Dodgy Pub practices!!

faceman · 31-08-2008 10:22PM #1

On route to attending a concert couple of weeks back, a few of us had a few drinks in a well known pub (which shall remain nameless).

Anywho, as the day progressed the pub got busier, so the barmen proceed to get to the pre-pour pint stage. I.e. the pour out 3/4 the volume of a pint and have it waiting because its not going to be sitting there long before someone orders a drink.

Anyway at the bar waiting for my turn, myself and my mate were standing to the side of the bar waiting to be served and we saw a barmen pouring Becks and topping them up with whatever was being ordered. (i.e. not Becks!)

Now my first thought was that maybe it wasnt becks in the keg however the barman looked over and caught us staring and proceeded to fumble a bit. He came over took our orders and my mate said "we'll have 2 Heineken without Becks pleased". He smiled and ran off to get 2 fresh pints.

Anyway, this was pretty shocking to say the least but i suspect there are equally as shocking tales about the going ons in the nation's public houses. Anyone else know of some dubious activities.

Note, dont name the establishments!

shenanigans1982 · 31-08-2008 10:26PM

Won't name the pub but some b*stards try and short change you.

Gummy Panda · 31-08-2008 10:28PM

I worked in a pub that ran out of Carlsberg so we put Harp on the tap. The regular Carlsberg drinkers were lapping it up.

Pity Harp gives you a terrible hangover

RoosterIllusion · 31-08-2008 10:30PM

Gummy Panda wrote: »

I worked in a pub that ran out of Carlsberg so we put Harp on the tap. The regular Carlsberg drinkers were lapping it up.

Pity Harp gives you a terrible hangover

Pity it's a protestant drink too

FlutterinBantam · 31-08-2008 10:33PM

Nothing wrong with Harp, fresh lively clean tasting.

Carsinian Thau · 31-08-2008 11:04PM

shenanigans1982 wrote: »

Won't name the pub but some b*stards try and short change you.

That happens far too frequently and in far too many pubs.
At least some of them will rectify the "mistake" (!) if you bring it to their attention.
Otherwise, it's time to spread vicous rumours and advise everyone you know to avoid the place like hell.

The_Minister · 31-08-2008 11:37PM

I remember getting given a pint that was sitting under the bar - someone had ordered it then left, and it was flat as a puddle.:mad:

I got another pint.

connundrum · 31-08-2008 11:42PM

Can't say I ever did that tbh.

Although I did try a trick with vodka/gin before where I'd coat the lip of a glass in gin, and then actually serve vodka to see if anyone knew the difference - no one did.

I'd always be honest with punters as I would appreciate it whilst being on the other side of the counter.

Mossy Monk · 31-08-2008 11:56PM

The_Minister wrote: »

I remember getting given a pint that was sitting under the bar - someone had ordered it then left, and it was flat as a puddle.:mad:

Some **** tried that one with me before and refused to pour a new pint. Thankfully the manager walked in the door during our discussion. End result free round of drinks. FTW

Nightwish · 01-09-2008 12:02AM

I was at a function in a hotel in Kilkenny a few weeks back, where the barman ran out of wine mid pour and topped up with a different wine - different in both brand and year. The person next to me ordered a vodka and lime, and he poured a dash of vodka and cut a slice of an actual lime and threw it in the glass!

At a wedding in another hotel last year, the bride and groom brought their own bottles of wine, but once the dinner was over, the barmen cleared away the bottles and started selling glasses of wine from the bottles that were already paid for.

Rowley Birkin QC · 01-09-2008 12:02AM

If we got caught for a pint of Guinness on the way out at closing time I would pour it by just pushing the tap back rather than forward. Usually the method was to pull forward for the first pour then push back for the second part of the pour. If you push back for the whole pour the pint would settle much quicker, have no idea why. Never had any complaints either.

I wouldn't mind but I had war in a Dublin pub lately with a barman over the way he poured my Guinness.:o

Also bottles were always recapped if they were the wrong ones.

Dave147 · 01-09-2008 12:05AM

RoosterIllusion wrote: »

Pity it's a protestant drink too

I've reported your post.

TO TONY SEDA!!

CreepingDeath · 01-09-2008 12:08AM

I used to work part-time in a well known pub in South Dublin in the early 90's.

At the end of every night the drip trays were poured into a plastic bucket.
All the slops, Guinness, Smithwicks, Carlsburg, Bulmers etc... all ended up in the one bucket. That bucket was brought outside and poured into an empty keg via a funnel. That keg was tapped and we all knew which "Guinness" tap it was connected too.

If someone ordered a Guinness, it was filled up 3/4 full as normal, allowed to settle, then the remaining 1/4 was topped up with the slops from another tap.

Some people would taste the sweetness if there was too much cider, and we'd get the odd pint handed back in which case we'd give them a proper pint. It happened in the lounge but not the bar area.

Now I can't say whether that practice still goes on today, but it went on every single night of the 5 years I worked there.

And I definitely won't name and shame, so don't even attempt to guess and expect a yes/no answer.

Rowley Birkin QC · 01-09-2008 12:10AM

You poured drink into a keg with a funnel?

I call shennanigans.

Dave147 · 01-09-2008 12:12AM

We used empty our drip trays into a bucket put it back into a keg and send it back to the brewery lol.. This was years ago though..

Calibos · 01-09-2008 12:20AM

Pull the other one!!

Lots of pubs would pour slops back into kegs (Funnel welded to DIY nozzle that fit the kegs) but that was to pull a fast one on the brewery's and get credit for 'Bad Kegs'. Brewery's got wise to that one and started hiring chemists to analyse the contents with gas spectrometers

ie a Harp,Heineken, Carlsberg mix was not the same as pure carlsberg. Pubs couldn't use individual slop trays for each drink to keep the slops separate as the reps would know there was only one reason a place would want small individual slop trays that had to be emptied every 5 minutes as opposed to 2 or 3 big slop trays that would last the night before needing to be emptied.

So in effect, chemical analysis of returns put an end to this practice.

The owners of the pub I worked in were the biggest chancers but even they wouldn't have tried to serve the mixed slops!!

You sir are a fibber!!

Goodluck2me · 01-09-2008 12:21AM

bigkev49 wrote: »

You poured drink into a keg with a funnel?

I call shennanigans.

once the gas is out of it its possible.

CreepingDeath · 01-09-2008 12:23AM

bigkev49 wrote: »

You poured drink into a keg with a funnel?

I call shennanigans.

Yep... done it myself.
The kegs aren't pressurised. You can push a funnel on the valve and release any air from an empty keg.
It's only when you connect them to the gas cynlinders that they're pressurised.

Rowley Birkin QC · 01-09-2008 12:25AM

I sit corrected.

Eoin · 01-09-2008 01:00AM

I heard that Fosters would often be used as a cheaper replacement, but I'm not sure what lager it replaced.

Another one I heard, but I'm not sure about this one: if someone asks for something like a vodka & coke, the barman would put the coke and ice in first, and then a smaller portion of short last. Because the short is at the top of the glass, it tastes stronger for the first few sips so the smaller portion goes unnoticed.

I don't drink shorts myself, but I wonder would many people notice if a cheaper version of vodka / gin / whatever was used rather than a branded name?

ROCKMAN · 01-09-2008 01:02AM

Here's one I have seen in London ,but never in Ireland.
It would be done to Regulars as a joke or if they where pissed and the staff thought they had enough and did not want them getting any drunker, it was not done to cheat anyone.

Get the end of a pint of Guinness with a the head and a small bit of colour (the black stuff) left in the end of the class. Fill the pint back up with tap water , let it settle (may need a small touch of lager from the tap , for head effect) IT WILL LOOK LIKE PINT OF LAGER
If there is a lot of colour in the end of glass ,it will look like ale.

Rhinocharge · 01-09-2008 01:21AM

Worked as a doorman for several years for a very well known south side club in Dublin City. In the bar everything was on the level, in the night club they used to water down the vodka, pouring cheap vodka into a premimum brand bottle & then adding water. Most of the punters never knew. It was those really big 3 litre bottles.

IRISH RAIL · 01-09-2008 02:52AM

I remember when i worked in the rb store in james gate the crap that you would see coming back we knew wher it came from and i always voided the pubs,, soon after I ran out of pubs:eek:

javaboy · 01-09-2008 03:02AM

IRISH RAIL wrote: »

I remember when i worked in the rb store in james gate the crap that you would see coming back we knew wher it came from and i always voided the pubs,, soon after I ran out of pubs:eek:

I'd be more worried about avoiding the pubs that aren't trying to scam the supplier by sending back slops. I mean if they're not giving their slops to the supplier, where is it going? :eek:

ssmith6287 · 01-09-2008 10:34AM

Ive been a barman now for 6 years while im in college, just finished up yesterday for good Thank GOD. But it has got very dodgy recently. Buying cases of ahem Smirnoff for €150, buying kegs from the north, buying bottles in newry. We ran out of Coors on tap one day so we put heineken on, usually I wudn mind but a regular customer who we know has diabetes drinks coors, felt sick giving her heineken because of the sugar, cudve killed the woman. There are alot of pubs doing stuff like this, 4 pubs in drogheda have recently been hit with hefty fines from the tax man and the other crowd that deals with fraud, cnt think of their name

norrie rugger · 01-09-2008 10:40AM

Gummy Panda wrote: »

I worked in a pub that ran out of Carlsberg so we put Harp on the tap. The regular Carlsberg drinkers were lapping it up.

Pity Harp gives you a terrible hangover

Went on the lash with Harp two weeks ago and got nothing of a hangover from it. Not a great one for hangovers mind but stout will make me a bit groggy next morning

ssmith6287 · 01-09-2008 10:42AM

Calibos wrote: »

Pull the other one!!

Lots of pubs would pour slops back into kegs (Funnel welded to DIY nozzle that fit the kegs) but that was to pull a fast one on the brewery's and get credit for 'Bad Kegs'. Brewery's got wise to that one and started hiring chemists to analyse the contents with gas spectrometers ie a Harp,Heineken, Carlsberg mix was not the same as pure carlsberg. Pubs couldn't use individual slop trays for each drink to keep the slops separate as the reps would know there was only one reason a place would want small individual slop trays that had to be emptied every 5 minutes as opposed to 2 or 3 big slop trays that would last the night before needing to be emptied.

So in effect, chemical analysis of returns put an end to this practice.

The owners of the pub I worked in were the biggest chancers but even they wouldn't have tried to serve the mixed slops!!

You sir are a fibber!!

wehave a small slop tray per tap. If yer emptying it every 5 mins then ya need new barmen. As for pouring it in with a funnel, jesus id like to see that. Considering the beer is more in gas form while in the keg i cant see this working. maybe in the old day of the barrell but kegs ARE preasurised

biko · 01-09-2008 10:43AM

We definitely need a pub forum *cough*

not yet · 01-09-2008 10:50AM

ROCKMAN wrote: »

Here's one I have seen in London ,but never in Ireland.
It would be done to Regulars as a joke or if they where pissed and the staff thought they had enough and did not want them getting any drunker, it was not done to cheat anyone.

Get the end of a pint of Guinness with a the head and a small bit of colour (the black stuff) left in the end of the class. Fill the pint back up with tap water , let it settle (may need a small touch of lager from the tap , for head effect) IT WILL LOOK LIKE PINT OF LAGER
If there is a lot of colour in the end of glass ,it will look like ale.

This one is class it really looks like a pint of lager, done it one night on a lad who was pissed and had all the lads at the bar in on the joke.......it was passed around and everyone said....ah no that pints grand, the guy thought he was losing it.

I've seen and done some nasty stuff at the bar, one dickhead who constantly annoyed me got a drop of piss in his carlsberg and licked his lips walking away, ah, revenge.....best served cold in a glass.

Teferi · 01-09-2008 10:51AM

My girlfriends family uses to own a pub. Their Smirnoff and other brand name vodkas were just the bottles with Tescos finest thrown in.

All pubs are pulling a fast one somewhere.

norrie rugger · 01-09-2008 10:51AM

Dave147 wrote: »

We used empty our drip trays into a bucket put it back into a keg and send it back to the brewery lol.. This was years ago though..

The Brewery would call shennigans now
They test every return keg

Dodgy Pub practices!!

Comments