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?

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.

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

Dark Star Best

Ok, we finally found the beer we settled into for the night! Dark Star Best (4.0% abv) is a very drinkable tasty best bitter that in a blind tasting could be mistaken for a Mild. For a beer like this, the roast flavours that come through are unbelievable, and it was brewery fresh!

I will definitely be trying to find this beauty again! I also think its a lot better than Hophead - which I do not really find that hoppy!

Anyhow, thats enough blogging for one day. I'm off to meet my mate Richard at The Gunmakers before we head of on another adventure!

http://www.darkstarbrewing.co.uk/

I would also like to thank the guys down at The Castle for their generous donation of pump clips. If anybody else would like to give me some, I'm now accepting!

Salopian Golden Thread

Our search for a session beer continued! Due to the failure -The barman recommended Salopian Golden Thread (5.9% abv)- which is a straw coloured bitter. Golden Thread is the Salopian breweries oldest beer (well its 12 since they only opened in 1996) which is way before the recent trend of golden ales. This beer was insanely easy to drink and had a dry hoppy flavour. A session on this would have turned ugly! Our quest for a session beer continued!

BTW - The Salopian Brewery was established at The Old Dairy on the outskirts of mediaeval Shrewsbury in 1995. Since then the brewery has become synonymous with the production of top quality consistent beers.
The brewery has had to increase capacity twice to keep up with demand, with production now topping 80 barrels a week.

Royal Oak Traditional Bitter

This will be a short post as this beer was off and I sent it back! Royal Oak (5.0% abv) is brewed by O'Hanlons and is supposed to be a nice bitter - ours was sour though! I had high hopes as well as O'Hanlon's Yellow Hammer which I had earler in the year is awesome.
Its a shame to see beer go to waste like this - and there were a lot of people drinking "poofters mouthwash" - oops I mean Peroni. This is the first and hopefully last dodgy pint I will have in The Castle.

Mauldons Octoberfest

My wife is away on business, and as everyone knows when the cats away, the mice come out to play. And that is exactly what I did last night! I met up with a former colleague of mine for a few quiet beers at our favourite haunt - The Castle. Its not our favourite pub as such, but it is one of the only pubs in the only pubs in the area which is not frequented by people we know. And they have good beer. Just on a side note - a few of the higher powers where I work who used to patronize the Olde Mitre have recently had a falling out with the landlord. Now they drink at what was one of my preferred pubs for escaping colleagues - The Gunmakers. I guess Ye Olde Mitre's loss is now Jeff's gain! But then I have to be careful if I want to 'escape' so to speak!

Anyhow getting onto the Octoberfest (5.0% abv)! The beer is basically a golden coloured bitter, I think our pint was served slightly immature as it had the characteristic green apple taste of acetaldehyde. A nice beer, but we didn't settle down for a session on it!

http://www.mauldons.co.uk/

Red Car Summer Ale

Also at The Castle was Red Car Summer Ale (4.5% abv) a summer version of Red Car Best which I have covered previously. Once again this beer was a little underwhelming and in a back to back blind taste test against Red Car best, I and my colleagues failed to find any difference between the two beers.
Summer beer my ass - summer marketing more like it!
BTW - Red Car beers are brewed under licence by teh Nethergate Brewery. The Castle is owned by Red Car.

Clarke's No Angel

A colleague of mine was promoted and has to leave to another office far away from the pub enriched area of Clerkenwell. Due to other commitments, I missed the leaving drinks and decided to meet up with him for one final session at The Castle. Once again The Castle didn't disappoint, however the selection of beers on was limited to standard bitters which was not very exciting. Anyhow I opted for Clarkes No Angel (4.0% abv) , a fruity, light brown bitter which was a little underwhelming. Therefore I will not harp on too much about the beer. If you are interested you can find out more at the website here.

Redcar Best

The last beer from this session was Redcar Best bitter. The beer is an easy drinking session bitter which I can't find any information! The most info I can find is that it is somehow tied to the Nethergate brewery? Does anybody else have any info?

Buffy's Mighty Duck

Buffy's Mighty Duck is a brown porter styled beer with nice nutty tones and a unique 'mushroom' like aroma which is derived from the unusual combination of US Willamette hops with European Styrian Goldings hops. The earthy aroma gives away to a malty and not to bitter roasty finish. Although it took a few sips to get aquired to the unusual taste, the point finished well and is incredibly easy to drink. Again the Buffy's brewery is a relatively new (1993) UK microbrewery, ;ocated in a traditional old brewery called Madle Hall. I'm not sure where it is locvated, but if you stumble across it whilst travelling in the country, it is probably worth checking out. Website is available here.

Brydge Bitter - Bank Top Brewery

The Castle delivers another hard to mind microbrewed beer in the form of Brydge Bitter (3.8% abv) from the Bank Top Brewery. This is a small, 5 barrel country micro-brewery located in Bolton who produce "Real Ale for Real People".

Surprisingly the beer was a little unremarkable? I don't know why, but there was nothing that really made it stand out as a beer I would seek out again.Anyhow if its the sort of thing that tickles your fancy, you can find out more at their website:http://www.banktopbrewery.com/

Hydes 1863

The Castle, hidden away in the back streets between High Holborn and Fleet Street has become one of my favourite Real Ale pubs in London. The staff are friendly, the beer is always in good condition and there are always several guest ales on tap at any one time. The fact that it is in close proximity to work is a bonus! Recently I dropped in for a few pints after work and the following few entries will describe the session! Hydes 1863 (3.5% abv) is an ordinary bitter from the Hydes brewery which is based in Manchester. before I had this pint, I had never heard of the beer, nor the brewery even and even searching google, I have not been able to dig up much information! The short of it is, an easy drinking amber bitter with mellow hops and a slightly spicy toffee/sweet malt taste. Sweet definetely dominates over bitterness, but there is a lot of flavour for such a low abv. More info about it can be found here.

Lancaster Amber

This was the last of the beers that I sampled on St Georges day. Lancaster Amber (3.7% abv) is an American Amber ale styled beer with strong fruity hop notes and a mild barely apparent bitterness. This combination makes for an easy drinking full flavoured session beer without having to have too high an abv. The beer poured a deep golden colour with low carbonation. Of the three beers I had on this day, this was probably the most dissapointing, however that does not necessarily say much, as all the beers at 'The Castle' were in excellent condition, its just that the calibre was set rather high. This is still a good beer to try if you see it on somewhere. Website

Acorn Brewery Barnsley Bitter

Again this beer was enjoyed on St Georges day at 'The Castle'. Barnsley Bitter (3.8% abv) is a dark copper coloured bitter which has nice biscuity and chocolate malt aftertaste. I really like this beer and I can't really think of any other beers which have a similar taste. If I could compare it to anything it would be Gales HSB, but with more of a roasted edge. The beer is thick and sticky with shedloads of malt. There is a solid bitterness which is balanced by the roasted flavours coming thorugh. To top it off, this beer has a subtle fruity hop aroma that rounds off this beer. If anybody has the grain bill for this beer, please pass it forward!

Website

St George Heritage Ale

A colleage of mine and myself went for a tipple on St Georges day at 'The Castle' just of High Holborn. The Castle is unique in that it always has a good selection of well kept guest ales in a location which pretty much just caters for the lunch and after work crowd. Most of the pubs in the area tend to offer the more mass produced bitters and their quality is usually dubious, however the Castle seems to always come up with the goods. Being St Georges day, we decided to have a crack at the St Georges Heritage Ale (4.9% abv) by the Coach House brewery. Now in general, I make it a rule to avoid beers which are just one off gimmick's such as 'Striker' for the 2006 soccer world cup, and 'Swing low' for the 2007 Rugby world cup as they are generally rubbish. The St George heritage ale on the other hand was a pleasant surprise. The beer was a straw colour with a nice not too bitter but creamy finish. A nice well balanced beer with citrusy hop notes which would be better enjoyed through the summer months than in April, but hey I was just glad to enjoy it at all! Website: