Good Bass, bad Bass. That’s the problem in the age of the cask lottery.
The next day Bass popped up again in Bourne, of all places. What is this witchcraft, is Bass suddenly fashionable ?*
Bourne isn’t fashionable. Even with the giants of Stamford and Spalding either side. A town that’s basically a busy bit of A15 with a few shops either side, I struggled to bring you anything interesting.
Smiths is the grown-ups pub, and clearly Sam’s is the stand-out shop.
This was a first stop in the town in a decade; what can the Anchor offer ?
Well, a proper pub sign, for a start. And conkers, always important.
This was a mixed experience. 3pm opening, a fair few Old Boys already in and stretching out in two rooms dominated by dark wood,
“Almost a Fenland parlour pub” I noted at the time. Anyone who enjoyed the cosy homeliness of Ely’s West End House would appreciate the Anchor, if not the soundtrack of Green Day and the Beastie Boys.
But alarm bells rang at the bar. SIX beers. In a backstreet pub in Bourne. Even Stamford would stop at four.
My brain said Jaipur, my heart said Bass.
And of course, this Bass tasted of nothing, lacking freshness and condition (NBSS 1.5). Not quite poor enough to argue about, though a couple of Portuguese visitors (hopefully not drawn by the GBG) were certainly complaining about something.
Even Sooty looked perplexed at the Cask Ale Lottery.
*Anyone saying £60 a barrel will get banned
retiredmartin 
Faced with that choice would have gone for Proper Job. Some beers more robust at coping with either poor handling, being served only a couple of times a day, or a combination of both. Tend to find Proper Job survives less than tender mercies of either Not Really Cask Ale pubs or Too Many Beers On pubs better than many. Perhaps someone needs to write a new book: IPA invented not (allegedly) for the long trip to India, but to diminish the Cask Lottery drinkers complaining about in the 19th Century ;-).
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You’re absolutely right, of course. But not choosing the Bass would seem an act of betrayal.
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*Anyone saying £60 a barrel will get banned
OK, £48.00 for a firkin.
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I had to Google “conkers” so as to figure out what it was; funny I’d never heard of it until now, looks like a delightfully old fashioned game– they could’ve played it in ancient times, by the looks of it!
Shame about the Bass, but I do like the “somebody’s front room” look of that place. 🙂
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I’m sorry. You hadn’t heard of conkers ? What else do we have here that America doesn’t have ?
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Well, all the good beer, according to me! 🙂
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Smaller portions.
And Jacob Rees-Mogg.
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P P-T,
I wouldn’t really want to bring politics into this site but was interested in this article about Jacob Rees-Mogg :
https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/politics-headlines/we-were-actually-far-more-liberal-than-he-is-says-victorian-ghost-child-about-jacob-rees-mogg-20181022178542
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Is the old BRM factory still there? I’d like to think of the ghost of “Big Lou” Stanley being driven to Bourne in a spectral Rolls Royce from Trumpington, hitting his chauffeur with a cane and bellowing orders to Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart.
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Closed in 2013, Matthew. Did take a photo of the plaque but too dull to publish.
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Bass is never cheap in my experience, even for the free trade. Plus you can’t buy in in kilderkins or firkins anymore. Only in some daft 10 gallon container.
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I guessed that was the case, which makes stocking Bass, unless you care enough to do it properly, rather pointless.
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A couple of years ago I printed off a price list of the hundreds of cask beers, including Draught Bass, stocked by LWC and shall have a look for it when I’ve got a chance.
In the meantime I’ve searched “LWC cask ale price list PDF” and from it found these prices from earlier this year for some of the better known brewers – all firkins and to the nearest £1.
Competing against the top selling Sharps Doom Bar at £88 are
Hook Norton – from Hooky £70 to Old Hooky £85
Lees – from Dark £72½ to Founders £80
Greene King – from IPA £74 to Abbot £98
Shepherd Neame – from Whitstable Bay Pale £74½ to Bishops Finger £83
Adnams – from Southwold Bitter £76 to Ghostship £84
St Austell – from Twelawny £77½ to Proper Job £93
Marstons – from Brakspear Bitter £80 to Bombardier Gold £87
Timothy Taylors – from Golden Best £84 to Landlord £101
Fullers – from London Pride £104 to ESB £129
The higher price of Fullers is reflected, as I think I’ve mentioned elsewhere, in London Pride being by far the most expensive cask beer in Tim’s London venues.
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I had a wonderful pint of St Austell Big Job in a N London local Spoons last week: 7.2%, for £2.15. Perfect condition, powerful enough to cut through the smell of the khazis.
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That was the smell of North London, AP. Wetherspoons loos are fragrant.
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the bit about beardy choice that puzzles me is the idea that choice is a number of clips
choice is a number of styles.
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