Back to the Evening Star, yesterday. BHAFC were playing Fulham, I hadn't been for a full day in Brighton for ages and I also like lunch at the Basketmakers.
Of late, we've stopped getting a train to Brighton for football, favouring instead the No12 service which runs from the end of our road.
Leaving aside a diatribe about how annoying it is trying to shop in the Lanes on a Saturday in November I found myself with a couple of bags of shopping in the Evening Star around 4pm.
It took a few minutes to bag myself a decent seat but before long I had a pint, a seat and a tablet upon which I was reading a PDF book about Arduinos (Arduini?). This is related to my sortofdayjob as someone who runs a TechEd centre and it's my duty, and pleasure to play about with geeky kit.
Mostly the afternoon until the arrival of the fans passed without incident - one slightly weird comment aside from a bloke much younger than me saying "what you got there, girl?" pointing at the PDF I was reading which had an illustrative picture of an Arduino connected to some LEDS using a breadboard (there are so many things wrong with what he said and how he said it I just said "it's an electronic book" in a slightly irritated fashion, and then he left me alone).
Still, by the time the guys arrived, I'd manage to get the beers in and we settled ourselves in. They were buoyant having seen Brighton win (again) and learning that Newcastle had lost, closing the gap at the top of the table. The next couple of hours passed happily.
After M left, S and I planned our journey home...and then decided that a pint of one of the guest beers would be in order. Oakham Green Devil IPA. Oh heck!
It was a great pint and after having finished it, there was just time to pop into M&S for a little picnic for the bus and to float around to the No12 to get home. It dropped us off at the end of the road, we staggered slightly towards home and went to sleep almost immediately.
Such is the loveliness of the beer, it didn't even leave a hangover behind.
As a result we have enough oomph to pop to the office and play with some tech kit (hopefully without someone making a weird comment!)
Sunday, 27 November 2016
Thursday, 27 October 2016
A Turnip for the Books
...or something like that.
For the last week we've been staying at our Bristol abode. We haven't visited for a little while, there was some work to be done by the engineer at a client's place in Wales; our water heater had broken and needed to be fixed; and...well, we really fancied a glut of great beer.
We arrived late on Tuesday after having run a kids' session in Eastbourne and S driving the 3 and a bit hours in the dark. Rather than find beer, we made pasta, cracked a bottleored and crashed out.
On Wednesday, S fixed the water heater (you have to love having an all-round fiddler/fixer sorta guy on hand) and then drove to Wales for a meeting. When he got back, he was famished and thirsty.
Thank goodness, the Barleymow is within 10 minutes walk of the flat; does brilliant beer; does good food too.
It was busy when we arrived but we luckily snagged a table as someone was leaving. A choice of 8 cask ales (as is normal) had us joyous...and the steak and chips were delicious.
On Thursday S had a morning meeting but was back mid-afternoon. We were meeting friends at the Barleymow again (both were arriving by train). This is no hardship since we'd not tried all the beers yet. Again it was busy but just before we were thinking about leaving and eating elsewhere a table became free and we dived on it.
There was food, and more beer and possible tipsy-ness. Everyone went home happy.
On Friday we'd arranged to meet other friends at a new venue in a new mixed development by the harbour - Wild Beer. We arrived early and got a table easily. Slightly disappointed by the number of loud small children around but one by one they all went leaving the place for adults.
It's a perfectly good place but all of the beer drinkers agreed the beer was, at best, ok. This is mostly because it was all keg beer with the attendant coldness and fizz.
Actually, I think what we all said was that it just wasn't really to our taste. Wild Beer's own "Bibble" was the overall favourite.
We probably will go back there at some point (it's not fair to discount an OK place on one visit alone)
Then on Saturday we had errands to run so we schlepped around town for a while purchasing things and then declared ourselves thirsty. At the point of leaving Gardener Haskins we figured that Left Handed Giant, Volunteer Tavern and Moor Brewery Tap were about equidistant. The Barleymow was closer but we felt we really ought to try somewhere else.
So we went to LHG. It was closed (despite an opening time on the website). We were very disappointed.
By then we were closest to Moor so we staggered around there just planning to have one (on the grounds that we love their beer but the tap often only has keg available and we weren't keen on more fizz).
Let's just say that we stayed for three and a pork pie.
What was noticeable was the difference in texture between theirs and Wild Beer's keg beer. Moor was far less fizzy and not quite so cold, I fancy.
As a result the three pints we had were utterly enjoyed, along with a new board game I'd aquired as a gift from the friends we'd met the day before. We also managed a cheery conversation with the knowledgeable guy behind the bar. It's so nice to have someone so enthusiastic serving your beer.
Sunday included some work and then a little bit of an excursion. We'd heard tell of a new pub not far from a firm favourite - The Old Stillage - so we strolled there along 'The Cut' and up through a park. What a find! The Dark Horse had four beers on - one Otter, one Arbour and two New Bristol Brewery. All of them on gravity. Naturally we tried them all. All in excellent nick.
We also liked the look of the Pieminister Pies they were serving but had other plans for dinner.
the atmosphere in the place was lovely: a nice mix of people; a range of seating options and great friendly staff.
Monday took us back to the King Street Brew House after work. We had a couple of their house beers which were really good exemplars of their style. Then we returned home for dinner.
Tuesday was our last day in town so we decided to reprise a couple of Easton places. We were too early for The Plough - so we went onto the Red Lion. It was great that the first thing the barmaid did was to pull a bit of beer through the lines and discard it. We had an Arbor smoked porter (always lovely) and a Portobello APA which is decent beer of the style. We had a chat to the landlord - and his small son who was fascinated by a new film camera we'd just bought and chilled out a bit.
From there we strolled back to the Dark Horse. Sadly, they only had Otter beer on so we plumped for cider from a selection of about 6 different brews. A second beer came on shortly after but we didn't mind. We ordered pies and enjoyed the place again.
Our walk home takes about 20 minutes so by the time we got close to the Barleymow we had just enough room for one last pint.
Now here's the weird thing: our foray into canned beer in Brownsea made us sufficiently confident in the dispense method to assert that if anyone can can a beer well, it'll be Moor (this has also been endorsed by CAMRA).
So as we headed for Eastbourne on Wednesday morning we popped into the brewery and picked up a mixed box (24 cans) of their beer to bring back.
No, no, no...we haven't gone to the darkside. If anyone had even one Moor beer on cask in Eastbourne and we had a fridge full of assorted cans of it...I would still be putting on my coat and rushing to the pub...it's just that no one ever has Moor beer in Eastbourne.
For the last week we've been staying at our Bristol abode. We haven't visited for a little while, there was some work to be done by the engineer at a client's place in Wales; our water heater had broken and needed to be fixed; and...well, we really fancied a glut of great beer.
We arrived late on Tuesday after having run a kids' session in Eastbourne and S driving the 3 and a bit hours in the dark. Rather than find beer, we made pasta, cracked a bottleored and crashed out.
On Wednesday, S fixed the water heater (you have to love having an all-round fiddler/fixer sorta guy on hand) and then drove to Wales for a meeting. When he got back, he was famished and thirsty.
Thank goodness, the Barleymow is within 10 minutes walk of the flat; does brilliant beer; does good food too.
It was busy when we arrived but we luckily snagged a table as someone was leaving. A choice of 8 cask ales (as is normal) had us joyous...and the steak and chips were delicious.
On Thursday S had a morning meeting but was back mid-afternoon. We were meeting friends at the Barleymow again (both were arriving by train). This is no hardship since we'd not tried all the beers yet. Again it was busy but just before we were thinking about leaving and eating elsewhere a table became free and we dived on it.
There was food, and more beer and possible tipsy-ness. Everyone went home happy.
On Friday we'd arranged to meet other friends at a new venue in a new mixed development by the harbour - Wild Beer. We arrived early and got a table easily. Slightly disappointed by the number of loud small children around but one by one they all went leaving the place for adults.
It's a perfectly good place but all of the beer drinkers agreed the beer was, at best, ok. This is mostly because it was all keg beer with the attendant coldness and fizz.
Actually, I think what we all said was that it just wasn't really to our taste. Wild Beer's own "Bibble" was the overall favourite.
We probably will go back there at some point (it's not fair to discount an OK place on one visit alone)
Then on Saturday we had errands to run so we schlepped around town for a while purchasing things and then declared ourselves thirsty. At the point of leaving Gardener Haskins we figured that Left Handed Giant, Volunteer Tavern and Moor Brewery Tap were about equidistant. The Barleymow was closer but we felt we really ought to try somewhere else.
So we went to LHG. It was closed (despite an opening time on the website). We were very disappointed.
By then we were closest to Moor so we staggered around there just planning to have one (on the grounds that we love their beer but the tap often only has keg available and we weren't keen on more fizz).
Let's just say that we stayed for three and a pork pie.
What was noticeable was the difference in texture between theirs and Wild Beer's keg beer. Moor was far less fizzy and not quite so cold, I fancy.
As a result the three pints we had were utterly enjoyed, along with a new board game I'd aquired as a gift from the friends we'd met the day before. We also managed a cheery conversation with the knowledgeable guy behind the bar. It's so nice to have someone so enthusiastic serving your beer.
Sunday included some work and then a little bit of an excursion. We'd heard tell of a new pub not far from a firm favourite - The Old Stillage - so we strolled there along 'The Cut' and up through a park. What a find! The Dark Horse had four beers on - one Otter, one Arbour and two New Bristol Brewery. All of them on gravity. Naturally we tried them all. All in excellent nick.
We also liked the look of the Pieminister Pies they were serving but had other plans for dinner.
the atmosphere in the place was lovely: a nice mix of people; a range of seating options and great friendly staff.
Monday took us back to the King Street Brew House after work. We had a couple of their house beers which were really good exemplars of their style. Then we returned home for dinner.
Tuesday was our last day in town so we decided to reprise a couple of Easton places. We were too early for The Plough - so we went onto the Red Lion. It was great that the first thing the barmaid did was to pull a bit of beer through the lines and discard it. We had an Arbor smoked porter (always lovely) and a Portobello APA which is decent beer of the style. We had a chat to the landlord - and his small son who was fascinated by a new film camera we'd just bought and chilled out a bit.
From there we strolled back to the Dark Horse. Sadly, they only had Otter beer on so we plumped for cider from a selection of about 6 different brews. A second beer came on shortly after but we didn't mind. We ordered pies and enjoyed the place again.
Our walk home takes about 20 minutes so by the time we got close to the Barleymow we had just enough room for one last pint.
Now here's the weird thing: our foray into canned beer in Brownsea made us sufficiently confident in the dispense method to assert that if anyone can can a beer well, it'll be Moor (this has also been endorsed by CAMRA).
So as we headed for Eastbourne on Wednesday morning we popped into the brewery and picked up a mixed box (24 cans) of their beer to bring back.
No, no, no...we haven't gone to the darkside. If anyone had even one Moor beer on cask in Eastbourne and we had a fridge full of assorted cans of it...I would still be putting on my coat and rushing to the pub...it's just that no one ever has Moor beer in Eastbourne.
Sunday, 16 October 2016
Times They are A-Changin'
OK - this title is a cheap reference to Mr Robert Alan Zimmerman, Nobel Laureate...completely unrelated to matters of beer, in general, but someone who has a special place in my heart and history.
Anyhoo - actually, times they are changing. I've only been going to the Evening Star in Brighton for five or six years. My cohorts have been regular attendees for far, far longer, and we've all noticed it. It's still a good pub; it's still a useful pub in terms of geography but it's not a great pub any longer.
I like the place, don't get me wrong, but I can't help but feel it has lost a little something.
I was there yesterday to meet the guys after football (for the three people in the world who don't know the ES - it's within spitting distance of Brighton train station). It's the usual post-match haunt for a lot of BHAFC fans and it has always been a busy pub, post match.
But there has been an erosion of the pub's loveliness since it changed management, well over a year ago now.
The staff are still pleasant but not nearly as effective at managing a crowd around the bar, the appearance of plastic glasses on match days is very irritating, especially when they blame it on the police and licensing committee (the previous managers didn't have this issue - so what has changed?) and yesterday I noticed the pricing structure had shifted so that guest beers are now considerably more expensive than the house beers.
Finally (and this is not the fault of the staff) the people using the pub seem to have become less...well..."nice". Variously, yesterday, I was shoved aside by one bloke clearly knowing he was queue jumping but just being unpleasant...then as I tried to negotiate my way back to the tiny corner I'd managed to carve out (the guys who welcomed me to their table were old-style pleasant...so that was nice) with a couple of pints a cluster of blokes just stood in my way effectively blocking my path. OK, I'm a foot shorter than them but were they so wrapped up in their, undoubtedly fascinating, conversation about the demise of the sweeper system that they weren't aware I needed to get past and my hands were too full to push them out of the way? (OK, it probably wasn't anything to do with the sweeper system...but you get the point, right?)
Then as the three of us sit, taking up as little space as we can so that the space can be used by everyone, S got buffeted from every side by people as they walked past even though there was obviously enough space to pass.
It's sad. Instead of wanting to linger for an extra pint, we were sufficiently irritated to forego a pint of one of the (expensive) guest beers and leave to find some food.
I hope this isn't a general lowering of good nature in favourite pubs - fingers crossed it's just an isolated incident.
On a happier note - our lovely (but quirky) Eastbourne local, The Crown, has a beer festival on. It's running for four days - from Thursday to Sunday and we've already been twice.
There is something wonderful about feeling so at home in a pub that all you do is hand over the cash for your beer and then go and pour it straight from the cask for yourself.
We've tried almost all the beers that Andy has put on (actually we've tried a couple of them more than once) and they've all been in terrific condition and really nice choices for a festival.
I predict that we'll get down there again before all the beer runs out - though I would imagine that the nine of Jaipur that was on will have evaporated.
All this in a pub that doesn't have an obvious REAL ALE core. It's a good trick, for sure.
Mind you, I don't think we'll ever get one of our Harveys-Drinking sometime companions to enjoy other styles of beer. But we'll keep trying...
Anyhoo - actually, times they are changing. I've only been going to the Evening Star in Brighton for five or six years. My cohorts have been regular attendees for far, far longer, and we've all noticed it. It's still a good pub; it's still a useful pub in terms of geography but it's not a great pub any longer.
I like the place, don't get me wrong, but I can't help but feel it has lost a little something.
I was there yesterday to meet the guys after football (for the three people in the world who don't know the ES - it's within spitting distance of Brighton train station). It's the usual post-match haunt for a lot of BHAFC fans and it has always been a busy pub, post match.
But there has been an erosion of the pub's loveliness since it changed management, well over a year ago now.
The staff are still pleasant but not nearly as effective at managing a crowd around the bar, the appearance of plastic glasses on match days is very irritating, especially when they blame it on the police and licensing committee (the previous managers didn't have this issue - so what has changed?) and yesterday I noticed the pricing structure had shifted so that guest beers are now considerably more expensive than the house beers.
Finally (and this is not the fault of the staff) the people using the pub seem to have become less...well..."nice". Variously, yesterday, I was shoved aside by one bloke clearly knowing he was queue jumping but just being unpleasant...then as I tried to negotiate my way back to the tiny corner I'd managed to carve out (the guys who welcomed me to their table were old-style pleasant...so that was nice) with a couple of pints a cluster of blokes just stood in my way effectively blocking my path. OK, I'm a foot shorter than them but were they so wrapped up in their, undoubtedly fascinating, conversation about the demise of the sweeper system that they weren't aware I needed to get past and my hands were too full to push them out of the way? (OK, it probably wasn't anything to do with the sweeper system...but you get the point, right?)
Then as the three of us sit, taking up as little space as we can so that the space can be used by everyone, S got buffeted from every side by people as they walked past even though there was obviously enough space to pass.
It's sad. Instead of wanting to linger for an extra pint, we were sufficiently irritated to forego a pint of one of the (expensive) guest beers and leave to find some food.
I hope this isn't a general lowering of good nature in favourite pubs - fingers crossed it's just an isolated incident.
On a happier note - our lovely (but quirky) Eastbourne local, The Crown, has a beer festival on. It's running for four days - from Thursday to Sunday and we've already been twice.
There is something wonderful about feeling so at home in a pub that all you do is hand over the cash for your beer and then go and pour it straight from the cask for yourself.
We've tried almost all the beers that Andy has put on (actually we've tried a couple of them more than once) and they've all been in terrific condition and really nice choices for a festival.
I predict that we'll get down there again before all the beer runs out - though I would imagine that the nine of Jaipur that was on will have evaporated.
All this in a pub that doesn't have an obvious REAL ALE core. It's a good trick, for sure.
Mind you, I don't think we'll ever get one of our Harveys-Drinking sometime companions to enjoy other styles of beer. But we'll keep trying...
Saturday, 24 September 2016
Revisionist Views
So I sit here, typing back from a week on the utterly fabulous Brownsea Island.
It can be found in Poole harbour and is an island roughly 1.5 miles x 0.75 miles (so not awfully big).
It's owned and run by the National Trust who have a couple of holiday cottages you can rent and there's also the "Castle" run by John Lewis as a holiday destination for its workers.
Nevertheless, there's no pub there and the ferry service to the mainland (either Poole or Sandbanks) can feel a little quirky on the timetable front.
Wait...you know this already, don't you...we went there last year and I rhapsodized at the time.
OK, so look, we don't usually do ths...but we went back there for another holiday.
We were a bit better prepared this time as last year we had expected to go off the island almost everyday whilst NT visitors were there but in the end, didn't want to. So, when packing supplies this time we took into account that this might be the case again.
Still, there's only so much wine even we can drink so the difficult "what beer" decision needed to be made.
Ultimately our grocery deliverer of choice made the decision for us: a goodly number of bottles of Brew Dog Punk IPA, Oakham Scarlet McCaw and Citra.
I've said many, many times that our beer dispense of choice is cask ale...but as this wasn't an option, we went with bottle with a glad enough heart (had we made it to Moor in Bristol we might have bought a few cans...just to see).
I can tell you now that these are most excellent beers to sit outside a quayside cottage in the sun with. So good in fact, that we started to run low by mid-week. Since we needed to make a trip to Poole anyway we thought we'd probably manage to pick up another couple of bottles there.
Meanwhile we availed ourselves of the Brewhouse and Kitchen (there's another in the chain based in Bristol) and although the place was nice, and the food was fine, the beer was in good nick but not really to either of our tastes (we tried four of their beers and none of them really cut it for us) so we set out in search of the Drift Bar that we had loved so much when we went last time.
We arrived there and it was closed (despite it being in their usual opening times) with no explanation. Actually, a little like the sister bar in Weymouth. This was such a shame and I find myself miffed and much less likely even to try and go there again.
Heigh Ho...so we went back to the Brewhouse (not the place we had lunch) which is a Milk Street Brewery pub which, curiously, was selling none of their own beers! After a pint (each) of something a bit lack lustre we decided we had just time to share a pint of an IPA. Now, to my shame I can't remember the brewery but it was a brilliant pint and pretty much saved the day.
So with just enough time to pop into a supermarket I find they are selling cans of Punk IPA - much easier to carry than bottles and afford us the chance (at last) to try this trendiest of trendy supply/dispense methods (we've been sceptical...can you tell?).
Before long we were back at the cottage, can in hand. And do you know what? The beer was much the same as in the bottle but cans are less hassle to handle, lighter, more recyclable and (so brewers tell us) much better for the beer since light is completely excluded. The tinny taste I expecting was wholly absent and the only real disadvantage we could find was that if you drink it from the can (which kinda feels right on the quayside) you have to be vigilant for wasps since you can't see if one pops in there.
So - consider me converted. Not to drinking pressurised beer on a regular basis, you understand, but when there is no hope of getting a good cask pint. Obviously.
It can be found in Poole harbour and is an island roughly 1.5 miles x 0.75 miles (so not awfully big).
It's owned and run by the National Trust who have a couple of holiday cottages you can rent and there's also the "Castle" run by John Lewis as a holiday destination for its workers.
Nevertheless, there's no pub there and the ferry service to the mainland (either Poole or Sandbanks) can feel a little quirky on the timetable front.
Wait...you know this already, don't you...we went there last year and I rhapsodized at the time.
OK, so look, we don't usually do ths...but we went back there for another holiday.
We were a bit better prepared this time as last year we had expected to go off the island almost everyday whilst NT visitors were there but in the end, didn't want to. So, when packing supplies this time we took into account that this might be the case again.
Still, there's only so much wine even we can drink so the difficult "what beer" decision needed to be made.
Ultimately our grocery deliverer of choice made the decision for us: a goodly number of bottles of Brew Dog Punk IPA, Oakham Scarlet McCaw and Citra.
I've said many, many times that our beer dispense of choice is cask ale...but as this wasn't an option, we went with bottle with a glad enough heart (had we made it to Moor in Bristol we might have bought a few cans...just to see).
I can tell you now that these are most excellent beers to sit outside a quayside cottage in the sun with. So good in fact, that we started to run low by mid-week. Since we needed to make a trip to Poole anyway we thought we'd probably manage to pick up another couple of bottles there.
Meanwhile we availed ourselves of the Brewhouse and Kitchen (there's another in the chain based in Bristol) and although the place was nice, and the food was fine, the beer was in good nick but not really to either of our tastes (we tried four of their beers and none of them really cut it for us) so we set out in search of the Drift Bar that we had loved so much when we went last time.
We arrived there and it was closed (despite it being in their usual opening times) with no explanation. Actually, a little like the sister bar in Weymouth. This was such a shame and I find myself miffed and much less likely even to try and go there again.
Heigh Ho...so we went back to the Brewhouse (not the place we had lunch) which is a Milk Street Brewery pub which, curiously, was selling none of their own beers! After a pint (each) of something a bit lack lustre we decided we had just time to share a pint of an IPA. Now, to my shame I can't remember the brewery but it was a brilliant pint and pretty much saved the day.
So with just enough time to pop into a supermarket I find they are selling cans of Punk IPA - much easier to carry than bottles and afford us the chance (at last) to try this trendiest of trendy supply/dispense methods (we've been sceptical...can you tell?).
Before long we were back at the cottage, can in hand. And do you know what? The beer was much the same as in the bottle but cans are less hassle to handle, lighter, more recyclable and (so brewers tell us) much better for the beer since light is completely excluded. The tinny taste I expecting was wholly absent and the only real disadvantage we could find was that if you drink it from the can (which kinda feels right on the quayside) you have to be vigilant for wasps since you can't see if one pops in there.
So - consider me converted. Not to drinking pressurised beer on a regular basis, you understand, but when there is no hope of getting a good cask pint. Obviously.
Monday, 6 June 2016
When is a pub not a pub?
Look at me...two blog posts within weeks of each other without the lame excuse of "being too busy"!
We've not long come back from a short holiday with some family members in Bournemouth (well, Boscombe near Bournemouth to be exact).
Dorset is a lovely part of the country and we were blessed with good weather but there wasn't much scope for our usual perambulations, the area being part of a large town conurbation. Nevertheless, it was a lovely break and nice to spend a little more time than usual with family members.
The only GBG pub which was within sensible striking distance was a quirky little place called "Chaplins Bar" which we sought out having done a stroll along the beach and through a couple of pretty parks.
We were promised beers on both handpump and gravity. So we arrived in the main bar which looked really nice and they only have a single pump on in that bar, the rest being in the cellar bar. The single pump was a DBC brew which we're not really fans of so we said we'd go down to the cellar bar. "Sorry he's not ready yet - wouldn't you like some of this one...it's really nice". We thank the lady and say that we really don't want that beer and when will the cellar bar be open. "Errrr...well, he's working on it... we've got some really nice bottled beers, wouldn't you like one of those?". I started to get a bit tetchy, making S feel a little uncomfortable. There was a tense few minutes until another member of staff said "he won't be long". So we opted to sit in the very nice garden to wait but as we were going out there we were informed that the bar was now open.
We entered the stygian depths to see what was on offer. Sister, who is not normally a beer drinker, suggests we get her something we think she'll like (no pressure then) so we got a couple of pints from the totally delightful lad looking after the bar and sat in the garden.
The beer was very good, the garden was delightful and even sister enjoyed her beer. We stayed for a second and chatted amiably with a couple of regulars on the table next to us.
I think they managed to pull it back for me after a poor start and I'd go back there happily enough.
Next day we were venturing the other way along the beach and S and brother in law had ascertained there seemed to be a micropub we could visit. BiL doesn't drink at all so has little interest in pubs, but is extraordinarily tolerant of the rest of us (thank you, B). So, after a lovely cliff-path stroll we landed at the Wight Bear Ale House . As is usual with Micropubs this is a place that wasn't a pub but had been changed to one to get a disused shop open and trading again.
I approve of this since it's one up on the people are sending things in the other direction opening supermarkets in what should rightfully remain pubs.
The chap who runs the pub was a delight to talk to - and we learned a lot about how he went about setting the place up.
It's all deceptively simple - with a cold room instead of a cellar; gravity dispense to keep things simple; benches and tables set at a height that suits sitters and standers and with the bonus that empty casks can be kept there. There's also a fine (for charity) for anyone whose mobile phone rings audibly.
They have about 6 beers on at any one time plus a couple of ciders and the food they offer is in the order of pork pies, scotch eggs and crisps (but really good ones). You can also take your takeaway into the pub and they'll supply crockery.
They don't have a bar, you order your beer from a member of staff and they deliver it to you at your table/stand/corner.
It makes me think, again, about whether we could do this in Eastbourne. Hmmmm.
The bonus of a quiet pub (no TV, Music, Fruit machines) is that if you're in the mood then you can strike up a conversation with staff or other punters. So when a chap with a south Bristol accent asked for a pint of a Bristol Beer Factory beer because "I'm from Bristol" I said "me too" and we chatted for the duration of a half of it.
So we wiled about the best part of the afternoon in there and time flew by. Each time a cask finished, another one was immediately ready and it seemed rude not to try it.
I'm so glad the place is a success and I fully expect to see it in the GBG this year - they thoroughly deserve it.
We've not long come back from a short holiday with some family members in Bournemouth (well, Boscombe near Bournemouth to be exact).
Dorset is a lovely part of the country and we were blessed with good weather but there wasn't much scope for our usual perambulations, the area being part of a large town conurbation. Nevertheless, it was a lovely break and nice to spend a little more time than usual with family members.
The only GBG pub which was within sensible striking distance was a quirky little place called "Chaplins Bar" which we sought out having done a stroll along the beach and through a couple of pretty parks.
We were promised beers on both handpump and gravity. So we arrived in the main bar which looked really nice and they only have a single pump on in that bar, the rest being in the cellar bar. The single pump was a DBC brew which we're not really fans of so we said we'd go down to the cellar bar. "Sorry he's not ready yet - wouldn't you like some of this one...it's really nice". We thank the lady and say that we really don't want that beer and when will the cellar bar be open. "Errrr...well, he's working on it... we've got some really nice bottled beers, wouldn't you like one of those?". I started to get a bit tetchy, making S feel a little uncomfortable. There was a tense few minutes until another member of staff said "he won't be long". So we opted to sit in the very nice garden to wait but as we were going out there we were informed that the bar was now open.
We entered the stygian depths to see what was on offer. Sister, who is not normally a beer drinker, suggests we get her something we think she'll like (no pressure then) so we got a couple of pints from the totally delightful lad looking after the bar and sat in the garden.
The beer was very good, the garden was delightful and even sister enjoyed her beer. We stayed for a second and chatted amiably with a couple of regulars on the table next to us.
I think they managed to pull it back for me after a poor start and I'd go back there happily enough.
Next day we were venturing the other way along the beach and S and brother in law had ascertained there seemed to be a micropub we could visit. BiL doesn't drink at all so has little interest in pubs, but is extraordinarily tolerant of the rest of us (thank you, B). So, after a lovely cliff-path stroll we landed at the Wight Bear Ale House . As is usual with Micropubs this is a place that wasn't a pub but had been changed to one to get a disused shop open and trading again.
I approve of this since it's one up on the people are sending things in the other direction opening supermarkets in what should rightfully remain pubs.
The chap who runs the pub was a delight to talk to - and we learned a lot about how he went about setting the place up.
It's all deceptively simple - with a cold room instead of a cellar; gravity dispense to keep things simple; benches and tables set at a height that suits sitters and standers and with the bonus that empty casks can be kept there. There's also a fine (for charity) for anyone whose mobile phone rings audibly.
They have about 6 beers on at any one time plus a couple of ciders and the food they offer is in the order of pork pies, scotch eggs and crisps (but really good ones). You can also take your takeaway into the pub and they'll supply crockery.
They don't have a bar, you order your beer from a member of staff and they deliver it to you at your table/stand/corner.
It makes me think, again, about whether we could do this in Eastbourne. Hmmmm.
The bonus of a quiet pub (no TV, Music, Fruit machines) is that if you're in the mood then you can strike up a conversation with staff or other punters. So when a chap with a south Bristol accent asked for a pint of a Bristol Beer Factory beer because "I'm from Bristol" I said "me too" and we chatted for the duration of a half of it.
So we wiled about the best part of the afternoon in there and time flew by. Each time a cask finished, another one was immediately ready and it seemed rude not to try it.
I'm so glad the place is a success and I fully expect to see it in the GBG this year - they thoroughly deserve it.
Saturday, 21 May 2016
Up the Cut
Oh dear, has it really been five months or so since I last posted on here? Well, it would appear so.
Is this because I have taken the pledge and given up beer? Don't be silly, just rather too busy with other things (including drinking beer) to sit down and write about it.
Now, the clue about where I've been is in this picture - a brewery I'd never heard of.
A little while back some friends who had never narrow-boated (I realise I'm verbising a noun but it's the easiest way to describe it, trust me) expressed an interest in a canal holiday. Both S and myself had spent many a holiday on a boat in our respective pasts, but had never holidayed on a boat together so we were pretty keen on the idea.
Before we knew it we'd booked a week on a boat to attempt the Four Counties Ring. This is a route that S and I both know pretty well - it's one of those trips that shows you most of what a canal holiday can offer (locks, bridges, tunnels, aqueducts, cuttings, embankments, lovely countryside and industrial heritage...) and it's pretty easy to stop each night near civilisation (ie a pub and co-op for tomorrow's milk and bacon) to make catering, etc pretty unstressful. The slight downside is that it does require you to boat for 8 hours each day (or thereabouts) to make sure you can complete the route. For the beer-drinkers amongst us, this limits the number of pubs you can visit which always feels a little like an opportunity missed.
The last time I did this trip - 2006 if memory serves - I wasn't that whelmed by the beer choice (I remember some very tired Spitfire at Norbury junction) but since the beer scene around the country has improved, and since I've become much more fussy about what I consider to be good beer it was going to be a bit of a toss-up as to whether beer would be great, awful, or somewhere in between.
The first night we stopped at Stone which is a nice town just south of Stoke and we went into a pub (The Star?) which is right next to a lock and is an ancient place, with no two rooms in the pub on the same level. We had (I think) a golden Banks's beer - Sunbeam, possibly and given we'd had a sunny start to our holiday, it seemed to suit us very well. Definitely a Midlands beer but nicely kept, a good temperature and it hit the spot quite nicely.
The second evening's place of rest was Stoke on Trent. In the past, this has been very beer deficient, in my experience but from our mooring in Westport Lake, and with an electronic GBG and a little persistence, we were able to find the Duke William pub which seemed perfect, albeit up quite a big hill. It did food, really good beer and welcomed dogs. Sadly, they failed to tell us they didn't do all three in the same place. Still, we had a couple of pints of decent independent beer...including Oakham Citra...and we should remember that for next time.
Wheelock was the place of our next overnight but it proved to be a disappointment. Despite checking three sources that said "The Cheshire Cheese", which was close to the canal, served food on a Sunday until 7pm...we arrived at about 6pm to be told they weren't serving food at all. Sadface.
Instead we sat outside a waterside pasta/pizza joint and shared a litre of house red and pizzas. Nice, but not beer.
We made an unscheduled stop in Middlewich for lunch the next day and went to the White Bear which was a trendy modern kind of a place (at least for Middlewich) with good beer, good food and a landlord who bristled everso-slightly when asked how good his Guinness was (it was good, we discovered).
That evening we arrived at Barbridge Junction to find one of the pubs that had always been there (the Jolly Roger) had become the latest victim of pub closures/demolition-to-make-way-for-housing and was no more. Thankfully the Barbridge Inn was still there and the beer was much better than I remember, it being a local brewery "Woodlands". Their beer wasn't amazing but it was local, new to us and well kept so it was well received.
Bypassing the Shroppie Fly which I remembered fondly (so many pubs, so little time) we hacked on through the Audlem and Adderly locks the next day to arrive at Market Drayton. We went to the Joules brewery (The Red Lion) to eat and drink and very much enjoyed the experience. Elsewhere in the town, a little disappointing - the Clive and Coffyne having recently departed to be replaced by some hotel bar and clueless staff. So we went to the Sandbrook Vaults which also served Joules and we sort of wished we'd stayed in the Red Lion. Joules beers are pretty good stuff and I'd look forward to trying some again.
Wednesday evening we planned on staying in Brewood which I remembered as a really nice, but quite sleepy, village. It's changed a little bit in the intervening years, having almost all the space in the centre of the village replaced by new housing (none too cheap too, I would imagine). Nevertheless, the Bridge Inn right next to the...well, bridge...is a Martson's chain pub but the golden beer they had on offer was well kept and pleasant and the curry we had to go with it was excellent. After dinner we wandered into the village and tried the Swan Hotel which had, probably, my favourite beer of the trip. Lemon Dream by Salopian. S had something like Stairway to Heaven (can't remember the brewery) and very much enjoyed it...so much so we had another pint before wending our way back to the boat.
Thursday evening should have seen us at Tixall Wide near our boatyard, with the aim of going to the pub in the village. Unfortunately some mechanical problems put paid to that so instead we opted for lunch near Penkridge (nice enough beer and food) and boating as long as we could into the evening and then mooring in farming country which was as nice an end to a holiday as you could imagine.
So - the beer was much better than I feared but not as great as I secretly hoped...and it's left me with a yearning to do the trip again over two weeks to allow for more off-canal exploration.
*thumbs through canal brochure for 2017*
Friday, 8 January 2016
Festive Drinking
The festive season is something that doesn't really fill me with excitement, I'm a run away and hide kinda gal and S kindly indulges me in this.
So this year our running stopped at Weymouth.
It's an interesting place with historical bits, and watery bits, and wildlifey bits and beachy bits. Unfortunately its beery bits were a bit less...ummm...interesting than I would have liked.
We went to lots of different pubs in the town, and none of them were bad. A couple of them were interesting and one I really liked. The beer, though...well-kept, for sure; well brewed, definitely...just not enough distinctiveness for my taste.
We drank a reasonable range of DBS, Ringwood and other brown beers - mostly from big to medium-sized breweries - with a good balance of malt and hops. 20 years ago I would have been in veritable beer heaven...but not now. It was nice, but lacked a wow factor.
Then, on our last day we decided to take a walk to a local nature reserve, and whilst walking we released we were within striking distance of a brew-pub just outside of the main town. We took the opportunity to walk to the Royal Standard in Upwey (via a muddy fall and a sprained wrist, for me). Only one interesting beer on (and not one of their own) but what a beer - from the Sixpenny Brewery.
This was definitely the high beer point of our holiday (even taking into account the wrecked wrist).
After Weymouth, we traveled home via our place in Bristol. I know I keep harking on about how good the beer is there...but it really, really is. And it's not just the beer per se - it's the wide variety of lovely places of different character where you can enjoy it that continues to thrill.
We explored the neighbourhood around our flat only to find that a couple of pubs we tend to get to by train are easily walkable...and then we tried a new pub - the Plough which is a pretty basic place where OSB is the decor of choice with stacks of old speakers making partitions in the space. Nice place and I suspect we'll go back.
Then on Sunday we took ourselves to Bristol's first micro-pub: The Drapers' Arms. It's an old drapery shop taken over and turned into a small, but beautifully formed pub by Bristol and District CAMRA stalwart and founder of the Ashley Down Brewery and a mate. Now I'm going to come clean and say that Vince's beer isn't to my taste - but one of the things I like about beer is that there are many styles and you don't have to enjoy all of them to appreciate something that's well-made.
What we did love was a comfy seat a couple of nice pints and the chance to have a good old natter with Vince about all matters beer.
Yeah - Bristol's beer scene isn't all about hipster bars and 1/3 measures...whatever it is that you like in beer, you'll probably find it and that's pretty amazing.
So this year our running stopped at Weymouth.
It's an interesting place with historical bits, and watery bits, and wildlifey bits and beachy bits. Unfortunately its beery bits were a bit less...ummm...interesting than I would have liked.
We went to lots of different pubs in the town, and none of them were bad. A couple of them were interesting and one I really liked. The beer, though...well-kept, for sure; well brewed, definitely...just not enough distinctiveness for my taste.
We drank a reasonable range of DBS, Ringwood and other brown beers - mostly from big to medium-sized breweries - with a good balance of malt and hops. 20 years ago I would have been in veritable beer heaven...but not now. It was nice, but lacked a wow factor.
Then, on our last day we decided to take a walk to a local nature reserve, and whilst walking we released we were within striking distance of a brew-pub just outside of the main town. We took the opportunity to walk to the Royal Standard in Upwey (via a muddy fall and a sprained wrist, for me). Only one interesting beer on (and not one of their own) but what a beer - from the Sixpenny Brewery.
This was definitely the high beer point of our holiday (even taking into account the wrecked wrist).
After Weymouth, we traveled home via our place in Bristol. I know I keep harking on about how good the beer is there...but it really, really is. And it's not just the beer per se - it's the wide variety of lovely places of different character where you can enjoy it that continues to thrill.
We explored the neighbourhood around our flat only to find that a couple of pubs we tend to get to by train are easily walkable...and then we tried a new pub - the Plough which is a pretty basic place where OSB is the decor of choice with stacks of old speakers making partitions in the space. Nice place and I suspect we'll go back.
Then on Sunday we took ourselves to Bristol's first micro-pub: The Drapers' Arms. It's an old drapery shop taken over and turned into a small, but beautifully formed pub by Bristol and District CAMRA stalwart and founder of the Ashley Down Brewery and a mate. Now I'm going to come clean and say that Vince's beer isn't to my taste - but one of the things I like about beer is that there are many styles and you don't have to enjoy all of them to appreciate something that's well-made.
What we did love was a comfy seat a couple of nice pints and the chance to have a good old natter with Vince about all matters beer.
Yeah - Bristol's beer scene isn't all about hipster bars and 1/3 measures...whatever it is that you like in beer, you'll probably find it and that's pretty amazing.
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