Searching for the Perfect Pint?

Then you should ask Bernard the Beer Boffin apparently… Bernard is the ’all knowing’ landlord at the Perfect Pint website, his aim is to show you to the best real ale pubs serving the great beers that you love…

But the Perfect Pint is so much more than just a website, it’s also a virtual community with the aim to “make real ale, and the pubs that serve them, the heart of the real community.” They are doing this by attempting to creat the biggest and best real-time beer database in the UK, easily accessed by beer drinkers and designed to share with friends. 

It is something that surely, on reflection, is beyond even the wildest dreams of CAMRA’s founding fathers as they circled the wagons over Watney’s Red Barrel just over forty years ago…(Perfect Pint Blog)

The quote (above), was actually taken from their blog post about the increase in micro-breweries and the heavy decline of British Pubs, but it also serves as a good descriptor for their Perfect Pint iPhone App. 

Fancy a hoppy, citrus India Pale Ale, or a nutty, chocolatey mild? Bernard the Beer Boffin learns your tastes, and recommends beers you will love. Ask and he’ll guide you to the door of a great pub nearby.

The Perfect Pint may be a modern-day version of the CAMRA‘s traditional Good Beer Guide but more in real-time. It appears to be more easily tuned to your own personal tastes and, as with all beer, it’s more about what you like rather than what some self-appointed beer expert suggests you should like.

But, like the Cask Marque initiative, developed and supported by the trade, all these other guides actually help you to find a pub that will serve you with a great, as opposed to an indifferent (or worse), pint of cask ale.

Perfect Pint | Real Ale in Real Time

Perfect Pint puts a great beer in your hand, Perfect Pint helps landlords keep in touch with regulars via real-time alerts, and attract new customers passing by. For Breweries, Perfect Pint showcases beers to customers who are ready to try them.

Other features of the Perfect Pint App allow you to invite friends, share tasting notes & win Real Ale prizes with Beer Bingo™, it’s all about sharing your favourite real ales and discovering new beers. You can also find information about beer festivals and it’s all constantly updated.

I have to confess, I haven’t used the App myself, I don’t own an iPhone. But I’m lucky, I can usually find a refreshing alternative - I’ve always got my Guinness – Sláinte!

Times they are a changing?

Image via Flickr

Reading The Times as I often do (print edition as opposed to online), I happened across various unrelated articles today which presented me with a common theme for the subject of this post. Despite the fact I generally glean most of my news from the internet these days, I still find something strangely comforting about sitting in the sun with a beer browsing through a newspaper.

At this point I have to warn and advise any Sun readers; you are unlikely to find anything of interest in the remainder of this post… I don’t have an Agony Aunt who can tell you what to do with your problem, there is no exclusive behind the scenes gossip from The X-Factor and most importantly, I don’t give a stuff about the footballer who is shagging a wannabe celebrity. Oh yes, and you won’t find a Page Three in this blog!

Keeping abreast of what is actually happening in the world (no pun intended), tends to develop a less insular outlook on life. If you can manage to do that with a reasonable level of intellect and understanding, so much the better. The problem however remains; even those who read the less insatiable journals often display high levels of self-importance or ambivalence towards the remainder of society. However, there are always things we should be thinking about, even when we’re unable to contribute to (or change) the issue personally.

Reading a newspaper is something I’ve always done since my school common room days although at that time, the beer was absent of course. It’s also a habit that I probably inherited from my father (which is where the beer came in) but unlike him, my enjoyment was always inhibited and curtailed somewhat by my lack of dexterity. I generally found difficulty in effectively controlling the broadsheet periodicals. Newspapers which arguably, where and still are the only ones actually worth reading. Being unable to lay the newspaper out flat in front of me, or the onset of even a light breeze, usually meant that particular issue was destined for little more than chip wrappers. I have to admit; the tabloid versions of the more intellectual rags have been something of a godsend to me.

Today I learned a lot about social issues and matters of scientific importance to our society… What did you learn, if anything?

Related articles

• Cheers to the Beer Writers! (thebeerauthority.com)
• There is More to Beer than Drinking (friendseat.com)

Budget billet-doux results in Osborne Night!

Image by HM Treasury

Yesterday I spoke of the bitter taste left by the budget but realistically, how much better or worse off will I be in the coming year after George Osborne‘s missive yesterday? I decided to find out…

The BBC Budget calculator, developed by accounting firm KPMG LLP (UK), was produced to help us all understand how the measures being brought in next month will affect us financially.

BBC Budget Calculator basics:

• The tax system is complex, and the model used below gives only an indication of the Budget’s impact
• Your personal information is safe – all calculations are carried out on your computer
• The calculator includes measures announced in previous budgets that come into effect in April this year

So I filled in the details and hey presto… Result: “The indications are that you will be £130.03 better off.”

I know the calculator only provides an ‘indication’ and, I suppose it’s only a relatively small amount of money. It’s also money that I’m not likely to realise until well into the next financial year but what the hell? There’s enough for me and the wife to have a night out on the strength of it I’m sure… And, in the best traditions of embracing diversity, tomorrow is a trip to the Indian Restaurant for Curry and Bangla Beer (or two), hence forth this night shall be refered to as our ‘Osborne Night’

Related Articles

• Budget 2011: George Osborne’s handouts no match for his age of austerity (guardian.co.uk)
• Budget 2011: Tax breaks for businesses to boost brand Made in Britain (guardian.co.uk)
• Budget 2011: Has George Osborne enough fuel to deliver the goods? (blogs.telegraph.co.uk)
• George Osborne: ‘We’ll make sure motorists get benefit of budget changes’ (guardian.co.uk)