Was Compo an ale drinker?

Don

Don

Dedicated Member
I noticed in many episodes over the years that Compo's drink always seemed lighter in color than the others. Was this because it was disguised apple cider or something? As he was the only one who ever seemed to really drink rather than sip his brew I'm curious.
 
I would imagine all of the trio were supposed to be drinking bitter.

No doubt on tv fake alcohol is used.
 
I have always been curious as to what was used to represent beer in these type of programmes.

Hector
 
Many years ago I tried a few of those non alcoholic beers but I always ended up with gut ache so just went back to soft drinks.

As a kid I always enjoyed lemonade with a little bit of milk in it.One day I tried brown lemonade with powdered milk(Marvel) which actually frothed up and looked like a glass of beer.In my simple and niave way I was convinced I had learned how to make beer.It was only years later when I drank real beer that I realised that they didn't taste quite the same. ;D

Hector
 
Lemonade with milk??? I thought, tea with milk was strange, but lemonade with milk...? We mix lemonade with beer though, as a refresher in summer. I have no idea how it tastes, I love lemonade, but I hate beer.
 
Hector said:
I have always been curious as to what was used to represent beer in these type of programmes.

Hector
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Whether it was non-alcoholic beer, apple cider, flat root beer or something else that was brown, I'm sure that when anyone had to drink a whole pint on camera, dollars to doughnuts that they were given something remotely tasty.
 
Watching an episode recently where Compo drank a whole pint in one go, it occurs to me that the reason his drink looked paler may have been because it was presumably in a trick glass (one that has a double skin, in effect a smaller glass inside the pint glass, so a small amount of liquid is trapped between the two, meaning when the actor looks like he downs the whole pint, he's actually only drinking about half the amount). Because the light travels through less liquid it looks lighter than the regular pint glasses.
 
**** said:
Lemonade with milk??? I thought, tea with milk was strange, but lemonade with milk...? We mix lemonade with beer though, as a refresher in summer. I have no idea how it tastes, I love lemonade, but I hate beer.
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I can't even think about drinking black tea unless there is milk in it.
 
Compo's drinking habits struck me as rather opportunistic, in that if he drank whatever someone else paid for. It was beer most of the time, but I do remember him taking a bit of whiskey as well. I don't recall if he ever paid for a round, but if he did, feel free to correct me. Also, to those of you who mentioned lemonade in this thread, is that the same thing as the "still lemonades" the trio would sometimes order in Sid's café?
 
When discussing the subject of the lads supping at their various hostelries I noted something today in 'A Double for Howard' on which I have intended to comment for some time. To me it is one of the most unrealistic scenarios in the show. They are sat outside The White Horse. Compo comes out with a tray of drinks, three pints, two in the good old dimpled mugs, one a straight glass. But all three had a good inch empty at the top. Now I do realise that our American Cousins would not see that as a problem. But to us Brits it is totally unacceptable. (For the uninitiated, the pint glass is a true measure of a pint. It is stamped with a mark to indicate that it is accepted my the authorities, the weights and measures people that it is a true pint. And by that I mean a real pint, an Imperial Measure pint, not one of your mere sixteen ounces type pints from across the pond). If there is a gap at the top one has been given short measure. One has not been given the pint which one ordered. Now I accept that Compo might have taken a swig out of his own pint before departing the bar. But that does not explain the discrepancy in the other two. Yes, it is feasible that he quaffed a bit from the pints of both Clegg and Foggy. Highly ungentlemanly but it has been known. But I can say that if a buddy brought me a pint in that condition I would send him back hot foot to the bar to get it topped up.

And please let no one argue that Compo might have spilt a bit carrying it from the bar. Compo might have many faults but spilling good beer is certainly not one of them.

In case of doubt, by the way, I have very few principles left but one of them is I never drink halves.
 
My understanding from way back was the English glasses were marked on the side and held exactly a pint of beer up to that mark.The rest of the glass accommodated the head or froth.If they drank something like a pint of cider,lemonade,water or a beer that didn't froth much or not at all then then the top part of the glass would appear empty but they were still getting a pint of whatever they had paid for.

I gave up drinking im my mid twenties but I remember that our glasses here in N Ireland were slightly smaller than the English ones as ours had no mark on the side.If the glass was filled right to the lip or top then apparently that held exactly one pint.I often heard people ordering a pint with little or no head on it as they wanted the liquid right to the top making sure they got exactly a full pint and not" nearly" a pint with a lot of head or froth on it ;D

Hector
 
Hector said:
My understanding from way back was the English glasses were marked on the side and held exactly a pint of beer up to that mark.The rest of the glass accommodated the head or froth.If they drank something like a pint of cider,lemonade,water or a beer that didn't froth much or not at all then then the top part of the glass would appear empty but they were still getting a pint of whatever they had paid for.

I gave up drinking im my mid twenties but I remember that our glasses here in N Ireland were slightly smaller than the English ones as ours had no mark on the side.If the glass was filled right to the lip or top then apparently that held exactly one pint.I often heard people ordering a pint with little or no head on it as they wanted the liquid right to the top making sure they got exactly a full pint and not" nearly" a pint with a lot of head or froth on it ;D

Hector
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There were and still are some glasses of that ilk but not the dimple handle variety shown in this episode and not in many earlier episodes. I am not sure when the larger glasses marked at the pint level came in but it was not way back - certainly far from 1973 when the show started.
 
Also, in "The Experiment", Seymore and Clegg turns Compo upside down and shakes his horse betting money out and he, reluctantly, pays for the round and 3 packs of crisps.
 
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