Friday Night Carnage

Those of you who follow my Twitter feed could probably see this one coming. For those of you don't, I had a rather massive night on Friday and posted a couple of updates via Twitter.

It started at about 5.15 at my regular after work local, The Gunmakers Arms. I started with a pint of Bateman's XB which was a little bit dull, so I followed it up with 5 pints of Timothy Taylor Landlord. At about 6.45pm, starting to feel the effects of rapid ale consumption I headed off to Sheldon Square in Paddington to rendezvous with my lovely Missus. The Union is one of those pub/bar hybrids that doesn't really satisfy on either counts. The beer is limited to standard keg fayre and I took a chance on the Guinness as I didn't fancy the other option of Amstel as the weather was a little cool. I managed to get 5 pints of Guinness in here at The Union before I was told it was time to move on. By this stage I was well and truly on my way to pissedville and a feed at The Chepstow in W11 was in order. At this stage I was lucky that I was not the only person who had consumed a lot of alcohol, and I was holding myself well against my wife's colleagues. At The Chepstow they all moved onto wine but I stayed true to the black stuff and had another pint of Guinness, which I believed in my inebriated state was the superior beer pairing with my posh interpretation of bangers and mash. After dinner we continued to celebrate with two shots of white sambucca before moving onto the "Cherry Jam" nightclub in Notting Hill. This place was my worst nightmare, a place to be seen rather than a place to enjoy yourself it was full of posers and people out to pull. In other words it was utter shit, although I did have a cold bottle of Asahi! At some stage in the early hours (OK it was about 2am) we managed to get a cab back to leafy Brook Green, have an drunken shower and collapse in bed. Saturday morning was a bit of a non event. I simply cannot recall the last time I felt so hungover. It must have been the sambucca.

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?

Rosey Nosey

Another beer I probably should not have bothered with, but seeing as I was faced with the option of Bombardier or Rosey Nosey (4.9 % abv), I opted for the latter. It was late on Sunday afternoon and I was hanging to get some lunch in. I managed to persuade the Aussie delegation sleeping on our floor to join me at The Queens Head on Brook Green for a meal and a couple of pints. I ordered the Bangers and Mash which was excellent and the pub was packed. Obviously the credit crunch is not affecting business here! The pub has also recently been refurbed and no longer smells musty, and it is now a lot lighter/brighter than it used to be.

Anyhow, Rosey Nosey is brewed by Bateman's and has a novelty pump clip featuring a life like beard and a glowing/flashing nose. They had this on at The Gunmaker's last week and one of the chaps commented that if Jeff grew his beard back, he would look the same. I tend to agree, but is Santa really a Geordie?

Website

Batemans Victory Ale

Another beer that I picked up from either Morrison's or Tesco - Batemans Victory Ale (6.0 % abv) is a beer brewed to celebrate all things Nelson! And no, we are not talking about Major Nelson from 'I dream of Genie' or Nelson Mandela - we are talking about British Hero Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, who led Great Britain to victory against Napoleon at the Battle of Trafalgar. A man of such legend that it is once claimed that he saw the Spanish Navy off the Sussex coast but insisted on completing his game of crochet (with one arm mind you) before sailing out to claim victory.

Anyhow, the beer is a reflection of the man, a strong aromatic pale ale laced with hop character, A good beer that lives up to its name. Also as a trivial side note the Lord Nelson brewpub in The Rocks, Sydney (named after the great man) also has a beer called Victory Bitter. However their version mostly compared VB, which is somewhat disappointing! Their beer is rather splendid as well.

Website

Batemans XB Best Bitter

I squeezed into the newly refurbished Old Fire Station on Saturday evening before heading out to dinner with some friends. This is more of a bar than a pub and claims to have the best international beer selection in Hammersmith. I am not going to dispute this, but having megaswill from all corners of the globe is not really what I had in mind! Pre-refurb they used to have Warsteiner (Germany) and Steinlager (Kiwiland) on draught, but now they have Amstel, Heineken, Sagres and Fosters! The only ale they had on was Batemans XB Best Bitter (3.7% abv) which is a fairly standard best bitter that is really nothing to get excited about. I probably should not have ordered the bitter, as a quick look around revealed a predominately cheap lager loving clientèle. But as luck has it, the Polish guy behind the bar had to duck downstairs and put a new barrel on! So at least the beer was fresh and was actually in good condition. The beer is a deep copper colour and is dry, but moderately hoppy. It tastes a little boring, kind of like Young's ordinary did before they moved production. I probably wouldn't order it again, and I probably will not be heading back to the Old Fire Station in a hurry! Website

Falling Leaves (Batemans)

I was sent down to Brighton for a few days so i could attend a training course. The course was rather intensive and did not really leave me with much time to get out and about, although one night I did refuse to have room service for dinner and get out and have a beer.

I went to a pub called The Pump House, which is a lovely well preserved Regency period hotel located in the lanes. This place is literally a step back in time, with studs still lining the original leather lining on the doors and a ye olde worlde fireplace to bring warmth back into the bones on a cold evening.

The bar has a number of real ales on regular rotation, with the usual suspects on display being TT Landlord, local favourites by Harvey's and Dark Star as well as Doom Bar and London Pride. The guest ale was a seasonal by Bateman's called Falling Leaves (4.2% abv). The beer is pretty much a standrad bitter in style, similar to Pride or Doom Bar and it went down a treat with my Steak and Ale pie! I can't seem to find much more information on the beer online, so I am assuming that it was a speacial release by Batemans? Anyhow, unusual finds are part and parcel of being a beer geek.