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"TheBeerNut":1mt2woso wrote: Meanwhile, in January 2002, the new Ron Black's on Dawson Street was charging €5.10 (£4.02) for a pint of Stella Artois. As I recall the publicans, en masse, refused to sign up to the government's fair pricing certification scheme during the changeover. Lest we forget.[/quote:1mt2woso]

Does Beoir do anything about this kind of thing (in general, yes I know it was 2002)? Not having a go, but an [i:1mt2woso]organisation of consumers[/i:1mt2woso] and a [i:1mt2woso]consumer organisation[/i:1mt2woso] are not the same, but the subtle difference may have escaped people.

Interesting to read this as only today I had a conversation with some former CAMRA Ireland members, and we're trying to figure out was CI wound up or simply forgotten about, and less recently an indepth discussion with NHC members in NI about Real Ale there. Not sure the market was ever the same on this island as it is/was next door, but I doubt it, even leaving Guinness/Diageo out of it.

"Tube":8b5sunx6 wrote: Does Beoir do anything about this kind of thing?[/quote:8b5sunx6]Having a space where it can be discussed is the main thrust of it. We had that long thread about Brewery Lane recently, for instance. Really it's up to the customer what they decide is a fair price for a beer, IMO. I'd be more in favour of publicising what the prices are than trying to set some sort of maximum.

"Tube":8b5sunx6 wrote: Not sure the market was ever the same on this island as it is/was next door[/quote:8b5sunx6]Even in parts of Great Britain it seems to have varied. I get the impression that the market in Scotland and the West Country had more in common with NI than with London or Yorkshire.

"TheBeerNut":3m9d9qbq wrote:

"Tube":3m9d9qbq wrote: Does Beoir do anything about this kind of thing?[/quote:3m9d9qbq]Having a space where it can be discussed is the main thrust of it.[/quote:3m9d9qbq]

Sounds like a no then <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->

&amp;quot;Tube&amp;quot;:3m9d9qbq wrote: Not sure the market was ever the same on this island as it is/was next door[/quote:3m9d9qbq]Even in parts of Great Britain it seems to have varied.

I am starting to conclude the Real Ale is really an English thing. Not Irish, and really not British either.

One thing to be said in favour of Real Ale, whether it is an English thing or just traditional, is that a flourishing market for Real Ale makes it easier to start a microbrewery in the UK. If you're producing Real Ale, you don't need filters and bright beer tanks, you don't need to flush all the pipe work with deaerated water or take other steps to keep dissolved oxygen in line. You can rely on the yeast in the beer to take care of the O2. In other words, you can produce quality beer with less capital investment and that's something quite apart from the fact that Real Ale just tastes so god damn good.

The widespread revival of real ale in the UK is a fairly recent happening. In my day in London (80s - 90s) lager was the beer of choice among the young, cool and sophistcated. I member the arrival of Sapporo, a dry lager. Even Fullers got in on the act with a revolting lager called K2. With the IRA cease fire all things Irish became hip and Guinness sales took off. (I have no stats for this, just my own observations.) I think the recent rediscovery of Englishness may have something to do with the real ale revival.

Whatever the reasons, I agree, it does taste damn good.