Well, that was weird. Weird in a really good way, but definitely weird.
It starts with a conversation about a conversation about beer. The conversation in my previous blog.
S is my mentor in beeriness (in other things too but this blog's about beer, innit) so we're walking through the woods, chatting about the keeping of beer, the selling of beer and the economics of beer. By the time we got to The Lamb, we're reasonably thirsty so we swing by the "locals'" bar for swift one.
Hunger set upon us so we naturally gravitated to Eastern Wok for dinner where we drink some chenin blanc...all the while talking about lots of things, but quite a lot about beer, still.
Somewhere in the conversation we talked about the enjoyment of things, and how context has a big part to play in sensory enjoyment. How The Royal Oak in Southwark/Bermondsey is the nicest place to drink Harvey's and how Jaipur was very briefly my very favourite beer but that might have been related in part to the circumstances of the first time I drank it.
We finished our dinner and repaired "next door" to The Crown who, we are coming to believe, is probably the most consistent keeper of beer in Eastbourne.
Now, Andy has some staples he serves: Wadworths 6X and Shepherd Neame Spitfire. Neither of these tickle my fancy but clearly they do other people's.
Then he usually has Harveys Best (of course) and Hophead in casks in the cellar. So we typically drink Hophead.
Frequently, he also has another guest beer in the cellar.
For this visit, we were staggered to see he had Jaipur on.
I've drunk Jaipur from a handpump in the Cask and Kitchen, from the cask at the Bristol Beer Festival, from a bottle from Waitrose and I've even had a taster of a keg version but I have to say this was the nicest pint of Jaipur I've had. Well, two pints, actually.
So good was it, that we went back the next evening.
It's not for the faint of heart - at 5.9% it packs a wallop but it really is a good beer and I'm delighted that my local had it.
Here's to coincidences, to Jaipur and to the Crown (and if the Crown's not in the GBG this year, then I'll be having a word.)
Sunday, 31 August 2014
Friday, 29 August 2014
Beer Drinking Skillz
You're very knowledgeable about your beer, says P as we catch up over a couple of pints and a burger at The Dolphin in Eastbourne.
I'm not, although all things are relative and P drinks Peroni or similar so I might as well have had a degree in the subject for all P knows about (or is really interested in) Real Ale.
I am more passionate than learned about it. But I drink it. A lot.
We got onto chatting about how you know when a pint is bad, and what to do about it when you do. It minded me of an article on one of the beer blogs I follow where a couple of women beer drinkers (who, I think have recently hit on Real Ale from the Craft side of the street...but I might be wrong) who last year chatted to other women at the Great British Beer Festival.
I was a bit horrified by what they purport to have found...that:
- women often don't drink pints (or even beer) on dates because it's not very feminine, and that men agree with this assertion.
- women are nervous of drinking beer, or asking about beer because they think (or even have experienced) that men belittle them for not knowing.
- women would like to know more about beer...but don't think there's any way to find out. There seemed to be an implication that a women-only education/tasting session would help this.
What an enormous shame this is...although I suspect that it's not only women who fear they don't know their beer.
Taking the first point, first, I'll grant you that I've been enormously lucky. The men in my life have not only tolerated, but actively encouraged my beer-drinking. And, with the exception of one male school friend (and it was a long time ago, although I've never really forgiven him for it), I've not heard any guy make derogatory comments on women drinking pints.
(To be fair though...my drinking habits are not really the least feminine thing about me.)
If it's true though, I might suggest that the women question think very carefully about dating blokes who actively make you feel that way about the drink of your choice.
I was amused the other day when I went into a pub and bought myself a pint whilst I was waiting for someone to join me and a fella next to me looked at the pint that I'd just sipped, smiled at me and just said "good girl!" Sexist? Maybe, I guess. Offensive? No way - quite amusing, really.
Next point...
If bar staff can't be gracious about the way they sell their product then they're not fit to serve behind a bar and should just f*ck right off. Know the product. If possible, like the product, and share your enthusiasm with your customers.
I would imagine that guys who are new to drinking real ale (or craft beer of any kind) don't really have the vocabulary, or mebbe the confidence to know what they like...so, not unlike women, then. That shouldn't matter.
Any good pub should offer you a taste if you don't know the relative merits of the choices in front of you. If they don't offer, ask. Now, don't take the p*ss - you can't expect them to accommodate the time and cost of you trying all of the 12 beers on offer. So try a couple and then buy a pint...or buy a half to try. If you don't like it - then chalk it down to experience and don't have it again. But give it a full half to decide...some beers really do grow on you.
If you don't know where to buy your beer, start with the Good Beer Guide. It's relatively reliable and there's a better than average chance they keep their beer consistently well. If you can't stump up the cost of a guide, then look in the windows of the pub. If they're in they'll often have a notice bragging about it.
If you want to get some real exposure to a lot of well kept beer at a single strike - then go to a CAMRA run beer festival. It doesn't need to have 500 cask beers to be worthwhile - after all, how many can you actually try?
Go to one which has 20 beers, or 40 beers - then engage the volunteers behind the bar and ask them what they like. Any beer drinker worth their salt will extol the virtues of their favourite brew and they'll tell you why. Actually, you'll probably find it hard to get away from us once you ask the question.
So back to the question of how you know a pint is bad.
Well, beer ought to be mostly clear, about 12degC, smell pleasant, and taste of...well, beer.
Yes - some beers have unusual flavours in them that not all people like (a bit grassy, a touch of the silage about them) but off flavours and smells are mostly pretty distinctive.
If you drink enough beer, those off-tastes are easy to spot.
There's a borderline of "tiredness" when the cask's been open for half a day too long with too little in it which sometimes you just have to take on the chin. But really bad beer...never, never accept it.
Take it back to the bar (actually, not leaving the bar before taking the top off it is even better, if you can remember) - smile, be pleasant and explain.
My thing is usually to apologise or to say words like "I'm afraid this pint's off"...
What should happen is that they take it back, offer you something else and take the beer off sale immediately without making you feel bad. If they don't, then I'd recommend giving that pub a miss in future.
Bar staff should know, roughly, whether a cask is fresh or been on the go for a few days...and so telling them a pint is off, shouldn't really come as any surprise.
I've only ever had arguments three times with off beer - and I've taken maybe 20 or 30 pints back in 30 years of beer drinking.
Why not just leave the pint, and leave the pub?
Well - firstly, every pub gets it wrong once in a while. Give them the chance to right their mistake and be gracious doing it. If the replacement pint you got is good, then it's probably just bad luck.
But it's not just about that pub. If people don't complain, then other people with less beer experience under their belts might be put off drinking the beer of that brewery...or all real beer because they thought what they just tasted is how it's supposed to taste. That makes it degree harder for all the good places out there.
I honestly don't think tutored beer tasting sessions are the answer to becoming better with beer. You need to find yourself a knowledgeable companion...and drink the stuff.
I'm not, although all things are relative and P drinks Peroni or similar so I might as well have had a degree in the subject for all P knows about (or is really interested in) Real Ale.
I am more passionate than learned about it. But I drink it. A lot.
We got onto chatting about how you know when a pint is bad, and what to do about it when you do. It minded me of an article on one of the beer blogs I follow where a couple of women beer drinkers (who, I think have recently hit on Real Ale from the Craft side of the street...but I might be wrong) who last year chatted to other women at the Great British Beer Festival.
I was a bit horrified by what they purport to have found...that:
- women often don't drink pints (or even beer) on dates because it's not very feminine, and that men agree with this assertion.
- women are nervous of drinking beer, or asking about beer because they think (or even have experienced) that men belittle them for not knowing.
- women would like to know more about beer...but don't think there's any way to find out. There seemed to be an implication that a women-only education/tasting session would help this.
What an enormous shame this is...although I suspect that it's not only women who fear they don't know their beer.
Taking the first point, first, I'll grant you that I've been enormously lucky. The men in my life have not only tolerated, but actively encouraged my beer-drinking. And, with the exception of one male school friend (and it was a long time ago, although I've never really forgiven him for it), I've not heard any guy make derogatory comments on women drinking pints.
(To be fair though...my drinking habits are not really the least feminine thing about me.)
If it's true though, I might suggest that the women question think very carefully about dating blokes who actively make you feel that way about the drink of your choice.
I was amused the other day when I went into a pub and bought myself a pint whilst I was waiting for someone to join me and a fella next to me looked at the pint that I'd just sipped, smiled at me and just said "good girl!" Sexist? Maybe, I guess. Offensive? No way - quite amusing, really.
Next point...
If bar staff can't be gracious about the way they sell their product then they're not fit to serve behind a bar and should just f*ck right off. Know the product. If possible, like the product, and share your enthusiasm with your customers.
I would imagine that guys who are new to drinking real ale (or craft beer of any kind) don't really have the vocabulary, or mebbe the confidence to know what they like...so, not unlike women, then. That shouldn't matter.
Any good pub should offer you a taste if you don't know the relative merits of the choices in front of you. If they don't offer, ask. Now, don't take the p*ss - you can't expect them to accommodate the time and cost of you trying all of the 12 beers on offer. So try a couple and then buy a pint...or buy a half to try. If you don't like it - then chalk it down to experience and don't have it again. But give it a full half to decide...some beers really do grow on you.
If you don't know where to buy your beer, start with the Good Beer Guide. It's relatively reliable and there's a better than average chance they keep their beer consistently well. If you can't stump up the cost of a guide, then look in the windows of the pub. If they're in they'll often have a notice bragging about it.
If you want to get some real exposure to a lot of well kept beer at a single strike - then go to a CAMRA run beer festival. It doesn't need to have 500 cask beers to be worthwhile - after all, how many can you actually try?
Go to one which has 20 beers, or 40 beers - then engage the volunteers behind the bar and ask them what they like. Any beer drinker worth their salt will extol the virtues of their favourite brew and they'll tell you why. Actually, you'll probably find it hard to get away from us once you ask the question.
So back to the question of how you know a pint is bad.
Well, beer ought to be mostly clear, about 12degC, smell pleasant, and taste of...well, beer.
Yes - some beers have unusual flavours in them that not all people like (a bit grassy, a touch of the silage about them) but off flavours and smells are mostly pretty distinctive.
If you drink enough beer, those off-tastes are easy to spot.
There's a borderline of "tiredness" when the cask's been open for half a day too long with too little in it which sometimes you just have to take on the chin. But really bad beer...never, never accept it.
Take it back to the bar (actually, not leaving the bar before taking the top off it is even better, if you can remember) - smile, be pleasant and explain.
My thing is usually to apologise or to say words like "I'm afraid this pint's off"...
What should happen is that they take it back, offer you something else and take the beer off sale immediately without making you feel bad. If they don't, then I'd recommend giving that pub a miss in future.
Bar staff should know, roughly, whether a cask is fresh or been on the go for a few days...and so telling them a pint is off, shouldn't really come as any surprise.
I've only ever had arguments three times with off beer - and I've taken maybe 20 or 30 pints back in 30 years of beer drinking.
Why not just leave the pint, and leave the pub?
Well - firstly, every pub gets it wrong once in a while. Give them the chance to right their mistake and be gracious doing it. If the replacement pint you got is good, then it's probably just bad luck.
But it's not just about that pub. If people don't complain, then other people with less beer experience under their belts might be put off drinking the beer of that brewery...or all real beer because they thought what they just tasted is how it's supposed to taste. That makes it degree harder for all the good places out there.
I honestly don't think tutored beer tasting sessions are the answer to becoming better with beer. You need to find yourself a knowledgeable companion...and drink the stuff.
Thursday, 28 August 2014
Old Favourites
Twice in the last couple of weeks, and in two different towns, I've been reminded of a beer of my early forays into beer festivals (well, one really - the Bristol Beer Festival).
The Crown in Eastbourne had a nice little beer festival the weekend of the local airshow and whilst we didn't have much time to spend there, it was great to see a length of stillage and some casks in jackets set up in the back room.
I didn't have to look any further than Kelham Island - Pale Rider. Actually, I was really excited to see it.
It's a great beer, and it has been around for quite a while. It's been around, I think, since well before pale real ales were ubiquitous. And I almost forgot that. It's not 'hopped to fuck and back'; it's 5.2% it's pretty strong, but is well balanced. In short, it's a great beer.
It was great to be reminded of it and drinking it made me smile.
So it was quite a shock, last weekend, to see it on the pumps in the Bricklayers in Hitchin. I did something I rarely do, these days, instead of trying something different for the sake of it - I picked the Pale Rider. I was pleased I did.
Sometimes, it's hard to remember that golden beers are not just the new big thing - they've been around a while. It's just that some of the new boys are a little bit less considered and subtle in their approach.
Don't get me wrong, I love Oakham beers, and Arbor beers...and many of the others of their ilk. I also like it when the hops are not turned up to 11.
The Crown in Eastbourne had a nice little beer festival the weekend of the local airshow and whilst we didn't have much time to spend there, it was great to see a length of stillage and some casks in jackets set up in the back room.
I didn't have to look any further than Kelham Island - Pale Rider. Actually, I was really excited to see it.
It's a great beer, and it has been around for quite a while. It's been around, I think, since well before pale real ales were ubiquitous. And I almost forgot that. It's not 'hopped to fuck and back'; it's 5.2% it's pretty strong, but is well balanced. In short, it's a great beer.
It was great to be reminded of it and drinking it made me smile.
So it was quite a shock, last weekend, to see it on the pumps in the Bricklayers in Hitchin. I did something I rarely do, these days, instead of trying something different for the sake of it - I picked the Pale Rider. I was pleased I did.
Sometimes, it's hard to remember that golden beers are not just the new big thing - they've been around a while. It's just that some of the new boys are a little bit less considered and subtle in their approach.
Don't get me wrong, I love Oakham beers, and Arbor beers...and many of the others of their ilk. I also like it when the hops are not turned up to 11.
Thursday, 14 August 2014
Pleasant Surprises
Our community group went on an away match last weekend to see a Martello Tower in Dymchurch (yep, that's how we like to roll). The weather was foul but the tower was awesome. By the time we'd done battle with the elements just to see a 24-pounder napoleonic-era cannon in its native setting we were pretty thirsty.
Now, it has to be said that Dymchurch isn't the most enticing place for a beer drinker and as there were a whole bunch of us (and only two were really beer drinkers) then we couldn't allow beer exploration to take precedence.
So, we headed into the Ocean Inn which we knew could accommodate a last supper-sized group on spec.
There was only Courage Directors, and Courage Best on tap which made us very sad, but we tried it anyway.
Early in my beer drinking career I was told that "The best kept pint of Courage Best is the best beer in the world" and I've never believed it (or experienced it) - and I've never liked the overly toffee flavour of Directors. Nevertheless, we both enjoyed our beer a great deal.
The food we had was also really good - not fancy or "gastro" but nicely done, proper pub food.
So whilst I'm never going to choose Courage over...you know, nice beer...at least I'd be willing to give it a go in a pinch.
And then, today, I stumble on another new beer blog wherein they talk about Oakham Ales (one of my favourite breweries) and how their pub/food outlets specialise in oriental food. Now I'm craving some home-cooked thai-style pork for tea with a bottle of the Citra I know we have in the fridge. It's not often (or possibly ever) that I crave something to eat based on what I want to drink. Now, there's a thing.
Having read more of said blog, I'm now musing, once again on the apparent gender bias in what we eat and drink. I've covered this myself in a more general blog and I think I'd hoped life had changed a bit...hmmm...more thinking required.
Now, it has to be said that Dymchurch isn't the most enticing place for a beer drinker and as there were a whole bunch of us (and only two were really beer drinkers) then we couldn't allow beer exploration to take precedence.
So, we headed into the Ocean Inn which we knew could accommodate a last supper-sized group on spec.
There was only Courage Directors, and Courage Best on tap which made us very sad, but we tried it anyway.
Early in my beer drinking career I was told that "The best kept pint of Courage Best is the best beer in the world" and I've never believed it (or experienced it) - and I've never liked the overly toffee flavour of Directors. Nevertheless, we both enjoyed our beer a great deal.
The food we had was also really good - not fancy or "gastro" but nicely done, proper pub food.
So whilst I'm never going to choose Courage over...you know, nice beer...at least I'd be willing to give it a go in a pinch.
And then, today, I stumble on another new beer blog wherein they talk about Oakham Ales (one of my favourite breweries) and how their pub/food outlets specialise in oriental food. Now I'm craving some home-cooked thai-style pork for tea with a bottle of the Citra I know we have in the fridge. It's not often (or possibly ever) that I crave something to eat based on what I want to drink. Now, there's a thing.
Having read more of said blog, I'm now musing, once again on the apparent gender bias in what we eat and drink. I've covered this myself in a more general blog and I think I'd hoped life had changed a bit...hmmm...more thinking required.
Monday, 4 August 2014
Playing for time
Shove ha'penny, pool, bar billiards, darts and table skittles are well accepted activities in pubs but S and I are becoming aficionados of more obscure games.
We found out, not long after we first met, that we both really liked board games, but that we didn't get to play them as often as we would like. So it's a special delight that my favourite drinking buddy, is also my favourite game partner/opponent.
How fitting, then, to combine playing games and drinking beer. Games don't take the place of conversation - they often augment it, so it's all kinds of good.
Quite a lot of pubs have board games in them - but we've only one or twice indulged in provided games. I think that's mostly because there are only usually the two of us and a lot of board games are better with more people.
So - generally, we take our own games with us. When we play at home size and complication of game isn't really a consideration. When you go to the pub - there are things you really need to take into account.
If you're not going straight to the pub, you need to carry the game(s) with you so it needs to fit easily into a bag you're happy to carry on your walk (in our case, typically a 15l rucksack which also has glasses, phones, water, coats, etc as well)
It may need to be played on a fairly small, circular, pub table (you really don't want to act like a jerk in a busy pub and monopolise a table big enough for six people).
It probably needs to have a fairly basic set of playing rules but with built in deeper strategies - that means you're not forever having to consult a huge rule book or forget what you were doing as soon as you have to fetch more beer or go to the loo.
Shortish playing time is probably a good idea too since you don't want your six hour marathon to be prematurely terminated when a bystander accidentally stumbles against your table and sends all the pieces to the floor in an irretrievable mess.
In our case - we quite like games not to be totally abstract...so they're games that sort of tell a story. That means most traditional card games like crib wouldn't make the cut (although personally I had a tremendous evening a couple of years back playing crib all evening with my much-missed buddy/workmate, TD in a pub in Maidstone whilst on a business trip).
So - you're probably thinking that the choice is very limited. Actually you'd be quite wrong as the Boardgame Geek website would show you.
I guess we started with "Battle Line" which we bought to take on holiday when we were travelling by train. It's a strategy game...which is kind of like poker in some respects. It's simple to learn but takes a while to get the strategies in your head and for play to get interesting. It can be played (just about) on a standard smallish round pub table and each round seems to take us about 30mins, depending on the draw of cards and what other converations we might be having. I usually lose.
Then there's Fluxx. My brother-outlaw, M, bought me my original pack years and years ago from the US. It's now much more widely available, and in several different variations - hence I bought a pack of "Monty Python" Fluxx cards for S for a present a couple of years back and both our sets get regular outings. Fluxx can be played in next to no space and can take 5 minutes or an hour to play. It's very simple but it can take a couple of hands to get your head around. It's the most portable thing we have because it's simply a pack of cards. It's a game of skill but there's a LOT of luck involved as well.
Our daftest game for an excursion has to be Zombies!!!
It's a little bit bigger than you'd normally want to carry (a bit like a very thick hard-back book) - but we weren't travelling far and we'd already decided to go to the Half Moon on a gloomy winter afternoon; sit by Howard's roaring fire; drink beer and play.
Our table was on the main thoroughfare in the pub so we got lots of people passing. Most of these looked to see what we were doing but then politely passed by. Then one of the bar staff (and daughter of the owners) looked quizzically for a while...then got Howard to come and confront us. "Are you playing with Zombies in my pub?", he asked. "Uh...yep", we replied. "Fair enough" said Howard, with a chuckle and went back to doing what a good landlord should.
Zombies!!! is a tremendously silly game (if that's not obvious from the name) and you make a playing board from tiles that you play in your turn. It needs a bit more space than our other games so doesn't get that pub outing as often but if you've got the space without making yourself a nuisance, it's definitely worth a go. It's a combined luck and strategy game. I don't think I've ever won.
The latest addition (and it was playing this that made me think about posting on this subject) is Chrononauts. Invented by the maker of Fluxx, it's again based on cards and so is very portable.
You create a game board from 32 of these cards so you need a bit of space to play it. It's a nice strategy game with a few twists and turns and one where the game seems to get longer the more you play it (and become aware of how your opponent might be able to thwart you). I bought this for S for his recent birthday and we've played it in the garden of the Nightingale, in the Half Moon and in The Bricklayers. Once again, because it's an unusual-looking game, it draws a few glances but that's part of the fun.
We don't only play games in pubs where people know us. We take them on holiday and play in the pubs there. So if you see us - please don't judge us...we're just a couple of middle-aged folk who, being the youngest siblings in our families by a long way, didn't get to play as many board games as we wanted when we were kids. Or maybe it just gives us a good excuse to stay in the pub longer...
We found out, not long after we first met, that we both really liked board games, but that we didn't get to play them as often as we would like. So it's a special delight that my favourite drinking buddy, is also my favourite game partner/opponent.
How fitting, then, to combine playing games and drinking beer. Games don't take the place of conversation - they often augment it, so it's all kinds of good.
Quite a lot of pubs have board games in them - but we've only one or twice indulged in provided games. I think that's mostly because there are only usually the two of us and a lot of board games are better with more people.
So - generally, we take our own games with us. When we play at home size and complication of game isn't really a consideration. When you go to the pub - there are things you really need to take into account.
If you're not going straight to the pub, you need to carry the game(s) with you so it needs to fit easily into a bag you're happy to carry on your walk (in our case, typically a 15l rucksack which also has glasses, phones, water, coats, etc as well)
It may need to be played on a fairly small, circular, pub table (you really don't want to act like a jerk in a busy pub and monopolise a table big enough for six people).
It probably needs to have a fairly basic set of playing rules but with built in deeper strategies - that means you're not forever having to consult a huge rule book or forget what you were doing as soon as you have to fetch more beer or go to the loo.
Shortish playing time is probably a good idea too since you don't want your six hour marathon to be prematurely terminated when a bystander accidentally stumbles against your table and sends all the pieces to the floor in an irretrievable mess.
In our case - we quite like games not to be totally abstract...so they're games that sort of tell a story. That means most traditional card games like crib wouldn't make the cut (although personally I had a tremendous evening a couple of years back playing crib all evening with my much-missed buddy/workmate, TD in a pub in Maidstone whilst on a business trip).
So - you're probably thinking that the choice is very limited. Actually you'd be quite wrong as the Boardgame Geek website would show you.
I guess we started with "Battle Line" which we bought to take on holiday when we were travelling by train. It's a strategy game...which is kind of like poker in some respects. It's simple to learn but takes a while to get the strategies in your head and for play to get interesting. It can be played (just about) on a standard smallish round pub table and each round seems to take us about 30mins, depending on the draw of cards and what other converations we might be having. I usually lose.
Then there's Fluxx. My brother-outlaw, M, bought me my original pack years and years ago from the US. It's now much more widely available, and in several different variations - hence I bought a pack of "Monty Python" Fluxx cards for S for a present a couple of years back and both our sets get regular outings. Fluxx can be played in next to no space and can take 5 minutes or an hour to play. It's very simple but it can take a couple of hands to get your head around. It's the most portable thing we have because it's simply a pack of cards. It's a game of skill but there's a LOT of luck involved as well.
Our daftest game for an excursion has to be Zombies!!!
It's a little bit bigger than you'd normally want to carry (a bit like a very thick hard-back book) - but we weren't travelling far and we'd already decided to go to the Half Moon on a gloomy winter afternoon; sit by Howard's roaring fire; drink beer and play.
Our table was on the main thoroughfare in the pub so we got lots of people passing. Most of these looked to see what we were doing but then politely passed by. Then one of the bar staff (and daughter of the owners) looked quizzically for a while...then got Howard to come and confront us. "Are you playing with Zombies in my pub?", he asked. "Uh...yep", we replied. "Fair enough" said Howard, with a chuckle and went back to doing what a good landlord should.
Zombies!!! is a tremendously silly game (if that's not obvious from the name) and you make a playing board from tiles that you play in your turn. It needs a bit more space than our other games so doesn't get that pub outing as often but if you've got the space without making yourself a nuisance, it's definitely worth a go. It's a combined luck and strategy game. I don't think I've ever won.
The latest addition (and it was playing this that made me think about posting on this subject) is Chrononauts. Invented by the maker of Fluxx, it's again based on cards and so is very portable.
You create a game board from 32 of these cards so you need a bit of space to play it. It's a nice strategy game with a few twists and turns and one where the game seems to get longer the more you play it (and become aware of how your opponent might be able to thwart you). I bought this for S for his recent birthday and we've played it in the garden of the Nightingale, in the Half Moon and in The Bricklayers. Once again, because it's an unusual-looking game, it draws a few glances but that's part of the fun.
We don't only play games in pubs where people know us. We take them on holiday and play in the pubs there. So if you see us - please don't judge us...we're just a couple of middle-aged folk who, being the youngest siblings in our families by a long way, didn't get to play as many board games as we wanted when we were kids. Or maybe it just gives us a good excuse to stay in the pub longer...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)