Bishop's Finger

This pint of Shepherd Neame Bishop's Finger was also enjoyed whilst camped out at The Bloomsbury. Bishops finger is Shepherd Neame's Extra Special Bitter and weighs in at a generous 5% abv. The flavour differs significantly from Spitfire with a more pronounced bitterness and roast character rather than the up front hoppiness of the Spitfire. The beer is also a lot heavier in the stomach and after two pints I swiftly swictched back to Spitfire. All in all Bishop's Finger is a good beer on the odd occation, but a little to heavy for a session ale. You can read more about it at the Shepherd Neame website here.

Spitfire

Shepherd Neame Spitfire (4.5% abv) is a special bitter with an excellent fresh hoppy taste. this particular pint was enjoyed at "The Bloomsbury" a Shepherd Neame tied house on New Oxford St in Bloomsbury. Originally launched as a seasonal ale, Spitfire proved so popular that it was added permenently to Shepherd Neame's regular lineup. Along with the beer came several rather humerous advertising posters which are retrospective in style (to WWII era) and contain many puns which are deliberately offensive to Germans! I like Spitfire as it is a great session beer.