OK - I'll start with the last one first and it relates to beer in no way whatsoever, unless you think my frustration might have been heightened by my urge to get back to Hitchin for a nice pint...
...I'd spent just the day in Eastbourne for an hour's light housework, a community project meeting and a catch up with fellow community-project-eer. I caught the Victoria train from Eastbourne at 5pm and it was a reasonable enough journey...right up until the point we alighted at London Victoria.
All the badly behaved, twattish, irritating people in the entire universe had congregated there solely for the purpose of making the next stage of the journey a complete nightmare.
From the usual thoughtless trolley-bag draggers who seem to have no sense of how their swerving affects people around them walking in a straight line...to the people who know the ticket barrier is coming up but don't even think about getting their ticket out UNTIL THEY ARE BLOCKING ONE OR MORE BARRIERS to those that stop abruptly at the top or bottom of escalators and stairs to pick up/put down their wretched trolley bag thereby completely disrupting everyone behind them...
But worse than that yesterday were people like the cyclist who both queue-jumped the manual ticket barrier queue and proceeded to try and elbow me out of the way in order to get in front of me and everyone else...well, I say elbow...I mean handlebar (I mean it doesn't help that there are days when the Victoria Mainline station ticket barriers just don't seem to work properly at all and all you can hear is the beep of rejected tickets, and the ensuing colourful language as everyone joins the manual barrer...AGAIN). And then there was the chap who fairly loudly announced to his companion that the best bit of the underground platform to stand on is the bit exactly where the doors to the train are so you can be first on (f*ck those trying to get off, eh?). Yes, it's just possible I derived far too much pleasure from ensuring that neither of these idiot people benefited from their twattish behaviour...but that's not the point, is it?
Oddly, you don't seem to get this level of bad behaviour at Kings Cross... demographics or station design, I wonder.
Anyway...once I finally got to Kings Cross (narrowly missing one train) I had a pleasant journey back to Hitchin and we decided we'd give the Radcliffe another try. The last time we walked in there there had only been stout on the bar, which is a pretty bad show for a GBG pub - I tweeted them to berate them later and got a bit of a token apology with an inferred "it's not our fault, we don't sell enough beer". So we weren't confident we wouldn't have a repeat performance. Thankfully, two Buntingford beers were on (Britannia and Twitchell) and were in good condition. The food, as ever, was lovely and it made a good end to the day.
Ooh - another good was a surprise trip to the Highlander for a pint last Sunday to catch the tail end of what seems to have been a jolly good beer festival. Well done, chaps.
Lastly, the bad. It's not a surprising bad, but a bad nonetheless. Last weekend we went into the Bricklayers and had a couple of pints. I had been eyeing up the Charles Wells "DNA" beer for a couple of visits and finally though that I should stop being sniffy about it and actually try it. Yuk :-(
Ah well, at least I can now be rude about it from a position of knowledge, rather than prejudice...every cloud, eh?
Thursday, 22 May 2014
Monday, 28 April 2014
Long Time no Write
I've been frantically busy for the last couple of weeks on a community project that is properly coming to fruition now. Also, S & I decided it was high time to sort out some Eastbourne domestic bits and pieces so we've spent a jolly couple of days in and around the house getting things done.
I've not sworn off the stuff of malt and hops, though and the time has been spent in a variety of pubs - including one new one and I can report (in no particular order) that:
- The Half Moon in Hitchin can shift a LOT of beer in a festival. Howard put on about 60 beers (so that's 60 x 9 gallons = 540 x 8 pints) starting last Thursday and by the time we were able to pop in yesterday afternoon...there was pretty much nothing left. Respect, Howard and Wendy.
Oddly the slight tinge of disappointment that there was little unusual beer to choose from (the normal bar had a full range, of course) was balanced with the delight that the pub was nice and quiet and allowed us a couple of games of Battleline over our beers.
- The Bricklayers (also in Hitchin) continues to have so much potential...but misses it almost every time. We could only manage one pint in there yesterday because the beer simply wasn't very good. Can't tell if it was tired or just not very good but it was a struggle to finish before we sloped off home.
- You can tire of Harveys so it's good to be able to rely on a couple of different pubs in Eastbourne to supply something different to try. It was nice to stumble on a joint Eagle/Dewdrop beer festival and try a few new beers. Nicely done, folks.
- I've now managed to try some Burning Sky beer from the cask - two in fact. Both excellent. Both unsurprisingly reminiscent of Dark Star brews. More strength to your elbow, sir.
- Someone in Eastbourne is talking about wanting to start a food and drink festival...as I chip into the conversation, all I can think about is how to shoehorn beer in as often as possible. Ah well.
- I think my very favourite Friday evening in Eastbourne is an early evening trip to the Eastern Wok - quite possibly the best restaurant in Eastbourne - followed by a couple of pints almost-next-door in The Crown. It means we eat well (which we're quite bad at doing sometimes), then we enjoy really good beer (not much choice but what there is often drawn by gravity) and only have to walk for about 8 minutes in order to reach bed.
Simple things for a simple woman.
I've not sworn off the stuff of malt and hops, though and the time has been spent in a variety of pubs - including one new one and I can report (in no particular order) that:
- The Half Moon in Hitchin can shift a LOT of beer in a festival. Howard put on about 60 beers (so that's 60 x 9 gallons = 540 x 8 pints) starting last Thursday and by the time we were able to pop in yesterday afternoon...there was pretty much nothing left. Respect, Howard and Wendy.
Oddly the slight tinge of disappointment that there was little unusual beer to choose from (the normal bar had a full range, of course) was balanced with the delight that the pub was nice and quiet and allowed us a couple of games of Battleline over our beers.
- The Bricklayers (also in Hitchin) continues to have so much potential...but misses it almost every time. We could only manage one pint in there yesterday because the beer simply wasn't very good. Can't tell if it was tired or just not very good but it was a struggle to finish before we sloped off home.
- You can tire of Harveys so it's good to be able to rely on a couple of different pubs in Eastbourne to supply something different to try. It was nice to stumble on a joint Eagle/Dewdrop beer festival and try a few new beers. Nicely done, folks.
- I've now managed to try some Burning Sky beer from the cask - two in fact. Both excellent. Both unsurprisingly reminiscent of Dark Star brews. More strength to your elbow, sir.
- Someone in Eastbourne is talking about wanting to start a food and drink festival...as I chip into the conversation, all I can think about is how to shoehorn beer in as often as possible. Ah well.
- I think my very favourite Friday evening in Eastbourne is an early evening trip to the Eastern Wok - quite possibly the best restaurant in Eastbourne - followed by a couple of pints almost-next-door in The Crown. It means we eat well (which we're quite bad at doing sometimes), then we enjoy really good beer (not much choice but what there is often drawn by gravity) and only have to walk for about 8 minutes in order to reach bed.
Simple things for a simple woman.
Tuesday, 15 April 2014
Place in the Playoffs
Now, it's that time of year when hopeful football fans everywhere are chewing their nails watching to see whether they make it into or can keep a foot in the playoff places.
Ah, but you see there are other playoffs that you're not even aware of. Those for pubs worth frequenting. Some are always destined to stay mid-table, and some always languish at the bottom and those who float to the top...then there are those that tantalise with their straying into playoff places, only to demonstrate disappointing form when they need to shine.
OK, enough with the metaphors (or allegories, or whatever).
The Bricklayers Arms in Hitchin. Hugely improved since its take-over by Banks and Taylor but has a tendancy to serve somewhat uninteresting beers.
It's possible they try and keep too many beers on the bar to sell quickly enough and so you get the odd tired pint. I also have to say that the service can be a tiny bit lack-lustre and inconsistent.
However, all this went by the wayside on Sunday. We knew the Half Moon would be heaving and we weren't in the mood for a noisy crowd. We'd already discovered, a few days earlier, that Bricklayers has a rather decent garden, the top part of which catches the evening sun very nicely.
And so it was that I had a pint of Bunny Hop Blond from the Peerless Brewery. I knew it was pretty fresh since it wasn't on when we went in there on Friday. It was very nice indeed. Nothing unusual, no unsubtle flavours and not particularly distinctive - but really well balanced and well kept. So good that I didn't feel the need to try anything else and had 3 (yes, that's right, three!) pints.
S opted for two pints from the Black Country Brewery (Pig on the Wall and Fireside Bitter) and declared that this brewery should be "watched out for". This time he was a little disappointed by the pint of B&T Dragon Slayer - we suspect the cask had been open for a few days.
So, I do believe that The Bricklayers is showing potential for promotion (some three pint days aren't a good indicator of long-term form) so we'll be making more trips there to see.
Ah, but you see there are other playoffs that you're not even aware of. Those for pubs worth frequenting. Some are always destined to stay mid-table, and some always languish at the bottom and those who float to the top...then there are those that tantalise with their straying into playoff places, only to demonstrate disappointing form when they need to shine.
OK, enough with the metaphors (or allegories, or whatever).
The Bricklayers Arms in Hitchin. Hugely improved since its take-over by Banks and Taylor but has a tendancy to serve somewhat uninteresting beers.
It's possible they try and keep too many beers on the bar to sell quickly enough and so you get the odd tired pint. I also have to say that the service can be a tiny bit lack-lustre and inconsistent.
However, all this went by the wayside on Sunday. We knew the Half Moon would be heaving and we weren't in the mood for a noisy crowd. We'd already discovered, a few days earlier, that Bricklayers has a rather decent garden, the top part of which catches the evening sun very nicely.
And so it was that I had a pint of Bunny Hop Blond from the Peerless Brewery. I knew it was pretty fresh since it wasn't on when we went in there on Friday. It was very nice indeed. Nothing unusual, no unsubtle flavours and not particularly distinctive - but really well balanced and well kept. So good that I didn't feel the need to try anything else and had 3 (yes, that's right, three!) pints.
S opted for two pints from the Black Country Brewery (Pig on the Wall and Fireside Bitter) and declared that this brewery should be "watched out for". This time he was a little disappointed by the pint of B&T Dragon Slayer - we suspect the cask had been open for a few days.
So, I do believe that The Bricklayers is showing potential for promotion (some three pint days aren't a good indicator of long-term form) so we'll be making more trips there to see.
Friday, 11 April 2014
That'll Give You Something to Blog About...
...he said.
Trust me, if I wasn't blogging about beer, I'd be blogging about what has pissed me off with humanity (or at least that section of it that annoyed me on the train/tube/bus/shop/pub/out in the street...) today or yesterday.
Anyhow - to what was he referring...? Actually, I don't really remember but I know we were in the Half Moon. Conceivably, it was at my initial disappointment about the flavour of Ringwood Fortyniner which has been a favoured "beer of my youth" (where youth = 20's to 30's).
Howard always has some tied beers (Youngs, Adnams) some old favourites (Crouch Vale, Tring, Oakham) and almost always the odd special. A couple of weeks ago, Ringwood Fortyniner made an appearance.
I remember drinking it fairly regularly when I lived near a real ale off licence in Bedminster (it was called the Brown Jug) and I think we had a polypin of it one Christmas.
More recently, about 5 years ago, I had a holiday with "the boys" in the Isle of Wight and although there weren't any really good pubs in the village, there were a couple of not bad ones, and one of them put Fortyniner on as a guest one afternoon. I remember sitting in the sunny beer garden and introducing C to its delights as we drank rather too much for an afternoon. The same evening, all six of us went to the pub and managed to wipe them out of the remainder.
So, back to the Half Moon...I think I'd had a pint of Oakham Citra and decided that I'd have a half of Fortyniner. As I took the first swig, S noticed my face took on a disappointed look. He tried my beer. "Yeah - that's how beer used to taste" saith he. It's a good pint but things have changed...our tastes have changed.
Maybe in Hampshire, and if I hadn't just had some Citra, it would still have been as great as ever. But am I so swayed to way of the "hopped to fuck and back" beer that something a little more subtle disappoints me?
I do hope not.
Trust me, if I wasn't blogging about beer, I'd be blogging about what has pissed me off with humanity (or at least that section of it that annoyed me on the train/tube/bus/shop/pub/out in the street...) today or yesterday.
Anyhow - to what was he referring...? Actually, I don't really remember but I know we were in the Half Moon. Conceivably, it was at my initial disappointment about the flavour of Ringwood Fortyniner which has been a favoured "beer of my youth" (where youth = 20's to 30's).
Howard always has some tied beers (Youngs, Adnams) some old favourites (Crouch Vale, Tring, Oakham) and almost always the odd special. A couple of weeks ago, Ringwood Fortyniner made an appearance.
I remember drinking it fairly regularly when I lived near a real ale off licence in Bedminster (it was called the Brown Jug) and I think we had a polypin of it one Christmas.
More recently, about 5 years ago, I had a holiday with "the boys" in the Isle of Wight and although there weren't any really good pubs in the village, there were a couple of not bad ones, and one of them put Fortyniner on as a guest one afternoon. I remember sitting in the sunny beer garden and introducing C to its delights as we drank rather too much for an afternoon. The same evening, all six of us went to the pub and managed to wipe them out of the remainder.
So, back to the Half Moon...I think I'd had a pint of Oakham Citra and decided that I'd have a half of Fortyniner. As I took the first swig, S noticed my face took on a disappointed look. He tried my beer. "Yeah - that's how beer used to taste" saith he. It's a good pint but things have changed...our tastes have changed.
Maybe in Hampshire, and if I hadn't just had some Citra, it would still have been as great as ever. But am I so swayed to way of the "hopped to fuck and back" beer that something a little more subtle disappoints me?
I do hope not.
Wednesday, 26 March 2014
Bottled Oakham Citra
In a rare excursion into lone drinking of bottled beer I had one of these last night.
Lovely stuff.
Nuff said.
Lovely stuff.
Nuff said.
Monday, 24 March 2014
Moon Over Water
Orwell's Moon Over Water is a fictional perfect pub.
S&I have been musing a lot over the pub we'd have if we owned one. Now, we're not actually thinking of throwing in our current lives and buying a pub. We both know the reality of the life of a publican: busy, relatively little reward, hostage to government policies on alchol control and, all too often, dependence or abuse of your product.
We've been thinking about it because of the three pubs we have been involved in try to save from being turned into something else. If the campaigns on any of them were to be successful, we'd want to be in the forefront of the people putting their money where their mouth is.
Whilst understanding that the context of the pub is important in deciding how you run it, we'd want it to be a place that we really wanted to go to.
Our Moon Over Water would, obviously, serve Real Ale. Now, one reason I would never want to be involved in a pub with a beer tie is that I'm learning how stupidly expensive and restrictive that is. When your beer supplier can not only restrict what you sell to a list of things that you have to buy from them and/or charge you over the odd for it, then the ability to give your punters something new or exciting pretty much evaporates. As a result, the consumer's price for their beer goes up. A lot. that means you're either pricing some customers out entirely or the rest of your offering has to be even better to make up for the expensive beer. What a stupid choice that is when we have a so-say free market economy.
So, I'm talking about us having a freehold pub, with no beer tie, thanks very much.
Yesterday we mused over lagers (the big brands you see on every bar) and nitro-stout. Is it essential to have Fosters, Peroni, Heineken and Kronenburg 1664? (or any similar range?). First off, we both said "no" because they all taste the same, right? And lager drinkers will actually drink any of them. Then we had to review that because we could both put those lagers in the order in which we would actually drink them so probably lager drinkers can tell them apart...so, OK, maybe a choice of a couple of lagers. But I can't help wonder if we could put in craft lagers alongside the mass produced stuff and price it more competitively just to see whether there's price sensitivity to it. Giving people the option to try something more lovingly made.
A good wine list and a mix of spirits are a must - and since they're a lot less time-restricted for sale (unlike real ale) there's not really any excuse for not buying good quality.
Ah, then soft drinks. Not important, you say? Oh they so are. If you don't drink, chances are the pub may not be your favourite venue - but since all your friends drink you'll end up in the pub sometimes. What you need is to be able to choose from some pleasant, grown up, soft drinks or beverages. So - not just manky coke served from a gun...but some decent high quality soft drinks that you don't charge the earth for. Yeah, maybe gun-dispense soda drinks are available too since it should make them very cheap, and useful from time to time.
Now food. First, it has to be available all day (even if not all the menu is). There are strange people like S and I who are about half-a-mealtime out from the rest of the world. It's no good if you stop serving lunch at 2pm and don't serve dinner until 6.30pm. We quite often need to eat at around 3 or 4pm. food doesn't have to be stupidly fancy to be attractive. A good burger (beef, lamb, chicken and veggie) with a nice salad (dressing optional) and chips makes a fine meal. Do a short menu, with style options and do it well. Oh - and not all children only eat McNuggets - so let's have proper meals for children whilst we're at it.
And in a neat segue...children in the pub.
Hmmmm
As an adult drinker - I'd generally rather not be surrounded by other people's children. It's absolutely fine when they're quiet, part of the adult group and they're not generally heard above the general chatter...sadly you can't legislate for that and so I think our pub would need a place for just adults to be.
And while we're at it - I don't hate dogs at all...but I don't want one sniffing my crotch/licking my hands/barking at another dog/eyeing my lunch whilst I'm out for a pleasant drink, thanks. Personally, I think if you can't keep your dog (or child) under control you shouldn't have one...and you certainly shouldn't have one in the pub.
So there would also need to be some four-leg/two-leg segregation.
Actually, thinking about it - rather than pushing the people we don't want out of the main bar...maybe we have a special bar (grumpy old man's room, or similar) for the rest of us, instead.
I think it's all doable...question is would anyone want to come to our pub once we've done it...
S&I have been musing a lot over the pub we'd have if we owned one. Now, we're not actually thinking of throwing in our current lives and buying a pub. We both know the reality of the life of a publican: busy, relatively little reward, hostage to government policies on alchol control and, all too often, dependence or abuse of your product.
We've been thinking about it because of the three pubs we have been involved in try to save from being turned into something else. If the campaigns on any of them were to be successful, we'd want to be in the forefront of the people putting their money where their mouth is.
Whilst understanding that the context of the pub is important in deciding how you run it, we'd want it to be a place that we really wanted to go to.
Our Moon Over Water would, obviously, serve Real Ale. Now, one reason I would never want to be involved in a pub with a beer tie is that I'm learning how stupidly expensive and restrictive that is. When your beer supplier can not only restrict what you sell to a list of things that you have to buy from them and/or charge you over the odd for it, then the ability to give your punters something new or exciting pretty much evaporates. As a result, the consumer's price for their beer goes up. A lot. that means you're either pricing some customers out entirely or the rest of your offering has to be even better to make up for the expensive beer. What a stupid choice that is when we have a so-say free market economy.
So, I'm talking about us having a freehold pub, with no beer tie, thanks very much.
Yesterday we mused over lagers (the big brands you see on every bar) and nitro-stout. Is it essential to have Fosters, Peroni, Heineken and Kronenburg 1664? (or any similar range?). First off, we both said "no" because they all taste the same, right? And lager drinkers will actually drink any of them. Then we had to review that because we could both put those lagers in the order in which we would actually drink them so probably lager drinkers can tell them apart...so, OK, maybe a choice of a couple of lagers. But I can't help wonder if we could put in craft lagers alongside the mass produced stuff and price it more competitively just to see whether there's price sensitivity to it. Giving people the option to try something more lovingly made.
A good wine list and a mix of spirits are a must - and since they're a lot less time-restricted for sale (unlike real ale) there's not really any excuse for not buying good quality.
Ah, then soft drinks. Not important, you say? Oh they so are. If you don't drink, chances are the pub may not be your favourite venue - but since all your friends drink you'll end up in the pub sometimes. What you need is to be able to choose from some pleasant, grown up, soft drinks or beverages. So - not just manky coke served from a gun...but some decent high quality soft drinks that you don't charge the earth for. Yeah, maybe gun-dispense soda drinks are available too since it should make them very cheap, and useful from time to time.
Now food. First, it has to be available all day (even if not all the menu is). There are strange people like S and I who are about half-a-mealtime out from the rest of the world. It's no good if you stop serving lunch at 2pm and don't serve dinner until 6.30pm. We quite often need to eat at around 3 or 4pm. food doesn't have to be stupidly fancy to be attractive. A good burger (beef, lamb, chicken and veggie) with a nice salad (dressing optional) and chips makes a fine meal. Do a short menu, with style options and do it well. Oh - and not all children only eat McNuggets - so let's have proper meals for children whilst we're at it.
And in a neat segue...children in the pub.
Hmmmm
As an adult drinker - I'd generally rather not be surrounded by other people's children. It's absolutely fine when they're quiet, part of the adult group and they're not generally heard above the general chatter...sadly you can't legislate for that and so I think our pub would need a place for just adults to be.
And while we're at it - I don't hate dogs at all...but I don't want one sniffing my crotch/licking my hands/barking at another dog/eyeing my lunch whilst I'm out for a pleasant drink, thanks. Personally, I think if you can't keep your dog (or child) under control you shouldn't have one...and you certainly shouldn't have one in the pub.
So there would also need to be some four-leg/two-leg segregation.
Actually, thinking about it - rather than pushing the people we don't want out of the main bar...maybe we have a special bar (grumpy old man's room, or similar) for the rest of us, instead.
I think it's all doable...question is would anyone want to come to our pub once we've done it...
Friday, 21 March 2014
Sectarianism
I had an odd experience today.
I met a pal for a lunchtime worky kinda meeting in a pub in town. The Dolphin is a lovely place - nice lunch, a decent range of beer and friendly staff.
Today I particularly appreciated the ease with which I could swap chips and slaw for a salad with no dressing to go with my burger.
We both know the landlady pretty well so it wasn't surprising that she stopped by for a chat.
We got talking about keg vs cask (in a craft beer context) and she looked apologetic for a moment and said "ah, you're a CAMRA member, aren't you..." and then shuffled a bit uncomfortably as if I might suddenly disapprove of the pub because they were thinking about maybe holding an event that would serve some keg craft beer.
Or, worse, that I'd call the CAMRA police and have them banished from the GBG.
That I don't like keg beer, as a rule, is a matter of personal choice. I generally find it too cold, too fizzy and lacking the subtlety that a really good cask beer can have. My looking disappointed when she talked about the keg beer was that it would be an event I probably wouldn't rush to attend...rather a look of disapproval.
I would hope that the CAMpaign for Real Ale was more about being for real ale, and less against all other forms of beer...isn't it?
Real Ale is served from a cask but not all Good Beer is Real Ale, surely.
I applaud anyone's effort to produce a lovingly created product in the hope that people will enjoy it.
I'm also a CAMRA member but please don't think that makes me hate everything that isn't cask beer.
I met a pal for a lunchtime worky kinda meeting in a pub in town. The Dolphin is a lovely place - nice lunch, a decent range of beer and friendly staff.
Today I particularly appreciated the ease with which I could swap chips and slaw for a salad with no dressing to go with my burger.
We both know the landlady pretty well so it wasn't surprising that she stopped by for a chat.
We got talking about keg vs cask (in a craft beer context) and she looked apologetic for a moment and said "ah, you're a CAMRA member, aren't you..." and then shuffled a bit uncomfortably as if I might suddenly disapprove of the pub because they were thinking about maybe holding an event that would serve some keg craft beer.
Or, worse, that I'd call the CAMRA police and have them banished from the GBG.
That I don't like keg beer, as a rule, is a matter of personal choice. I generally find it too cold, too fizzy and lacking the subtlety that a really good cask beer can have. My looking disappointed when she talked about the keg beer was that it would be an event I probably wouldn't rush to attend...rather a look of disapproval.
I would hope that the CAMpaign for Real Ale was more about being for real ale, and less against all other forms of beer...isn't it?
Real Ale is served from a cask but not all Good Beer is Real Ale, surely.
I applaud anyone's effort to produce a lovingly created product in the hope that people will enjoy it.
I'm also a CAMRA member but please don't think that makes me hate everything that isn't cask beer.
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