On 1 Jul 2020 at 16:34:30 BST, "alan_m" wrote:

On 01/07/2020 15:59, RJH wrote:

I did go on a small brewery tour a few years back. They complained that
Wetherspoons distort the market and drive prices low by bulk buying just as
the beer is on the cusp of its sell by date. So maybe it's gone off too.


I'm not sure how that distorts the market that much. If a small brewery
has a mass of unsold beer close to its "sell by date" what else are they
going to do with it? It's not zero cost to throw it away.

I forget the line of reasoning. It was something along the lines of your next
production run is determined by your previous. Wetherspoons would hold out
until the last moment and hoover up beer that had to be sold at wholesale
auction events. This meant the beer was sold, informing the next run of
brewing, but not at the expected price.

With larger breweries the price paid by the public in supermarkets for
beer is often less than the brewery sell the same to publicans. This
probably distorts the market much more.

The percentage of beer that is off when it reaches any pub is probably a
vanishly small number. Cellarmanship (incl. stock control) and hygiene
have more to do with what comes out of the pump.

Yes, I'd have thought so too. If I had to guess, at Wetherspoons it's three
things: they keep open kegs on tap for far longer than they should (vinegar
beer); they don't let the barrels settle, and simply roll them into place when
changing (maybe 70% of the pints I've had have been cloudy); and/or hygiene
and things like cellar temperatures (the manager has told me he has problems
maintaining the correct temperature).

--
Cheers, Rob