The Turf Tavern, Oxford

I work at the Turf and am really pleased so many of you have enjoyed coming to the pub. I just thought I would make a comment about the drip-tray pint issue some people have mentioned below to explain why we do it and why we don't think it is a problem.

Because we are a very busy pub which is well-known for its ale, we go through our 11 very very quickly. Also, because it is a very old building with even older foundations, the cellar is extremely small and the ales do not have as much time in the cellar as they can enjoy elsewhere. (Sometimes our choice of beers reflects this - ie. through experience we've learned that some beers require more settling time than others and so we tend not to get those beers in much) This means that although we only ever serve the beer when it is in good drinking condition, it is not always in perfect pouring condition. The effect of this is that sometimes the beer is a little more 'lively' than we would want - this makes it hard to pour without more head than we would get in perfect circumstances. So, in order to give people full pints rather than ones with large heads, or with too much delay, and without over-pouring them which not only wastes beer but results in a flatter, muddier pint, we tap the excess head into a second pint-glass which is kept on the drip tray by the appropriate pump. The original pint is then topped up from the pump. The tapped-off head then has time to settle out for the next customer to buy that pint, normally within a couple of minutes. When it is quiet we don't need to tap off the head and don't use the system. There is only ever a centimetre or so of beer in the tapped-off glass.

As far as I can see the only difference to the beer sitting in a glass by the pump and the beer sitting in the barrel in the cellar is that it does not get drawn through the line. (As anyone who has worked with ale will know, when you vent the beer before tapping it, you make the beer open to the air in the cellar - unlike a lager). Drawing beer through the line gives it a little life and freshness because of its journey but does not add anything else to it whatsoever. Since, when we are using the tapped-off beer, only a tiny proportion of the pint is not drawn through the line, this quality is not lost.

Of course, the system has to be properly managed so that there isn't too much beer sitting for too long, but in busy periods we are essentially just starting some else's pint a few moments before they order it - it is settling before you order it and while we can be doing something else rather than between you ordering and paying. Given the fact we can only ever have 4 people behind the bar for such a huge pub it is a way of saving time and getting you served slightly faster while not wasting beer or, as far as I can see having any impact on the quality of your beer. Of course, if any of you ever have a problem with the conditioning of your pint do come up and let us know - we take our reputation for serving good beer seriously and want you to be happy with what you get.

I hope this helps explain the matter. If you have any other questions about it, do put them down and I'll try to remember to come back here and reply to them!

Dan

5 Jun 2008 13:20