Banchory beers of the week

From http://iansaleadventures.blogspot.com/



Good to see Lulach in the Stag Hotel this weekend - and excellent it was too - but the best pint of the week for me was in the golf club yesterday - another sporty themed ale - Play On from the Rugby Brewery. Best pint I've had in ages.



The other beer on in the golf club was again Robinson's Battering Ram. We had a new(ish) barmaid on yesterday and Play On was being pulled from what has always been the more difficult of the two hand pumps. She started pouring my pint and was having a little trouble doing it, so turned to me and said the beer was off. I asked her to keep trying - I was in no hurry - and eventually I got my pint. I sat down and 5 minutes later, some pals arrived and, on my recommendation, tried to order the same beer, but the barmaid again said it was off - she'd even turned the pump clip round.

She tried to offer them Battering Ram - but that beer really was "off" - and it was only through my insistence that they eventually managed to get some of the Play On. This was a classic case of untrained staff who can't be bothered with the hassle of hand pulled real ale - which, in turn, leads to new customers being put off from trying the products. She was more than happy to serve ale to them that was past its best, so long as it was easy to pour - rather than take a bit more trouble to serve the beer the customers actually wanted.

I guess there's no answer to this dilemma. Some places have trained staff who look after the ale well, but too many places - especially in more rural areas - either can't get the staff, or don't/can't get them trained properly. It takes longer to serve as well, and, in a crowded pub or club where there's insufficient staff, it can cause unnecessary stress.

OK - rant over.

Looking forward to the Stonehaven festival - there'll be a few of us heading over the hill from Deeside on Friday evening, but we intend to leave a bit earlier than the bus Keith is organising from Aberdeen. If you hear of anyone that would like to share transport with us - leaving Banchory about 5pm - then ask them to get in touch with me please.