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?

Oakham Ales Inferno

It's Friday lunchtime and a couple of the lads in the office fancy heading out for a pint. We had not been to ye Olde Mitre for a while so we headed down in that direction. Walking in - nothing has changed. It's supposed to be one of the best/oldest (CAMRA types tend to interchange these words) pubs in London, but I do not really rate it. It's musty and the service is not very friendly unless you are a regular, plus they insist on pulling the beers through a sparkler (I know they will take it off if you ask, I'm just lazy). Anyhow as I had a meeting to get back to I ordered a pint of Oakham Ales Inferno (4.0% abv). This was a tangy fruity pint which went down really easy and has a lasting satisfying bitterness. This actually aided me in smashing the beer down in about three mouthfuls so i could haul ass back the office to join the heated teleconference. Lets just say that the beer was much more exciting than the meeting!

http://www.oakhamales.com/

Summer Lightning

It seems to be the beer of the moment, Summer Lightning (5% abv) from the Hop Back Brewery seems to have saturated all the pubs in Clerkenwell of late. I have enjoyed a pint at The Mitre (with sparkler attached), The Gunmakers and also as a real ale in a bottle variant at home.

The beer is a pale, dry ale which tastes like a bitter but looks like a lager.

Out of the three pints I had, all of them tasted completely different! The best and most tasty pint was from The Mitre, I don't know why, but it was really fresh. They do sell a large volume so it may just be an age thing. The pint's I grabbed from the Gunmakers were nice, but were showing some cardboard tastes, which stem from oxidation. Maybe this is due to The Gunmakers location, I doubt they get the turnover of beer that The Mitre gets and it may have been a couple of days old or towards the end of the barrel. Finally the bottle I had tasted the worst. It was pretty astringent and had the taste of cooked corn, a sure fire sign of DMS.

Summer Lightning is an interesting beer, but what i have found most interesting is the change in character and taste between pubs and also between cask and bottle. The beer is considered a trend setter in the real ale community being the first true summer ale and is considered to be one of the most awarded beers in England. Website

Edit: 08/09/08

I think I may have been a bit hard on The Gunmakers. After having a quick pint in the packed pub on Friday afternoon, I witnessed a healthy turnover of ale (although the Mitre probably does turn over more - which was my original point). As it stands, I much prefer The Gunmakers to The Mitre for a number of reasons and I have yet to have a bad pint there. I just found the Summer Lightning to have a slight oxidation (it was till nice and far from stale). In all fairness, this is could also be due to a number of factors prior to the beer arriving at the pub in the first place.

Deuchars IPA

Deuchars IPA is a fabulous beer. A brilliant blend of malt and hopcharacter and above all a drink with enormous drinkability.

Roger Protz, Editor of the Good Beer Guide.

A quick cheeky lunchtime pint last Friday at "Ye Olde Mitre" resulted in a pint of Deuchars IPA (4.4% abv) a Scottish IPA which is rather tasty. Again not a proper super bitter, over hopped IPA, but a good hoppy bitter; the IPA is definetely a good compromise which suits the cheeky lunchtime pint, or can form the backbone of a much larger session. The most remarkable thing about this beer is the pub I was drinking in. A real olde worlde gem the pub dates back to 1546 and serves a selection of good real ales, some cheap and nasty lagers and Guinness, plus a tasty selection of traditional bar snacks. This is definetely a pub to check out: http://fancyapint.com/pubs/pub92.html

Adnam's Broadside

Adnam's Broadside (4.7% abv) is a special bitter along the same lines as Shepherd Neame Bishops Finger. It has a deep amber colour with a strong bitterness with little to no hop aroma. The lack of fruitiness also tends to leave an almond like taste in the beer. It is quite unusual! I'll leave the tasting notes there before I start to sound like a ticker! Adnams have been brewing beer since 1857 and cater specifically for the non-themed pub market. I enjoyed this pint at the lovely "Ye Olde Mitre" a historical pub near work that dates back to 1556! Broadside is also an interesting beer as the cask variation is a special bitter where the bottled version is a potent extra special bitter ranging from 6.5-7.2% depending on year. All in all, its ok!