What is about some real ale folk? They seem to take a bit of an aggressive pleasure in telling you you're wrong...and implying you're a bit of a prat. You get it working at beer festivals too, where you're made to feel like you've never drunk a pint in your life. Perhaps these people are crap at everything else, and it boosts their ego to demonstrate their expertise in something relatively arcane. No wonder some people find us weird! I just hate people who talk to you in such a condescending manner thtat you feel you don't want to persue your interest....rather than the hundreds of really interested CAMRA folk, who are so in to it, all they want to do is take you by the hand and get you to taste and experience as much as possible.....that's more like it!
And so it was that this week I happened to pop into the only brewshop for miles. I couldn't get what I needed in Holland & Barrett, and I didn't want to pay the P&P from the VERY HELPFUL and NOT POMPOUS folk at Hop and Grape.
Wasn't I put in my place?! I excused myself by saying that what I had read is...., to which I was told...'That's Wheeler. He's an idiot'....thanks, kind of implies I must be one too. I then got subjected to 15 minutes of being told what to do in a voice not unlike they probably use to foreign waiters: 'We call that the wort, that's WORT...' etc. etc.
Thank God there are people like H&G, and the always enthusiastic, knowledgable, but friendly peeps at Bitter Virtue...they never make not knowing seem like a crime. On their virtues will the rise of real ale drinking continue. Wish I could say the same for those at the brew shop!
1 comment:
[...] moral of this tale is, as I have suggested before, even a health food shop can provide a better service on the brewing front than somewhere local [...]
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