Schumacher Alt

Schumacher Alt (4.6% abv) is from Dusseldorf's oldest altbier brauhaus and has been operating since 1838, so in otherwords a bloddy long time! This is the one beer that most people associate altbier with and also a beer that I didnt have the pleasure of sampling during my last trip to Dusseldorf. The basics of the beer is thats its malty, brown with a slight fruitiness. More so than other alts, but Schumacher is generally is the style defining beer for Alt, much the same as Urquell is the style defining Pilsner. It was also the last Alt I sampled during the German beer festival at Zeitgeist and was also the last beer I sampled. I am really grateful to Stonch and Bier-Mania for hosting such and event as basically these beers are very difficult to track down outside of the regions where they are brewed. Hopefully they will host a similar even in the future?? BTW, you can find more info on Schumacher at their website: http://www.schumacher-alt.de

Ecker Bräu Wilderer Dunkel

The first Dunkel of the festival was Ecker Bräu Wilderer Dunkel (5.5% abv). This beer was a dark amber/brown colour with really delicate aroma. Its malty, but the hop character is sharp with a mild caramel flavour coming through. there was a slight chlorophenol tang to it, but it didnt taste like I was sucking in a band aid! Overall it was a good tasty, roasty, chocolaty beer with a pleasing clean and dry finish. A beer I probably won't stumble upon again....

Bolton Ur-Alt

Next up was Bolton Ur-Alt. I am not exactly sure what the difference between Alt and Ur-Alt is, but the beer was definetly stronger flavoured than previous Altbiers I have had, and was more in line with bier I have had in the Uerige brauhaus in Dusseldorf's Altstadt. The beer is darker, thicker, heavier and more malty than yoru everyday Alt, it also has a prominant hop aroma (my guess is that its Spalt hops? any other opinions?) I have not been able to source to much information omn teh beer except that the Bolton brewery is located in Korschenbroich, North Rhine-Westphalia which is close to Cologne. This is definetly one of my all time fav beers, but it still doesnt compete with Uerige!

Klosterbräu Schwärzla

Klosterbräu Schwärzla (4.9% abv) is a black Franconian Lager with a slightly tart mild roasted taste. Again this was sampled at the German beer festival organised by Stonch. Thi sbeer is significantly different to other exampels of this beer style like Kostrizter and has retained the classic Schwarzbier taste – mild, roasty and very soft. Not so schlank as often today. More like in the bad old days, when the style flourished behind the iron curtain. I can just see a little Kaiser like Prussian man sipping on omne opf these whilst reading the Volksnews through his monacle!

Füchschen Alt

Recently fellow beer blogger Stonch organised a German microbrewery festival in conjunction with Bier-Mania at Zietgeist a new London German venue which is housed by the Jolly Gardners pub in Lambeth. The first beer up on the evening was Füchschen Alt (abv 4.1%) a beer that I have enjoyed previously on a trip to Dusseldorf at the Rot Fuchs. As I was sipping away at the bier I was taken back to that evening and the new friends that I made, especially a guy who is now infamously known by my mates as 'Big Head Man'.
The beer itself is a pale brown with a malty caramel finish, and can easily be accommodated as a session beer. One of my favourites!
Below is a photo from my trip to the Rot Fuchs (Red Fox). Big Head Man is third from the left!

Redcar Best

The last beer from this session was Redcar Best bitter. The beer is an easy drinking session bitter which I can't find any information! The most info I can find is that it is somehow tied to the Nethergate brewery? Does anybody else have any info?

Buffy's Mighty Duck

Buffy's Mighty Duck is a brown porter styled beer with nice nutty tones and a unique 'mushroom' like aroma which is derived from the unusual combination of US Willamette hops with European Styrian Goldings hops. The earthy aroma gives away to a malty and not to bitter roasty finish. Although it took a few sips to get aquired to the unusual taste, the point finished well and is incredibly easy to drink. Again the Buffy's brewery is a relatively new (1993) UK microbrewery, ;ocated in a traditional old brewery called Madle Hall. I'm not sure where it is locvated, but if you stumble across it whilst travelling in the country, it is probably worth checking out. Website is available here.

Brydge Bitter - Bank Top Brewery

The Castle delivers another hard to mind microbrewed beer in the form of Brydge Bitter (3.8% abv) from the Bank Top Brewery. This is a small, 5 barrel country micro-brewery located in Bolton who produce "Real Ale for Real People".

Surprisingly the beer was a little unremarkable? I don't know why, but there was nothing that really made it stand out as a beer I would seek out again.Anyhow if its the sort of thing that tickles your fancy, you can find out more at their website:http://www.banktopbrewery.com/

Hydes 1863

The Castle, hidden away in the back streets between High Holborn and Fleet Street has become one of my favourite Real Ale pubs in London. The staff are friendly, the beer is always in good condition and there are always several guest ales on tap at any one time. The fact that it is in close proximity to work is a bonus! Recently I dropped in for a few pints after work and the following few entries will describe the session! Hydes 1863 (3.5% abv) is an ordinary bitter from the Hydes brewery which is based in Manchester. before I had this pint, I had never heard of the beer, nor the brewery even and even searching google, I have not been able to dig up much information! The short of it is, an easy drinking amber bitter with mellow hops and a slightly spicy toffee/sweet malt taste. Sweet definetely dominates over bitterness, but there is a lot of flavour for such a low abv. More info about it can be found here.

Meantime London Pale Ale

During my weekly shopping trip to Tesco I managed to sneak a couple of bottles of beer into the trolley! Meantime London Pale Ale (4.3% abv) is a new addition to the line up from the Greenwich Meantime brewery. The beer is an American Style Pale Ale in a similar vein to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, but offering a slightly English twist to the formula. The results is a cracker of a beer! The beer has minimal carbonation which tones down an insane hop level and intense bitterness. But in saying that, this beer is still extremenly well balanced and could easily be a session ale.

I really like this emerging trend for UK based brewers to branch out and try some of the newer beer styles emerging from the US. This is definetely a beer to checkout. Website: http://meantimebrewing.com/

Svyturys Baltas

I have blogged for a while today so I will keep it short and sweet! Svyturys Wheat (5.2% abv) is a Lithuanian beer which won some kind of award from Tesco for its drinkablity? (Random). The beer style is similar to a Witbier and the brewery is owned by the Carlsberg group. I guess its another one worth checking out. It certainly would make an awesome beer for thirst quenching on a hot day! Website

Zywiec

Zywiec (5.7% abv) is another Polish lager which is readily available in the UK, and from Tesco of course! Basically its similar to other Polish lagers, except it has more 'Pilsner' like qualities to it such as grassy hop character and a decent diacetyl hit (ie butterscotch like flavours). As mentioned in an earlier post, Zywiec is actually a small brewing empire who use a marketing strategy of grandeur. The self proclaim to be the biggest and best selling beer in Poland, which is actually false as apparently Tyskie is bar far the leading brand. The brewery was founded in 1852 by the Habsburg family when the Zywiec area was actually part of the Austrio-Hungarian empire. It was nationalised by Poland after the second world war and then sold of to Heineken in the mid-1990's to raise revenue for the state after the fall of communism in 1989. Otherwise an interesting beer! http://www.zywiec.com.pl/

Warka

An obscure beer pick up from Tesco, Warka (5.7% abv) is a pale, but strong lager from the Polish Zyweic brewing empire. The beer tastes pretty much like all polish lagers do, which is pretty plain with a spicy alcohol type aftertaste. These beers always tend to be really strong as well and you feel pretty smashed after just a couple of beers. Besides these few trivial facts, i don't really know much about the beers. I say just go and check them out? Website

Sharps Doom Bar

Back in London and enjoying the weather my wife and I stopped at "The Black Lion" W6, whilst enjoying a walk along the river Themes. Here I enjoyed a pint of Sharp's Doom Bar (4% abv) a well balanced special bitter from the Cornish Sharp's brewery. You may recall that I recently blogged about Sharp's Cornish Coaster which I had mixed opinions about. Now Doom Bar is a beer that I have a very favourable opinion on. The beer itself is very similar to London Pride, except the bitterness does not seem as harsh, this could be due to differences in the chemistry of the brewing water. On the plus this beer has lovely fresh fruity hop aroma and flavour, but it achieves this without being offensive. Overall Doom bar is a really good beer! Website

Fosters Lager 2

OK, I have blogged about Fosters before. It was way back in January which was one of my first posts on this blog. Since then nothing has changed, Fosters is still a bland cold wet beer sold and marketed as being Australian. So why did I decide to have a pint? The answer is because the pub looked dodgy. It was a hot day after work and I decided to grab a pint with a few colleagues. As our offices had recently relocated we have slowly been working our way around the local bars to get a feel for what is 'out there'. Deux Beers in Clerkenwell (just off Hatton Garden) was the venue. Upon walking into the bar I could tell the beer would be bad. Firstly the place was not exactly clean, secondly the two ales on pump were Black Sheep bitter and Greene King IPA. Now Green King IPA is a beer that doesnt move that fast. Black Sheep bitter is from Yorkshire and basically is not going to be fresh at the best of times, let alone on a week where the temp has averaged 20 degrees plus. So I went for teh cheap lager to cool me down and offer me refreshment. Meanwhile my fool hearty colleagues went for the ales and promplty returned them as they were off. Point made I enjoyed my Pint! Oh and Fosters have a new website! here

Löwenbräu Urtyp

My final beer from my trip to Berlin, Löwenbräu Urtyp (abv 5.2%) is traditional Munich style 'Helles' beer brewed to traditional methods. As you may guess from the picture this was a sneaky pint I had at the airport. I won't go into too much detail as I basically necked it as I had to board my flight! I am planning to get out to Munich later in the year and will no doubt consume large quantities of this particular beer there, so stay tuned! Website:http://www.lowenbraubeer.com/

Krombacher

This bottle of Krombacher (4.8% abv) helped wash down a nice slice of pizza! The beer itself is a refreshing and hoppy pils that is a decent example of a Dortmunder style Pilsener. The brewery is located in Krombach, which is a suburb of Kreuztal near Siegen, a small city in a part of Germany called Siegerland. Siegerland is located in the south east of the German state of North Rhine Westphalia. The small town of Krombach is located at the foot of the Rothaargebirge hills where locally sourced natural spring water is used to produce the beer. Anyhow that side, the weather was warm and the self proclaimed 'Number 1 Premium Beer of Germany' lived up to its name while I ate my lunch at Berlin's Potzdamer Platz. Potzdamer Platz itself is really interesting as it was basically the 'no mans land' between East and West Berlin. Now it houses an IMAX cinema, an Australian themed bar and numerous highrise buildings. Anyhow, Krombacher has a website here.

Radeberger Pils

Coming towards the end of my Berlin adventure I bought a bottle of Radeberger Pils (4.8% abv). I won't harp on about the beer too much as it was pretty standard compared to some of the other beers I had in Berlin. Basically it's gassy, straw coloured weak malt profile, noble hop aroima with a slightly spicy aftertaste, but nothing to write home about. Impressive looking bottle though, lots of shiny foil! German website here

Erdinger Weissbier 3

Ok, another beer that I have had already this year. Erdinger tastes the same the world over! Its no diferrent in Germany either! Ok for what it is, but it is still the worlds most mass produced wheat beer. It was one of my first postings to this blog, read about it here.

Bitburger Pils 2

Yes, I did manage to find Bitburger during my travels. It actually seems to be everywhere in Berlin and I couldnt avoid it forever! I think its actually a bit nicer in the bottle than from draught, but then maybe its because I ordered it in a restaurant rather than in a dedicated pub where the lines would be cleaned regularly. Over all my opinion hasn't changed since I last blogged about it. It still gets the job done!

Weihenstephan Hefeweissbier

Prater is an institution in Berlin's Prenzlauer Berg. A beer garden built in an old ampitheatre that could mistake you for being in the heart of Bavaria. This place is literally huge and has a low key social almost family like vibe about it, and its reputation as the place to be on a Sunday afternoon led me down there to enjoy a nice sampling of Weihenstephan Hefeweissbier (5.4% abv). This beer pours to an orange/tan color with a cloudy body and a large head of foam. The foam settles into place rather quickly, but it maintains a thin, white layer throughout the drinking experience. The nose of this beer is yeasty, with a little bit of fruit and hop spiciness/dryness. To be honest I am not really into wheat beers that much as I generally can't distinguish a lot between different brands and even different wheat beer styles. So lets keep it simple and just say that it was no better or worse than any others I have tried and went down rather nicely in the warmth of the sun whilst eating a Pretzal!

Berliner Kindl

When in Berlin there is one culinary delight that should not be missed 'Currywurst!' Street side vendors selling this simple delicious delight are everywhere around the German captital and most of them sell a pale pils called 'Berliner kindl' (5.1% abv). The beer is good, but not exceptional and is the perfect companion alongside a plate of currywurst. My favourite currywurst vendor/beer garden happens to be the Berliner Kindl setup just down the street from Checkpoint Charlie. Its simple, urban and allows you to take in some of the best communist era architecture in Germany. I think the beer may be new to the market as there is not a great deal of information in regards. The official website is written completely in German and I find that when in Germany, its best to let pictures do the explaining as illustrated on this small cubicle like building below! What exactly does City Pissoir mean anyway?

Köstritzer Schwarzbier

The second Schwarzbier I had on my trip was Köstritzer (4.8%), a dark black lager of exteremely high standard. This beer is particularly remarkable espcially the feat of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who sustained himself on black beer from Köstritz when he was unable to eat during a period of illness. The brewery has a long history after being founded in 1543 and it is one of the oldest producers of Schwarzbier (black beer) in Germany. The brewery is now owned by Bitburger.

The beer does indeed look almost black, but is in fact a very dark brown colour when held up to the light, with a pale, fine-bubbled and lasting head. Nose is of dark malt, roast coffee, black treacle and dark dried fruit. It is quite lively in the mouth, with initially a somewhat lactic taste of creamy coffee, but quickly developing into rich, malty and dark but slightly sour fruity flavours - figs, blackcurrants, black cherries, black treacle, burnt sugar, dark chocolate, bitter dark-roast coffee (still with a dash of cream) and a touch of hop. The more bitter of these flavours (coffee, chocolate, hops) increase in intensity towards the finish, though still tempered by sweeter red fruit notes. Aftertaste is a gorgeous lingering malty bitterness, much like a dry stout, with a warming, spicy touch that wouldn't be out of place in a much stronger beer. A thoroughly lovely experience from start to finish. I'll get my hand off it now!

The closest thing I could find to an official website is this one which is bizarely enough a beers of Austria website!

Berliner Pilsner

Ok, I am not going to spend much time on this beer, as basically it was terrible and tasted like cats piss. Basically this forum comment sums it up nicely when it describes the beer as 'the beer of choice for construction workers around Berlin'....... just think the Berliner version of Carling. there is an official site here. Also the worlds dodgiest TV ad.

Holsten Pils

Holsten Pils is a well-known 'quality' mass-market beer which has a white, loose, thin yet lasting head and an aroma of stewed hops with a touch of malt. Hops are also apparent in the mouth (Saaz, but with occasional Goldings-like notes). Again there is a little malt. There is also a slightly tinny taste, perhaps due to overstewing of the hops. It is very lively, fizzy and belch-inducing. Towards the finish there is a cloying, slightly caramelly malt flavour. Overall this isn't too horrendous or too bland - both common failings of this market segment. More flavour than your standard ubiquitous pilsner-clone, but still well short of being an interesting beer. In light of this I could pretty much blog exactly the same stuff as Weinhenstephan Pils for Holsten Pils (5.5% abv) however the circumstances surrounding the beer are much more noteworthy! I can't remember the name of the cafe/bar, except that it is directly across the market square from the Weinhenstephan brauhaus. The staff in this bar were exteremely rude also! Anyhow after ordering my Holsten, I decided it was time to have a snack and ordered a weiner schnitzel. The half pig in the picture below is what I was served - lovely!

Oh, and I even managed to find a nice video! Score.....

Weihenstephan Pilsner

The second beer I ordered at the Weinhenstephan Brauhaus was their Pilsner (5.1% abv). The beer is a typical bavarial style pilsner. Its a little plain an not as good as other pilsners from the region and was a little dissapointing, although it did remind me of my last trip to Munich 2 years ago. Its a clean tasting beer with both malt and hop character, but not as bitter as it probably should be. This leaves the beer a little unbalanced in my opinion. Website

Weihenstephan Tradition

Berlin has its fair share of beer halls and gardens, and in my walk around town I stumbled upon the Weinhenstephan Brauhaus. Weinhenstephan is a Bavarian brewery (which is actually owned by the state of Bavaria)which produces iconic wheat beer (especially their hefeweissen), a Pils and various other beers. I was hoping to grab some dinner here, but the menu was a little limited so I settled down for a krug of their Tradition (5.2% abv), a dark, malty, bock style lager. I am not sure that bock is the correct beer style, as the beer does have some leanings towards Dusseldorfer Alt biers and is similar in colour and malt profile. Needless to say the beer was a lot more tasty/tasteful that the East German (DDR)communist architecture! You can find more our at the official website here.

Berliner Weiss

Whilst in Berlin the first German beer I tried was Berliner Weiss a beer that has long been on my list of beer styles to try. Coming from Australia where my only experience with the style was an effort by and AHB member called Seth in a xmas case. That example smelt and tasted like cheese, so i was a little unsure of what to expect. I went to the bar and ordered 'ein berliner weiss bitter', I was responded with 'rot or grun' to which I replied 'grun'. then the beer was delivered. My wife laughed as basically berliner weiss would be called a 'girly drink' anywhere else in the world. Basically its soured wheat beer with woodruff syrup, it bright green and comes in a milkshake tumbler with a straw!

"To be more technical Berliner Weisse is a top-fermented, bottle conditioned wheat beer made with both traditional warm-fermenting yeasts and lactobacillus culture. They have a rapidly vanishing head and a clear, pale golden straw-coloured appearance. The taste is refreshing, tart, sour and acidic, with a lemony-citric fruit sharpness and almost no hop bitterness. With food, they would make a good aperitif and might go well with cheeses and salads. Michael Jackson [1] reckons they can be used in chilled fruit soups.
Berliner Weisse can be difficult to find in the UK, but both Berliner Kindl and Schultheiss Berliner Weisse are available from Beers of Europe. Schultheiss Berliner Weisse is also available at the Bhurtpore Inn, Cheshire.
Schultheiss originally had breweries in East and West Berlin (before the city was divided). The East Berlin brewery was taken under state ownership when a Stalinist regime was imposed after the Second World War. Michael Jackson compares the East and West versions of Schultheiss Berliner Weiss in his "Beer Companion" [2]. When Germany reunified the East Berlin brewery at Pankow was re-acquired by Schultheiss and eventually closed, with production continuing only in the West of the city. The old Schultheiss brewery on Knaackstrasse, Prenzlauer Berg, is now an arts and culture centre (http://www.kulturbrauerei.de/). Schultheiss also brew a range of other beers including a pilsner but they don't seem to push it hard on the export market. Schultheiss is now part of the Brau und Brunnen group [http://www.brauundbrunnen.de/], so maybe they prefer to export mainly their more well known pilsners like Jever or Dortmunder Union. I haven't found the other Schultheiss beers on sale in the UK yet, and if the pils is anything to go by, that's no great loss. Schultheiss Berliner Weisse is easier to find as specialist off licences will seek it out as it's an example of a rare type but Schultheiss Pilsners are so ubiquitous that only the well known make a big impact on the export market."

I stole that last part and i can't find the URL for attribution, but as its a girls drink nobody will notice!

Kamenitza Dark

I went to Berlin for the May Bank Holiday weekend. Upon arriving on the Friday night, the Mrs and I went out in search of a feed and what we thought was an Italian restaurant turned out to be a Bulgarian one! I ordered a Kamenitza Dark or Schwartzbier which was actually surprisingly good. Having not had the pleasure of drinking Bulgarian beer before I took to it with a gusto! Actually these Eastern Euporean beers are actually very easy to blog about as there seems to be an ubundance of informatioj regarding them. For example, this fellow here: describes the beer as "somewhere between an English mild and a belgian dubbel". Now WTF??? how do you get that from a dark lager? The official website seems kind of lame, so there is not much info there. However Wikipedia truly does know all in this case!

Kamenitza (Bulgarian: Каменица) is one of the top-selling Bulgarian beer companies, based in the city of Plovdiv. Established in 1881 and as of 2006 owned by InBev, the brewery has a wide variety of lager and dark beers. Kamenitza had an 18% share of the Bulgarian beer market in 2005[1] according to data from ACNielsen. The company is a sponsor of the Bulgaria national football team.

History
Historical information in this section is from [Vatahov 2006][2] In 1881 three Swiss entrepreneurs built a brewery in Plovdiv on a hill called Kamenitza and used the name as their brand. The drink of choice for most Bulgarians at the time was lager, but Kamenitza broke new ground by producing the first dark beer for the market. By the 1890s they won awards at international exhibitions, including Brussels and Chicago. The communist regime nationalised Kamenitza: first, in 1947, as part of the state-owned Alcoholic Beverages, then in 1952 as part of Vinprom. The Belgian multinational company InBev bought the Bulgarian breweries Kamenitza, Astika and Burgasko Pivo in 1995 and added Plevensko Pivo in 1997. During 1997 to 2005, InBev invested 86.3 million leva in Bulgaria, and in 2005 Kamenitza sold 800,000 hectoliters, making it the best-selling domestic beer.[1]

I even managed to find a corny TV advert! Enjoy

Jennings Cocker Hoop

The last of my Cumberland selection pack, Jennings Cocker Hoop (4.6% abv) is apparently an award winning golden bitter, but in reality tasted very similar to the other offerings from the Jennings brewery. To be fair the beer does have some citrus hints on the finish, but overall was a little bland. The name is interesting though! The name is derived from ‘Cock-a Hoop’, an old custom of removing the cock (or spigot) from a barrel and resting it on the hoop of the cask before commencing a drinking bout, but was changed to reflect the brewery’s location on the banks of the River Cocker. I won't seek this one out again, and chances are I won't come across it draught in London anyway! Website: Here and here

Lancaster Amber

This was the last of the beers that I sampled on St Georges day. Lancaster Amber (3.7% abv) is an American Amber ale styled beer with strong fruity hop notes and a mild barely apparent bitterness. This combination makes for an easy drinking full flavoured session beer without having to have too high an abv. The beer poured a deep golden colour with low carbonation. Of the three beers I had on this day, this was probably the most dissapointing, however that does not necessarily say much, as all the beers at 'The Castle' were in excellent condition, its just that the calibre was set rather high. This is still a good beer to try if you see it on somewhere. Website

Acorn Brewery Barnsley Bitter

Again this beer was enjoyed on St Georges day at 'The Castle'. Barnsley Bitter (3.8% abv) is a dark copper coloured bitter which has nice biscuity and chocolate malt aftertaste. I really like this beer and I can't really think of any other beers which have a similar taste. If I could compare it to anything it would be Gales HSB, but with more of a roasted edge. The beer is thick and sticky with shedloads of malt. There is a solid bitterness which is balanced by the roasted flavours coming thorugh. To top it off, this beer has a subtle fruity hop aroma that rounds off this beer. If anybody has the grain bill for this beer, please pass it forward!

Website

St George Heritage Ale

A colleage of mine and myself went for a tipple on St Georges day at 'The Castle' just of High Holborn. The Castle is unique in that it always has a good selection of well kept guest ales in a location which pretty much just caters for the lunch and after work crowd. Most of the pubs in the area tend to offer the more mass produced bitters and their quality is usually dubious, however the Castle seems to always come up with the goods. Being St Georges day, we decided to have a crack at the St Georges Heritage Ale (4.9% abv) by the Coach House brewery. Now in general, I make it a rule to avoid beers which are just one off gimmick's such as 'Striker' for the 2006 soccer world cup, and 'Swing low' for the 2007 Rugby world cup as they are generally rubbish. The St George heritage ale on the other hand was a pleasant surprise. The beer was a straw colour with a nice not too bitter but creamy finish. A nice well balanced beer with citrusy hop notes which would be better enjoyed through the summer months than in April, but hey I was just glad to enjoy it at all! Website:

Czech Cultural Centre

I know, not a beer as such but more of a beer experience!

Recently, I had the fortune of a session on the lash at the Czech and Slovak Cultural centre in London. Basically this is a setup for Czech and Slovak expats living in london where they can go and have some traditional beer and food so they do not feel so homesick. The venue is homely and you feel like you are walking into someones house. This is compounded by the fact that the centre is on a suburban street, however once inside the traditional eastern european decor such as padded vinyl doors and walls make you feel more like you are in a venue than a house!

The beers on offer are Pilsner Urquell (previously reported here) and Budvar (previously reported here). Of the two, the Budvar tasted a little past its best, however the Pilsner Urquell was in its prime.

The food on offer was exteremely good and well priced as well. I opted for the boiled pork knuckle, which came in a generous portion size to say the least! Generally my past pork knuckle experiences have been in Germany where "Eisbein" is a pork knuckle covered in a crispy layer of crackling. The Czech varient "ovarové kolínko" is boiled and the remaining skin is black and leathery, however the meat is equally as delicious.

For those readers who live in London, I highly recommend that you go and czech this place out! (pun intended).

Czech and Slovak Club in London
Opening hours:
Club:Tuesday to Friday 17:00 - 23 hours Saturday and Sunday 12:00 - 23 hours
Restaurant:Tuesday to Friday 17:00 - 22:30 hours : Saturday and Sunday 12:00 - 22:30 hours Closed on Mondays, with the exception of Bank Holiday Mondays, when the Club is closed on the following Tuesday.
For further information please call;
Club - 0207 328 0131 * Restaurant - 020 7372 1193
Address:74 West End Lane, London NW6 2 LX

Banks &Taylor Shefford Old Strong

I had the pleasure of drinking Banks and Taylors Shefford Old Strong (5% abv) at the Weatherspoons in afrringdom. Rich and I had been pubcrawling for a while and needed a bathrrom break and the 'spoons was the only thing open in the area. After the effort of relieving ourselves we were rewarded with a pint!

To be honest, I can't even remember drinking this pint because I was pretty smashed and because it was a few weeks ago now! The beer has a rather lame website, which does little to jog my memory, however some old chap/ticker has put together some notes!

Old gold with disappearing head. Some malt, some syrup. Not great condition.
It’s an ok strong ale, not huge flavours. Fine. Nice enough blend of malt and
hop. Hop has some crystallised fruit. Drinkable without being flashy.