PUB GLOSSARY A To Z - C

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CABARET – A live entertainment show using a combination of different artistes and types of act, so singers, dancers, comedians and strippers may appear alongside one another in a single evening of entertainment. CAFÉ-BAR – These rose up in student communities in the style of French Left-Bank promenade cafes, where people could relax with a drink and continental food, often presented in a Nouvelle cuisine style. The Café bars offered round table seating, frothy coffees and teas, Cappuccinos, etc, as well as alcohol (mostly bottled and imported initially but later real cask conditioned ales were added too), and a wide ranging international menu, as opposed to the traditional pub grub options available in many pubs. They are often more in tune with the needs of vegetarians too. The success of the importing of Café bars hassled many pubs to adopt their styles in presentation, improved food menus, and drinks ranges. Café bars have themselves often become more pubs like, in having music events, live entertainment, etc. Café bars generally don’t have inn signs, preferring their names to be presented in sign writing graphic logo styles. There are more café bars in Manchester city centre today than pubs. CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE (CAMRA) Often militant British pub and brewery monitoring social pressure group who support real ale sales in pubs, and who produce good pub guides and regional, local newsletters on the current state of the brewing industry. A pub championed or criticised by CAMRA can be made or broken quickly. Many pubs remain real ale free zones however. CARAMEL – A common ingredient in many craft beers CARBON DIOXIDE- Beer brewing can produce a frothy foamy head on the beer through natural carbon dioxide forming in the yeasts creating a bubbling similar to that in fizzy cola and lemonade. The level of fizz can be deliberately exaggerated too. Keg beers often force a carbonated head by putting pressurized carbon dioxide into the beer wort. CARDS – Card games for fun and more frequently for modest friendly gambling are common in pubs, with Poker, Whist & Cribbage being the most popular games. Financial stakes are usually low, with more serious gambling tending to be moved to the casinos. CARRY OUTS – beer or spirits sold in sealed cans or bottles for drinkers to take home or to parties from the pub, usually at higher cost than drink-in beer and spirits. If the pub is not licensed to sell alcohol for consumption outside the premises itself then such practice can be seen as unlawful and can get a publican’s license revoked. CASK A beer barrel that has not been filled with pasteurising agents or carbon dioxide releasers CASK CONDITIONED ALE – Beer stored and served from the cask – REAL ALE. – The yeasts in real ales are alive and cask ales tend to go off within days if unsold. CATERING - Preparing and serving of food for pub drinkers in general, or at special functions such as room-hire birthday parties. CELLAR - Most traditional pubs have deep cellar space where stock is stored and where beer barrels are kept, usually in controlled temperatures. CELLAR HATCHES – Beer is often delivered to pubs early in the morning before the pub opens. Cellar hatches, opening to the street, allow heavy barrels to be rolled or dropped right into cellars rather than carried through the pub public rooms interior. Pub cellar hatches are tightly sealed when not in use to prevent access by thieves or members of the public falling down them. CELLARMANSHIP – The most skilled area of bar work, involving knowing how to regulate beer temperatures, change barrels, cleaning beer pumps and beer flow lines, and identify if any beers are off or close to running out. Cellar workers are well trained and many bar staff who collect glasses and sell beer directly to the customers don’t deal with cellar duties at all. CHAIN BAR – One of many pubs owned by the same retail chain, such as Wetherspoons, Last Orders, Walkabout, The Hogshead, chains, etc. Unlike pubs franchised by a brewery, chain bars are owned by a franchise which does not generally brew its own beers. The bars are franchised in the same way fast food groups like MacDonald’s franchise out their burger bars. The food they sell may be mass produced in a central store and sent to the pubs in the chain, where it is often just defrosted and heated up for quick presentation to the tables. Many chain bars are operated as Free Houses, but often, the chain itself rigidly, strictly controls the list of which beers are on offer, giving the bars of the chain a cloned sense of over-familiarity. CHAMPAGNE – A highly regarded sparkling wine, named after the region of France where it is produced. The wine is especially popular for special occasions, such a weddings. It can be very expensive and Champagne production is very tightly regulated. The very instant of popping a champagne cork is seen as part of the experience of enjoying Champagne though I personally find the drink highly over-rated. CHANGING THE BARREL – literally that – a need to change the beer pump lines from one barrel or cask (that has emptied or occasionally malfunctioned) for a fresh one of the same beer, or if all consumed, a fresh product. This can sometimes leave the customer with several moments waiting time in mid purchase of drinks while the bar-staff or landlord go to the cellars to effect a change of the barrels. CHASERS – A spirit drink consumed after a pint or between pints to add to the alcoholic buzzes. CHEERS – The most commonly used toast greeting, a way to thank hosts for a party or other gifts, and services, and wish friends or family well. The US TV series Cheers was set in a bar of that name. CHRISTMAS – Though most bars close on Christmas Day evening (a few open at lunchtime on December 25th) the build up to Xmas is extremely busy for many pubs as many who don’t drink in pubs for much of the year choose to do so over the Xmas-New Year period. They will often get drunk quickly for drinking more, and faster than usual. Pubs also cater for often chaotic office parties in the build up to Christmas as workers try to celebrate the pending break from trade together. Ironically, a pub’s regular clientele often melts away over Christmas to avoid the amateurs who can get bolshy, embarrassing or even violent from not being so used to heavy drinking. CHRISTMAS ALES – Beers brewed specially for the Christmas period, and often given names like Santa-Slayer or Rudolph’s Revenge. Such strongly brewed seasonal ales are intended to top drinker going for spirits too much which can reduce a beer brewer’s profits too much at Christmas. CHURCH INNS – Pubs next to or near churches are often used after church services by the congregations, especially after weddings or funeral, etc. Many Church pubs are simply called The Church or named after specific churches and religious figures. CIDER – Fermented apple juice drinks, often much stronger than bitters and lagers, but sometimes sold as heavily diluted ice-lollies for younger customers too. Many cider drinkers won’t touch any other form of alcohol. Much dispute is given as to whether ciders should be served with ice or straight. Cider is traditionally served cold in itself so adding ice seems to many to be overkill. An advertising campaign by cider brewer Magners, from Ireland, promoted the drink as best served with large quantities of ice, and started a trend for their own, and other ciders. This often hits pub ice supplies hard, and traditional cider drinkers still prefer their drinks ice-free. UK Cider production is traditionally associated with the West Country, Somerset in particular, and a popular folk-comedy group, The Wurzels, made several jokey records about their Somerset Cider consumption that have added to this perception. There is a growing trend for pear cider consumption too nowadays. CLOSING TIME – Literally what it says, the time a pub is going to close. Staff will take unfinished drinks away, and customers will be expected to leave unless they are going to get after hours drinking. Attempting once too often to stay past the leaving time could get a customer barred. CLUBS – Bars with later licenses than most pubs, which usually charge attendees an admission fee and have a strong security presence. See later entries on NIGHTCLUBS and PRIVATE MEMBERS CLUBS. COACHING HOUSES – Inns that served as a place for coach and horse travellers to rest, often overnight and catch the next coach – such inns usually provided stables for the horses and some landlords operated their own stage-coach services. COCK FIGHTING PITS – Many pubs were used for gambling on cockerels cruelly forced to fight to the death as entertainment. Now such activity is mercifully illegal, but it has been known to still take place, though rarely in pub courtyards or cellars. COCKTAILS – A mix of two or more drinks, at least one of which has to be a spirit. With so many alcoholic beverages in existence, people are bound to experiment and mix various kinds together for taste. Many cocktails have been created by simple trial and error. The practice has existed in the US since the early 20th century with the earliest recorded cocktail party-taking place in 1917 in Missouri. Prohibition made cocktails popular in speakeasies, as it was easy to hide alcohol by pouring lots of non-alcoholic beverages into glasses and bottles with it to hide the taste of the alcohols. The increase in use of marijuana in the 1960’s reduced the popularity of the cocktail, but there was a revival in the 1980’s fuelled by the film, Cocktail in 1988, starring Tom Cruise. Here, barmen are seen mixing drinks in cocktail shakers, juggling the apparatus around in dance routines, throwing glasses, jugs and bottles around in a cool, dramatic fashion. Many cocktail bars opened with staff training to copy such practices, and though the dance routines have declined, cocktail bars themselves have retained their popularity, and opened in the UK & elsewhere beyond the States. Cocktails often have silly names. Popular ones (which can vary from cocktail bar to cocktail bar in terms of exact blend of ingredients) include Black Russian – Vodka with Coffee Liqueur, Buck’s Fizz – Champaign & orange juice, Gin And Tonic (G & T) literally what it says and a common cocktail in Britain even before cocktails were introduced in force. Long Island Iced Tea – Vodka, Gin, Rum, Tequila, with a dash of cola and sour mixers like Bitter Lemon. Singapore Sling – Brandy, Cherry, Benedictine, and pineapple juice. White Russian – like a Black Russian, but with milk and / or cream added, Zombie – Brandy, Rum, Cherry, soft drinks of any and all kinds. Cocktails are often served in a glass decorated with sparklers, umbrellas and other novelty items. COCKTAIL BARS –Bars that specialize in cocktail sales, with less attention given to other kinds of alcohol. (See COCKTAILS). COLOUR – Beer drinkers often go by the look and colour and aroma of ales as much as the taste. I tend to go for the dark bitters such as porters. COMMUNITY PUB – A pub designed to serve a particular usually urban community, especially where there are few if any competing bars. Generally strangers are welcome too but a few communities do dislike seeing people they don’t recognize. CONTRABAND – Pub have a reputation for being places where contraband, stolen and smuggled goods changes hands but such pubs as allow drugs, or stolen DVD’s to change hands eventually draw in police attention. COOPER – Beer and wine barrel maker – a dying skilled craft and trade sadly. CORK – A bottle sealing stopper used for many wines and especially for Champagnes, though increasing shortage of cork is leading more wine producers to use screw top bottles instead and many drinkers fail to detect any difference in taste. CORKAGE – sneaking your own pre-bought alcohol or food into a bar or hotel, thus undercutting their profits. Hotels often sue customers committing corkage. CORONER’S PUBS – A pub has big tables and cold cellars so pubs were often used for laying out dead bodies found nearby and for coroners to examine the bodies in the pub itself. COUNTRY PUBS – A pub that is set outside the towns, and usually only accessible by car for most potential customers. A trip to a country pub for townies is seen as a rare treat, and many country pubs do better trade by days and especially at weekends rather than of an evening or at night. CRAFT BEER – A real Ale beer I a beer brewed with combinations of only the most basic essential ingredients, namely barley-malt, hops, and water. It becomes a craft beer if in addition to the basic ingredients, it adds ingredients like honey, corn, or chocolate to taste. The Youtube is of The Wurzels singing I Am A Cider Drinker Arthur Chappell