The pour your own pint system seems to have been around for some time now but not that widespread and not really publicised by Guinness. I’ve looked on the web for a press release or instructions but all I could find were one or two pubs advertising it, example here. To help solve this terrible information deficit and as nothing more than a selfless act of public service Messy-Chef had to follow up.

Imagine the excitement when I was invited to a birthday party in John O’Sullivan’s (Douglas Village) where we could finally road test the system.

We booked one of their ‘pour your own’ tables for the evening not knowing how it worked so the nice man explained the system when we arrived. We have the table for the evening, it is reserved for us. What if we want to leave and come back? No problem, they will keep the table. So how does it work? Technically the table appeared to be connected to the main beer lines in the bar, not just a table with a keg underneath much to the relief of the Guinness Nazis. There are two taps in the center of the table, one Carlsberg and one Guinness. The barman gave us a supply of glasses and asked us how we would be paying. You can 1) Tell him how much cash you want to spend whereupon the system will stop serving once we hit the mark 2) Tell him how many pints of beer you wish to drink in which case the system do the same or 3) We can go free pour and settle the tab when we’re done.

Option 3 was the no-brainer and away we went with our tray of clean galsses. You also get a card telling you how to pull a pint in case you don’t know how to pour beer into a glass.

Attached to each tap is a digital meter showing you how many pints have been poured and that’s about it. It was almost like free beer.

The verdict? Enorumous fun, the girls had fun pulling pints for the lads (at least those lads that weren’t Guniness Nazis) and everybody drank away at their own pace without the hassle of having to run to the bar for rounds. I won’t say how many were involved but we settled the tab when we broke the half-century. The only drawback is that you have to split the tab evenly, a swipe or ID system might serve those who only want one or two beers but no doubt that would lead to too much complication.

Great fun, worth a try.

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pour your own, pull your own pint, Rating=4, Review