"We've managed to change the lease to a free of tie" she said, with a mix of relief and enthusiasm. "It's been a bit of a fight, but we got there".
This particular community theatre had been developing quite nicely, but to make the whole thing work as well as it could financially, the lady in charge wanted to be able to have free choice on the drinks stocked in the bar.
"I'd like you to help me get some draught beer installed"
"Great, I'd love to," eager to help "Only, I wouldn't advise cask beers, you wouldn't sell enough and there would be a large amount of wastage. But we do put some of our beers into keg, that would be ideal".
She loved the idea. Draught beer, locally made, it'd be the best solution all round.
So, I duly set up a temporary installation for the time being. I lent them an under-counter chiller, font, gas cylinder etc and installed it for them.
The theatre is also good at social media, Twitter and the like, and tweeted "got a keg of real ale on tonight courtesy of @HardknottAnn and @HardKnottDave #properdrink"
A short twitter conversation ensued pointing out that technically, beer in a keg can't really be called Real Ale.
This is not the first, nor I doubt the last time I'll have this conversation.
It does make me wonder if we should really be getting het up about the differences anyway, after all, most of the general public don't understand and many don't care.
8 comments:
Is it ale?
Really? Its really ale? Its not some kind of fake ale?
Then its real ale, proper ale, genuine ale, call it what you like.
Most supermarkets advertise real ale anyway above rows of brewery conditioned PBAs.
There's nothing to stop beer in a keg being "real ale".
You could serve beer from a wellington boot and it could be real ale.
The problem isn't the keg, it's the gas cylinder.
If it has hops in it then it isn't ale anyway, it's beer.
Perhaps an organisation is required to campaign for real, real ale, as in the pre-1810 definition of a malt beverage without hops, which are clearly a foreign invention to do away with honest to goodness English ale.
Hope you aren't encouraging burping and farting by the audience as a consequence of your fizzy stuff Dave.
At least with the real stuff, it is silent. Deadly? Maybe.
py0, well, I'd agree, but apparently Real Ale has a definition. I can assure you that the stuff in that keg didn't conform.
Owen, strictly there should be secondary fermentation in the keg, which there isn't. Although I do take your point, there is no reason why keg beer can't be Real Ale. Although, strictly much cask isn't either as it tends to be dropped bright in the brewery and racked ready conditioned.
Al, indeed, its all just beer really.
Tandy, I'm fairly sure that odorous or noisy members of the audience would be ejected, these people take their theatre nearly as seriously as we do beer.
The people that get most heated in defending the original meaning of any given word are those that have most to gain or protect by that action. Likewise those that seek to give a word a more contemporary meaning. Ownership of any given word belongs to the largest tribe that use it. It takes 2 tribes to make it a game.
Are you quoting Frankie Goes To Hollywood now Cookie?
No need to get heated up about anything. Your theatre lady can justifiably say: "Got a keg of craft ale courtesy of (etc)". Problem solved, especially as the CAMRA dinosaurs decisively failed in their bid at the AGM to foist hostility to craft keg onto the Campaign.
Yes, being opposed to craft beer is not CAMRA policy.
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