Bank Holiday Weekend

It has been a lovely weekend for both good company and good beer so far.

Firstly I have now tried Darkstar's Victorian Ruby Mild which I was hoping to find, lovely delicate flavour, not quite Sarah Hughes' Ruby Mild but very good in it's own right and well worth hunting down. However the star of the day was their Imperial Stout which I spotted on the shelf at the Traf in South Wimbledon. Wonderfully morish treacly texture and taste with a dangerous untasteable abv of 10.5

It pours beautifully with a fine creamy head with tapers off to a fine lacing half way though the pint. The treacly liquorice flavour comes though on the nose too, making it a highly satifying drink. I won't say pint as it available in dinky bottles not pints but that is for good reasons.

Sunday was spend in Putney mainly at the Bricklayer's Arms enjoying the good selection of Timothy Taylor beers and the guest beers which included Skinner's Betty Sloggs, FFF Brewery's Pressed Rat & Warthog and Alton's Pride and there was the Sambrook's Wandle.

Ram Tam was in great form as was the Dark Mild both lovely pints for a Warm Spring day. Golden Best was enjoyable but I think it would be nicer on a Summer's evening as a refreshing pint, but this one is rarely seen outside Tim Taylor's own pubs. Landlord is one of finest beers (and a favour of mine) but I do find it a shame that it is the only one you see about especially when they do other really cracking beers.

Even though I personally don't like the Sambrook's beers I have to admit they are doing really well at expanding. My partner enjoys a pint of their beers and for him it is nice to see them widely available in more pubs rather than the select one or two. Which reminds me I will have to book a brewery tour at some stage for him.

Due South

Paul Heaton from the Beautiful South is doing a three week 1,000-mile bicycle tour for the Pedals & Beer Pumps Tour 2010. This tour was created partly for Heaton's love of cycling and to highlight the decline of the pub.

The full article from the Times is here:http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article7125344.ece

Interestingly this also may show the difficulties involved in paying in pubs nowadays thanks to certain rules as I am sure during this tour he will meet other musicians and landlords who will discuss the problems of being able to have live music in their pub.

The article does show that far from a publicity stunt this guy does know what he is talking about, I admit I wasn't keen on the Beautiful South nor it's singer but he doesn't seem the idiot I thought he was.

Quote:
If the Pedals & Beer Pumps Tour 2010 achieves anything, it will be “just to get a spark going. How are we gonna outwit Tesco’s or Sainsbury’s? Well, they can’t have a band playing in there. But the Three Horseshoes in Radnage can have me.”

Pubs do not have to be a cheap supermarket to attract customers back from cheap deals but places that are relaxing and interesting for people to go too. I enjoy a quiet pint but I also enjoy sitting in a pub with a pint watching/listening to a band or singer, variety is the key here.

What the Heck have I done?

A friend of mine has been running for some time and I admire this, especially the get and go required for early morning runs in rain, sleet and snow. So on her suggestion about about running I thought I would have a go.

Well 5am is a very peaceful time, just you and the odd cat and fox are around, plus side to this is that foxes and cats don't tend to point and laughter at a very unfit runner heaving herself around the estate. Downside.... well it is 5am in the morning.

Emboldened by the relative success of my run (ie I managed to run half a mile) I promptly signed up for the Adidas Women's Challenge in September. So I have to get from half a mile coughing and spluttering to running just over three miles in what I hope will be a smooth effortless style by then.

Oh dear.

May's Marvels

Thanks to CAMRA this month is Mild May, where hopefully more pubs will have at least one mild available for folks to try. I do like milds so I am looking forward to trying some new ones. However they do vary in ABV so be warned, for example Darkstar’s one which is noted below and Sarah Hugh’s Ruby Mild are 6%-ers. So remember to check the pump clip!

This is my usual small round up of some of the monthly offerings that are available this month;

Little Valley Brewery’s Queen Bee 4.5%
Harvey’s Knots of May 3.0%
Brakspears’ Pavilion Ale 4.0%
Loddon Brewery’s Wilfred’s Mild 3.6%
Darkstar’s Victorian Ruby Mild 6.0%
Cotleigh Brewery’s Nutcracker 3.4%

Hopefully Mild May will encourage the brewing of different beers with varying abv's rather than everything sticking at the 5% mark.

Wetherspoon’s Beer Festival

As you can see from the attached photograph I do write notes on the beers I try, usually on the beer lists, not sure if this is including in the definition of ‘beer ticking’ but it did cause my partner to laugh whenever he saw the booklet and pen (yes, I have spare pens in there as well) come out of the handbag. Whatever you call it at least I have a good list for ordering beers off the internet when I have spare cash.

Unfortunately due to the way the pubs local to me selected their beers for this festival I didn’t get to try all the ones I wanted, however I did try 9 out of 16 short listed by myself and another 5 on the list. All in all is not a bad attempt. One thing I like about these festivals is due to the fact the beers shift faster in the festival they are usually in better condition for us drinkers.

Highlights for me were Goose Island’s Honker’s Ale which we got from the cask at my partner’s local Wetherspoons, malty scent, with fruit cakey tones to it and a lovely smooth sweetish bitter taste which had a long finish to it. St Peter’s Old Style Porter which was rather gorgeous it has to be said. Nethergate’s Red Poll which was certainly a bully pint although I just didn’t get the liquorice notes in either the taste or scent. Phoenix’s Black Shadow was the best mild I have tasted in a Wetherspoon’s festival to date and last but not least Cairngorm Brewery’s Culloden was a lovely morish pint with a wonderful portique toffee scent which again we tried from cask rather than pump.

The only real let down for me was the Maui Brewery’s Coconut Porter, it started nicely with a gentle coconut tint to the coffee porter taste but then right at the end of the finish it hit you with a bang of a bitter acrid taste which was hard to shift from your palate even with numerous cups of tea. I wondered if this was a problem with shifting the brewing location as it such a discordant note it can’t be on purpose. One day I will get to head over to Hawaii and try it brewed in its proper brewery and then I will give a final opinion on it. It was a lovely beer up until that bang.

I enjoyed the festival a lot and even now there are still festival beers on the go at various pubs so it is worth a trip to see if you can catch any of them.

Hook Norton Bottles Out to Fullers

Well done to everyone who did the marathon, you are all stars whether you ran, wheeled, walked or crawled it!

The London Pride bottle went great guns, outstriping the Hook Norton bottle by 10 minutes at mile 13 and the gap widened alot by mile 22. The Fuller's bottle even had the strength to wave and smile at folks ..... well done that bottle!

The morning started for me at 7.45am getting to the mile 13/22 for my partner's charity's cheering point, we got soaked at 8am by the heavy downpour but once the rain stopped we had blown up the banging sticks and were proceeding to enact various Star Wars and Errol Fynn fight scenes which warmed us all up. A hot cup of tea and a quick breakfast before the start of the race with the disabled runners at just before 10am and then the elite girls and guys half an hour or more before the main bulk of the runners. It was a long day until 4pm when we finally could tidy up, let the kids who had been trying since 12 have the balloons they were attempting to nick and head off to the pub for a well learnt drink and meal.

As well as all the runners, well done to the cheerers along the whole of the route. You give so much support to all the runners and make it easier for them.

Aspall's Perronelle's Blush

A saturday, a saturday, and the first cyder of the year,

Lord Aspall's Perronelle Blush came into the bar, the drink for all to see,

And when the opening hour come, she cast herself about,

And there she saw little Ratty Groves, walking in the crowd.

“Come drink me, little Ratty Groves, come drink me tonight,
Come drink me, little Ratty Groves, and drink me till closing time”

"Oh, I can't drink you, I won't drink you and drink you only tonight,
By your pink blush of colour I can tell you have Blackberry liqueur in you”

“But if I am strengthen by liqueur, then I am a reasonable abv for that
Try and see if you can’t tell that by a sip”

And a barmaid who was standing by and hearing what was said
Swore that young ratty would enjoy it until the sun would set
And in her hurry left him in no doubt that this was his drink
The drink was the pinkest ever seen, with bubbles up the glass

Little Ratty Groves, picked up the glass and took a little sip
Surprised to find a delicate taste that went down to his feet
Saying to himself “How do I like this fruity taste and how do I like this drink
How do I like this lady who sits in my hands to drink?
Oh, well I like this taste and well I like this drink
But better to see the next one lined up for me to drink”

“Well, get up, get up,” Cried Ratty’s friends, “get up as quick as you can
It’ll never be said in fair England that you won’t stand a round”

“Oh, I will get up, I will get up, I will get up for my round
For we have all been paid for the week and I have a big bonus
Well it’s true I have catch the eye of the evening staff
But here’s to the very next round on the bar including your lout
And you will drink cooking lager instead of this gorgeous drink

I will be sitting here smug and with a packet of crisps”