On Sat, Jun 11, 2005 at 06:31:31PM +1200, David Mann wrote: > On Jun 11, 2005, at 9:04 AM, Rick Womer wrote: > > >Alas...no real ale! Not a handpump in sight. I'll bet > >the beer was better there 75 years ago! > > Yeah it probably doesn't have that fresh lead taste anymore (from the > pipes). > > I remember hearing a story years ago, which could have been an urban > legend. Apparently a guy had died of long-term lead poisoning and > the investigators eventually found that he was always the first into > the pub when it opened each day, so his first pint would contain beer > that had been sitting overnight in the lead pipes.
Almost certainly untrue, for many reasons. Not the least of which is that the first duty of the man behind the bar is to draw off a pint or two to remove the stale beer from the pipes.
