slops in beer: update

[Bill Wright]

Kath came round tonight; first time I've seen her since the 'incident'. Apparently the pub had a long steel trough behind the bar, behind all the pumps. In this trough were small plastic boxes, one to each pump position, that looked very much like margarine tubs. It was one of these, full to overflowing, that was poured into Brian's glass, which she then topped up from the pump. How long had that beer been accumulating in that plastic container?

Brian is a most extremely diffident individual and would have found it difficult to speak out, but he did so, and then the pony-tailed manager snarled at him for saying anything.

Bill

[Peter Crosland]

Name and shame the pub to the local environmental health officer. It is the only way to deal with oiks like the manager.

[Brian Gaff]

Yes indeed, we all know waste not want not,but maybe the pump design is bad or faulty. This should never happen apparently, or so I've been told by friends, unless either the pump operator is useless or there is a problem. Brian

[Phi]

Sticking the nozzle in the beer whilst filling the glass is aslo frowned upon by hygienists.

[philipuk]

You lot up north must be really tight. I've never seen it happen down here on the south coast and I wouldn't accept it. We do pay a bit more for our beer I suppose.

Philip

[Bill Wright]

She's sent a letter. I'll report on the outcome.

Bill

[Mr Pounder Esquire]

The letter will most likely be ignored. Who was it sent to? Pouring slops into glasses has always been common practice. Years ago I had a mate who moved down south :-( and bought a pub. He told me that "everything" goes into the barrels of real ale, but it "tastes all right".

[Vir Campestris]

That's real cider.

Enough acid & alcohol to kill anything.

Beer relies on the boiling of the wort to make it safe.

Andy

[Mr Pounder Esquire]

No, it was real ale.

[Aloysius]

One pub I worked in used to chuck the shorts slops into the beer barrels too. The only drink that wasn't recycled was Pernod.

[Bill Wright]

Sheffield City Council Environmental Health

5th Floor (North) Howden House 1 Union Street Sheffield S1 2SH

The dirty pig.

Bill

[alan_m]

That's the reason that so many pubs are closing!

The landlord probably also recycled the contents of the urinals back into the lager. Pubs that serve beer in good quality are likely to be those that have a lot of custom while the pub 100 metres away are empty.

Customers no longer want to use establishments where the landlord/manager believe that the public owe them a living. Why pay 4x the supermarket price for a mediocre product in a pub where the landlord/manager cannot care a toss?

[alan_m]

Some methods of dispense fill the (pin) glass from the bottom by using a large nozzel.

[alan_m]

[News]

Problem is, how would the average punter know? I like a pint, but am not sure that I could detect that a few slops had been poured into a cask from which I was enjoying a pint.

[PeterC]

My favourite pub is very cleanly managed. If the slop tray gets nearly full it's emptied into the sink. Twice a week all of the glasses are removed from the shelves, the plastic mesh covers put through the washing process and the shelves disinfected. Bottles that are there for long - spirits and so on - are dusted. I've been show the cellar: it's old and a shabby but tidy and clean. The manager is the owners' daughter and reckoned to be one of the best beer-keepers in the trade. Gotta fancy a lass with an indoor shed like that!

[Indy Jess John]

I have a "local" (which isn't that local geographically) and a favourite short-list of real ales that I enjoy.

I was in a different part of town one day and popped into a pub which had one of my favourites for sale. I ordered a pint.

I took one mouthful and told the barmaid that it didn't taste good. She called the manager. He poured himself a drop in the bottom of a glass (No fixed measure pumps round here!) and tasted it. Then he told me it was OK, and it always tastes like that. I told him that it doesn't taste like that in other pubs. He took my glass and gave me my money back when I refused to swap it for any of the others on the bar. If he thought that one tasted OK I wasn't going to risk any of the others.

I noted it as a pub to avoid in future. A couple of months later the pub closed down so it looks as though others took the same view. It has now reopened under new management as a gastropub. It still sells beer, but the primary business now is food.

Jim

[Dave Plowman (News)]

That is just throwing money away. The correct way is (or used to be) to keep the slops and return to the brewery for a credit of the duty paid.

If it was once worth the effort of doing, don't see why not now.

[alan_m]

Possibly the system is more steam-lined with the pub keeping a record of ullage and the tax man agreeing to an industry acceptable level of loss that can be offset against profit/tax.

[PeterC]

Very little gets there - no sprinklers unless asked for and then they have to be found. Some footy supporters, if going to London from W. Midlands for a teatime game, will arrange to call in both ways. Then, after a /lot/ of pints there might be half - one tray. That's perhaps a dozen times a year, so not worth the effort. Same when Saints are at home, as rugby fans like the good stuff. It's the sort of pub where fans from opposing football teams will shake hands and buy each other pints. Just been there for lunch and had some food as well :-)))