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| Poor Taste or just tastes poor? |
Just had an interesting conversation in my shop on the story, which ran in the Courier last Friday, all about a customer who took exception to a beer called Titanic being on sale at the Little Brown Jug pub, Chiddingstone Causeway. An angry customer called David Price, who I happen to know quite well, was put out that the pub's refused to accept that their beer, Titanic Iceberg, which the blurb on bottle claims will "hole any passing thirst" was in poor taste. That's not to say that it tastes poor, in fact, so I'm told, it tastes quite nice and is very refreshing when served ice cold (which, after all, is the message they're somewhat brashly trying to get across.) He took particular umbrage because this year is the centenary of the famous doomed voyage of the "unsinkable" ship going down and many hundreds of passgenger meeting their end in the freezing cold seas of the North Atlantic Ocean. The brewery, in their defence has been around since 1985 according to their
web site so you could argue that it's in no more poor taste now than it was 20 years ago, 2 years ago or 2 months ago. I'm sure the story has been blown up out of all proportion anyway and it was as much a result of some sarcastic comment from the barman or something of that nature. Mr Price most probably wrote a letter to the paper and the editor, I'd have thought, saw a story in it with the topical nature of the Costa Concordia but then that's what newspaper editors get paid for isn't it? Still, as they say, no such thing as bad publicity and I'm sure the landlord of the Little Brown Jug will be pleased with the temporary uplift in trade. I've never been in the place as it happens but I might give it a try now. And no I won't be going in there and making jokes about sinking a few pints thank you very much!...
4 comments:
Where is this Jug and Bottle? I have never heard of it before.
It looks like they are selling this beer as well as the Little Brown Jug also in the same village as reported in the local rag.
I imagine the story was part of a deal done with the pub in return for some advertising spend.
Okay I stand corrected it's the Little Brown Jug. I think I may have been confusing it with the Bottle House at Smarts Hill. Nice pub that. Shame this isn't Wikipedia then readers could edit the entries themselves!
As you rightly point out TB, Titanic Brewery has been in operation since 1985. It is named in honour of Captain Smith, who commanded the ill-fated liner on its maiden voyage, and who hailed from the Stoke-on-Trent area where the brewery is based.
Titanic are now one of the more successful of the new wave of breweries that started up in the wake of the "real ale revolution". They produce some excellent beers as well, all with names based on a "Titanic" theme.
Some, like your customer, may argue that this is in bad taste, but the brewery must be doing something right otherwise they wouldn't have got to where they are today. (According to their website they produce in excess of 2.3 million pints a year!).
Finally, as you said at the end of your article, there's no such thing as bad publicity!
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