Today is Ticker Tuesday

Today is ticker Tuesday. Basically in this post I will cover some of the beers I have had over the last week or so. I was reviewing the photos from my phone and realised that I had more than just a couple.

Last Thursday night I went for a drink with Mike, a guy I used to work with. He suggested 'The Castle' just off High Holborn. I had not been there since I was served a dodgy pint. Anyway not much has changed, the place still has 9 handpumps and is chock full of people drinking Peroni. Mike has become allergic to beer lately and has moved onto cider, which left me to hold up the fort in the beer department. I first got my teeth into a pint of Bushy's Helmsman which is a 4.5% copper coloured bitter that had lost most of it's condition and was starting to taste a little ordinary. Obviously this one has not been a big seller! I forced it down as technically while it was past it's best, it was in no way stale.
Next on my list was Titanic White Star (4.8% abv), which is a hoppy golden coloured bitter and was in very good condition. I didn't tempt fate and squeezed in a few of these and didn't bother to see what else was on offer.

Friday was a pretty quiet day in the office so a few of the lads headed down to Ye Olde Mitre for a pint over lunch. The inner ticker came out and I gravitated towards the guest ale which was Pirates Gold (4.0% abv) from Cornwall's Wooden Hand Brewery. It's funny how you can go to a region and not find any of the local beers, but head back to London and they are everywhere! The beer is a fruity bitter and suited the afternoon which was cold. I still think the old Mitre is over rated. I look forward to returning once Fuller's take the reigns.

After work on Friday (ok, well it was 3.45pm), a colleague of mine Gareth and I headed down the street to The Gunmakers for a couple of beers. It really was a slow day. I won't go into too much detail as I think I have covered all Jeff's offerings before. Anyhow I had a pint of Batemans XXXB and a pint of TT Landlord. I think I will stick with the Landlord in Future as I am not that big a fan of the Bateman's and I had a pint of Harvey's Best the week before and I am not really a huge fan of that either. I like the pub though and it seems to be busy nearly all the time now with a solid set of regulars, some of whom I am getting to know.

On Saturday I was conned into seeing 'Marley and Me' with the missus. Well I'm not totally whipped and there is a plan in place here. I go and see one chick film, this builds me up some points so we can see Terminator Salvation, Fast and the Furious 4 or X-Men Wolverine next time we go. After the movie I raided my beer collection (I have a rather large stash of bottles) and enjoyed some Saison 1900 and a bottle of Sierra Nevada Stout while watching 'Come Dine with Me'. Watching foodie TV had me craving for some decent nosh, but our pantry was bare. Rather than do a Tesco run, we went to a local Vietmanese joint 'Saigon Saigon' where I enjoyed not only very good Vietmanese cuisine, but a couple of bottles of Saigon Export. This is an interesting beer that has only a very mild bitterness and a subtle honey like malt sweetness that works well with the caramelised flavours and spices in the food. A good general food pairing.

Sunday was Boat Race day and we headed down to Furnival Gardens to watch the race. We got down there, grabbed some food and staked a position on the barrier wall. After about ten minutes it started to rain - not fun. The wind also briefly picked up and it was freezing cold so we headed back to the flat to watch the race on TV. A much smarter option. Back at the flat I inspected my beer stash and selected two Bath Ales - the Gem and Barnstormer. Either my palette is loosing it's touch or these beers are basically the same. Come to think of it, the Gem was slightly more fruity. Still nice beers to drink while watching the race. I don't really have any allegiance to either of the two schools as I didn't go to either. Plus I don't like the religious origins of OxBridge and prefer the secular nature of UCL where I do have an affiliation being a former staff member. Putting religion aside the last beer I had on Sunday was Mad Goose Pale Ale from Purity Brewing Co. This beer was nice, but had an abrupt wheat malt taste that I don't like. I prefer all barley malt beers, but I liked the hop character. I have a bottle of Purity's Amber Ale in the fridge at home which I will eventually get around to.

Anyhow I apologise for the congested and disjointed post. Maybe I am still a ticker at heart?

Change from Within

I have been receiving a fair bit of email lately - most of it not very nice. It seems that I have upset a lot of weird beards by spelling out a few home truths and mythbusting a lot of CAMRA's propaganda. OK - I may have poked fun at certain stereotypes as well, but if you choose to look like a member of the Taliban or a wizard straight from a LAIRE meetup then you are fair game in my book. One letter I received contained the following excerpt;

"your opinions on CAMRA are based on pure ignorance. I would accept the criticism as constructive if you were a member of the campaign"

The email then descended into calling me a bunch of names which were not very nice. I won't be repeating these here. The email got me thinking, maybe I should join up and try to change the culture from within. This way I could direct my criticisms in a "constructive" manner and send them straight up to the CAMRA policy makers where at least they will be on the radar. So I bit the bullet and joined last week. My information pack arrived yesterday (pictured above). I am now a campaigner, one of 'them'.
I have reviewed about half of the material that was sent. It got to the point where I had to put it down because I couldn't take anymore of the bullshit and blatant lies deliberately misleading information that make up a lot of the propaganda. Some of the current campaigns are blatantly hypocritical and against some of the core remits of other campaigns within the overall campaign.
So what will I do now?? Well I will be continuing to shave and to exercise. No beards and/or belly's here! I will also be picking apart the propaganda over the course of the week and highlighting some of the blatant lies deliberately misleading information and why some of the campaigns are a waste of effort. I will publish that content here, as well as emailing it to the CAMRA contacts listed in my information pack. Will I effect a change - probably not, but I am going to put my money where my mouth is and have a go.

Punch KO'ed by Fuller's

While travelling home on the tube after a session in "The Castle" yesterday evening, the London Lite informed me that Fuller's have acquired six pubs from dwindling pub giant Punch Taverns. Why does that interest me? Normally this news wouldn't, but in this case I frequent two of pubs mentioned. Yes the acquisitions include Ye Olde Mitre, off Hatton Garden (the closest pub to my office) and The Queens Head on Brook Green.
I welcome both these pubs entry into the Fuller's stable. I wonder how Scottles at Ye Olde Mitre will take the news?
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Other pubs involved in the £21.1 million acquisition are the Red Lion in Whitehall, The Swan on Bayswater Rd, The Scarsdale and The Hereford in Kensington. Apparently the deal on these pubs is some £4.5 million lower than their book value.

Clever Marketing or just plain Bullshit?

Recently whilst at a work function I was issued a beer brewed by Brouwerij Duvel Moortgat called Vedett, which is marketed a 'blonde' when it really was just an ordinary megaswill lager. Not that there is anything wrong with mainstream lager as such, those products serve their purpose, but I couldn't help but feel mislead by the label. Surely it should be labelled as a lager? Belgian Blonde is a beer style unto itself and in general is a strong golden coloured ale.
Anyhow I have been duped again, this time by a brewing megacorp. I have had Jupiler on draught on many occasions and I have always appreciated it as a pale lager. I recently received a bottle of Jupiler Blonde (5.2% abv) and I automatically assumed that it was going to be a Belgian style blonde ale. I even sourced a Leffe style glass to enjoy this beer in. You could say that I was more than a little disappointed when the beer I poured out was actually just the same generic pale lager that I have had many times before. I admit it, I have become the latest victim of the ruthlessness that its AB-InBev's clever marketing department. It seems that they spin more shit than I do, but at least they get paid for it........
Maybe it's time for a career change?

Australian Sparkling Ale

Just a quick post in regards to Australian Sparkling Ale as a beer style. Does anyone know if any American or British breweries are producing beers of this great style?

More IPA Challenges

Over the weekend I continued my IPA challenge. This time I pitted Goose Island IPA up against Little Creatures PA, Snake Dog IPA and Meantime Pale Ale. Overall the Goose Island is a good beer, but does not have the bitterness and density of flavour to compete with Snake Dog IPA (which is still the best beer I have had this year). The Goose Island IPA is similar to Little Creatures PA - actually almost the same. They are refreshing but don't have that strong bite I like in an IPA. The Meantime IPA was bottled in a mini champagne style and hit well below the mark of the US and Australian beers. I think it's a better beer on draught than bottled, but then Meantime have a few different Pale Ales including their IPA, London Pale Ale and this Pale Ale.
I don't normally consider my self much of a hophead, but I think my palate is coming around to the US way of doing things. Luckily I am off to New York over Easter where Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA is well up on my list of things to do, along with visit the Statue of Liberty, World Trade Centre memorial and Times Square.
Oh, I almost forgot, you can learn more about Chicago's finest Goose Island at their website: http://www.gooseisland.com/

Samuel Smith's, The Famous Taddy Porter

A post solely for the tickers out there who liked The Beer Diary circa 2008 before I became preoccupied with shooting darts at CAMRA.

Samuel Smiths Taddy Porter (5.0% abv) is a remarkably drinkable porter and was a suitable night cap last Friday after an evening in The Old Parr's Head. I won't intellectualise too much about the beer as basically I'm not very good at it, but I have embedded a video of some other chap below who seems to know his stuff.

I should point out one thing that really irks me about Smith's bottled beers. The food pairings in the label are usually utter rubbish. The Taddy Porter in particular suggests;

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"Oysters on the half shell, Rockefeller or Cajun style, clams, mussels, crab cocktail, lobster bisque and other shellfish, smoked mackerel pâté, veal with green peppercorns, porterhouse steak and of course chocolate. Serve at 55 degrees in nonik or tumbler"

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Surely these dishes are better paired with an IPA or brown ale than a porter. What are these chaps schmokin?

Anyhow for more info on Samuel Smiths just check out this website.

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Dim Sims

It's about time that I mentioned the greatest culinary marval of all time - the humble Dim Sim.

What's a Dim Sim I hear you ask? Wikipedia describes a Dim Sim as;

"a Chinese-inspired meat dumpling-style snack food popular in Australia. The dish normally consists of a large ball of pork or other meat, cabbage and flavourings, encased in a wrapper similar to that of a more traditional dumpling"

Up until recently they had been rather difficult, if not impossible to track down here in the UK. Jumbuck's Pies on Shepherds Bush Green have started stocking these Australian delicacies and I felt the urge to get a few down my neck after work last Friday evening. They well and truly hit the spot and I will be sure to get back there again in the future for another round.

Anyhow, every culinary masterpiece needs a beer to accompany it, and on this occasion I had a bottle of Brakspear Oxford Gold - which is a golden coloured organic bitter. The slight crystal malt character in the beer played well with the caramalization of the cabbage in the Dim Sim and the bitterness and carbonation scrubbed out the grease just nicely. The Dim Sims were really just a prelude to the Thai extravaganza that awaited me later that evening at the Old Parr's Head where I feasted on Yellow Curry Chicken and Mee Goreng. I should mention that I had a pint of Hop Back Summer Lightning with my dinner, but it really is not that exciting a beer. I think Friday truly is my gastronomic day of the week. Only four more working days to go!

Things that annoy me

Whilst I am in blogging mode, I thought I would rant about something that is dear to every man's heart. The toilet seat. For some reason women-folk seem to think that there are some kind of rules surrounding this piece of apparatus. I wish to point out that there are no rules, it's first in first served in reference to seat positioning. What I really mean to say is that the seat does not have to go back down after a man is finished. It can stay up and the next person who wants it down, can put it down. One thing that really annoys me is when the seat does not stay up on it's own accord, it continuously falls back down. I believe this act was constructed by selfish female 'handymen' as a form of compulsory defiance. The picture to the left illustrates one such offending dunny found in The Angel Inn, Lymington. Basically this setup forces the man into some kind of weird balancing act of using his knee to hold the seat up whilst trying to take a slash, or it forces him to take the seated pissing position. I can excuse this insane situation when I encounter it in a hotel room, but I know a few guys that live in houses where this same situation is present in their bathrooms. This tells me all I need to know about these guys -they have no power over the females they live with. Any self respecting man would have devised some way to fix this very ordinary situation, the weak are the ones who just put up with it. I know I am not alone with my feelings on this situation. Those who can empathise, please tell me your stories or any that you have heard of.

The Angel Inn

On Sunday we said our farewells to Cornwall and headed towards the New Forest. We were a little slack in booking accommodation for Sunday evening and a quick glance through the English edition of Lonely Planet highly recommended 'The Angel Inn' in Lymington.

Firstly I would like to express my disappointment with the New forest area in general. I don't see the fascination with the place. The scenery is generally just low level shrubs with some rather tame 'wild' ponies eating grass by the side of the road. WTF?

We finally made it into Lymington, which is a small Hampshire market town with a nice harbour quay which provides access to the solent. Our accommodation: The Angel Inn was only OK. Basically it's a Marston's pub, but they had a couple of Ringwood beers on as well. After checking into our room which had a four post bed, we went down to the quay and had a drink in a harbour side pub. The weather was nice so all the Hampshire pretentious types were out shining their toys. Some bloke even had a Lamborghini parked up down there - he obviously has a small dick.

After the sunset we enjoyed a few beers in the Angel, I initially went for a pint of Pedigree which as usual was pretty ordinary (Sorry Nicky!) and then decided to stick to Ringwood Best which was not much better. Dinner consisted of steak and pedigree pie for myself and a roast for the lady. The pie was only passable although it did have an impressive pastry hat. After dinner we retreated for an early evening.

After breakfast the following morning, which was a poorly presented and rather small full English, we hit the road towards Shaftsbury so we could take a look at Gold Hill. Whilst this may seem a rather strange tourist attraction, known only to most as the backdrop to a 1973 Hovis bread commercial - I wanted to check it out as my great uncle painted a picture of the scene and gave it to me as a Wedding gift. After a coffee in the sun at the base of the 600 year old town hall overlooking Gold Hill, we had a quick look around town and headed back to London. The highlight of the return journey was witnessing pigs having sex as we passed a pig farm on the A303 somewhere in Wiltshire. Overall our trip to Cornwall and New Forest was a good break from London, but not as fruitful in the beer department as hoped. I think it confirms my thoughts that London and Clerkenwell in particular, is the beer and pub capital of the world.

Oracle of the week

A few people have blogged about the public forums that CAMRA have added to their website. I don't have the time to read many blogs or forums these days, but I did take a cursory glance over some of the posts to see what the fuss is about. I can see what the problem is straight away. There is one forum thread which features The Beer Nut discussing why CAMRA place such importance on the provenance of carbon dioxide. The whole thread is full of ignorance and the usual CAMRA brainwashing drivel, but one pearl of wisdom from a chap called Richard English really does need to be highlighted!
As a bit of background, Richard English is a CAMRA life member and seems to have an opinion on every issue raised on the forum. Basically he comes across as a self appointed spokesperson for CAMRA. Why then did he say, and I quote;
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"carbon dioxide generated naturally in the cask or bottle is physically different from that introduced from a cylinder"
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As carbon dioxide is a compound and as such has constant physical properties regardless of origin, he has clearly been misinformed during his CAMRA brainwashing 101 class. For this reason as well as being a self appointed know all, "The Beer Diary" is pleased to announce Richard English as Oracle of the week. Congratulations!

Adventures in Cornwall

On Saturday we awoke, scoffed down a full English breakfast (sorry, but no beer pairing here!) and headed into St Ives for a coffee before venturing off on one of the many interesting coastal walks around the area. We managed to walk about two miles south before the mud got a little bit too hardcore for the missus and we bush based through the shrubs to higher ground. We may have been defeated by the state of the walking trails, but this did not stop our adventurous spirit and we fired up the trusty car and explored the country side. First stop was Lands End for the token amusement park complete with Doctor Who ride and naff sign stating 'Land's End'. This is fine except that apparently you can't take a photo of it without paying for the honour. Needless to say I was rather rude to the 'owner' of said sign, basically 'cause there was nobody else around and I could be! After the excitement of Lands End the SatNav directed us along some trails that could loosely be interpreted as roads towards Penzance. The 'scenic' route was interesting but the increased journey time started to impact renal function and a pit stop was sorely needed once we got there. In the absence of any public dunnys we snuck into the local JDW house and made generous use of Tim Martin's facilities before beating a hasty retreat. The 'spoons basically smelt like a nursing home and there were three stereotypical CAMRA freaks sitting near the front door. They all had impressive 'Gandolf' or 'Taliban' style beards and the latest in sandal style footwear to accompany their beer festival T-shirts. Actually one had a live action roleplay T-shirt, but it still fit the stereotype! Anyhow at this point a pasty was in order, but a quick stroll down the high street revealed nothing but the same fast food party chains you get in London train stations. We admitted defeat and headed back to the car managing to find a little bakehouse on a lane en route. Two pastys and a Coke Zero later and we were on our way back to St Ives for a nap before dinner.

Dinner consisted of going to the St Ives posh noshery "Seafood Cafe". The food was ok and I had a bottle of St Austells Clouded Yellow to accompany my meal. This is supposed to be a Bavarian inspired wheat beer but its basically a Belgian Witbier spiced with cloves, coriander and vanilla. It was OK, but I didn't order a second bottle and chose to smash down the remaining two thirds of a bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. By the time we left the restaurant it was getting late so we headed back to the B&B, satisfied that we had made the most of our day. I should also note that it was the first Saturday night in a long time that I only had one beer - maybe my horizons are broadening? Maybe not!

St Ives

On Friday the wife and I headed off to St Ives down in the far south of Cornwall. I have always wanted to go to Cornwall. When I was young my Nan gave me a cartoon map/poster of Cornwall and told me loads of stories about how pirates used to bury treasure all along the coastline and hide stuff in caves. It was pretty exciting when I was ten. Actually compared to the spreadsheets I have been working on this morning, it's still pretty exciting. Anyhow as I don't own a car we hired a little convertible (207cc I think?) and hit the M4, M5 and A30 keeping a lookout for pirates and buried treasure. OK the pirate jokes were funny until we past the Reading turnoff where my wife was starting to be offended by the latest nickname I had given her ('Seaman Stains'). We finally pulled into the driveway of the B&B in St Ives at about 4.30pm, dumped our bags in the bed and went exploring through the old town. St Ives is a bit of a beer desert. There are a few pubs, but they are pretty ordinary. The Sloop came highly recommended by our hosts, however as we walked into the bar we were issued a reception that would normally be reserved for a black at a KKK meeting. There was no violence, but everyone stopped, stared and generally made us feel like out of towners. I think this is another case of a pub that people think is good just because it is old (circa 1316 or something). The Dove in Hammersmith is another such pub that falls into this category. They are old and have a lot of history, but the beer is usually just on standard and they are not particularly inviting. Rant over!

Anyhow, we retreated to a St Austells tied house 'The Lifeboat' which was marginally more friendly. I had a couple of pints of St Austells Tribute and a pint of HSD (the breweries strong ale). Neither was overly impressive. By default they had a sparkler on their swan necks and both beers had a subtle sulfur note on the aroma which I don't really like. Brakspears Bitter has this as well and it's off putting. Anyhow after getting a mixed grill down my neck for dinner we retreated back to the B&B for an early evening. I should also add that the surf was not very good. The banks were rubbish and the swell was just mush. I miss the beach back home, as well as the smell of sunscreen. It was nice to not be at work on a Friday though. The picture below is of Porthmouth beach in St Ives. It was taken from the top of the outcrop on the point called 'The Island'. As you can see surfing in the UK is pretty much a waste of time!

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Anchors Aweigh

Anchor Brewing Company has been brewing beer in San Francisco since 1896, although it emerged on the craft/micro brewing scene after Fritz Maytag acquired and subsequently saved the brewery from closure in 1965. The brewery is one of the last remaining producers of Californian Common beer, which is colloquially known as steam beer. Actually, Anchor have an appellation stating that they alone can call their product "Steam Beer".

I have had these three bottles of beer from Anchor Brewing Company sitting at home for a while since picking them up from Whole Foods, Kensington. I have enjoyed the Steam beer before on a few occasions, but had not come across the Liberty Ale or Porter.

Anchor Steam is an interesting beer. It is a lager, but is fruity and has a caramel edge like an ale. It is fermented at ale yeast temperatures which results in both lager and ale characteristics emerging in the flavour profile. I enjoy this beer, but I don't think it's for everyone. It is even better when consumed during a "Come Dine With Me" omnibus on a Sunday afternoon!

Anchor Liberty Ale is an American style IPA in a similar vein to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. It is a good beer, but this beer style is becoming as common as muck these days. The Liberty Ale is a good interpretation of the style though and well worth picking up if you see it about, but I would not go hunting it down specifically. I feel the same about the Porter as well. It is a good beer and incredibly robust, but just lacks the subtle nuances that you get with a well presented cask of Fuller's London Porter. I think Fuller's really do have the best porter that is available. Maybe I am slightly biased as I live so close to the brewery, but that's my opinion none the less.

Anyhow that's all I care to say about these beer's from Anchor, although I would like to get my hands on a bottle of their "Old Foghorn" Barley Wine which I hear is a cracker.

http://anchorbrewing.com/

The wife and I are off to St Ives for an extended weekend tomorrow and I am looking forward to getting away, breathing some ocean fresh air and having a few pints of St Austells and some harder to track down beers from Sharp's (I'm over Doom Bar). If anyone can recommend any good restaurants or pubs that I 'must' visit while I am in Cornwall, I would be most grateful. I have not been out to that part of the country before and it should be fun.

Blogger's and Beardy Weirdies

I like beer. That should be obvious - this is a beer blog after all, but why do I need to tell the world about it? Does this make me weird?
Last night I was lucky enough to be invited to a Diageo event for St Patricks day, which was sponsored by Guinness and Bushmill's (thanks again Emma for the invite). The event was aimed mainly towards an online community called London blogger meet up which is a group I had never heard about. I was invited along as a token ring in as I like the Guinness brand, I always have. I even have a bottle of Foreign Extra Stout with a rubber nipple on it which I was given by a discerning relative for my Christening.
What I really wanted to point out is that members of the London blogger community seemed be slightly eccentric and I can see parallels between the eccentric types that you get at beer festivals and these blogger types. Now I am not talking about bearded freaks as such, but I think it's fair to say that there is a certain blogger stereotype - and it is slightly weird. Whilst sipping on free pints of Guinness Red and Guinness Foreign Extra Stout, I was starting to equate the London blogger group as being the blogging equivalent to CAMRA. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not, and I don't really have an opinion either way. Regular readers will know that I roll to the beat of my own drum and don't feel the need to shelter as part of a collective. I know how to raise my voice when I need to be heard and I pretty much always get my opinion across.
One thing that struck me as odd is the amount of time these guys spent blogging. Some maintain two or three blogs and spend hours a day authoring posts, spilling their hearts out to relatively small numbers of readers who probably don't really care anyhow. I don't know about other beer bloggers, but in general I would rarely spend more than 15 minutes a day on my blog. I write stream of conscience and then run a quick spell check over my ranting to eliminate obvious mistakes, usually which are a result of my crude typing technique rather than my articulation! I don't care much about my blog, it's just a creative way to fill part of my lunch hour. I wish I could say the same about some of the people I met last night. I felt a little sorry for them really, but then who am I to judge from my ivory tower?
One last thing. Discussing statcounter statistics (yes this is what conversation came down too!) I realised that my traffic is pretty good excellent in comparison to these semi-professional bloggers. Sloppiness counts! I think there was a certain level of blogger envy directed my way last night. I'm not a freak and I appear to be beating the freaks at their own game! Thanks again Diageo for the invite, I had a good evening and my ego certainly benefited. I hope I didn't belittle your other guests too much!

The Sun Shined (Briefly)

On Saturday, the Sun made a brief appearance in London and prompted us to escape our flat. We (the Mrs and I) decided that we are going to try and tick off our to-do lists over the next few weeks before - fingers crossed - heading back to Australia.

Anyhow we decided to check out the British Museum and marvelled at the Rosetta Stone, Cleopatra and some old coins before grabbing some lunch at the Cafe in Russell Square. The food was ordinary and the Sun also decided that it had enough and decided to hide behind the clouds again. We gave up and performed a quick lap around the Brunswick centre before heading back to the flat.

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I was pretty quick to get amongst my beer stash and went for BrewDog's definitive Cult Lager.

This beer is described as a statuesque pilsner, but comes across as just another US style IPA which happens to be brewed with a lager yeast. It's not a bad beer, but I was expecting more than this unbalanced offering.

Craving something a little more German, I reached for a bottle of Schlenkerla Weizen. After my positive experience with the Marzen a few weeks ago, the wheat offering was well up on my tick list. Again, I was a little disappointed. It's not a bad beer as such, but it does lack the body and maltiness that makes the Marzen stand out. By this stage a "Come Dine With Me" omnibus was starting which lifted my spirits. I have the formula for this show sussed out now. There is always a house wife, a single guy, a single girl an older singleton (either sex) and the token homosexual guy. I think the producers have their formula perfected as this mix of stereotypes always produces the best bitchiness and drama resulting in compelling television.

After "Come Dine With Me" I decided that I was in an IPA kind of mood. Not that I was feeling bitter (excuse lame pun), but I needed a beer with a little bit more kick in it alcohol wise to survive the comic relief crap that appears in just about every media form at this time of year. Don't get me wrong - I love the concept and I support the charity, but they take it a little bit too far. Really after a day of culture in the British Museum the last thing I need is to see a 7 foot Welshman wearing a shit eating grin, trying to make lame jokes while Z grade celebrities sing and dance and make twats of themselves. Just wear a red nose like everyone else. Anyhow the IPA of choice was Snake Dog IPA from the Flying Dog Brewery. An excellent beer and potentially the best beer I have had yet this year.

Anyhow after the wife went to bed, I stayed up and channel surfed between Lock up with Sly Stallone, Fortress with Christopher Lambert and a show with the interesting title of "Sex: How To Do Everything." The sex show was rather funny and featured people dressed up in Micky Mouse costumes getting it on. Apparently they are called 'Furries' and its a new form of fetishism. I think they are freaks. I don't need a TV programme to tell me how to get busy in the sack. Anyhow, I used this time to sample a bottle of Sam Smith's Imperial Stout. It was an OK beer, but failed to live up to it's reputation. Is it just me or does everyone agree that Sam Smith's beers are pretty ordinary in both bottle and draught form? Anyhow, after the stout I gave up on channel surfing and joined the wife in bed. At least the Sun came out today, but bring on summer.

Real Ale Drinker?

Do you think this chap is a real ale drinker? I'm not convinced, although his beard did make me giggle. I can see how his colleagues may find his appearance funny. Is it stuck on? Full story here.

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Beer Heaven

My little flat is like a beer oasis at the moment. After recent deliveries from Beer Ventures, Beer Merchants, a fistful of beers from Whole Foods in Kensington and some samples sent to me by Nicky who works takes care of PR for Marston's, Innis and Gunn and a few other breweries - my flat is pretty rammed with various bottles of good beer. So many in fact that I am going to be dropping a few 'ticks' in here and there to keep you guys on your toes! Make no mistake about it, these will not be beer reviews and there will be no intellectualizing.

Anyhow at some stage I usually post about my Friday night's beer activities. Maybe not this week. Well actually nothing really exciting happened. I had two pints of Abbot Ale at the Clock Tower on Leather Lane during my lunch hour, a pint of poorly conditioned Deuchar's IPA followed by a pint of Bombardier at the Roebuck in Chiswick and then a bottle of Peroni Gran Reserva over dinner. As I said, not particularly exciting.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to find the time to tell you about Saturday's boozing which was a little more interesting! Also, the picture at the top is a bottle of Meantime Raspberry. Even though I am a big fan of Meantime beers in general, this beer was utter shit. Avoid at all costs.

Online Retailers

This post is nothing more than a shameless plug for two online beer retailers I have sourced beer from recently. Last week I posted about some pretty ordinary service when dealing with Utobeer at Borough Market and gave a shout out to these guys. But I felt a full post would be more fitting. Please support the guys mentioned below when restocking your beer supplies.

Beer Ventures are a specialist beer company run from Dorset. I have been dealing primarily with Andrew who has provided excellent customer service and has matched beers to my requirements perfectly. Service is really quick (literally less than 24 hours) and the prices are extremely competitive compared to Utobeer and more in line with the prices you will pay at Tesco. I had the fortune of meeting Andrew's sister recently and she seemed like a top bird as well, with a love of all things Belgian. Andrew also runs a blog - Adventures in Beer.

Website: http://www.beerventures.co.uk/

BEERmerchants.com is the e-commerce site for Cave Direct. A family owned business started in 1979 to source and distribute top quality beers from all over the world - many of which are very hard to find in the UK and all from craft brewers who are passionate about quality. I recently met Phil from Beer Merchants at BrewDog's launch of Zeitgeist and he seemed very knowledgeable and approachable. Service from Beer Merchants is also very good and they even threw in a Duvel T-shirt for free. Phil has a blog which you can check out here.

Website: http://www.beermerchants.com/

Fuller's

On Wednesday I took a flexi-day as my missus needed to get some medical imaging performed on her ankle. My office is very generous and offers a flexi time system that requires you to work only 140 hours per four week period with a minimum five hour work day. As I generally accumulate over 200 hours for every four week period, I like to take full advantage of this scheme. Anyhow the medical imaging only took about and hour or so and I was smart enough to book a place on the Fuller's brewery tour at 1300hrs. The Fuller's brewery tour has always been top of the must see things on my list of places to visit whilst in London. As I have been here for about three years and I'm entering the twilight of my UK experience, it seemed like a good opportunity to tick that particular box.
Approaching the brewery, I started to get excited and the steam tower reminded me of the tower from Willy Wonka's chocolate factory from the movie of the same name. I am after all very juvenile at heart!
Anyhow the tour starts at the Mawson Arms, a brilliant little pub on the corner of the Brewery which is frequented by brewery workers and punters waiting for their tours to start. It was in the Mawson Arms that I enjoyed what has to be without a doubt the best pint of London pride I have ever had. That's a pretty big call! The tour itself takes in most of the working brewery which is a refreshing change from most brewery tours which are usually just antique museums consisting of the obsolete brewing kit of yesteryear. The best part however was the end of the tour where you get to go to the token museum in an old cellar. Here the tour guide lets you taste the current Fullers/Gales lineup which included Chiswick, Discovery, Pride, ESB, HSB, Swing Low, Honeydew, Porter and Vintage Ale 2007. I had about a quarter of a pint taster of all of these before having two pints of HSB which has been a long time favourite of mine, even before it entered the Fuller's stable. Speaking of HSB, the recipe has recently been adjusted to remove the caramel colouring agents and sugar that were used when it was brewed out at Gales. This results in a smoother, nuttier beer than it's previous incarnation. Also of interest from a home brew geek perspective is that the Gales beers are still brewed with the Gales proprietary yeast. On the Fuller's side, all brewing is performed via a partigyle style mash and four of Fuller's products; Golden Pride, ESB, London Pride and Chiswick bitter are all brewed with the same grain bill, but the strengths of each beer being determined by blending the first and second runnings accordingly. I pressed the tour guide about the percentages of each type of malt in the grain bill specifically, but it seemed that at this point his brewing knowledge conveniently became somewhat limited!

The gift shop is also a variable treasure trove of collectors stuff. I bought a few bar towels which will at some stage make it back to Australia but most importantly, I picked up a bottle of Fuller's Vintage 1999 for a steal at £5.85. Bargain. This is one 'tick' which I will probably get around to posting about once I drink the bottle. (This will be pretty soon)

After arriving home slightly pissed later that evening, I sat down and enjoyed a Steak and Guinness pie which I had the foresight to dump in the slow cooker earlier that day. You may notice from the picture below that I did not use dumplings this time, but opted for the token pastry lid over the top option. Yes, I know it's a cop out but nice all the same.

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In Defense of the Keg

Much debate has been raging lately over the provenance of carbon dioxide. It seems that some CAMRA brain washing tactics have worked and a significant number of members believe that only beer which comes from a natural secondary fermentation produces good beer. Those of you have read this far will probably realise that this is pure horse shit and good beer can be served from a cask with a blanketing aspirator/breather or from a pressurised keg.

The case in point I will be making is Meantime Pale Ale (4.7% abv). On Saturday evening after our mission to North Greenwich, the wife and I had planned to have a Belgian dinner at The Dovetail and then pop into a 30th birthday party being held in a nearby pub. Due to elephantitis like swelling in my wife's ankle we ended up staying closer to home and I piggy backed the missus round the corner to The Havelock. The Havelock is a nice little gastropub owned by Lawrence Dallaglio that also happens to serve good beer (it is a pub after all). The pub has 4 cask ales on, and has 8 keg beers including Meantime Pale Ale. From my seated position at the bar, I noticed an alarming trend. For each pint of real ale that was dispensed, 4 pints of the kegged Meantime product was sold. Actually the Meantime beer was far outselling anything else in the pub. I ordered a pint and found it to be similar in carbonation to cask ale, but tasted incredibly fresh with brilliant hop aroma. So is this beer shit just because it's not naturally carbonated? The customers voting with their wallets certainly didn't think so. After my pint of Pale Ale, I opted for a pint of Sam Brooke's Wandle which is a cask conditioned best bitter. This beer was incredibly bland after the Meantime beer and when I commented about this to the barman he agreed and replied that it was a freshly plumbed cask as well.

The point I am trying to make is that just because a beer is not cask conditioned does not make it rubbish. Sure a lot of the mass produced mega lager is not the most flavourful of products, but then a lot of cask conditioned beer is pretty ordinary too (btw, I'll name a few poor cask conditioned ales if asked). I think we as consumers should be open minded and not be so troubled by the provenance of carbon dioxide which CAMRA seems so fixated on. Great keg beers do exist and examples from Meantime and Lovibond's Brewery are clearly paving the way for a new generation of keg products. So taking a leap out of Wychwood's marketing - What are you so afraid of beardy wierdy man?

Thanks TFL

On Saturday morning my wife and I set out towards the O2 at North Greenwich to have a geez at the Bodies expo which she was keen see. As I studied anatomy and performed numerous human dissections as a lowly university undergrad, I was not really fussed but thought it might be an interesting day out none the less. Our typical route to North Greenwich is: Central line from Shepherds Bush to Bond Street and then Jubilee line to Nth Greenwich - about three quarters of an hour tops. However it seems that tube maintenance is a fickle thing and the small oversight of informing customers that the Jubilee line will not be running till 1530hrs severely delayed our journey. Thank you very much BoJo.

Anyhow we eventually made a scenic journey down the river courtesy of Thames Clippers and arrived no later than two and a half hours after we set off. The Mrs was freaking out as our tickets were for 11 am, and we were an hour and a half late. We didn't need to worry, as the staff at the exhibition were not terribly interested and there was no security to speak of anyhow. Any old sailor could have walked in off the street. In fact I suspect most other visitors there had done just that. The display of plastic cadavers was only semi-interesting and the highlight of the experience for me was the skinned Giraffe on display, which had a rather large hairy old boy (Penis). If size matters, then those female Giraffe's are lucky creatures!

After a spot of lunch at Nando's we caught the ferry back down to London Bridge so I could pick up a bottle of Biere de Garde from Utobeer. I was after Trois Monts specifically and they were out of stock. The older lady working the stall was quite helpful and went and had a look in the cellar - still no luck. I ended up picking up a bottle of Jenlain - an amber Biere de Garde that was pretty smooth and malty. A good beer. When I went to pay for the Jenlain I had to deal with the younger blonde lady who works at Utobeer. Put it bluntly, customer service is not high on her list of priorities! She started serving another customer before completing my transaction, and my request for a plastic bag fell on deaf ears. In future I think I will use online services such as Beer Ventures or Beer Merchants. I have received an order from Beer Ventures and I can confirm that the service is fast. I have also placed an order with beer merchants and anticipate an arrival sometime this afternoon. I'll be providing greater feedback on these services in the future.

Anyhow, back to Borough and I was keen to go for a beer at the Rake, but the Mrs has been having some problems with her ankle recently (old Netball injury) and it had swollen to the size of a balloon. It was time to retreat back to Brook Green for some rest, ice and elevation.

Also, is it just me or has Borough market become even more pretentious than it used to be? I mean the emo kids were out in force and I felt exceedingly uncool. I'm probably just feeling excluded as I'm on the wrong side of thirty. To cheer me up my wife reminded me that I may be thirty, but I am still a far cry from a bearded real ale stereotype. I pondered on this for a second and then conceded that she is right....

Pub Golf

Paul over at The Real Ale blog has posted about an encounter with screaming hordes of enthusiastic pub golfers. Pub golf is a great game that will see you wildly pissed in a short period of time. It was a firm favourite with my Rugby mates back in the day and one that I would like to get involved with at some point in the future. It just makes a pub crawl that little bit more exciting! I have copied the unofficial rules of pub golf below. We used to set the benchmark as 9 holes, with every hole a par 3, 45 minutes per hole. Each 'stroke' would be a 'middie' (which is 285 ml, same as a half pint). If you kept on par, you would have had roughly the equivalent of a case of beer over roughly 7 hours - plenty enough to guarantee a good night at (insert dodgy local nightclub here) .

Pub Golf:
1.Overview and basic rules:
Pub golf is a sport, much like normal golf, that takes place over 9 or 18 holes. It can be played by any number of players and each player has the option of using a caddy. The target of the game is to end on as few strokes as possible.

2. Terminology:
Hole – A pub/bar/somewhere that serves alcohol.
Stroke – A sip/gulp of the beverage
Par – The guideline amount of gulps a drink must be downed in.
Eagle – Ending the hole two under par.
Birdy – Ending the hole one under par.
Bogie – Ending the hole one over par.
Water hazard – An establishment whereby the players are allowed to visit the toilet. (optional)
Pro – A person partaking in the actual drinking game.
Caddy – Someone who fetches the drinks for his/her pro. (usually a member of a Jnr Rugby side in our case)
Bunker Coin – A marked 20 cent coin that stays with the players throughout the night (starting with a random player). To bunker coin someone the player throws the coin into the targets drink, the target must immediately down his current drink in one gulp. The target then becomes the bunker coin controller.
Scorer – The person in charge of keeping the scores.

3. General Gameplay:
The planners of the event must organise a course of 9 or 18 holes (ensure that you have enough time to get round them all!). It is advisable to set a time limit for time spent in each hole. For every hole two drinks should be decided on, both drinks must be of the same strength and volume eg. A pint of lager would equate to two vodka and cokes. Try to make the two drinks cover the majority taste of your party, so not a choice of two different pints of lager!

4. Rules:
All drinking must take place in front of at least two other pros in the group, including the scorer. Every stroke must be recorded, this includes every possible scenario eg. Penalty drinks and accidental sips. Any caddy caught helping a pro in drinking their drink at that hole will instantly cause the pro to end the hole on a score of seven. The bunker ball may only be used once per hole, if there are more players than holes then an extra bunker ball may be introduced. Any player caught being sick is instantly dis-qualified from the game. Cheating is viewed in a very dim light and any action taken by a player that is perceived by the other players as cheating will result in a hole score of seven. Any player spilling their drink must go and get a refill immediately, if a player spills another persons drink then they must get the refill and drink it themselves. There is also a one stroke penalty for either of these scenarios. The group must all stay together at all times. Any player unable to finish their drink at a hole will end the hole on a score of seven.

Shakespeare Inn

I come from a family that has two common themes. One being a strong military/navy theme which I have an interest in, but have no inclination to pursue (although I did pass officer selection to the Australian Military Academy - Duntroon). The other is in the pub and ale trade, and back in the day my great-great-grandparents were the publicans of the Shakespeare Inn in Bristol. Actually, my great-grandparents met in the pub and quite possible conceived my grandmother there. Not that this probably interest you that much!

Come forth a hundred or so years and whilst surfing through Wikipedia I stumble across an entry for the pub. I know the pub is in the center of Bristol and I have even had a pint there, but I did not realise that it was 'inherently' notable? Does anybody know much about the history of the pub? I'm not really interested in genealogy as such, but when there's a pub involved my interest tends to increase.

I should also add that my experience with adding knowledge to Wikipedia have been largely unsuccessful. Apparently the best kebab shop in London - "The Kebab Machine" is not notable. Many of us Brook Green residents disagree.

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Update: Some geezer has submitted a review of the 'Kebab Machine' here. From reading it, he obviously does not know what he is talking about (bland meat my ass). Also my original wikipedia musings have survived on this mirror here.