Smiles - what Smiles.......................

Anything not covered elsewhere that you'd like to ask/tell about.

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gerrys
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Smiles - what Smiles.......................

Post by gerrys »

:o :( :cry: :evil: :twisted:

Whats happened to one of our favourite tipples? What a way to go, fancy brewing Smiles in Walsall! :cry:

http://www.camrabristol.org.uk/news1.html

I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get Smiles for the Party, but I'm still trying.
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MartinF
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Post by MartinF »

From the Bristol CAMRA website

...However, there is a cost to be paid. The majority of the current Smiles employees appear to be out of a job. The bulk of Smiles beers will no longer be brewed in Bristol, but at the Highgate Brewery in Walsall. There are plans to expand the Brewery Tap into the existing brewery and replace the current brewing equipment with a micro brewery for small scale production of seasonal beers and the like.

City Centre Breweries, bought Smiles for £1.1 Million in December 2003. It s generally believed that many of the financial problems of the brewery date back to the rapid expansion of their pub estate in the 1990's. This resulted in the need to sell almost all of these pubs to Youngs, with the exception of the Brewery Tap.
This is exactly what I've been saying for several years. Some stupid git of an ex Price-Waterhouse accountant became their MD about 12 years ago. He started getting into all sorts of fancy Enterprise Expansion schemes, starting up two 2 daughter companies with the sole purpose of buying pubs. When this all went sour, leaving them with unprofitable (but very nice) pubs, the only (rather drastic) means of survival was to sell all their pubs.

This certainly raised capital, but left them with virtually no outlets. Since their idea of top salary for sales people was the order of £18k, they were never very successful in getting into the free trade. They also never did any significant marketing.

Beer to be brewed at Highgate? Well, I believe Highgate (home of the famous Highgate mild) is now owned by Coors :-# and is basically a contract brewery, so quite a number of former "glory days" beers enter their twilight years there, including (possibly) Draught Bass - arguably once the best premium bitter in the UK.

Personally, I think Smiles beers are finished. Most people couldn't give two hoots where a beer might be brewed, and wouldn't notice the consequential difference in flavour either (probably myself included, TBH) - that won't kill the brands. They may be contract brewed for a couple of years, but I think it would need pretty substantial marketing & sales efforts (like Sharp's, for example) to save them beyond this point. From past experience, I don't think that'll happen.

Interestingly, the only place where I've found Smiles beers to be of poor quality over the last couple of years is the brewery tap. Once again, they won't pay for experienced staff, so the beer is often badly kept. Contrary to what might be intuitive, the beer doesn't go directly from the adjoining brewery into the brewery tap. It goes via their distribution depot in Avonmouth, where it probably languishes for a couple of weeks before being shoved onto a dray & taken back home.

Sad to see, but I think we're witnessing the outcome of successive bouts of management incompetence up until the current owners. :'-(

On the upside: there are lots of newer breweries out there, quietly producing excellent beers. The choice has never been better.
It's an ill wind that never blows at all.
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Post by Graham_U »

I had a pretty ropey pint of Smiles Bristol IPA in a pub in Gloucester after the Bris/Glaws match at the week end. The pub could keep a good pint when we switch to something from Cornwall.
Graham
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Post by Viv Powell »

Ok chaps - as Gerry has sadly been unable to obtain any Smiles :( , I now have 2 Bath Ales on order for the party Gem and Barnstormer, instead of just the one :D . I hope that is to everyone's satisfaction.

Bath Ales' brewery is in Warmley, close enough that I can pick the stuff up fairly easily. It also gives me the opportunity to make enquiries about a tour later in the year :D , something I promised to do some time ago and haven't got round to :oops: - see Windsurfer's Bar

Hope to see you at the party
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the pragmatic approach

Post by dro »

went through this problem many years ago
variation in quality of beer depedant on age,care etc etc
At that time in cardiff with Brains beers.

Then at the ripe old age of 27 enlightenment dawned

LAGER !!!!

It may be crap but it is consistent crap.
I know wherever I go that I can depend on consistent qualityand temp. With the added bonus of a variety of fancy glasses .

So board the train to freedom and alight in crapland
You will never need to send another pint of not quite good enough beer back again
(cos it's all not good enough eh! Brilliant or what ?)

You know it makes sense

Huw

P.S.
you can burn the shirt,cravat and open toed sandals with socks
and buy a brand new shell suit and mix with the pragmatics.
All welcome
What do you mean not ENOUGH wind ?
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Post by Ian Long »

Its far more fun to winge and moan and we are occasionally rewarded with a truely excellent pint. The 6X from the Crown at the top of the A46 near M4 Junc18 is an excellent example of a normally disappointing beer.

Well done Viv for executing a perfect emergency plan :lol: :lol:

Those of us who were lucky enough to be spoilt at the Chew Valley beer festival know there is plenty of fantastic beer out there - you just have to hunt it down. Its a dirty job but someone's got to do it :D
If found, please return to the pub.
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Post by Graham_U »

The 6X from the Crown at the top of the A46 near M4 Junc18 is an excellent example of a normally disappointing beer.
Come on Ian, 6X is a great pint, its not Waddy's fault that you live outside. The trouble is it is difficult to keep (even within the boundary), doesn't travel well, for a fairly light weight premium beer has an amazing effect on your insides.
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Post by Graham_U »

The 6X from the Crown at the top of the A46 near M4 Junc18 is an excellent example of a normally disappointing beer.
Come on Ian, 6X is a great pint, its not Waddy's fault that you live outside. The trouble is it is difficult to keep (even within the boundary), doesn't travel well, for a fairly light weight premium beer has an amazing effect on your insides.
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Post by MartinF »

Viv Powell wrote:Ok chaps - as Gerry has sadly been unable to obtain any Smiles :( , I now have 2 Bath Ales on order for the party Gem and Barnstormer, instead of just the one :D . I hope that is to everyone's satisfaction.
Excellent :!: Much better bet than Smiles.
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Post by MartinF »

Graham_U wrote:
The 6X from the Crown at the top of the A46 near M4 Junc18 is an excellent example of a normally disappointing beer.
Come on Ian, 6X is a great pint, its not Waddy's fault that you live outside. The trouble is it is difficult to keep (even within the boundary), doesn't travel well, for a fairly light weight premium beer has an amazing effect on your insides.
Have to agree with Ian. 6X has now become a very mediocre beer and not up to what it used to be.

And it's almost inevitable that when a brewery scales up it's production to the extent neccessary to move from local to national production/distribution - as Waddy's have done with 6X - the beers will change, too. Seldom for the better in my experience.
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Post by Graham_U »

If you want to try a beer that has changed as its become a national beer, try Greene King Abbot Ale. I was brought up on this stuff living on the Cambs/Suffolk boarder. About 25 years ago Abbot used to be a really strong bitter with a lot of bit to it, now it sales nationally is more like a Scottish Heavy. I like it, but its a very different beer to the one I know.
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Post by MartinF »

Graham_U wrote:If you want to try a beer that has changed as its become a national beer, try Greene King Abbot Ale. I was brought up on this stuff living on the Cambs/Suffolk boarder. About 25 years ago Abbot used to be a really strong bitter with a lot of bit to it, now it sales nationally is more like a Scottish Heavy. I like it, but its a very different beer to the one I know.
Couldn't agree more. Likewise GK IPA. I lived in Herts/Beds (actually in Biggleswade, which used to be home to GK as well as their Bury St Edmunds brewery). All the GK KK mild came from Biggleswade, now both long departed. :'-(
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Re: the pragmatic approach

Post by MartinF »

dro wrote:Then at the ripe old age of 27 enlightenment dawned

LAGER !!!!
LAGER :?: :?: :!: :-{L :-{L
It's an ill wind that never blows at all.
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dro
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YES LAGER

Post by dro »

throw away your chains
free yourselves from the tyrany of good beer talk
Come over to lagerland

Then you can talk about windsurfing,mountain biking ,holidays etc

Unless of course discussing the beer is more interesting than the drinking !!!

I almost fell in to that trap when buying the techno.Saved eventualy by Kelvin no nonsese applied psychology.

Therfore good beer afficionados BEWARE !!!!!!

Huw
( make it cold barman so I can not taste it)

You know it makes sense
What do you mean not ENOUGH wind ?
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dro
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how much more?

Post by dro »

Cmon

I am bashing away at this keyboard like a demented concert pianist

WHERE is my third star?

Yours petulantly

Huw
What do you mean not ENOUGH wind ?
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