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.

The George Inn Ale

My posting has been a little sporadic lately as I am currently traveling with work. This means that I am pretty busy and don't get to blog much, but it also means that I get try some interesting beers. Anyhow as I left off, my mate Jay was in London over the weekend and I managed to take him out and show him around London. For whatever reason, sexuality or otherwise - Jay doesn't drink beer. So it was my mission to get him onto some of the local delicacies including the real ale. We ended up in Borough Markets after lunch on Friday afternoon and headed for the Market Porter. As usual it was packed, and unusual it did not have any interesting beers on. Jay is also a keen watcher of the TV series The Thirsty Traveler and knew there was a pub around the market which was featured on the show. A quick google on my trusty Nokia N95 and we were around the corner in The Georges Inn, a quaint 16th century coaching inn hidden away down a mews. This pub is a Greene King tied house and had the usual IPA, Abbot, Speckled Hen combo with one notable addition a house ale (4% abv). The beer tastes just like the IPA, but with maybe a slight caramel edge - overall not an ideal beer to introduce Jay to real ale.

For those interested, we then met up with Chris and his enormous head at the Jerusalem Tavern. I figured its decent enough (although not really my favourite in the area) and is not frequented by my boss or his mates. Jay had a pint of Mild and three pints of the Fruit (St Peters), I had a pint of Mild, a Golden and two Best Bitters. We then moved down to The Castle for a pint of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Anyhow, Jay spend the whole night, and half of Saturday driving the porcelain bus. He could not even keep water down. My wife was not impressed!

In other interesting news - Clerkenwell Shitter Deux Beers (on Hatton Wall) which I had blogged about previously, has been refurbed and is now an upmarket traditional pub. It is named the Hat and Tun which is a clever play on words. I am yet to check it out, but it received a favourable review in one of London's free commuter rags.

Old Speckled Hen

A quick pickup from the local Tesco (I am going to need a new beer source soon!), Old Speckled Hen (5.2% abv) is another Ale from the Greene King empire. Unlike most beers from Greene King this beer actually has some taste! The beer is a deep amber colour with good bitterness and hop character. A really good pint that I wouldnt mind finding on cask somewhere as described here. http://www.oldspeckledhen.co.uk/
I was in a bit of a hurry to quench my thirst, so please excuse the empty bottle in the photo. I found some more info about the beer in the Oxford Bottled Beer Database, which I have reproduced below.

This is the flagship beer of the Oxfordshire brewery, named afterthe vintage MG car rather than the popular farmyard animal. The beer is a rich reddish golden-brown colour with a solid, bubbly head, but very little aroma (perhaps a hint of malt). It is remarkably smooth on the palate, with a fairly heavily hopped bitter flavour and a strong element of maltiness. The finish is long and bitter. Altogether, this makes a beautifully balanced, session beer (a little on the strong side for a long session, perhaps), comparing quite favourably to the draught version.

Abbot Ale

I had this one last Friday afternoon whilst at the Lloyds bar at Gatwick Airport en route to Barcelona, Spain. Abbot Ale (5% abv) falls into the Special/Premium Bitter category and is brewed by Greene King. The beer looks quite impressive in the glass being a nice deep amber colour and has a nice initial caramel sweetness but then not much else. I tend to find this a trait with all Greene King beers though as I suspect that they are pretty much mass brewed. If this beer was more exciting I would have more to write about but as its kind of boring I may just leave it there!

Ruddles County

Ruddles County (4.7% abv) is a premium bitter found in some pubs and just about every supermarket in the UK. I had the pleasure of my pint at a gastro pub called “The Kings Arms” just around the corner from Tower Bridge in SE1. The pub itself sold excellent burgers but the beer options were a little lacking. Ruddles Ales is an independent brewery that is now part of the Greene King Empire, and I think the Kings Arms may be a Greene King tied house as the ales were Greene king IPA and Ruddles County. The beer is dry and bitter with a unique hoppy taste. I am going to be bold and claim that its hopped with Brambling Cross? The beer also has some roasting notes, but more on the caramel end of the spectrum than the roast barley end. Overall it was a decent pint but just not anything special.

Young's Bitter

Next up was ‘The Hope’ a Young’s tied house just up the street from Farringdon Station. We decided to head to this pub based upon a recommendation in a CAMRA book however, the only two real ales on offer where the perpetually boring Youngs Bitter (3.7 %abv) and the equally uninspiring Greene King IPA (which ironically is just a regular bitter). As we were in the Youngs house we decided to opt for the house bitter of which a fresh cask had just been plumbed in. The verdict?? I will be honest that it was one of the best pints of Youngs Bitter I have had the privilege of consuming.. even if it was slightly boring after the St Peters Stout.

Here is what Youngs have to say about their beer.

Bursting with taste, Young's Bitter is an easy to drink, refreshing cask ale with a fresh, fruity aroma that leaves a long, satisfying bitter finish. It is traditionally brewed to deliver a clean taste and is light and dry in flavour with a subtle taste of hops. 100% malt brew: Maris Otter and crystal malt with Fuggle and Golding hops.Enjoy on draught in all Young's pubs (subject to availability).
Note from the Head Brewer:"Number one selling beer, an ideal session pint."
Brewery AwardsGold medal and Championship Trophy at Brewing Industry International Awards 2000