I’ve never heard of this beer mentioned in Craft Beer & Brewing, and I’ve never heard of imperial cream ales (which goes to show that I need to get out more) but I’ve decided that I need some of this in my life….. I like a bit of “everyday decadence”.
I also haven’t been to this part of New Jersey, but the brewery do tours and tastings. That’s another place to add to my little list of places to go.
For years, I’ve wondered why Pret have such an appalling loyalty system. By appalling, I mean they didn’t have one, they simply allowed staff to give stuff to people they liked. So, the ‘beautiful people’ got stuff and others didn’t. Although I did once see a young French boy (well, he spoke French, so I made an assumption) at Heathrow T5 proudly giving the staff member a 2p coin for a bottle of water, not realising that it wasn’t the £2 coin that he needed. The boy looked crestfallen, but the staff member then told him that he could have it for free. It was all rather lovely and helped Anglo-French relations no end.
Anyway, I digress. Pret have now launched an all you can drink coffee option, although smoothies, hot chocolate and tea are also included. It costs £20 and it allows you up to 5 coffees per day in, I think, any of their shops (bar a motorway service station outlet). This now makes them cheaper than JD Wetherspoon, who have unlimited hot drinks for between 99p and something like £1.89, depending where you go. You have to wait 30 minutes between drinks, to stop you getting rounds in for friends.
It’s a ferociously competitive offer and I hope that other locations do something similar. I’ve signed up, primarily because the first month is free. I’m not in the UK for two of those first four weeks, but, since it’s free, I’ll go with it. From then on, the £20 per month seems very reasonable. I’ll report back about how well it actually works….
I can’t say that I’m surprised to see that JD Wetherspoon are sort of extending the Eat Out to Help Out scheme until their Christmas menu kicks in on 11 November 2020. It means that on Mondays to Wednesdays they’ll be charging 99p for coffees, 99p for all soft drinks, £7.50 for three small plates, £2.99 for deli deals, £3.99 for burgers and pizzas as well as £1.99 for desserts.
I’m not sure that the staff will be entirely impressed with the influx of customers, but I’m sure it’ll be a popular move overall. Much as Tim Martin is a controversial figure I’m not entirely on board with, his pub company seems to be far more pro-active compared to some of his rivals.
And one of the clear winners in the Government’s ‘eat out to help out’ scheme is wagamama, where I’ve seen queues in numerous places around the country. This is Cambridge, thirty minutes after opening today. Very popular and none of that queue is for Nando’s, which is shut.
There are very few pubs that I won’t visit, but Samuel Smiths have made their outlets so hostile and soulless that I’ve given up going to them. I’m conscious from reading reviews that a fair few of them are still good as the staff at least partly ignore their Head Office, but it’s difficult to know which are which. Which is a shame, they’ve got some fabulous buildings packed with history and heritage, as well as some marvellous staff. Their ban on any mobile devices is inevitably careering them towards disaster, and they have launched one of the biggest round of price increases in recent weeks that I can recall from any pub chain. And now they have admitted that they are unable, and unwilling, to operate track and trace in a final fingers up to their staff and customers.
The Morning Advertiser quoted their spokesperson:
“There is also confidentiality – there was a man who followed a pretty woman into a pub and saw her write down her name and phone number and then copied it and bothered her”.
Normally, I’d be astounded that any pub company used such sexist communications in their messaging, but nothing surprises me about Sam Smith pubs. They’re also refusing to accept cards and they seem blithe to any notion of staff safety, as nearly every other major pub chain encourages customers to use cards.
Anyway, people can do what they want, but I recommend any pub in the Good Beer Guide instead. Or indeed pretty much any pub instead.
As my friend Des mentioned to me that I like ticking boxes on lists (I need to get out more), I thought I’d note (primarily for my own benefit, I can’t imagine more than two people in the world care) which Brewdog bars I’ve been to.
For the UK ones, if there’s a link then I’ve been there and if there isn’t, then I haven’t…. For the rest of the world, I’ve just listed where I’ve been as I can’t be bothered to write them all up. I still have a lot of these to visit, but my favourites so far are Cambridge, London Canary Wharf, London Seven Dials and London Brixton. The only that I haven’t really liked was the Brighton outlet.
There’s also the Brewdog Visa 2 which I got so confused about I decided not to even try and use.
Anyway….
UK
Aberdeen
Aberdeen Castlegate
Aberdeen Union Square
Birdcage (Columbia Road, London)
Birmingham
Brewdog Old Street (No Alcohol)
Bristol
Camden Road Arms
Canary Wharf (2nd visit when inside open)
Cardiff
Carlisle
Dalston [vegan]
Dogtap Ellon
Doghouse Manchester
Duke of Battersea
Duke of Hammersmith
Dundee
Edinburgh Airport
Edinburgh Cowgate
Hop Hub Tap Room
Invernurie
Leicester
Manchester
Manchester Outpost
Milton Keynes
Newcastle
Northcote Arms
Nottingham
Old Street
Oxford
Perth
Peterhead
Plymouth
Reading
Sheffield
Smithfield Market Arms
Southampton
St. Andrews
Stirling
Swansea
REST OF THE WORLD
Firenze (Florence)
I’m avoiding politics on this blog, but I’m amused by the Government’s introduction of this scheme. The reporting process is really secure, restaurants just have to tell the Government how many people they’ve given discounts to and they get a large payout. Certainly a brave use of Government funds.
But, my favourite bit is that the Government explains that discounts can only be provided for eat-in meals. This means that takeaways cannot sign up for the scheme. However, this text is in the rules:
“If a customer purchases a meal with the intention of eating it but then takes it away and leaves the premises, you can still apply the discount.”
So, you can take the food away. Bizarre….
I’ve wondered about Deliveroo for a while, I was nearly knocked over by one of their bikes during the lockdown period and I put that down to the rush to get food delivered. These things happen and it was so quiet in Norwich at the time that it wasn’t unreasonable for a cyclist not to expect many pedestrians.
But, I’ve noticed some strange things, such as a delivery driver collecting food from Five Guys and then standing outside for nearly ten minutes last year. I wondered why that was (and just assumed the customer had cancelled), but a post from Gonzo’s Tea Room today on Facebook has perhaps made that obvious, the driver might have been waiting for another order. I’m not sure that I blame the driver/cyclist for this, it’s not an easy job and in some inner cities it’s downright dangerous.
I’ve checked Gonzo’s are happy for my quote their entire piece, and they were which is much appreciated. I’m also pleased that Deliveroo sent me an explanation within 15 minutes of my asking and so that’s enormously efficient and appreciated (as this blog is hardly the mainstream media), so at least they seem to be taking it seriously now. But, I still wonder about this model of delivery, it’s taking a lot of money from small outlets. Perhaps more importantly, I don’t like the idea that someone saves up for a meal as a special treat and then they’re treated like this, it’s hugely unfair on them and the restaurant.
Hopefully, it was a one-off and standards in Norwich will now return to normal….
“Today we will 100% be leaving Deliveroo. We apologize to any customers who have had to deal with their shit service.
However this statement also comes with a story..
Yesterday, two occurrences,
A rider arrived to pick up an order, he was handed the food and we presumed he’d left. TEN MINUTES LATER we found him hanging around outside still, when we asked him what he was doing he said he was waiting for the next order to deliver as well!!! THIS IS WHY YOU GET YOUR FOOD LATE AND COLD NORWICH!! They’re doubling or tripling up deliveries to increase their pay per trip!
Second occurrence…
The rider arrived and collected his order, on the way out the door he dropped the order on the ground. He then began to pick it up and put it back in the bag when he dropped it for the SECOND time!! The boxes popped open and we think the food might have touched the ground outside so we presumed it did for health reasons.
We immediately confronted him and told him to come inside, we couldn’t dare let that food get to a customer if it was spilled on the ground. However the driver ignored us and literally took off.
Deliveroo does not give us customer details, we literally have no idea where the food went or how to contact the customer.
We next called their head office to complain, luckily we immediately got through to a service agent who contacted the customer and confirmed the food had arrived “cold”.
Us “What about the fact that it was dropped on the ground? “
Deliveroo “Well the customer didn’t complain about that.”
Us “Wait…You didn’t tell them, they’re going to eat meals that were dropped on the ground!”
Deliveroo ” Well, no, not if they haven’t complained”
Us “How would they possibly know it’s been dropped? That’s literally insane!”
Deliveroo ” Well they said it was cold and they were happy.”
Us ” Who’s happy with cold food!? You NEED to tell them it was dropped. They shouldn’t be eating it.”
Deliveroo ” We won’t do anything else, unless they complain”
THAT POLICY IS STRAIGHT UP EVIL
Every time you order from a restaurant Deliveroo takes more than 1/3rd of the money to deliver it. Almost the entire profit margin is gone into their pocket and this is how much they care about your business and health standards.
During the last few months the world has changed and they have profiteered massively. We know some of you may not be ready to go back out, but please stop ordering from these takeaway giants and if you do feel the need to use their platform, please only use those that use their own drivers.
In saying that, we know companies aren’t all terrible, we know some of their drivers are great people who’ve worked incredibly hard during the pandemic and that controlling every facet of a company like Deliveroo is nearly impossible.
We’d like to invite Deliveroo to make contact we us and we can help them regulate their riders. We want to make sure restaurants can communicate hazards and complaints quickly and effectively. Our goal is to make sure bad food, cold food, tossed food (especially pizzas) NEVER reach a customers doorstep and that the clients that work with Deliveroo are never left with social media outrage as their only avenue to resolving a situation for diners.
Demand better.
( If you think this was your order, please contact Deliveroo and demand answers, we have no way of knowing where it went as Deliveroo refuses to let us contact customers)”
Deliveroo said to me:
“As soon as we became aware of this situation, we took immediate action to rectify it. We are also speaking to Gonzo and have apologised for their experience. We will do everything possible to ensure it does not happen again. Deliveroo takes any complaints we receive extremely seriously. We have taken immediate action to rectify this situation.”
They also sent some explanatory material which is reassuring and so I am impressed that they’ve dealt with the issue now.
So, today is the day that Greggs re-opened. I thought it a bit ridiculous to get there at 09.00 which was the time that they formally opened their doors, there are many other important things to think about in life at the moment. Getting there at 09.00 would have looked desperate.
At 09.21 I arrived at Greggs in Anglia Square, just for a sausage roll at the moment. It seemed excessive to get too excited and start ordering more exotic items, slow and steady is important.
I thought at first that these were queue barriers. Indeed, they might well have been, but since it was pouring with rain, there was no queue.
Looking good…. Well, bar that steak bake which has burst with excitement.
Nice and clear.
And there we go, life is returning to normal.
There’s an excellent article in this month’s Smithsonian Magazine about Charlie Papazian, a craft beer pioneer in the United States. I hadn’t realised that in the early 1970s, it was illegal to home-brew in the United States, probably some legacy from the Prohibition era when a nation feared the consumption of alcohol.
The author of the article, Matthew Shaer, asked Papazian:
“Could you have back in the 1970s have imagined walking into a brewery and ordering a peanut-butter-and-jelly-flavored stout?”
Papazian replied:
“It’s difficult to stress how different things were—at every level”.
Quite right and, incidentally, that stout sounds delicious….
There are two paragraphs in the article which are a reminder of just how far craft beer has come, and I agree with the “largely interchangeable” comment from the author….
“Today, when many states in the nation are home to 100 breweries and some states count six or eight times that number, it seems almost impossible to imagine that beer was a relatively uniform and even uninspired commodity for most of recent American history. Lagers pale in color and low in alcohol were popular as refreshment but did not engender much connoisseurship or olfactory debate. It was the stuff you slugged back after mowing the lawn on a hot day.
In 1949, the year Papazian was born, the market was almost entirely dominated by big corporations that specialized in largely interchangeable German-style beers: Miller, Pabst, Budweiser, Coors. “I grew up in a mid-century culture, where with food, it was cool to be homogeneous,” Papazian recalled. “You turned on the TV, and it was Velveeta cheese, it was frozen dinners, it was white bread. Wonder Bread! Flavor diversity wasn’t really a thing.”
I don’t know anything about Papazian other than what’s written in this article, but it sounds like he has made a fine contribution to craft beer…..
