Hooky Bitter

I was so smashed when I had this one at The Parrs Head that I forgot I had drank it! Last Friday, Gareth and I bunked off work at about 3.30 pm and headed down to The Gunmakers for a couple of quick after work beers. Being a bank holiday weekend, Jeff was playing it safe and only had Harvey's Best on so we had a pint (or was it two) before heading down to The Coach and Horses for a few Pints of Landlord. Sometime after that I vaguely remember being back in The Gunmakers drinking with Peter the Bike until I got an angry call from the Mrs demanding me back home. I still squeezed in another pint before going home to face the wrath of my wife!
Anyhow we ended up going to The Parr's Head for dinner and they had just put a cask of Hooky Bitter on. I can't tell you what it was like though as I cannot remember. It can't have been too exciting then.....

Hooky Dark

Even though it is silly season, I have been keeping a level headed approach. Sadly that means I have not been drinking as much as I should be as I hate seasonal drinkers in pubs. They are the worst kind, clutching their pints of Peroni thinking they know what good beer is and overlooking the brilliance on offer on the handpumps.

My mate Chris (with the big head) used to be one of these types, but I have slowly brought him round and now he is borderline open minded. Anyhow, Chris is planning a pub crawl tomorrow from Hampstead to Highgate and wanted to borrow my CAMRA London pub walks book. He had a narrow window of time in which he could pick up the book on Wednesday evening so I arranged to meet him at the Melton Mowbray on High Holborn with the view of getting a pint of Fuller's London Porter in. Sadly when I arrived he had already ordered me a pint of Discovery, despite the fact that it could have snowed at any minute! To be fair they didn't have the Porter on and had Fuller's other seasonal beer Jack Frost which I don't really care for, but I am willing to be open minded!

Anyhow we ended up going round the corner to The Castle for a second pint and after negotiating my way past Peroni drinkers, I finally managed to 'secure' two pints of Hooky Dark (3.2% abv) which is the Hook Norton Brewery's Mild offering. This beer was lovely and certainly carries a lot more flavour than it's abv suggests. The conditioning was reaching the end of it's stretch though and some oxidized flavours were starting to come through. I don't understand how The Castle can keep 7 handpumps on all the time when they have a predominately lager drinking crowd?

Anyhow, my year at work here is about to wrap up and a few of us are heading down The Gunmakers for a beer. This will be my last post till the new year as I am off on a beer adventure of sorts (ok, I am following my in-laws around Europe, but there will be beer). First stop is Munich for a short one nighter on Monday followed by 3 nights and xmas in Salzburg, 3 nights in Vienna, 3 nights and New years in Prague, then a short hop to Amsterdam for 2 nights, Brugge 2 nights and finally Paris 2 nights and back at work on Jan 8. I should have lots to blog about on my return, but hopefully in a revamped format for episodes post NYE.

For now, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Tim

Hook Norton Double Stout

Before I plonked myself down in front of the TV to watch Australia defeat England 28-14 on Sat evening, I rumbled through my ale selection and found a suitable beverage.

Hook Norton Double Stout (4.8% abv) is a tasty and well balanced stout that really went down a treat. Even though Australia did not put in their best performance, made 156 tackles to England's 60 odd, had one third of the possession and still managed to walk away with a win was all I could have asked for. Has this skewed my actual account of the beer for the better, but I still think this beer hit the mark a lot better than a pint of nitrokeg Caffrey's would have!

Out of all the winter ales that I have enjoyed recently, this is simply five star. Even up there with draught Fullers London Porter (which I still have not sampled yet this season - despite a mission out to Richmond where my dead certainty failed me).

Anyhow the Hook Norton Brewery is located somewhere in Oxfordshire. They make good beer. I like good beer! http://www.hooknortonbrewery.co.uk/