Pub with no beer??

This photo was taken rather early last Friday evening (8.30ish?). I am sure the landlord was happy to be drunk dry but us punters were thirsty and wanted more. The answer? I can't really remember. I think there was some Fuller's 1845 bottles and a few pints of Guinness involved and there must have been Orval as well as I have a few photos of Orval and a wine glass. I vaguely recall enjoying the Orval and being philosophical. It was almost like an Orval epiphany as I have always found it taste of wet dog or horse. I was pretty sauced up by this point in time and hadn't paused to eat anything either. So I must offer my most sincerest apologies to the guy I discussed fishing with (he knows who he is)... I was well out of order. Ponds were meant to be fished from!

Favourite Session Beer

It probably took me three years to realise, but I have to declare Fullers London Pride as my favourite session ale. This was not an easy thing for me to admit. For too long I chased the elusive beer holy grail in pubs across London just being set back by disappointment after disappointment. While I always had a soft spot for Pride, I nearly always overlooked it at the pumps for some rare microbrewed concoction. It seems that over time I have come full circle and will now take Pride whenever I can get it.

It's consistent and you rarely (if ever) get a bad pint. It's widely available and comes bright and ready to serve within a couple of hours of delivery. It's popular and has a high turnover making it a safer bet. It's a solid balanced offering, nothing extreme but interesting enough to hold it's own. It's strong enough to be flavourful, but light enough to knock pints back all night long. I could go on....
This particular pint was scoffed at The Botanist on Kew Green late on Saturday afternoon. This pub had a bar full of imported continental proper real keg and one beer engine with Pride on. If a pub can only support one pump, then Pride would have to be the only choice. What's your favourite session beer?

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..........

Fullers Vintage 1999

It was a monumental task. To pack up and box the contents of the flat ready for shipping back to Australia. After the hard work, I quenched my hard earned thirst in style - with a ten year old bottle of Fuller's Vintage Ale.

The beer was excellent and had a smooth caramel taste with a hint of alcoholic warmth showing through. Perfectly balanced it was like a super version of London Pride. In comparison with the 2008 bottle I had a couple of weeks ago they are two distinctly different beers. The 1999 Vintage is a lot darker and has more roast caramel notes coming through where the 2008 is lighter in colour and doesn't contain the depth of complexity that the older beer had. Both beers are excellent though, its just that the 2008 will not mature into a beer similar to the 1999. Overall the beer is excellent and I was lucky enough to be able to pick up one of the 80000 bottles produced over 10 years ago. In this instance the 2002 expiry date was well and truly passed but the beer stood up to the test of time nicely!

Good News

Just a quick post today with some news. I would like to announce that I only have one month left as a resident of the United Kingdom before I jet back to Australia. It's been a while coming but after three and a half years of shit weather and shit food with only travel and beer to compensate, something had to give.

How does this effect the blog? Not a great deal really! The content will shift a little towards my brewing exploits and buying a house, getting a dog, setting up my bar and maybe having kids - but overall still keep a similar format. Obviously the watering holes will change as will the types of beers I talk about but this should prove interesting for UK based readers. Anyhow I have a lot of tasks to squeeze into a very short time frame before I start my new job. First task is that bottle of 1999 Fullers Vintage.........

A Nice Friday Afternoon

Last Thursday saw me back in Wuppertal, Germany on a client visit. This involved a 4.15am start and didn't see me back in the UK until well after the sun had set (OK it was about 10.15pm). The upside of this is that I enjoyed several Altbiers on the companies dime, but I had to travel to Wuppertal (the ass end of the universe) for the pleasure. Understandably I was dog tired on Friday morning and decided to work from home so I could have a lie in. Most people take the piss when they work from home, but for some reason I always end up being smashed with tasks flooding into my email inbox. Last Friday was no exception and I also had to deal with a solid back load of crap from Thursday as well. As I am a "work hard, play hard" kind of bloke I decided to knock off early and head down the pub for a beer and something to eat. My first choice is usually The Havelock for their excellent food and proper real keg from Meantime, but I missed their lunch service (which finishes at 2.30pm). In light of the stupid inconvenient food service hours at The Havelock, I opted to head down to Fuller's recent acquisition "The Queens Head" on Brook Green. This was a good move as they had the new Gales beer "Seafarers" on which is nice and hoppy and very drinkable at 3.6%. I decided not to get any food, but crumbled during my second pint and went for the steak baguette with horseradish mayo. If only all Friday's were this productive!

Prize Old Ale 2007

I had some good news last Wednesday - it's not widely advertised yet and is still sensitive here at work so I can't go into details but I was promoted and now have a 'Senior' in front of my title, so I deemed it appropriate to celebrate. To achieve this I cracked open a bottle of Gales Prize Old Ale 2007 Vintage (9% abv) to mark the occasion. I really shouldn't have bothered - It was vinegar. I was devastated and resorted to a bottle of Magner's Light which had been hovering around since someone left it behind at some stage. The Magner's was drinkable after I added some 7-Up to it, the Gales went down the sink.
Interestingly the fools who comment at BeerAdvocate couldn't tell that it was infected and wrote up tasting notes on it! A few of the 'raters' even comment on the vinegar 'notes' in it's flavour, like it is a deliberate feature. Don't believe everything you read online - OK, make an exception for me...

Bank Holiday

I am back at work now after spending the bank holiday weekend in a lazy fashion. Luckily it is ticker Tuesday and I can fill you in on what I have been up too. On Friday evening I managed to get down the Roebuck in Chiswick for pint of Adnam's bitter (which was a little plain) and a pint of Erdinger. I decided to go for the proper real keg as I have yet to have a decent pint of ale there on cask. After this I enjoyed an awesome ribeye steak down the road at The High Street Brasserie. I am going to rave about this steak for a bit as it was pretty awesome. Probably over 400 grams worth with the marrowed bone still attached. I enjoyed it rare as all good steak must be enjoyed! (BTW I washed this down with two pints of Staropramen) I am a little bit ashamed with the after dinner activities which saw me drinking pints of Foster's lager in Belushi's at Hammersmith - a circus of a venue with maybe just a smidge more class than a Walkabout, but not much more. The Fosters was cold and refreshing though and certainly suited to the warm evening.

Saturday evening I nicked down the Parr's Head for a Thai feed and had an excellent pint of Hancocks HB, which tastes pretty similar to Fuller's London Pride (I had the two back to back and I couldn't discern between the two). After dinner I managed to crack open a bottle of T.E.A from the Hog's Back brewery. It was a little disappointing, but it did have a nice solid yeast cake which fell into my glass during pouring. The positive of the solidarity was that I could remove it easily with a spoon!

Sunday was another lazy day and I managed to read a whole book from cover to cover. I didn't end up drinking any beer at all, but did enjoy half of a very nice bottle of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc at Gordon Ramsey's Boxwood Cafe. I highly recommend the Veal and Fois Gras burger which really is something special. The crispy pigs trotter entree I had was a little bit too oily and the gingerbread cheesecake I had for desert were a little bit disappointing but overall it's a good place to go for a meal if you are interested in eating in overpriced restaurants (as I am!).

I managed to get one beer in yesterday (Monday) which was freebie sent to me by Nicky who does PR for Marston's. This was Wychwood Beewyched (5% abv) which is a honey laced ale that has a soft honey aroma and avoids the excessive dryness that most braggot (beer brewed with honey) suffers from. I actually enjoyed this beer and would probably drink it again if I was forced to!

So maybe I didn't really get the most drinking out of the long weekendas I could have, but I needed a break and there is more to life than beer - OK well not much more.

Fuller's Vinatage Ale 2008

I had two bottles of Fuller's Vintage Ale kicking around my flat, enticing me to drink them. Last Sunday I could hold out no longer and drank the younger of the two bottles. The 2008 Vintage is still a little rough around the edges, but there is a beautiful barley wine starting to shine through. Upon tasting the elixir, my wife exclaimed "It doesn't taste like beer, it's more like Hennessy, XO or a sweet dessert wine". I tend to agree with her. The beer is very grape like in character with a strong alcohol warmth/sweetness that is hot, but not cloying. I assume that the longer the beer ages, the more mellow and smooth the overall flavour becomes. Anyhow to test this theory I have a bottle of Fuller's 1999 Vintage Ale sitting at the top of my staircase. I plan to drink it when I have something to celebrate (like when I can finally confirm that I am moving back to Australia). Let's hope that day comes soon!

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.

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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Strong Ales

I think most people know that I like session beers. For me a critical factor of how good a beer is can be determined by how many pints I can drink of any one beer before I pass out, get in a fight, or be sick. Obviously the higher the number, the better for various sociological reasons. Due to seasonal availability, I have been drinking a lot of rather strong beers lately. These are beers that would make any US based drinker proud, often with an ABV above 6.5%.

Two of these beers which I have come across in recent weeks are neither new, glamorous or exciting, but they do happen to taste rather similar. One is Bottle conditioned and brewed by London's leading regional brewer, the other is filtered, pasteurized and mass produced by a Dutch owned Scottish brewery - but production differences aside they are remarkably similar, well to my tastes anyway.

The beers in question are Fuller's 1845 (6.3% abv) and McEwan's Champion (7.3% abv) - both are strong ales which have a distinct burnt/roast sugar taste and are not particularly well balanced.

Saying that, I am going to be positive today and not slag them off too much. One man's trash is another man's treasure. I'll let you guys decide.

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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.

Friday night booziness

My Friday nights usually involve a beer with the lads after work and then quickly home to take the Missus out for dinner. Last Friday night was supposed to be no different, but it saw me getting pretty smashed at home by myself before going to dinner. A sad thing I know, but I dealt with it.
The story starts with me salivating at my desk at 4.30pm hanging to get down to the pub for some more of the Tetley's Dark Mild which I had sampled over lunch time. I had a slight problem though - the office had cleared out and I would have to drink alone. Usually not a problem as I know several regulars at a few of the pubs around the office, but since having a borderline argument with one such twat over my lunchtime pint I retreated home collecting a few bottles from Waitrose on the way. Once home, I contacted the Missus to see how long she will be whilst I poured myself a pint of St Peter's IPA.
"I am playing winglady for Tracy*" was the reply from the other end of my mobile, "she has met a really hot guy and I'm facilitating. I am having one more drink."
Fair enough I thought, Tracy is a nice enough 30 something spinster who deserves to be happy too. So I booted up my PC and happily watched episode 6 of "Oz and James" on BBC iPlayer. I had to pause my viewing twice; once to visit the dunny, the second time to get another beer. It seemed as good a time as any to crack the bottle of Cooper's Vintage Ale 2007 reserve that I picked up in Whole Foods a couple of weeks ago. This beer was good. Actually very good, and it was nice to taste a beer brewed with Australian water. It's the terroir I tell myself while absorbing Oz Clark's attempts to intellectualize beer while James May tries to pass whitty criticisms. The iplayer viewing ends and it is time for another beer. They were going down rather easy. First the 5.5% IPA followed by the 7.5% Australian strong ale - a Fuller's ESB was exactly what I needed. There was nothing interesting on the TV so I watched the second episode of "Ross Kemp: Return to Afghanistan." I check my watch, still no sign of the missus. It's pushing 8.30 now so I give her a call - she is on the tube will be home in 20 minutes. Great I scheme, rubbing my hands together like an evil villain - plenty of time to drink that bottle of Budvar dark I have stashed in the vegetable crisper.
By the time the missus arrived home I was starting to feel a little tipsy, and she was not in much better condition. I decided a curry would be the cure, so we trotted out to my favourite London restaurant: "The Raj of India" - home of the best Kingfisher this side of Favisham. By the time we left the restaurant I was pretty pissed, but boy did I have fun even if I was drinking alone for most of the evening. I'll let you know if Tracy ended up pulling when more info comes to hand - it is probably more interesting than my Friday night was, but I thought I would share anyway.

* Name changed to protect the innocent!

Pickled Partridge

I seem to have a new favourite pint glass. It's a Badger branded Pickled Partridge pint, and it is a cross between a traditional pint and an oversized wine glass. A happy medium! This particular glass was gifted to me over 12 months ago by Tom and Maura who used to manage The Andover Arms, along with a couple of Fuller's Rugby jerseys and my coveted ESB stemmed glass.

My wife noticed that I had been using the glass (which had been sitting in a box collecting dust) and picked up a bottle of Pickled Partridge (4.5% abv) from Tesco. Overall I like the beer. It's malty and as a special bitter should be and it maintains a cask like taste even though it has been bottled. A decent beer. Website

I should also note that this glass is a 'pint to line' glass, which actually makes the glass slightly larger than a pint. Currently there is plenty of debate over such glasses here and here.

Rubbish pubs

Last Friday night I went out for a beer with a few colleagues. In terms of pubs, we are spoiled for choice in Clerkenwell but sometimes even a sure thing like finding a decent pub gets royally screwed up. I should have realised as soon as someone said we would be joining members of the Sales team. I say this as they (Sales types) usually frequent a rather unattractive dive near my office called "The King of Diamonds". This place (pictured left) is more of a drinking factory than a pub and ranks well down my list of options. But anyhow, my excitement was renewed when I learned we were going to a different pub, one called The Blue Anchor off Chancery Lane. Upon arrival the place was packed and way too many people for the tiny bar to cope with. I looked around and to my disappointment realised that it was basically the King of Diamonds in a different location - a real let down. I think I understand the situation. The sales team are mainly single girls in their late 20's, and the Chancery Lane area is teeming with young up and coming solicitors fired up after a day in the law courts. These girls are out looking for a rich bloke (preferably one that wears a wig to work) and will drink in shithouse venues to find him. Sad really.

I did manage to get one pint of Pride in before beating a hasty retreat home where I smashed a bottle of Shepherds Neame Christmas Ale and a Leffe Bruin. Then I went for some Thai at the Parr's Head where I had some more London Pride. I felt suitably redeemed after this, but I will not be venturing out drinking with the sales team again.

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In other news, the snow has eased and I am back at work. Here is a snowman that is currently residing on Brook Green. He is strategically positioned between the Brook Green Hotel and The Queens Head. It is a pity he can't walk to either!

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Any Dream Will Do?

Last night I surprised the missus and took her to see Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. Due to reality TV star Lee Mead moving on to greener pastures and replacement (and also reality TV star) Gareth Gates unavailable for the next few weeks, they are running the tickets at a bargain price. Whilst I am not usually a fan of these sorts of musical displays, I must say that I was particularly impressed with the performance of Ricky Rojas who is currently filling in the lead role. This guy could sing and dance whilst not looking like a girlie man.
What does this have to do with beer you may ask? Absolutely nothing, but I did want to pose the question. At these West End shows, how come they always have 15 varieties of generic lager on offer and only one ale choice?? In this case, they had London Pride, so I was more than adequately catered for, but where is the choice?

In other news - I am feeling thirsty and could do with a beer, but this chap needs it more. He accidentally killed himself having a wank at work whilst wearing a gas mask and a wetsuit. What is the world coming to?

Fuller's Golden Pride

Hmm, a quick trip to Waitrose on a Sunday afternoonand I return armed with some goodies including Fuller's barley wine offering - Golden Pride (8.5% abv). Pouring the beer into the glass it could easlily be mistaken for a pint of regular pride, a sniff reveils an aroma that is similar. The taste is when it all starts to fall apart with a sharp chemical like whack before a strong alcohol warmth. Not quite what I was expecting, not exactly pleasant, but not rubbish either.

Anyhow, I am not going to go into too much detail ('cause I am lazy today), so I have stolen someone elses review from ciao.co.uk.

"I seem to have been picking my way through a number of the heavier, higher alcohol ales of late. This is another of the “high end” brews from one of London’s old established breweries. They may not be suitable for regular drinking, but these “superior strength” beers do demonstrate the wide range of strengths, tastes and flavours that can be wrung from the limited list of ingredients that go into them.
THE BREWERY

“Golden Pride” is one of the prime labels from Fuller Smith and Turner operating from the Griffin Brewery in Chiswick, London. Fuller’s was established in 1845 and the Griffin Brewery name is trademarked fifty years later. A brewery has stood on this same Chiswick site for over 350 years, and a wisteria plant, the oldest in Great Britain has clung to the brickwork of the brewery for 186 years. The brewery is now renowned for brewing both organic and seasonal ales (ESB, London Pride). As well as these “conventional” brews they also produce some interesting “flavoured” beers such as “Honeydew” (original honey and recently introduced honey with cranberry) and the winter ale “Jack Frost” which is seasoned with blackberries.
It is available in both 500ml and 330ml bottles.

WHAT THEY SAY
“This superb quality premium beer is the equivalent of a Belgian 'Abbey Beer' and is arguably the 'grand cru' of Fuller's bottled beers. At 8.5% alcohol by volume, it is as powerful as some wines. In days gone by at Christmas, as a special treat, Fuller's pub landlords tend to keep a small barrel of draught Golden Pride on the back of the bar, dispensing to customers in strictly limited quantities. One beer writer has described it as 'the cognac of beers'.”

THE BOTTLE

Fuller’s use a signature dark brown bottle which has the Griffin crest and the logo ‘Independent Family Brewers’ embossed into the glass for their range of brews. The front label announces the brand name in large white letters on a dark red background with a gold surround. For further emphasis there are the three words “Superior Strength Ale”. This is no doubt all geared up to persuade you of the sumptuous treat you have in store. The crown cap also bears the name “Golden Pride”. The neck collar also displays the Fuller logo and crest as well as a representation of a number of gold medals.
The rear label tells you that this beer is an award-winning exceptionally fine strong ale of immense character and finesse. It has been brewed from Pale Ale and Crystal malts; Northdown, Challenger and Target hops. It also proudly boasts that “.. this is the finest example of our brewer’s art; truly a connoisseur’s choice”. Some claim!!The bottle holds 500ml and it is brewed to a 8.5% ABV.
THE DRINK

After the recent really hot spell, the garage has cooled down considerably and this bottle was kept in a dark corner rather than the fridge. It was at about 14°C when I came to drink it. The top came off easily enough. The “Golden Pride” poured a rich amber / red colour creating a reasonably thick foamy head. There is a fine tracery left on the glass as the ale is consumed. There was good carbonation in the glass. The ale is crystal clear and there was no sediment in the bottle.
The nose is quite complex with hints of caramel, Butterkist (TM) and a vague Oxo saltiness. This continued to develop with yeasty, aromatic and slightly earthy overtones. Let me hasten to add that the overall impression was quite delicious and certainly not bad or off-putting.The first taste is rich and bittersweet almost like a barley wine with traces of biscuit (? Rich Tea). This is a strong full bodied ale that is very – deceptively – smooth. Bitterness develops on the tongue with acquaintance but there are also hints of dried fruits, treacle toffee, marzipan and plum pudding. There is a satisfying, pleasurable warming glow on swallowing. The bitterness lingers refreshingly on the palate. Make no mistake, this is one heavyweight of an ale.
This is another of those brews that has to be respected. It is not one for idle quaffing. It reminded me very strongly of Young’s “Old Nick” that I reviewed a couple of weeks ago – perhaps just a little less sweet. It is an ale designed for contemplative appreciation; very much like a fine wine. I would not want to drink more than one at a sitting. Equally I would not want to serve it with a full blown meal, although thin slivers of apple or pear with a truckle of cheddar would not go amiss. Yes, I’d have an occasional one again – but I rate it just shy of the Youngs."

Anyhow, the website is here.

Fullers Honeydew

Every now and then Mrs CB likes to pop into a cocktail bar for a sugar/spirit inspired swill. Being the nice husband I am, I always accommodate these requests as she more than puts up with - quote "old man pubs". One such establishment Vesbar is like an oasis of uber coolness in the desert of crap that is Goldhawk Road W12. After sorting out the Mrs with her drink I browsed down the taps looking for an at least half acceptable beer. The usual suspects are there, Carling, Fosters, Stella, Guinness, then there are some slightly more interesting options Fruli, Leffe and Fullers Organic HoneyDew. I opted to go for the Fullers as well basically Strawberries have no place in beer (really they don't) and Leffe sold draught in the UK tastes like sucking on a clove.

To be honest Honeydew (5% abv) is not really much better. The beer is served at lager temps and is sickly sweet. I am assuming that they make a nice pale coloured bitterless ale and then pasteurize the beer, add some honey and then send it out to the great unwashed. The beer is pretty bland besides its cloying sweetness, however I am glad that they don't ferment the honey as braggot (fermented wort and honey) is just a massive excuse for a hangover. Fullers have also adapted the additional marketing ploy of offering this beer with "Ice and a Slice" to compete with the success of Irish style ciders - a trend I was offered when ordering a pint of Discovery earlier in the year. Anyhow, you can read Fullers marketing material here.