Vintage Beer Mats

A selection from my vast and valuable (only kidding!) collection of beer mats, again mainly from the seventies (must have had more time in those days). Borrowed from many a hostelry in years gone by and regretfully neglected to be returned. Now not only useful as a reminder of my nights out in days past, but also good for absorbing tea and coffee drips (which I seem to drink more of these days). Some of the mats on display here have actually seen service, as witnessed by the staining, which may actually increase their value. I have just missed out on the "Antiques Roadshow" visit, but if anybody wants to make me an offer...

Stones Bitter - once made in Sheffield and a firm favourite of many pubs & clubs.

 

Seem to remember the one with the cartoon man in workingmens' clubs.

 

Whitbread - another popular locally brewed beer.

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Mansfield Bitter - I used to drink this in and around Chesterfield. Not one of my favourites; probably because of the tales I was told from a friend of a friend who worked at their brewery!

Sam Smiths (Taddy ales) - popular at some WMCs but I remember it most from the Black Swan, Sheffield (now the Boardwalk of course).

Worthington E - can't remember much about this one , despitee the catchy advert jingle. Can't have been owt special then!

McEwans - Can't say I drank much of this, mainly due to limited availability.

Bass - pretty average on keg but lovely hand-pumped. Courage - "takes courage to drink it!" my friend Phil would say; not quite that bad but not great.

Double Diamond - "works wonders" the ad used to say (probably not allowed to say that now). Good standard quality but a bit gassy for me.

Bier Kellers used to be popular. Our two local ones were the often mispronounced Hofbrauhaus and the one on High Street (can't remember name - later was Crazy Daisy). Both served good draught German beer (Hofbrau and Lowenbrau) in litre Steins!

Colt 45 - used to drink cans of this in my late teens. One of quite a few 'new' drinks aimed at the trendy young market. Clean taste but fizzy like pop.

Hungry? - have a pack of Rancheros - will go nicely with your colt! This was the era when flavoured crisps and similar took off and eventually went a bit over the top. Can you remember some of the daft flavoured crisps about then? Tasted OK after a couple of pints though.

Something for the Ladies - "white wine or fruit based drink" seems ever popular. Variations on the "Champagne Perry" theme abound, led by the classic Babycham.

Brandini - good French brandy and perry!

Calypso - with Jamaican orange juice and perry apparently.

This one presumably was to advertise the merits of Calypso (above) mixed in this case with Caribbean rum, but who was it aimed at - the lady or the one buying her drink? There was a series of these I seem to remember.

If the lady wanted something different she could opt for a Pony - the little drink with a big kick! Think it was like sweet sherry.

Or of course settle for a white wine, or one of the other five types of Corrida

Well that's all for now, but don't forget to vote for our local pub of the year - I wonder who won? Probably not the Wapentake where I spent a large part of 1977!

Disclaimer: as previously stated most of my experience of these beverages comes from the 70s which was in the pre-camra mass-produced era, and a good pint was not always easy to find. Therefore my opinions are reminiscences and do not necessarily reflect the product today. Watney's Red anyone?