Category Archives: The Session

The Session #147: Downing pints when the world’s about to end

For the May 2025 edition of The Session, Phil Cook invited us to write about beer and pubs in art and fiction. This is my contribution to it (spoiler alert: plot details of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy will be discussed).

“Six pints of bitter,” said Ford Prefect to the barman of the Horse and Groom. “And quickly please, the world’s about to end.”

One of the more influential works in science fiction for me has been The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I remember watching the BBC mini-series first, in school, in 1999 or 2000, ironically in German class (yes, we watched the German dub), and I have absolutely no idea why our German teacher showed it to us in the first place.

I did purchase the mini-series on DVD a few years later, and I also got an English-language copy of the book including the sequels. Thinking about it, I think I won it as a prize in some nerd competition thing, but I can’t remember exactly. A few years later, I watched the 2005 film version in cinema, and was actually slightly disappointed (I rewatched it since then, and it’s okay). Starting around 2009 or so, I got my hand on a copy of the radio play, so I listened to that on my way to work and back and then relistened to it for literally months. I now actually consider the radio play to be the best rendition.

One scene I vividly remember is Ford Prefect bringing Arthur Dent to the nearest pub, all while Arthur Dent’s house is about the get demolished to build a bypass. Arthur and Ford then proceed to have 3 pints of bitter each as a muscle relaxant and to cushion their system going through the matter transference beam Ford uses to flee onto one of the Vogon ships in Earth orbit shortly before Earth gets destroyed to make way for a hyperspatial express route.

This particular scene was probably my first exposure to British beer culture. Pints, drunk in a pub, poured through a handpump from cask into dimpled mugs. And then them quickly downing 3 pints each, which looked a bit absurd but also somewhat impressive. To refresh my memory for this blog post, I actually rewatched the scene, and there’s obviously been some prop trickery involved, because at some point, Arthur Dent downs two thirds of a pint in about 3 seconds without actually swallowing any meaningful amount of liquid.

Scene from the BBC mini series, showing Arthur Dent (Simon Jones) and Ford Perfect (David Dixon) standing at the bar and waiting for pints of bitters, poured through a beer engine and served in dimpled mugs.
Scene from the BBC mini series, showing Arthur Dent (Simon Jones) and Ford Perfect (David Dixon) standing at the bar and waiting for pints of bitters, poured through a beer engine and served in dimpled mugs.

The beer served in the pub (Horse and Groom in the book, Red Lion in the BBC mini-series), at least what’s visible in the TV version (and only because the pump clip was turned sideways, towards the camera), was Tamplins Bitter. Tamplin & Sons was a brewery based in Brighton, founded in 1821. By 1953, Tamplin & Sons had taken over a number of local breweries both in Brighton and nearby Lewes, and owned about 400 pubs, when it itself was acquired Watney, Combe, Reid & Co. The brewery operated for 20 more years, when brewing on site ceased, but the brand Tamplins seems to have stuck around for longer than that. The Brewery History Society has more details.

Another tap that can be seen is what looks like Ben Truman Export Draught, but sadly, no beer is poured from it. I suppose you had to order by name.

Ford slapped a five-pound note on the bar. He said, “Keep the change.”

“What, from a fiver? Thank you sir.”

The book was published in 1979, while the TV series was aired in early 1981. At the time, the average price of a pint of bitter would have been 34p (1979) resp. 49p (1981). Paying for six pints, the change would have been 2 to 3 quid, depending on which year you assume. Consulting the BoE inflation calculator, these pints would have been fairly cheap compared to the beer prices we’re used to today: 34p in 1979 were the equivalent of GBP 1.65 in March 2025, while 49p in 1981 would amount to GBP 1.86 in March 2025.

The bar in the 2005 film version, with keg taps of Kronenbourg 1664, Guinness, Strongbow and Carlsberg, and pump clips advertising Fuller's London Pride, Fuller's Chiswick Bitter, and a third beer where only "AK" is really legible (possibly McMullen AK?). One man is stood behind the bar (Albie Woodington), and a woman (Su Elliot) is sat leaning against the bar.
The bar in the 2005 film version, with keg taps of Kronenbourg 1664, Guinness, Strongbow and Carlsberg, and pump clips advertising Fuller’s London Pride, Fuller’s Chiswick Bitter, and a third beer where only “AK” is really legible (possibly McMullen AK?). One man is stood behind the bar (Albie Woodington), and a woman (Su Elliot) is sat leaning against the bar, with a plate of sandwiches in front of her.

Now let’s compare the TV mini-series with the 2005 film version: there, the choice in beer is much more varied, with Kronenbourg 1664, Guinness, Strongbow (a cider) and Carlsberg available from keg, and three more beers from cask, in particular Fuller’s London Pride, Fuller’s Chiswick Bitter, and one where I can only recognise “AK” on the pump clip (possibly McMullen AK? at least the colour scheme would roughly match up).

Ford Prefect (played by Mos Def) comes in, and in a broad and very rhotic American accent, says “six pints of bitter and quickly, the world’s about to end!”, pays with a 50 pound note, and tells the barman to “keep the change, you got about 10 minutes to spend it”.

Interestingly, the beers that are served to Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent (played by Martin Freeman) are quite inconsistent. The first one Ford quickly downs (and subsequently apologises for) looks like a pale lager, while the first one held by Arthur looks like a dark amber bitter. Two more pints lined up for them are also amber-coloured, but much paler (this may be due to the lighting and/or the red towel they’re stood on, but I’m not 100% sure). And worst of all, Arthur leaves without drinking a single pint!

Ford Prefect (Mos Def) drinking a pint of pale beer, with Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) looking at him.
Ford Prefect (Mos Def) drinking a pint of pale beer, with Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) looking at him.
Ford Prefect stuffing his face with peanuts, while Arthur Dent hasn't even started his first. The beers sat on the bar for them are amber resp. dark amber.
Ford Prefect stuffing his face with peanuts, while Arthur Dent hasn’t even started his first. The beers sat on the bar for them are amber resp. dark amber. The best in front of them are all in nonik glasses.

What is going on here? Not just different beers poured when only “six pints of bitter” were ordered (what barman would do that?), but also poured rather inconsistently, with one of them very underpoured, and atypically for the West Country of England. To quote the Simpsons, “Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder.”

When we look at how much Ford Prefect gave (50 quid), and how much an average pint cost in 2005 when the film was released (GBP 2.13), the tip of presumably GBP 37.22 is even more generous than in the TV series. FWIW, GBP 2.13 in 2005 are GBP 3.71 in today’s (well, March 2025) money. On top of that, Ford also pays for “a round of drinks for everyone, on me.”

Bonus: before going to the pub (for which no specific name is used in the 2005 film version), Ford Prefect bribes the construction workers with cans of John Smith Extra Smooth, bottles of Cobra and packs of peanuts (which he seems to have brought for himself and Arthur) to temporarily halt the demolition work.

Construction workers in hi-viz picking cans of John Smith Extra Smooth and bottles of Cobra from a shopping trolley.
Construction workers in hi-viz picking cans of John Smith Extra Smooth and bottles of Cobra from a shopping trolley.

They still knock down Arthur’s house within minutes, foreshadowing the inevitability of Earth’s destruction in a few more minute’s time.

That said, I’d rather have a pint of Tamplin’s or Chiswick Bitter than a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster, supposedly the “best drink in existence”, the effect of which is “like having your brain smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick.”

The Session: The Best Beer I Can Drink At Home Right Now

I unfortunately missed very first relaunched Session last month as I was away on holidays. But this month, it’s hosted by Boak & Bailey, with the prompt of what’s the best beer you can drink at home right now.

Let me just say that I’m in an extremely privileged situation.

One, I live in Berlin, Germany, and I can get quality beer for a rather low price in the local supermarket, literally 2 minutes away from my flat. The selection is not super varied, i.e. mostly German industrial pale lagers, but for some choice, we have Spätis, small shops that are open late and sell beer, among other things, and often a greater variety (and at almost any time of the day) than at supermarkets.

Two, I’ve been home-brewing for over 10 years now, with a focus on lager beers in recent years, and I now am experienced enough to brew beer that I consistently like to drink even with a heightened sense of self-criticism (and self-doubt!), and I usually brew the beer styles that I cannot easily get or that interest me from a technical perspective.

Three, I have a beer fridge which I use for storing bottled beer as well as for fermentation and lagering of my home-brewed beer. So I always have a stash of a variety of beers at home.

That said, these are the best beers I can drink at home right now that I chose for each of the categories of privilege:

Supermarket/Späti beers

  • The number 1: Augustiner Lagerbier Hell. I mean… it’s Augustiner. Some people may find its slight sulphur note a bit divisive, but it’s a Berlin staple for a very good reason, in a place that previously was dominated by German Pils for decades.
  • The contender: Tegernseer Hell. People who like Helles but aren’t as much of a fan of Augustiner usually like Tegernseer a lot. Personally, I sometimes prefer Augustiner over Tegernseer, sometimes the other way around. Either way, both are great beers. Usually, it’s easier to find Tegernseer Hell in Spätis than in supermarkets.
  • The wildcard: Wicküler Pils. I consider this beer to be the better Jever. As dry and bitter as bottled Jever, but with a smoother bitterness, and significantly cheaper, too. Former neighbours of ours used to do an annual beer blind taste test among their friends. Wicküler Pils consistently came out as the best by far. That’s how I learned about the beer, and I’ve been a convert ever since.

Home-brewed beers

Just to be clear, since the question is “best beers you can drink at home right now”, I’m not listing my best home-brewed beers I ever brewed, but literally what I have in my fridge at the time of writing.

  • The number 1: the 2024 batch of my Czech Dark Lager. It is just sooo good. I wrote about this in late 2022, and even though the 2024 is slightly different, it’s just as good as previous years.
  • The contender: my 2024 Kellerbier experiment. Not the freshest anymore, and only very few bottles left, but since the bottles were always refrigerated, it kept well.
  • The wildcard: random bottles of Barley Wine that I brewed 5 to 10 years ago and kept in a crate my work room. They’re oxidised, but last time I tried one of them, it was oxidised in a good way, with lots of dried fruit and sherry notes.

Beers from the beer fridge

This is all the weird and wonderful stuff that I keep in my beer fridge. What I have in there was definitely in there at the time of writing.

  • The number 1: Krug-Bräu Lager. A insanely drinkable dark lager from Breitenlesau in Franconia. Only a few places in Berlin sell this beer (I got mine from the Ambrosetti beer shop), but when I stop there, I will usually bring one of those back home, and that’s what’s currently in the fridge.
  • The contender: Thornbridge Nouveau, brewed in collaboration with BRŁO brewery, a DDH Session IPA. Funnily enough, this was a free sample handed to me at the booth of Totally Naturally Solutions at BrauBeviale last year, as two of their products (hop extracts) were used in brewing that beer (hashtag not an ad). I’m usually not someone who often drinks pale ales or IPAs, but this one was pretty amazing when I had the first of two cans they gave to us.
  • The wildcard: Goldfinger Danube Swabian. When Tom Beckmann, who brewed a historic Vienna Lager with malt made by Sugar Creek Malt using some of the historic descriptions of the malting process from my book, handed me a four-pack of that beer last year, I drank three of them and thoroughly enjoyed them, but I just can’t bring myself to have the fourth and last one.