Yeah, as I say, I've had it in the UKĀin Yorkshire, in fact, though not in Tadcaster itselfĀand it was lovely. I usually like a bit more hoppy beer than SSOBPA, but when it's in good condition it more than makes up for the relative lack of hop
zing. I agree that it must be the travel that does it in the case of the export bottlesĀthey warehouse the poor old things for months at a time, I suspect. With Meantime and some of the other newer exports from the UK, like Otter Head and Hoppy Otter, the turnaround time on the shipping is probably much less, because I've never had a stale bottle of either.
I always have found people in the North to have their heads screwed on the right wayĀthe problem isn't going to be the locals, though, but the derivatives traders from the City buying little pieds-a-terre in the oh-so-quaint countryside to pop into their Astons and Maseratis and go visit a couple of times a year... hmmm, now I think of it, the economic conditions aren't exactly favorable to that sort of I-have-so-much-Ā£Ā£Ā£-I'll-never-be-able-to-spend-it-all!! kind of flash. Maybe those places will stay empty...
I'm going to be back in the UK for several months in late summer and autumn this year, near Colchester, but Yorkshire is one of our very favorite parts of the country and we try to spend a bit of time there whenever we can (Helmsley is a particularly excellent place to stay, we've found), and I'm making up a must-try beer list for this next tripĀso I appreciate your suggestions and will add these to my list!