[Foxywarrior]

I am currently on holiday in Brighton with family that includes my parents and my son (age 14).

I have just been for a Sunday pre roast drink with the old man who drinks exclusively bitter.

In the pub I noticed that most were drinking lager or wine and they were of a mixed age from teenagers to those in their 40's or 50's. It only appeared that the older folk were drinking bitter.

Is it the case bitter (or ale) is dying out or with all the micro breweries appearing, is it remaining stable? Is it something you 'grow into' as you get older?

What do you prefer to drink?
(Lager here BTW)

[Billy_Value]

why are you posting on ds if you are on holiday

[gdjman68wasdigi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billy_Value

why are you posting on ds if you are on holiday

Maybe the op has 3G ???

I posted from Alton Towers last week

[DadDancer]

Not true, ale is the in drink these days
you only have look at the explosion of the micro brewery and the number of ales pubs sell these days. Even milds have made a comeback too

[Slarti Bartfast]

I prefer real ales when I'm out. Lager is ok as a refreshing drink on a hot day but real ales are far tastier. Had a few pints of Hobgoblin and Cockerhoop locally over the weekend.

I tend to go out with two groups of friends, one of which will be about half and half real ale and lager whilst the other is almost exclusively real ale drinkers. We are in our mid-to-late 30s.

Oh, and someone usually buys me one of those real ale selection boxes at Christmas

[abarthman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billy_Value

why are you posting on ds if you are on holiday

Are your holidays that action-packed that you don't have time to go online?

I thought that real ale sales were increasing and lager sales were falling.

[Mark1974]

Real ale has never been as popular.

It's definitely not in decline.

[abarthman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark1974

Real ale has never been as popular.

There was no such thing as real ale in nearby towns and villages when I started drinking.

Lager, Tartan Special, McEwan's Export, cider and Guiness were about all we could buy in most pubs and clubs.

Most of us started drinking insipid-tasting lagers at 16-17, moved on to Tartan Special and finally Guinness.

I remember making a trip to a pub in Edinburgh - the Athletic Arms (Diggers) - and tasting a pint of real ale and I couldn't believe how creamy and smooth it was compared to the metallic tasting crap that were were all used to. It really was a revelation.

Most pubs, clubs and hotels seem to have at least one real ale nowadays, so young drinkers don't have to put up with drinking the same crappy lagers and keg beers that we did.

Instead of forcing back pints of lager and keg beer to get drunk as I once did, I can now savour the taste of a pint of real ale.

On the rare occasions that I walk into a pub that doesn't have a real ale on tap, I walk straight back out again and find one that does.

[Foxywarrior]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billy_Value

why are you posting on ds if you are on holiday

Because the apartment I am in has broadband and I was waiting for Sunday roast to be served after returning from said pub.

[walterwhite]

Sales of real ale are higher now than they have been for years, possibly ever.

[HarrisonMarks]

Try here

http://www.darkstarpubs.co.uk/eveningstar/

Or here

http://thecraftbeerco.com/pubs/brighton/

Lots of good beer to be had in Brighton if you go to the right places.

[LostFool]

Quote:

Originally Posted by walterwhite

Sales of real ale are higher now than they have been for years, possibly ever.

Yup. The quality and availability of proper beer is better now than it has ever been. People are realising that if you are going to pay £4 for a pint then you ought to have a drink that tastes of something rather than cold fizzy pap.

[abarthman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LostFool

People are realising that if you are going to pay £4 for a pint then you ought to have a drink that tastes of something rather than cold fizzy pap.

£4/pint? Jeez, I really am losing touch with beer prices.

We tend to stick to Wetherspoon's pubs, where real ales are about the £2 mark They even had a few real ales at 99p/pint the other week.

[LostFool]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarrisonMarks

Try here

http://www.darkstarpubs.co.uk/eveningstar/

Or here

http://thecraftbeerco.com/pubs/brighton/

Lots of good beer to be had in Brighton if you go to the right places.

Ah. The Evening Star. Fantastic pub. Used to drink there when I was a student 20 years ago. Used to be a proper spit and sawdust place.

[grumpyscot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark1974

Real ale has never been as popular.

It's definitely not in decline.

I drink nothing but Real Ale, and have two pubs earmarked in Edinburgh that have Excellent varieties and specials, including festivals. Both pub sell lager, but not a lot!

[alan29]

Surely lager is for ladies and teenagers?

[barbeler]

When I was young, a pint of the original Ruddles County was a rite of passage. The first one ever was a rather daunting prospect and at 5% alcohol seemed very strong at that time. It was supposed to be a lads' drink, but I knew quite a few young girls who were quite partial to it. Any man who drank lager was regarded as some kind of androgynous hermaphrodite.

These used to be a very popular pub in Peterborough where all the beer was served directly from the casks and where the landlord refused to have lager on the premises.

[Badabing1966]

My mate got me onto real ale about 10 years ago, he said "why do you keep drinking lager, it's crap", so I said I would give one a go, Abbot Ale was my first ale, never looked back. It beats lager hands down, plus Ale doesn't have all the chemicals in it like other drinks. Real Ale is bigger now than ever. I also drink it because there are so many choices out there to try.

[LostFool]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alan29

Surely lager is for ladies and teenagers?

It's the "lager tops" people who I can't understand. As if lager isn't fizzy enough already.

[Doctor_Wibble]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LostFool

It's the "lager tops" people who I can't understand. As if lager isn't fizzy enough already.

The whole point of lager being chilled is so you can't taste it - if you are somewhere that doesn't chill the lager properly you need something to hide the flavour, hence the invention of the 'lager top'.

[RobinOfLoxley]

I used to drink Bitter in the early 80s at 50 pence a pint.

Including Ruddles County and other nice ones.

Sadly, getting a dodgy pint was not uncommon and I went right off it. Switched to Guinness or Beamish etc. or Lager

Even now with better quality control, I have lost my taste for Bitter

[Shrike]

I've always been a big fan of real ale - but sometimes the increasing popularity can be its own downfall, as inexperianced landlords can easily serve a poor pint.
One of the reasons it nearly died out back in the '60s and '70s was this inconsistancy and that a lot of the beer is wasted. From the publican's point of view keg beers are more profitable, whilst the drinker at least knew what they were getting even if it was fairly bland.
Robin above mentions Beamish - I used to quite enjoy that if no ales were available, but not seen it in about a decade! Strange how beers can be premoted to all heck and then quickly dropped. I guess its still common in Ireland.

[Glawster2002]

Sales of alcoholic drinks have been declining in this yountry year-on-year for a long time now. The only produce reversing that trend is Real Ale. There are more breweries now than at any time since the end of WW II.

I've been a CAMRA member for 30 years and it is far harder to find a pub that doesn't sell Real Ale today than one that does, a real change from 30 years ago! It is also worth noting that back then CAMRa had @ 30,000 members, now it is @ 164,000!

Here in Gloucestershire I would say the average price for a pint of Real Ale is @ £3.00

[Pull2Open]

Ale and bitter has not been as popular as lager for many years but not to the point of decline.

i love real ale and drink only specific lagers, like corona. Cant do the popular British lagers like Fosters or Stella, i think they taste foul.

[TheTruth1983]

Living in Northern Ireland, I miss out on the whole real ale culture