectly viable breweries (mainly I guess to acquire
>> their tied house estates) and then shutting the brewery. They've done
>> this to Rayments, Ridleys, Morlands, Ruddles,
>> Hardy & Hansons, Belhaven and possibly others. Some great beers have
>> been lost as a result and a lot of people will not forgive them for
>> that.
>>
>>
>>> [snip]
>>
>>
> Remember Greenall Whitley?
>
> http://www.cambridge-camra.org.uk/ale/284/answers.html
>
>
Thanks for reminding me - Shipstones and Simpkiss were well worth
drinking before Greenall got their paws on them. Greenall themselves
never brewed much of note in Warrington but their brewery in Wem
brewed a very good bitter, Naturally, they shut the Wem brewery....
GK were similar in that respect, they had a brewery in Biggleswade
whose version of IPA was far better than that brewed in Bury St Edmunds.
No guesses which brewery they chose to close.
Malcolm
Malcolm Lee
I used to live on the edges of GW land, so fortunately had a choice of
other, more acceptable (to me anyway), beers - though Higsons was
definitely an acquired taste. GW seemingly gave up brewing about 20 years
ago.
Malcolm
Esra Sdrawkcab
<malcRE...@canremtab.net> wrote:
They were vultures whoo acquired a brewery and pub estate and then shut
the brewery - v. similar to GK modus operandi
It's a hotel & pub chain now, renamed themselves to De Vere
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Vere_Group
phil
> of
> their beers can taste smoothflowed, though by rights shouldnt be,such that
> their beer festivals can often feel a bit lacklustre sometimes. dunno
> havent
> quite worked out what they are doing that makes it that way yet, is it
> that
> its just such the end of life stock they get, its just never going to be
> good
> however much care they take, or is it some 'spoons just dont care at all.
Yes, Ruddles is one of the worst but Wethers 'real ale' in general tastes a
bit different to other pubs. Not normally 'off' but not as good as it
should. They do generally have a good selection, (although lately not enough
under 4.5%) so it's a shame that for some reason? it all lacks a bit of
flavour. Any theories on why this should be?
cheers, phil
Alan
<philip...@ntlworld.com> wrote
>it all lacks a bit of
>flavour. Any theories on why this should be?
>
Flavour requires the brewery to add the more expensive ingredients and
these days they are targeting the supermarket sub £1/pint trade.
--
Alan
news2009 {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk
Esra Sdrawkcab
It's old, and cold.
Paul Rigg
"Didn't Greenalls end up being brewed at Boddington's at Strangeways.
They continued to sell it in their pubs after they stopped brewing.
I don't think they were ever forgiven for knocking down Tommy Ducks.
phil
On the subject of Wetherspoons, I went to the new (to me) and excellent
Trent Bridge Inn both before and after a day at the cricket yesterday.
Superb pub, with lots of interesting cricket pictures on walls. The beer
(Rock Mild, and another local ale) was still, not off, but bland tho. Shame.
Phil
valeofbelvoirdrinker
wrote:
I went to the TBI yesterday and had a cracking pint of Trent Bridge
Ale (brewed just up the road by Nottingham Brewery)
Esra Sdrawkcab
>
>
> [1] One-inch beer
These days your lucky to not get served with a one-inch (missing/head of)
beer.
PeterE
news:5oSdnZHFNY5mioHT...@bt.com...
>
> "Didn't Greenalls end up being brewed at Boddington's at Strangeways.
No, it was brewed by Tetley's, first at Warrington and then at Leeds.
It was widely felt to be better than when it was brewed at Wilderspool.
Offramp
> It's old, and cold.
...And in the earth am I. One of six to eight.
phil
"phil" <philip...@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:mr2Tp.9344$_r1....@newsfe06.ams2...
More Wetherspoons news. Went to the new one in Weston Super Mare last night.
Apart from their regular ales, the only other one was Old Hooky. I've never
had a blander pint. Lots of labels showing ' available soon' which makes the
bar look like there is loads of choice. I considered emailing them to ask
why the ales are so dull, but I just know that these ' cheap and cheerful'
companys (Ryanair, Easyjet etc) would probably not even read it, let alone
reply. They are fairly cheap, so I guess you get what you pay for. Think
it's time to give up on the Wethers, and pay a bit more for a decent pint in
as proper real ale pub. Shame.
Cheers, Phil
Esra Sdrawkcab
They (well in my local) seem to only have local beers, but not quality.
I dunno about " a bit more for quality" as I was in the Cotswolds
(this?)/last w/e
and ￜ3.00 a pint was hard to find (i.e. ￜ3.20 ￜ3.40 etc was the norm)
Abbott drinker
--
For full context, visit https://www.drinksforum.com/beer-uk/ruddles-wetherspoons-14874-.htm