When American's think of England, then tend to think of stereotypes (terrible teeth made up for by adorable accents, polite queing, adoration of the royal family except for Charles), many of these stereotypes coming from Hollywood ("I feel like I'm living in a Hugh Grant movie" - Kirsten, our most recent awesome houseguest). Some, but not all, of these turn out to be true (newsflash! In London, no one forms a queue). However, the stereotypes about beer and tea are absolutely true. The pub is completely central to English life, and tea is completely central to any work or social gathering, or really any personal encounter (I was recently offered tea when I went to pick up my new suit jacket from the tailor). However, both of these come with caveats that I feel are worth explaining.
I was so excited for drinking beer in England. Finally, a land not ruled by Budwiser and Coors and Miller! Going to a pub with multiple beers I'm excited about drinking! Not having to listen to Danny whine about what a terrible word "drinkability" is! While the first and third of those statements have proven to be correct, I've been disappointed in the beer selection, both at pubs and at beer stores.
Okay, so first a little background. There are two kinds of pubs here: "free houses", which can serve whichever beer they want, and pubs owned by a brewing company (generally one of the big English companies, like Youngs or Greene King). Most free houses will have two or maybe three "real ales," and then a selection of continental favorites like Amstel and Heinekin. (And always Peroni. Why do the Italians even bother making beer when they do everything else so well? well, except politics.) Now don't get me wrong, I'd much rather have Heinekin than Bud Light, but it just leaves something to be desired. Pubs owned by a brewer will whatever range of beers that brewer makes (which usually includes something darkish, several ales, maybe a lager), which is okay, but I always feel like I'm buying beer from The Man when I end up at one of these pubs. What's curious is that our trips to the lake district and several CAMRA beer festivals have shown that the UK makes lots of delicious beer, it just doesn't tend to show up in London pubs. I guess this is just my way of saying that I miss Sam Adams and Harpoon and Smuttynose and Brooklyn Brewery...
However, I should add that I still really enjoy our local pubs - we consider ourselves lucky enough to have five pubs close enough to be "local" - The Star, The Dartmouth Arms, The Lord Palmerston, The Bull and Last, The Southampton Arms. Here's the quick rundown of each pub, complete with the nickname that Danny has given each one. Points if you can figure out how each one was derived! (Sorry for the repetition from one of Danny's earlier posts, but I think that speaks to how great English pubs are!)
The Star - no nickname here. This one is just around the corner, so it's our go-to pub for a
weeknight pint. It's quiet during the week, but it serves great food and is a trendy place to be come the weekend! The only pub where we know the manager by her first name.The Dartmouth Arms (aka Al's Posse) - The less trendy heart of Dartmouth Park, this place shows football, has board games, and does an amazing plate of chips. It also has really funky pink flowered wallpaper, and we're just dying to try out their breakfast.
The Lord Palmerson (aka The Tap) - We walk by it every day on the way to the tube/bus, so when it's time for a drink we're less inclined to head back in that direction, but it also has a casual, local feel.
The Bull and Last (aka the Cow and First...okay that nickname's not as complicated) - we've only ever been once, and it has a fairly typical beer selection, but it's the menu that really got us excited to go back. Lots of yummy-sounding veggie options, and they've written all their local food suppliers on the wall, which is a good sign. We tried to go for lunch last Sunday and they said they weren't taking new food orders because the kitchen was too busy. It's a good sign for the quality of the food, but what is that supposed to mean? Aren't you in the food service industry?
The Southampton Arms (aka The Attempt) - Danny was singing the praises of this one in an earlier post about our pub crawl, but I'll repeat. This is where the real beer is. All from small breweries, all real ale and real cider (though real cider is actually pretty gross), and the staff really knows their beer. When Mark asked for "the hoppiest beer you've got", they knew exactly which ones to recommend. Unfortunately, when it comes to hoppiness, English beers just can't compete with American ones. Such is the plight of those brought up on Harpoon IPA.
But back to the main point about generally limited beer selection (The S.A. not withstanding)...the phenomenon is curiously repeated when it comes to tea. Tea is everywhere. At work, no one shows up to a meeting without a cuppa, and everyone who couldn't bring their own is immediately offered one (and never in anything other than a proper mug). Every tense situation on soap operas is accompanied with a plea along the lines of, "Don't leave! Let me just put on the kettle and we can discuss this!" And it's also totally normal to order tea in a pub. But the English are not really into fancy tea. I would guess that most households just have a stock of unremarkable English Breakfast, and that's it. And you'll rarely even hear people refer to it as English Breakfast. To them it's just...tea. I was doing fine with this model for a while (plus mint tea to have at night), but recently I've gotten desperate for something more complex, and we've gotten some earl grey and chai.
I guess I would say that when it comes to tea, it's really much more about the experience of tea than the flavor of tea. Something that makes you feel calm and safe, something to warm up those blustry English days, something that makes you pause for a moment to appreciate a curling whisp of steam rising off a milky lake. and that's tea I can believe in.
