I'm off to Brighton in a couple of hours and won't be back until Friday evening. I may or may not post to the blog, apparently Brighton is the sixth most covered town in Europe for free wi-fi access.
I'm looking forward to going to The Evening Star where I haven't been for a couple of years, and I intend a quick trip to Shoreham where there are a couple of GBG pubs that look worthy of a visit. I shall also have a pint of two of Harveys Armada, one of my favourite cask beers,
See you all soon.
One of my readers, Hughie, lives in Bedford, which is just over 20 miles from where I live, but, I must admit, is a place I rarely visit. As of yesterday, though, I'm quite jealous of Hughie because I found out that Bedford's twin town is Bamberg, possibly the finest beer town in the World.
I don't think various rauchbiers are available in your average corner shop in town, but the spring festival certainly appears to be an occasion where the beer flows freely if the pictures in the article are anything to go by.
I'm not sure why Bedford is the chosen twin town of our beer loving cousins from Germany. I would imagine Bamberg should be able to do much, much better than choose the home of Charles Wells. Burton-on-Trent would surely have been a better choice.
Actually in a delicious twist of irony I read that one of Burton's twin towns is called Rochefort, but is no relation to the Belgian monastery. It's a funny Old World.
I had to laugh on Monday night, whilst watching The One Show. The reporter went to Bury St Edmunds, primarily to visit England's smallest pub The Nutshell, which I have blogged about before.
First though they went to everybody's favourite brewery Greene King to show what modern Bury is famous for. Then we saw all the various pub signs in town with the Greene King name (note though, that these were not the new style GK signs with just the brewery logo), then we went to chat to The Nutshell's landlord and get out our tape measure to prove its diminuitiveness.
Finally we chat to two regulars who proclaim their love for the pub and the various characters who pass through its doors in the name of tourism. A closer look though reveals that these regulars are not drinking the local ale, but Guinness!
So after a few minutes of wonderful advertizing for GK, we are left with the two customers who won't touch the stuff. What does that say I wonder?
I didn't get to write a post last night to celebrate my first birthday, because I went to my first ever CAMRA meeting!!
The meeting was partly a planning meeting for the Northampton Beer Festival in a couple of weeks time, which I am not only working at, but helping to compile the tasting notes for the programme.
I was lucky in that the meeting was held walking distance from my house, in my village, at the Wootton Working Men's Club. The club presented with the Branch Club of The Year award on the night. It is rare that a WMC has six real ales on, and the beer quality is certainly very good.
I enjoyed the meeting a lot, and met some nice people who are very keen on their real ale.
The meeting was chaired by the Great Oakley brewer whose Wagtail was in sensational form, so much so I had three pints of it, which hasn't happened with any beer for a very long time. It's a beer he should be very proud of.
I'm looking forward to working at the festival for the first time, even though I'm promised it's going to be bloody hard work!
I'll be putting updates on the plans for the festival here as I get them.
Yesterday was the one year anniversary of starting my blog. I was too busy to do a post in celebration (more on that later), but I'd like to now thank everyone for reading my little part of the internet.
It's pretty amazing that I've stuck such a project out for a year already; normally my will power means I stick with something for a very short period before getting fed up and ceasing. I think it's testiment to you guys though and your interesting comments that allow me to enjoy doing this as much as I do.
There's a fair few British beer blogs now, all of which I read and enjoy. I think we all write with diferent styles but there's definitely a place for that.
Hopefully I'll still be around in twelve months time for my two year anniversary.
Cheers to you all.
Apparently if your dog watches you drinking beer (s)he will want to too. I know animals like to copy but I'm not sure they're particularly bothered what they are drinking as long as they've got something to wet their whistle.
In spite of this, the Dutch introduced Kwispelbier last year, which is designed as a beer for dogs. Now though, that very same beer is available in Pets At Home stores in the UK. Imaginatively renamed (or should that be rebadged) as Dog Beer, this dealcoholized beer can be bought for £1.99 for a 330 ml bottle.
I haven't got a dog, but if I did I'd give him real beer if he really wanted it rather than this effort. Actually, I'd be more inclined to try it myself; well it's another tick!
Eat Out Magazine has compiled a list of the 100 best food pubs in the UK. Using evidence from its readers as well as the media they have come up with The Olive Branch in Rutland as its number one pub.
It's nice to see that as well as good food, the pub takes a positive attitude where its beer is concerned, favouring local brewers.
As the crow flies it's one of the nearest pubs on the list to my home, although I've never been. I'm not at all surprised that no Northamptonshire pubs appear on the list.
I didn't get to the Reading Beer Festival this year. Actually I didn't go last year either, but I did go in 2006 and was very impressed with the vast range of beers, both British and foreign, and what is probably the largest range of ciders outside GBBF.
I read today that 14700 visitors drank more than 55000 pints of beer and 10000 pints of cider. That's an impressive statistic, and it's obvious Reading festival really does draw in the crowds.
I have heard from friend though that they queued for more than two hours, and in one case I've heard three and a half just to get in. That can't be much fun! Beer festivals really can be ridiculously popular, but I harp back to a previous article I wrote. I much prefer going to the day sessions. It's very rare you need to queue to get in during the day.
Sixty six new beers for me in April. Around half of these were at two festivals whilst most of the others were in various pubs. I drank very little at home during the month for some reason.
To be honest, quality wise it was a below average month. Only two beers from the bottle are worthy of particular mention. I had an unseasonal bottle of Corsendonk Christmas at the beginning of the month. This is one of those rare beers that actually deserves to have the word 'Christmas' in it, being nicely spiced. Good brown fruits also. This was bettered by the bottle of Mikkeller Santa's Little Helper which Phil smuggled into Coventry Beer Festival. Phil stated this was a couple of years old, and that bit of age and maturity could be tasted. This is a 10% beer from Denmark brewed in the Belgian style, and has some very rewarding malty and yeasty flavours. It is a deserving winner of bottle beer of the month.
From the cask, I enjoyed Oakham Quint whilst on a stroll around Leicester. Oakham never fail to impress, and later in the month I enjoyed No Bully Dozer also. Both beers are hoppy as expected. Coventry BF provided the four other really nice cask beers of the month. Two porters in Fullers London Porter, and Bazens Knoll Street Porter; a hoppy Alehouse Sauvin So Good, and Dark Star Over The Moon Mild, all vie for top spot, but it's the Fullers which gets it.
As stated it's the first time I've tried it in years, and it's almost as good as I remember. A complex fruity, roasty, smoky porter with some chocolate and caramel edges. It just goes to show that Fullers can brew some great stuff when they put their mind to it. This wins not only cask beer of the month, but the overall prize too.
November 1992, I get a phone call from my parents asking if I fancy a few days in the Lake District between Christmas and New Year. That sounds like a nice idea; let's go for it says I.
I'd never really been bothered about beer before. Sure I drank it, and 'bitter' was my choice over lager, but I wasn't that concerned about the nuances of the drink. I knew I enjoyed Wells Bombardier, Marstons Pedigree (believe me, it was nice in the early 90's) and I'd had some lovely Boddingtons in a pub near Manchester once, but ask me to name a few other good beers and I honestly couldn't.
So the trip to The Lake District ensued, and, for some reason I cannot remember, we visited The Masons Arms in Strawberry Bank. A remote pub, but famed the nation over. A quick look at the bar revealed a few real ales and books on the tables showed that the pub had a pretty good range of foreign bottled beers. I don't think we were aware before we got there, but the pub brewed its own beers back then, but one beer, or to be precise its name and pumpclip, just said 'drink me'.
That year Mauldons Black Adder had won Champion Beer Of Britain; an award I'd not even heard of. The pumpclip proudly advertized this award, and added to the fact that Blackadder sounded like a pretty cool name (the television programme hadn't started yet), we had to order some. It was delicious. A roasty full bodied dark stout. It seemed very complex and so flavoursome. This was probably the best beer I'd ever had the joy of tasting.
It was wonderful. But, it would have been rude not to try the home brewed stuff, so we then had some Amazon Bitter. To be honest after the Black Adder, this was really bland. From memory it was just an ordinary bitter with sessionable qualities, but it couldn't stand up to the stout we'd just had.
So a third beer was called for, and especially for the season, the pub had their homebrewed Damson Beer on. Now this sounded both wierd and exciting. I didn't know about fruit in beers, and I don't even think I'd ever eaten a damson in my life. The beer itself was a potent 9%, and quite strange to my tastebuds, it was pretty sour, and I'm not sure I liked it.
But I'd tried three beers, all very different. I'd been shown in one lunchtime session what a versatile and exciting drink beer is, and I wanted more.
We had a few more beers that holiday, mostly from Northern breweries, and although nothing matched the beauty of that Black Adder, I enjoyed each and every one. A hobby was born, and thousands of different beers later, I'm still discovering new things.
That's how it started for me. Mum and Dad - it's all your fault!!!
Today marks the start of CAMRA's annual mild month. During this month pubs make an extra effort to put more milds through their pumps, and events are held to celebrate this much underrated drink.
I'm a big fan of mild and am lucky to have two of the very best brewed on my doorstep: Potbelly Beijing Black, and Great Oakley Welland Valley Mild. There will, no doubt, be an abundance of these two beers in my local decent freehouses. I would prefer it however if a changing mild was a permanent sign at better pubs. The volumes drank during May suggest that it's an admired style, and the (usually) low alcohol content makes it an ideal beer for a session.
I'm not sure who is to blame for the relative scarcity of mild during the other eleven months of the year. Is it the consumer who would rather drink other types of ale; the publican who is nervous whether it's salable; or the brewer who doesn't produce enough of it.
I think that the current fashion of calling mild by another name as Lees have done with their Brewers Dark, and Everards have done with their latest beer is probably going to see an upturn in sales.
It's a real shame though that brewers feel that they have to do this. I prefer to call a spade a spade.
I've not been to a pub today but I'll try to keep an eye out for milds during the month, and let you know the best I sample in early June.
The third of a pint measure seems to becoming ever more commonplace at festivals these days, whether they be CAMRA organised or pub festivals. They have been available at both the Coventry CAMRA and Merchants Inn festivals which I have been to recently.
I guess they became popular again in 2006 when it was introduced at GBBF to such demand that they ran out of glasses pretty quickly. They didn't have the foresight then to have third pint measure lines on the larger glasses which we are now seeing at festivals, obviously giving the customer the choice which of the three measures they want. Increased customer choice is certainly the way forward.
I ranted about Peterborough beer festival last year where I was refused a third and even told it's not a legal measure, yet now they are more readily available, I'm not sure it's what I really want.
Real ale is a funny beast. Quality can vary so dramatically due to all sorts of influences. Of course some beers are plain bad, but others are effected by age, handling or whatever else. So you really can never guarantee what you are going to get. If you read Tandleman's, or Tyson's blog, you will see that very often they are disappointed with their beer, and for each disappointment money has been handed over. With beer averaging around £2.50 a pint around here, I'm not sure I'm willing to waste my money to that extent, and even £1.25 for a nasty half may be a step too far. So 80 odd pence for a third may not seem such a waste. BUT a really good third of a pint is over in no time. I am left wanting more. But do I really want to buy another third (or more) when there's so many other beers to try? I make no excuses that I have a ticker mentality, and although I have promised to tick less this year, that's proving harder than I thought.
So should I revert to halves? Should I drink thirds and if it's a good beer be grateful and move on?
I think the third pint measure seems to be popular; I do see lots of people having them. What is your take on the nip?
Wherever in the country you live I would hazard a guess that there is a beer festival within ten miles of your front door this bank holiday weekend. If there isn't then you have my sympathy for living in such a barren location. My suggestion would be to move!
In Northampton we have a festival of Welsh beers at The Malt Shovel. This will be the first festival for some time due to the regular change of landlord over the last year, so unless anything's changed all the handpumps (13) will be handed over to festival beers. The festival runs from Friday evening until Monday night, with all day opening over the weekend which sadly only happens at festival time. Expect the pub to be very busy, but that does make for a special atmosphere. The beer list is below, of the thirty one beers I've only previously had ten, so plenty of new stuff for me to try!!
Purple Moose
Snowdonia 3.6%
Madoc's 3.7%
Glaslyn 4.2%
North Wales
Abergela Ale 5.0%
Bodelwyddan 3.8%
Farmers' Favourite 4.0%
Welsh Stout 4.4%
Moelfre Mild 3.6%
Facers
Clwyd Gold 3.5%
Flintshire Bitter 3.7%
Northern County 3.8%
Sunny Bitter 4.2%
Splendid Ale 4.3%
Dave's Hoppy Bitter 4.3%
Landslide 4.9%
Plassey
Plassey Bitter 4.0%
Fusilier 4.5%
Cwrw Tudno 5.0%
Dragon's Breath 6.0%
Great Orme
Orme's Best 4.2%
Celtic Dragon 4.5%
Three Feathers 5.0%
Welsh Mountain IPA 3.8%
Welsh Black 4.0%
Jolly Brewer
Taid's Garden 4.0%
Suzanne's Stout 5.0%
Conwy
Castle Bitter 3.8%
Welsh Pride 4.0%
Celebration Ale 4.2%
Honey Fayre 4.5%
Mulberry Mild 3.8%
The Guardian TV and Radio blog today has an article about TV's top 10 bars and pubs. It's a list which is bound to meet with plenty of dissent. For my part there should certainly be a place for The Jockey from Shameless and, my number one, The Grapes from Early Doors.
Whilst considering this list it made me realise how unrealistic pubs are on television programmes. I mean everybody drinks in them, from your real heavy drinkers like Frank Gallagher down to your sherry supping posh old ladies like Emily Bishop. I'm not sure many ladies of her ilk really are regulars in back street corner boozers, yet she's in there every night the old minx.
Of course television isn't really life as we know it, and television pubs even less so, but I do enjoy playing spot the pumpclip. I spied Westerham Grasshopper on The Apprentice this week. That's a beer I've never had, so does spotting it on TV count as a tick? I do hope so!
I realise this is supposed to be a blog about beer, but in my defence I have bought beer from the store so there is a tenuous link, but look what they are doing at my local supermarket.
You couldn't make it up.
In contrast to Coventry which I wrote about last week, Rugby has more going for it. Famous for its school and the birthplace of some sport whose name escapes me, it is worthy of a visit for historical reasons. However I tend to go to places just for the beer, and in The Merchants Inn they have one hell of a pub.
For those who know The Malt Shovel in Northampton and are impressed by the breweriana on display, The Merchants actually puts it to shame. It's a veritable feast of old advertizing boards, posters, pump clips, mirrors and collectable old beer bottles (all of which I think are full). It's pretty much a museum of old beer memorabilia.
On an average day the pub sells nine real ales on handpump together with a pretty decent range of Belgian bottles. However I was here for the Joy Of Six Beer Festival week long festival featuring 66 beers, all of which have a 6 somewhere in the ABV; a bizarre theme if ever there was one.
Stillage space in the back bar is limited so of course not all 66 beers are available at once. There was actually a choice of 28 which should, though, be enough for anyone. I worked my way through eleven of them; and found them a mixed bunch in terms of quality. I was pleased to see Wickwar Station Porter, but was very disappointed in it, finding it to have an odd sweetness and no roasty flavours which Wickwar promise.I also tried Cauldron Snout, now brewed by Darwin, and a good beer, but not as nice as I remember it from its High Force days.
The best beers I tried were No Bully Dozer from Oakham, brewed with reference to the campaign to save The Brewery Tap, typically hoppy well brewed beer, and Lancaster Black, a nice tasty roasty stout.
Prices were reasonable for this part of the World at around £2.50 a pint, and the festival fish and chips looked bloody handsome. There will be another beer festival in the Autumn, and other pubs in Rugby have ones lined up for the Summer. Rugby CAMRA are having their festival in three weeks time, so right now it's a pretty good town for beer, and with it being less than a fiver on the train for me, life is sweet.
The World Beer Cup is a bit of a car crash of a competition with far too many categories, and beers being entered in categories which you would feel they don't belong in. There also seems to be an inordinately large amount of medals for the big boys.
Naturally the amount of beer entered is a tiny fraction of what is actually being produced in the World, with entries from these shores even more so. Having said that, it's still nice for a beer to be recognised by winning. The brewers obviously want to win or they wouldn't enter. Having said that though, I guess even being there is useful for getting your products known.
So it's hats off to Roosters of Knaresborough for winning category 51 English-Style Summer Ale, for YPA and to BrewDog of Fraserburgh, Scotland for winning category 16 Wood and Barrel Aged Strong Beer for Paradox Grain.
These are two breweries I hold in high stead and have discussed on this blog before. Congratulations to them both.
For those who can be bothered to look through the 91 categories, the full list is here.
The King Billy in Northampton is advertizing a beer festival next week to celebrate St George's Day. It's a good thing that a pub chooses to do this and hopefully it will be a success and raise the profile of real ale both in this pub and the town as a whole. It's a fairly small affair with just ten beers, which is less than the Malt Shovel just hundred yards away has on on a permanent basis. Still it's a start, so good luck to them.
I may pop in if I have time, but my priority next week is the Joy Of Six Beer Festival at The Merchants Inn in Rugby where sixty six beers are promised during the week.
Do you think 10 beers constitutes a beer festival or is there a lower limit?
As can be read here, Mordue Brewery of Tyne and Wear has gone into administration.
It would be sad indeed if this micro went under. In 1997, only two years after they formed Workie Ticket their 4.5% bitter won Champion Beer Of Britain, and a very fine beer it is too. I enjoyed a fair few pints of it on my only beer drinking trip to Newcastle. They have still been winning Beer Of The Festival awards in the last few weeks.
Time will tell of course if this is the end, but I do hope not.
As the Wetherspoons festival has now ended I am going to take the current results showing on their website as the final results. They make surprising reading for those who thought the Polish plum beer was less than pleasing. As can be seen from the list below the plummiest of all beers actually came out on top. I'm not sure what this says about Wetherspoon customers although it has to be said I did like the beer. Cains Bock which came in second was pretty poor in my opinion and certainly not what I would describe as a bock. And the most talked about beer in Britain came in third. The Stone was the best beer I tried although I didn't think it as wonderful as a lot of commentators. The list makes interesting reading, that's for sure.
Rating: 4.2 13 NAMYSLOW ORIGINAL PLUM BEER
Rating: 4.1 30 CAINS BOCK BEER
Rating: 4 50 STONE CALIFORNIA DOUBLE IPA
Rating: 3.9 49 GREENE KING ABBOT RESERVE
Rating: 3.9 43 YO-HO TOKYO BLACK
Rating: 3.9 39 TITANIC LAST PORTER CALL
Rating: 3.9 47 MAULDONS BLACK ADDER
Rating: 3.8 45 JENNINGS SNECK LIFTER
Rating: 3.7 29 BRAINS REVEREND JAMES
Rating: 3.7 41 FREEMINER SHAKE MANTLE GINGER ALE
Rating: 3.7 32 HARVIESTOUN OLD ENGINE OIL
Rating: 3.7 36 ORKNEY DARK ISLAND
Rating: 3.6 14 SKINNER’S HELIGAN HONEY
Rating: 3.6 35 WOODFORDE’S NELSON’S REVENGE
Rating: 3.6 23 SHARP’S EDEN PURE ALE
Rating: 3.6 38 ST GEORGEN BRÄU KELLER BIER
Rating: 3.6 42 OUTLAW BONESHAKER INDIA PALE ALE
Rating: 3.5 06 SPRINGHEAD LIBERTY
Rating: 3.5 11 EVERARDS SUNCHASER
Rating: 3.5 34 PHOENIX BLACK BEE
Rating: 3.4 17 THWAITES WAINWRIGHTS
Rating: 3.4 26 HIGHGATE HIGHLAND WHISKY ALE
Rating: 3.4 31 HALL & WOODHOUSE HOPPING HARE
Rating: 3.4 33 OKELL’S DR OKELL’S EASTERN SPICE
Rating: 3.4 46 KELHAM ISLAND PALE RIDER
Rating: 3.4 05 OAKHAM JHB
Rating: 3.4 44 HOLDEN’S SPECIAL
Rating: 3.3 27 SALTAIRE AMARILLO GOLD
Rating: 3.3 03 CALEDONIAN CHOCOLATE DROP
Rating: 3.3 19 HAMPSHIRE IRONSIDE
Rating: 3.3 15 WADWORTH HORIZON
Rating: 3.3 09 BEARTOWN GINGER BEAR
Rating: 3.2 24 SHEPHERD NEAME EARLY BIRD
Rating: 3.2 22 WYCHWOOD MAD HATTER
Rating: 3.2 10 ELGOOD’S OLD WAGG
Rating: 3.2 25 WELTONS OLD COCKY
Rating: 3.2 16 NETHERGATE APRIL FOOL
Rating: 3.2 07 ROBINSONS TOP TIPPLE
Rating: 3.1 08 THEAKSTON BLACK BULL BITTER
Rating: 3.1 02 YOUNG’S BITTER
Rating: 3.1 01 J. W. LEES BREWER’S DARK
Rating: 3.1 21 RINGWOOD 78
Rating: 3 28 WHITE HORSE WAYLAND SMITHY
Rating: 3 04 MARSTON’S SUNBRIGHT ALE
Rating: 3 18 BATEMANS SPRING GODDESS
Rating: 2.9 12 HOOK NORTON 303 AD
Rating: 2.9 20 HYDES TROJAN HORSE
Rating: 2.6 40 ECAUSSINNES COOKIE BEER
Rating: 1.8 37 ARCHERS GOLDEN
Apart from the cathedral I cannot really think of a good reason to visit Coventry. The last time I went to a beer festival there was in the 1990s when it was held at the University, and although it was a good festival, the walk there and back from the station was not a pleasant experience.
The festival is now located at the rugby union ground, which is nearer the station, but still a less than pleasant journey on foot is required. I travelled from Northampton station with my friend Dave and his prolific letter writing brother Pete, who knew a shortcut to the venue. If I'd have been on my own I would have walked around the ring road, no doubt taking my life in my hands, but the shortcut was safe from vehicular dangers. The rugby club is a comfortable enough venue, although the seating area does feel a bit cramped as is the standing room near the stillage area, but the quantity of toilets cannot be faulted. As for the beer, the choice ran to 80 odd at opening time on the Friday of which not too many had disappeared by opening time on Saturday. A few ciders, bottled beers and country wines made up the numbers. Although this wouldn't really be described as a ticking festival there was still a decent amount of rare beers, and certainly enough new stuff for me to choose from.
Due to sharing halves, and a couple of smuggled bottled from the US and Denmark, I got through 19 beers. Although beer quality could have been better, and the temperature a little on the warm side (an all too common fault of indoor festivals, but that's for another day), I enjoyed almost everything I tried. The stand out beers were Dark Star Over The Moon, a very modern hoppy mild, and Fullers London Porter, which I've had before but not for many years. It truly lived up to the memory I had of it being a delicious full bodied roasty porter.
The beer festival opens from 12-4 and 6-11 on just the Friday and Saturday. There's a lot of talk about why festivals need to close during the afternoon, and it's usually because of a lack of staff, who, remember, are all volunteers. Coventry though seemed to be very well staffed; waiting time for beers was very very short, so I'm not sure why there was a need for a two hour kick out. I'm sure though the pubs of Coventry appreciated the extra trade.
All in all another good festival. One I shall certainly return to. As well as my travelling companions, there were also four RateBeerians: Glen, Simon, Mes and Phil, who all added to it being a great day. Phil, as ever took some superb photographs, which may be found here.
Of course I prefer my beer to be dispensed by handpump (without sparkler) or straight from the barrel with the assistance of good old fashioned gravity. This is natural beer served naturally. Adding gas to a beer is unnatural and unnecessary. It does nothing for the taste and even less for the aroma if that matters to you. Carbon Dioxide is bad enough, nitrogen is much worse.
The biggest bugbear for me though is how long it takes to pour a bloody pint. I haven't done a scientific time trial but I will guarantee it takes less than a quarter of the time to pull my foaming pint of real ale than it does for Mr Old Duffer's pint of Extra Creamy Smooth to arrive. Waiting for my pint is bad enough at the best of times but when the delay is being caused by waiting for some crappy flavourless nonsense to be poured, I'm even more agitated.
Still, I'm off to Coventry Beer Festival tomorrow. No gas there (except plentiful flatulence).
It's not every day the postman brings you something special. It's normally junk or, worse still, bills. However on Monday the doorbell rang and there was a very nice man with a delivery for me. It transpires that unsolicited I had been sent a great box of beer from Beermerchants.com
Beermerchants call the selection The Hercules Case due to the strength of all the beers. The weakest of the eighteen different brands is a tear-inducing 8% with the strongest being the delicious Bush Ambrée. Also in there is my all time favourite Rochefort 10. There's also a rather snazzy glass, just perfect for most strong Belgian beers. The box was superbly and safely packaged with enough 'peanuts' to keep a monkey happy for a lifetime. To round off the package is an A4 sheet of tasting notes which include recommendations for food pairings. I've not seen this before from online suppliers, and I think it's a really nice touch especially for the beginner.
For me of course the case was the best value possible, but. at £34.90 for normal customers, it still represents great value. There are other good deals to be had. Give the website a visit and see what you think.
