maeib's Beerblog

End Of The Line

2009-06-15T19:50:00.001+01:00

I've decided to put the blog to sleep. To be honest I've gotten bored with it and lack the motivation to post with any regularity. I shall keep the blog here rather than shut it down, and will still be twittering or whatever it's called and the latest tweets will still appear at the top of the front page.

I'd like to thank all of the people who read the blog especially those who read it regularly and those who took the effort to post comments; the vast majority of which were interesting and thought provoking.

Special thanks obviously go to BrewDog and BeerMerchants for the sponsorship. Their adverts will remain because they are companies I believe in who are doing the right things in the beer World.

If you are a fellow blogger and I like your blog, I will continue to read it and will attempt to comment more regularly.

Good luck

Presentation Night For Our Pub Of The Year

2009-06-10T19:24:00.001+01:00

18 or so members of the Northants Branch of CAMRA attended the Pub Of The Year presentation at The Coach & Horses in Wellingborough in Monday night.

It was a good evening (even if I did have to drive) with Phil our branch chair doing us proud with a good speech as ever, whilst John the landlord provided a full bar of ten real ales for our delectation.

Leicestershire Branch who judged the seven pubs on our shortlist did a good job in choosing the Coach as winner. One I wish was just a little bit closer to home.

Britiah Summer Ales

2009-06-07T10:46:00.003+01:00

It seems very strange writing about Summer beers whilst sat in my conservatory with the rain absolutely lashing it down and disturbing the peace of an otherwise empty house, but the pubs are starting to fill with beers which brewers choose to name Summer ales.

I am often filled with dread as these beers appear. They are pale, around 4% and often very ordinary. Using pale malt whilst utilising the usual boring earthy English hops does not a Summer ale make.

However my recent experiences seem to demonstrate that more and more brewers are getting the hang of putting flavour into their beer, and that flavour may be described as Summery.

It really is, for me, all about the hops, and where good brewers like Oakham and Pictish have led with their heavily hopped beers using stuff like Willamette and Centennial, others do appear to be following. You need a bit of citrussy flavour to be a Summer beer. You get that from using the right hops. US stuff, New Zealand stuff, First Gold from here all do the trick. Fuggles and Goldings really don't.

Loads of the pale beers I had at our beer festival last weekend hit the spot because they used the right hops. Hats off to those brewers that haev realised this and are prepared to spend a little bit more on imported hops. I like flavour in my beer and a Summer beer on a hot day needs just the right type of flavour.

Other Pubs In Brighton

2009-06-05T19:52:00.004+01:00

As well as the usual suspects, I did visit a few other pubs whilst in Brighton. Most of these were in the current Good Beer Guide or on the local CAMRA branch's ale trail.

The exception to that was The Pump House in The Lanes which I visited twice. This pub sells five real ales, and the three different ones I had: Dark Horse Whip Cracker, Harveys Sussex Best and Taylor Landlord were all in really good condition. I'm told by friends that the food, especially the sausages, was excellent too. I do wonder why the pub doesn't currently feature with the local CAMRA bods.

The Great Eastern is at the bottom of Trafalgar Street, down the hill from The Lord Nelson, and sells three beers. I had a reasonable Ballards Best and an underpar Hop Back Summer Lightning. The pub does stock around 40 different bourbons if that's your thing.

Southover Street is in the Hanover area of Brighton and has the steepest street I ever wish to walk up. I went to two pubs; the interesting Greys being the first. Greys has a good selection of Belgian beers and promotes a different Belgian brewer each Tuesday. I stuck to the local stuff though with a reasonable Harveys Best, Landlord being the only other choice. Further up the hill is the ex-Gales, now Fullers, Sir Charles Napier. Four beers from the London brewer were available. my choice was Summer Ale as I rarely see it. It was OK. no more.

Near the London Road shops is The Mitre which is a Harveys pub, and sadly was the quietest pub I went in all week, which was a shame as I liked it. The Hadlow Bitter I had was good too.

Another pub in The Lanes is The Victory, three beers were available including two from Arundel of which Sussex Gold was my choice, and decent enough it was.

Finally I went to The Waggon and Horses near the theatre where I passed over the two beers on offer in favour of the Westons Perry (we all need a change sometimes), which was decent enough in an unchallenging manner.

There are countless other pubs to try and next year I'll do so. I may just uncover a gem.

Brighton Pubs - The Obvious Go-Tos

2009-06-03T20:11:00.004+01:00

I enjoy going on my annual sojourn to Brighton, as there are a handful of pubs which I could never tire of, all of which sell beers I rarely see up here.

My first pub was The Lord Nelson on Trafalgar Street which is a Harveys pub. Harveys beers are not universally popular but I like them a lot. I had pints of Armada and the light mild Knots Of May, both were on good form. I didn't return there during the week but did sample other Harveys beers namely Sussex Best and Hadlow Bitter

I paid two visits during the week to The Evening Star. This pub is almost faultless. The cask beers, especially the Dark Star beers were superb (I tried American Pale Ale, Mild For May, Old Chestnut and Hophead); the guests are well chosen and the foreign list is superb. I really loved the Oaked Arrogant Bastard. This is one of the pubs I'd give anything to have in my town.

A pub I didn't get to last year, but I had to do this year was The Basketmakers Arms. This was a Gales pub, but of course is branded as Fullers now, and sells five from that stable as well as two guests. It is always very busy, but is definitely worth a brief visit.

Finally of the old favourites was my Brighton local, as I stay just around the corner, The Hand In Hand. I only went in a couple of times and am pleased to report that the home brewed beers are still available and are better than I've ever had them. There are three of fours guests too, which are in good nick.

These are the pubs I will go back to year on year, but there are others which are worth an occasional visit which I'll write about next time.

Coming Soon From Adnams

2009-06-02T19:32:00.000+01:00

I'm going to Suffolk for a week towards the end of June, and will be staying very near Southwold, which is, of course Adnams country. Looks like I've timed it well as this new beer should be available.

I do like Nelson Sauvin hops.

Northants BF - That Was A Mad Weekend

2009-06-01T19:35:00.002+01:00

The sun shone, and the drink flowed. This year's Northamptonshire Beer Festival had more beer than ever and far more cider than ever. It also had our best weather ever, with temperatures in the mid twenties.

The beer list numbered 238 although there were a few barrels doubled up making around 250 casks in total. We didn't sell out of beer, although we were quite close, but therein lies the good planning in the beer ordering because there is no point having gallons and gallons of beer left at last orders on the last day. We did run out of cider at around 8;30 though. There was a bit of beer left for the staff to have a quick drink and a sing song after closing which was very pleasant.

I didn't catch any of the entertainment, which included an allegedly successful attempt at a World record motorcycle jump; the sealed knot and plenty of bamds, but I'm sure they were a success.

My efforts were restricted to selling beer and helping back of house, and I hope visitors thought we ran a good show. We didn't have sufficient glasses on Saturday night, but it was busier than expected. Nobody went home thirsty though.

I did manage to sample around 40 different beers over the three days and have to say that they were in great condition. It's long been an assertion of mine that outdoor festivals work better than indoor as far as beer quality is concerned. We had to soak the barrels with cold water to keep them at optimum temperature; something which is easier to do when the water can flow into the ground rather than a linoed floor.

Favourite beers I tried included Boggart Rum Porter, Green Mill Big Chief and Chocolate Mild, Beowulf Wuffa and the festival special Great Oakley Abbey Stout. Honourable mention also to Nobbys Chilli Summer; proof again that chilis is a great additive to beer.

So, it was really hard work and my aging knees felt the pressure, but it was great fun, and we'll be doing it again. Same time same place next year. Roll up, roll up.

Last Minute Changes

2009-05-26T22:26:00.000+01:00

Everything is up on the stillages for this week's festival and there are surprisingly few alterations to
the list I posted at the weekend.

Boggart Dark Mild replaced by Trad Mild.
Boggart Dark Rum Porter is actually Rum Porter.
Elland Anniversary Ale is 7th Anniversary Ale.
Bridestones TJ5 is actually TJ's.
Rockingham Black Forest replaced by Dark Forest.
Brampton Best replaced by Golden Bud.

The following are no shows:

Red Squirrel Colorado American IPA
Sawbridgeworth Malt Shovel Porter
Sawbridgeworth Chocolate Orange Stout

Northamptonshire Beer Festival 2009- The Beer List

2009-05-24T10:08:00.001+01:00

The Northamptonshire Beer Festival starts this Thursday at Delapre Abbey in Northampton at 5pm. It is then open all day from noon. The beer list which should be final is listed below. I will update with any changes as and when they occur.

Abbeydale Brimstone
Abbeydale Belfry
B&T Gold Leaf
B&T R101
B&T Black Dragon Mild
B&T Edwin Taylors Extra Stout
Bank Top Flat Cap
Bank Top Volunteer
Bank Top Pavilion
Bank Top Port o' Call
Beowulf Wuffa
Beowulf Goldwork
Beowulf Chasewater
Beowulf Swordsman
Blue Cow Best Bitter
Blue Monkey Original
Blue Monkey Evolution
Blythe Blythe Bitter
Blythe Staffie
Blythe Ridware Pale
Blythe Tetty's Tipple
Boggart Hole Clough Dark Mild
Boggart Hole Clough Standard Pioneer
Boggart Hole Clough Sun Dial
Boggart Hole Clough Ray of Sunshine
Boggart Hole Clough Dark Rum Porter
Brampton Best
Brampton 1302
Brass Monkey Best Bitter
Brass Monkey Mandrill
Brass Monkey Monkey Pooh
Brass Monkey Silverback
Brewdog Zeitgeist
Brewdog Punk
Brewdog 77Lager
Brewdog Dogma
Brewdog Trashy Blonde
Brewdog Paradox Smokehead
Brewsters Hophead
Brewsters Marquis
Brewsters Cheval Mort
Brewsters Kiyo
Bridestones Pennine Dark Mild
Bridestones Brown Ale
Bridestones TJ5
Bridestones Sandman
Brunswick White Feather
Brunswick Pilsener
Cathedral Magna Carta
Cathedral St Hugh's
Cathedral Black Imp
Cherwell Valley Larkrise
Cherwell Valley Cropredy Bridge
Cherwell Valley Kineton Fight
Cherwell Valley Duke of Cumberlands Head
Concrete Cow Ironbridge Brew
Concrete Cow Cowzat'
Dark Star Hophead
Dark Star Espresso
Dark Star Festival
Dark Star Original
Dent Dent Bitter
Dent Aviator Ale
Dent T'owd Tup
Digfield Fools Nook
Digfield Barnwell Bitter
Digfield March Hare
Digfield Shacklebush
Digfield IPA
Digfield Mad Monk
Dowbridge Centurion
Dowbridge Fosse
Dowbridge Legion
Dowbridge DB Dark
Dowbridge Morgans Beez Neez
Elland Mambo
Elland Beyond the Pale
Elland Anniversary Ale
Elland Space
Empire Golden Warrior
Empire Pilgrim
Empire Valour
Empire Longbow
Frog Island Fuggled Frog
Frog Island Best Bitter
Frog Island Shoemaker
Frog Island Natterjack
Frog Island Fire Bellied Toad
Frog Island Croak & Stagger
Full Mash Brass Monkey
Full Mash Stapleford Stout
Grainstore Cooking
Grainstore 1050
Grainstore Silly Billy
Grainstore NIP
Great Oakley Welland Valley Mild
Great Oakley Wot's Occurring
Great Oakley Wagtail
Great Oakley Harpers
Great Oakley Gobble
Great Oakley Delapre Dark
Great Oakley Tailshaker
Great Oakley Abbey Stout
Green Mill Chocolate Mild
Green Mill A Bitter T'ale
Green Mill Chief
Green Mill Big Chief
Hart Nemesis
Hart Dishy Debbie
Hawkshead Bitter
Hawkshead Lakeland Gold
Hawkshead Brodies Prime
Hoggleys Northamptonshire Bitter
Hoggleys Kislingbury Bitter
Hoggleys Mill Lane Mild
Hoggleys Reservoir Hogs
Hoggleys Pump Fiction
Hoggleys Solstice Stout
Hoggleys Slum Hog
Hopshackle Historic Porter
Hopshackle Double Momentum
Iceni Celtic Queen
Iceni Fine Soft Day
Iceni Cranberry Wheat
Julian Church Parson's Nose
Julian Church Wonky Spire
Julian Church Martyr
Leatherbritches Copper Classic
Magpie Fledgling
Magpie Dark Secret
Magpie Best Bitter
Magpie Monty's FIrkin
Mallinsons Amarillo
Mallinsons Statue of Zeus
Mallinsons TR7
Mallinsons Jubilee Tower
Maypole Little Weed
Maypole Major Oak
Milestone Raspberry Wheat
Milestone Loxley
Milestone Rich Ruby
Milton Icarus
Milton Nero
Naylors Pinnacle Bitter
Naylors Pinnacle Blonde
Nethergate Old Growler
Nethergate Essex Beast
Nethergate Umbel Magna
Nethergate Lounge Lizard
Nethergate Essex Border
Nobbys Best Bitter
Nobbys Guilsborough Gold
Nobbys Claridges Crystal
Nobbys Monster Mash
Nobbys Chilli Summer
Nobbys T'owd Navigation
Oakham Endless Summer
Oakham Attila
Oakham JHB
Oakham Inferno
Oakham White Dwarf
Oakham Bishops Farewell
Oldershaw Grantham Dark
Oldershaw Regal Blonde
Oldershaw High Dyke
Oldershaw Harrowby Pale
Oldershaw Grantham Stout
Oldershaw Ahtanum Gold
Grainstore Phipps IPA
Grainstore Phipps Red Star
Potbelly Welland Truly
Potbelly Black Sun
Potbelly Potbelly Best
Potbelly Aisling
Potbelly Ambrosia
Potbelly Beijing Black
Potbelly Inner Daze
Potbelly Crazy Daze
Purple Moose Black Hand Porter
Purple Moose Madogs
Purple Moose Snowdonia
Purple Moose Glaslyn Ale
Purple Moose Darkside of the Moose
RCH Old Slug Porter
RCH East Street Cream
RCH Double Header
RCH Steampole
RCH PG Steam
Red Squirrel BSPA
Red Squirrel London Porter
Red Squirrel English IPA
Red Squirrel Colorado American IPA
Red Squirrel Blonde
Rockingham A1 Amber Ale
Rockingham Black Forest
Sawbridgeworth Malt Shovel Porter
Sawbridgeworth Chocolate Orange Stout
Shardlow Kiln House
Shardlow Whistle Stop
Shardlow Golden Hop
Silverstone Pitstop
Silverstone Chequered Flag
Southport Golden Sands
Southport Carousel
Spinning Dog Herefordshire Owd Bull
Spinning Dog Mutleys Dark
Spinning Dog Celtic Gold
Spinning Dog Mutts Nutts
Spire Ruby Tuesday
Spire Land Of Hop And Glory
St.Georges St George is mild
St.Georges Order of the Garter
St.Georges Dragons Blood
Tower Steamin Billy Last Bark
Tower Steamin Billy Skydiver
Tower steamin Billy Fox's Revenge
Titanic Golden Age
Ufford White Hart
Ufford Golden Drop
Vale Vale Best Bitter
Vale Edgar's Golden Ale
Vale Hadda's Spring Gold
Vale VPA
Vale Castle Bitter
Weatheroak Light Oak
Weatheroak Victoria Works
White Horse Village Idiot
White Horse Wayland Smithy
White Horse Black Beauty
White Park White Gold
White Park Kellihopter
White Park Cranfield Bitter
Whitehaven Ennerdale Breeze
Whitehaven Ennerdale Bitter
Whitehaven Ennerdale Blonde
Whitehaven Ennerdale Copper
Wild Walker Old Big Ead
Wild Walker Last Orders
Wolf Golden Jackal
Wolf Lavender Honey
Wolf Woild Moild

Coach & Horses Dronfield

2009-05-15T21:27:00.003+01:00

I didn't realise that most pubs I take my wife in are a bit dodgy until she exclaimed "it's really nice Mark" when we walked into The Coach & Horses at Dronfield. It appears she was expecting somewhere a bit "spit and sawdust".

The C&H is owned by Sheffield FC and sells beers from the excellent Thornbridge Hall brewery. It also though sells a deecnt range of foreign bottled beers and carefully chosen draught keg products. It's anything but spit and sawdust being actually pretty smart.

Thornbridge beers available on my visit were:

Wild Swan
Lord Marples
Redbrick
Jaywick
Jaipur

I tried them all except the Redbrick and particularly liked the first two on the list. Jaipur was a bit disappointing, being a little warm which I'm told is very unusual here.

Although I didn't eat the menu looked really appetizing wih some lovely looking choices.

It was a well spent hour and one I hope to repeat again. The pub is having a beer festival on the next bank holiday weekend with a large selection of Thornbridge beers but also a good range of other brewers beers such as BrewDog, Dark Star and Marble. I wish I were going.

Hello Again

2009-05-13T17:56:00.001+01:00

Yes, it's been a while hasn't it? Sorry about that. I've been a bit busy with one thing and another, but to hell with excuses.

So, what have I been up to since we last met? I went to the beer festival at The Merchants Inn in Rugby, where all beers had an animal in the name and we were encouraged to order merely by animal name rather then the whole beer (Bugger that). I went to the first festival at The Victoria in Northampton, which needed to have more beers on at a time. I spent a week in the Peak District and only went to four (yes four) pubs the whole week. I had no internet access and precious little mobile phone reception, but that's not always a bad thing. And finally, and more pressingly, I've been puttiing together the tasting notes for this year's Northamptonshire Beer Festival which runs from May 28-30 at Delapre Abbey. This blog will be the first place the beer list will be published and there are some good beers to behold.

I'll try to get the blog back on a regular roll now that things are quietening down. I'm off on my annual pilgrimage to Brighton on Sunday though. That will be fun.

Bucking The Trend

2009-04-30T19:58:00.000+01:00

In the last few weeks I've heard of four oubs reopening in Northamptonshire and only one closing. And that single closure is said to be temporary according to the notice on the front door.

I'm not for one moment suggesting this is the end of the bad period for pubs, but it's a step in the right direction.

Opening Hours

2009-04-27T20:06:00.002+01:00

When I first started drinking pubs had to close during the afternoon, then the law was changed so that drinking was allowed between 11 and 11 on every day except Sunday where it was noon until 10;30. I lived in a village at the time and my pub of choice flirted with opening all day on Saturday only. It was usually just us lads in there, playing skittles and listening to the football on the radio.

It was a far cry from what we have today with pubs effectively able to open all the hours they want to but where generally speaking the vast amount of pubs choose to open all day at least at weekends and Fridays. The pub which closes during the afternoon is in a definite minority, especially in towns or near tourist attractions.

Not all pubs do though and I'm confused why last orders is called at 3ish with a number of customers still spending their money. I know the same could be said for 11pm but people do have beds to go to.

So why do pubs which probably could open all day choose not to? Sure staff need a break but if there are enough staff and shift patterns are sorted correctly this shouldn't be an issue. The question of profit doesn't come into it as I've already identified that these are busy pubs only.

No, it's been suggested to me that pubs close to enable cleaning and general sprucing up between services. This may seem a valid argument but I can honestly say that I've not noticed an all day pub being particularly grotty in the evening.

So. what's the reason? And if you ran a successful pub would you consider an afternoon of no money going through the tills?

CAMRA - A Romantic Notion

2009-04-21T20:00:00.002+01:00

The following is a verbatim quote from the Weekend supplement of The Times dated 11 April:

The Campaign For Real Ale (a worthy cause) travels around the country holding festivals to promote the beauty of real ale, cider and perry.

It really is a lovely thought that a troupe of individuals hold a beer festival and then load the lorries and move on to the next town where they unload and start all over again. If that's a real job then I want a piece of it. Does anyone know to where I should apply?

If I Owned A Brewery Part 5 - The Pumpclips And Bottle Labels

2009-04-16T20:47:00.001+01:00

I first thought up this series of posts whilst sat in a pub looking at the pumpclips all over the wall situated about ten feet away. Even with my good eyesight some of the clips were hard to read and if I could make out the beer's name I couldn't neccesarily make out anything else. Even stood just inches away from the bar there have been occasions when reading the beer name has proved problematic. It shocks me why a brewer would make it hard for potential punters to order their beer correctly.

In my opinion a pumpclip needs three things: the beer name, the brewery name and the ABV. The brewery logo may also be included if it's not too intrusive. Anything else is just superfluous. And all three of the required things should be clear enough and large enough to be read. I think that interesting shaped pumpclips are OK and that that can set a particular brewery's beers apart from others. A good example of a clear pumpclip with the necessary information is those from Milestone, whilst those from Leeds are clear and definitely distinctive.

The same principles apply for bottle labels. They should be kept plain and simple. The joy of a bottle is the opportunity to use the back label to really go to town. Standing in an off licence struggling to work out what is what is too much of a pain for a grouchy old drinker like me.

So to paraphrase, like my beer naming policy my labelling is going to be simple and traditional also. I just wish more brewers were like me.

If I Owned A Brewery Part 4 - The Occasional Beers

2009-04-13T19:48:00.002+01:00

So we've ascertained from comments left that some people agree that beers don't need to have leftfield or interesting names to sell and that where a name gives an obvious indication of what the customer might expect it will lead to a more informed choice.

The naming policy for my permenant and seasonal beers may be a tad boring, but the beers won't be. They will use the best ingredients and a sufficient quantity of each to impart good flavour. My beers won't simply be one mess of Fuggles and Goldings after another. It's fair to say they won't be particularly extreme though. These are going to be high production beers that will appeal to your ordinary beer drinkers as well as your aficionados. The occasional and one off beers though are likely to be more extreme and appeal to a more niche market.

I am a member of that niche market myself. I've regularly blogged about interesting foreign beers that are being imported and have sang the praises of the more daring progressive brewers like BrewDog and Thornbridge. It's with these beers that I'm going to have some fun

I'm not going to complicate matters too much though. Again you're going to have a fair idea what you're going to get by the way the beer is named. So my single hopped IPA brewed with Simcoe is going to have a name to reflect itself, and its' going to be really hoppy, the same goes for my other IPAs. I'll brew proper fruit beers with proper fruit, no juice but the real thing, and I'll experiment with ingredients like coffee, spices and barrel aging, but not too many of anything at a time.

The beers will be produced when the time is right to source the right ingredients. It's not quite seasonality but there will be a method to the madness of why each beer is produced at a certain time. These beers will be bottled as will as produced cask conditioned; my other stuff may not see a bottle. And quality control here is of the utost importance as sadly all too many British BCAs are substandard. I won't allow mine to be

Hopefully the consistency and quality of the regular stuff will see interest in these beers, and export deals will be on the table. It all seems too simple to be true, and of course it is all my fabrication, but it's a workable model I'd have thought.

Next time I'll do pump clips and bottle label designs.

If I Owned A Brewery Part 3 - The Seasonal Beers

2009-04-08T20:14:00.002+01:00

I've been picked up, possibly fairly, for the boring naming policy of my imaginary beers. They won't taste boring though.

As well as the permanent beers I will have seasonal beers. These seasonals though will be representative of the season or a celebration of an annual occurrence. They won't just be any old new recipe with a name to match the time of year. The same seasonals will be brewed year in year out, and drinkers will look forward to each year's output.

It's far rarer in UK than in USA for regular and relevant seasonals to be produced, and it actually tends to be the older, perhaps more traditional brewers who do it. Harveys do it probably better than others although Shepherd Neame seasonals are anticipated highly in Kent although perhaps not so much further afield. I also look forward to finding Youngs Winter Warmer each year.

As is my want the beers will all be named so as to inform the punter what to expect, so the following beers will form part of my portfolio:

Light Mild for March (the alternative mild month)
Chocolate Stout brewed with massive amounts of Chocolate Malt for Easter
Strong Mild brewed for May (the current mild month)
Summer Lager a real and authentic lager, brewed throughout the Summer
Green Hop using the first pickings.
Bonfire Smoke a smoked style beer for the period around November 5th.
Winter Warmer a true strong warmer for those sipping nights around the fire.
Christmas Ale strong and spicy.

That's probably enough to cover the whole year. There's no need to brew beers for Valentine's Day or Halloween or St Georges Day or any other nonsense just to get another beer under your belt. These will be proper quality meaningful seasonals.

Having said that though there will be other beers brewed as and when the time is right. More on that next time.

If I Owned A Brewery Part 2 - The Permanent Beers

2009-04-07T21:53:00.001+01:00

Beer is a serious drink and as such deserves to treat its drinkers like serious people. My brewery therefore will produce a number of permanent beers in various styles, and will have serious understandable names.

All too often we order beers not having a clue what we are going to receive. We can of course ask the bar staff but sadly they are not always fully in command of the knowledge to tell us whether the beer will be a golden ale or a dark mild. ABV doesn't tell us as much as it used to. That pint of Old Gutblaster could be anything.

Sure, sometimes it's nice to be surprised, but that can occasionally be problematic.

My dark mild will therefore be called Dark Mild, my porter Porter and my barley wine Barley Wine. No jokey names thank you very much. It may be boring but breweries back in the day didn't feel the need for odd nomenclatures.

You'll know what you'll be getting with my beers. Tomorrow I'll do the seasonals.

If I Owned A Brewery Part 1 - The Name

2009-04-06T20:46:00.005+01:00

My brewery's name would be based on one of two criteria. It would either be named after me or it would be named after its location.

It seems a modern phenomenon to give a brewery a 'joke' name or something totally irrelevant to anything in particular. If you look at the oldest breweries still in existance, they are all named after their founders.

So we have Shepherd Neame; Harveys; Palmers and Elgoods who are the only existing independent breweries from pre 1800.

The oldest brewery still in existence named after its origin is Old Swan from 1835, but that's probably cheating slightly as it's actually a brew pub, although Felinfoel wasn't far behind.The oldest brewery still around not nammed after its fouders or loaction seems to be Caledonian from 1865. Even then there is a link with Caledonia being an old name for Scotland

So being the traditionalist I am I'll be going either with Edwards' Brewery which has been done before or Wootton Brewery.

Tomorrow I'll talk about the beers.

Beer Of The Month - March 2009

2009-04-05T20:56:00.002+01:00

The beer I probably drink the most of at home is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. It's easily attainable; cheap and tasty. In addition it's as consistent as you'd like a bottled beer to be. It was the only bottled beer I drank in March which was above average, so therefore has to win Bottled Beer Of The Month.

There was more competition for cask beer of the month, although there was an outright winner. The highlights of the month were Leicester BF and Liverpool. I was ill for a lot of the rest of the month so drinking opportunities were at a premium.

Both the articles linked to go into detail about the better beers on each day, so I won't bore you by repeating myself. The best beer in Liverpool was Wentworth Black Zac followed by Northern Two Tone Stout, but these pailed into insignificance against the wonder that was Atomic Firebox. I liked reading the comments that were left and can easily see that beers brewed with chili might divide opinion, but this was a work of true genius. I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if it doesn't end up being the best cask ale I drink all year.

Northants POTY

2009-04-02T20:38:00.002+01:00

The Northamptonshire CAMRA pub of the year has just been declared. The winner is The Coach & Horses in Oxford Street, Wellingborough.

I'm pleased for this pub which beat far more well known freehouses The Malt Shovel, Northampton and The Alexandra Arms, Kettering.

The Coach sells up to ten real ales but is careful not to have too many on at quieter times of the week. Service is always quick and friendly and for those who are that way inclined a choice of straight glass or handle is always offered. I've never been disappointed in the quality of the beer and I'm led to believe the food's pretty good as well.

I've written about the pub once before here. That real fire I referred to is still there and is roaringly lovely at the relevant time of the year. So a big congrats from me.

My Liverpool Crawl

2009-04-01T20:00:00.006+01:00

The one thing that struck home whilst walking around Liverpool on Monday was how many quality pubs there are within a short walk. I did five pubs before dinner, then headed in the other direction after dinner and did two more. I'm a bit of a lightweight sadly as there are a number of other pubs the seasoned drinker should really have done.

There are a few jottings below of my experiences:

Pub one - The Dispensary; smart and clean; nice wood panelling; despire being owned by Cains only one of their beers on. I had Wentworth Black Zac which was very tasty and TSA Golden Thistle which was very bland.

Pub two Roscoe's Head; quaint little pub, nice snug, institution, untouchable by which I mean its place in the GBG may well be sacrosanct. My Jennings Bitter was a little vinegary.

Pub three The Fly In The Loaf; modern and almost trendy, good selection of foreign beers well chosen; four Fullers beers and only one from owners Okells. Why is that? I had Wild Walker Last Orders and Okells Bitter, both were bland.

Pub four The Pilgrim; Bohemian; great tables; cheap food; mostly students. My Phoenix White Tornado was hoppy and crisp.

Pub five Ye Cracke; tatty; interesting; doesn't need to smarten up; interesting guest beers. I had All Gates Mild At Heart and Hornbeam Winterlong Dark Bitter, both were decent enough if a little ordinary.

Pub six Thomas Rigbys; walked in just as someone appeared to be being ejected so a good start; good draught foreign beers, would have had the Aventinus Weizen Eisbock if I could guarantee I would keep it down. Instead I had Fullers Hock which was pretty nice.

Pub seven Ship & Mitre; big beer selection; intriguing beer board; fast service despite the pub being busy. I had Betwixt Storr Lager and Northern Two Tone Stout both good beers doing what they say on the tin.

I trugded home, unwittingly passing Dr Duncans where a quick glimpse through the windows revealed just Cains beers which at that time of the night didn't float my boat.

In summery a crawl around Liverpool is not hard on the shoe leather and is sure to result in a wide selection of interesting and old favourite beers. I'ev not been since 2000, I hope I'll be back before 2018.

Official Beer Of Welsh Football

2009-03-28T15:46:00.001Z

That rather splendid title is given to Brains 45, a new beer from the Welsh capital's own brewery. It is being advertised big time at The Millenium Stadium at the moment.

Don't ask me what it tastes like as I've not drank it, nor does the description help me. I really don't know what a "continental style Welsh beer with a classic continental taste" is.

Anyone any clues?

Going To Liverpool

2009-03-23T21:21:00.001Z

I'm staying in Liverpool next Monday for just the one night at a residential training seminar. There's a disco arranged in the evening and we've been told to "bring our dancing shoes"

Bugger that; I'm going out drinking. It's been years since I've been on the beer in the land of Scouse. Where should I go? I'm staying centrally and will probably head for The Ship & Mitre first.

Anybody want to design me a pub crawl? Something in the region of six to eight pubs.

Leicester Beer Festival 2009

2009-03-22T19:25:00.002Z

Leicester Beer Festival this year was as good as ever. I managed one four hour session drinking with Simon and his friends, whilst the ale-affinity guys were also in the room. I'm late doing a write up but those lazy bloggers take the biscuit.

As usual there was a vast selection of beers to be sampled and a vast selection of tickers to spot. It's not really my thing but the sixteen festival specials certainly are attractive to the uber-beerspotter. Beer quality was excellent; I've got a thing about indoor festivals with insufficient cooling opportunities equalling substandard beers by day three or four of the fest, but as I went on day two this really wasn't an issue.

I've already written about the outstanding beer of the day, but other top beers were had in the form of:

Bollington Oat Mill Stout
Old Spot Spot O Bother
Bragdy'r Nant Monkey Nells
and BrewDog Divine Rebel and V2009

Opa Hey's Engels Best Bitter was poor whilst Potbelly Captain Pigwash was disappointing. Hopefully I'll get to retry that one though.

I'll be back again next year. My birthday week wouldn't be the same without a trip to Leicester.

50 Pence A Unit

2009-03-15T20:42:00.000Z

The recommendation from Governmental adviser Sir Liam Donaldson regarding the pricing of alcohol in the UK is all over the news today.

He has suggested that as a minimum alcoholic drinks should cost 50p per unit of alcohol. This would result in wine costing upwards of £4 a bottle, which of course decent wine already does; and supermarket beer and cider prices would need to increase and the ridiculously low price promotions such as this would have to stop.

This article cleverly informs us that a pint if beer would cost over £1. Now JDW would be putting the price of Ruddles Best up, but would anybody else be reducing their prices? I certainly don't think so. This is just another attack on drinkers and should be rejected at all costs. I'm pleased to see therefore that James Purnell who is effectively my boss and is a man I rarely agree with has suggested it won't be happening.

Not A Real Ale Festival

2009-03-14T21:21:00.004Z

I got quite excited when I read that a pub chain I'd not previously heard of was holding a six-week long beer festival in its 98 pubs.

The festival was brought to my attention by this article about a pub not a million miles from me. There's even the offer of free beer and a trip to The Czech Republic for a decent beer reviewer, if only I knew one.

Further research however reveals that the Vintage Inns showcase will see, according to this piece from their website just seven real ales (sic). One of which is the Czech pilsnerBudweiser Budvar. The mind boggles.

Don't get me wrong, I'm more than happy to drink decent lagers at festivals and often do, but at least recognise the fact that they are not real ales. People shouldn't spread so much ignorance. Just call it a beer festival; there's nowt wrong with that.

The Future's Chili

2009-03-13T20:08:00.002Z

I've seen the future. Stuff juniper berries, stuff fairtrade Rwandan coffee, stuff raspberries. The future is chilis.

Not your Cave Creek one chilli per bottle overkill, but a more subtle 100 chilis per nine gallon cask.

I went to Leicester Beer Festival yesterday; more of which another day, and thoroughly enjoyed the second such beer I've had from Atomic Brewery of Rugby. Atomic Firebox had just enough heat from the little peppers that your tastebuds were dancing an overjoyed spicy jig.

Truly delightful. I implore more brewers to brew with the little blighters.

Beer Of The Month - February 2009

2009-03-10T20:35:00.002Z

February was far quieter for beer drinking than I had envisaged. In fact the same can be said about updating this blog. I must change both of these indiscretions.

I make no excuses for bigging up Great Oakley beers. I may be the BLO and live in the same village as the brewer, but if the beers were poor I would say so. They are not poor though by any stretch of the imagination, and the new beer Monkey, brewed to celebrate the 500th brew was very good. Brewed using a mix of the hops and malts used in all the other beers it is pretty complex. Most describe it as malty but on the second occasion I had it the hops were really blossoming. It's a shame that we will probably never see the beer again.

Abbeydale Vespers, Julian Church Midnight Mass and Thornbridge Ashford were the best three beers I had at Wicksteed Park Beer Festival, all three being darker beers; Ashford having the hop profile of a New World Brown Ale as it is described.

The best cask ale of the month though was Castle Rock Screech Owl. It's odd how I've had just two beers in The Kean's Head in Nottingham this year; both of them strong, pale and hoppy, and both of them cask beer of the month. Lovely stuff and all over Castle Rock pubs at the moment.

Only one bottled beer I had in January is worth a mention and it is a beer I've written about before. Mikkeller All Others Pale is a delightfully hoppy American Pale Ale from Denmark's finest and is so wonderfully drinkable. It uses four different hops: simcoe, centennial, amarillo and nugget, and is delightfully balanced. It just beats Screech Owl to overall beer of the month. Buy it in the UK while you still can from Beermerchants

Pedigree Chump

2009-03-06T20:28:00.003Z

I'm not sure I understand why Marstons are increasing the strength of bottled Pedigree.

They've kept the recipe the same yet have changed the process and this has resulted in a stronger beer which now tastes more like the cask version. In my opinion the best process they could have changed is the pasteurisation process. Make it bottle conditioned and maybe then it'll taste like its cask brother.

Better still brew it like they did in the 1980s; there is no doubt in my mind that the present Pedigree is a sad reflection of what it used to taste like.

Bells Brewery Branching Into Pubs

2009-03-03T20:41:00.000Z

I wrote about Bells Brewery's off licence here and again here after it relocated. Well sadly it's no more. That's a real shame as it was a very decent offie with a good selection of bottled beer.

The brewery though is branching out into the pub scene and has already taken over two in Leicester with plans to increase its stable to five. The two pubs they have started with are The Queen Victoria in Southampton Street and The Leicester Gateway in Gateway Street. Both these pubs have been good real ale pubs in the past but with the Victoria closing and the Gateway changing hands the Leicester real ale scene diminished a little.

I trust with Bells commitment both to real ale and quality imported beers these are going to be great pubs. Beer festivals should feature fairly regularly in both, and I hope to report with more information in the near future.

Castle Rock Screech Owl - Available Now

2009-02-27T20:44:00.004Z

I wrote back in October about Castle Rock Screech Owl winning SIBA Beer Of The Midlands in spite of its apparently being a one off beer.

My learned friend Mr Reluctant Scooper commented that it would become a permenant beer in the New Year. Well it appears he was right (not that I ever doubted it). I went to three Castle Rock pubs yesterday, and it was available in all three. And very good it is too. Nice and hoppy with a lovely long, almost warming body. I'm glad that it has turned out to be a beer I would recommend and that, indeed, it may be coming to a pub near you soon.

Wicksteed Park Beer Festival

2009-02-25T19:35:00.002Z

Wicksteed Park is Northamptonshire's premier amusement park. You could say it's our county's answer to Alton Towers, but that would be lying.

Unlike Alton Towers though Wickies as us locals know it hosted a beer festival last weekend. This was the second such event and follows a successful fest in the Summer. I went on the Friday night together with a group of others from the local CAMRA branch, and had a great time.

The beer list which numbered 35 was well chosen with a reasonable selection of local beers and some from further afield. The beer ordering was done in part by Nip from Kettering's premier free house The Alexandra Arms. Beers I had were from the following breweries; Thornbridge, Silverstone, Atomic, Abbeydale, Downton, Twickenham, Julian Church, Elland and Blue Bear. All were in good condition but particular good ones were Thornbridge Ashford and Abbeydale Vespers.

The next festival is planned for 30 July to 2 August, and I did hear discussions that there may be 52 beers for that one. I'm looking forward to it.

Greene KIng And Spoons Kill Off Micros

2009-02-17T19:32:00.004Z

The news that Ruddles Best has replaced Greene King IPA as the 99p per pint beer of choice in Wetherspoons pubs is a dreadful thing for lovers of microbreweries and an unreal coup for Greene King.

The brewers are said to have been worried that "given our obsessive attention to quality and the consistently high level of investment we have made in building IPA’s brand equity, we are understandably concerned about anything that might undermine this", yet they are apparently not worried that a beer which "is a well known cask brand full of flavour and character but with a relatively low abv. It is a great value, quality beer with a fine heritage and wide appeal.” might suffer the same negativity.

No, the truth is that Greene King IPA will be joined in the top two best selling cask ales in the country by its stablemate. Greene King are on an absolute winner here and will increase their share of the market even more.

This may initially be to the detriment of other larger breweries, but they will think of ways to fight back and the micros will lose out.

I'm beginning to wonder if a spoons is just for festival times and best avoided otherwise.

An Epic Beer At Wetherspoons

2009-02-16T20:11:00.003Z

This year's first Wetherspoon International Beer Festival runs from April 15 to May 4 and is planned to be the biggest and best yet.

There will be six 'foreign' beers available (i.e. foreign recipes brewed at British breweries by their original brewer). The first of these that has been announced is Pale Ale from New Zealand brewer Epic.

What is interesting is that this beer which is said to have fifteen different hops (Thanks to Mr Reluctant for spotting my mistake here [see comments] although it seems it's a common misconception) is to be brewed at Everards in Leicester, rather than one of the Marstons stables of breweries. Clearly more breweries are becoming interested in aiding the brewing of interesting and tasty beers

It is the first time this beer has been served from the cask. It should make for good drinking as, hopefully, will all the other festival exclusives.

It's Not All About The Lovely Bottle

2009-02-15T20:41:00.002Z

For the umpteenth time yesterday I overheard someone in the supermarket stating how lovely a St Peters bottle was as it went into their trolley.

It's an interesting method of choosing your beer of choice, but I guess St Peters are to congratulated as the bottles are both a talking point and obviously a selling point.

Beer purists would state that the green glass isn't conducive to the best maintenance of the drink therein with the light able to see its way in, and the green brigade would comment how heavy the bottles are. Compare them to the new Adnams bottles which are positively lightweight by comparison.

For me though, it's all about the beer and I'm not really too convinced with much of the range. I've just opened a bottle of Amarillo, and although it's palateable enough it's a pretty poor example of a beer which uses this wonderful hop. So bearing in mind that the art of marketing seems to be something they have mastered, better efforts in brewing would now be welcome.

Rather A BrewDog Than A Watchdog

2009-02-08T20:29:00.001Z

The ongoing saga between BrewDog and The Portman Group is set to move on apace with the "bad boys of British brewing" (their words) threatening to sue the namby pamby self proclaimed watchdogs of alcohol morality.

It's a shame things are dragging on like this and that my earlier advice appears to have been ignored.

I'll watch proceedings with great interest and hope that common sense eventually prevails.

Beer Of The Month - January 2009

2009-02-05T20:37:00.004Z

I'm not going to distinguish from now on between beers I've had before and those I haven't, when I choose my beers of the month. The only beers which are excluded are past winners. I'm not as bothered about seeking out new beers as I once was, and am far happier revisiting stuff I know is good.

January was a quiet month on the beer front as it usually is. I didn't get out much and the beers in the garage are so cold I just couldn't be bothered bringing them in and getting them to a desirable temperature.

As far as cask beers went I enjoyed Ascot On The Rails a dark bitter from a brewery I've consistently enjoyed. Castle Rock Black Gold in the brewery tap: The Vat & Fiddle in Nottingham; was as good as ever; a roasty yet citric mild, very much a modern beer. But the best cask ale was Thornbridge Jaipur IPA in The Kean's Head, also in Nottingham. This is the first time I've had this beer through a handpump and I think that extra pressure really brought out the fantastic hop flavours. I'm hoping to get to The Coach & Horses in Dronfield in May; that'll be a lot of fun.

As far as bottles go I had real high hopes for Struise Mikkeller. When two fantastic brewers get together and produce a 9% hop monster IIPA, then I've got to be excited. Except I didn't get a hop bomb. What I did get was a strong Belgian ale with that Struise sweetness. I did enjoy it but it fell short of my expectations and desires.

Far better was the first beer I had this year: Fullers Vintage Ale 2006 was as complexly fruity, bready, malty, hoppy and vinuous as I've come to expect from these annual offerings. A great beer which just shades the Jaipur as overall Beer Of The Month.

Good Beer Guide - Play Your Part

2009-02-03T19:58:00.003Z

There are over 1000 members of our CAMRA branch. Sadly there are probably less than 30 who are what would be described as 'active'. That is they attend branch meetings and take part in surveying and campaigning.

A huge factor in this is that geographically we are a bit area, being most of the county of Northamptonshire. Meetings are spread out as much as feasible over the county, but that brings the added compliaction of driving which doesn't mix well with the consumption of ale.

It is probably impossible for the small number of active members to visit every pub in the county to ascertain their worthiness for the Good Beer Guide; it's probable that between us we know of all the good pubs but it's not certain that we would know if pub A in tiny village B has become the real ale haven we'd all love to have on our doorstep.

For that reason I am actively trying to promote the CAMRA National Beer Scoring Scheme, which can be found here. Scores are awarded for each pub visit with those scores ranging from nought to five with half marks allowed. Nought means the beer is undrinkable whilst five means the beer was perfect. Sure it's not a perfect system. Better beers are likely to acheive better scores than boring mass marketed beers even if they are served in the same condition because the beer experience is better, but at least it gives branches an idea of how pubs are doing throughout the year if the site is used regularly.

In my opinion CAMRA don't promote this website enough or explain how useful it can be at Good Beer Guide selection time.

Please consider logging a score each time you are down the pub. It really only takes seconds. And please try especially hard if you are in Northants, we'd really appreciate it.

GBG Survey Woes

2009-02-01T20:13:00.002Z

Like Tandleman, our CAMRA branch is currently considering its entries for the 2010 Good Beer Guide. With that in mind I took the bus into town on Saturday to do a bit of surveying.

My plan was to visit seven pubs; five of which are in the current GBG and two are possibles. It wasn't a successful day. I'm not going to name the pubs to save their embarrassment, but as you will see I won't be promoting the inclusion of some of these pubs based on this visit.

Pub one on my itinery was the town's flagship real ale pub. It's a nail on certainty for each and every GBG until it has a major change of business plan. My half of Red Lion White Lion was ok. It was in decent enough condition so any flaw in the beer wouldn't have been the pub's fault. It wasn't worth staying for a second; it'll be getting my vote based on the regular trips I make in there throughout the year.

Pub two was a very short walk away. A pub I've visited probably three times in the last five years. Beer quality in the past has been below average with the sole decent beer in memory some J.W.Lees Plum Pudding a few Christmasses ago. I ordered a half of Wentworth Bee Smoked. I was warned this was an acquired taste. Well if you like heavily vinegared beers behind a sweet smokiness then yes you've acquired yourself a strange taste. It was almost undrinkable. That's that pub off my recommendation list then.

From here I decided to go to the furthest outpost on the itinery, and work my way back to the bus station and thus home. I've heard good things about the next pub which is in the current guide, but due to the fact it doesn't open during the day on week days, I've not been in since it's been this good. But it opens all day at the weekend doesn't it? Actually no. I walked all that bloody way to discover it's a four o'clock job at the weekend too. Bugger, bugger, bugger. I don't appreciate a long walk for no sustenance. I'll have to go back soon, but it's a bit of a nuisance to say the least.

Pub four, or three as it happens, is a nice corner local which serves four ales all in good condition usually. I had two halves to make up for my earlier disappointment. The Newby Wyke Bear Island was good, but the Sharps Doom Bar was a bit disappointing. I'm not a big fan of Sharps beers normally, but it worth noting that by the time I'd finished my half the barrel had gone.

My next stop is a GBG entry, but I get the feeling it got in last year by the skin of its teeth. It's a pub I do go in occasionally and it's ok but no Earth stopper. My beer if choice was Abstinence Ale from Greene King. My impression of this beer which again suffered from an undesired acidity was that this is very probably a rebadge of XX Mild. It was not in the best form and this pub will also struggle to get my vote on this performance.

My final two stops were the two Spoons. However both were absolutely heaving and getting near the bar to order a drink proved too much effort for someone who'd had such a rubbish day's drinking.

The reason for this overcrowding appeared to be football related. Northampton were playing Leicester; pretty much a derby game. The streets were riddled with police. Time for an early bus home which at least meant I felt like the bottle of Spanish red we opened in the evening. Alas that too was disappointing. It just wasn't my day.

Welcome Back Quaffale

2009-01-28T20:30:00.000Z

Some time ago, I reported that Quaffale had been removed from the internet. For those of you who had no idea what this website was about, you couldn't, of course, go and have a look to see what the fuss was about.

Well, I'm pleased to be able to report it's back. Go and have a look and discover all you need to know about British breweries, both those in existance now and forthcoming ones. What Rick Pickup doesn't know about future breweries isn't worth knowing.

Why Is There A Champion Winter Beer?

2009-01-23T21:13:00.003Z

Oakham Atilla has been crowned Champion Winter Beer Of Britain at The National Winter Ales Festival.

Well done Oakham say I, although I'm calling for this competition to be scrapped and the Champion Beer Of Britain judging in August to include all styles of beer. The only time I've had the beer was in October 2004 at The Bedford Beer Festival which it could be argued is the Winter although I'm not convinced. Looking at the other ratings on RateBeer most people on there drank it in the Autumn or even the Summer, so although it the type of beer that just doesn't see the light of day at GBBF, it's probably inaccurate to call it a "winter beer", so even the name of the competition is folly.

The categories which are judged at NWAF are old ales and strong milds; porters; stouts and barley wines. Any beers fulfilling these categories struggle to gain floor space at Earls Court, instead being showcased in Manchester. I really cannot agree with these beers being described and judged as Winter beers. I'd like to see them available all year round, but CAMRA calling them and judging them as such is not helpful to the necessary promotion of these styles.

So CAMRA, by all means have a huge beer festival in the North at this time of year, but let both festivals have the best of all British beers and just have the one big best beer of Britain competition.

Portman Group Being Prats Again

2009-01-21T20:49:00.002Z

The ridiculous Portman Group are up to their old tricks.

Admittedly the BrewDog boys don't shy from a fight and maybe they shouldn't provoke the poor loves so much, but when are the old fuddy duddies going to get a sense of humour? It may be time to all a truce now. Sit down, have a bottle of Speedball together, admit there is no harm in labelling beer in this way, and reach the final conclusion that actually the group are a waste of space and money and disband.

Job done - I should work for ACAS

Searching For Dogbolter

2009-01-21T20:37:00.002Z

Oh dear. Poor old Ken Clark. I do hope he doesn't walk too many miles looking for his favourite beer which hasn't been brewed for many years. I'm sure he's fully aware of its demise unlike the typically ignorant journalist.

Mind you it was definitely my favourite beer that the defunct Firkin chain brewed so I do admire Ken's taste.

It's Dark

2009-01-16T20:46:00.002Z

I don't know which is worse: the bar person who warns you that the mild you've just ordered is dark, or the bar person who pulls the mild and then says "ooh that's dark isn't it?"

Person number one is perhaps trying to be helpful, but I don't need warning thanks. I usually associate mild with darkness and I'm not frightened by a bit of colour.

Person number two should know his product. Pulling a beer for a customer shouldn't be the time they discover what that beer actually looks like.

Maybe I'm a moody old git but both these scenarios wind me up.

Down The Pub On A Quiet Monday

2009-01-13T20:47:00.004Z

I went to the pub last night for a CAMRA meeting. It's a pub I've not been to before more's the pity as I liked it, and the two pints I had were more than acceptable. Sadly I was the nominated driver or else I would have drank more.

Apparently this particular pub, like so many, is struggling a little and I fear for its future.

It's interesting to see the regulars faces when a group of strangers enter their pub, and although my experiences have always been positive, I think there's a certain suspicion as to what we are doing on their territory.

Similarly I take great interest in looking at the regulars and wondering what brings them to the pub on a Monday night. There's usually an interesting character or two on the quieter evenings; last night there was a man wearing a bowler hat which must have been two foot high. Thanks to The Beer Nut for spotting my error. It was, as the picture suggests, a TOP HAT.

People watching down the pub is always fun.

Beers Of 2008

2009-01-09T21:05:00.002Z

I've updated the left hand column with my Beers of 2008. It's excellent that an English microbrewed stout Old Chimneys Good King Henry turned out to be beer of the year. I had the beer at the excellent Merton Winter Beer Festival; this year's is only four weeks away and is promising a agood list already.

The stout isn't quite as good as its elder brother the special reserve, but is truly wonderful, with roasty, fruity flavours and a bit of rich soy. The finish goes on forever.

One thing which was apparent when going through my notes was the low showing for new beers from Belgium and Germany. It would be nice to rectify that this year.

Black IPA And Other Projects

2009-01-09T19:41:00.001Z

Following hot on the heels of IPA And Black, we have the latest update on the BrewDog Black IPA they will be brewing. In case anyone is interested I have voted for Ginseng and dry hopping.

It's going to be a busy year for BrewDog as far as brewing IPAs is concerned. The project to brew a 19th Century IPA and age it as sea is moving on apace, and is looking very intriguing.

Britain needs more innovative brewers and these boys are certainly delivering. More power to their elbows.

IPA And Black

2009-01-06T20:25:00.001Z

The 99 pence Greene King IPA is, as expected, shifting like hotcakes in Wetherspoons establishments. No one knows how to shift cheap beer as well as JDW; their client base is well used to bargains and this is the bargain of all bargains.

It's no surprise it's selling so well. People are always looking to save money and if you're undiscriminating about what you drink then you'll part with a pound for an average pint and a penny piece back.

I'm amused though at stories of people adding blackcurrant to their pints. This is presumably evidence of not liking the stuff in the first place and buying it merely because it is cheap. Surely that's a step too far. Save money if you like on substandard products, but don't buy the stuff if you don't like it. That's just ridiculous.

Beer Of The Month - December 2008

2009-01-04T20:35:00.003Z

December truly was a quiet month for new beers partly for the reasons mentioned yesterday. In total just 35 new beers passed my lips, nicely balanced between cask ales and bottled stuff.

The first cask ale worthy of mention was Wooden Hand Black Pearl. I've not been impressed by the previous beers I've had from this Cornish micro, but this was a nice salty, smoky stout. Following that came Adnams Explorer, the second beautifully hopped Adnams beer I've had in a row after the bottled beauty that was Innovation. This beer has Columbus and Chinook, but these are quite delicately used, and give more of an impression of a well hopped English style beer than an American hop bomb. The third good cask beer was Quercus QB found in The Romany in Northampton whilst delivering our branch newsletter. This is a pub I must get to more often if they are going to come up trumps not only with great beers but also with new breweries for me. As for the beer, it was a dark malty full flavored beer with chocolate, caramel, coffee, bread and fruit in the mouth and nose. Fourth and finally came Great Oakley Santa's Yuletide Log, this year's Christmas offering from my local brewer. This exceeded expectations with roasty flavors, as well as sourness and a great late bitterness. And yes, it had that chocolate finish we were promised. I had it twice during the month and it was excellent both times, and is a worthy cask beer of the month.

As for the bottles, two really stood out and they were both from Danish brewer Mikkeller: Stateside India Pale Ale is full of juicy citric hoppiness. Flavours of oranges and lychees abound on the tongue. It really was a fruity bitter number which I am pleased still to have another of. Still good but not quite as good was All Others Pale. This slightly less strong beer is still very hoppy, but this time they are more piney. Also very tasty and well brewed as I have come to expect from Mikkel.

It was a close call, but Stateside just beats Santa's Yuletide Log as overall beer of the month, maybe I'll get to try the latter again before it all runs out?

That Was That Then

2009-01-03T19:57:00.002Z

So Christmas and New Year are well and truly over; I was back at work yesterday and now need to resurrect the blog.

So how was it for you? I had the lurgy, and together with sleep deprived nights, my time wasn't as good as I'd have hoped. I didn't intend on getting drunk each day, but I certainly intended to drink more beer than I managed. I should have known something was wrong when two new beers I tried: BrewDog Hardcore IPA and Nice Chouffe. although good did not live up to expectations. However it was proven to me that my palate wasn't all it should be when old favourites Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and BrewDog Punk IPA didn't taste as excellent as ever.

Thankfully things were a bit better by new year, and my beer choices Mikkeller All Others Pale, and Fullers Vintage Ale 2006 were both great beers.

I hope you all had a great festive season and imbibed sensibly. I'm looking forward to trying plenty of new stuff this year, but also revisiting more old favourites. I must spend more time in the pub too.

Christmas Lunchtime Down The Pub? Not For Me.

2008-12-22T19:49:00.001Z

How is it that when I went to my parents for Christmas dinner when they lived in Cumbria, we would walk a mile and a half to the next village for lunch time pints, then walk back again, all the while in our absence Christmas dinner would be progressing nicely, with Mum putting the finishing touches to it on our return, and dinner would turn out wonderful.

In contrast I'm cooking for eight this year, and couldn't possibly contemplate being further than five yards from the kitchen until dinner is on plates? Going to the pub is just not an option.

Fortunately I have a garage full of beer so I won't go without, but I'd love to be as cool in the kitchen as my Mum!

Anyway, if I don't get to write anything between now and Thursday, have a good one and crack open something decent, and think of me slaving over the turkey and all the trimmings.

Men Only Clubs

2008-12-19T20:18:00.003Z

Back in December I wrote about my visit to a working mens' club which had a men only bar. Well now I discover that a social club which is totally men only has won a CAMRA club of the year award.

This is worrying on a couple of fronts. Firstly I thought CAMRA had some sort of inclusion policy, part of which is to encourage women to become members. There's a real desire to shift the stereotypical image of beards and beer bellies that this isn't going to help one bit.

Secondly who actually drinks in these places? What's wrong with the company of women? Ok we all like a night out apart from our partners ocassionally, but that doesn't mean the whole evening should be spent purely in a male environment. The amount of testosterone in that club must be frightening!

Close examination of the picture in the article I linked to though, does reveal a woman member of staff. That's right Mid-Boldon Club - your obvious idea of a woman's place is to serve the men. Additionally this quote "There's a great atmosphere here, and we wouldn't want the wrong type of person to spoil it." says a million words for the chauvinists of this Neanderthal part of the World. I sometimes wonder what century we are living in.

I see no similarity at all here with men only gyms, or womens' swimming sessions. Wanting a single sex drinking den is just not right.

Great American Beers Have Arrived

2008-12-17T20:57:00.003Z

Not long after I started this blog, and in comments I left on others, I lamented the lack of decent American beers available in this country. Sure we had a few, and some of them are very good such as Brooklyn Lager and Anchor Porter, but the beers available were mostly from the larger breweries.

Since then though the range has improved dramatically. We have seen beers from Great Divide, Flying Dog, Rogue, Goose Island, Left Hand and an increased range from Sierra Nevada. I dare say I've missed one or two as well.

In the last couple of weeks though we've seen more great, and in many cases, pretty rare, beers imported into the country.

Beers Of Europe's American range now includes twelve different beers from California's Stone Brewery, whilst the Port and Lost Abbey beers I mentioned previously, have now arrived and can be found here and here.

None of these beers are cheap - what do you expect with the cost of importation and the standard of them - but should be well worth the outlay. It may be too late for Christmas, but New Year's Eve may be a cause for celebration.

Are There Too Many Pubs?

2008-12-15T20:19:00.003Z

We are constantly hearing about the high volumes of pubs which are closing. Obviously the economic downturn or whatever we are calling it this week is not helping, but other excuses such as the smoking ban, the weather and England's recent sporting failures are also blamed. I wonder though whether there are just too many pubs, and it's merely a case of getting to a more realistic number and that 'survival of the fittest' is happening.

Closing pubs is far from a new phenomenon. When I first moved to Northampton, and was old enough to realise what a pub is, there was one on every other corner on the Wellingborough Road which is one of the main drags into town. Now there are about three quarters that number.

Similarly, the village I moved to at the age of ten or eleven had three pubs. It now has two; once upon a time it had five or six.

It's often a shame when a pub closes; more so when it's the only pub in a village, but there's always a reason for it beyond those stated at the start of this piece. With enough regular loyal custom the pub could survive. But you need to know your customers, and give them what they want and do it well.

There is a place out there for all types of pubs; be they theme bar type pubs, community locals, rough estate pubs, food pubs, real ale pubs and so on. But they have to know what they are trying to do, and focus. I suspect most of the pubs closing down are what I now refer to as "Woolworths Pubs". That is a pub which tries to be all things, and doesn't do any of them particularly well. A little bit more specialism in the pub world may be exactly what is needed.

Beer In A D Cup

2008-12-14T20:25:00.002Z

An underwear shop in Harrow has offered male customers a chance to win beer if they shop in store or online, as an incentive to break their fear at buying their partners something frilly.

I don't really understand the need for such fear when purchasing such items. At least it means the customers have someone special to buy such apparel for (or they are into transvestitism).

In a shock move though it's not some dodgy pale lager on offer, but Coopers Sparkling Ale, a half decent beer on offer.

So there you go then; only a handful of shopping days left to enter. Go and buy something to put jugs in and win something to put in jugs.

Beer Of The Month - November 2008

2008-12-11T20:28:00.003Z

The best beer I drank in November was actually Alehouse Robust Porter, a wonderfully rich, hoppy, very American influenced porter. However I've drank the beer before and as this column only deals with new beers to me, it doesn't qualify. It's an excellent beer though; one you should certainly seek out.

I drank the porter at a Hertfordshire beer festival in The Malt Shovel, at which I also enjoyed Buntingford Witch Project, a dark roasty, fruity bitter with coffee notes; Alehouse 99 And A Half Won't do, a headbanging 10% booze filled beer, and Red Squirrel Springfield IPA.

This is truly a great beer full of piney bitter American hops. So full in the mouth, and beautifully balanced. The other two people who have rated this beer on RateBeer gave it great marks too. It is a clear Beer Of The Month winner.

The month of course featured the Wetherspoons Beer Festival, which didn't get close to the high standards set earlier in the year, but one beer did stand out for me, and, I know, for others; although not everybody agreed with me that it was a great beer. Viking's Return was brewed by Mikkel of Mikkeller at Jennings and was both extremely bitter and very burnt at the same time. It was very complex and no doubt challenging. It was liked enough by Wetherspoons customers to place it second in the Beer Of The Festival voting.

I didn't drink many bottled beers during November, but the one I did really enjoy was BrewDog Chaos Theory. This beer won the prototype challenge, where it was up against a wheat beer and a schwarzbier. It is a typically bold IPA, coming in at 7.1%. I think this is the style of beer BrewDog does best, and this is just about the right ABV for this style.

December should be an interesting month. I always like to drink a few special beers around the Christmas break so the competition will be hot for the next Beer Of The Month.

How Important Is The Good Beer Guide?

2008-12-09T20:04:00.002Z

If you are a landlord and your pub is in the guide, are you chuffed? Do you think it brings extra custom? Is that custom the type you wish to attract? Do you see it as getting one over your fellow landlords in the vicinity who are not in the guide?

If you are a landlord who is not in the guide, but feels you should be, are you seriously pissed off? Do you think you are missing out on custom? Are you jealous of fellow landlords who are in? Do you think 'I'm better than them, there must be a vendetta'?

If you are a real ale drinker, do you exclusively drink in pubs which are in the guide? Do you look in the guide before you go to a strange town, so you can drink in those pubs? If the pub you drink in, isn't in the guide and you think it should be, are you willing to do something about it?

There are a lot of questions here, but I'm genuinely interested in the answers. Any feedback gratefully received.

BrewDog Beer Rocks Week Three

2008-12-06T13:13:00.003Z

It's BrewDog Beer Rocks week 3 time, and this week it's hops. Last week's winning choice for malt and ABV was 6.5% ABV using Pale Maris Otter, Amber Malt and Black Malt. So bearing that and the fact that it's to be a black IPA in mind, your choices this week are:

Cascade and Centennial
East Kent Goldings, Fuggles and First Gold
Warrior, Chinook, Simcoe and Motueka

Three quite different choices there; a regular pairing of American hops, a triumverate of British hops, or a hop bomb using US and NZ stuff. Plenty to ponder.

The video and voting can be found here.

They Drink A Lot In Derby

2008-12-02T19:31:00.003Z

My friend Simon, The Reluctant Scooper, lives just outside Derby and spends a fair amount of his time drinking within the city walls. Simon likes a drink, as those of you who read his excellent blog will have discovered for yourself by now.

It seems though that he's not alone in liking and drinking real ale in Derby, not that I ever expected he was. In fact it seems Derby drinkers polish rather a lot of the real stuff off.

As this article demonstrates, more pints of festival beer were sold in The Standing Order during the Wetherspoons Festival, than any other Spoons establishment, with the other (better) Spoons pub in town, The Babington Arms coming third.

There are rumours that beer is so expensive in Derby freehouses that the locals can only afford to drink in Spoons, but that's just malicious if you ask me.

One thing that worries me though is the comment in the penultimate paragraph of the article that St Austell Proper Job in The Babington tasted like "liquid pasties". Something wrong with their pipes methinks.

Quaffale - Rest In Peace

2008-12-02T19:16:00.001Z

One of the sites I link to in the left hand bar is Quaffale. This website was an invaluable source of information about all breweries in the UK, including those in the planning pipeline. Most breweries had photos, bringing a bit of life to each page.

It didn't attempt to list each beer brewed by each brewery; that's a thankless and impossible task, especially in these days of prevalent rebadging.

Beer Festival organisers used the site for contact details whilst ordering beers; scoopers used it to find about new breweries as soon as they hit the pubs, and beer lovers just loved it.

You'll notice everything in this article is in the past tense. Unfortunately, Quaffale guru Rick Pickup decided to close the site down yesterday. It's a sad event, sadder still perhaps that the information has all gone, but then leaving it as it was, and thus immediately out of date, would probably not have been the right thing to do.

Rick, I salute you, and thanks for all the information over the last eight years.

Beer Of The Month - October 2008

2008-11-27T20:07:00.003Z

Better late than never, I am able now to do my Beer Of The Month post for October. It looks like I had just 45 new beers in the month, almost all of them cask ales with two beer festivals at both Oxford and Nottingham standing out.

The best beer I had at Oxford was Prospect Nutty Slack, an excellent roasty, yet fruity mild, which I was surprised to find out was the first beer from this Lancashire brewery I've had. The stand out beer at Nottingham was another one from a brand new brewery to me: Bollington White Nancy had lovely fresh orangey hops throughout. I'd mostly stuck to dark beers at the festival and this golden ale beat all of them. Honourable mention though needs to go to Mallinsons Mild Thing.

The best cask ale of the month though was drank in The Malt Shovel in Northampton; the long-named Empire Pandemonium Vanilla Porter was a magnificent melange of coffee beans and vanilla. I'd been tipped off by a colleague at work earlier in the day, and wasn't sure I fancied vanilla in a beer but this really worked.

Only one bottled beer stood out all month, but it was good enough to be overall Beer Of The Month. Adnams Innovation was available as a limited edition beer late last year rolling into this year, and came at a premium price in a presentation box. I had bottle number 740 and sadly have no more. It is, by a country mile, the hoppiest beer Adnams produce and at 6.7% has a great backbone to support the hops. I would be more than happy to see Adnams repeat this beer, but this time sell it without the packaging at a more realistic price.

I always choose a non-English beer of the month as well. In October the best I had was Mysterious Myrtle Stout from Wales' Purple Moose. This was an interesting stout with a little something added. It wouldn't win prizes most months, but there wasn't a lot of competition this time round.

Sorry the report's a little shorter this time but some of the memories have become a little distant!

Castle Rock Beer Of The Year

2008-11-25T21:55:00.002Z

I've mentioned on here a few times that I am a fan of the Castle Rock chain of pubs, which were previously called Tynemill. They have an excellent commitment to real ale and are comfortable drinking pubs.

I was somewhat surprised therefore to read that its customers had voted Batemans XXXB as this year's beer of the year.

XXXB isn't a bad beer but it's hardly Earth shattering. The chain sells much better beers on a regular basis, notwithstanding its own beers such as Harvest Pale and Black Gold which are both very good. Thornbridge beers are regularly seen through the pumps; Jaipur would have been a much worthier winner in my opinion.

Perhaps Castle Rock's customers aren't as discerning as I imagined, or perhaps it's me.

BrewDog Beer Rocks Week Two

2008-11-24T15:24:00.001Z

Those of you paying attention will be aware of the Beer Rocks competition currently running on the BrewDog blog. Last week's result saw Black IPA beat Porter and Barley Wine to be the style of choice.

Week Two is to choose the ABV and the malts for this beer which will form part of the reange next year. Watch the video for the reasons why the following are your three choices.

8.5% ABV Munich Malt, Dark Crystal Malt, Pale Chocolate Malt
6.5% ABV Pale Maris Otter, Amber Malt, Black Malt
7.5% ABV Pale Marris Otter, Roasted Barley, Pale Chocolate Malt

It's option three all the way for me, but then I wanted a Barley Wine.

The Pub Cat

2008-11-23T20:37:00.002Z

Why is it that grown men appear to go soft whenever a cat wanders around a pub? I was in The Wellington in Birmingham last week; the bottom end of the pub was full of men drinking in twos or alone, and in waltzed the moggy. Almost without fail everyone made a fuss of it. Even me, and I really don't like cats.

There doesn't seem to be the same fuss about dogs, which are much better animals! More pubs should have a pub cat, if only to give lone saddos like me someone to talk to.

Having Too Big A Range From The Outset

2008-11-21T20:24:00.000Z

I had a beer from a Cornish brewery yesterday, which has only been going two years and already has 91 beers listed on BeerMad. I've had a few beers from the brewery, and while none of them have been bad, they have all been a bit meh, to use the latest word to hit our dictionaries.

To have produced this many supposedly different beers in just two years is a step too far, and makes me wonder which market they are aiming their beers at.

If I opened my own brewery I would concentrate on a very small core range for at least the first three months to ensure my beers were appreciated and that they were consistently well brewed.

I think three or four should be sufficient. A low strength bitter, be it golden or brown; a stronger 'best' bitter; a premium bitter, and a dark beer either a mild or a stout. The experimentation should start afterwards with the beer range increasing at my whim.

It is either a very brave, very good brewery which brings out tons of beers from the start, or a pretty poor brewery producing a lot of different beers knowing that a fair few people try anything once, and would not need to revisit the same poor beer.

Pubs Are For The Community

2008-11-18T20:42:00.002Z

I had a very interesting and emlightening day last Thursday. My employers were holding a diversity week, part of which involved a cultural tour of Leicester. As part of this tour I visited a hindu temple, followed by a mosque.

Never having set foot in either ever before, I wasn't sure what to expect, and there was a little trepidation. What I did experience though, was a warm welcome in both places and a real sense of the venues being meeting places which served the needs of their communities.

Returning home that evening I went to the pub. The pub, which I had never visited before was an estate pub, albeit a nice estate, and was very busy, especially so for a Thursday. There was a poker tournament going on, darts and pool being played in the bar, and (and this is the reason I went), a demonstration outside by a cooper from Theakstons. There was a real warm welcome here and a true feeling of community.

I'm not for one second suggesting that pubs are like churches, but in many ways they do the same job. It's where you meet like-minded people and make new friends. You are welcomed, even as a stranger, and maybe afterwards as a regular.

We are losing pubs by the dozen in this country. Hopefully for the most part it is the poor ones, and those which provide a sanctuary from all the crap in the World will be allowed to flourish.

BrewDog Rocks Project Week One

2008-11-15T20:33:00.001Z

Don't forget to place your vote in the BrewDog design a beer video blog. The choices are Black IPA, Porter and Barley Wine.

For some background information on the project click here

For the video and thinking behind these choices click here

Lost Abbey And Port Brewing On Their Way

2008-11-14T22:14:00.001Z

Anyone who enjoyed The Angels Share at this year's Great British Beer Festival will be excited to hear that Beermerchants.com yesterday announced the imminent arrival of beers brewed by Port Brewing/Lost Abbey. This excellent brewery which specialises in both American and Belgian beer styles has won multiple awards for its beers.

Having only tasted the one beer at GBBF I'm very keen to try more beers from their range.

I don't have details of which beers are coming yet, but hope to have that information soon. More information on the beer ranges can be found here and here.

These beers won't be cheap, but they represent the pinnacle of US brewing and may never be seen in the UK again. You wouldn't want to miss out would you?

You're On The Committee Now Son

2008-11-11T21:00:00.004Z

It was my CAMRA branch AGM last night. I've only gotten involved with CAMRA since starting this blog, offering to help both publicise and work at the Northamptonshire Beer Festival. I decided it was time I gave something back to the organisation, and also enjoy the company of local beer lovers rather than just the usual crowd I hang out with at festivals who come from far and wide.

I enjoyed working at the festival far more than I could have predicted, and have since enjoyed social trips and more branch meetings. It was suggested last month that I might want to join the committee. Our branch needs new blood and I was willing to step to the plate.

I went to the AGM expecting to pick up the following jobs:

Membership Secretary
Brewery Liaison Officer Great Oakley
BLO for any other brewery that others didn't want.

I got the Membership Secretary job. It was uncontested not surprisingly, and looks like hard work if you do it properly, which I'll try to do.

I got the Great Oakley BLO. I've championed their beers before on here, and will continue to do so.

I volunteered in the absence of other volunteers to be BLO for Cherwell Valley. After all I wrote enough about them when they first kicked off.

And finally, wait for it, I am now the BLO for Carlsberg Northampton. What have I let myself in for? When my accreditation comes through, I'll be dropping them a line. Not sure how we can work together, but if they're offering free trips to Denmark or bottles of Jacobsen Vintage 1, then perhaps I've made a wise decision. I'm not so sure though!

Help Design A BrewDog Beer

2008-11-10T17:52:00.005Z

Non-conformist Scottish brewer BrewDog are launching a project this weekend where you can have a big say in a new beer to be brewed. As an unprecendented act of total democracy in the beer world, akin to Ebbsfleet United Football Club, decisions will be made by readers and viewers of their blog.

You can have the chance to choose the style of the beer, the malts and hops used, the ABV and starting gravity, any added extra ingredients (fruits/spices) and the beer's name and labelling.

BrewDog have the full support of their overseas importers so the final beer will hopefully be on sale somewhere near you early next year.

Beer Rocks as the project is called is open to all beer fans so tune in and have your say.

Beer Of The Month Delayed

2008-11-09T21:04:00.000Z

Hopefully some of you have noticed that my Beer Of The Month piece hasn't appeared yet for October. This delay will be rectified as soon as RateBeer is available again. All my notes are on there and I have no idea whatsoever what the best beers I had during the month were.

Just one more reason that we need RateBeer back as soon as possible.

Beer And Coffee

2008-11-09T20:48:00.005Z

I've mentioned my eldest daughter before. She's the one who likes going into churches, paying no respect to my atheism. Now this weekend, she has started to drink coffee. Coffee is the only foodstuff I don't like, but wish I did. Until five years ago I couldn't stand cheese, but now I love the stuff - the stronger the better - but I cannot get past that coffee barrier.

I'm partial though to the taste of coffee in beer. I have had beers which are brewed with coffee beans and liked them, so I would strugle with the correlation except there are coffee beers which are too much for me.

One is fresh Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast. This is just too rich for my palate. I've drank the beer slightly beyond it's best before date and it's really lovely; the coffee flavours and the hops working in perfect harmony, but I guess the coffee lost its intensity as the beer aged. The other one I've struggled with is bottled Meantime Coffee. This was just 100% coffee. No beer flavours at all iin the bottle I had.

Last week though I had the cask version at the Wetherspoons festival. The coffee is there of course, but it's much more mellow, and works nicely. I'm convinced this is a different recipe even if it does use the same Fairtrade Rwandan coffee beans. They must be at a lower ratio.

Other beers brewed with coffee I've liked, off the top of my head, are Dark Star Espresso Stout, Darwin Java Jolt and Founders Breakfast Stout

I'm interested in recommendations for really heavy coffee flavoured coffee beers that I might try to see if I can get over my issues. I may even start liking coffee itself one day.

The Tetleys Closure And Northampton

2008-11-06T21:02:00.002Z

It's interesting that Carlsberg are blaming, admittedly amongst other things, the current economic climate for their decision to close the Tetley Brewery in Leeds. I wrote this article back in June of last year. It was apparent at the time that one of the two breweries in England would close.

At the time of course I hoped Northampton would stay open and I'm glad that it will. Inspite of the crap they are producing, it is still an important part of the town, and that site really should be producing beer.

I am sad for Leeds, and feel for people who face losing their jobs. The World's not a good place to be in at the moment with litle income

I'm therefore shocked to see comments from Northampton MP Sally Keeble in this article that "Hopefully this should be excellent news for Northampton." She is being just a little too parochial here even if she does add "So I am sorry for Leeds, but it should be really good news for Northampton."

Carlsberg have suggested that production of cask ales will not transfer to Northampton, but will instead be outsourced to other Northern breweries. There are suggestions here though, that the brewery in Northampton may be in line for a serious extension. Time will tell of course. I'll keep my eyes and ears peeled.

RateBeer Second Home

2008-11-04T21:02:00.002Z

My first home on the internet is RateBeer. I'm on it far too often for my own good, and it's one of the reasons I don't post here as often as I'd like. Well, sadly it is down at the moment and has been for a couple of days due to some serious hacking compromising the security of the site. For anyone who is a regular on RateBeer and is missing the camaraderie or just needs to contact a fellow user, you may find this site more than useful.

Massive thanks go to Phil Lowry of my favourite British online beer store for the leg work on this.

Milton Keynes - Giving Wetherspoons A Bad Name

2008-11-04T20:37:00.001Z

I'm not a Wetherspoons refusenik by any stretch of the imagination, although I generally prefer to drink in other pubs. I have an issue with chains as a rule, preferring independently run businesses.

I tend to frequent Spoons more regularly during their festivals, as, I guess, most of you do too. So it was with a sense of interest that I ventured in The Secklow Hundred, and the eponomously name Wetherspoons, whilst in Milton Keynes on Saturday,

The pleasure was not all mine though, as both these establishments are definitely below par. The Secklow Hundred is a Lloyds No 1 branded pub, but from experience that shouldn't make it inferior to a regular Spoons in terms of beer range or quality. I wish that were the case here though. Just two of the festival ales were on, and the one I tried Hydes Mumbo Jumbo was bland and soulless. Maybe it's meant to be like that but I doubt it.

I ordered a cheese baguette - described as mature cheddar with salad leaves, tomato and onion - and was presented with a baguette with barely a serving spoon full of grated, dry looking, cheese with no additions at all. In fairness it was exchanged with much apology, but the guy who served it me should have noticed it was hideously underfilled.

Onwards then to Wetherspoons, and at least the festival appeared to have been acknowledged. Our thirds, though, of Caledonian Smokey Pete, Highgate Red Rogue and Moorhouses Premier were again substandard.

I was shocked to read in a copy of the Milton Keynes CAMRA newsletter when I got home that this pub is a former branch pub of the year. I really do trust that it was much better once, as if not I do feel sorry for the people living in that area.

These experiences won't stop me drinking in Spoons over the next couple of weeks during the fest, but may make me more reluctant to pop into new ones without doing a bit of research first.

Milton Keynes Beer Festival

2008-11-03T19:47:00.004Z

"Come To Milton Keynes", sang The Style Council back in 1985. There aren't many reasons why you would. It's hardly worth a trek for anyone. It's a decent enough place to shop, but it's not really worthy of a visit for the beer lover.

I ventured there on Saturday though as the Milton Keynes Beer Festival was on its third day.

I was driven there by my wife, and we did a bit of shopping in the morning. It's a good job we were in the car with decent directions, as the venue seemed to be pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and hideously undersigned as far as directions are concerned. I'd read earlier in the week how tricky it was to find, and that is correct.

I met fellow RateBeerian Hughie there. He works in Milton Keynes luckily, so knows his way around. Otherwise I'm not sure I would have found my way back to the bus station to get home.

The festival featured 57 beers, four ciders and one perry. This is a low number for a festival but was probably just about right given the hard to find location. The number of punters when I was there was much lower than you would expect for a Saturday lunchtime, making a seat easy to find, and being served was a fast process..

The beers were predominantly local with fourteen brewers covered by the locale rules. All the Northamptonshire breweries were there including the brand new Silverstone Brewery. As predicted though their beer had ran out by the time I got there.

I was disappointed with the beer quality; I often am at indoor festivals except where extra effort has been made with the cooling. Sadly there appeared to be no cooling at all here, so the beer was a little on the warm side also.

The best beer I tried on the day was Golcar Dark Mild. I was shocked to realise I've never had a Golcar beer before and this was a decent lightly roasty dark mild to acquaint myself with the brewery. The Dark Star Porter was close behind.

We left the festival after a few hours to take in the delights of MK's Wetherspoons during their festival. More on that next time.

Wetherspoons Fest - Day One

2008-10-30T20:02:00.003Z

Today is the first day of the latest Wetherspoons International Real Ale festival, and as is typical Northampton's Spoons has started with a whimper rather than a bang. Just the three festival beers amongst the usual bog standard regular beers were to be found here..Old Baily, Jolly Ploughman and Yona Yona were present.

Thankfully the Lloyds No 1 fared better as all four pumps had festival beers: Firestone Walker California Pale Ale; Thwaites Nutty Black; Brains Top Notch and Shepherd Neame Fuggles. It's a shame that whereas friends of mine have been drinking the festival beers elsewhere in the country since the weekend and their bars are stocked full of the stuff today that Northampton has made such a slow start. Still, it hopefully means there are lots of goodies to come.

For the record I was completely underwhelmed by the Firestone Walker. Not a sign of the chinnok, centennial or cascade in my glass; just the merest hint of lemon. Maybe I'll try it again.

Silverstone - Our New County Brewery Confirmed

2008-10-28T17:51:00.000Z

So Silverstone is in Northants. More information can be found here. I would write more, including providing a little about the history of brewing in Syresham, but I'm off to the pub in ten minutes, so that'll have to wait for another day.

At least I can confirm a new county brewery though.

Silverstone Brewing Co - Ready For The Off

2008-10-27T21:17:00.001Z

The Milton Keynes Beer Festival this week sees what appears to be the launch of the Silverstone Brewing Company. This may, or may not be a brand new Northamptonshire brewery as, at this stage the actual brewing address appears to be a mystery.

I have found this article which mentions Cold Higham which is in the county, but according to comments on the yahoo group Scoopgen, the brewery may be in Bucks.

I will be disappointed if it is situated outside the county and is playing on the popularity of the name "Silverstone".

I shall be going to the festival, all being well, on Saturday. I should have more information then, if not before, although I doubt I'll get to try the beer, as it's sure to sell out pretty quickly.

I Don't Love Islay

2008-10-23T21:31:00.003+01:00

I rated my 4000th beer on RateBeer recently. I happened to be in the pub knowing that the third new beer I drank that day would be the one that brought that milestone up. Fortunately, I was in The Criterion in Leicester so chances were I could choose something a little out of the ordinary.

I espied BrewDog Storm in the fridges and decided that would be the beer of choice. My brain ain't what it used to be, so although I recalled it was a strong beer (8%), I didn't remember what was different about it. However I was reminded of its special feature when the request for the beer was met with the comment from the barman: "Have you had it before? It's horrible". It was then that I remembered: Islay!!! I really like BrewDog beers normally. Their Speyside Paradox Imperial Stout is top drawer as are number of their regular beers, especially the Punk IPA. However the Islay Cask Paradox was totally wrong according to my palate. I knew this was going to be a struggle.

And it was! I'm sure this is a very well brewed beer, and the whisky flavours are certainly distinctive, and very noticeable. But Islay just isn't for me, and I really could not taste anything else at all. Beer experiments are sometimes a good thing. I love the way BrewDog push the boat out. Tokyo is another example of an extremely good extreme BrewDog beer.

But please - in future - don't put beer in an Islay cask. Send it back to the distillery where it belongs.

Too Much Beer Or Not Enough?

2008-10-21T19:23:00.002+01:00

The life of a beer festival organiser cannot be a happy one at times. Sure it's very rewarding seeing the crowds of drinkers having a great time sampling all those wonderful beers, but something that would haunt me for weeks beforehand is getting the beer order right.

Which is worse? Running out of beer a few hours before closing time, or throwing away gallons at the end of the night? Is it possible to get it spot on so that there's just enough left for the staff to have a quick knees up after the doors close?

It's very rare that I visit a festival on the last day, but I hear reports from a fair few and I know that there are festivals who find themselves at both ends of the spectrum, and may swing from one to the other from one year to the next. At Oxford on Saturday the beer was running out fast and apparently did end a few hours before closing. At Northampton this year we had quite a lot left, whereas the year before it did run out.

I think given the choice I would throw I away. It's certainly not ideal, and wastage of any type doesn't sit well with me, but as long as a profit is made, then I think it can be justified rather than be in a situation where a large number of punters are cheesed off with the beer running out.

It's a tricky decision but someone's got to make it. Nobody ever said being in charge is a bed of roses.

Marking Up The Third Pint Price

2008-10-20T20:16:00.001+01:00

I'm all for offering third pints measures at pubs and beer festivals as I've mentioned on more than one occasion. I don't always choose to drink nips, but it's nice to have the option.

What I do expect though, is that the price of a third is roughly 33.3% of that of a pint. I accept rounding, so a pint at £2.60 translates to a third at 90 pence.

I was at the Oxford Beer Festival on Saturday, and was struck by the mark up in prices of thirds. A £2.60 pint was being sold not at 90p but £1. That's 40 pence more for three thirds than for a pint. A half pint was the expected £1.30, so why the discrepancy?

There's surely no additional overheads in pouring three thirds that warrants this extra charge. A publican may argue with me that's there's three times the washing up, but that's not the case at a festival.

I'm not sure if festivals are autonomous of CAMRA, but I can't imagine this is national policy. And if it is I'd really like to know how it is justified.

Nottingham Beer Festival - It's A Big 'Un

2008-10-16T21:38:00.004+01:00

In terms of the number of real ales available, Nottingham comes second only to GBBF. In terms of beer rarity and new brewery availability, most would say it's the best in the UK. It certainly is the number one festival to play scoop the scooper.

I only managed a short session there this year on the opening afternoon; and with a near two hour bus journey required to get me home, my drinking capabilities were reduced on account of bladder control.

The festival moved location this year, taking place in the grounds of the castle moving from its previous leisure centre home, complete with perilous covered swimming pool. As with all venue changes it came with teething problems. My two friends and I walked unchallenged through the castle walls where apparently we should have paid an entrance fee, and been presented with a blue wristband. We realised something was amiss when glasses and beer tokens were refused on account of being wristband-less. Fortunately common sense prevailed and we were allowed to pay at the membership counter, thus taking away any requirement to walk back down and then up again the small hill. The canvass seemed to be sweating also, as frequent drips of something undesirable fell with regularity on our personages.

That's it for complaints though. The beer selection was excellent and the quality was more than acceptable. I only had nine halves, but of these I have to mention Bollington White Nancy, a really nice hoppy golden beer from this new Cheshire micro, named after that odd looking thing on the right.

Sometimes a festival is too big for its own good. Some might say this about Nottingham as its vast range of beers is more than enough for anyone and you feel unbelievably spoilt for choice, but if you take it at face value and just drink what you can manage and what you fancy then there's no excuse for going home unhappy.

I got home happy, bladder intact (just). Next year all being well I'll have a longer stint there. Maybe I'll sit outside and take in the views with the wind blowing in my hair - hey Simon ;-)

SIBA Beer Of The Midlands

2008-10-14T20:23:00.004+01:00

I was at Nottingham Beer Festival last Thursday - more on which at a later date - where the SIBA Beer Of The Midlands award was being judged. The results can be found here.

I'm a bit skeptical why a monthly special such as Screech Owl is allowed to enter such a competition. I didn't drink the beer so cannot comment on its quality, but to enter such a competition, I feel the beer should be produced for more than one month and then discontinued, which would have been the case with this beer brewed under the Natural Selection banner.

Castle Rock may decide on the back of this victory to produce the beer more regularly, but I don't suspect that was the intention, and if the beer had not have placed, we would not have seen it again.

Northamptonshire breweries only carried off two bronzes, with Frog Island Croak and Stagger, and Potbelly Crazy Daze. Congratulations to them, but I'm suprised Beijing Black didn't feature or any of the Great Oakley beers. Oh well, there's always next year!

Another Friday - Another Northants Beer Festival

2008-10-12T20:25:00.002+01:00

The George at Tiffield was the scene of the second succesive Northamptonshire Beers Festival weekend following three pubs event.

I went on the Friday night, meeting up there with a crowd from Northants CAMRA. There were fourteen beers from Frog Island, Great Oakley, Hoggleys, Nobbys, and Potbelly. I didn't try them all, not suprisingly, but do have to report that Potbelly Beijing Black again took pride of place, although Great Oakley Gobble wasn't far behind.

It's great that local pubs can put in festivals of this nature in their pursuit of LocAle status. It's not many years ago that there weren't enough breweries in the county to do this. I'm pretty sure all our breweries are doing well, and long may it continue.

Church Pews

2008-10-08T21:51:00.002+01:00

What's with all the church pews in pubs? The Good Beer Guide seems to make a big deal of mentioning whether this form of seating is available in pubs.

Let's make one thing clear: I don't have a big arse, yet the bloody things are far too small and uncomfortable for me to sit on. Is this a deliberate ploy to ban fatties from the premises? I think a phone call to the equality and human rights commission may be in order next time you can't find a seat wide enough to park your bum.

Beer Of The Month - September 2008

2008-10-07T21:04:00.002+01:00

September was a pretty quiet month for new beers. I had 43 new beers in total; most of these were during my North Yorkshire holiday although I did of course go to St Albans Beer Festival. The vast majority of those beers were bottled.

Only one cask beer actually stood out, which was the 8% Cropton Old Goat which I had in the brewpub. I enjoyed the fruity and vinuous qualities of this English Barley Wine.

A few bottles were worthy of a mention. Left Hand Smoked Goosinator Doppelbock was pretty authentic tasting although there was less smoke in the aroma. For an American beer, even a take on a German one, it had no excessive hoppiness. Back in May 2007, I awarded Samuel Smiths Organic Cherry Fruit Beer my bottled beer of the month. This month I had, and thoroughly enjoyed the raspberry version. I suspect many would be horrified at quite how fruity this is, and accuse it of being too syrupy sweet, but I found it fun and very moreish. It would certainly stand up to the more commercial fruit beers from Belgium. It's pipped at the post though for best bottled beer of the month by Mikkeller It's Alight!. I loved the funky hoppy bretty sourness of this beer, and at just 4.5% it was seriously impressive.

Being a sucker for strong beers though, it's the Old Goat which gets overall BOTM. It's a beer I've never seen in the free trade or at a festival, but it's worth seeking out of you can.

A Triangular/Circular Beer Festival

2008-10-06T21:39:00.004+01:00

Take three pubs in three relatively close together villages; put on six extra casks of Northamptonshire beers and you've got yourself a beer festival. One which we christened "The Triangle Beer Festival", although on arrival at the first pub we ascertained that the logo for the fest had the pubs' three names around a circle - so an immediate fail on the shape of events.

The festival was monumental in that it became the event which heralded my first CAMRA branch trip. Oh yes, I have overcome the shyness that some would say doesn't really exist, and gone on a minibus pub crawl with people who were mostly strangers at the start of the evening, and thoroughly enjoyed myself, and will hopefully lead me to participating in many more crawls. After all being driven to beer festivals is pretty heavenly.

The three pubs involved, in the order we visited them, were The Griffin's Head, in Mears Ashby; The Royal Oak, in Walgrave; and The White Swan in Holcot. All of these village locals were busy - probably busier than usual - and much ale was being consumed. The breweries represented were Digfield, Great Oakley, Hoggleys, Nobbys and Potbelly. Frog Island beers would have been there too, but a temporary period of hospitalisation of the brewer put a scupper on that.

Having sampled all the beers on offer before I was able to try some old favourites rather than just having new beers for the sake of it. The two beers which stood out for me, as expected were Beijing Black from Potbelly, and Great Oakley's Welland Valley Mild. These two excellent beers are testament to how good milds can be, and proof that some great beer is brewed in this county.

On the non-beer front, the landlord of The Griffin's Head presented us with a free huge bowl of steamingly hot chips to show his appreciation of our visit. This was a nice touch which sadly wasn't replicated at the other two pubs but beggars can't be choosers. The festival, which hasn't happened before appeared to be a great success and should certainly be repeated in the future. Such shared festivals are getting more common around these parts and in times of pub closures are perhaps a good way of getting more custom at what might otherwise be quiet times.

Going Foreign In St Albans

2008-10-02T20:39:00.003+01:00

This year was the fourth time I've been to St Albans Beer Festival. In terms of beer selection it's pretty good with a nice balance of common stuff, rarer stuff from new breweries and lots of local beers. Being in CAMRA's hometown there's a bit of beer journo spotting to be done earlier in the week too.

One thing I've been disappointed with over the years though has been the beer quality. I could conjecture as to the cause of the beer not tasting as fresh as it could be, but I'm sure my opinions would have their critics. I do think though that indoor festivals during the warmer months do have their difficulties.

But UK beer festivals are often much more than cask beer these days, and St Albans has a great foreign selection. This year was no exception so I took my Belgian beer glass along and worked my way through a number of new (to me) foreign beers. It's a more expensive way of enjoying a beer festival but at least condition isn't an issue. It's something I could find myself doing more and more.

For the record I drank:

Mikkeller It's Alight!
Het Levenswater Dikke Deur Blont
Riedenburger Michaeli Dunkel Hefeweissbier
Agullons Pura Pale Extra Bitter
Alvinne Lex'ke
Klein Duimpje Juniper Ale
Flying Dog Road Dog Scottish Porter
Scheldebrouwerij 't Schoenlappertje

The last beer and the Juniper ale were the worst of the bunch, whilst the clear winner was the hoppy and bretty Mikkeller; another triumph for his superb Danish brewery.

I can get cask ales any day I want in my good local freehouses, but these unusual foreign beers are much more uncommon, and a treat to behold.

Northampton 9am

2008-10-02T20:07:00.002+01:00

Picture the scene, a Midlands town market square; people going to work, shops just opening up. Market traders putting the finishing touches to their stalls, and outside the Wetherspoons a small queue is forming.

I would like to think that they are eagerly anticipating opening time so they can have a mug of coffee with their vegetarian breakfast, but somehow I doubt it. I'm all for extending opening hours so pubs don't have to shut at 11pm, but who really needs a pint at 9am?

Around York

2008-09-29T21:21:00.004+01:00

I've had many a pub crawl around York over the years, and have seen good pubs come and go. To do the beer scene in the city justice you need a couple of days at least. I had an hour!

For some unknown reason, my three year old daughter has a fascination with churches. We'd already been to Pickering and Helmsley churches and Ripon Cathedral on the holiday and now York Minster just demanded a visit. I'm sure she's rebelling against my atheism and will one day end up as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury, or some such other lofty post in the church. Not wishing to go in myself I was therefore granted a small wander round.

Time didn't permit me to stray too far from High Petergate so just three pubs were visited. It's with regret I didn't get to old favourite The Ackhorne, or new kid on the block Brigantes; they will have to wait until next time. Where I did visit though was The Maltings, The Three-Legged Mare, and The Golden Lion.

The Maltings is an essential visit. I've been there so many times over the years, enjoying the beer and the monstrous lunchtime chili and chips. This is a real beer pub, with an intelligently selected range of both bottled and cask beers, and a good number of ciders and a perry. I'm not sure the beers are as eclectic as they once were, but there's always something of interest. I enjoyed Roosters Silver Creek (there's nearly always a Roosters beer on), and Milestone Colonial Stout. Black Sheep Best Bitter is a permenant beer here, and it has been said that more Black Sheep is sold in this pub than anywhere else.

It seems silly not to go in a York Brewery pub while in town, and the nearest to the Minister is the "Mare" otherwise nicknamed The Wonkey Donkey. Five York beers and four guests were available from which I had the house beer, also known as Wonkey Donkey, and Burton Bridge Top Dog Stout. The Stout is a beer which has alluded me forever and it was odd to find it here rather than nearer to home. Having said that I found it very thin for a stout, so I've not missed much.

I had hoped to go to Koko , recommended by Boak and Bailey next, but it was closed. Is it always closed in the afternoon I wonder? What made it worse was that it's what was the BeerRitz off licence. I didn't know that previously, so two essential visits were scuppered in one go - what a bummer.

To drown my sorrows I had a quick half in The Golden Lion. Wentworth Strawberry Silk was my beer of choice - regrettably. Still at least I got to use the loo which my main reason for dropping in.

That was it then for my drinking in York. I did find Pivo , also recommended by B&B, which looked really interesting through the windows even if only one customer appeared to be present. I shall aim to go there next time. Having said hat though, there's a load of pubs I want to do next time, and I'll never get to them all. Seems like a couple of trips are in order!

The New Inn, Cropton

2008-09-27T17:54:00.003+01:00

Our next beery adventure in North Yorkshire was a trip to The New Inn, Cropton; home to the Cropton Brewery. We'd been to Pickering first thing to see the steam trains, and then drove to the village which is on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors.

We arrived in Cropton before opening time and clocked the pub as being a good size with a large car park to the rear. A short drive then through the wilderness of the moors passing signs explaining how many sheep had been killed on the roads in the last year, imploring you to slow down. I'm not quite sure how you can drive fast enough in those windy roads to cause damage to large mammals, but even so we did see two dead sheep on our short drive.

We returned to the pub shortly after opening time, and spotted a coach out the front. Parking in the otherwise deserted car park we headed into the "conservatory/family room". A number of pensioners from the coach were seated at the dining tables, but it was still just half full, so we found a table in the corner. My first task was then to view the pump clips to see which beers were on offer. Six handpumps sat proudly on the bar, yet only one had a pumpclip. Oh dear; not a good start I thought; even that beer Honey Gold did not fill me with joy as honey is one of my least favoured ingredients in beer. So a walk to the front bar via the toilet was in order. Ah, much better (in more ways than one) as all six pumps in that bar had clips. At least I knew I was going to get a decent choice of beers and could avoid the honey concoction.

I returned to the conservatory to witness the waitress telling the rest of the family that our table was, in fact, taken. No reserved sign or anything, but perhaps extra sensory perception is the order of the day? Apparently half the coach party were elsewhere (I doubt they were looking round the brewery or taking a smoking break, so where they were is anyone's guess). It all worked out for the best though as we were able to sit near the top bar, and away from the chattering and clattering pensioners.

So what of the beer? I had halves of Endeavour, which I found bland and not as hoppy as that commercial description might suggest; Two Pints which was more full flavoured and nicely balanced, and Old Goat, which tastes every bit of its 8%, and is full bodied and vinuous. I didn't spot the ABV when I ordered the beer, so it was a good choice as I would have definitely chosen it had I spotted it, as 8% cask ales are too rare in this country for my liking.

Our food was good too. The Whitby Cod was excellent (far better than the haddock we had in Whitby itself later in the week), and the sandwiches were perfectly acceptable.

After a poor start the staff were attentive and the beer was good. There are enough good pubs in North Yorkshire for me to probably avoid going back, but anyone in the vicinity who's not been should probably pay it a visit.

Haxby Village

2008-09-23T22:06:00.004+01:00

Whilst at The Jug & Bottle, I picked up a copy of York CAMRA's excellent newsletter Ouse Boozer. In it I found an advert for Haxby Working Mens' Club. It turns out Haxby was less than five miles from where we were staying, and also hosted a Good Beer Guide listed pub The Tiger Inn.

Armed with my CIU card, we therefore went there on the Sunday afternoon, and found the WMC down a narrow street. The large car park was fairly deserted, but a table full of drinkers outside showed us that the club was open for business. Unlike my local club, the door was not receptible to a push or a pull; in fact it was necessary to push a buzzer attached to a CCTV camera to be allowed entry. In spite of our unknown faces, the door was remotely unlocked and in walked the four of us. The entrance lobby had a few fruit machines and doors to the left and to the right. Short of tossing a coin to deceide which way to head, we plumped for the left hand route. The large room in which we found ourselves was resplendent in its large screen television showing Motors TV, and occupied only by a card playing school of male customers. I walked to the bar to peruse the pump clips - Tetley, John Smith's and Ossett Silver King were my disappointing three choices - and the barmaid walked towards us. From the card table came the unexpected call of "Are you gonna tell 'em or shall we?". What crime had we committed? Was the bar about to close? Were children not allowed? No nothing as trivial as any of that. It transpired we were in a men only bar. I thought such things were the property of Lords' Cricket Ground and golf clubhouses only, but no. Here we were in Yorkshire, and my wife and two daughters were the wrong sex to drink in that particular room. We were good humouredly shown into a lounge where persons of both persuasions (and hopefully hermaphrodites too) were allowed, where I had an underpar pint of the Ossett, after which we slunk out to the pub.

In all fairness I saw one of the men from the other room as I went to sign the visitors' book, and he was quite apologetic, and my wife found the sexism quite 'quaint'.

We encountered no such sexism in the pub which is a Samuel Smiths house. Therefore cheap prices and just one real ale were the order of the day. My Old Brewery Bitter was suitably dry, and reasonably tasty and just £1.77 a pint - dearer than the beer in the club.

I shan't forget my trip to Haxby in a hurry. I don't know if men only bars are commonplace in Northern clubs; it's certainly a new one on me.

The Geese Are Coming

2008-09-21T20:51:00.003+01:00

Yet more exciting news regarding good imported beers is to found on Roger Protz's Beer Pages. Four new beers from Chicago's Goose Island Brewery will soon be available in the UK thanks to James Clay.

We've had IPA, and Honkers Ale here for a few years, but soon we'll have Matilda and Pere Jacques, both Belgian styled ales. 312 Urban Wheat Ale, and the 13% Imperial Stout Bourbon County.

That all sounds good to me. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled.

The Jug & Bottle, Bubwith

2008-09-21T20:18:00.005+01:00

After you've packed a toothbrush and a couple of pairs of spare pants, there's nothing you really need for a holiday than a few decent bottles of beer. Choosing to leave my stash at home, I searched t'internets for a decent offie en route to our destination and really hit the jackpot with The Jug & Bottle in Bubwith.

Not just a beer shop, this is a superb and essential visit for any body interested in the finer aspects of food and drink. As mentioned on their beer page, they stock a good range of beers which are not usually found on your average high street. They also stock a few beers on draught for that essential take out. It would have been easy to but boxes full of beer, but in all seriousness I only had room in the car for a few beers so purchased a bottle conditioned mild from Brown Cow, a couple of bottles I'd not seen before from Timothy Taylor, an unseasonal Christmas beer from Otley, and old favourite Traquair Jacobite.

We also bought some very good cheeses, olives and sun dried tomatoes for our evening grub. The proprietor was all too happy to let us sample the cheeses before purchasing, which is always a nice touch.

As well as these, there's a great selection of wines as well, all of which would make it very easy for me to spend a ton of money on a regular basis if I lived nearer.

Bubwith village is less than 15 miles from York. It's well worth a detour for anyone travelling to that beautiful city.

Hello. I'm Back

2008-09-20T15:17:00.002+01:00

So have you missed me? I've been to North Yorkshire for a week. Thanks for playing nicely with your comments while I've been away; they've made good reading.

I've got a few articles up my sleeve from my time away although I've not been able to do as much drinking as I would have done in my pre-kids days. I went to a great deli, an interesting village working mens' club, a brewpub which was intially less than welcoming but improved during my stay, and had just a few beers around York.

I've learnt a few things since being back reading the comments. I think Tandleman is less than positive about Deus, and apparently Emmanuel Adabayor is reading my blog. I'm not sure he's really invited but there you go. Anyway normal service will resume very shortly.

Deus Does Exist

2008-09-11T22:10:00.002+01:00

I spotted bottles of Deus Brut des Flandres in my local Waitrose earlier this week. The 75cl bottles were priced at £12.15 each.

I've never quite understood why Belgian beers using champagne yeast such as this, and Malheur Bière Brut are so expensive. After all Kasteel Cru is also brewed using this ingredient and is not sold at such a premium price.

I'd be interested in how well it sells. Waitrose is, of course, quite a posh store, but is it really ready for such expensive beers?

This Lager's Not For The Queen

2008-09-11T22:02:00.002+01:00

It would appear that staff at Windsor Castle didn't fancy having an almighty session on twelve barrels of lager delivered there by mistake.

I'm pretty sure the Queen has better taste than to drink this fizzy stuff which was destined for football fans at a nearby pub. Indeed ma'am was later spotted necking pints of warm frothy ale whilst taking in a live Rugby League match (allegedly).

Rushden Historical Transport Society

2008-09-09T20:45:00.002+01:00

I attended last night's CAMRA meeting at RHTS. Renovating old station waiting rooms into bars is not a unique thing but using a stationery train as a drinking area, complete with pub games such as Northamptonshire Skittles, is something I've not seen before.

As the bar is currently being decorated, a lot of the decorations normally in the bar are currently housed in boxes within the train. Thus I found myself seated next to a couple of boxes of old bottled beers, some of them empty but most of them full. An empty Phipps XX bottle was of particular local interest, but a full bottle of Gales Prize Old Ale, which at a guess judging by the label dates from the 70s or 80s takes the prize for the beer I'd have liked to smuggle home and drink.

The bar itself sells between five and seven real ales; the full quota was on last night and are priced wonderfully at between £1.90 up to £2.2o for the strongest beer on offer (5%). It's great to see a members' club showing commitment to real ale, and this has been rewarded with numerous club of the year awards from Northants CAMRA over the years.

If you should ever find yourself in the Rushden area pay this place a visit, whether you are in to trains and other transport, or more sensibly, into beer, you will be rewarded.