Upon your recommendation next time I'm in a pub with a reputation for knowing how to keep their stuff I'll give it a shot.

Cheers for the head's up, along with all the other beer and ale fans who put in an appearance on the thread.

I was never a bitter drinker till I got bought a pint by accident in a country pub in West Sussex about 25 years ago - it was like an angel crying on one's tongue, but you have less than a 10% chance of a similarly pleasant experience if you drink ale, it's fresh like cheese, yoghurt or wine - if a landlord does not know how to keep beer you'll drink vinegary crap whatever the brand - keg bitter is awful, stale beer boiled and pumped with gas, avoid, in a pub ale must be 'pulled' not come out of a tap, it was Gale's Ale from Sussex that converted me btw, but bottle beers and draught may be very different, however the Czechs do black lager (roasted/burnt caramelised cereal in the brewing process), budvar did it in a bottle and it was OKish, but if you get a good czech black lager it's like a choir of angels masturbating on one's tongue, the sweetness and the bitterness cancel each other out and a subtle nuttiness delights the palate. Swiss and Poles do it too - but the Poles do some horrible stuff a bit like an old-fashioned 'mild' which is another tipple that needs strict conditions if you are not to be left with something nasty swilling around your trap.

I’m a huge fan of the craft beers, although I don’t know much about them!

Hope you don’t mind me joining in. Beavertown RYE IPA, £2.50 a can in refreshers shortlands. A fairly strong IPA at around 6.4%. One of my favourite brewers but not overly keen on this one.

6/10