It's a fair point - they make good beer but they probably don't have a reputation.
I think it's just a national thing, whereby for some reason we're not proud of our best breweries, unlike Belgium, Germany, Ireland, etc.

So the only region which is likely to have such a reputation is Yorkshire, and that's simply because it's brewed by bloody-minded Yorkshiremen who will have furthered its reputation themselves (though Yorkshire beer is, on the whole, also very good).
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 11 Jan 2011, 13:54, 1 reply, 15 years ago)

Are you a Hobgoblin fan, Crow?
I was given a bottle last night, and am rather pleased about it, although the last time I had it, it was a terrible pint.
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Tue 11 Jan 2011, 13:57, Reply)

Love the stuff. Generally a big fan of the Wychwood brewery.
Bad pint, you say? You sure it wasn't just the end of the barrel or a dirty line? Hobgoblin is a superb beer, but as you can probably imagine, when anything that strongly flavoured goes off, it really goes off. A good pint of the stuff, drawn off the cask at approximately 10-12^o into a clean glass, is an absolute delight.
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 11 Jan 2011, 14:03, Reply)

More likely to be a dirty line, it wasn't a very good pub at all, even though it claimed to be.
Shall crack that open tonight I reckon.
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Tue 11 Jan 2011, 14:05, Reply)

Oh, the number of pubs I've been lured into by the chalkboard promise of
"Superb real ales," only to wander in and find a lonely Courage Best pump clip adorning a dusty hand pump...

Still, enjoy!
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 11 Jan 2011, 14:08, Reply)

Erm...
I quite like Courage Best
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Tue 11 Jan 2011, 14:13, Reply)

It's alright. It's certainly drinkable.
I just wouldn't have listed it amongst the country's finest, particularly not since S&N-or-whoever-owns-the-brewery-now started using rice as an adjunct to keep production costs down.
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 11 Jan 2011, 14:16, Reply)

Officially it's Scottish Courage
or at least, it was. It may have changed hands again since my dad died, but he used to work there. And yes, you do get free beer.
(berk, Tue 11 Jan 2011, 14:22, Reply)

^This has strengthened any desires I might have harboured to insist that my scientific background would
make me invaluable to...well, any London brewery that will take me.
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 11 Jan 2011, 14:24, Reply)