Boddingtons bitter

Is that when they used the auto vac? Where the beer went over end of glass when pouring and back round

 

Pulled through the " hollow web system " the idea was to put the head at the bottom of the glass and pull the beer through , the overspill filtered back to the barrel without holding air . The tighter the sparkler the better the pint .

 

Glasses are Nucleated now, A process that allows the head to stick to the sides all the way down to the bottom,

 

That's not really correct Al. The beer down south doesn't go flat after five minutes, it's served like that from the outset. People like it like that - it's a regional difference.

My first eight years of drinking were down south and all the bitter was served without a head. I hated bitter with a head on. I've seen people blow a head off onto the counter and demand that the barperson fill the glass to the top to avoid a short pint (the glasses weren't oversized to accommodate a head like they are up here).

When I came to Bradford in 1980 it took me several weeks to get used to drinking beer with a head.

Certain bitters just don't taste right with a big head. My favourite pint used to be Greene King Abbot Ale, in the days when Greene King was a small regional East Anglian brewery and not the bloated conglomerate it has become. Abbot had a gorgeous nutty flavour back then (which it seems to have lost nowadays) which I loved. But when I tried a pint of it, in the late 80s, served as a guest beer in the Fighting *@?$, it just didn't taste the same with a head on.

 

the overspill only went back into the barrel at the end of the night, during service it went into the drip tray and then back into the pump

 

Thinking back I know what you mean. I know it's one of the new blonde ale trends but Saltaire Blonde in the Royal Oak in Eccleshill comes closest for me.
When I started on my beer drinking journey the pubs choice in Bradford was Tetleys, Whitbreads, Websters, Bass Charringtons, Courage/John Smiths, Sammuel Smiths, then you had the free houses and Timothy Taylor's when you got nearer Keighley. Later we had a couple of Trough Brewery pubs for a while. In those days there wasn't a big choice of lager on offer. Skol in Tetleys pubs, Heineken in Whitbread pubs (not the 5% stuff you get now), Carling Black Label in Bass Charrington houses, Webster's served Carlsberg and Courage/John Smiths had Harp. Ah memories......

 

Looking forward to a pint of Timothy Taylors Boltmaker in the Corn Dolly