A knees-up for the second episode of the Perfect Beer Talks: Modern Beer and Pub Diversity. As we know from the first episode of the Perfect Beer Talks, the vibe of a pub changes based on the culture. A drink that’s been a whole with a culture, beer, and the Brits, what’s it like to have a beer in a pub in the UK, surrounded by the beer-loving Brits? What is modern beer? How modern beer differs in Britain from the rest of the World? There are many questions that need to be answered to understand the beer better. And in this episode, Pubinno’s CEO, Can Algul, and the author of An Opinionated Guide to Pubs, Modern British Beer and Co-Founder of Pellicle Magazine, Matthew Curtis had an enticing talk about the modern-day British pubs and the history of the relationship between the Brits and beer.
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Worth to Mention Points from Matthew&Can
“The whole point of a pub in the UK is it’s this third space, right? It’s a space between work and home. It’s somewhere to go and decompress. We have very fleeting moments in pubs where we just meet friends or maybe go for a beer by ourselves. But also we have major life events in pubs we have weddings, funerals, and christenings, people get together in pubs, break up in pubs, and meet people’s parents or kids for the first time. They’re these places that are so important to how we exist in the UK.”
Beer, pubs, and the British are the inseparable trio. 2 words, beer and pubs represent many different things to a culture. When you think of pubs, certainly you can’t separate the British from it. Whether to get rid of the day’s worries or just have fun, drink beer and socialize, pubs are the ultimate places in the UK. Pubs are the places where people gather to celebrate important events in their lives; they are the places where people relax after work.
What is the Perfect Beer?
“But in Manchester, there’s no lottery, I can walk into almost any pub doing cask, and because more people drink it here, the beer generally seems to be fresher.”
Considering beer has a significant impact on British culture, Brits sure know their beer. What is a perfect beer for a British then? Matthew simply puts it as the balance. He believes that what makes a beer perfect is its ingredient ratio. The moment he tastes every ingredient in a beer, he drinks the perfect beer. Where you can drink the perfect beer in the UK? Well, for Matthew, cask beer in any pub in Manchester.
Having beer from dirty lines is the worst. If I hadn’t had a beer from a pub that doesn’t clean its lines. I’ll never go back to that pub again. The fundamental thing of running a pub is to ensure that fresh beer deserves clean lines.”
Matthew also points out that pubs need certain requirements. He underlines the importance of hygiene in the pub. Especially after the pandemic, beer lovers are extra careful about their pub choices. He also throws two suggestions for people who want to experience the perfect British Pub.
in London, Sutton Arms and Manchester City Arms
Consumer Behaviors have Changed after the Pandemic
Even though pubs and beer have a significant meaning to the British people, the industry has struggled, and Matthew Curtis relates this struggle to economic and social factors. According to Matthew, from a financial point of view, the beer in the supermarkets have a wide range of products and compared to the pubs, the prices of beer in the supermarkets are cheaper, therefore, instead of going to a pub for a drink, Brits now prefer to drink at home.
“After work” meant “getting together” for us. However, work became Zoom meetings, and “happy hours” became drink-at-home times.
From a social point of view, as the pandemic hit unexpectedly, with the lockdowns, pubs were forced to stay closed for a long time, and during that time, people have adapted to a new culture in every sense. They used to have happy hours after work and considering that people would get off work at the same time every day. The changes in people’s lives, economically and socially, led to a change in a culture that has been very important to many people in the UK. Due to these reasons, the hospitality industry has been having hard times. For Matthew, despite these factors, a pub in the UK has its own magic and believes that they are a part of the fabric of British culture.
How to Choose Perfect Pub for Perfect Beer?
In this episode of Perfect Beer Talks, Matthew took us on a long journey about the UK’s Pub Culture from the ’60s and ’70s to today. He offered us great insights into the British Pub experience on many levels. For further pub suggestions, you can visit the Pubinno Selections Map. If you also think that hygiene is critically important about pub choices, we strongly recommend you check out one of our cutting-edge technologies, Smart Clean. We would love to see you in our future episodes in 2022. Stay tuned for going deeper about beer with the experts of the beer world this year too!
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