Yep

As predicted, we headed to the Kings Head yesterday.

It's a pleasant back-street 10 minute stroll.

When we arrived there were lots of people sitting outside.  At the bar, there was one person on a bar stool and the tramcar snug was empty.  

The folk who run it were behind the bar and we were greeted enthusiastically - me:  Oakham pale, BBB: Black Iris West Coast IPA.  

Both cask, both in perfect condition and both of us convinced we'd got the better deal.

We had the pick of the seats so chose the small table just by the tramcar entrance.  The downside is intermittent smell of disinfectant from the loos - the upside is easy exit and entrance for subsequent rounds.

A couple of people came and joined the tramcar and behaved impeccably.

Second beer was a DEYA 5.5% something or other.  As much as I like Steady Rollin' Man - this was leagues ahead: really fresh and sparky.  Himself agreed.

We chatted about nothing much, just enjoying a time not having responsibility for anything at all.

At one point I saw a great backlit "behind the bar" scene and felt moved to take a picture (only iPhone but the best camera is the one you have with you, after all).

After a while I recognised that some of the group that had joined the seats nearby were CAMRA old hands from my days as beer festival set up manager.  Suspect I've been long forgotten because I only ever went to festival meetings and the festival itself, and never attended any other socials.

One chap had a voice which reached above the prevailing conversational hum.  It was a local accent and although it was a bit distracting, it was kinda grounding.

Sierra Nevada beers were quite prevalent in the line up.  The BBB and I raised a bit of an eyebrow. We seemed to remember having it watching football in the pub in London and finding it very m'eh, suspecting the brewery had gone macro-brand.

Still, two of the beers they had were strong:  a 6.5% hazy pale and a 7.2% barley wine type. Ach, what the hell.  We decided to give a couple of halves a try.

Actually, we enjoyed them.  They were a good finisher.  Would I rush back to them?  No, but I wouldn't complain if they were what was available.

 I would definitely return to the Oakham and the Deya, though.  Much like Tom Unwin's tank hazy pale "Blossom" which we deliberately went to Unwins on Friday to have two pints of to follow the two pints we'd had the Friday before.

The great thing about the EBBT weekend is that all the beers in the Barley Mow will have changed (let's hope they have something left) so we're looking forward to Monday's visit... 

 

 

 

 

Rock and a Hard Place

So, after weeks of fine, warm <hot>, weather we have a bank holiday upon us so, obviously, rain is forecast.

For our pals who are organising and participating the East Bristol Brewery Trail, it has to be a fraught time. On the one hand they have to put a lot of effort (and, I guess, cost) into setting up the infrastructure for what amounts to a geographically extended beer festival. On the other they have to take the potential hit when their small indoor spaces (only Wiper and True can accommodate more than a few dozen people at a time) can't cope with the number of people attempting to attend the event.

We know that frisky weather in the May meant that lots of people took refuge in the Barley Mow (not on the official trail but...) so I'm pretty sure they'll see a bit of rush, too. I'd also be surprised if some of the other pubs in the general vicinity didn't get a bit of a weather bump.

Obviously, we'll be going nowhere near any of the EBBT venues on Saturday or Sunday and we've learned there's a multi-venue King Street music event today as well so we'll not be venturing over there either.

Bristol City are at home to Portsmouth this afternoon so that rules out "south of the river".

We won't want to venture far - so the Kings Head seems like a potential prospect.  We're never disappointed with the beer there but its size and layout can make it a bit difficult to relax in, sometimes. 

But, you know, we'll still be hoping that the event is viewed as a success by all the people with skin in the game.  My guess is that events like this help to provide some financial cushion to cover November and February Tuesdays.  Good luck, folks...we'll see you when it's all over.

 

 

On the Third Day...

 We got our first taste of Moor for the first time in a long time.

We popped round to Unwins and, in the absence of one of Tom's cask beers, we chose a guest keg:  Nor'hop.

It was...fine.

That is to say it was without any problematic flavours - maybe a tiny bit "bretty" to my taste - it was inoffensive.  

That's a pretty damning statement, really, and because there's so much really good beer in Bristol - both local and "imported" it means we'll be unlikely to repeat the experience just yet.

Whilst I'm glad Moor is being resurrected, I almost wish that they'd changed the name and not tried to brew the "same" beers.  I see their core range appears to be a solid offering (but the pictures of pump clips on their website is just weird..maybe AI-adjacent?) but is lacking (maybe just at the moment) the likes of Hoppiness and Old Freddy Walker which added character and interest to the lineup.

Interesting that they chosen to open the taproom all week but I'm not sure we'll rush there.

I'm sure there are plenty of people who'll enjoy the new incarnation and that's great - but for me, they've lost something of the "them" that we particularly liked.  I daresay we'll check in on the beers from time to time to see how things emerged but they're not going to join our "regular" list for now.

Meanwhile, our second pint in Unwins was a truly gorgeous hazy pale from the tank - called Blossom, this is something we'll definitely return to. 

 

The Role of Pub in Stress Management

 A bit of a horrible week at work has led to both me and BBB feeling the stress of responsibility.

Added to which we were scheduled to travel to the Shire on Thursday and had both been worried how to keep the garden (ie Tomatoes) alive in our absence.

On this latter matter, we needn't have been as worried.  Wednesday delivered the first rain Eastbourne has seen for about 9 weeks - it rained steadily all morning and started to penetrate the surface of the soil.  Overnight to Thursday it became more feisty and filled the pond, all the water butts and gave all the tomatoes a damned good soaking.  Still, the Lewes derailment played havoc with the rail schedule so we had to prepare for a different travel experience - this added to the uneasy feeling.

We got the bus into town, dodging the deep grey clouds promising further soaking and got the train to Brighton.

We crossed the platform to a Thameslink train to Cambridge via London Bridge.  We thought this would give us the opportunity to get off at Farringdon and a nice easy route to Paddington.

As we got to the outskirts of London, we learned that the train would finish at London Bridge because there'd been an incident north of London.  At East Croydon we decided getting off and picking up a train heading to Victoria would be a better idea.

It was not - further disruptions were happening.

So we were back on another train to London Bridge. It is a horrible tube station - poor signage, miles of walking from the mainline terminal, bustle and grubbiness.

Jubilee line was chaotic and packed but we gritted our teeth and squeezed ourselves onto the train.

When we got out at Baker Street we were pleased to learn that the switch to Bakerloo was simple and all the crowds melted away.

We arrived at Paddington less frazzled than we might have been and then a timely incoming train to Platform 1 was helpfully badged up ahead of the departure board announcement.  We strolled, found a nice seat and started to relax, arriving at Temple Meads at the same time as usual.

Without much ado, we strolled to the Barley Mow, grabbed a couple of pints of the seasonal pale special (4.2%, perfect temperature and fresh as a daisy) and settled into our corner. I could feel the muscles in my neck and shoulders relaxing.

It wasn't the beer - I'd only had one mouthful.  It was the environment.

Pub is a place where you're being looked after by skilled professionals, providing an integrated product/service and its mission is to make you happy.  After a long week of "being in charge" this being looked after was a proper tonic.

Thank you Barley Mow, thank you wonderful bar staff everywhere. 

Wife's knees...

 When I first met the BBB we drank in the Royal Oak in Tabbard Street in London.

Legendary for its selling of Harveys and anyone who knows and likes pubs in London knows the Royal Oak.  A bit like the Vic in Eastbourne, it's a really traditional pub, and can be a little bit tricksy to find if you don't know it - so it feels like a secret location.

I've not been there for years for the simple reason, we live most of our time in Harveys country.

It comes down to the fact that I like there to be local beers, and those I might not get too see in a pub very often.

Drinking Harveys in a Bristol pub when I wanted to see how it travels just didn't feel special to me (it had travelled well, as it happens).

The same feeling comes over me with Timothy Taylor beers now - drinking them in Yorkshire felt proper.  In the Crown it's a beer of last resort no matter how well it's kept.

So when we went to Wolf a couple of weeks ago, it was with some surprise we saw that Little Martha had a showing or two on the board. This week they're back but in company with New Bristol and Good Chemistry. 

On the one hand, I love that these breweries I like, and have seen grow are getting onto bars 200 miles away so other people can enjoy them.  On the other, we're heading to Bristol next week and these are beers that normally travel no miles to the location we drink them in. 

Obviously, I drank a Martha beer for the sheer hell of it - and it was very good (it was one of their lagers) but truth be told, I prefer drinking it in its home because it grounds me there.

On that note - if you go to Lewes at any point the John Harvey Tavern is the right place to get beer.  All the pubs in town sell Harveys, but the John Harvey has something extra that no one else can really replicate.  I seem to remember, from a business event I had to attend in Lewes that the lunchtime sandwiches are cracking too! 

  

 

Out of Practice

 We're very much creatures of habit.

We're lucky enough that having been able to effectively retire but still be useful we tend to still have "work days" of fixing computers, fundraising and helping kids and adults learn useful and fun digital skills.  But we generally get to decide most of the what, when and how of that and still, at the end of the working day, feel like we've earned our pint (well, quite often, two-thirds).

Weekends, then tend to be spend in and around home doing chores, or following home-based project and maybe watching sport.

This Sunday, however, we threw all of that into the air.  We decided to go and watch the Beachy Head Penny Farthing Hill Climb - where 40 Penny Farthing riders start on the seafront and pedal furiously up around 160m of climb on a zigzag road in a time trial (this means cycling on your own against the clock).

There are buses on a Sunday which drop passengers at Beachy Head so, rather than slog up 2 miles of hill ourselves, we thought we'd use that.  Sadly, we were informed as we got on the bus that the buses were detouring because of the race.  Instead, we had to walk a couple of miles from the inland stop to get to the most interesting part of the race:  the top of the main incline.  We feared we'd miss all the riders but we arrived with about a dozen or so to come. 

It was a blast! It would have been a s shame after the fun of the race not to have a bit more of a wander around the downland and we were glad we did:  we were treated to kestrels, swallows, butterflies and crickets.  Sadly the single pub of the area is rubbish for beer (it was too early, anyhow) so we jumped on another bus down to the seafront and had a little stroll, grabbed some lunch and then, around 2pm decided that The Victoria Hotel might make a good place to get some relief from the sun and to recover a little.

Since we used to drink here regularly, the management has changed. It's still a Harveys tied house, though.  So I had a pint of best and himself said he'd try the "Light".  I got the better of the deal - my Best was in perfect condition and reminded me of why it's such a revered pint.  His "light" was a little tired and lacked a spark.

We relaxed in the pub in the same seats as the first time the BBB took me there around 15 years ago:  other than the landlord, nothing has changed.  The BBB has been drinking here for nearly 50 years - most of the interior has remained static, he confirmed.

We shared a pint of Tom Paine which was excellent and then strolled back to the pier to get our bus home.

Next morning it turns out that, walking a lot of miles,  neither of us slept particularly well - it seems that the break in routine may have been to blame. I'm not sure if this means we should break old habits less, or more, to be honest.  Still, it was nice to have a good excuse to go to the Vic again.

Since then we've been to The Crown  and had Three Legs Mosaic and Kent Citra and we've popped into Beerarama for Steady Rolling Man, some Azvex strong stuff and a beer from a Swiss brewer who's beers are hard to come by (I forget the brewery name).

Today, the weather promises to be hideously hot again and we haven't had any rain for a couple of months (this is not tolerable for a girl from the West Country) so we've restocked the fridge beer, we'll cower in the house for worst of the heat and then we'll sit in the back garden later with Pollys and Arbor cans, maybe treat the tomatoes to a couple of cans of water, and see if "hedgehog-cam" picked up any more footage last night after we replenished supplies.   

Small things... 

 

When it works...

 I had to work on Monday doing "grown up" things (ie:  peopling and being in charge) - this is always guaranteed to make it a day of hard work.

Himself was in the old base doing some "getting things sorted for the final move" work but he appeared in the new place around 4.15pm - he was hot and also knackered.

It being Monday, much of Eastbourne is closed, even in the tourist season.

We considered our options...(no Wolf, no Beerarama, no Ninkasi  and three nearby pubs don't really have beer we want) it came down to The Frontier (good keg beer, odd/quiet atmosphere), Bibendum (aka The New Inn - probably decent beer but always feels like a corridor leading to a restaurant so lacks cosy corners), and going home.

There was a slight grudgingness to the decision to go to Frontier in the end, but at least it took us on the route of the last option.

It was about one third full when we arrived with a pleasant thrum of conversation: promising.  We saw a chap at the bar we see frequently in all the decent beer places in town "only place open on a Monday?" the BBB said, the guy smiled and nodded.

We bought two Crafty Devil beers (they lean towards the Welsh here), happy they serve in 2/3rds.  "Lush" (4.4%) and something else which was 4.0% - both very nice.

We found an airy corner to sit in and realised we'd found the occasion that this venue works for us.

Second up was Deya Steady Rolling Man (no introduction needed) and Pollys "Pine" - He's not keen on Pine but I like the astringency of it.

There was a shift in the people in the venue - from a fairly mixed crowd of cafe-like patrons  to several blokes who, it seems, have a casual backgammon club. It was great!

So we stayed for another - he switched to a Charrington Cider (from a bag) and because of the keg of Pine was playing up I switch to a Polly's can - unsurprisingly lovely.

So...has my mind changed about the vibe in this venue?  Well no, not really, I don't imagine it will always fit the bill but as I have to be Grownupping for the next few Mondays and the weather is warm, I think it should do nicely.