Tuesday 12 July 2011

Pirates of Penzance

On the first Sunday we were in Penzance they held a World Record beating attempt to get the most pirates in one place, so in a way I'm a record beater (Woohoo!). They did beat Hastings, the old holder of the title as they managed to get over 8000 folks dressed as pirates along the seafront. It was brilliant, the effort some folks went to was very impressive in the extreme. There are some photographs online of this attempt and luckily I avoided those photographers.

The best pirate I saw was a bloke dressed pretty much as Captain Jack, bottle of wine in hand who walked along the seafront trying to buy various items from other tourists for 5 gold pieces. Maybe it was the booze but he had the swagger and right accent for the part and was extremely good natured.

Spingo, a local brewery had a beer tent on the harbour side which showcased nearly all of their beers. All of which were lovely, just a shame I doubt I'm going to see them up here as most Cornish pubs didn't stock them either. Ben's Stout at 4.8% was superb, thirst quenching and very morish as was their 'Special' although that one was 6.6% and Easter Special was higher at 7.6%ish mark. Fantastic beers to end the evening on, smooth and rich.

Apart from Skinners, St Austell and Otter breweries, the only different brewery was Spingo. All of them do very good beers and we didn't see one London Pride pump clip!

For more information on Spingo beers: http://www.spingoales.com/Brewery.html

Tuesday 5 July 2011

Ahhhh Cornwall

It was a lovely holiday and like all good holidays it had to come to an end. Not nice to think this time last week I was wandering around the Eden Project without a care in the world and today I'm stuck at my desk dealing with accounts difference and cursing salesmen. If it wasn't for the 6 and half hour train journey I would head back Cornwall..... although I doubt I would be paid, so back to accounts after lunch it is.

We arrived on Mazey Day which is a big festival in Penzance held each year (for the last 11 years) to celebrate Midsummer. The town was busy especially so when you ended towards the harboury bit, welding a wheely suitcase in desperate need for a drink my husband had no choice but to follow me to the first pub I saw that we had half a hope in getting to the bar to order a drink. Dolphin Pub and Dock Inn were packed out but the Yacht Inn around the corner was better and that first drink was lovely.

Normally I don't tend to drink Tribute, the other half likes it but I usually go for something else. However this time it was a lovely pint, better kept than I have had in London and very refreshing. Lovely way to start to unwind from a journey which started at 8.30am from Clapham Junction and ended up with the child from Hell kicking the back of my seat each time he wanted to get up.

As well as having some gorgeous St Austell beers this week, we also discovered Spingo beers thanks to a beer tent with nearly all their beers. Which I will write more about dreakly* this week. Strangely I found after a few days of drinking Tribute or Spingo's Middle that Proper Job was just too hoppy for me, normally I would say that it was gently hopped so maybe my tastebuds do need more of a change more often.


* New favourite word, means 'soon' in a Cornish way.