...a kind of footnote from other posts.
I was re-reading some early entries on this blog from 5 years ago.
In particular this one and realise that things have really, really moved on for me.
Is it me? Is it the industry?
Probably a little of both, to be honest.
I think the industry is better at doing what it does and I've drunk more beer and in so many styles, I've expanded on the things I like
Thursday, 27 December 2018
The Perils of Untrained Staff and Murky Beer
So yesterday we walked up to the Oxford pub in Totterdown. We've been there a few times and the beer availability can be a little erratic but generally good.
Clearly they'd been closed for a couple of days - there wasn't that much beer on and the pint of Cornish Coaster was pleasantly cool - but very flat.
The Boy had a good (bag in box) cider but we resolved to move on if they didn't put something better on the pumps.
We watched a succession of staff tinker around; look like they might be putting a Tapstone beer on; faff a little more and finally put two new beers on.
The first was Moor Confidence and the other was BBF special called something like "Big Sky Country".
The Tapstone remained stubbornly not on the pumps.
I orderd one each of the other two. Both were very lively and the barman seemed to have no idea how to deal with them.
The BBF looked remarkedly like a Tapstone beer: pale and very murky.
It says a lot that we're so used to drinking beer that isn't bright that I didn't really think much about it. We tried both and I took the BBF. We both remarked that it probably wasn't supposed to be that cloudy as BBF beer usually drop bright or, at least, near bright.
Still - it tasted good so we carried on regardless.
After about 20 minutes it became really noticeable that the beer was dropping sediment in the glass. There was a clear gradient top to bottom...we could clearly see the finings working.
By this time I was about a third of the way down the glass - the beer still tasted good but the increasing sediment at the bottom of the glass was starting to put me off.
How to deal with it? Clearly the guy behind the bar would have no idea what the beer was supposed to look like...
In the end, I didn't do anything until we left and there was another (clearly more experienced) chap behind the bar. I popped the glasses back to the bar and just said "Just to let you know - that BBF beer isn't quite ready yet..." and I showed him the glass. To his immense credit he looked at it, pulled a horrified face and said "Can I change it...or are you leaving?" I told him I was leaving and not to worry. So he said "next time you're in, we'll get you another".
Whilst I'm sure we won't go back in the next couple of days - I left feeling like I'd happily go back.
It's a saluatory lesson that pubs really need to make sure they've got someone on the bar who knows what the beer on their beer should look, smell and taste like.
Clearly they'd been closed for a couple of days - there wasn't that much beer on and the pint of Cornish Coaster was pleasantly cool - but very flat.
The Boy had a good (bag in box) cider but we resolved to move on if they didn't put something better on the pumps.
We watched a succession of staff tinker around; look like they might be putting a Tapstone beer on; faff a little more and finally put two new beers on.
The first was Moor Confidence and the other was BBF special called something like "Big Sky Country".
The Tapstone remained stubbornly not on the pumps.
I orderd one each of the other two. Both were very lively and the barman seemed to have no idea how to deal with them.
The BBF looked remarkedly like a Tapstone beer: pale and very murky.
It says a lot that we're so used to drinking beer that isn't bright that I didn't really think much about it. We tried both and I took the BBF. We both remarked that it probably wasn't supposed to be that cloudy as BBF beer usually drop bright or, at least, near bright.
Still - it tasted good so we carried on regardless.
After about 20 minutes it became really noticeable that the beer was dropping sediment in the glass. There was a clear gradient top to bottom...we could clearly see the finings working.
By this time I was about a third of the way down the glass - the beer still tasted good but the increasing sediment at the bottom of the glass was starting to put me off.
How to deal with it? Clearly the guy behind the bar would have no idea what the beer was supposed to look like...
In the end, I didn't do anything until we left and there was another (clearly more experienced) chap behind the bar. I popped the glasses back to the bar and just said "Just to let you know - that BBF beer isn't quite ready yet..." and I showed him the glass. To his immense credit he looked at it, pulled a horrified face and said "Can I change it...or are you leaving?" I told him I was leaving and not to worry. So he said "next time you're in, we'll get you another".
Whilst I'm sure we won't go back in the next couple of days - I left feeling like I'd happily go back.
It's a saluatory lesson that pubs really need to make sure they've got someone on the bar who knows what the beer on their beer should look, smell and taste like.
Wednesday, 26 December 2018
Beer and humbugs
I'm not a big Christmas celebrator.
Mostly it's the relentless pushing of a commercial agenda on people and the pressure of some stupid "perfection" model that I just don't relate to at all.
So, me and the boy tend to make like a couple of squirrels and semi-hibernate somewhere enjoying the odd (quite often, urban) amble in the outside to forrage for nuts (well, beer, obvs) then returning to play games, watch films and eat our own body-weight in sausage rolls.
So it was this year. We decided to hole up in our flat in Bristol - we've done some domestic jobs we'd been meaning to for a little while, we're finally getting on top of the laundry, we've done some silly coding so that we can see our shelf of orchids come into flower in a couple of weeks, and we've played some games.
On the morning of the 25th we mooched around a bit then put a duck in the oven to roast in its own juices for a few hours (chuck a standard 3-person duck in the roasting tin; sprinkle copiously with salt; stuff a bit of thyme up it; prick the skin; chuck it in the oven - first hot for about 15mins then at about 150-deg C then leave it on its own for several hours).
We struck out to South Bristol as we thought, being a residential area, there was the greatest chance of encountering an open pub with decent beer.
We've stumbled on some really fun pubs in the past, in just this way.
The first place we came across looked OK but was only serving Wickwar beer - by no means awful but not really what we were looking for. So we continued to North Street.
First we landed at the Hen and Chicken which, when I lived in the area a long time ago was a great place to get beaten up, it's definitely a good place these days - not amazing, but good. It was rammed inside but they had Two Bridges beer, Wild Beer - Bibble and a BBF special beer on as well as the more standard Gem. Service is always a little bit slow but we got served without too much hassle, found a couple of bar stools and enjoyed a couple of decent pints in the company of about 60 other people. We remarked that it's not the ideal place for us since it doesn't have any quiet corners - nevertheless the beer was good so we weren't complaining...at least not until a couple of kids got screamy.
Look, I know places are supposed to be family friendly and I also know this area of town is no longer a working class part of town - all the houses are owned by middle class professionals attracted by the gentrification of the area following the establishment of the brilliant "Tobacco Factory". It wasn't even as if I was that surprised to see so many young kids with their 30-something parents.
I see lots of social media comments about "Christmas Pub Goers" whose manifold sins seem to revolve around not knowing how pubs are supposed to work (allowing their mates to add to their order when they've just come in and there's a huge queue at the bar; asking for Guiness Shandy; asking for loads of lattes in a busy beer bar...you know the people...).
I'd like to add...
- The open area between the bar and the route to the loo (which is the only open space) is NOT a playground for your kids to tear around screaming. It's not my job to not trip over your children who aren't looking where they're going.
- in an already noisy, open bar high-pitched screaming (in hysterical jolity or amidst a melt-down) is not conducive to other patrons' enjoyment of their beer.
- You are responsible for your kids' behaviour and trust me none of the rest of us find their screaming adorable.
So, as you can imagine, we was a bit grumpy once we'd finished our beer and decided we couldn't bear it any more.
That aside, well done Hen and Chicken for having a decent community friendly facility in what was a complete shithole before.
So, we kinda resolved ourselves that nowhere else might be open and we reamined grateful that H&C was open and had decent beer but we struck out in the general direction of home.
We passed The Old Bookshop which we'd visited in the past and sort of liked but had been fairly unimpressed by the beer. It was open and, not only that, the sign on the door said it was open all day. Well, it would have been rude not to...
What a difference!
There were plenty of people inside and there were clearly some families but the noise level was so much lower (and beard and trendy tattoo quotient much higher). There were 2 cask and 8 keg pumps on so we grabbed a couple of pints, climbed onto stools in the window and enjoyed the chilled ambience.
It was such a contrast to the previous place that it probably felt disproportionately lovely...nevertheless it took all our willpower to not stay for another.
We headed back for our beautifully cooked duck and congratulated ourselves on the 5 mile walk, good beer and perfect choice of celebratory fowl.
Here we are at Boxing Day and there will be the angst, later, of working out where might be open for a pint...
Mostly it's the relentless pushing of a commercial agenda on people and the pressure of some stupid "perfection" model that I just don't relate to at all.
So, me and the boy tend to make like a couple of squirrels and semi-hibernate somewhere enjoying the odd (quite often, urban) amble in the outside to forrage for nuts (well, beer, obvs) then returning to play games, watch films and eat our own body-weight in sausage rolls.
So it was this year. We decided to hole up in our flat in Bristol - we've done some domestic jobs we'd been meaning to for a little while, we're finally getting on top of the laundry, we've done some silly coding so that we can see our shelf of orchids come into flower in a couple of weeks, and we've played some games.
On the morning of the 25th we mooched around a bit then put a duck in the oven to roast in its own juices for a few hours (chuck a standard 3-person duck in the roasting tin; sprinkle copiously with salt; stuff a bit of thyme up it; prick the skin; chuck it in the oven - first hot for about 15mins then at about 150-deg C then leave it on its own for several hours).
We struck out to South Bristol as we thought, being a residential area, there was the greatest chance of encountering an open pub with decent beer.
We've stumbled on some really fun pubs in the past, in just this way.
The first place we came across looked OK but was only serving Wickwar beer - by no means awful but not really what we were looking for. So we continued to North Street.
First we landed at the Hen and Chicken which, when I lived in the area a long time ago was a great place to get beaten up, it's definitely a good place these days - not amazing, but good. It was rammed inside but they had Two Bridges beer, Wild Beer - Bibble and a BBF special beer on as well as the more standard Gem. Service is always a little bit slow but we got served without too much hassle, found a couple of bar stools and enjoyed a couple of decent pints in the company of about 60 other people. We remarked that it's not the ideal place for us since it doesn't have any quiet corners - nevertheless the beer was good so we weren't complaining...at least not until a couple of kids got screamy.
Look, I know places are supposed to be family friendly and I also know this area of town is no longer a working class part of town - all the houses are owned by middle class professionals attracted by the gentrification of the area following the establishment of the brilliant "Tobacco Factory". It wasn't even as if I was that surprised to see so many young kids with their 30-something parents.
I see lots of social media comments about "Christmas Pub Goers" whose manifold sins seem to revolve around not knowing how pubs are supposed to work (allowing their mates to add to their order when they've just come in and there's a huge queue at the bar; asking for Guiness Shandy; asking for loads of lattes in a busy beer bar...you know the people...).
I'd like to add...
- The open area between the bar and the route to the loo (which is the only open space) is NOT a playground for your kids to tear around screaming. It's not my job to not trip over your children who aren't looking where they're going.
- in an already noisy, open bar high-pitched screaming (in hysterical jolity or amidst a melt-down) is not conducive to other patrons' enjoyment of their beer.
- You are responsible for your kids' behaviour and trust me none of the rest of us find their screaming adorable.
So, as you can imagine, we was a bit grumpy once we'd finished our beer and decided we couldn't bear it any more.
That aside, well done Hen and Chicken for having a decent community friendly facility in what was a complete shithole before.
So, we kinda resolved ourselves that nowhere else might be open and we reamined grateful that H&C was open and had decent beer but we struck out in the general direction of home.
We passed The Old Bookshop which we'd visited in the past and sort of liked but had been fairly unimpressed by the beer. It was open and, not only that, the sign on the door said it was open all day. Well, it would have been rude not to...
What a difference!
There were plenty of people inside and there were clearly some families but the noise level was so much lower (and beard and trendy tattoo quotient much higher). There were 2 cask and 8 keg pumps on so we grabbed a couple of pints, climbed onto stools in the window and enjoyed the chilled ambience.
It was such a contrast to the previous place that it probably felt disproportionately lovely...nevertheless it took all our willpower to not stay for another.
We headed back for our beautifully cooked duck and congratulated ourselves on the 5 mile walk, good beer and perfect choice of celebratory fowl.
Here we are at Boxing Day and there will be the angst, later, of working out where might be open for a pint...
Friday, 21 December 2018
Then it Finally Happened
A goodly while ago on what, I think, was our second visit to the Moor Brewery Tap we had a conversation which mulled on the idea that some beers suit different dispense methods.
It sounded plausible and as it was a member of the brewery staff with whom we had the conversation, and he was doubtless more learned than us on the subject, we decided that it was probably true...it was just we hadn't come across the beer that didn't shine best as a cask ale.
Then the other day, it happened.
We'd had a good journey from the Sussex Homelands to the Western Reaches (Eastbourne to Bristol, obvs) on the train and we'd picked up a parcel (of which, more later) and decided to head out to the Barley Mow.
I was ecstatic to see Tiny Rebel "Juicy" on the bar and without further ado, ordered a pint.
I like most Tiny Rebel beers and we've had a number of their brews delivered in bottle/can for the fridge. I'd had Juicy from a can and really enjoyed it in the summer.
It has a distinct mango flavour which worked so well when I'd had it before. But from a cask pint which was a degree or two warmer, and without additional carbonation it was pleasant and drinkable but a bit over-sweet and claggy to my taste (and that of the Best Beer Buddy).
Actually, it's nice to find an example for myself and I'll also think a little more before making an unequivocal decision about whether or not I like a beer.
In other news, the parcel we collected was for one of those newfangled pod espresso machines for our flat. We've been making coffee here with a cafetiere since we bought the place and of late have found the texture of the coffee less clean than the espresso we make in the house down south.
We really couldn't justify the additional expense of another espresso machine AND a good enough grinder to grind to the correct texture - not when we don't live here most of the time, and we only have a single mug of coffee each, each day.
It took a while to find compostable pods and that decided our format of machine. The parcel we collected on arrival was this new, dinky little machine.
We've only had two drinks with it so far and we reckon it'll take us a while to find the right pods and use them the most appropriate way but it's definitely got promise and the clean taste of espresso is worth a bit of experimentation.
As a woman who previously roasted her own coffee this is a bit of an admission. In fact, alongside the notion that not all beer is best as cask.
See - we all learn, and we're allowed to change our minds about stuff as more data comes in.
It sounded plausible and as it was a member of the brewery staff with whom we had the conversation, and he was doubtless more learned than us on the subject, we decided that it was probably true...it was just we hadn't come across the beer that didn't shine best as a cask ale.
Then the other day, it happened.
We'd had a good journey from the Sussex Homelands to the Western Reaches (Eastbourne to Bristol, obvs) on the train and we'd picked up a parcel (of which, more later) and decided to head out to the Barley Mow.
I was ecstatic to see Tiny Rebel "Juicy" on the bar and without further ado, ordered a pint.
I like most Tiny Rebel beers and we've had a number of their brews delivered in bottle/can for the fridge. I'd had Juicy from a can and really enjoyed it in the summer.
It has a distinct mango flavour which worked so well when I'd had it before. But from a cask pint which was a degree or two warmer, and without additional carbonation it was pleasant and drinkable but a bit over-sweet and claggy to my taste (and that of the Best Beer Buddy).
Actually, it's nice to find an example for myself and I'll also think a little more before making an unequivocal decision about whether or not I like a beer.
In other news, the parcel we collected was for one of those newfangled pod espresso machines for our flat. We've been making coffee here with a cafetiere since we bought the place and of late have found the texture of the coffee less clean than the espresso we make in the house down south.
We really couldn't justify the additional expense of another espresso machine AND a good enough grinder to grind to the correct texture - not when we don't live here most of the time, and we only have a single mug of coffee each, each day.
It took a while to find compostable pods and that decided our format of machine. The parcel we collected on arrival was this new, dinky little machine.
We've only had two drinks with it so far and we reckon it'll take us a while to find the right pods and use them the most appropriate way but it's definitely got promise and the clean taste of espresso is worth a bit of experimentation.
As a woman who previously roasted her own coffee this is a bit of an admission. In fact, alongside the notion that not all beer is best as cask.
See - we all learn, and we're allowed to change our minds about stuff as more data comes in.
Saturday, 1 December 2018
Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright...
We made the most of the rare confluence of a break in the weather and a day when neither of us had anything we really needed to do that day.
We decided to try a new downland walk and chance to get to the Tiger Inn, in the nearby village of East Dean.
We caught a bus to the far side of the village (Friston Pond for the locals reading this) and then ambled towards the sea and over some of the Seven Sisters.
It was cold and blustery but jolly and bright and as perfect a day to walk in November as you can imagine. It wasn't a long walk (a little over 3 miles) but the hills made for interest and the livestock were friendly enough.
Thence to the Tiger Inn.
In the past I've been thoroughly disappointed by the pub which was the one-time brewery tap for Beachy Head Brewery (alas, no more) but, on occasion, served rather lacklustre pints of that and Harveys. As such it didn't make it an enthusiastic destination for us.
But the last couple of times we've been, we've been lucky enough to get something more interesting and, usually, well kept.
So we tipped up just after 3pm, once the lunchtime food service had finished and were delighted to find beers from Franklins, Bedlam and Long Man to choose from. Those, in addition to the more mundane Harvey's Best and Tribute. We tried all three and they were all absolutely grand. Best of the bunch was Frankie's Knuckles by Franklins - quite punchy but well balanced and very tasty.
I think that's three or four visits to the Tiger where the beer has been interesting and on form...so I've no doubt it won't be all that long until we venture back.
We decided to try a new downland walk and chance to get to the Tiger Inn, in the nearby village of East Dean.
We caught a bus to the far side of the village (Friston Pond for the locals reading this) and then ambled towards the sea and over some of the Seven Sisters.
It was cold and blustery but jolly and bright and as perfect a day to walk in November as you can imagine. It wasn't a long walk (a little over 3 miles) but the hills made for interest and the livestock were friendly enough.
Thence to the Tiger Inn.
In the past I've been thoroughly disappointed by the pub which was the one-time brewery tap for Beachy Head Brewery (alas, no more) but, on occasion, served rather lacklustre pints of that and Harveys. As such it didn't make it an enthusiastic destination for us.
But the last couple of times we've been, we've been lucky enough to get something more interesting and, usually, well kept.
So we tipped up just after 3pm, once the lunchtime food service had finished and were delighted to find beers from Franklins, Bedlam and Long Man to choose from. Those, in addition to the more mundane Harvey's Best and Tribute. We tried all three and they were all absolutely grand. Best of the bunch was Frankie's Knuckles by Franklins - quite punchy but well balanced and very tasty.
I think that's three or four visits to the Tiger where the beer has been interesting and on form...so I've no doubt it won't be all that long until we venture back.
Thursday, 11 October 2018
New things
It was my birthday, last week - we don't need to discuss just how many years I've been drinkng beer just now - so as a treat I chose a visit to a new brewery tap over in that Brighton.
We've been seeing Holler's beers around for a while now and I have to say I think they've improved a lot over my first encounter with them and now they're one of our "go to" brewers down here.
If you read this blog at all, you know we're not all-night drinkers...or all that much lunchtime drinkers...we're more of your late afternoon/early evening drinkers.
So we climbed aboard the bus at the end of our road around 2pm for the hour-long, but entertaining, bus ride across to the "Big City".
We found the brewery easily enough, just behind the weird and wonderful (and very tall) St Bartholomew's church and just off the London Road.
It's a slightly run down (or maybe, not yet gentrified) part of the city but we like those.
The brewery is in a converted industrial building given a lovely spruce up with the tap room being integrated with the brewery itself. This makes for stuff to look at as well as stuff to drink. It had only been open for a week on the day of our visit.
We were greeted with "really sorry but we have a power cut so we're not taking cards at the moment" but, as old-fashioned people, we generally pay for beer with cash anyway. So all was good.
They had four each of cask and keg beers and a nice mix of styles available.
The price was a little high for a brewery tap (£4.50/pint) but at least there was no cask/keg differential.
Unexpectedly our friend, M, joined us as he was in the city for football and it was lovely to meet him somewhere different than usual. He also approved of the beer.
The vibe was jolly with the brewery staff keen to chat about the set up, etc.
Food was pizza from a local restaurant - you ordered at the bar and paid, you were given a pager which buzzed when it arrived. You collect your pizza from the bar - simple and effective (and very, very tasty).
Now, here's a thing. So developed are my f*cking hipster beer drinker senses that I craved a 2/3rd measure. There were 8 beers so I would have been able to drink more different beers if I could have bought it in a slightly smaller quantity. Halves really don't cut it (and the boy agrees on this) for some reason. Halves disappear too quickly whereas 2/3rd really don't - no, I'm sure it isn't logical, but there it is. Even if you don't serve many of them, having a 2/3rd marking on the glass and prices by 1/3, 1/2, 2/3 and pint would, IMHO, encourage more experimentation by punters. But there you go, you can't please all the people, etc
All in all, it was as good a birthday treat as a girl could hope for.If the place were in Eastbourne I've no doubt we'd be regular visitors. I'm also sure that, whilst it won't be very frequent, any beer trips to Brighton will probably include a return visit.
In summary:
Good stuff:
- beer was lovely.
- good range on offer in all dispense methods (yep, there were cans too)
- friendly, engaging staff
- taproom clearly designed as an integral part of the business
- Pizza!
- Toilets: non-denominational cubicles with sinks inside and clean and lovely
- Nice indoor and outdoor space
- no price differential between cask/keg
- generous opening times!
Could be better:
- beer a bit pricey for a taproom
- one beer tasted a tiny bit young
- needing to ask for a beer to be topped up
- lack of a 2/3rds measure
- Tall tables inside had no rail for short-arsed me to rest my feet on.
Overall, really nice work, Holler - definitely a brewery tap highlight for me...
We've been seeing Holler's beers around for a while now and I have to say I think they've improved a lot over my first encounter with them and now they're one of our "go to" brewers down here.
If you read this blog at all, you know we're not all-night drinkers...or all that much lunchtime drinkers...we're more of your late afternoon/early evening drinkers.
So we climbed aboard the bus at the end of our road around 2pm for the hour-long, but entertaining, bus ride across to the "Big City".
We found the brewery easily enough, just behind the weird and wonderful (and very tall) St Bartholomew's church and just off the London Road.
It's a slightly run down (or maybe, not yet gentrified) part of the city but we like those.
The brewery is in a converted industrial building given a lovely spruce up with the tap room being integrated with the brewery itself. This makes for stuff to look at as well as stuff to drink. It had only been open for a week on the day of our visit.
We were greeted with "really sorry but we have a power cut so we're not taking cards at the moment" but, as old-fashioned people, we generally pay for beer with cash anyway. So all was good.
They had four each of cask and keg beers and a nice mix of styles available.
The price was a little high for a brewery tap (£4.50/pint) but at least there was no cask/keg differential.
Unexpectedly our friend, M, joined us as he was in the city for football and it was lovely to meet him somewhere different than usual. He also approved of the beer.
The vibe was jolly with the brewery staff keen to chat about the set up, etc.
Food was pizza from a local restaurant - you ordered at the bar and paid, you were given a pager which buzzed when it arrived. You collect your pizza from the bar - simple and effective (and very, very tasty).
Now, here's a thing. So developed are my f*cking hipster beer drinker senses that I craved a 2/3rd measure. There were 8 beers so I would have been able to drink more different beers if I could have bought it in a slightly smaller quantity. Halves really don't cut it (and the boy agrees on this) for some reason. Halves disappear too quickly whereas 2/3rd really don't - no, I'm sure it isn't logical, but there it is. Even if you don't serve many of them, having a 2/3rd marking on the glass and prices by 1/3, 1/2, 2/3 and pint would, IMHO, encourage more experimentation by punters. But there you go, you can't please all the people, etc
All in all, it was as good a birthday treat as a girl could hope for.If the place were in Eastbourne I've no doubt we'd be regular visitors. I'm also sure that, whilst it won't be very frequent, any beer trips to Brighton will probably include a return visit.
In summary:
Good stuff:
- beer was lovely.
- good range on offer in all dispense methods (yep, there were cans too)
- friendly, engaging staff
- taproom clearly designed as an integral part of the business
- Pizza!
- Toilets: non-denominational cubicles with sinks inside and clean and lovely
- Nice indoor and outdoor space
- no price differential between cask/keg
- generous opening times!
Could be better:
- beer a bit pricey for a taproom
- one beer tasted a tiny bit young
- needing to ask for a beer to be topped up
- lack of a 2/3rds measure
- Tall tables inside had no rail for short-arsed me to rest my feet on.
Overall, really nice work, Holler - definitely a brewery tap highlight for me...
Sunday, 30 September 2018
Regionalisation
We've just come back from Cornwall.
Land of Betty Stoggs, of Doom Bar and Tribute.
I used to love all three of these beers, I probably wouldn't choose any of them now if there was almost anything else to try.
Thankfully, we managed to avoid all of these during our week in the far South West and yet, the beer experience was decent, rather than good.
I really wanted to love the Crown Brewery beers and I did like them a lot, ...but love didn't come. We revisted one of the Penzance Brewery beers - Potion No9 and it was still impossible to not enjoy it, and yet I wouldn't have wanted to drink more than a couple of pints of it.
There were highlights, though...
The Bath Inn on the Newlyn/Penzance borders was a delightful find, along with Exeter Brewery Avocet beer.
I loved Mousehole and it's brilliant harbour - the Old Coastguard Hotel did some nice Padstow Beers and becoming reacquainted with St Austell HSD and Proper Job in the Ship Inn was grand.
So with all this goodness...why wasn't it quite right?
None of the pubs felt like the place we wanted to just huddle in a corner, watch the world and and have the choice of a few beers we wanted to try next. But all the places that had good beer, really only had one or maybe two we wanted to try and most of them didn't really bear a third pint.
All of the local beers we drank (and it was lovely having a choice of local brews) had common features - in much the way many Sussex beers have. That's both and good bad, since if you want something a little different...there's nothng to choose from.
Still, we had a good, relaxing time and we walked a good few miles every day. That's a good thing, right?
And we went back via Bristol and made the most of the Barleymow...naturally...
Land of Betty Stoggs, of Doom Bar and Tribute.
I used to love all three of these beers, I probably wouldn't choose any of them now if there was almost anything else to try.
Thankfully, we managed to avoid all of these during our week in the far South West and yet, the beer experience was decent, rather than good.
I really wanted to love the Crown Brewery beers and I did like them a lot, ...but love didn't come. We revisted one of the Penzance Brewery beers - Potion No9 and it was still impossible to not enjoy it, and yet I wouldn't have wanted to drink more than a couple of pints of it.
There were highlights, though...
The Bath Inn on the Newlyn/Penzance borders was a delightful find, along with Exeter Brewery Avocet beer.
I loved Mousehole and it's brilliant harbour - the Old Coastguard Hotel did some nice Padstow Beers and becoming reacquainted with St Austell HSD and Proper Job in the Ship Inn was grand.
So with all this goodness...why wasn't it quite right?
None of the pubs felt like the place we wanted to just huddle in a corner, watch the world and and have the choice of a few beers we wanted to try next. But all the places that had good beer, really only had one or maybe two we wanted to try and most of them didn't really bear a third pint.
All of the local beers we drank (and it was lovely having a choice of local brews) had common features - in much the way many Sussex beers have. That's both and good bad, since if you want something a little different...there's nothng to choose from.
Still, we had a good, relaxing time and we walked a good few miles every day. That's a good thing, right?
And we went back via Bristol and made the most of the Barleymow...naturally...
Friday, 14 September 2018
On the Booking of Tables in Pubs
ach! Bain of my life (well, OK, that's a little over-dramatic and it's very much a first-world problem)...is good pubs allowing all their tables to be booked of an evening.
We arrived in Bristol after a flawless train journey and, coincidentally, find out that a local bunch of internet-introduced friends were planning a pub meet. We suggested the Barleymow (obviously) and everyone was excited to fall in line.
We arrived there about 4.45 to find that all but one small table in the pub had been booked. One booking of about 20 people and another for 15. On a Thursday night.
I have to say we were really grumpy at the barman on duty (I'm sorry about that, I really am...it's really not your fault that your pub allows booking out of the place). He did what he could to suggest an alternative (ie sitting outside) but we decided to pass after an inital pint (which was lovely).
So we somewhere else instead (the Old Market Assembly) which has more space but they only really had one beer on cask and had only 3 pizza bases available to people who hadn't booked.
The pizza was OK (but not as good as previous visits) and the lack of beer variety was very sad but we had a fun evening with pals we haven't seen for ages.
Now - I can't tell pub how to maximise their business model but I think I'd like to suggest that you're careful about how you run your space but if you're a pub, perhaps consider limiting the number of tables you allow to be booked so that "ordinary" drop-by punters can fill the rest of your evening eating and drinking.
The best example I saw of this was a pub/cafe/bistro in Kingsand. There were about 5 tables just inside the door that they never allowed to be booked and as a result you could swing by and have a pint and a meal and slot into their less busy times without feeling the impending deadline of a table hand-over.
Rant over. this afternoon we'll be off to the Moor Brewery tap. It'll probably get quite busy but there won't be any pre-booked tables...
We arrived in Bristol after a flawless train journey and, coincidentally, find out that a local bunch of internet-introduced friends were planning a pub meet. We suggested the Barleymow (obviously) and everyone was excited to fall in line.
We arrived there about 4.45 to find that all but one small table in the pub had been booked. One booking of about 20 people and another for 15. On a Thursday night.
I have to say we were really grumpy at the barman on duty (I'm sorry about that, I really am...it's really not your fault that your pub allows booking out of the place). He did what he could to suggest an alternative (ie sitting outside) but we decided to pass after an inital pint (which was lovely).
So we somewhere else instead (the Old Market Assembly) which has more space but they only really had one beer on cask and had only 3 pizza bases available to people who hadn't booked.
The pizza was OK (but not as good as previous visits) and the lack of beer variety was very sad but we had a fun evening with pals we haven't seen for ages.
Now - I can't tell pub how to maximise their business model but I think I'd like to suggest that you're careful about how you run your space but if you're a pub, perhaps consider limiting the number of tables you allow to be booked so that "ordinary" drop-by punters can fill the rest of your evening eating and drinking.
The best example I saw of this was a pub/cafe/bistro in Kingsand. There were about 5 tables just inside the door that they never allowed to be booked and as a result you could swing by and have a pint and a meal and slot into their less busy times without feeling the impending deadline of a table hand-over.
Rant over. this afternoon we'll be off to the Moor Brewery tap. It'll probably get quite busy but there won't be any pre-booked tables...
Tuesday, 11 September 2018
Research suggests...
...how often do we see/hear headlines relating the latest research on alcohol consumption and it give us a clear picture of anything?
I would contend, almost never.
The latest government campaign is suggesting that middle-aged drinkers (ie: me) have more alcohol-free days each week.
First off, I'd like to say right here, right now that I don't think this is a lie, or is bad advice. But I do question where it comes from and what it really means.
Is it that
a) Really, people just need to drink less and since we can't stop them once they start of an evening, it's just better they spend some evenings not drinking at all
or
b) Days when you don't drink certain physiological things happen in your organs that are genuinely beneficial/protective for the days you do drink.
the headline doesn't say, of course, because if it did we'd just find ways to drink as much in different ways.
Also, we see a lot of headlines about how many hospital admissions are caused or contributed to by alcohol consumption. What they don't break this down into is those caused by:
1 Saturday night punch-ups amongst annoying pissed-up young men
2 Friday night acute intoxication in non-regular drinkers
3 Domestic violence meted out by a drunk spouse
4 Road traffic accidents involving intoxicated young or older drinkers
5 Chronic conditions worsened by regular drinking
6 Primary disease caused by alcohol
7 Admissions caused by alcohol addiction
8 Other hospital admissions not really related in any way to alcohol but the person had obviously been drinking.
Then there's the "drinking more than...increases your risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and liver diease by x%..."
...and this is the one that probably pisses me off the most.
Why? Because these are from population-level studies (or meta studies...that is: secondary studies on several different sets of data from different studies) and they tell you absolutely nothing about your risk because those increases in risk are in relative risks. If I have a 1 in 1000 chance of getting primary liver disease and my risk has increased by 5% by drinking then it's still a relatively small chance compared to other things that will kill me.
As a government I guess it's reasonable enough to act on population level information because you are concerned with the population as a whole. But - and this is a big but...
We know that one of the biggest contributors to chronic ill health is poverty. If we put serious money behind that then perhaps hospital admissions not only related to alcohol but other things would reduce too.
Lazy, sloppy "health" messages from a government who aren't serious about really tackling root causes isn't going to make me change my behaviour. I'm not condoning my drinkng but I believe it conveys some positives to my lifestyle too and it's foolish to totally ignore them.
Meanwhile, I will continue to have the odd alcohol-free day even though I notice no particular benefit from it since it's a balance kind of a thing - much like eating my greens, no?
I would contend, almost never.
The latest government campaign is suggesting that middle-aged drinkers (ie: me) have more alcohol-free days each week.
First off, I'd like to say right here, right now that I don't think this is a lie, or is bad advice. But I do question where it comes from and what it really means.
Is it that
a) Really, people just need to drink less and since we can't stop them once they start of an evening, it's just better they spend some evenings not drinking at all
or
b) Days when you don't drink certain physiological things happen in your organs that are genuinely beneficial/protective for the days you do drink.
the headline doesn't say, of course, because if it did we'd just find ways to drink as much in different ways.
Also, we see a lot of headlines about how many hospital admissions are caused or contributed to by alcohol consumption. What they don't break this down into is those caused by:
1 Saturday night punch-ups amongst annoying pissed-up young men
2 Friday night acute intoxication in non-regular drinkers
3 Domestic violence meted out by a drunk spouse
4 Road traffic accidents involving intoxicated young or older drinkers
5 Chronic conditions worsened by regular drinking
6 Primary disease caused by alcohol
7 Admissions caused by alcohol addiction
8 Other hospital admissions not really related in any way to alcohol but the person had obviously been drinking.
Then there's the "drinking more than...increases your risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and liver diease by x%..."
...and this is the one that probably pisses me off the most.
Why? Because these are from population-level studies (or meta studies...that is: secondary studies on several different sets of data from different studies) and they tell you absolutely nothing about your risk because those increases in risk are in relative risks. If I have a 1 in 1000 chance of getting primary liver disease and my risk has increased by 5% by drinking then it's still a relatively small chance compared to other things that will kill me.
As a government I guess it's reasonable enough to act on population level information because you are concerned with the population as a whole. But - and this is a big but...
We know that one of the biggest contributors to chronic ill health is poverty. If we put serious money behind that then perhaps hospital admissions not only related to alcohol but other things would reduce too.
Lazy, sloppy "health" messages from a government who aren't serious about really tackling root causes isn't going to make me change my behaviour. I'm not condoning my drinkng but I believe it conveys some positives to my lifestyle too and it's foolish to totally ignore them.
Meanwhile, I will continue to have the odd alcohol-free day even though I notice no particular benefit from it since it's a balance kind of a thing - much like eating my greens, no?
Sunday, 26 August 2018
On Being Mansplained to...
...on the subject of murky beer.
So I've remarked before that Eastbourne is a bit behind the beer times in terms of modern beer styles.
Even at beer festivals, they have a bit of tendency to go with beer styles they know and love (lots of emphasis on trad bitters and nice, but unremarkable golden beers).
This week our local's beer festival was being set up and a new beer was set up and ready to go. I ordered a pint of it for the boy. It was described as a "bitter" by a local good, but not very adventurous brewery.
When it came out it was about the same colour as Hophead but was a tiny bit hazy. I looked quizzically at it and said "you're sure that's it?" - what I meant was that I expected it to be browner. She looked and seemed concerned. "Actually, I'm not sure it's ready yet - it's a bit hazy.
I smiled and said, "I'm used to cloudy beer...it might just be unfined"
Then the bloke next to me chirped up "Oh, it looks OK I think. It's a bit murky but perhaps that's just condensation on the glass and then proceeded to rub his finger down the glass (WTF?). Girl behnd the bar still looked worried. So I said "it'll just be easier for me to try it..." and did. It was fine.
It was probably a beer designed to drop clear but it didn't seem any the worse for its haze.
"Ah yes", the bloke said "I told you it was OK".
Now, here's the thing. I get a bit annoyed when blokes tell me that they think they know more about beer than I do. But it's expontetially worse when the know-all in question had just bought a pint of Fosters for his mate and a pint of nitro-Guinness for himself. In a pub with 5 cask beers on.
I didn't say anything else to him. I couldn't.
Still, on Friday when the festival proper started I particularly enjoyed the pint of (unfined) Holler which was as murky as a perfect pint from Tapstone. Maybe Eastbourne's starting to catch up.
So I've remarked before that Eastbourne is a bit behind the beer times in terms of modern beer styles.
Even at beer festivals, they have a bit of tendency to go with beer styles they know and love (lots of emphasis on trad bitters and nice, but unremarkable golden beers).
This week our local's beer festival was being set up and a new beer was set up and ready to go. I ordered a pint of it for the boy. It was described as a "bitter" by a local good, but not very adventurous brewery.
When it came out it was about the same colour as Hophead but was a tiny bit hazy. I looked quizzically at it and said "you're sure that's it?" - what I meant was that I expected it to be browner. She looked and seemed concerned. "Actually, I'm not sure it's ready yet - it's a bit hazy.
I smiled and said, "I'm used to cloudy beer...it might just be unfined"
Then the bloke next to me chirped up "Oh, it looks OK I think. It's a bit murky but perhaps that's just condensation on the glass and then proceeded to rub his finger down the glass (WTF?). Girl behnd the bar still looked worried. So I said "it'll just be easier for me to try it..." and did. It was fine.
It was probably a beer designed to drop clear but it didn't seem any the worse for its haze.
"Ah yes", the bloke said "I told you it was OK".
Now, here's the thing. I get a bit annoyed when blokes tell me that they think they know more about beer than I do. But it's expontetially worse when the know-all in question had just bought a pint of Fosters for his mate and a pint of nitro-Guinness for himself. In a pub with 5 cask beers on.
I didn't say anything else to him. I couldn't.
Still, on Friday when the festival proper started I particularly enjoyed the pint of (unfined) Holler which was as murky as a perfect pint from Tapstone. Maybe Eastbourne's starting to catch up.
Sunday, 19 August 2018
Nice place, this...
One of our neighbouring towns held a four-pub tap-takeover this week.
I was supposed to be attending a meeting in the town so we planned to slaughter multiple ornithoids...however, events overtook and the meeting was moved. So we went to Lewes, anyway.
Four pubs were in the tap-takeover: The Patch, Elephant and Castle, Brewers Arms and the Black Horse.
We don't drink in Lewes often, but we're reasonably familiar with it and its pubs. That said, we started with The Patch which is a cafe/micropub which we didn't know at all.
They had Tiny Rebel and Siren beers on keg lines. We grabbed one each and sat in the closest thing we could manage to be a corner and enjoyed them. Best Beer buddy suggested moving on to the Elephant and Castle after the first one. On the walk around he confessed he didn't really feel comfortable in The Patch. It's true that, as a longish, thin space it felt like we were in a corridor.
So, we hoofed it around to the Elephant and Castle; a place we've been to a few times - none of which were wholly satisfactory (though I couldn't tell you why).
They had Great Heck brews on.
We grabbed a couple of pints and sat (in a corner).
The beer was good (if not as cool as I'd like) but, again we only stayed for one pint and moved on.
We landed in the Brewers' arms which had Loch Lomond beers (the brewery I least wanted to try). It was busy in the notionally posher front bar. I went to the bar to get a couple of pints and the boy headed to the back room to find a seat.
A bloke at the bar made a well-meaning (but annoying) "ladies first" comment at the bar which had me sighing an potentially writing this pub off as "not my sort of place"...but I carried our beers to the public/locals/sport bar and sat down.
We both relaxed a bit more.
We had a second pint and headed out for food and skipped the Black Horse.
I'm not sure I'll ever really be able to predict what pubs and bars we'll find comfortable and those we won't but I guess we just keep trying!
As a footnote - in the italian chain we ate in I ordered beer, he ordered a glass of wine. The waiter (who had taken the order) returned and tried to give me the wine. Plus ca change...
I was supposed to be attending a meeting in the town so we planned to slaughter multiple ornithoids...however, events overtook and the meeting was moved. So we went to Lewes, anyway.
Four pubs were in the tap-takeover: The Patch, Elephant and Castle, Brewers Arms and the Black Horse.
We don't drink in Lewes often, but we're reasonably familiar with it and its pubs. That said, we started with The Patch which is a cafe/micropub which we didn't know at all.
They had Tiny Rebel and Siren beers on keg lines. We grabbed one each and sat in the closest thing we could manage to be a corner and enjoyed them. Best Beer buddy suggested moving on to the Elephant and Castle after the first one. On the walk around he confessed he didn't really feel comfortable in The Patch. It's true that, as a longish, thin space it felt like we were in a corridor.
So, we hoofed it around to the Elephant and Castle; a place we've been to a few times - none of which were wholly satisfactory (though I couldn't tell you why).
They had Great Heck brews on.
We grabbed a couple of pints and sat (in a corner).
The beer was good (if not as cool as I'd like) but, again we only stayed for one pint and moved on.
We landed in the Brewers' arms which had Loch Lomond beers (the brewery I least wanted to try). It was busy in the notionally posher front bar. I went to the bar to get a couple of pints and the boy headed to the back room to find a seat.
A bloke at the bar made a well-meaning (but annoying) "ladies first" comment at the bar which had me sighing an potentially writing this pub off as "not my sort of place"...but I carried our beers to the public/locals/sport bar and sat down.
We both relaxed a bit more.
We had a second pint and headed out for food and skipped the Black Horse.
I'm not sure I'll ever really be able to predict what pubs and bars we'll find comfortable and those we won't but I guess we just keep trying!
As a footnote - in the italian chain we ate in I ordered beer, he ordered a glass of wine. The waiter (who had taken the order) returned and tried to give me the wine. Plus ca change...
Friday, 10 August 2018
Wetherspoons: Beer Weathervane?
We mused, as we walked to Hailsham on the Cuckoo Trail, whether there would be decent beer to be had when we got there.
There was an indication that one place (which we'd never previously heard of) that appeared to be promising in terms of interesting beer - so that's where we headed when we arrived.
There was one sorry pump of Doom Bar in evidence so we performed our best disappointed about-face and went to the place that is consistently in the GBG: a Wetherspoons.
As we went through the door, I have to admit my heart sank a little since it was the usual range of clientele and cheap food cooking smells.
The beers on the front bar were not familiar and yet I kinda knew that they wouldn't be exciting. We saw more pumps around the other side so we crept around with hope in our hearts to be met by ... Abbot Ale and Ruddles (there may have been a token Doom Bar as well for full effect).
So I went with the more interesting of the other beers (Sadlers, something or other) and the boy stuck to cider (which was, thankfully, proper bag in a box sort of a thing). The Sadlers was a good rendition of a premium bitter and in very good nick, at a good temperature. But it wasn't really what I wanted, was it?
As we sat in the pleasant garden we both recounted tales of the days we (separately) enjoyed Wetherspoons for its ability to showcase beers we hadn't heard of and supply interesting styles.
We wondered whether this is, in fact, that the beer/brewery scene in the UK has improved so much and excites so often that it's no longer possible for the chain to acquire really interesting beers from young breweries and sell them at the ridiculously low prices that is their USP.
I hope so.
And far from deingrating them as an organisation (political leanings of the owner aside) - they do a thing and they do it to a specific standard. It's not my bag of spanners but I get to choose whether I use their services and so does everyone else.
There was an indication that one place (which we'd never previously heard of) that appeared to be promising in terms of interesting beer - so that's where we headed when we arrived.
There was one sorry pump of Doom Bar in evidence so we performed our best disappointed about-face and went to the place that is consistently in the GBG: a Wetherspoons.
As we went through the door, I have to admit my heart sank a little since it was the usual range of clientele and cheap food cooking smells.
The beers on the front bar were not familiar and yet I kinda knew that they wouldn't be exciting. We saw more pumps around the other side so we crept around with hope in our hearts to be met by ... Abbot Ale and Ruddles (there may have been a token Doom Bar as well for full effect).
So I went with the more interesting of the other beers (Sadlers, something or other) and the boy stuck to cider (which was, thankfully, proper bag in a box sort of a thing). The Sadlers was a good rendition of a premium bitter and in very good nick, at a good temperature. But it wasn't really what I wanted, was it?
As we sat in the pleasant garden we both recounted tales of the days we (separately) enjoyed Wetherspoons for its ability to showcase beers we hadn't heard of and supply interesting styles.
We wondered whether this is, in fact, that the beer/brewery scene in the UK has improved so much and excites so often that it's no longer possible for the chain to acquire really interesting beers from young breweries and sell them at the ridiculously low prices that is their USP.
I hope so.
And far from deingrating them as an organisation (political leanings of the owner aside) - they do a thing and they do it to a specific standard. It's not my bag of spanners but I get to choose whether I use their services and so does everyone else.
Monday, 30 July 2018
Always Looking
It's really hard to impress me with beer these days and it's increasingly difficult for me to tolerate pubs without good beer.
As a birthday trip for the Best Beer Buddy we got on a bus to Seaford. Searingly hot, though it was, we shunned the indoors and grabbed a bus.
Our main destination was a micropub at the tiny station buffet. It's had a lovely makeover and we'd been desperate to try it for a while but never quite find the time. So we arrived around 4pm and were greeted with a lovely, interesting list of potentials to try.
We each picked a cask beer and took a seat. Sadly, the beer was a little bit warm and, although in good condition, that took the edge off a bit. Then they announced the place was closing at 5pm and reopening at 6pm. It kinda disrupted the mood but we left graciously and promised to return.
We then wandered off to find "The Old Boot" which was OK ish and with more interesting beer than we had anticipated but nothing to keep us there for more than one. So we sloped around the corner to the Wellington Hotel which we'd really like to love but I don't think they sell quite enough beer during the week so often the beer that's there is a little bit sub-par. The beer was fine but, again, not really as cold as I'd like.
It being mealtime we found a Chinese restaurant around the corner which was perfect but by the time we'd finished there we weren't really up for more beer.
Ultimately we left Seaford, once again, feeling like it could be so much nicer than it is in reality.
That said, we'll probably try the micropub again...but when it's a bit cooler.
Since then, we've been back to the Eagle a couple of times with the result that we've been very pleased with the quality and choice of beer. Fingers crossed they keep it up.
We're off to Bristol before too long - no doubt we'll remind ourselves of the range and variety of beers available there and hoping that the trend continues down here...
As a birthday trip for the Best Beer Buddy we got on a bus to Seaford. Searingly hot, though it was, we shunned the indoors and grabbed a bus.
Our main destination was a micropub at the tiny station buffet. It's had a lovely makeover and we'd been desperate to try it for a while but never quite find the time. So we arrived around 4pm and were greeted with a lovely, interesting list of potentials to try.
We each picked a cask beer and took a seat. Sadly, the beer was a little bit warm and, although in good condition, that took the edge off a bit. Then they announced the place was closing at 5pm and reopening at 6pm. It kinda disrupted the mood but we left graciously and promised to return.
We then wandered off to find "The Old Boot" which was OK ish and with more interesting beer than we had anticipated but nothing to keep us there for more than one. So we sloped around the corner to the Wellington Hotel which we'd really like to love but I don't think they sell quite enough beer during the week so often the beer that's there is a little bit sub-par. The beer was fine but, again, not really as cold as I'd like.
It being mealtime we found a Chinese restaurant around the corner which was perfect but by the time we'd finished there we weren't really up for more beer.
Ultimately we left Seaford, once again, feeling like it could be so much nicer than it is in reality.
That said, we'll probably try the micropub again...but when it's a bit cooler.
Since then, we've been back to the Eagle a couple of times with the result that we've been very pleased with the quality and choice of beer. Fingers crossed they keep it up.
We're off to Bristol before too long - no doubt we'll remind ourselves of the range and variety of beers available there and hoping that the trend continues down here...
Saturday, 7 July 2018
Pleasant Surprises
So, yesterday, a piece of work we were installing in a local arts venue worked first time we plugged it in (I was really expecting there to be hardware and software fiddling about to be done) and we thought we ought to go and get ourselves something to eat ahead of popping to The Eagle to watch football.
So we found ourselves in the Soup Shack. This place is from the same stable as the Belgian Bar which we visit quite often and and enjoy its slight quirkiness. This place is also definitely quirky, too. Well, mad as a box of frogs, to be honest...but in a good way, I think.
They have a load of beers on keg (about half are Beer: Me beers which are good but not astounding), they also do sandwiches, tapas and, as the name would suggest, soup.
I have to say it's not the easiest place to understand - so it's hard to see, from the counter, what food is available and the staff were a little confused by the beer but all in all it's really friendly and fun.
We had a pint of Holler "Stout" which was more of a black IPA, and a pint of Franklins Pils. We also had a bowl of soup each - he: muligatawny, me: chicken & chorizo. Even though it was an incredibly hot day there was something very pleasant about what felt like a light, but proper lunch with beer.
Definitely worth going back to and we almost certainly shall.
After a return to the gallery to check all was well with the installation, we headed to The Eagle for beer (Woodfords and Purity - both fine, but not stunnng) and the 3pm match...then home for good canned beer (Beavertown and Brewdog) for the 7pm match.
Today we're not going to the pub to watch football but there's plenty of beer left in the fridge, we've got a cool lounge and a comfy sofa...what more could a girl want?
So we found ourselves in the Soup Shack. This place is from the same stable as the Belgian Bar which we visit quite often and and enjoy its slight quirkiness. This place is also definitely quirky, too. Well, mad as a box of frogs, to be honest...but in a good way, I think.
They have a load of beers on keg (about half are Beer: Me beers which are good but not astounding), they also do sandwiches, tapas and, as the name would suggest, soup.
I have to say it's not the easiest place to understand - so it's hard to see, from the counter, what food is available and the staff were a little confused by the beer but all in all it's really friendly and fun.
We had a pint of Holler "Stout" which was more of a black IPA, and a pint of Franklins Pils. We also had a bowl of soup each - he: muligatawny, me: chicken & chorizo. Even though it was an incredibly hot day there was something very pleasant about what felt like a light, but proper lunch with beer.
Definitely worth going back to and we almost certainly shall.
After a return to the gallery to check all was well with the installation, we headed to The Eagle for beer (Woodfords and Purity - both fine, but not stunnng) and the 3pm match...then home for good canned beer (Beavertown and Brewdog) for the 7pm match.
Today we're not going to the pub to watch football but there's plenty of beer left in the fridge, we've got a cool lounge and a comfy sofa...what more could a girl want?
Sunday, 24 June 2018
Don't be That Guy...
Beer is getting incrementally better in Eastbourne...
...you don't see it every day and there's still a reasonable chance we'll be disappointed when we go somewhere but, more and more, we can get a decent if not astoundingly good pint.
There's a new bottle shop with a couple of keg lines, the "Soup Shack" which has opened as a tap room and there's even a micropub in Seaford (we've not been there yet and, yeah, I know it's not Eastbourne...but it's accessible by bus).
Still, the Best Beer buddy and I find ourselves wanting very specific experiences from a pub (or equivalent). So yesterday we strolled to The Lamb to have a reasonably quiet pint and to watch a bit of football.
One room was full of loud, revelrous blokes who clearly were monopololising the bar staff. The other room with a TV had families in it (loud families, at that) - so things weren't ideal. Nevertheless, we settled down with a pint and after about 40 minutes (before the footie even started) the loud buggers from the back room seemed to leave.
We decided that maybe moving to back room would be more conducive to a quieter pint.
I grabbed two more pints and the Boy brought the other stuff - following a few seconds behind me. The door into the back room was stiff and there was a huge dog lying on the floor but no one made any attempt either to help me with the door or move the bloody dog out of the way. I was now a little tetchier than I'd been before.
Once I finally got fully into the room I'm greeted by a middle-aged bloke (remember, I'm middle aged too) who announced loudly "The perfect Woman!". Suddenly I felt enormously wearied by the encounter. I looked him in the eye and just said "Dream on..." and found a seat.
His mate found the whole thing hilariously funny but I felt a little ashamed.
A second or so after S appears with our stuff and joins me and the bloke went quiet and turned around.
I recounted to S what had happened and he gave me a grimace of solidarity - and asked "was it really that offensive?"
Then I realised just how overused the word "offensive" is. No, it really wasn't offensive at all. It was tiresome.
I'm really lucky, I rarely get hassled by blokes (never have) and if I do it generally bounces off me as a mild irritation. These days I'm also self-confident enough to deal with it. But spare a thought for women who see it day in, day out...they get their qualifications and abilities questioned all the time.
So if you think an "appreciative" quip as a woman appears in front of you bearing two (or maybe even three) pints is jolly an friendly gesture, please don't be that guy. If someone is struggling with a bar door think about opening the door for them, eh? Be *that* guy instead.
On a less grumpy note I'm reading the superb "Miracle Brew" by Pete Brown it's a work of love and passion (much like really good beer) and I can barely bring myself to put it down. It's coming out in paperback soon...which will make it a little easier to heft. Go and buy it.
...you don't see it every day and there's still a reasonable chance we'll be disappointed when we go somewhere but, more and more, we can get a decent if not astoundingly good pint.
There's a new bottle shop with a couple of keg lines, the "Soup Shack" which has opened as a tap room and there's even a micropub in Seaford (we've not been there yet and, yeah, I know it's not Eastbourne...but it's accessible by bus).
Still, the Best Beer buddy and I find ourselves wanting very specific experiences from a pub (or equivalent). So yesterday we strolled to The Lamb to have a reasonably quiet pint and to watch a bit of football.
One room was full of loud, revelrous blokes who clearly were monopololising the bar staff. The other room with a TV had families in it (loud families, at that) - so things weren't ideal. Nevertheless, we settled down with a pint and after about 40 minutes (before the footie even started) the loud buggers from the back room seemed to leave.
We decided that maybe moving to back room would be more conducive to a quieter pint.
I grabbed two more pints and the Boy brought the other stuff - following a few seconds behind me. The door into the back room was stiff and there was a huge dog lying on the floor but no one made any attempt either to help me with the door or move the bloody dog out of the way. I was now a little tetchier than I'd been before.
Once I finally got fully into the room I'm greeted by a middle-aged bloke (remember, I'm middle aged too) who announced loudly "The perfect Woman!". Suddenly I felt enormously wearied by the encounter. I looked him in the eye and just said "Dream on..." and found a seat.
His mate found the whole thing hilariously funny but I felt a little ashamed.
A second or so after S appears with our stuff and joins me and the bloke went quiet and turned around.
I recounted to S what had happened and he gave me a grimace of solidarity - and asked "was it really that offensive?"
Then I realised just how overused the word "offensive" is. No, it really wasn't offensive at all. It was tiresome.
I'm really lucky, I rarely get hassled by blokes (never have) and if I do it generally bounces off me as a mild irritation. These days I'm also self-confident enough to deal with it. But spare a thought for women who see it day in, day out...they get their qualifications and abilities questioned all the time.
So if you think an "appreciative" quip as a woman appears in front of you bearing two (or maybe even three) pints is jolly an friendly gesture, please don't be that guy. If someone is struggling with a bar door think about opening the door for them, eh? Be *that* guy instead.
On a less grumpy note I'm reading the superb "Miracle Brew" by Pete Brown it's a work of love and passion (much like really good beer) and I can barely bring myself to put it down. It's coming out in paperback soon...which will make it a little easier to heft. Go and buy it.
Wednesday, 2 May 2018
Harveys Country
We treated ourselves to a proper day off, yesterday.
It's been rather manic with our work over the last couple of weeks. We run a local community-based organisation that teaches people of all ages creative and digital skills. Sometimes we lead or support sessions, sometimes we're designing things for sessions or for people who have asked us to, sometimes there are meetings. Oh so many meetings.
Monday saw me working all day on a grant funding bid to see our organisation take the next step in its evolution. These things always, but always, go right to the wire despite all our efforts to prepare well in advance.
So it was a fairly intense day. And it rained all day so not much hope of getting out into the fresh air.
Tuesday was forecast to be dry, sunny and cool. So - we decided to go to nearby Lewes.
We figured that if it turned out too cool to linger in the outdoors, we could at least take refuge.
We walked around 5 miles through a nature reserve and, for me at least, clambering through a barbed-wire fence surrounded by hedge (alway check the tide times, children...remember some rivers are tidal). So by the time we got back to the town we were, naturally, well up for a pint.
If you know beer, you'll know Lewes. It's the home to one of the best-loved "traditional" breweries in the country: Harveys.
I'd never drunk Harveys beer in Lewes so I thought it was about time we did. So we went into the John Harvey. We were delighted to see Olympia on the bar so we had a couple of pints of that and relaxed on a traditional pub bench seat surrounded by the remnants of Fermentation Tank no17 which had be thoughtfully repurposed as a curved snug enclosure.
Naturally, the beer was as good a pint of Harveys as you could hope for, and the surroundings were unapologetically proper pub-like.
Thence to the Gardeners Arms which is another very down-to-earth place. I had a pint of Downlands and the boy decided that he should remember that beers come in colours other than pale. So he had a black IPA - which was lovely, too.
We weren't too moved to have anything else there and we had a Harveys Gift voucher burning a hole in our pockets so we went to the Brewery Shop which was an absolute delight. We got bottles of Star of Eastbourne and Tom Paine and some cans of Elizabethan Barley Wine which they've called "Tin Lizzie".
We'd heard that the Elephant and Castle had a brewery co-op within it which makes beer for the pub, so we hacked our way up the hill to fnd out what they had. As it turned out the brewery co-op isn't quite a productive as we might have hoped so we had 360-deg APA and something else that I can't remember. Both good but not stunning.
After that it was time to eat so we headed to a Thai restaurant we'd been to before to round off the day.
It was a lovely day out, and the pubs did a good job but I think I was a bit disappointed that nothing there took me by surprise. Never mind, next excursion day we've got another couple of places in the county that we'd like to do a bit of walking and drinking...you never know...
It's been rather manic with our work over the last couple of weeks. We run a local community-based organisation that teaches people of all ages creative and digital skills. Sometimes we lead or support sessions, sometimes we're designing things for sessions or for people who have asked us to, sometimes there are meetings. Oh so many meetings.
Monday saw me working all day on a grant funding bid to see our organisation take the next step in its evolution. These things always, but always, go right to the wire despite all our efforts to prepare well in advance.
So it was a fairly intense day. And it rained all day so not much hope of getting out into the fresh air.
Tuesday was forecast to be dry, sunny and cool. So - we decided to go to nearby Lewes.
We figured that if it turned out too cool to linger in the outdoors, we could at least take refuge.
We walked around 5 miles through a nature reserve and, for me at least, clambering through a barbed-wire fence surrounded by hedge (alway check the tide times, children...remember some rivers are tidal). So by the time we got back to the town we were, naturally, well up for a pint.
If you know beer, you'll know Lewes. It's the home to one of the best-loved "traditional" breweries in the country: Harveys.
I'd never drunk Harveys beer in Lewes so I thought it was about time we did. So we went into the John Harvey. We were delighted to see Olympia on the bar so we had a couple of pints of that and relaxed on a traditional pub bench seat surrounded by the remnants of Fermentation Tank no17 which had be thoughtfully repurposed as a curved snug enclosure.
Naturally, the beer was as good a pint of Harveys as you could hope for, and the surroundings were unapologetically proper pub-like.
Thence to the Gardeners Arms which is another very down-to-earth place. I had a pint of Downlands and the boy decided that he should remember that beers come in colours other than pale. So he had a black IPA - which was lovely, too.
We weren't too moved to have anything else there and we had a Harveys Gift voucher burning a hole in our pockets so we went to the Brewery Shop which was an absolute delight. We got bottles of Star of Eastbourne and Tom Paine and some cans of Elizabethan Barley Wine which they've called "Tin Lizzie".
We'd heard that the Elephant and Castle had a brewery co-op within it which makes beer for the pub, so we hacked our way up the hill to fnd out what they had. As it turned out the brewery co-op isn't quite a productive as we might have hoped so we had 360-deg APA and something else that I can't remember. Both good but not stunning.
After that it was time to eat so we headed to a Thai restaurant we'd been to before to round off the day.
It was a lovely day out, and the pubs did a good job but I think I was a bit disappointed that nothing there took me by surprise. Never mind, next excursion day we've got another couple of places in the county that we'd like to do a bit of walking and drinking...you never know...
Saturday, 14 April 2018
The Fear of Disappointment
We've been to Bristol, briefly, again. Mostly it was to see a comedy gig: the most excellent Mark Steel, but also to prepare the flat for the arrival of family visitors who were going to use it to get away during the school holidays.
We had a meeting on the day we ideally wanted to travel and so there was no way we were going to be able to do the usual arrival in late afternoon (ticket restrictions between Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads being what they are). So we decided to revert to the "after work" travel pattern, instead.
Best beer buddy drives but generally doesn't enjoy it. I can't drive. This means we're both very, very comfortable with train travel since we do it so often and we can usually read the signs when something isn't going quite right.
We arrived at Victoria about 20 minutes late but since we had several hours to kill before we could get a train to Bristol, we weren't overly fussed. Our vague plan was to mosey over to Paddington, then wander out to get something to eat and drink. This, despite the beery situation near Paddington not being ideal. The rationale being that it's just easier to be closer to your leaving destination to manage potential hiccoughs better.
However, when we tried to make our way to Victoria Underground there was a queueing system in place. We had no idea if this was normal levels of queueing for that time of day or something else. We didn't wait to find out.
"Where shall we go?"
"Old Faithful"
Old Faithful, being the Cask Pub and Kitchen in Pimlico. We've been going here from time to time as long as we've known each other. We know roughly what direction to set off from Victoria although we're never quite sure how to find it...somehow we always do.
When we arrive - via a slightly different route than the last time we went - the place is already heaving. It's the post-work crowd and we despair of getting a seat. However, there are a lot of spaces around due to poor space-packing-algorithms and it doesn't take S long to enveigle us into a perfectly good seat. There were a few interesting pints and a couple of burgers and everything was grand.
Our stroll back to Victoria was via the best route ever and before long we were on our train to Bristol and not long after that, safely tucked up in bed.
Coming back was a curious thing, though. We arrived on time at Paddington, popped across the city, only to find that all was not well with the trains heading south. Although everywhere indicated that trains would run roughly to time, we knew better. We decided that, as we didn't have any particular plans for the rest of the day, we might as well cut our potential stress levels and head off to The Cask.
Now here's the thing. We'd been drinking in Bristol for a couple of days we know the local favourite beers really well. In the Cask there was nothing familiar on the bar so we had to just take a punt at a couple of pints but we were both very cautious. Whereas on the way to Bristol, we were very gung-ho we found ourselves, now, not wanting to be disappointed by our beer choices.
It's not like drinking beer is particularly expensive so paying about £4.50 for a pint that you then don't like very much is hardly the end of the world. We also know that the first taste of a beer often surprises you and you frequently enjoy it more as you drink more.
So why the hesitancy on our part?
I really don't know. There's no logical reason for it. But there's definitely something about having spent time where we know at least 5 or 6 breweries' beers are almost always to our taste.
Maybe we're not that far removed from the blokes in our local pub in Eastbourne who only ever drink Harvey's best, or Wadworth's 6X. They know what they like...
We had a meeting on the day we ideally wanted to travel and so there was no way we were going to be able to do the usual arrival in late afternoon (ticket restrictions between Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads being what they are). So we decided to revert to the "after work" travel pattern, instead.
Best beer buddy drives but generally doesn't enjoy it. I can't drive. This means we're both very, very comfortable with train travel since we do it so often and we can usually read the signs when something isn't going quite right.
We arrived at Victoria about 20 minutes late but since we had several hours to kill before we could get a train to Bristol, we weren't overly fussed. Our vague plan was to mosey over to Paddington, then wander out to get something to eat and drink. This, despite the beery situation near Paddington not being ideal. The rationale being that it's just easier to be closer to your leaving destination to manage potential hiccoughs better.
However, when we tried to make our way to Victoria Underground there was a queueing system in place. We had no idea if this was normal levels of queueing for that time of day or something else. We didn't wait to find out.
"Where shall we go?"
"Old Faithful"
Old Faithful, being the Cask Pub and Kitchen in Pimlico. We've been going here from time to time as long as we've known each other. We know roughly what direction to set off from Victoria although we're never quite sure how to find it...somehow we always do.
When we arrive - via a slightly different route than the last time we went - the place is already heaving. It's the post-work crowd and we despair of getting a seat. However, there are a lot of spaces around due to poor space-packing-algorithms and it doesn't take S long to enveigle us into a perfectly good seat. There were a few interesting pints and a couple of burgers and everything was grand.
Our stroll back to Victoria was via the best route ever and before long we were on our train to Bristol and not long after that, safely tucked up in bed.
Coming back was a curious thing, though. We arrived on time at Paddington, popped across the city, only to find that all was not well with the trains heading south. Although everywhere indicated that trains would run roughly to time, we knew better. We decided that, as we didn't have any particular plans for the rest of the day, we might as well cut our potential stress levels and head off to The Cask.
Now here's the thing. We'd been drinking in Bristol for a couple of days we know the local favourite beers really well. In the Cask there was nothing familiar on the bar so we had to just take a punt at a couple of pints but we were both very cautious. Whereas on the way to Bristol, we were very gung-ho we found ourselves, now, not wanting to be disappointed by our beer choices.
It's not like drinking beer is particularly expensive so paying about £4.50 for a pint that you then don't like very much is hardly the end of the world. We also know that the first taste of a beer often surprises you and you frequently enjoy it more as you drink more.
So why the hesitancy on our part?
I really don't know. There's no logical reason for it. But there's definitely something about having spent time where we know at least 5 or 6 breweries' beers are almost always to our taste.
Maybe we're not that far removed from the blokes in our local pub in Eastbourne who only ever drink Harvey's best, or Wadworth's 6X. They know what they like...
Tuesday, 6 February 2018
Suffrage
OK - not really about beer...but I promise beer will come into it.
It seems appropriate for a woman who doesn't, in all honesty, quite fit the traditional (and increasingly outdated) model of "A. Real. Woman." to say something about what it is to be a woman 100 years after some women (my grandmother wouldn't have been eligible at the time) got the vote.
Actually, I have to say I've been enormously fortunate in my *ahem* fifty-something years.
My father frequently did both laundry and cooking in our household as his shift patterns allowed more lattitude than my mum's frequently unsociable hours. He never complained.
Having requested a haridryer for Christmas, and it arriving without a plug attached (that's right, children, we had to put our own plugs on things, and even when the appliance failed you never threw good plugs away) my dad said "it's about time you learned to put plugs on things" and proceeded to teach me. I was nine.
When hands were needed around the house for whatever task - wall papering, painting, woodwork, fixing the washing machine, making pies or stew - it didn't matter what gender you were, you helped.
These were the first steps for feeling an equal member of society - even though our society (five in our immediate family) was a pretty small sample. Actually, it extended wider since my Aunt's household (where I also spent a significant portion of my time) had no time for "that's a man's/woman's job".
Work, when I started it, was less equal. But having been given a good grounding in both sticking up for myself and having no truck with "that's a man's job" I didn't take all that much notice of the apparent barriers.
My first long-term partner - the man that was so desperate to introduce me to the delights of beer (there, you knew it was coming) was from a family like mine. Men and women alike just getting on and doing what's needed. As a result, and in spite of an education in a seminary of all places, he loved that learned to love beer, he loved that I enjoyed a spot of DIY, in fact my love of computers was what got us together in the first place. I didn't need to assert my equality with him - he never doubted it.
And now, my Best Beer Buddy - again delighted, not threatened, at my interest in beer, sport (sometimes), computing, electronics and so many other things not traditionally aligned with my gender. Never once makes me think he sees me as anything less than a equal partner. Yes, we do different things around the house; in work and in household projects but that's because the best work comes when you play to your strengths.
So I'd like to give a shout out, on this day of all days, not only for the women who started the fight for equality but for the men who have never doubted that equality was a right, proper and thoroughly desireable thing to have.
Oh, and DRINK MORE BEER!
It seems appropriate for a woman who doesn't, in all honesty, quite fit the traditional (and increasingly outdated) model of "A. Real. Woman." to say something about what it is to be a woman 100 years after some women (my grandmother wouldn't have been eligible at the time) got the vote.
Actually, I have to say I've been enormously fortunate in my *ahem* fifty-something years.
My father frequently did both laundry and cooking in our household as his shift patterns allowed more lattitude than my mum's frequently unsociable hours. He never complained.
Having requested a haridryer for Christmas, and it arriving without a plug attached (that's right, children, we had to put our own plugs on things, and even when the appliance failed you never threw good plugs away) my dad said "it's about time you learned to put plugs on things" and proceeded to teach me. I was nine.
When hands were needed around the house for whatever task - wall papering, painting, woodwork, fixing the washing machine, making pies or stew - it didn't matter what gender you were, you helped.
These were the first steps for feeling an equal member of society - even though our society (five in our immediate family) was a pretty small sample. Actually, it extended wider since my Aunt's household (where I also spent a significant portion of my time) had no time for "that's a man's/woman's job".
Work, when I started it, was less equal. But having been given a good grounding in both sticking up for myself and having no truck with "that's a man's job" I didn't take all that much notice of the apparent barriers.
My first long-term partner - the man that was so desperate to introduce me to the delights of beer (there, you knew it was coming) was from a family like mine. Men and women alike just getting on and doing what's needed. As a result, and in spite of an education in a seminary of all places, he loved that learned to love beer, he loved that I enjoyed a spot of DIY, in fact my love of computers was what got us together in the first place. I didn't need to assert my equality with him - he never doubted it.
And now, my Best Beer Buddy - again delighted, not threatened, at my interest in beer, sport (sometimes), computing, electronics and so many other things not traditionally aligned with my gender. Never once makes me think he sees me as anything less than a equal partner. Yes, we do different things around the house; in work and in household projects but that's because the best work comes when you play to your strengths.
So I'd like to give a shout out, on this day of all days, not only for the women who started the fight for equality but for the men who have never doubted that equality was a right, proper and thoroughly desireable thing to have.
Oh, and DRINK MORE BEER!
Saturday, 13 January 2018
No sign of Dryanuary in the Barleymow
We arrived yesterday afternoon after as painfree journey between Eastbourne and Bristol as we could hope.
The plan was to meet Big Bro at the Barleymow around 7pm.
Naively I thought that in this cycling-healthconscious-city it would be relatively quiet in the Barleymow.
Boy, was I wrong.
Leaving aside our slight niggle with the place that they allow booking of tables pretty much anywhere in the pub. When we arrive at around 5pm there wasn't table to be had.
Come 6.30pm when Bro arrived, there was barely anywhere to stand, let alone sit. The place was rammed. People were sitting outside in the garden and out front in order to enjoy their beer.
I know it was Friday and all that but I was really quite impressed with the pub's pulling power in what is often a quiet time of year for publicans.
Just goes to show that a place that knows its stuff can pull in the punters (pinters?) on a non-seasonable basis.
We eventually got a table around 7pm when the after-workers who were only in for a couple exited. Beer, as ever was excellent as was the food.
Still my favourite pub.
The plan was to meet Big Bro at the Barleymow around 7pm.
Naively I thought that in this cycling-healthconscious-city it would be relatively quiet in the Barleymow.
Boy, was I wrong.
Leaving aside our slight niggle with the place that they allow booking of tables pretty much anywhere in the pub. When we arrive at around 5pm there wasn't table to be had.
Come 6.30pm when Bro arrived, there was barely anywhere to stand, let alone sit. The place was rammed. People were sitting outside in the garden and out front in order to enjoy their beer.
I know it was Friday and all that but I was really quite impressed with the pub's pulling power in what is often a quiet time of year for publicans.
Just goes to show that a place that knows its stuff can pull in the punters (pinters?) on a non-seasonable basis.
We eventually got a table around 7pm when the after-workers who were only in for a couple exited. Beer, as ever was excellent as was the food.
Still my favourite pub.
Wednesday, 3 January 2018
You say you want a resolution...
Here we are, then, 2018. Beginning of the year and the traditional time to muse on the last year, and resolve to do better this time around.
We don't really go in for all that old guff. I'm a bit of a Christmasophobe - I hate the indecent vigour with which large corporates try and tell us what we want, nay...need in order to make our lives complete/better than the other guy's/more aspirational...whatever. Anyway, so we tend to do minumum decent celebration so we're not pegged as out-and-out-curmudgeons and try and get some quiet time with games and beer.
This year we made the (for us) radical decision not to run away but, instead, to stay in the main residence.
Travel chaos and weather prevented our plans to spend a week beering it up in Bristol before the real festive season (ie: that acceptable time to celebrate Christmas which runs from approx 23rd December to 1st January) so we bought in a load of bottled and canned beer and hunkered down.
Some of the highlights of our beer selection pack have been:
- Boon Kriek: I have to say I didn't like it quite as much as Morte Subite Kriek or the Lindemans Kriek I sometimes have at the Belgian bar. That's probably because it's a cherry geuze and lambic beers are not something that particularly float my boat. Still, it made a really good, hearty, beer to take the place of wine when eating a creamy chicken and mushroom dish.
- Anything by Moor: We got 20 assorted cans on the basis of knowing it all very well and sometimes you want an old friend you can rely on. Nuff said.
- Tiny Rebel Cali - an APA, and a deftly done one it is too! Was excited to find there was still one in the fridge. Any beer that can follow Moor So'Hop has to be a corker.
- Boon Geuze/Mariage Parfait - not beers for me, these. But the boy enjoyed them. He wasn't quite sure that the Mariage Parfait really held up to the expectation, but he loved the Gueze.
- Tiny Rebel Staypuft and Dirty Stop out (dark beers) were very greatly appreciated by the Boy especially as we don't often have dark beers in the house.
Also rans:
- Tiny Rebel Cwtch, Lervig Lucky Jack, Kona Big Wave: none of them bad but none that we'd rush to again, to be honest.
I've really (and I mean REALLY) missed being able to stumble out the door to either a "new" pub or one with a huge range of beer over the Christmas break but we did "shop local" by making sure the last couple of trips into town to buy presents and whatever were followed by a visit to the pub to imbibe there as well as at home.
Of course now people (and by people, I mean the media) will be telling us to have a Dryanuary (or whatever) and I'm afraid I shan't subscribe to that. Our pubs need us in January. December has been a time when they were full of people who don't often go to the pub and the uptip in sales probably didn't match the total number of people in the room. If we want our pubs to be there for us when we celebrate Christmas, then we need to be careful to support them the rest of the year.
You don't need to drink to excess in order support your local pub on a regular basis. Go in every week or two and drink a couple of pints. That way the landlord (used non-gender-specifically) gets to keep turning the beer over and you get to try new beers from time to time. Tryanuary is an actual thing and I think it's a great idea.
When we actually make it back to the Western Homeland, I'm going to make a special effort to try somewhere new.
We don't really go in for all that old guff. I'm a bit of a Christmasophobe - I hate the indecent vigour with which large corporates try and tell us what we want, nay...need in order to make our lives complete/better than the other guy's/more aspirational...whatever. Anyway, so we tend to do minumum decent celebration so we're not pegged as out-and-out-curmudgeons and try and get some quiet time with games and beer.
This year we made the (for us) radical decision not to run away but, instead, to stay in the main residence.
Travel chaos and weather prevented our plans to spend a week beering it up in Bristol before the real festive season (ie: that acceptable time to celebrate Christmas which runs from approx 23rd December to 1st January) so we bought in a load of bottled and canned beer and hunkered down.
Some of the highlights of our beer selection pack have been:
- Boon Kriek: I have to say I didn't like it quite as much as Morte Subite Kriek or the Lindemans Kriek I sometimes have at the Belgian bar. That's probably because it's a cherry geuze and lambic beers are not something that particularly float my boat. Still, it made a really good, hearty, beer to take the place of wine when eating a creamy chicken and mushroom dish.
- Anything by Moor: We got 20 assorted cans on the basis of knowing it all very well and sometimes you want an old friend you can rely on. Nuff said.
- Tiny Rebel Cali - an APA, and a deftly done one it is too! Was excited to find there was still one in the fridge. Any beer that can follow Moor So'Hop has to be a corker.
- Boon Geuze/Mariage Parfait - not beers for me, these. But the boy enjoyed them. He wasn't quite sure that the Mariage Parfait really held up to the expectation, but he loved the Gueze.
- Tiny Rebel Staypuft and Dirty Stop out (dark beers) were very greatly appreciated by the Boy especially as we don't often have dark beers in the house.
Also rans:
- Tiny Rebel Cwtch, Lervig Lucky Jack, Kona Big Wave: none of them bad but none that we'd rush to again, to be honest.
I've really (and I mean REALLY) missed being able to stumble out the door to either a "new" pub or one with a huge range of beer over the Christmas break but we did "shop local" by making sure the last couple of trips into town to buy presents and whatever were followed by a visit to the pub to imbibe there as well as at home.
Of course now people (and by people, I mean the media) will be telling us to have a Dryanuary (or whatever) and I'm afraid I shan't subscribe to that. Our pubs need us in January. December has been a time when they were full of people who don't often go to the pub and the uptip in sales probably didn't match the total number of people in the room. If we want our pubs to be there for us when we celebrate Christmas, then we need to be careful to support them the rest of the year.
You don't need to drink to excess in order support your local pub on a regular basis. Go in every week or two and drink a couple of pints. That way the landlord (used non-gender-specifically) gets to keep turning the beer over and you get to try new beers from time to time. Tryanuary is an actual thing and I think it's a great idea.
When we actually make it back to the Western Homeland, I'm going to make a special effort to try somewhere new.
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