Oh Nigel!

I'm just watching last night's food and farming programme with Nigel Slater and Adam Henson.

The premise of the show is that, as a nation, we're rather too removed from our food because we buy stuff from the supermarket where it's imported from abroad, celophane packed and divorced from the seasons.

All sentiments I'm cool with.

They've grown durum wheat and used an artisan miller to make their own pasta flour with which to make home-made lasagne.  They've made a virtue from the more grisly cuts of beef and lamb and, true to form, lovely Nige implores us to camera to use more of these cheaper cuts at home.  It's all good.

Imagine my disapointment, therefore, when to demonstrate the seasonality of a green-hopped beer they talk to Shepherd Neame rather than a microbrewer.  Now, don't get me wrong, I've imbibed the odd pint of Spitfire and it's fine...but it doesn't strike me as in-keeping with the tone of the rest of the show.  They're a large brewing plc and quite removed from the crafty, artisan tone of the series.

Still, at least beer made it onto the show...though I find the comment "your beer's just been delivered" somewhat at odds with the simulataneous delivery of a pint to camera.  Yeah, yeah...it was probably delivered bright...but I doubt Nige would have omitted that sort of detail from the cooking side of things.

A bit of an opportunity lost in a show with wider appeal...

Nice try but Cminus...could do better.

How much is too much?

I haven't had a drink for a few days.  No recently drunk beer to report, or pubs visited.

So I find myself musing on why I drink and how I drink.

There's no doubt that, along with a significant proportion of the population, I flout the handed-down guidelines for the amount of alcohol I drink on the whole.  I'm not entirely convinced that there really are one-size-fits-all levels for things like alcohol...but I do understand that if you're trying to warn people that something is potentially harmful, there's not really room for anything other than clear, albeit probably cautious, guidelines.

Why do I drink?  Principally because I like the taste. Beer, wine and, less often, gin and single malt whisky.

So, this implies that I would drink these drinks if they tasted like they do and had no alcoholic content.  Well, yes, I would. 
Actually, I fairly rarely drink on my own these days - mostly because I know my liver thanks me for some alcohol free days and if I'm in on my own, it's a really easy way to achieve that.

I can't deny that alcohol is my drug of choice for socialising.  I'm an introvert with a hint of residual shyness that asserts itself mostly in social situations.  Alcohol eases my self-consciousness, often gives a topic of conversation and you can muse on what your companions are saying whilst you sip your pint.

The speed at which I drink, in company, generally, corresponds to how nervous I am - you ask S. Thankfully now we know each other pretty well, I no longer match him pint for pint.

Yet still, my favourite afternoon pastime is a walk to the pub with S, (via errands, or possibly a hill) followed by a few hours of beer and increasingly alcohol fuelled conversation and plotting.
There's the thirst quenching, and the taste of the beer, and softening that happens as the alcohol permeates...but the whole experience is far more than the sum of its parts.

I don't care what the government says - it does us both the world of good.

...and the weekend's not far off now.

Stuff yer transition beers...?

It's very, very easy in most decent sized towns and cities to find really good beer.

For me, this generally means Real Ale, served cool (ideally not cold, definitely not warm), by a person/organization who knows how to look after beer properly.

Do I rate lager as an inferior drink, then?

Not all lager, no, of course not.  Lagering is process which, when done properly and with care produces a fine drink.  I don't usually enjoy it but I wouldn't say a proper lager is inferior.

But I loathe the mass produced tasteless fizzy stuff in much the way I don't enjoy Mother's Pride or Kenco Instant.  They're factory products and the people and machines making them are probably as connected to them as they would be if they were producing washing powder.

So what do I make of the "Craft Beer" surgence (I can't say resurgence since I'm not sure it's happened before)?
Well, I think it's fine.

Perhaps we can all agree that "Craft beer" is a term that encompasses any style of beer that is produced with care (even love, perhaps).

Please, though can we ensure we distinguish between those beers served "alive" from a cask and those which are pasteurised and served under pressure from a keg.

Am I being prissy and pedantic?  Maybe, but frankly I don't care.

I have to say, I was really disappointed a few months back on a visit to the Botanist in Kew when I ordered a pint which had a pump clip on a cask pump only to have the member of staff cross the bar space and fill my glass from a pressurized keg pump.  When I challenged her, she looked blankly and said "no, it's the same stuff".  Frankly, that's shocking.

I accepted the pint and drank it and it was OK but it was too fizzy, and had a definitely metallic signature after taste that keg beers usually have.

More recently, on our first visit to the most excellent Beer Emporium, S decided that he ought to give some of this craft-keg stuff a go. This stuff was properly labelled with no suggestion that it was anything other than from a keg but it still wasn't a very satisfactory experience.

I've no doubt that a lot of people might find craft-keg beer more to their taste, and that's great and it might help craft brewers take some of the revenue from the mass-producers.  In some cases, some newcomers to the keg versions of beers might migrate over to cask, having used the familiar texture and temperature of keg beer as a kind of transition.

Actually, I don't think that matters as much as people choosing to buy products that have been made with care.

But please, please don't try and sell me one thing under the guise of another in the hope I won't notice.  I will, and I'll think twice about coming back...

Lone Drinking

I'm not normally a woman who pops into the pub for a pint on my own.

These days, I'm perfectly happy to toddle in on my own in order to meet folk for a drink - in fact, I do it on a regular basis.  It wasn't always the case, though...it used to take me a lot of screwing up of courage to do that.  So it would have been unthinkable for me to drop in for a drink just because I fancied one.

The very first time I popped into the pub for a drink on my own I had to be coached from afar by my good and tolerant mate, Tim.  He maintained that no one would give a damn that I was there on my own.  Of course he was right and even though the experience was terrifying and required me to take plenty of props with me (book, smartphone and camera), it was totally worth it (even though Doom Bar was the Hobson's Choice beer).

Why is it such a problem?  I'm not sure.
I guess it feels quite exposing to look a bit "Johnny no mates", and I think that women might feel that more acutely since it's very common to see blokes in for a pint on their own.
Does it make it better or worse that I'm a drinker of pints of real ale?  Would I feel better drinking gin or wine?
In a pub that's known for its beer, I'm probably more comfortable than in places that do beer but don't specialize.  But I haven't done any extensive research since usually I'm lucky to have my favourite beer buddy with me.

Since my first solo flight I've repeated the experience a small handful of times  - once to watch football in what was my local in Bristol, three times on working visits to Eastbourne before we bought our place here...and then today.

I was running errands in town and I just fancied a little sit down and a pint - so I went to the Dolphin again and had a pint of Dark Star Darkness.  I was perfectly content in the place, the only disappointment being that my favourite sofa near the fire and the nicest tables were all full.

I had a sales brochure to read, I'd deliberately brought my recently acquired copy of Sussex Pevsner Guide and I had my phone which I used to send a couple of emails.

I concluded that this is a 3+pint pub - and it would have been awfully tempting for me today to stay longer, had the sofa been free.

What makes it good?  I still don't know.
It's a fairly spacious and open kind of a pub too and plenty of spaces of different sizes so you can choose accordingly.
The friendly and engaging staff make a huge difference to a lone lady drinker, I reckon.  And this probably what tips the balance for me.

It won't be the last time I pop in, that's for sure.

A pub with no beer

Last night I met up with a brilliant group of people.

They're trying to save their local pub.  It's the only pub in the area and the owners are looking to sell it - potentially to become a supermarket.

Planning regs allow for pubs to be unceremoniously turned into retail spaces without so much as a "by your leave" (aka Planning Consent) since it's considered to be "Permitted Development".  But these guys aren't happy with that.  They want their pub back so rather than just whine and demand that "something must be done" they've got off their collective backsides and, despite having day jobs and busy lives they've launched into a project to bid for the pub with a view to owning and running it themselves.

The pub is on the fringes of Eastbourne - it was built in the 50's along with the estate that surrounds it.  Last night one of the group members told me how his family ended up in the area when a large employer relocated to Eastbourne from London, encouraged the pub to be built and installed the landlord and landlady from one of their favourite pubs in London for the benefit of the workers.

What a brilliant story, and what a shame it would be for it to come to an ignominious end as another faceless supermarket.

Fortunately, communities have a little more power since the various bits of the "Localism Bill" came into law.  They can insist on being able to bid when buildings or land of community value are offered for sale.

The first stage was it to get it on the local authority's Register of Assets of Community Value.  It was at this stage I heard about the group because I'd been involved in a similar registration for another pub, a little nearer my house.  I met them for the first time then, and immediately liked their sense of purpose and determination.

The application for registration was successful so the project can move to the next stage - the one where we find out whether it's even possible for this community to raise enough money to buy the place.

Keep your fingers crossed for us - and if you're passing the Parkfield at some point in the future, and it isn't a Co-op then drop in for a pint, eh?

Firsts

The switch from cider (well, Blackthorn, to be precise) to beer was made in my cousin's lounge in about 1985. Cider didn't travel well around the canal system so beer was a better drinking option for holidays.  The guy from Lancashire felt that perhaps he could get me to like beer, if he could only find the right one.  Quite a tricky job in Bristol in the 80's - good beer wasn't exactly littering the streets.
So it was a wine glass full of Theakston's Old Peculier from a small bottle.

I can't say that I loved it from the start but I did get a sense that beer was something you needed to persist with.

Fast forward about 25 years.

The Royal Oak in Southwark.  I'd just met S and he thought I'd like the interior of the pub, and he could introduce me to the beer of his youth.

You never know where a single drink can lead.

Weekend Report

Back in Bristol for a short time having had a lovely, relaxing weekend in Hitchin.

As predicted the weekend started with me arriving at the station carrying two and a half hours of travel...and quite thirsty.  Thence to the Nightingale where we had a pint of Brewsters golden beer...which might have been Decadence or it might have been something else...(beer memory fail).  Our second pint was a nice surprise - A Hogsback Brew that I've never tried before:  Ripsnorter which was like an oomphy version of the beer of theirs I know best - TEA.  Even though we were going to leave it there...we had to have another pint of it before staggering back home for take out Chinese and a decadent evening on the sofa.

Saturday was a day we planned to go shopping - we're both pretty rubbish at this task, and it's really just a thinly veiled half-hearted attempt to buy stuff (in this case, some birthday presents and some black lentils) followed by a spell in the pub.
Unsurprisingly, the only thing we bought was a newspaper...errr...to read in the pub.
So we ventured into a relative newcomer in Hitchin's real ale stakes...The Bricklayer's Arms in Queen Street.  It's recently been taken over and completely refurbished and now sells local Banks and Taylor beers plus a few guest beers.
It has a good solid range of decent beers - even if nothing blew my socks off this time.  To be honest, the only beer I can remember was Nottingham Brewery's Supreme Bitter.

On and off over the weekend we've mused on the type of pub we visit...and we ended up categorising them by the number of pints we might drink in them, as a rule.

A one pint pub is a perfectly fine place to go - it might be somewhere that has one really good beer, or something otherwise interesting about it, but we never feel quite ready to linger there for a second pint.

A good example of a two-pint pub is the Nightingale.  The staff are pleasant, we go there often; the beer's usually well kept and it's usually beer we like.  It's just that it's not a place we could stay all evening without some external force (a football match being show, meeting other folk there...that sort of thing).  At the moment, we'd typify the Bricklayers as a two-pint pub - it could change over time as it settles down and we get used to it.

Then there are the other pubs...the 3+ pint pubs.  That was our second visit on Saturday...to the Half Moon.  It didn't disappoint.  I had a pint and a half of Oakham Inferno - I'd had enough experimenting for the day so I craved something I knew would hit the spot.  It did (of course). S drank wider than me, as usual, but my memory fails me as to what he experimented with.
We could have stayed all evening, but we dragged ourselves away.

Sunday saw us take a walk for a couple of miles and we bypassed The Highlander which is more of an eating than a drinking pub..and we hadn't really built up a thirst yet.  But we ended up at the Half Moon end of town and it would have been rude not to...
There had been quite a change over of beers since Saturday evening - Maldon Gold had been added, Citra had replaced Inferno and then a stronger Brewsters beer - I think it was a "Pale Ale" which was about 5% and was delicious.
Meanwhile S had a pint of mild (brewery unknown) which nice, but a little bitterer than you might expect, followed by an Olivers Perry (that's right, the pub also sells good ciders and perries, too) and then he joined me in the new Brewsters pint.
Added to the good beer, was the cheery greeting by one of the bar staff and a pleasant generally beery conversation with Howard the Landlord.

Yep, good times, indeed.

Normal service will be resumed...

The Hitchin base currently has no internets and that may continue for a couple of days.  I'm heading there for the weekend so unlikely I can fulfill my mental aim of doing a blog per day.

However, I can reaonably predict that some time between 4 and 5pm this evening, I'll meet S in The Nightingale which is the closest pub to the station and usually it serves a jolly good pint.
I feel like a regular there now, recognised by the bar staff and even able to get a grin or a wry chuckle out of the taciturn landlord from time to time.

Usually home to some Tring beers which are decent, if not awe-inspiring and those from the Colchester Brewery which have their moments, and sometimes from the ladies at Brewsters, who can brew a cracking pint.  Yep, that's right the brewery is a female affair which I think is brilliant.

In addition, this weekend will hopefully include a visit to my favourite Hitchin pub - The Half Moon - which always has interesting beers which are turned around incredibly quickly and so are in tip-top condition.  The landlord knows his beer and likes his customers to enjoy them. He's even been known to exchange a pint which I thought was off, but turned out I just didn't like it.  I'm not sure he'd let me make a habit of that, but you have to appreciate a pub like that.

In fact, the only thing I don't like there is the fact that some people have a habit of clustering tightly around the pumps to do their drinking which makes it hard for the rest of us to get served...but it's a small quibble.
So, should you ever be passing and you see this pretty ordinary, possibly slightly down-at-heel pub on the road toward Stevenage - give it a try.

Oh, the food's pretty good too.

May your weekend be blessed with good beer...like mine probably will

Desert Island Beers #1

Since I failed to do a blog entry yesterday, I'm doing two today.

I frequently get into conversations about favourite beers, favourite pubs and stuff like that.  My desert island beer list changes about once a week, of course, and anyway half the fun is of trying new beers...but I'll list some of my favourites today...it'll be different tomorrow, I'll wager.

S tells me you have to have a mix of styles in the desert island list because you'd get bored of the same thing.  He's probably right, so I'll try and stick to that rule too.

1. Dark Star Hophead a beer I'm happy to drink wherever, and whenever.  Light and relatively low in alcohol so I don't fall over too quickly on it.  Best drunk in The Evening Star, I find.
2. Bristol Beer Factory Sunrise similar in style to Hophead.  Discovered on The Grain Barge and I continue to drink it at my Bristol local, The Barleymow - although it seems slightly less frequently available than it used to be. Again, this is a really easy drink.  A little stronger than the ideal session pint, maybe, but nothing disabling.
3. These days I have an uneasy relationship with brown bitters - it's not that I don't like them, exactly, but they don't usually excite me.  However, the list has to have at least one and we learned on a recent Cornwall trip that the Penzance Brewery brews architypes...so what better Best Bitter could I ask for than theirs ?
4. Another brown beer I almost always try if it's available is Timothy Taylor Landlord.  Well kept it's a cracking pint. It's listed as a Pale Ale not a bitter and, to be honest, I'm not sure I really understand the distinction, but hey.
5. Another Bristol brewery I'm very fond of is Arbor Ales. I don't I've ever tried a beer of theirs I didn't like even though the hoppiness of them is distinctly unsubtle on some occasions.  Top of the tree for me has to be Black Eyed PA, though.
6. A couple more strongish beers need to go on the list - first is Jaipur by Thornbridge.  I've had it in cask, bottled and kegged form but from the cask, straight off a fresh barrel, at the Bristol Beer Festival was the best.  It has been known to make me an extremely cheap date...one pint and...
7. ...and ashamed as I am to include a second beer from a brewery, I think that I'd want Dark Star American Pale Ale available too.  It tastes a little stronger than it really is but it's got that oomph you want sometimes, especially if you're only stopping for one pint.
8. The last beer in the list is a little from left-field if you know me.  It's not the beer I'd save from the waves, for sure, but drinking it would bring back fab memories of a damp weekend of beer drinking in Brussels when S was trying to show me that there would be Belgian beers I'd like in spite of my assertions to the contrary.  It's a kriek but it has to be a draught kriek from Morte Subite. Brilliantly cherry flavoured but also dry and bitter.

As for my book to go with the bible and the complete works of Shakespeare...well Good Beer Guide, obviously.  Mind you, my pal Dr C calls it "the bible" so maybe I could trade the King James for the CAMRA versions and have a book on cellar management...?

Post Script...
...now here's a thing.  I told you the list would change by tomorrow...actually, I've just realised the error of my ways in not including an Oakham Ales beer.  Yet I've liked every pint of their beer I've ever had and adore their brewery tap in Peterborough...

That means APA at no7 might have to go and be replaced with something from Oakham...and since we're talking about a stronger beer here then possibly Dream Catcher which is a a beer-flavoured cosh...but brilliant.

OK - I'm really stopping now...probably.

Share and Share Alike

Sharing your favourite places and things with a friend is one of the most dangerous things we do.  Emotionally, I mean...unless you have a particularly violent friend.

I remember, very clearly, the first time S took me to this pub. It was one of the haunts of his youth.  It was early days for us and we'd come down to Eastbourne just for the day for an exhibition at the local gallery.

Once we'd had a windblown walk along the sea front and I'd been introduced to Eastbourne's Napoleonic heritage we ended up here, at the Victoria Hotel in the Seaside area of town. It's a Harvey's pub.

Now, Harvey's is not my favourite brew, but a well kept pint of it is always good to find.

The beer here is always well kept and I remember instantly liking the pub which is very much a corner local.  S seemed pleased that I liked his chosen venue.

Because it's tucked away in the quieter part of town, and it's a little off the beaten track, it's quite satisfying to find it...it always feels like a bit of secret knowledge.

It was in here that S & I plotted to spend Christmas together in Devon for the first time since both of us prefer times walking and going to the pub than a more traditional turkey and TV celebration.  So I'm fond of the place for that reason as well and that feeling gives me a small warm glow every time I come in.

It was with a little trepidation, though, that I took my friend, Will, into the pub yesterday.  We were running errands for a community group we're in and it led us to this area of town.  We'd walked a fair way and delivered a load of leaflets and we were desperately in need of a rest and some refreshment.  Will had never been to the place despite having been a resident for longer than me.

The last time I took a friend into a pub that I loved I was devastated when I realised that this friend really didn't like that pub at all.  I didn't want that to happen at the Victoria with Will.

I needn't have worried.  As we stepped inside Will's eyes widened a bit and all he said was "Oh wow!".

We got a couple of pints and sat down for a chat.

Will got the place immediately, and started planning bringing his family here for lunch and having meetings around the generous tables that the pub is filled with.  He admired the unspoiled Victorian interior and enjoyed the beer.

It might have been the first time Will had set foot in the place, but I doubt it'll be the last.

It's all about context

"Hophead?"

That was the greeting I got at The Dolphin in Eastbourne yesterday evening.  Not from a friend I was meeting but from the lady behind the bar.

I like The Dolphin. We go there quite frequently when we're in Eastbourne because they have decent beer and nice food.  Last night we were there because S was off back to Hitchin, The Dolphin is pretty close to the station, it was cold and wet out and it's a pub that has an open fire.

We'd been there on Friday evening, but I certainly wouldn't call us regulars.  So the greeting came as a pleasant surprise.  She was right, of course.

S opted for Brakspear Oxford Gold and that choice got an approving nod from the only other customer.  In fact it prompted an hour or so of pleasant chat on the subject of breweries, the take over of same, pubs closing, beer festivals and other related matters.

...and that's one of the reasons I like trips to the pub, especially with S.  It was a good pint - not the best ever, but it was good...but the evening was all about the company and the atmosphere.  What a nice evening.

Introductions

I've decided that I don't do enough writing (S will probably disagree since he's often on the receiving end of my rambling emails and text messages).

I wouldn't call myself a writer but I enjoy the process.  I'm trying to write a book and writing seems to me like a skill that needs to practiced frequently to make you better at it, and to make it easier to do.

I wrote a blog when I was reeling from an unpleasant life event and I found it therapeutic, and surprisingly enjoyable.

So blogging seems like a natural outlet for me and I like to share certain experiences so that subject was a no brainer...beer.

Well, not just beer but the experience of enjoying (or not) it. 

Expect rants, critques, personal history stuff...you never know, you might just discover your next favourite pub here.

Oh - just one thing...don't expect chronology...