Beer menus – wonderful as they are – are a bit of rarity. Apart from the dedicated craft pubs, where you’ll get long, detailed lists and blackboards constantly changing for rotational or guest beer taps.

But in the traditional pub, you’d be lucky to find one – or perhaps if they’re serving food, you might get a few drinks added at the end of the menu. In many bars, however, it’s kind of presumed that you know what you want, and that it’s probably from one of the usual taps on offer.

Or else you find yourself in slightly awkward situations, like the other night when I was standing at the bar, trying to look down into the fridge, enquiring if they had “any other beers”.

What followed was this excruciating back and forth, the guy behind the bar not really knowing what they had in the fridge, and me politely asking, over the din, what else was in there . . . And so on. I was definitely the “difficult customer” on a busy night.

Shaking things up

How much easier it would have been if there’d been a small beer list, or even a few bottles displayed where you could see or point to them?

It’s not only craft beer that’s shaking things up these days, there’s tonnes of new whiskeys and gins and interesting tonics coming on the market.

Of course you can’t expect staff to know every single variety or style in the place – though there’s no harm in training people up – but why don’t pubs make it easier on everyone and have a drinks list to show off their offerings? Even if it’s short, it’s a small effort that’s good for business and customers.

And besides, who doesn’t love looking at a menu, glancing leisurely through all the possibilities, settling on one, then changing your mind, or perhaps you knew what you wanted all along?

@ITbeerista beerista@irishtimes.com