Namyslow Plum - Beer Of The Festival

As the Wetherspoons festival has now ended I am going to take the current results showing on their website as the final results. They make surprising reading for those who thought the Polish plum beer was less than pleasing. As can be seen from the list below the plummiest of all beers actually came out on top. I'm not sure what this says about Wetherspoon customers although it has to be said I did like the beer. Cains Bock which came in second was pretty poor in my opinion and certainly not what I would describe as a bock. And the most talked about beer in Britain came in third. The Stone was the best beer I tried although I didn't think it as wonderful as a lot of commentators. The list makes interesting reading, that's for sure.

Rating: 4.2 13 NAMYSLOW ORIGINAL PLUM BEER
Rating: 4.1 30 CAINS BOCK BEER
Rating: 4 50 STONE CALIFORNIA DOUBLE IPA
Rating: 3.9 49 GREENE KING ABBOT RESERVE
Rating: 3.9 43 YO-HO TOKYO BLACK
Rating: 3.9 39 TITANIC LAST PORTER CALL
Rating: 3.9 47 MAULDONS BLACK ADDER
Rating: 3.8 45 JENNINGS SNECK LIFTER
Rating: 3.7 29 BRAINS REVEREND JAMES
Rating: 3.7 41 FREEMINER SHAKE MANTLE GINGER ALE
Rating: 3.7 32 HARVIESTOUN OLD ENGINE OIL
Rating: 3.7 36 ORKNEY DARK ISLAND
Rating: 3.6 14 SKINNER’S HELIGAN HONEY
Rating: 3.6 35 WOODFORDE’S NELSON’S REVENGE
Rating: 3.6 23 SHARP’S EDEN PURE ALE
Rating: 3.6 38 ST GEORGEN BRÄU KELLER BIER
Rating: 3.6 42 OUTLAW BONESHAKER INDIA PALE ALE
Rating: 3.5 06 SPRINGHEAD LIBERTY
Rating: 3.5 11 EVERARDS SUNCHASER
Rating: 3.5 34 PHOENIX BLACK BEE
Rating: 3.4 17 THWAITES WAINWRIGHTS
Rating: 3.4 26 HIGHGATE HIGHLAND WHISKY ALE
Rating: 3.4 31 HALL & WOODHOUSE HOPPING HARE
Rating: 3.4 33 OKELL’S DR OKELL’S EASTERN SPICE
Rating: 3.4 46 KELHAM ISLAND PALE RIDER
Rating: 3.4 05 OAKHAM JHB
Rating: 3.4 44 HOLDEN’S SPECIAL
Rating: 3.3 27 SALTAIRE AMARILLO GOLD
Rating: 3.3 03 CALEDONIAN CHOCOLATE DROP
Rating: 3.3 19 HAMPSHIRE IRONSIDE
Rating: 3.3 15 WADWORTH HORIZON
Rating: 3.3 09 BEARTOWN GINGER BEAR
Rating: 3.2 24 SHEPHERD NEAME EARLY BIRD
Rating: 3.2 22 WYCHWOOD MAD HATTER
Rating: 3.2 10 ELGOOD’S OLD WAGG
Rating: 3.2 25 WELTONS OLD COCKY
Rating: 3.2 16 NETHERGATE APRIL FOOL
Rating: 3.2 07 ROBINSONS TOP TIPPLE
Rating: 3.1 08 THEAKSTON BLACK BULL BITTER
Rating: 3.1 02 YOUNG’S BITTER
Rating: 3.1 01 J. W. LEES BREWER’S DARK
Rating: 3.1 21 RINGWOOD 78
Rating: 3 28 WHITE HORSE WAYLAND SMITHY
Rating: 3 04 MARSTON’S SUNBRIGHT ALE
Rating: 3 18 BATEMANS SPRING GODDESS
Rating: 2.9 12 HOOK NORTON 303 AD
Rating: 2.9 20 HYDES TROJAN HORSE
Rating: 2.6 40 ECAUSSINNES COOKIE BEER
Rating: 1.8 37 ARCHERS GOLDEN

Coventry Beer Festival

Apart from the cathedral I cannot really think of a good reason to visit Coventry. The last time I went to a beer festival there was in the 1990s when it was held at the University, and although it was a good festival, the walk there and back from the station was not a pleasant experience.

The festival is now located at the rugby union ground, which is nearer the station, but still a less than pleasant journey on foot is required. I travelled from Northampton station with my friend Dave and his prolific letter writing brother Pete, who knew a shortcut to the venue. If I'd have been on my own I would have walked around the ring road, no doubt taking my life in my hands, but the shortcut was safe from vehicular dangers. The rugby club is a comfortable enough venue, although the seating area does feel a bit cramped as is the standing room near the stillage area, but the quantity of toilets cannot be faulted. As for the beer, the choice ran to 80 odd at opening time on the Friday of which not too many had disappeared by opening time on Saturday. A few ciders, bottled beers and country wines made up the numbers. Although this wouldn't really be described as a ticking festival there was still a decent amount of rare beers, and certainly enough new stuff for me to choose from.

Due to sharing halves, and a couple of smuggled bottled from the US and Denmark, I got through 19 beers. Although beer quality could have been better, and the temperature a little on the warm side (an all too common fault of indoor festivals, but that's for another day), I enjoyed almost everything I tried. The stand out beers were Dark Star Over The Moon, a very modern hoppy mild, and Fullers London Porter, which I've had before but not for many years. It truly lived up to the memory I had of it being a delicious full bodied roasty porter.

The beer festival opens from 12-4 and 6-11 on just the Friday and Saturday. There's a lot of talk about why festivals need to close during the afternoon, and it's usually because of a lack of staff, who, remember, are all volunteers. Coventry though seemed to be very well staffed; waiting time for beers was very very short, so I'm not sure why there was a need for a two hour kick out. I'm sure though the pubs of Coventry appreciated the extra trade.

All in all another good festival. One I shall certainly return to. As well as my travelling companions, there were also four RateBeerians: Glen, Simon, Mes and Phil, who all added to it being a great day. Phil, as ever took some superb photographs, which may be found here.

What I Detest About Nitrokeg

Of course I prefer my beer to be dispensed by handpump (without sparkler) or straight from the barrel with the assistance of good old fashioned gravity. This is natural beer served naturally. Adding gas to a beer is unnatural and unnecessary. It does nothing for the taste and even less for the aroma if that matters to you. Carbon Dioxide is bad enough, nitrogen is much worse.

The biggest bugbear for me though is how long it takes to pour a bloody pint. I haven't done a scientific time trial but I will guarantee it takes less than a quarter of the time to pull my foaming pint of real ale than it does for Mr Old Duffer's pint of Extra Creamy Smooth to arrive. Waiting for my pint is bad enough at the best of times but when the delay is being caused by waiting for some crappy flavourless nonsense to be poured, I'm even more agitated.

Still, I'm off to Coventry Beer Festival tomorrow. No gas there (except plentiful flatulence).

A Herculean Box Of Beer

It's not every day the postman brings you something special. It's normally junk or, worse still, bills. However on Monday the doorbell rang and there was a very nice man with a delivery for me. It transpires that unsolicited I had been sent a great box of beer from Beermerchants.com

Beermerchants call the selection The Hercules Case due to the strength of all the beers. The weakest of the eighteen different brands is a tear-inducing 8% with the strongest being the delicious Bush Ambrée. Also in there is my all time favourite Rochefort 10. There's also a rather snazzy glass, just perfect for most strong Belgian beers. The box was superbly and safely packaged with enough 'peanuts' to keep a monkey happy for a lifetime. To round off the package is an A4 sheet of tasting notes which include recommendations for food pairings. I've not seen this before from online suppliers, and I think it's a really nice touch especially for the beginner.

For me of course the case was the best value possible, but. at £34.90 for normal customers, it still represents great value. There are other good deals to be had. Give the website a visit and see what you think.

Thanks Very Much Then, Goodbye.

No, this is not me signing off from blogging, but hopefully a discussion on what is another element of a good pub. We all use the phrase "the pub was welcoming", but then it's pretty obvious that they are going to nice to you when you walk in their door. After all you're signalling to them that you are about to spend some of your hard earned money. It's hardly appropriate that you'd be given short shrift and a cold shoulder before you've even dipped your hand in your pocket. Hey, if the welcome's that good you may feel inclined to stay longer and spend some more.

But what happens when you've had enough and it's time to move on? What would you say to friends when they leave your house? Something along the lines of "Thanks very much, goodbye" wouldn't go amiss. After all you've been a valuable customer and that adieu message may encourage you to return.

Why then is it so rare to be thanked for your custom and wished nice things on your way. I swear goodbyes and thanks have become rarer over the last twenty years. I don't expect a goodbye from an understaffed drinking barn, but one wouldn't go amiss at a more civilized pub. Has anybody else noticed this phenomenon or is it just that I'm not a valued customer and it's only me??

Beer Of The Month - March 2008

It often feels like March is the beginning of the beer year as festival season starts in earnest and I always have a week's holiday in the month, which tends to result in a reasonable amount of drinking. I sampled 87 new beers in total during the month. Pleasingly the vast majority of these were either in pubs or at a festival; namely Leicester.

Naturally for the reasons mentioned above, I had a fair few cask beers during the month. The first particularly good one was Woods Shropshire Lass from a brewery which is more miss than hit for me. This was a nice blonde beer with citrus notes and a mouthfeel I described as like fizz bombs. Thornbridge Gildas and Fuglestow Sledgehammer Stout were the stand out beers at Leicester Festival. One a delightfully hoppy full bodied IPA from one of England's finest, and the other a roasty smoky stout. The best beer I had on my Northampton Crawl was Banks & Taylor Edwin Taylor's Extra Stout. I have had this deliciously dry roasty stout before but not I've started rating beers. It's head and shoulders B&T's best beer. From the Wetherspoons festival I have had three beers worthy of a mention. First was Titanic Last Porter Call, a dodgy name for what is a good porter with coffee and chocolate notes. Second was Namyslow Plum, a true love it hate it beer if ever there was one. Yes it's very sweet and not particularly 'beer-like', but that plumminess is amazing. An underused fruit if you ask me. It's not a beer I could drink much of (my half was probably enough), but I really did enjoy it. Thirdly was 'the most talked about beer in Britain': Shepherd Neame Stone California Double IPA, as hoppy as expected and with a decent body. Certain people I know have raved about this, and nobody has said they didn't like it. For me it was very good, but not a beer I could session on. I lost a bit of interest three quarters of a pint through. While this would be a lot of people's cask beer of the month, mine went to Thornbridge Gildas.

From the bottle just two beers have stood out. An American porter and a Danish stout with undoubted American influence. The porter was Left Hand Black Jack Porter. Left Hand describe this as a London Porter, and even though it uses English hops it uses them in American quantities. Chocolate, coffee and roasty malts complete the flavour. Finally, and the beer which actually outclasses the Thornbridge beer was Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast. Not only a topical name but a delicious beer. I got soy, fish, coffee, hops, fruit, oatmeal and goodness knows what else in this complex stout with a really long finish. This beer has its fans and its detractors, but to me it's a real treat. It's certainly beer of the month.

Special mention must go to one of the worst five beers I've ever had which was the first bottled beer I had in the month Krombacher Cab. This is some sort of beer/cola concoction with dragon fruit. Avoid at all costs.

The Session #14 - Beer People

This month's session is entitled beer people and thankfully gives us plenty of leeway for thought. I prefer a session to skimp on specifics and boundaries, which is why I don't play every month.

There's a phrase I've been using a lot recently, whether out drinking with friends, on this blog, or in beer forums. It describes how best I feel about beer people. First though I need to consider what is a beer person. Most people drink beer, but most of those do it for a reason other than you and I. They do it because it's there. They drink beer because it's probably the most sociable drink to partake of and get happy, merry, drank, ratarsed or any other point on the inebriation scale. It's a fairly easy thing to drink as the majority of beer sold throughout the World is deliberately brewed not to taste of much. The best selling lagers are actually brewed to have minimum flavour and aftertaste. If, however, lager is not their thing, they will probably be drinking dreadful nitrogenated stouts, or smoothflow beers which to them have a bit more flavour, whereas in actual fact they don't.

These people though are not beer people but people who drink beer.

No. Beer people are people who drink beer for pleasure, for enjoyment, for taste. It's actually their drink of choice because they like to drink it, and can appreciate the effort that has gone into producing it. They like to try different beers too, and compare one against the other. I'm not necessarily talking tickers or raters. Just normal people who treat beer as an experience to savour rather than just part of the whole going-out thing.

I've met a lot of these people over the years. Ordinary local CAMRA members, hardcore scoopers (tickers), RateBeerians, publicans, brewers, and beer journalists. These have all been great people to share a pint or more with. People who you can talk about beer to, but who are also interesting in other areas and who can hold down a conversation for an hour or two. These are people you are happy to call your friend.

I feel the same way about bloggers. The only ones I've met are Ron and Simon, but the beerblogosphere feels like a community with like minded people enjoying the output of their peers. Sure we may disagree with others' opinions, and the odd skirmish may break out, but it's generally all good.

So to get to that phrase and it's one that I could never overuse, and, remember you should probably count yourself as a beer person:

BEER PEOPLE ARE GOOD PEOPLE

Televisions In Pubs

I don't mind music in pubs so long as it's at a reasonable volume in order that I can hear myself think or my companions speak. Indeed if I'm drinking alone it does provide some company of sorts as a familiar lyric enters my head.

What I don't understand though is the purpose of televisions. I don't believe people go to the pub to watch EastEnders or such twaddle, nor do they really want to keep up to date with BBC News 24 or some such channel. Sports matches are a real draw but for my mind only serve to fuel a siege mentality, be it between supporters of opposing teams or in the case of a National team, a ridiculous (and fairly short-lived) alcohol fuelled patriotism. Added to this televisions don't lend themselves to being at a sufficient volume for those watching, to hear what's going on anyway.

For my mind the best form of pub entertainment is a gentle game of cribbage or dominoes; true pub games for true pub goers, none of your modern technology nonsense. Mind you without live news channels and those wonderfully inaccurate live subtitles I would never have discovered yesterday that Bertie Aherne is actually the "Pam Ayres of Ireland". Conjours up a picture of two.

New Pub To Sell US Beers Only

I've been contacted by reader Thomas Fool who has exciting news for Northamptonshire drinkers, and those from further afield. Tom is currently converting an old Kettering church which he will be opening as a pub in the next few months. However it's a pub with a difference. "I will only be selling American beers" he tells me. "Myself and my wife April have been to the last two GBBFs and I have loved all the US cask stuff. I also drink a lot of American beers in bottles, and I think they'll go down a storm. But what's really convinced me", he says "is how well the Stone beer has been going down in my local Spoons, and, it appears, nationwide."

I mentioned to Tom that Kettering may be an odd choice for such a venture but he is convinced that drinkers in the market town are an adventurous bunch. "We have two exciting micro breweries and a great award winning free house in The Alexandra Arms, plus being in the Midlands will allow drinkers from all over the country to get to us easily"

Sounds good to me, I'm awaiting my invite to launch night.

Stella, Stella, Stella, Strike, Strike, Strike

So I'm sat in a Wetherspoons today (drinking Stone California Double IPA (yee-ha)) and reading their newspaper. There's an article about Stella Artois. Apparently it's "the most widely available draught lager in UK pubs" and "the third biggest grocery brand in the UK after Coca-Cola and Walkers". Then I'm at home surfing the wicked (I mean wide) web and find this:

"Soaring commodity costs and falling sales of its premium lager have forced Inbev, the Belgian brewing giant, to axe up to 250 jobs at two Stella Artois breweries in Lancashire and Wales. Up to 166 workers in Samlesbury, Lancashire, and 80 in Magor, south Wales, face redundancy after an operational review by Inbev. A consultation process with affected employees has started. Unions and workers' representatives have vowed to fight the move, which the GMB union described as "shocking".

Too bloody right it's shocking. "An operational review" to me basically means the same output with fewer staff. Make the buggers work harder. Hopefully the GMB will take appropriate action, and show the bastards what's what .

Wetherspoons - We All Blog Together

An interesting thing about the Wetherspoons beer festival is that it's being covered by pretty much all of the British bloggers, even those who have a self-imposed boycott of Tim Martin's pubs.

Normally when we blog about a festival or some beers we've sampled, however interesting it might be to us, our readers are not sharing the experience as they won't have been to the festival, and may not ever get to see the beers we write about.

In this instance though, we are (nearly) all going to Spoons on a daily basis and taking in the festival. It's great that a Northern blogger is drinking the same beer on the same day as a Southern blogger, and they are both writing about it. It's good fun reading about people's search for the Stone IIPA (which I've still not had), and, in my case, drooling over the description of how much they've enjoyed it.

So one thing the festival is doing is bringing us all together and making it feel like we are all drinking in the same boozer, and that's a really enjoyable experience.

A Wander Round Northampton

It's not often I have a bit of a crawl around my home town of Northampton. Normally if I'm crawling, I'll go a little further afield, but yesterday, towards the end of a week off from work and to coincide with the start of the Wetherspoons festival, I decided to have a wander.

I made The Moon On The Square my first port of call. This is in the lower echelons of Spoons pubs in my opinion, for a plethora of reasons, one of which is the normally disappointing beer range. It does of course participate in festivals so the range does improve. Today though the festival had barely trickled into action. Just Okells Doctor Okells Eastern Spice, and Titanic Last Porter Call available from the festival list. Two further pumps were decorated with the clips for Marstons Pedigree Six and Greene King Abbot Reserve but these were "coming soon"; a typical Wetherspoons tactic. Four beers were on from Langton brewery, which is often the case. Clearly there is some sort of deal going on with this Leicestershire brewery; why a Northants brewery cannot be chosen I really don't know. I tried Lock Keeper which was a new one for me. I have to say that all three beers were in excellent condition and very tasty. If only this were the case all the time.

My next pub was The Wig and Pen which is one of my semi regular haunts. The pub is owned by Fenland, and four of their beers were available along with two from Great Oakley and one from Thwaites. There was one blank pump. As I was on a ticking mission I tried the draught cider Westons Traditional Draught Scrumpy which was ok. Obviously brewed by one of the big boys as it lacked a certain character.

Onwards to The Malt Shovel now ran by one of the owners, and in my opinion already showing signs of improvement. I've been critical in the past of pumps being empty which would be acceptable in slow moving pubs, but almost everyone in the pub drinks real ale, and they can sustain a full spread. Since Mike and Roz have been front of house there have been thirteen ales on at all times, which is what we want to see. I sampled five new ones on this trip: Iceni Norfolk Winter Lightening, Tring Brock, DowBridge Fosse, Banks & Taylor Edwin Taylor's Extra Stout and Burton Bridge Top Spin. All were good but the stout was superb. A beautiful full bodied roasty dry stout.

From here I wandered back into town heading for the second Spoons pub in town. However en route is The Fish Inn which sells four real ales and has the bonus for the ticker of the pumps being visible through the window from the street. Spotting a new beer Batemans Hooker, I bagged me a half. It was disappointing which I find in pretty much all of Batemans' occasional beers. It was also the dearest ale of the day. Typical!!

Next and finally to Lloyds No 1, part of the Wetherspoons chain but supposedly concentrating more on the youth market than normal Spoons. The beer festival was in better swing here though than its sister pub. Three beers were on, all of which I'd not had before. So halves of Namyslow Plum Beer, Lees Brewers Dark and Batemans Spring Goddess were supped. The Batemans was as expected; the Lees was a mild mild and the Plum beer was as plummy as it's possible to be. I shall probably do a piece on that beer and the other two foreign ones I want from the festival when I have sampled them all, but suffice to say if you see this beer you should try it if only for the plummy novelty.

I was surprised with how many new beers I found around town. There are a fair few other decent pubs I didn't get to which are a bit further from the town centre, but it's a crawl I shall certainly do again. I think we all too often neglect what's on our doorstep, but I will try to appreciate it more in the future.

Stone's (I Mean Shepherd Neame's) New Beer Going Down Nicely

I've read three reports now from people who have sampled the beer brewed by Stone brewers at Shepherd Neame. They are all favourable and report that the beer is superbly hoppy.

So this 7% beer which Wetherspoons describe as a double IPA, but Greg Koch himself calls an ordinary IPA is going down a treat, and it seems that being brewed at the Sheps plant which isn't used to seeing so many hops, especially American Centennial and Simcoe, isn't seeing a dumbing down of any flavours at all.

As previously reported, the beer is here for the Wetherspoons festival which officially starts tomorrow and runs until April 14th. I will be going to a Wetherspoons every day until I find this beer. Let's hope it happens soon, or God help me.

Anyone For A Beer Of The Week Post?

Regular readers will no doubt eagerly await my Beer Of The Month posts. I mean, what could be better than reading about all the good stuff that I've had in the last month, with perfect descriptions of all the attributes of said beers?

Actually you're probably bored of them, you probably think my taste in beer is crap, and my descriptions of the beers rubbish, but it's a feature I'm going to keep going, if you don't mind!

It could be worse I could be doing a Beer Of The Week feature like this chap. You've got to admire the willpower to keep it up, although his taste in beer isn't exactly the same as mine.

By the way I hope you all had a good Easter; I'm drinking a Corsendonk Christmas Ale tonight. After all the weather hasn't exactly been seasonal.

So Much For 4p A Pint

I had a couple of sneaky halves this lunch time whilst shopping for squid, which by the way I couldn't find any of in three separate supermarkets begging the question if there's a World shortage or if it's a traditional Easter thing. Anyway back to the beer. My real ale appeared to be priced as it has been the last few months but a punter who ordered some dodgy lager or other noticed that what he paid £2.65 for last night cost him £2.90 today. He queried it, but it was confirmed to be correct and a result of the recent budget.

So, so much for the 4p a pint, Mr Darling promised us. This drinking malarkey is beginning to become expensive.

Dobbies - A Taste Of Scottish Beer

I am indebted to Hughie from RateBeer for a heads up about Dobbies Garden Centre on the outskirts of Milton Keynes.

Garden Centres are not your normal haunt for decent beers although the one within a mile from my house has a small range including Cusqueña Malta from Peru, but Dobbies has a more than respectable choice of bottled beer.

Being a Scottish company the beer is all from north of the border, with examples from Arran, Atlas, Belhaven, Black Isle, Bridge Of Allan, Broughton, Cairngorm, Caledonian, Fyne, Hebridean, Inveralmond, Islay, Isle Of Skye, Orkney, Traquair, Valhalla and Williams Bros. Sadly there is no BrewDog, but hopefully in time there may be. I have not seen such a vast range of Scottish beers under one roof before and added to the fact that the food hall has some great produce including local free range meat,a visit is well worth while.

Although mostly in Scotland there are a fair few branches in England so hopefully you will be able to show support to a store new you.

Less And Less Liefmans

There's been plenty blogged about the financial difficulties affecting Liefmans, and the will-they-won't-they bankruptcy takeover saga. I wrote just before Christmas of finding Bacchus beers in my local Sainsbury's in their stead, and those two beers remain on the shelf today.

I have though regularly spotted Liefmans beers around, both bottled and draught since then, but it appears supplies are definitely on a downward spiral.

My local has sold both the Kriek and Frambozen on draught throughout these turbulent times, but now they have disappeared. The fruit beer drinkers now have a choice of Bacchus Kriek or Timmermans Strawberry, which coincidentally I can find no reference to anywhere on the web.

Liefmans loss is definitely other breweries' gain, especially Van Honsebrouck and the risk is even if Liefmans beers come back on a larger scale than they are currently available (and in my opinion they are superior products to their replacements), that the contracts with wholesalers will not be resurrected and drinkers will have to settle for a lesser product.

Time will tell obviously, but I really hope Leifmans beers come back as strong as ever.

When's The Best Time To Go To A Beer Festival?

I was inspired to write this post by a comment left on my article about Leicester BF by the young CAMRA collectiv. It appears from their comments that the festival was very, very busy on Friday night and that entry to the venue was on a one out, one in basis. I cannot imagine how unbearable this is for the queuing punters, the seemingly crushed drinkers already inside, or the volunteer staff who must be run off their feet.

Now I know not everybody is as dedicated as me and books time off work to visit beer festivals during the quieter times, but I really cannot see the enjoyment in drinking in these conditions. Beer festivals rarely have an excess of staff on, which is of course due to the fact that everybody is a volunteer, and people getting off their backsides and helping are few and far between, so obviously the wait for beer is going to be pretty long.

I think an overly crowded festival must present a negative image to the customer who cannot enjoy the long wait for his beer. Will they come back next year for more queuing, or will they be turned off festivals forever? Alternatively of course maybe they will actually book a day off work next time and go in the quieter lunch or afternoon sessions.

I don't know the answer to these questions, but I do wonder whether festivals are becoming a victim of their own success. Many festivals actually run out of beer before the advertized closing time. So I ask amidst all this waffling drivel I'm typing: Do you enjoy the busy evening sessions or are they a real turn off? Do you flatly refuse to go in the evenings? Are you like me a lunchtime customer? Or am I missing out on a better atmosphere and camaraderie amongst the more hip evening crowd?

Drinking Blind - An Interesting Experience

Whilst at Leicester Beer Festival last week I had a few surprises. By that I meant that I asked Simon to buy beers and not tell me what they were until I'd drank them and made notes and impressions of them.

It made for a really interesting experience. The six beers I tasted blind are listed below with some information on my findings:

1. Caythorpe Dark Gem - We'd talked about this beer ealrier, so I had an idea it was this when I tasted that it was clearly a mild. It was OK, and a typical mild, but fell short of some of the really good milds out there at the moment such as those from Great Oakley and Potbelly. Simon enjoyed it more than I did.

2. Church End Tekuté Zlato - This is supposedly a Slovakian styled lager. I marked it down as a light bitter with some fruity hops, more of the pineapple type flavour than citric fruits. It was pretty decent.

3. Everards Hazy Daze - I guessed this straight away, as it truly was a hazy wheat beer, and actually very good. Pretty authentic fruity flavours and good spices make this a superior British take on a Belgian Wit and is as good a beer as I've had from Everards in years.

4. Tunnel Munich Style Lager - another supposed lager style beer; this time German rather than Eastern European. I had this down as a golden ale with good citric flavours from the hops. Nothing like a Munich styled lager in my opinion. I did enjoy it though.

5. Thornbridge Gildas - I guessed this as soon as I smelled it. Simon knew I wanted to try this, and its aroma was so very very good. You could tell this was a superior British hoppy beer and the 6.5% alcohol was noticeable in the nose, which I could have sniffed at for a long time, but there was drinking to be done. It drank just as well as it smelled. Wonderful full on flavours from both the hops and the malts. A lovely beer.

6. Milestone Raspberry Wheat - Simon was being mischeivous now as he knows I'm not a huge fan of Milestone beers as a rule. I could tell this was a fruit beer from the aroma, although I got the wrong fruit. I liked it, I dare say more than I would if I'd known what I was drinking. The fruit was pretty decent rather than appearing to be just a little syrup added to a bland base beer.

This was a worthwhile experiment, and one I would like to repeat again. I was pleased that I got two beers spot on pretty easily; raised doubts in the declared style of the two 'lagers', and enjoyed a Milestone beer more than I expected. Try drinking blind sometime yourself, you may be really surprised at the outcomes.

Leicester Beer Festival 2008

So I went to Leicester Beer Festival on Thursday as promised. A lift to town, a £5.80 single bus ticket and a short walk over the flyover and past the churchyard and there I was at the Charotar Patidar Samaj, the exotically named venue for what is always a great fesival. I walked in shortly before noon to an already busy hall full of all sorts of beer lovers from the most well known tickers, down to locals who probably only drink real ale once a year.

The Reluctant Scooper and two of his pals from Derby were tactically positioned near the cob and pork pie counter so I joined them for jolly japes and one live rating on RateBeer. Naturally after all the postings here my first job was to seek out the two Cherwell Valley beers, which despite my pessimistic doubts, had turned up and were ready for consumption. They were both decent enough if unspectacular but at least now that I've drank them I probably won't bore you so much with news of this Brackley based brewery. After meeting that challenge I concentrated on new breweries and stuff from breweries I regard highly. As I was sharing halves with Simon I got through 20 beers. I would have had a few more but my lift home arrived unexpectedly early, but I was happy with my lot in any case.

Stand out beer on the day was without a doubt Thornbridge Hall Gildas, a wonderfully hoppy robust American styled beer. I've come to expect great things from Thornbridge and this was high quality even for them. Close behind was Fugelestou Sledgehammer Stout an 8% very tasty Imperial Stout.

Other beer highlights were an unexpectedly good wheat beer from Everards called Hazy Daze and Ribble Bitter; my first beer from Grindleton Brewery. I did have some poor beer but the good ones were in the majority.

Other highlights were the fantastic local pork pies from Lanes Butchers; peeing in the dark during a power cut which lasted twenty or so minutes; and meeting one of the Young CAMRA collectiv who are readers of this blog.

Leicester is a good beer city at any time, yet the organisers of this festival go out of their way to complement the city pubs with a superb beer list. In my opinion it's a must visit festival, and I'll be back next year without a doubt.

I remembered to take my camera and didn't hesitate to bring you evidence of the fact that my search for a new Northants brewery came to an end.

Birthday Beers With Nobby

It was my birthday yesterday. I don't believe in working on my birthday, not that I'm that keen on other days, but at least it's an excuse to formally have a day off.

Calling on my wife's good nature in driving me to a decent pub, we went to The Ward Arms in Guilsborough which is owned by Nobby of Nobby's Brewery. This 17th Century pub is the only one remaining in the village and it is clear that it is the hub of the community even if on this Tuesday lunchtime we were the only customers from 2pm. It is a lovely looking building from the outside, and is homely and welcoming on the inside. There are essentially two drinking areas; sofas and seats around the bar; and a raised games area with pool, darts and a plasma television. There is also a dining area which is completely separate. A garden completes the available drinking locations.

At weekends there are apparently eight real ales available, and sensibly in midweek there are less. On my visit there were four; three from Nobbys and one from Steamin Billy, brewed at Tower. I had two of the Nobbys beers which although unspectacular were nice enough session beers. I have given Nobby's beers Beer Of The Month awards before such is the quality of some of his stuff.

Nobby's intention is to install a brewhouse on the premises and builders and structural engineers have been consulted so plans are moving forward, albeit not as fast as he would like. In the meantime beers are still being brewed at Kettering in the cellar of the award winning Alexandra Arms.

I will be paying the pub return visits; hopefully it will be busier next time!

Warm Glasses - Schoolboy Error

My grandparents ran a pub until they retired in the late 1970s. Although they lived quite far from us I was still lucky enough to go visit them a few times a year, and was allowed access to all areas which shouldn't really have been the case for one so young.

One of the things I actually helped with was washing the glasses. Everything was done by hand back then, so in the corner of the bar area was a sink and draining board for that very function. Things have, of course, moved on from then, and time spent hand washing glasses is wasted time, so it's all done by machine now. Basically a glass washing machine works in a similar way to a domestic dishwasher, but unlike at home, when we would empty the dishwasher at our leisure, the urgent need for clean glasses often leads to the machine being emptied immediately upon the cleaning cycle being completed.

And what does this lead to? Warm glasses! or in some cases, even pretty hot glasses. Beer should not be served in warm glasses; the heat can transfer to the beer at an unwanted rate. I was served a beer yesterday in a glass which had clearly not been allowed to cool properly. It put me off. I'm sure you've experienced this once or twice, and actually it's not good enough. Should I have rejected my beer and asked for a more temperate glass? What would you have done?

Watching Old Sport Is Good For The Beer

I was watching some old cricket on television yesterday. My wife is aghast at how I can enjoy sport from before she was born, but that's another story. The match I was watching was The Fourth Test of The Ashes of 1975 played at The Oval.

I was drawn to one of the advertizing boards around the ground, which was for Tooth Lager. It would appear that this Australian beer has not been brewed for quite some time, which is a shame because it's a better name than Fosters or Castlemaine, and sounds much more manly!. I wonder if any of you have any experiences of drinking this beer, or can tell me why it was discontinued.

I think I'll be watching more old sport just to look for defunct beer adverts. I know that's gonna go down a treat in this household!

Leicester Beer Festival Next Week

I'm going to the Leicester Beer Festival a week today. It's a great beer festival in a good venue with plenty of seating and decent food. It's made all the better by the fact that I can get there for less than a tenner by public transport. The beer list is here, and I'm promised two beers from Cherwell Valley which regular readers will know is my current obsession. I'm not holding my breath on that score though. Mind you the beer list is so good that there's plenty of other good stuff to drink. It's good to see some emphasis on local brewers as well as stuff from further afield.

This will be my fourth straight year at the festival, and it is one which I have fond regard for, being the first beer festival my eldest daughter went to, at the grand old age of 17 days!

If any readers are going, give me a shout.

Beer Of The Month - February 2008

Another fairly quiet month saw me drink just 42 new beers in February. Even with the extra day that's well below average! The majority of these beers were on either The Oxford Pub Crawl, or at The Merton Beer Festival.

I've already reported on the better beers I drank on these two ocassions, and to be honest, the rest of the beers I drank during the month were fairly disappointing. The one bottled beer of note was Sierra Nevada Anniversary Ale which has been for sale in Oddbins. This is a hoppy beer as you would expect but somehow it seems more British in taste than American. I put that down to the body being less chewy than a lot of American IPAs although its ABV is lower than is usual. There were no other candidates for Bottle Beer Of The Month.

As far as cask conditioned goes I cannot look beyond the four outstanding beers I had at Merton. The complexity of the spicy chocolatey Milton Mammon; the roasty slightly sweet Imperial Stout Marcus Aurelius from the same brewery; the wonderfully hoppy yet superbly full bodied Oakham Oblivion, and the sensational Old Chimneys Good King Henry are all beers I would happily revisit time after time, and helped make Merton a fantastic beer festival not just for the comapny of good friends but also for the beer quality.

Good King Henry is Beer Of The Month, and comes so close to matching the bottled and aged Reserve which was the third best beer I drank in 2006. It's a rare beast on cask and special props go to the Merton organisers for puliing it off. It's a worthy winner and if I taste a better cask beer all year I will be laughing.

I can't find an image of the beer anywhere so you'll have to make do with a picture of Henry VIII, who probably wasn't a good king at all (and yes I know the beer isn't anything to do with any historical kings, but rather an extinct animal or something)

Sunday Mirror Readers Taste Jacobsen Vintage 1

For those of you not familiar with British newspapers, you should probably be made aware that The Sunday Mirror is one of our tackiest tabloids. Not quite in the same league as The Sun or News Of The World, but getting there. That they have gotten their hands on a bottle of Jacobsen Vintage1, and allowed morons to sample it is a kick in the teeth to true beer lovers and rare beer seekers throughout the country.

Oh how I wished they'd invited me to the sampling of this £204 a bottle Danish 10.5% Barley Wine rather than people who state it "tastes just like Becks" or who claim that "even if it was only £2.50 I'd prefer John Smith's." Still that's the standard of beer reporting we've come to expect; it really would have been a more credible article to have spoken to people who appreciate such things.

I'm aghast at the idea that even with the individual label of each bottle that this beer comes even close to its price tag, but I know a few beer lovers in Denmark who will pool their money to buy a bottle or two. You never know, I might go to a sampling where it is present one day. I'll be sure to report on it, but don't hold your breath.

What Wales Is Best At

Today is St David's Day, the national day of Wales. Being part of the British Isles it has a tradition of brewing real ales. In fact two breweries still exist which started production in the 1800's. Brains, and Felinfoel, both from the more industrial Southern half of the country.

Brains flagship mild has won silver once and bronze twice in the Champion Beer Of Britain Competition while Felinfoel has its place in British beer folklore, being the first brewery from these isles to sell beer from a can; a dispense method which people were very sceptical would take on.

Some decent microbreweries have started up in the last few years; notable ones being Jolly, Otley, Kingstone and the sadly short lived Bryn Cyf. However for me the best drink being produced in Wales at the minute is fruit based.

Both cider and perry is enjoying a real revival in Wales. The Welsh Cider and Perry Society has its own website which is in the throws of being replaced, but on which at the moment a good deal of information about the many outstanding producers can be found. We are lucky in that Welsh cider and perry is quite common at our better beer festivals so you don't have to dig out your Welsh/English dictionary to find somewhere to drink it.

Producers I would particularly recommend are Gwynt y Ddraig who do a large range of ciders most of which are bottled, but whose perry is without question the nicest perry I have ever tasted, Troggi another excellent perry producer, and Seidr Dai who have a prolific range of both ciders and perries.

Don't forget to drink Welsh real ale, but do not overlook the ciders and perries; there's some great stuff out there.

Oakham Brewery Tap - Go While You Can

Oakham is one of England's finest breweries producing predominantly pale hoppy beers but no slouch with dark beers as anybody who has tasted Hawse Buckler should testify to. It started life in 1993 in the town of that name. The largest town in the smallest county: Rutland, but six years later outgrew those premises and moved to Peterborough where it already owned an awarding winning pub named Charters; a Dutch barge on the River Nene.

The brewery set up shop in an old jobcentre, naming the venue The Brewery Tap, which was reckoned to be the biggest brewpub in Europe, although there are many doubters to that claim. The brewery's reputation grew and grew, culminating in a Champion Beer Of Britain overall title for Jeffrey Hudson Bitter (JHB) in 2001, two years after it won overall silver. The pub is sprawling and modernistic with huge glass panels allowing a perfect view into the brewing area. Lovely Thai food is served also.

It seems to have been the case since day one though that the pub was living on borrowed time. Redevelopment has been threatened in that area, and with some foresight Oakham opened a new brewery in another part of the city two years ago, although brewing is still done at The Brewery Tap. Now, however the redevelopment plans are running at full kilter and the pub's days really do seem numbered. As would be expected locals are up in arms, and the brewery has started a campaign to stop the pub's impending demolishment. The purpose of this blog entry is twofold: first join in the campaign - personally I feel it may turn out fruitless but you never know - and second if you've not been, make it there before you lose the chance. There are enough decent pubs in Peterborough to do a damn good crawl, so make a day of it. It really is a must do before you die issue.

Brooklyn Lager - It's Lovely

I first drank Brooklyn Lager in early 2004. I was underwhelmed, finding it a little too sweet and cloying for my palate at that time. I hadn't really discovered American beers and hops at that time, and should probably admit to not understanding the hops and even being put off a little by the word "lager".

However recently I've read a few comments from people whose taste in beer is similar to mine stating how much they enjoy the beer and at £1 a bottle in Sainsbury's, what a great 'go-to' beer it is.

So I parted with my quid and tried a bottle on Sunday. What joy! It's actually a beautiful little beer. The aroma is so subtly hopped, you can smell the cascades but it's far more delicate and welcoming than some beers with that hop are. I guess that's the hallertauer mitelfruh talking. The taste too is beautifully balanced. It's still got that sweet edge I noticed before but it's a bitter sweetness with really pleasant hop notes coming through. It doesn't even taste like it's bottom fermented to me. I would have said it's a pale ale if I'd tasted it blind, albeit it with a lack of any agressive hopping.

I drank a bottle of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Sierra Nevada Celebration straight after and easily enjoyed the Brooklyn more.

And all that for just 100pence. I think I'll get me a few more bottles.

Faitrade Fortnight

Fairtrade fortnight starts on Monday and runs, rather predictably, for a fortnight.

According to the Fairtrade website there are only four Fairtrade beers produced in the UK. That comes as a bit of a surprise to me although admittedly I cannot think of any that aren't on that list.

Additionally the Mongozo beers from Huyghe in Belgium are readily available over here, if you like that sort of thing.

Faitrade is a cause well worth supporting and there's no better excuse to support than during this fortnight.

I've still got my bottle of Freeminer's latest Fairtrade beer which I will get round to drinking and reviewing during the next couple of weeks.

Old Speckled Hen The Ale Of Choice?

Apparently Old Speckled Hen is the ale of choice for premium lager drinkers. So proud are they of this that Greene King are spending £1.5 million advertizing the beer is publications which appear to appeal to lager drinkers.

Confirms what I've thought all along. It doesn't really taste of much at all like the majority of premium lagers available in this country.

Note however that the image above is the days when the beer was brewed by Morland and was 5.2% as opposed to the mere shadow it is now.

Sarah Hughes Kicks Out Old Man

A 90 year old widower who has been drinking at the famous Sarah Hughes brewpub, The Beacon Hotel in the West Midlands has been barred for raising his walking stick to another customer.

It is alleged the oher party was taking the rise out of his mobility issues - a pretty shameful thing to do to a man of his age - and took a wave of his walking aid in the face, although he was not struck by it.

The pub's landlord who appears to be a descendant of the original brewster Sarah, and who wasn't there at the time, has decided to bar him for life based on the reports of his staff.

All seems a little harsh to me, although of course there's two sides to every story, and our intrepid nonagenarian may be more guilty than he's letting on. I'll still continue to seek out Sarah Hughes beers; this isn't worthy of a boycott.

Naked In Northants - Cancelled!

I reported on Wednesday that a Silverstone pub was planning a nudist's corner for Valentine's Day.

Well surprise, surprise the local constabulary stepped in and had the event cancelled. Apparently it may have broken certain laws under the Sexual Offences Act.

So Health & Safety had already made the event cold food only, and now the law had it cancelled entirely. Local naturists are going to complain to police so it will be interesting to see if the event goes ahead in 2009. Mind you, I still won't be attending!

Merton Winter Beer Festival 2008

Merton is a small village about five miles from Bicester. It doesn't have a pub but it has plenty of residents who appreciate a good pub and good beer. Therefore twice a year its village hall is home to a beer festival.

Yesterday I visited the Winter Festival an event which runs from 6pm to 11pm on the Friday, and then all day Saturday from noon. In spite of the rural location and lack of suitable public transport it gets very busy, and with good reason: the beer choice and condition is superb. Added to that the prices are low and the staff and locals are welcoming to the extreme. Nothing was too much for anyone; kettles were boiled to heat my baby's bottles; newspapers were laid out for those who like to read with their pint, and popcorn was on all tables and frequently replenished.

Mind you, for me it's all about the beer and Fin and crowd did a wonderful job with the selection. Eighteen real ales and half a dozen ciders and perries is about right for a festival of this size, and because the range is suitably small, it might be easy to choose ordinary beers. But no, there were some rare finds, some brand new beers and some very, very highly rated beers. Out of the ten beers I had the lowest score I gave on the RateBeer scale was 3.3, and the highest was 4.5. The stand out beer was Old Chimneys Good King Henry, a delicious Imperial Stout, but very honourable mention needs to go to Oakham Oblivion a superbly hoppy full bodied beer, and Milton Marcus Aurelius, another Imperial Stout.

The Summer Festival is on 18 and 19 July. I cannot recommend more heartily that you should make every effort to attend.

Still Searching For Cherwell Valley

My quest to sample the first beer from the new Cherwell Valley Brewery in Northants should have reached fruition today as I went to a small beer festival at The Old Grammarians Club in Wellingborough.

I was promised twenty local beers to include Cropredy Bridge 1644, the first output from the brewery. Alas it was not to be; I was told "they couldn't deliver". So presumably their vehicle caught a puncture (or other stupid excuse). Still there were beers there from Great Oakley, Hoggleys, Nobbys and Potbelly as well as a few non-Northants beers so I shouldn't complain too much.

Plus tomorrow I'm off to the Merton Winter Beer Festival where I'm promised some superb beers (sadly no Cherwell Valley though). I'll report back later.

Naked In Northants

If nudism is your thing and you are in the Northamptonshire area this Valentine's Day, then feel free to get your kit off at The White Horse in Silverstone.

This is the second year that nude dining is allowed on the day for lovers. Last year though only one man turned up!

You may feel it's my duty to go along tomorrow and get a blogger's eye perspective of the occasion, but I'm washing my hair.

Eiken Artois Replaces Artois Bock

I was pretty shocked to be truthful when it was recently announced that Artois Bock was being discontinued. I didn't think much to it, but it seemed to sell pretty well in my local Sainsbury's, and colleagues of mine sung its praises more than once. However, gone it will soon be.

In its place we will find Eiken Artois an oak-aged lager, described as "fruity, hoppy lager with subtle floral notes and hints of vanilla". I'll give it a whirl when I see it; it's got to be better than regular Stella.

One thing intrigues me though. Can anyone translate Steve McAllister's quote?: "It will drive the frequency of purchase by ensuring more occasions can be met by premium lager and will also drive shopper interest and penetration by encouraging more consumers from other categories to buy into it".

WTF?

RateBeer Does An Oxford Pub Crawl

Saturday February 9th saw 20 RateBeerians, partners and friends do a tour of Oxford pubs. The event has been long in the planning, but was clearly worth the wait, as a superb day of good beer, good pubs, great company and unseasonally nice weather was enjoyed by all.

To be fair the start of the day was a little inauspicious as the early starters arrived at St Aldates Tavern at around 11:30 to realise that it wasn't opening until noon. A short walk to the nearby art deco delights of Three Goats Heads found that closed too, so we trekked back to our original starting point desparate for sustinence.

Finally the doors opened and in we traipsed and sat ourselves down to await the rest of our party. The pub is fairly unremarkable but the beer condition was good although even well conditioned Brakspear beers are not that special. The White Horse beers were nice though; the Bitter was on particularly good form.

Next pub was The Bear which featured in an episode of Inspector Morse and proudly displays the ties that were an integral part of that episode. Beer range was three Fullers beers, and Hook Norton Bitter. The vast majority of us drank the Hooky which we enjoyed outside on the benches as the inside was pretty packed, including people presumably breaking from a wedding. The bloke in the purple hat was particularly fetching! The beer was nice although I am not as enamoured by Hook Norton as some Oxfordshire based drinkers I know ;-)

Onwards to The Turf Tavern, a sprawling pub with tons of outside drinking area. This pub has won numerous awards over the years and has been the scene of various historical events, such as alleged presidential drug taking. It also had more real ales on than any other pub we visited. But I just don't like it. There are not enough staff and some of those who do work there are pretty surly. Beer quality was unspectacular too, although it wasn't their fault that the Guinness Red some of our party bought was crap! The braziers in the yards are recommended though.

Next stop was Far From The Madding Crowd. This is a converted shop in an alleyway by Borders bookshop. The pub reminded me a little of an estate pub but with a classy beer range. A lot of people ate here but I did that before the pubs opened so I enjoyed a number of different beers, with the best being Hadrian & Border Tall Ships. The beer range and condition here was arguably the best of the pubs I managed to get to on the day.

Next we visited Eagle & Child, a pub famous for being the hangout of Tolkein, Lewis and some of their contemporaries. The pub is bigger than expected, and the beer range poorer. Most of us ordered Cains Dragon Heart, although we didn't all get it, as it ran out after just a few halves being poured.

Our next pub was just over the busy St Giles road. Lamb & Flag is a nice clean pub, appearing more modern inside than you would expect. Rare for this area are beers from Palmers and Skinners. Although unspectacular these beers were in reasonable form and the pub was spacious enough and quiet enough for most of us to sit together.

Sadly though, this was to be my last pub as the last bus home was calling me. Some of the others were lucky enough to do another few pubs and make plans for a further meet up later in the year. Looking forward to that one already!

I thoroughly enjoyed the day. It's always nice to meet up with old friends and make new ones. As I said a couple of times during the day: "beer people are nice people", and even though no beers were great that didn't seem to matter.

Stone Brewery Come To Kent, England

JD Wetherspoons are shipping Mitch Steele from Stone and Toshi Ishii from Yo-Ho Brewing Company to Shepherd Neame, and Marstons respectively to brew a beer each for their festival in March and April.

This is a pretty exciting venture. It will be good for those who have sampled these beers already brewed at source to see if they work as well with British water at British facilities, and with British kit. It will also be interesting to see how a cask conditioned IIPA goes down with Wetherspoon festival goers.

I'm certainly looking forward to the event, which as can be seen here will have some decent British beers available as well.

Northants Pub Event Forced Outdoors

A traditional event which has taken place in a Northamptonshire pub was forced outside yesterday after more than 100 years taking part inside by the warmth of the fireside. The Bull in Harpole holds an annual pipe smoking competition with the aim being to smoke one pipeload of tobacco in the longest time possible.

Of course with the English smoking ban now in force, the event was forced outside under a temporarily erected gazebo. And with tradition stating the event occurs on Shrove Tuesday, the weather is not exactly friendly either.

I must admit that the smell of a pipe is a damn site more pleasant than cigarettes, and if I remember I may try to get there next year to give a first hand account on these pages. I shan't be entering though.

Beer Of The Month - January 2008

In January I drank 48 new beers and revisited a few old favourites as promised. However for the purposes of these Beer Of The Month posts I will only consider new beers. Of these 48 I have drank 33 in pubs, most of which were cask conditioned ales, but there's been some bottled or keg stuff mixed in.

The cask ales this month have been just about average on the whole. I've had some decent stuff, but haven't seen enough strong Wintery ales to warm the cockles on these cold January days. The best three cask ales were: Castle Rock Black Gold, a very tasty mild with some interesting hop notes which was easily the best beer I had on my Nottingham Pub Crawl; Milton Sparta, a very hoppy beer with good grapefruit notes. Most Milton beers are well worth sampling. I have a good chance of trying both Mammon and Marcus Aurelius this month which is exciting; and Nobbys Winter Ale, a fascinating old ale, with a dandelion and burdock and licquorice thing going on. I admit a bit of Northamptonshire bias in giving Nobbys the cask beer of the month.

From the bottle, I enjoyed Harpoon IPA which I has at The Criterion's American Bottlefest. This is not the best IPA in the World of course, but it was decent, and it's always nice to see a new US beer in this country. I also enjoyed Hobsons Postmans Knock, a strong mild from the CBOB winning Shropshire brewery. This is like a big brother to the Champion, and is an old fashioned mild with some good coffee notes. The best bottled beer of the month was a Czech Dunkel which was part of a pretty large box of beers my parents bought over from France. Primátor Tmavé Lezák from Pivovar Náchod is a sweet full flavoured dunkel with some smokiness and lots of dark fruits. I have never understood the passion around Czech pilsners, but really do enjoy a lot of the darker beers.

Of the two winners Nobbys just shades it, and thus wins overall beer of the month.

Fancy A Pint Of Cider For 26p?

Well you are too late and will now have to pay the astronomical 34p a pint. Supermarket chain Sainsburys have been forced to withdraw their cheapest cider brand from the offer of buy three bottles and get a fourth one free. The cider has the most basic of packaging and presumably the most basic of flavours, but it will still get you drunk.

To me 34p a pint is far too cheap anyway, but is not as bad as the 44 pence for a litre of lager I reported on in November.

Selling alcohol this cheaply does promote drunkenness, or at least bring it closer to people's level of affordability, but more importantly it is another nail in the coffin of the pub trade which is losing establishments at a fast rate of knots.

It's worrying that Sainsbury's feel the need to do this at a time when they are announcing their own beer awards. Clearly they have a schizophrenic outlook on alcohol sales.

Northampton - The Fourth Best Place To Drink Good Beer In The UK

According to a Cask Marque Press Release, Huddersfield is the best town in Britain to get a decent pint of real ale.

The criteria used to determine if a beer passed their quality standards was temperature, appearance, aroma and taste, although of course all of these are in the eye of the beholder and I have no evidence that the inspectors are any more skilled at beer tasting than you or me. Huddersfield 's beer scored higher on average than anywhere else.

Sheffield and Derby are recognised as meccas for the real ale afficianado, but both fail to make the top ten. I can of course hear cries from the back saying that tickers who drink in these two places don't care what their beer tastes like so long as it's new, and that is an argument I have made before. I must say though that I have very rarely had a bad beer in a ticker's pub. Of course inspectors visited far more than just recognised real ale haunts anyway.

What is pleasing is that the two places I do most of my drinking: Northampton and Leicester are both in the top ten so based on that fact there's a really good chance I'm drinking better beer than you!!