Skittles

Skittles is a weird game that was once played in pubs around England. Now its a past time enjoyed by old guys at CAMRA beer festivals. Former PIUTW contributor Pigman recently went to the UK and sent me this picture of the guy who organises the Skittles at the Ealing Beer Festival. Here Pigman is pictured with the weird beard. This guy doesn't believe in modern technologies such as razors, soap, extraneous carbon dioxide and refrigeration, but will happily wear a headset to broadcast to the world he enjoys medieval pub games. Nice work champ!

Thanks Pigman for the photo.

Ealing Beer Festival

Believe it or not, but 80% of the people in the above photo are freaks

As mentioned on Friday afternoon, I took advantage of my CAMRA membership to gain free access to the Ealing Beer Festival. For some time now I have considered this to be the only CAMRA event worth going to but now I am reconsidering this position. We arrived in the afternoon to find that only CAMRA stereotypes were present. That's right, the crowd was mainly middle class older gents with beards and belly's who liked to wear fishing vests. There were a few other people who I would describe as socially eccentric there as well but I won't rip on the mentally disabled. We can learn a lot from all people in society (including the disabled and handicapped)- except real ale freaks. Actually on this point I should note that many of the CAMRA volunteers were amputees. I have nothing further to say on that, just stating my observation.

Anyway enough of the crap lets talk about the beer. From memory I had Thornbridge Jaipur, Fuller's Vintage 2008 (which was infected), Phoenix West Coast IPA, Ascot Alligator Ale, Harviestoun Schiehallion, Thornbridge Blackthorn and a few others (OK it wasn't a particularly long session and I was drinking with some pace. This affects the memory!). I only had the Harviestoun beer to see what the fuss was about. Apparently because it's a cask conditioned lager it's fine for CAMRA consumption. Well basically the beer is nice, but it could be mistaken for a bitter. I don't think there is any particular 'lager' like flavour that jumps out and grabs you. Anyhow this was the last CAMRA event I will ever go to. I'm not particularly sad about the fact either. Somehow the thought of never hearing about the game of table skittles and having to make small talk with the fellow below is rather appealing. Where do these people come from?

To the Extreme

There has been a bit of debate recently surrounding the relative merits of "Extreme" beers. It seems that Tandleman started it here where he has digested popular CAMRA opinion (and claimed it to be his own and not CAMRA's opinion). Anyhow to prove a point, at the Ealing Beer Festival Yesterday there were only a handful of beers over 5%. One of these beers was Fuller's Vintage 2008. I ordered a half only to find it infected (tasting of artificial cherry and band aids/plasters). Despite me pointing out the obvious they continued to sell the beer telling me that I didn't know what I was talking about. Good one CAMRA!
I still drank the infected half. I guess that was pretty extreme..........

The Process of Moving

Moving home is wasting a lot of my time. For example last Friday I had to work from home to wait for boxes to be delivered. Then on Saturday, instead of pissing it up at the American Beer Festival at the White Horse like I had intended, I ended up packing boxes till 2am. Today I am working from home awaiting the lovely shipping company to come and collect the boxes. I don't really like working from home. It's boring and the social graces of my workplace (and the excellent coffee machine) are absent. I admit that I am not exactly engaged in my work while I wait out my notice period, but its still nice to have people to chat to.
Anyhow fingers crossed these boxes will be gone soon and I can clear out of the flat. A trip to the Ealing Beer Festival to exercise my CAMRA membership is in order. I am sure I will make fun of some tickers as well. High on my tick list is Thornbridge Jaiper IPA as well as several other US style beers. This is most likely the last time I am exposed to a significant number of British cask ales for the foreseeable future. I will report back on my findings next week.

Back in the Groove

Last Friday night I managed to get back to the pub. Yes, someone give me some tickets to put on the wall - its exciting news. The Parr's Head had Summer Lightning on as its guest beer. It tasted like DMS and had traces of acetaldehyde as well. I don't think I have ever had this beer and enjoyed it. It's rubbish and overrated. My yellow curry from their Thai kitchen was nice though and more than excused the lacklustre pint. In future I will remember just to stick to the Pride!

On Saturday afternoon I met up with my mate Rich who has moved down to sarf-London. We hit up the Alma and the Ship which are both Young's pubs in Wandsworth. Both pubs were really busy with crowds spilling over onto the streets, and the Young's Ordinary was in fine condition (@ both venues). I even had one pint served in a dimpled mug which is pretty rare in London. I obviously didn't look like I was going to bop someone over the head with it!

Anyhow I broke the drought and hit up a couple of pubs. It was fun, although I didn't have a bender. One of those is on the horizon though.

On other beer related news there is a CAMRA beer festival creeping up that I might go to. The Ealing beer 'fest is the only one of these soul less nerdfests that I actually go to. It's held outside and there is plenty of room to get away from the hardcore beer nerds and CAMRA degenerates. Not sure which day I will go to yet, but I will forewarn everyone which day I am going. If only so CAMRA types can avoid me! A full report of the piss up will follow in due course.

Dodgy Local's

Dodgy pubs far outweigh decent ones in London, and leafy Brook Green is no exception. The closest pub to my place, "The Richmond" also falls into the category of scary local. I have only patronized "The Richmond" once, and this was with my mate Rich after a massive Friday afternoon session at the Ealing beer festival in 2007. Needless to say I never found any reason to go back, even though the nitro-keg pint of London Pride I had actually tasted passable. It's the scary clientèle that make you think twice and the fact that I was asked why I had dressed up for the occasion (I was wearing a rugby jersey and jeans) really shows the class of the venue.

Sometime last year, I was reading the free magazine "Shortlist" on the tube and noticed an article by Guardian journalist "Sam Delaney". It turns out that he was living in the same house as me and shared similar feelings about this particular pub. For those who I have not bored to death already, I have linked to a reprint of the said article below. Enjoy.

Old Mill Mild

The Old Mill brewery is a small independent brewery located in Sniath Yorkshire. The brewery is named after it's location, situated inside an old corn and flour mill. As you probably guessed, they also make a mild which was on offer at the Ealing Beer Festival!
Old Mill Mild (3.4% abv) is smooth and nutty flavoured mild with a slightly chocolate finish. Deep red in colour the beer would make an awesome session beer as it is packed with flavour and is still relatively light in alcohol. You can find out more at the breweries website: http://www.oldmillbrewery.co.uk

Naylor's Pinnacle Mild

Mild is the 'Endangered Species' of the beer world. Back in the 1950's, approximately 50% of all beer brewed in the UK was Mild, in just over two decades that slipped down to 10% and the popularity of the beer style declined further until there was just a few breweries in the Midlands area producing Mild. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the style, it is a low alochol (~3.5% abv), dark (often dark brown or black) ale with a slightly sweet taste and a roasty finish.
Naylor's Pinnacle Mild (3.4% abv) is a typical and strictly to style Mild which is surprisingly easy to drink. I was lucky enough to come across a few Milds recently at the Ealing Beer festival which was a god send in Mild startved London!
Naylor's is a small independent brewery located in Crosshills. Their Mild can be described as dark brown and malty!

McConnell's Irish Stout

McConnell's Irish Stout (4.6% abv) is an interesting beer, as it is brewed in Jarrow which is actually in North Yorkshire, UK and the beer has nothing Irish about it except for the name.

The Jarrow brewery was formed in 2002 by real ale lovers Jess and Alison McConnell with the intent of creating unique and flavoursome ales. The brewery is tied to the Robin Hood Inn, at Primrose Hill in Jarrow and the beers are brewed on the premises. Brewing capacity has expanded to 100 Barrels per week with a second site at the Maltings. The brewery has enjoyed moderate success and has been awarded several accolades from CAMRA including a Silver Medal at the GBBF.

The Irish Stout was a bit of a let down. I was expecting a thick, dry and robust Irish stout, but what I received was thin almost tasteless except for mild liquorce notes which were extremely subtle. Again compared to Meantime Stout or even Guinness, this beer was overly average.
You can find more information on their website: www.jarrowbrewery.co.uk

Burton Bridge Porter

The Burton on Trent region of England is famous for its Indian Pale Ales (IPA) due to to the hardness of the water in the region. The town is steeped in brewing heritage and plays host to major breweries such as Worthington, Bass and Marston with the Burton Bridge Brewery being the only remaining independent. After reading the pathetic book 'Pilgrim on the piss' by Neil Robinson I believed that beer from the Bridge Brewery was far superior to any other beer on the planet and was suprised to see several of there beers in the lineup at the Ealing Beer Festival.
Burton Bridge Porter (4.5% abv) is a really dark brown porter with not a real lot going for it. It lacks the robustness of a good porter such as Fullers London Porter and tastes under-prepared with a yeasty fruitiness and unbalanced bitter aftertaste. Overall I was more than slightly disapointed with the beer and was suitable put off other beers from the brewery. The brewers down at the Bridge brewery really need to pull there finger out and deliver a beer that actually conforms to style. If they had used a little more dark malt and gone for a roast flavour rather than just a dark colour they would have a beer that is more well balanced. For a beer style that is so easy to get right, I just don't understand beers like this one. You can find out more at the breweries website.

Hophead

Hophead (3.8% abv) by the Darkstar brewery can be found in a few London pubs now. While it is not widely available, if you know where to go (such as The Hat and Feathers in Clerkenwell) you can usually find a pint. The beer itself is a pale amber colour - more gold than amber really and is clean and refreshing, with a solid dose of hops that you don't usually come across on beers with suich a modest level of alcohol. What I newed to stress though that this is not yuour usual US style American APA or even like the english summer ales in the same vein, this is liek a themed hop flavour. Its a strong, but not overtly citrus orange flavour which I find very interesting. The beer is well balanced which makes it a simple but intersting beer. Website here.
BTW. This beer was enjoyed at the Ealing Beer Festival. Not the most unusual of beers, but definetely one of the most pleasant.

Pipe Dreams - George Wright

The Ealing Beer festival always features beers from some of the best small breweries. One of these Breweries is the George Wright Brewery who only began brewing in 2003. However, the fact that the brewery is a new state of the art facility does not affect the quality of the produce! In fact Pipe Dreams (4.3% abv) won a silver medal in the Champion Beer of Britain awards for the style of Best Bitter in 2007. The beer is a hazy straw colour with a medium bitterness and a nice citrus aftertaste. The use of citrus laden hops such as the US varieties, Cascade, Amarillo, Chinook and Columbus seem to be in vogue with UK microbreweries, especially when added to summer ales. This is a trend that I hope will become more common in the future. Website here.

Bazen's Pacific Bitter

Last Wednesday afternoon I managed to get along to the Ealing beer festival which was held in Warpole park. For those of you who have never been before, the Ealing beer festival is one of the better regional CAMRA events held in central London. In general you do not get the hardcore tribe of anorak or fleece wearing tickers with their plastic bags and grizzly beards. The crowd is more relaxed than the usual beer festival, and the fact that it's held outdoors in an attractive garden makes it a pleasant way to spend an evening. First up I opted to go for Pacific Bitter (3.8% abv) from Richard and June Bazen's Brewery. The Brazens' Brewery is located in Salford and is a relative newcomer to the brewing scene being established only in 2002. The brewing expertise is provided by Richard, who has been a brewer at Phoenix, Haywood; Bridgewater Ales; and also Holt, Plant and Deakin. Pacific Bitter is a light amber coloured ale, which is pretty tasty! So tasty in fact that of all the beers that I had last Wednesday I am going to say that this one was the best. The beer has a nice fruity aroma, which passes by to a solid malt taste, with a dry citrus laden bitter aftertaste. A nice beer. According to the website, the beer is made from the original Bridgewater Ale's Navigator recipe which was one of CAMRA's top 100 beers in 2000.

For those of you who may not be 100% sure of what a ticker looks like, the picture below is of a lone ticker identified from the crowd last Wednesday.