I'm Trapped

For reasons I will not go into, I am trapped at home today - a prisoner in my small flat. I'm not going to let my situation get in the way of the greatness that is ticker Tuesday though!
To kick start the beer diary week the wife and I headed out to a local tapas bar in Brook Green. The food was pretty good and they had a few different Spanish lagers on the menu. I ordered a Mahou which is as good an example as any. I had this last year when I was Barcelona and in the video attached to the post is one of the best beer adverts I have ever seen. You can check it out here if that post predates your readership to the blog. Anyhow on Friday evening a few of the lads from the office headed to 'The Apple Tree' for a few after work pints. They had Bath Gem on and we proceeded to drink through the remains of the cask. They then put Fisherman's Tackle (4.1% abv) on which was a better beer than the Gem in my opinion. I can't find any information about the beer at all online and the pump clip was just some writing in chalk. Can anyone fill in the blanks here?
On Saturday evening I cracked open a bottle of UBU Amber Ale from purity Brewing Co. This US style amber ale was a little underwhelming after the Flying Goose I had from the same brewery last week, but still a nice drop. My beer drinking on Saturday was limited to just the one bottle of beer as I helped the missus finish off a few bottles of wine that have been loitering around for a while.
Sunday was the day of the hop monsters. My usual "Come Dine With Me" session was halted due to our television reception going down leaving me with only books and my wife's company for entertainment. Luckily I had a bottle of Mikkeller stateside IPA in the fridge. This 7% abv US style IPA from Denmark is extreme. It has to be over 100 IBU's of pure bitterness and makes your teeth feel like they are dissolving. Because of the lack of balance I didn't really enjoy this one - too hardcore my session drinking sensibilities. To make matters worse, I followed it with a bottle of Port Brewing 2nd Anniversary which is a 9.5% abv American Barleywine. This over the top hop monster was bordering on the point of undrinkable. It was thick, chewy and cloying and tasted like I had been chewing on a bunch of pine needles. I guess for some that would be ideal, but it's not really my cup of tea.
Anyhow that's pretty much the story of my drinking for the last week. Kind of lame really, but some interesting ticks there if you get excited by that sort of thing.
The next instalment of ticker Tuesday will be in a fortnights time (that's two weeks for you Yank's). It should be a good one as I am off to New York on Friday morning. I have a list of things I want to do while there (including Blind Tiger and Brooklyn Brewery) but can anyone fill me in on any other must do attractions that have to be on my list?

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?