The state of the economy...and your beer choice.

Not Another Hill

With inflation now doing its best to recreate the heady days of the '70s, do you economise on your choice of beer?

I have moved from my usual tipples of Cobra, Tiger, Kingfisher etc to Co-ops own 'French Premium Lager' which is considerably cheaper and does not taste too bad.

The alternative is to stop feeding the kids but Mrs Not Another Hill is not too keen on that idea.

DavidBelcher

Not Another Hill wrote:

With inflation now doing its best to recreate the heady days of the '70s, do you economise on your choice of beer?

I have moved from my usual tipples of Cobra, Tiger, Kingfisher etc to Co-ops own 'French Premium Lager' which is considerably cheaper and does not taste too bad.

The alternative is to stop feeding the kids but Mrs Not Another Hill is not too keen on that idea.

Not as yet - there seems to be a distinct shortage of cheap bottled ales on the supermarket shelves, whilst canned bitter and stout is a bit limited in choice and/or still quite pricey at my local Sainsbury's. Mind you, Thresher seems to have an ongoing 4-for-£5 on decent bottled beers which helps keep the outgoings on booze down.
Speaking of the Co-Op, anyone wishing to tighten the purse strings on non-alcoholic refreshment without losing ethical brownie points might like to know that they're currently selling giant (240 bags) boxes of fair-trade own-brand tea for £2.70ish at the moment.

David

ChrisLS

...I may have to give up the beer and ale... :?

Lagavulin

Not really. I'd rather drink less of something nice (Conistion Bluebird, Timothy Taylor's Landlord, Budweiser Budvar, Warsteiner and anything from Jennings ) than compromise.
Having said that, I don't know whether it's the economy or just someone profiteering but I've noticed Old Speckled Hen getting more and more expensive. :?

Clever Pun

you people need to try Innis & Gunn... 6.6% oak aged beer, it's stunning

CHRISNOIR

Guinnes has topped £3.20 in our local. On the plus side I've lost half a stone in two months.

Stewie Griffin

Have been on Polish beer for about a year now :P . Living in NW London its all over the place . 99p for 300ml of bud or the like or £1.29 for 500ml of Lech, Zubr, Tyskie or Zywiec. I defy anyone to not like the last 2, especially Tyskie. They make very clean tasting beers.

Another favourite tipple at the moment is Zubrowka (Bison grass vodka, doesnt make you think of anti freeze when you drink it) straight out of the freezer and apple juice. Up there with Pimms and Lemonade.

DavidBelcher

Lagavulin wrote:

Not really. I'd rather drink less of something nice (Conistion Bluebird, Timothy Taylor's Landlord, Budweiser Budvar, Warsteiner and anything from Jennings ) than compromise.
Having said that, I don't know whether it's the economy or just someone profiteering but I've noticed Old Speckled Hen getting more and more expensive. :?

I've managed to find a pub down here that does a great pint of Taylor's (served headless, as is the way in Hampshire, but has no adverse effect on the trademark taste). The bad news - it's nearly £3 a pint. Ouch!

David

SteveR_100Milers

Herefordshire scrumpy...its impervious to inflation.

iga

Not Another Hill wrote:

With inflation now doing its best to recreate the heady days of the '70s, do you economise on your choice of beer?

I have moved from my usual tipples of Cobra, Tiger, Kingfisher etc to Co-ops own 'French Premium Lager' which is considerably cheaper and does not taste too bad.

The alternative is to stop feeding the kids but Mrs Not Another Hill is not too keen on that idea.

The Co-ops own Spanish and Czech larger aren't bad either, don't think my local one stocks the French variety...got my Divi to spend though so I'll investigate.

Oh and a 2nd for Innes & Gunn, nectar.

biondino

Blandford Fly is my favourite beer. I don't think I could economise - there are so many other areas of life I'd choose to save on before beer!

ThatGuyOnABike

ha ha, i don't drink booze. but even fruit juice is going up!!!

CHRISNOIR

biondino wrote:

Blandford Fly is my favourite beer. I don't think I could economise - there are so many other areas of life I'd choose to save on before beer!

Is that the gingery / spicy stuff? Badger Brewery? I got a few bottles of various Badger Beers a couple of months back and they were a bit of a revelation.

Mark Alexander

I'd rather go t toal than drink crap. £3.20 for Guinness! :shock:

A pint of Brains in my local... £1.70

SmellTheGlove

Not Another Hill wrote:

I have moved from my usual tipples of Cobra, Tiger, Kingfisher etc to Co-ops own 'French Premium Lager' which is considerably cheaper and does not taste too bad.

I thought this thread was about beer... :?

gumball3000

CHRISNOIR wrote:

Guinnes has topped £3.20 in our local. On the plus side I've lost half a stone in two months.

£2.40 in my Sports Bar....

You would need to drive to Hull though.....

bagpusscp

Sam Smiths bitter £1.65 in one of my locals .It's hard to leave when you can't find the door. :oops:

10 years of new labour, is more than enough to drive anyone to DRINK :?: :!: :!: :!: :!:

feersumendjinn

I've been told "you are what you drink" & my tipple is either uisge beatha or Harviestouns Bitter & Twisted :?

TheBoyBilly

The Princess Louise in Holborn sells Sam Smith's for around £1.75 which for central London is flippin' excellent! A lovely pub too.
Down here in Shoreham-by-Sea we are very lucky in that it is a real ale drinker's paradise and reasonably cheap too. I'm into Dark Star Hophead at the moment.

MrT

Living in the fens we are awash with polish beer in Tescos....agree some of it is good (by the way if you do drink Zubrowka vodka do so with apple juice) but Badgers is excellent as is bombardier "burning gold" or "Satanic mills" if you can get it. Wholehartedly agree...rather drink less and quality than cheap stuff.......if you want a real treat go for Westvlateren an ace Belgian brew but v. diff to get hold of.

dessertwarrior

Don't buy beer from Tesco, Asda etc - go to Lidle or Aldi & check out (geddit!) their 'cheap beers' or better still bottled ale (much cheaper prices than the big-name supermarkets).

Stewie Griffin

MrT wrote:

Living in the fens we are awash with polish beer in Tescos....agree some of it is good (by the way if you do drink Zubrowka vodka do so with apple juice) but Badgers is excellent as is bombardier "burning gold" or "Satanic mills" if you can get it. Wholehartedly agree...rather drink less and quality than cheap stuff.......if you want a real treat go for Westvlateren an ace Belgian brew but v. diff to get hold of.

Zubrowka and apple juice is marvellous, I have said it already on this thread but I like it that much 8)

Re Belgian beers, Hoegaarden was always quite expensive (but lovely with it), I wonder what that costs now :shock:

Ricardo H

sainsburys do there own stuff called parkins special bitter, which is pretty good for 60p a can. Once a week i might push the boat out an have a bottle of horshams finest Hepworth Pullman

DavidBelcher

Ricardo H wrote:

Once a week i might push the boat out an have a bottle of horshams finest Hepworth Pullman

Haven't seen that one in the shops yet. Their 'Iron Horse' ale is a nice drink, though.

David

doubleclanger

HOMEBREW is the way to go. Although the cost of malt and hops has gone up by 50% in the last year, I can still make a pint of top quality ale for about 25p. Better than anything from the supermarket and as good as the best pub ale. Takes a bit of effort, but if you're a cider drinker, you can make that very easily from Tesco's value apple juice.

batch78

Westvlateren an ace Belgian brew but v. diff to get hold of

Very very nice, did nearly lead to the end of my relationship though, girlfriend was not best pleased when I fell into the hotel room at 5.30pm, told her I'd found somewhere to eat, then passed out till about midnight! :oops:

Hogs Back Brewery only about 6 miles down the road, Wetherspoons in town, Surrey Hills and fff not far away, so as mush as I try to economise I rarely succeed!

mtb.boy

Working men's club in town is £4.66 for 3 pints (two John Smiths and one Theakstons).

But my local (which seems to be the most expensive pub in Carlisle) is £2.22 for one pint of John Smiths.

cycologist

Ruby Mild is now £2.35 a pint in the Beacon, Sedgley. Which is a bit steep (as is the road up to Sedgley) .But at 6% you don't have to have too many pints otherwise your speed back down the hill can soon exceed your technical ability on the bends.

attica

I tried Tesco own Czech beer, OK ish but why do they need to add CO2?

Now I drink whatever I can find in Lidl, usually cheap and with just the three ingredients, it's good stuff but does go vinegary if left alone for half an hour or more, then again that's rarely a problem.

Mrs A and I call it Lidl's Piddle, it's great for after a hard commute, 20% of my fuel billl saved too!!

blackhands

Fortunately I can afford to drink whatever I want - usually Peroni.

Lagavulin

Our local Lidl have had a range of Shepherd Neame's beers in of late. They only used to stock crap I'd never heard of but have managed to stock up on Spitfire, Bishops Finger and the rather nice Goldings too.

Pity they don't stock any Kuppers Koelsch.