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Re: A Question for the Beer-Centric

Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 5:51 pm
by JesseM
NRman wrote: If you had said "a historic blah blah blah with 1 MAGNIFICENT craft tap" that might be different. For example, I'd sit in a bus shelter if it had a Two Hearted tap.
Yeah there are some pretty historic and awesome bus shelter's in KW.

Re: A Question for the Beer-Centric

Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 5:58 pm
by NRman
JesseM wrote:
NRman wrote: If you had said "a historic blah blah blah with 1 MAGNIFICENT craft tap" that might be different. For example, I'd sit in a bus shelter if it had a Two Hearted tap.
Yeah there are some pretty historic and awesome bus shelter's in KW.
And for Smashbomb lovers (like me) and those who think citra hopped beers are reminiscent of cat urine, those bus shelter are even more appealing!!!

Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 11:55 pm
by mintjellie
I totally used cat piss as a descriptor in my Smashbomb review. :lol:

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 12:02 am
by NRman
mintjellie wrote:I totally used cat piss as a descriptor in my Smashbomb review. :lol:
:D
BTW if anyone has a cat that's piss that actually smells like Smashbomb I will pay you $17 for it.

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 9:19 am
by Bytowner
Funny, I'm the opposite of most people here. When I go out on my own in London I prefer the tap list, when I go out with friends it's to whatever the "nicest" pub is in the area since they don't give a damn about what's on tap. Atmosphere's great and all, but when you're by yourself with a pint of Guinness it gets pretty old fast.

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 10:52 am
by saints_gambit
Depends, I think.

If the beer is Hook Norton Old Hooky on handpump and the pub is The RAF Bar in Cambridge, probably that (assuming I can bring a book.) If I had a pub like that to go to, I think that it would be mostly a late afternoon drinking kind of thing. Thoroughly civilized.

I think, though, that 40 taps would also be a draw. I don't care about sports very much, but that seems like an establishment you would go to later in the evening. Also, I'm assuming that they have suicide wings and decent fries and that the baseball is on one screen even during UFC fights.

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 4:16 pm
by ErkLR
Most of the time I'd pick a sports bar with a decent tap selection. For instance, I like the atmosphere at The Coats of Arms here in London (when there's not a game on), but I usually choose to go to a different pub because the only thing I really like at The Coats is Kilkenny and Guinness. I can get one or the other of those almost anyplace in London. Another 5 minutes down the street is The Black Shire with a decent selection and good atmosphere (when the live band is not playing at 90 decibels).

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 3:07 pm
by kwjd
Sports bar, no question. I typically don't order the same beer twice in a row, plus I like sports.

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 4:27 pm
by lister
kwjd wrote:Sports bar, no question. I typically don't order the same beer twice in a row, plus I like sports.
Ditto.

In most cases. Unless soccer is being played then I'll go to the other place. :wink:

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 9:43 am
by Steve Beaumont
Interesting responses, all. Thanks for the diversion.

I found fascinating the number of qualifications in your responses, ie: "assuming that," if such-and-such", "does it have so-and-so." The essence of my question was, of course, beer selection or atmosphere. I chose a sports bar in my example simply because I can't think of any sort of bar that generally boasts worse atmosphere.

I've been fortunate enough to have patronized plenty of both, and for me atmosphere always trumps selection, even though my norm is to never order the same beer twice in one session. Dusseldorf and Koln are both great examples of one beer + incredible atmosphere = wonderful experience. British pubs can be like that, too.

As many observed, though, my question was a bit loaded as southern Ontario is not exactly replete with historic and atmospheric bars. Or sports bars with good draught selections, for that matter.

One final note: My definition of hell is Real Sports on a game night, regardless of how interested I might be in said game and how they might have improved their taps from the current largely corporate list.

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 10:15 am
by lister
Steve Beaumont wrote:One final note: My definition of hell is Real Sports on a game night, regardless of how interested I might be in said game and how they might have improved their taps from the current largely corporate list.
Real Sports would be awesome if/when the Leafs get back to the playoffs or when Team Canada is playing for gold. I can live with the limited Steamwhistle (which I like anyways), Mill St, etc options there. If there was an awesome tap list would make the event even better.

The trick of course is getting in there for such an event... :wink:

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 2:28 pm
by Tapsucker
If you don't see the point in pro sports entertainment, then going to a sports bar is a lot like being dragged to church for an athiest. Actually worse, in some churches you can get some peace. A better analogy is listening to sports announcers is like listening to some screaming televangelist and then having the bar howl back responses every couple of minutes.

In other words, if you are going to be in a room full of sheep, you might as well expect the tap list to reflect what sheep drink.

That said, I think BeerBistro handles it pretty well. Yes the screens usually have the game on, but they are not in front of every seat and usually the volume respects the fact that some of the patrons came to talk to each other.

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 2:56 pm
by lister
I'm perfectly good with the better beer bars like Smokeless, Victory, C'est What having TVs on for whatever sports and not having the sound on. Most of the time the game announcers are annoying anyways. Those interested in watching the game can do so and those that are not interested won't be annoyed.

Now if there's a special event on and most of the people in the bar are there for said event having the sound on is a requirement.