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.
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.
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.
I was surprised to see, alongside local beers from Great Oakley and other more commonly found guest beers, two blasts from the past. These were Ansells Bitter and Ind Coope Burton Ale. Both of these are produced in much smaller quantities now they are brewed at the Carlsberg Tetley plant in Leeds than they used to be when brewed at either Birmingham or Burton. Indeed Burton Ale was very easy to find following its victory in the Champion Beer Of Britain competition in 1990. It was described around that time by Roger Protz as "one of the most succulent beers known to personkind".
I couldn't resist trying these two beers, to see if I could recall any memories from when I previously tried them so many years ago.
The Ansells has a sulphuric Burton type note to it and had friendly easy drinking bitterness. None of your modern American hops in this. It was fairly thin, but drinkable if you don't mind the sulphur. It would certainly appeal to ordinary bitter drinkers. I couldn't recall however, my experiences of drinking this previously.
Ind Coope Burton Ale also was sulphuric and had some nice hoppy flavours. I did recall the fruitiness of yesteryear but found his far more restrained now. It had a lot of the same qualities as the Ansells but more fruit and more alcohol.
I enjoyed both beers; they are drinkable and approachable. The sulphur was not off-putting like I found it to be in Marstons Pedigree when I last had it. They were fun beers to drink.
I should add that I had some Great Oakley Delapre Dark straight after. This knoked the socks off either of the other two, but that's a progressive micro for you!
