What ladies drank on the Broads in the 1960's

[BroadScot]

48 minutes ago, w-album said:

70s it was Dubonnet and lemonade

Better known as PAINT STRIPPER!!!! Yuck! Anyone who dropped a catch off my bowling, had to drink a pint of that stuff! 

One can see John you courted some high classs totty with drinks like that!

Iain.

[FairTmiddlin]

Arggggggggggggh Watneys Red Barrel possibly the first ring of the death knell of real ale in pubs during the 70's and 80's

 

[Polly]

I read somewhere that the Queen's favourite drink is Dubonnet and lemonade.

[BroadScot]

14 minutes ago, Polly said:

I read somewhere that the Queen's favourite drink is Dubonnet and lemonade.

I don't believe the wee wuman dropped any of my deliveries Polly!

Iain

[Springsong]

Indeed Howard  we sold both those and then Ruddles best and Ruddles County.

Whilst technically these were all real ales they were never accepted by Camera

people as they did not have to be racked, they stood upright in lager type cans

and were brought up with co2 gas. I am not an expert on beers like yourself

Howard but I found they were very acceptable. I did once persuade the Camera

people to come and try these beers at the Ship, they of course winced and

sneered at the beer, but I heard from another source later that in fact they 

 thoroughly enjoyed the beers and thought them well kept. The result of all

this is that I have never been a fan of Camera, because of a very narrow

point of view and a distinct 'hatred' of Norwich Brewery they actually did

quite a bit of harm to the pub trade in the Norwich area, because this

barred us from being in the good pub guide, thus implying that we were

not a good pub. A little like Morris dancers make half a bitter last all a

lunch time session and take up every seat in the pub and pontificate.

Sorry chaps a bit of a rant there, must stop, blood pressure

don't you know.

[Poppy]

On 17/01/2016 at 11:37 AM, Hockham Admiral said:

Back to the thread title.......

Any ladies whom I took out in the 60's were offered usually Babycham and Cointreau, a quite explosive mixture even nowadays!      

Ah, Babysham ! I recall that having a tendency to 'rot' elastic...... 

[NorfolkNog]

4 hours ago, springsong said:

Indeed Howard  we sold both those and then Ruddles best and Ruddles County.

Whilst technically these were all real ales they were never accepted by Camera

people as they did not have to be racked, they stood upright in lager type cans

and were brought up with co2 gas. I am not an expert on beers like yourself

Howard but I found they were very acceptable. I did once persuade the Camera

people to come and try these beers at the Ship, they of course winced and

sneered at the beer, but I heard from another source later that in fact they 

 thoroughly enjoyed the beers and thought them well kept. The result of all

this is that I have never been a fan of Camera, because of a very narrow

point of view and a distinct 'hatred' of Norwich Brewery they actually did

quite a bit of harm to the pub trade in the Norwich area, because this

barred us from being in the good pub guide, thus implying that we were

not a good pub. A little like Morris dancers make half a bitter last all a

lunch time session and take up every seat in the pub and pontificate.

Sorry chaps a bit of a rant there, must stop, blood pressure

don't you know.

Hi Barry

You are very kind but I don’t think I qualify as an expert!

That is very interesting though and I’m sorry that your experience of CAMRA was not a more positive one. I would like to think that CAMRA have advanced a bit since then and are very supportive of all pubs particularly with the number of closures and landlords being shafted by the PubCo’s.

I must hold my hand up and say I have been a CAMRA member for forty years. In fact it was a holiday on the Broads having to drink Watneys all the time in 1975 which prompted me to join. I do know several of the folk in the Norwich CAMRA Branch and usually have a beer or two with them when we spend time in Norwich before or after our Broads trips.

What CAMRA sees as real ale is basically beer which undergoes a secondary fermentation in the pub cellar, is vented to the air and is not connected to any extraneous CO2. CAMRA was formed originally as a reaction to all the horrible keg beers of the day such as Red Barrel, Double Diamond, Whitbread Trophy and all the rest. Today’s keg beers (often referred to as craft beers) have come a long way since then and have much more flavour and are brewed with quality ingredients in much the same way as cask beer. Brewdog and Norwich’s own Redwell are names that spring to mind. The White Horse at Neatishead sells a good range of craft beers.

But going back to the Norwich Brewery. They introduced a beer called Norwich Castle Bitter in the early 80’s. This was on sale at the Ship although possibly before your time. As the Norwich Brewery didn’t have any casks they packaged the beer in kegs but with a special venting arrangement which allowed it to breath and didn’t introduce any CO2. The kegs would have been stood on end, similar to the arrangement some pubs use now for casks where cellar space is limited.  It was dispensed by handpump. This beer was recognised as ‘real’ by CAMRA. I’m not sure what happened with the Bullards and S and P but it sounds like a similar system but with the introduction of CO2, possibly to increase shelf life? Did you dispense it through hand pumps or keg fonts? I think in any event the CAMRA folk at the time could have been more supportive so I am sorry to hear that .

I’ve been digging through some old guides and certainly found entries for the Ship in the Norfolk guide of 1982 and again in the Good Beer Guide in 1990.

 

 

 

[Labrador]

We used to love Castle bitter, they had a long running promotion with scratch quiz cards. With around 8-10 of us drinking in the Swan at Horning, we used to keep all these cards. In the end we bought the first round and because all correct cards gave you a free pint,we drank all night free as we had all the answers. Hic!

[JennyMorgan]

Having both the Adnams and Greenjack breweries just down the road is a very real ale blessing!

[JennyMorgan]

On 1/17/2016 at 11:37 AM, Hockham Admiral said:

Back to the thread title.......

Any ladies whom I took out in the 60's were offered usually Babycham and Cointreau, a quite explosive mixture even nowadays!      

Ahh haa, the legendary 'knicker-dropper' cocktail! 

[Hockham Admiral]

8 hours ago, JennyMorgan said:

Ahh haa, the legendary 'knicker-dropper' cocktail! 

Peter! I'll have you know that in polite HMFC Officer talk the phrase was 'leg-over'.............