The Standards of Beer

Not being a beer buff, I couldn't really begin to talk about all the types of beer available. Try the links section for more on that.

In the main though, beer comes in several forms. Guinness stout (the black stuff), lager (Budweiser, Miller, Heineken and Carlsberg are the popular beers), ales such as Smithwicks/Kilkenny and newer beers such as Caffreys and Breo. There are a few places that brew their own around town for example, the Porterhouse and Messers Maguire. One or two pubs also provide a selection of imported draft and bottled beers especially from Germany. In my book anything from Belgium is spot on. For instance, Duvel is one serious beer.

Like wine drinkers, many beer drinkers are discerning and fussy as to what they pour down their throats. And rightly so. Unfortunately, in Dublin city centre, the chances of getting decent beer are getting rarer.

A good pint of Guinness (and lager) is, to most discerning drinkers, a right and not a privilege. Only those who drink it regularly know what makes a good pint. And they sure as hell know what a crap one is.

As an aside, even in the Guinness Hop Store (the Guinness visitor centre) beside the brewery in Dublin serves its main product in a slipshod manner. Sure they're only tourists, what would they know?

You might think that the likes of lager should be different. No. Too many pubs, especially the new popular ones in the city centre, serve up what I can only say is slop. Flat and tasteless. Dreadful stuff altogether. By the time you've reached half way, it looks dead. And it is. What's worse is that you're paying good money for this piss.

Several reason have been given to me for the poor standards.

1. How often the pipes and internal system are cleaned.

3. How far the beer has to travel up the pipes. The longer and higher the worse it gets.

4. Serving beer in warm glasses straight out of the dishwasher.

In a busy pub with lots of beer being served, people are getting more pissed and less fussy, thus bar owners can get away with serving slop. And there is not a lot we can do about it unfortunately.

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