The Perils of Untrained Staff and Murky Beer

So yesterday we walked up to the Oxford pub in Totterdown.  We've been there a few times and the beer availability can be a little erratic but generally good.

Clearly they'd been closed for a couple of days - there wasn't that much beer on and the pint of Cornish Coaster was pleasantly cool - but very flat.

The Boy had a good (bag in box) cider but we resolved to move on if they didn't put something better on the pumps.

We watched a succession of staff tinker around; look like they might be putting a Tapstone beer on; faff a little more and finally put two new beers on.

The first was Moor Confidence and the other was BBF special called something like "Big Sky Country".

The Tapstone remained stubbornly not on the pumps.

I orderd one each of the other two.  Both were very lively and the barman seemed to have no idea how to deal with them.

The BBF looked remarkedly like a Tapstone beer:  pale and very murky.

It says a lot that we're so used to drinking beer that isn't bright that I didn't really think much about it.  We tried both and I took the BBF.  We both remarked that it probably wasn't supposed to be that cloudy as BBF beer usually drop bright or, at least, near bright. 

Still - it tasted good so we carried on regardless.

After about 20 minutes it became really noticeable that the beer was dropping sediment in the glass.  There was a clear gradient top to bottom...we could clearly see the finings working.

By this time I was about a third of the way down the glass - the beer still tasted good but the increasing sediment at the bottom of the glass was starting to put me off.

How to deal with it?  Clearly the guy behind the bar would have no idea what the beer was supposed to look like...

In the end, I didn't do anything until we left and there was another (clearly more experienced) chap behind the bar.  I popped the glasses back to the bar and just said "Just to let you know - that BBF beer isn't quite ready yet..." and I showed him the glass.   To his immense credit he looked at it, pulled a horrified face and said "Can I change it...or are you leaving?" I told him I was leaving and not to worry.  So he said "next time you're in, we'll get you another".

Whilst I'm sure we won't go back in the next couple of days - I left feeling like I'd happily go back. 

It's a saluatory lesson that pubs really need to make sure they've got someone on the bar who knows what the beer on their beer should look, smell and taste like.