Features / Beer
A pint with Prime Mutton
With his distinctive goatee and pork pie hat, a member of the world’s most successful bridge playing family is building up a further international reputation for himself by reviewing pints of Guinness.
Jason Hackett, otherwise known as Prime Mutton, has more than 100,000 followers on Instagram and more than 15,000 subscribers on YouTube, regularly travels across the UK and abroad to review drinks. He has gained a cult following among Guinness fans.
Over a Guinness at the Brunel in Clifton Village, he explained his unusual rise to fame.
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Hackett was easy to spot in the pub on The Mall. His familiar hat and goatee were a dead giveaway although he hasn’t always looked like this.
“I was looking for something that would make me distinctive,” he told Bristol24/7. “I’ve always been a big fan of hats and I happened to be watching Gene Hackman in The French Connection.
“He had a pork pie hat, the brown one looked like a good colour, and so I got mine off the internet from Stetson.”
He admitted that his approach “is to be very slightly eccentric… to give the presentation a bit of oomph”.
“I want to really engage the viewers and welcome them and get them interested in what’s going to come… you have to stand out from the crowd.”
Many of his videos are also inspired by the legendary late Bristol chef and restaurateur Keith Floyd, using some of Floyd’s catchphrases in his social media content like “having a quick slurp” and “absolute creamer”.
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Hackett, who splits his time between Clifton and Didsbury in Manchester, never intended to become famous for drinking the Black Stuff.
It all started during the first Covid lockdown. After spending time watching videos of people talking about Guinness – who “didn’t actually know what they were talking about” – he knew he could do it better.
He decided to call himself Prime Mutton because, as he told The General Spec podcast, while “his knowledge of food and drink is pretty prime”, his “bodily condition is a bit more like that of a mutton”.
Then he picked up his phone camera and started recording videos to upload to YouTube with “loads of errors” although he “gradually learned how to edit and present”.
He thought: “Well hang on. If I’m doing this, I’ve got this Instagram account here and may as well put some of the still photos onto Instagram.
“Then I looked at all the reels people are doing and short stories, and I thought well, I’ll start posting those as well and it turned out that there was a huge thirst for it.”
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Hackett really does know his stuff and says that if you want a good Guinness, your best bet is to go to Ireland.
The quality is a bit more hit and miss in England: “It’s a long haul. The most important thing is that you have a load of people actually drinking it in a pub, because if it stays in the lines then it goes sour very quickly.
“I know all beers will go off eventually, but you’ve got to keep those lines clean.
“(Then it’s) how you wash the glasses: If you wash them in dishwashers, where there’s tea and coffee, it can get a taper.
“They’re all little small things, but they all add up. The cooling system as well.”
Hackett says that’s why Guinness is such a “fascinating beer to review. It’s probably the only beer you can review as heavily as this, just because of the inconsistency everywhere”.
Jason Hackett, otherwise known as Prime Mutton, thinks Guinness is such a “fascinating drink to review” – photo: Milo Kavanagh
Although he does post the occasional negative review, Hackett is keen to be a positive voice.
He said: “If I don’t like the Guinness somewhere, my usual reaction is to ditch the footage and not publish it.
“If it’s something that I feel could be improved upon and I feel it can be helpful, then maybe I’ll publish it.
“If people know where to go rather than where not to go, I think they should be able to work it out for themselves, without me.”
Hackett is very popular among Guinness drinkers online and is stopped midway through his chat with Bristol24/7 by someone who recognises him as “the famous guy who reviews Guinness.” Hackett appreciates the following.
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The recent rise in popularity of Guinness has given rise to fashionable trends like “splitting the G” but Hackett says: “That is not an authentic way to drink Guinness. It’s a gimmick that nobody had ever heard of ten years ago.”
He adds: “The key is to get well past the white, foamy head at the top and into the black liquid.
If you just take a small sip where you’re mainly having the white head, then you’ll get too much sourness and bitterness and not enough flavour of the beer itself.”
So where are Prime Mutton’s favourite places for a pint in Bristol?
- The Star, Fishponds: “The top spot.”
- The Brunel, Clifton: “The Guinness here in the Brunel is pretty solid.”
- The Coronation Tap, Clifton: “The Coronation Tap actually does decent Guinness, which surprised me.”
- The Old Duke, King Street: “The Old Duke was reasonable, but I found it a little inconsistent for Guinness. I tend to have the ales there.”
- Left Handed Giant brewpub, Finzels Reach: “Am I allowed to include Left Handed Giant?” Of course you can, Jason. Sláinte!
Main photo: Milo Kavanagh
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