Pubs Glossary A to Z B Part 3

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This finishes my pubs and brewing glossary for the letter B. BEER TASTERS – Someone in a brewery tastes beer at various stages in its production to make sure it is good to sell. No one does this job exclusively and it may be just one of the brewery worker’s many duties. BEER TASTING NOTES – Seasoned drinkers keep a log of beers they have had, awarding points to those they like best. Pubs may also produce notes on beers to give drinkers information helpful in choosing a drink to consume. BIG SCREEN TV – Some pubs promote the fact that they have big screen TV’s to encourage sport fans to watch a sport while drinking in the pub. I generally avoid such pubs on sport coverage days. BINGE – A heavy drinking session BINGE DRINKING – The authorities have coined this phrase for the tendency of young drinkers to get as drunk as possible as quickly as possible, which makes many drinkers aggressive or very ill, and causes problems for the police and ambulance / hospital services. Binging is often used as an excuse for increasing taxation and beer duty. BINGO – popular pub game with cash or beer prizes, though bingo can be played in bingo halls, casinos and increasingly online too. BITTER – Name for the most commonly served ales which usually have a strong hops content, and no CO2 fizzy nonsense about them. BODY – How the beer tastes when it comes into contact with the taste palette of the mouth. A strong taste will often be escribed as full bodied. BLENDING Mixing together different kinds of hops and other ingredients for a varied taste effect. BOILING – Beer brewing involves boiling the ingredients many times which makes the beer water pure and healthy. In medieval times it was safer to drink beer than to drink water which could carry all kinds of diseases including typhoid and cholera. Boiling wort and hops together also brings out the flavourings and creates the bitter effect that gets bitters so called. BOMBER – A short strong spirits drink swallowed in one gulp to create a buzz or to help a drinker get drunk quickly – not to be encouraged. BOTTLE CONDITIONED ALE – Some experimental beers claim to make special beer bottles behave just like cask barrels, though not all real ale aficionados think it works. BOTTLED BEER – Beer stored and served in a bottle, often stored in fridges. BOTTOM FERMENTATION – If a beer being brewed was allowed to chill the yeasts sank down to the bottom of the brewery tunnes rather than rising up, and this allowed clearer coloured beers while most beers are darker coloured and cloudy. The yeast at the bottom of the tunnes and barrels still ferments though. BOTTOM'S UP - A toasting phrase for drinking whatever is in your glass down in one swig. As you will see the bottom of the glass as you raise it and the drink spills out, the phrase bottoms up comes into use. BOUNCERS – Security officials hired to help oblige undesirable customers to vacate the pub premises. Bouncers used to mainly work in night clubs but many pubs now use them too. At one time bouncers were just big burly characters who might be given cash or free beer to eject some undesirable from a pub, often hurting him violently in the process, but nowadays bouncers have to be trained, and licensed and complete extensive paperwork on their actions in any given bounce. Their reports can often be used in deciding whether or not to renew a bar’s licensing any given year. BOWLING GREENS – Many pubs once had bowling greens attached for customers to use for the sport though few remain. Some pubs even called The Bowling Green no longer have one. The Red Lion in Withington Manchester is one of the few to maintain its bowling green. BREATHALYZERS – First invented in 1954, the Breathalyzer tests how much alcohol is in someone’s blood stream. They are most frequently used by the police on suspected drink-drivers though there is a growing trend in business for random drink and drug testing too with disciplinary and dismissal likely for anyone caught drinking on the job. The police Breathalyzer has undoubtedly helped save many lives. BREW KETTLES – Big industrial sized kettles are heavily used in the brewery business. BREWERIANA - A name given to beer and pub related collectibles from books on pubs to beer mats. Some breweriana can command very high prices. BREWERY – Where the beer is created. BREWERY TAP – A showcase pub used by a brewery to show VIP’s and trading partners how much drinkers enjoy their products and services. Big breweries usually try to secure ownership of a pub close to if not attached to the brewery itself and use it as a showroom facility when required. Sometimes a brewery tap pub is just called The Brewery Tap. BREWHOUSES – See brewpubs BREWPUB – A pub that brews its own beer on the premises instead or as well as bringing in beer from outside sources. Most pubs were brew pubs up to the 19th century but brewpubs are now rare though showing something of a revival. BROWN ALES – Usually a bottled light mild. BUFFET – A meal that is simply laid out on a table so guests can help themselves – pubs often favour this to waiter or catering service especially at special functions for wedding or Christening guests, etc. Many all you can eat restaurants have adopted the pub catering buffet system on a bigger scale. BUNG – A plug stopper, usually wooden or rubber that can be released to let beer out of a barrel. Arthur Chappell