I noticed after a 6 month absence back in at the Millhouse pub. ,
my first choice pre-match tipple.

https://youtu.be/n39897a9hNk

I ‘arrived’ in Hartlepool 1976 no one can tell me the Strongarm of today tasted anything like the stuff they call Strongam nowadays.

Horrible shite.

Nice and supportive towards your local brewery. Only in Hartlepool

Its a debatable point as to if its Strongarm or draught Bass which is the best "loosener".

Vast amounts of NHS money wasted on laxatives.

If is served from the cask (ie handpull) it is still objectively a very good pint. Served out of a keg it has nowhere near as much flavour.

There is one of those Camerons Head Of Steam bars down here now which has it on handpull, sells very well by all accounts.

I personally think it is a bit sweeter than it used to be when I were a lad.

You drink lager?

Pretty much agree - isn't the slight flavour change down to different hop sources?

Served properly from the cask it is just about as good as ever - places like The Globe, The Causeway and the Head of Steam by Leeds station, all generally serve good Strongarm - it's even getting better in The Park.

Rumour has it that many years ago a landlord in Hartlepool used to add a bottle of lemonade to the cask to slightly sweeten it..... New Inn i believe which for me at the time was the best Strongarm.

Lots of people actually asked for a pint touch (pint of strongarm with a touch of lemonade).
In South Yorkshire it's called a pint lemon top. Pint touch sounds better.

It WAS the best in the area for many, many years. Never heard about the lemonade though....

Lived in York for 31 years & always have a pint if found in the pubs here.

That'll be for breakfast?

There are some t-shirts for sale with the slogan "Beer...not just a breakfast drink!

Only on me cornflakes!

Mostly wine. I've never gotten the taste for beer.

Fair enough. I'm the same with lager (and white wine) - just don't get it.

But a nice heavy red or a dark beer and I'm a happy man.

I'm with you on the full bodied red but not the beer. Be it NBA / Strongarm or any of those heavy brews, they don't fit with my taste buds.

With beer, you eat and drink at the same time. Get the alcohol/SG ratio right and you can drink beer perpetually. The only problem is the number of pisses that follow,
Wine - OK with food but I can't just sit and drink it. I lose interest before the end of the first glass.

I'm not fussy about drinking beer with food, I like a couple of pints before a meal though. Prefer wine with food, especially full bodied red. I can also drink wine without food, especially the bubbly stuff.
A nice cheese board with a drop of port goes down well.

we are all different but for me its eating or drinking never both. just do not get that wine stuff and as for lager i just give up.

Stockton lads I work with use the term 'livener' ...for an impromptu drink early doors, a sweetener, first one of the night.

I had a nice pint of Isaac Poad , Piccadilly Porter in the Ketton Ox in Yarm earlier.

Best pint I ever had in Hartlepool was in The Stranton. Should be being so close to the brewery.

My favourite pint is a Strongarm in the Causeway. There's a Head of Steam just opened up in Cardiff and I've tried the Strongarm there and it's pretty good. Workmates having heard me bang on about Strongarm for years have tried it and not been impressed. I'm starting to doubt myself now, thinking - is it the pub and being at home with mates which is making it taste better than it actually is?

The Cardiff HoS has a load of Camerons memorabilia on the stairs, never thought a view of Mainsforth Terrace would get me nostalgic

I like my Strongarm with a huge head. ooer. is this something you could ask for in Wales without being looked at funny? or is this something they can only do in Hpool?

It's something to do with the sparkler (or lack of it) on the pump when it is served in Hartlepool. I you ask in the Cardiff one they might oblige and pull one properly.

Pint touch used to do the job as the first drink of the day after a heavy session the night before.

I remember to this day the first time I was asked for a lager top. I told the customer our Grolsch polo shirts were not for sale but I could understand why he wanted one.
When he explained what a lager top was I called him a fucking puff.

Of course he was - he'd gone into a pub selling Grolsch, hadn't he? Noncing novelty flip top was all it had going for it.