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. 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 season 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 it's 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 its 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 was a shame after the fun of the race not to have a bit more of a wander around the downland and 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. 

Beer on the Back Step

 Well, because we're older now, more like "just inside the bi-fold doors" but you get the gist.

The BBB decided to go into work to get some bits done - I manned the fort for the various "first day back" deliveries of groceries, beer (x2) and wine.

By the time he was planning to come back, I'd checked to see if The Crown had a lovely new cask of something on - but it was Scaramanga, by Gun - perfectly nice but not something to travel for.

Instead we cracked some of the beers that had arrived earlier the in the day and sat and relaxed on the side of the house that's cooler in the afternoon.

Even though the day wasn't particularly busy or stressful, it's still a proper pause time and that's all to the good.  Even so, the back garden got watered and we marvelled at the fact we'd managed to keep plants alive in our absence.

Blimey Burning Sky's sour cherry and raspberry beer is awesome - and I'm really not a sour/gueze/farmhouse/bret fan... 

 

From the Source

 Home-beer buying has come a long way over the 40 years I've been doing it (oof, that's a long time...).

Quality has always been part of it since my first introduction to the stuff.  So there's never been John Smiths Smooth, or Ruddles County.

But availability was always a bit of thing since the right place to drink beer is a pub, and the right dispense-method is cask.  Now, obviously, that's no longer true - at least for me, but it has to be said cask is usually my chosen first beer, if there's a good one on hand.

We used to get weekend 4-pint fills from the Brown Jug in the Chessels (Bedminster) and a polypin at Christmas.

When they closed it might be a couple of bottles of Sam Smiths Old Brewery Bitter from the independent off license around the corner but there was rarely anything interesting in the local supermarket.

Then we started getting home-delivered groceries (driving to a supermarket has never really been a thing in my life) there were a few half-decent bottles (Waggledance, London Pride, 6X..) but even then beer for home consumption didn't really feature in a major way.

When we moved to the place 5 mins walk from Bath Ales' first pub (Hare on the Hill) - beer was mainly drunk in there with the odd 4-pint takeout and (yes) polypins at Christmas.

When the BBB arrived in my life beer availability had improved so grocery deliveries might contain a few bottles from a good brewery (not usually local, though) but Bristol Beer Factory arrived around the same time (along with Arbor and Moor).

No 4 pint takeouts then, but still the occasional polypin to take on holiday or whatever. Getting the beer from BBF was a bit of labour of Hercules since they were always really keen, and very pleased to see you but no matter what you'd ordered, or how much notice you'd given them - it wouldn't be ready and there was a confused scrabble (did you want it bright or with bottoms...I'll just fill one now for you...)

When we moved to Eastbourne we would get the occasional beer subscription box which were very much a mixed bag, to be honest.  Supermarket deliveries were better, with a wider range but it wasn't really the same. Then came the pandemic.

Looking online to buy beer was time-consuming and often didn't yield satisfactory results.

Thankfully there were enough off-the-shelf e-commerce platforms to ensure that even the least digitally confident brewery could get something going and by the end of the lockdowns we were buying beer directly from the brewery from almost all the Bristol breweries.

It's now standard for me to order a case or two of a mix of cans from any brewery I come across and beer is almost always in the fridge.  We travelled back from Bristol to Eastbourne yesterday (again slightly earlier to dodge the worst of the next heatwave) but before I left I'd ordered a couple of cases from Arbor (permanent fixture on the bar in the fridge) and one from Burning Sky - this latter because I want some more "Bubble" before it all goes.  I also included their delicious cherry/raspberry gueze/farmhouse beer because, again, it may not happen again and it would be a crime to miss it.

The best place to drink beer is still a pint of crisp, fresh cask in a good pub but really good beer from a can, bought from a brewery we know and trust gets a lot closer than it used to.

 

 

 

Right Time, Right Place

 Sometimes things align, don't they?

A really stressful (work) week meant on Thursday we needed to read over some dratted funding stuff in a conducive space and to reward ourselves with a game in the pub.  The BBB is really getting his head around Wingspan and wants to practice.

So we popped to Martha's.

BBB was concerned it would be as busy it was last week (super-hot Thursday) but he needn't have worried.  It was perfectly peopled.

I thought that their quite-strong IPA-type beer had a subtle sourness to it.  I thought it gave it a Belgian air.  The BBB half-agreed but wasn't so sure.  Both of us enjoyed it, I'd be quick to say.

When I took the glass back I remarked to the bar manager (we're still not sure of his name, even though we've known him for years) that I thought the beer was a little bit "bretty?".  

He frowned (thoughtfully) and poured a taste for him.  He agreed it was. We then had a tale of another brewery's accidental Bret beer which the BBB absolutely adores but will almost certainly never be made again.

It was one of those nice exchanges when you realise that, as professional as everyone is in the places we like to drink - there's always a back story, and it's nice to feel a part of the community of it all.

Friday was warm and the dreaded funding bid was finally submitted.  I needed somewhere quiet and reliable (on a Friday this can be quite tricky).  He asked whether Good Chemistry might be open - it was scheduled to be, so we strolled round via the cycle track with its ripe blackberries (seriously, already??).

It was VERY quiet when we went in but we were greeted by the barman with huge enthusiasm.  We chose a couple of beers and sat near the shutter-door.  Every single member of the brewery staff, as they passed by, could have chosen not to make eye contact...but every single one said hello and welcomed us.  It makes a huge difference to a quite venue - they weren't over the top, but just appreciatively friendly.  

We asked about Kokomo Weekend but were told they can't shift it enough via the tap so they tend to stick to lower ABV beers.  Still, the beers we had were lovely.  We had two pints and took the glasses back, the barman thanked us.

I've got something for you here, he said.  He then produced two cans of strong (out of date) beers from the old brewery's incarnation.  Another time when you feel part of this quirky community we sometimes live in.