I'm Trapped
For reasons I will not go into, I am trapped at home today - a prisoner in my small flat. I'm not going to let my situation get in the way of the greatness that is ticker Tuesday though!To kick start the beer diary week the wife and I headed out to a local tapas bar in Brook Green. The food was pretty good and they had a few different Spanish lagers on the menu. I ordered a Mahou which is as good an example as any. I had this last year when I was Barcelona and in the video attached to the post is one of the best beer adverts I have ever seen. You can check it out here if that post predates your readership to the blog. Anyhow on Friday evening a few of the lads from the office headed to 'The Apple Tree' for a few after work pints. They had Bath Gem on and we proceeded to drink through the remains of the cask. They then put Fisherman's Tackle (4.1% abv) on which was a better beer than the Gem in my opinion. I can't find any information about the beer at all online and the pump clip was just some writing in chalk. Can anyone fill in the blanks here?
On Saturday evening I cracked open a bottle of UBU Amber Ale from purity Brewing Co. This US style amber ale was a little underwhelming after the Flying Goose I had from the same brewery last week, but still a nice drop. My beer drinking on Saturday was limited to just the one bottle of beer as I helped the missus finish off a few bottles of wine that have been loitering around for a while.
Sunday was the day of the hop monsters. My usual "Come Dine With Me" session was halted due to our television reception going down leaving me with only books and my wife's company for entertainment. Luckily I had a bottle of Mikkeller stateside IPA in the fridge. This 7% abv US style IPA from Denmark is extreme. It has to be over 100 IBU's of pure bitterness and makes your teeth feel like they are dissolving. Because of the lack of balance I didn't really enjoy this one - too hardcore my session drinking sensibilities.
To make matters worse, I followed it with a bottle of Port Brewing 2nd Anniversary which is a 9.5% abv American Barleywine. This over the top hop monster was bordering on the point of undrinkable. It was thick, chewy and cloying and tasted like I had been chewing on a bunch of pine needles. I guess for some that would be ideal, but it's not really my cup of tea.Anyhow that's pretty much the story of my drinking for the last week. Kind of lame really, but some interesting ticks there if you get excited by that sort of thing.
The next instalment of ticker Tuesday will be in a fortnights time (that's two weeks for you Yank's). It should be a good one as I am off to New York on Friday morning. I have a list of things I want to do while there (including Blind Tiger and Brooklyn Brewery) but can anyone fill me in on any other must do attractions that have to be on my list?
Labels: Ale, American Amber Ale, Barley Wine, IPA, Lager, Mahou, Mikkeller, Port Brewing, Purity

6 Comments:
Pizza Port, or Port Brewing brew some great beers. Unfortunately, I wouldn't have picked the 2nd Anniversary. They also do some phenomenal Proper Real Keg as well.
I think Mikkeller Stateside is my beer of the year, I can't get enough of it. Feed me hops!
Port Brewing make some good beers, but some are a bit ridiculous.
When in New York I:
- go to Katz's Deli
- walk over the Brooklyn Bridge and hang out in DUMBO
- bar crawl the East Village and bemoan it's gentrification, while taking advantage the beer scene that has sprung up
- go to Bierkraft in Park Slope
- ponce it up at the Gramercy Tavern
- bar crawl around Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, ending at Spuyten Duyvil (handy from the Brooklyn Brewery)
- the Circle Line cruises are good fun too.
Avery, I just mentioned that they brew some great beers.
Why is it the English visit only New York & Florida when traveling to the US?? Is it to do with cost??
Thanks for the feedback guys. My wife caught me soliciting beer ideas for our trip and is less than impressed!
Wurst, calm down, man. I was just agreeing with you.
I only visit New York because I have lots of friends there. I'll get to the west coast someday.
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