Beer Prices

[Barneym]

I just can’t drink craft beers or larger from a can if it’s not cold so it’s a complete no go for me at the festival as we get the coach so no cool boxes and I don’t go back to my tent once I’ve left it. It’s therefore cans of cider as I find that drinkable when warm and buying beers all day which is why I have an interest in both what’s on and the price! Then of course some awful bottle of too strong spirits during the headliner when you can’t get to the bar or toilet

[found home in 2009]

15 hours ago, DareToDibble said:

Exactly this. The problem is the main bars are supplied by Carlsberg which is why we have the option most of the time of Carlsberg, Tuborg and Somersby. All awful but completely why the festival go with them as a supplier as they are the cheapest by a long way and why wouldn't they when they have a captive audience?

Having said that I am fully convinced people would rather go back to their tent and get their own drinks or go to another bar that has better options than drink there so it's probably swings and roundabouts. Could potentially spend more to make more I guess.

I might be in the minority and it might be because I have a sweet tooth, but I love Somersby. Though I also liked it when the festival sold Thatchers. Both are a billion times better than Strongbow or Magners, which are the only ciders in most pubs I go to

[1986]

Taking proper juicy craft cans is pretty pointless when they need to be kept fresh and will just taste like shit baking in your tent. Cold fizzy and basic is where its at.
My tastes in beer have gone full circle over the years, went from being more and more w*nkery, shunning everything that wasn't a £6+ can of juicy special edition DIPA at 9% to being given a Bierre Moretti and being quite into it. Now I just like it all (within reason). 

That said the Glastonbury selection is shit. Might see what the gin game is like this year.

[Hotchilidog]

1 hour ago, JoeyT said:

Avalon Inn was pricer than any of the other bars I frequented in 2019.

Haven’t got a clue what the price was but must admit I do love a pint of Otter.

Avalon seems really pricey compared to the rest of the festival along with the Cockmill bar in the Acoustic field. 

[balti-pie]

my oft-repeated tip is to take good dark beer in cans - Amundsen dessert in a can is a decent start, 12% imperial stouts with pistachio/cookies/apple pie etc are extremely good and will very much hit the spot when you're between bands. Them not being cold is preferable. Good piss-to-pissed ratio as well, useful for negotiating sets/toilet requirements . . . 

[incident]

2 hours ago, Divein said:

The issue you have is that there arnt many brewery's in the country who could supply Glastonbury to cope with demand/logistics. 

Although Plum Porter on draft would be the cherry on the cake. That's got me thinking about taking some of the cans this year.

While that's true, it shouldn't stop them doing better than they currently manage.

Keep the Carlsberg (or whoever) contract for all the major bars, having a limited number of mass market options makes sense at somewhere like Dreamtime or Mandela - but there's plenty of smaller bars throughout the festival site operating at much lower volumes that could do something much more interesting. Why not turn a few of them over to local breweries - there's certainly a few relatively local to the festival that'd jump at the chance.

They already do this to an extent with Cider - there'd be riots if they ever told Burrow Hill Cider that they couldn't bring their bus, and Brothers pretty much grew a national business out of their popular independent stall at Glastonbury.

[fightoffyour]

Beers always get cold enough under the groundsheet to have a decent few cold IPAs in the morning / early afternoon even if its 30 C solid the whole weekend. 

I'm not saying bring some imported cans of Treehouse and leave it in your tent until Sunday, but there's a middleground.

[coma girl]

14 minutes ago, balti-pie said:

my oft-repeated tip is to take good dark beer in cans - Amundsen dessert in a can is a decent start, 12% imperial stouts with pistachio/cookies/apple pie etc are extremely good and will very much hit the spot when you're between bands. Them not being cold is preferable. Good piss-to-pissed ratio as well, useful for negotiating sets/toilet requirements . . . 

Those Amundsen beers are pricey but some of them are lovely! 

[majormajormajor]

22 minutes ago, 1986 said:

Taking proper juicy craft cans is pretty pointless when they need to be kept fresh and will just taste like shit baking in your tent. Cold fizzy and basic is where its at.

My tastes in beer have gone full circle over the years, went from being more and more w*nkery, shunning everything that wasn't a £6+ can of juicy special edition DIPA at 9% to being given a Bierre Moretti and being quite into it. Now I just like it all (within reason). 

 

This guy speaks the truth.

I can enjoy lager these days. I mean, obviously I prefer a brutal IPA, but I can contently put away far too many Heinekens... and that isn't even a good lager.

[Drinky]

Nothing like a nice fresh Julius down by the Pyramid

[balti-pie]

23 minutes ago, coma girl said:

Those Amundsen beers are pricey but some of them are lovely! 

Im sure someone will be along shortly to tell me i'm an idiot for happily dropping a tenner on a 330ml of beer, (thats £16 a pint! outrageous! blah blah) but i'll be honest - i dont particularly care how much it costs. i'd rather have a smaller amount of exactly what i'd like than a much larger amount of stuff thats meh. If i'm going to beer, i shall beer properly, and not waste my time with midtable beer 

[gazzared]

1 hour ago, Barneym said:

I just can’t drink craft beers or larger from a can if it’s not cold so it’s a complete no go for me at the festival as we get the coach so no cool boxes and I don’t go back to my tent once I’ve left it. It’s therefore cans of cider as I find that drinkable when warm and buying beers all day which is why I have an interest in both what’s on and the price! Then of course some awful bottle of too strong spirits during the headliner when you can’t get to the bar or toilet

I found hobgoblin gold was ideal to drink as its not supposed to be too cold anyway 🍻🍻🍻

[Barneym]

56 minutes ago, balti-pie said:

my oft-repeated tip is to take good dark beer in cans - Amundsen dessert in a can is a decent start, 12% imperial stouts with pistachio/cookies/apple pie etc are extremely good and will very much hit the spot when you're between bands. Them not being cold is preferable. Good piss-to-pissed ratio as well, useful for negotiating sets/toilet requirements . . . 

A 12% stout at the festival sounds like a recipe for disaster to me (even if it was delicious), I wouldn’t remember anything and would be on the floor, still remember having to basically carry our 6ft3 mate after Kayne when he decided a litre of red wine was a good idea. He hung up his Glasto boots after that year!

[Memory Man]

22 minutes ago, gazzared said:

I found hobgoblin gold was ideal to drink as its not supposed to be too cold anyway 🍻🍻🍻

Yes this is good as well as old golden hen

[Paul ™]

3 hours ago, Hotchilidog said:

As for last years festivals Bloodstock was a fiver a pint iirc and £4.50 for cask. Held at the same venue as Bearded Theory so maybe Catton Park is just a great value venue.

Same company do the bars at both.

[Memory Man]

I assume carlsberg pays for an exclusive bar rights deal or thats the contract, so you cant just have small bars going rogue on their offerings of cask & craft, its just not allowable.

as to whether they try to renegotiate the deal, they could try so some smaller bars can have a better offering?

[coma girl]

32 minutes ago, balti-pie said:

Im sure someone will be along shortly to tell me i'm an idiot for happily dropping a tenner on a 330ml of beer, (thats £16 a pint! outrageous! blah blah) but i'll be honest - i dont particularly care how much it costs. i'd rather have a smaller amount of exactly what i'd like than a much larger amount of stuff thats meh. If i'm going to beer, i shall beer properly, and not waste my time with midtable beer 

I tend to buy them more as a treat but they are good. Those heavy stouts then they are definitely better at a higher ABV IMO. 

I don't tend to take beers of that strength to festivals but I might take a few this year for drinking later on in the evening when I don't want to be drinking weaker lagers etc and going for a pee every 10 minutes. 

[Memory Man]

After ive had enough beer a switch to rum & coke is good for later in the eve. You can mix it as strong or weak as you like then, and pee less!

[fightoffyour]

1 hour ago, Drinky said:

Nothing like a nice fresh Julius down by the Pyramid

Well I didn't expect someone to actually do it, fair play!

1 hour ago, Barneym said:

A 12% stout at the festival sounds like a recipe for disaster to me (even if it was delicious), I wouldn’t remember anything and would be on the floor, still remember having to basically carry our 6ft3 mate after Kayne when he decided a litre of red wine was a good idea. He hung up his Glasto boots after that year!

They're ideal really, just remember to really take your time over that can and enjoy over the course of 10 to 15 minutes rather than drinking it quickly.

[1986]

2 hours ago, balti-pie said:

Im sure someone will be along shortly to tell me i'm an idiot for happily dropping a tenner on a 330ml of beer, (thats £16 a pint! outrageous! blah blah) but i'll be honest - i dont particularly care how much it costs. i'd rather have a smaller amount of exactly what I'd like than a much larger amount of stuff thats meh. If i'm going to beer, i shall beer properly, and not waste my time with midtable beer 

Think the most outrageous price I've paid is about £11 for a third at the Haven bar in Copenhagen that's run by Mikkeler. Don't think it was even anything special it was just the combo of craft beer and being in Denmark.

[efcfanwirral]

3 hours ago, found home in 2009 said:

I might be in the minority and it might be because I have a sweet tooth, but I love Somersby. Though I also liked it when the festival sold Thatchers. Both are a billion times better than Strongbow or Magners, which are the only ciders in most pubs I go to

I preferred Somersby to Mallets. Though I'm guessing we're stuck with Mallets. Would still drink that over Carlsberg regular though!

Carlsberg Export is nice but rare, plus there was a nice IPA that I found at a couple of smaller bars which was great. 

Edited March 3, 2022 by efcfanwirral

[balti-pie]

21 minutes ago, 1986 said:

Think the most outrageous price I've paid is about £11 for a third at the Haven bar in Copenhagen that's run by Mikkeler. Don't think it was even anything special it was just the combo of craft beer and being in Denmark.

i think the most i paid was a third of Alesmith vietnamese coffee barrel aged speedway stout at the of the Craft Beer co's in london , which was around the £10 mark - but it was absolutely delicious and id happily order it again. The Mikkeller bar over in east London/up the road from Liverpool St isnt too bad, but man its expensive . . . 

I love table beers at 2.5% so i can drink and not get drunk, and i also love barrel aged imperial stouts north of 10% - my two favourite styles of beer 😄

[balti-pie]

2 hours ago, coma girl said:

I tend to buy them more as a treat but they are good. Those heavy stouts then they are definitely better at a higher ABV IMO. 

I don't tend to take beers of that strength to festivals but I might take a few this year for drinking later on in the evening when I don't want to be drinking weaker lagers etc and going for a pee every 10 minutes. 

They work brilliantly for that very purpose - there's a couple of Buxton imperial stouts that ive put to one side for my Glastonbury beers box, a bourbon barrel aged one and an islay barrel aged one - i'm saving them for being right in the throng of a crowd just before a headliner i really fancy 

[coma girl]

Just now, balti-pie said:

They work brilliantly for that very purpose - there's a couple of Buxton imperial stouts that ive put to one side for my Glastonbury beers box, a bourbon barrel aged one and an islay barrel aged one - i'm saving them for being right in the throng of a crowd just before a headliner i really fancy 

Excellent plan!

I should start setting a few aside too or at least making list of good ones. Will need to have a look back through Untappd for possible contenders. 

[DareToDibble]

2 hours ago, Memory Man said:

After ive had enough beer a switch to rum & coke is good for later in the eve. You can mix it as strong or weak as you like then, and pee less!

I had to double check that I hadn’t written that and forgotten about it. 

A fellow man of both class and great taste.