In his ales and his cups

These days it's a rare event for me to be in a public house but I had occasion last weekend when I was out with my stepson for a catch-up and a couple of beers in Belfast.  I had the M6 with me, of course - it's so nice to carry about in terms of size and weight you're hardly aware you have it with you.  Ironically, this was the very first beer we had and the shot didn't turn out great:

The 35mm lens was fully open, which means f/2.5.  The speed was down low, probably 1/4s or something, so I set the camera on the countertop and hoped for the best with regard to composure.  As for focus, well I just set the thing to minimum focus and judged by eye where to put the camera.  As you can see there was the expected shallow depth of field.

It felt strange to be served in these round, dimpled glasses.  I remember when I was a lad these were seen as 'old men' glasses and we preferred the straight pint glasses - much cooler.  Are these dimpled beer glasses coming back into fashion?  Perhaps the old folk are right after all - everything does come full circle, given time.

Anyway, we had a good night, talked the bit out, put the world to rights and yes, probably too much drink was taken, but these things happen.  Towards the end of the night we ended up in a tavern called "Granny Annie's" where all the bar staff wear white shirts and flat caps and the whole theme is one of Steam Punk.  Although I'm never that keen on themed bars I quite liked it - it was certainly different and there might even be another snap or two to come.

More guesswork with regard to those trivial things that get in the way - like exposure, focus&composition but altogether a better result, even though it was near the end of the night.  Don't know what that means - am I'm just a better photographer after a few?  Or, is Heverlee just altogether more photogenic than Sam Adams?   Whatever the answer, after extensive tests I can reliably inform you that Sam Adams is a much nicer beer!