Welcome Back Quaffale

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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?

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

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

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?

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

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

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.