Paul Bailey's Beer Blog

Frustration at the Bar

2012-02-13T13:09:00.000-08:00

Without wishing to become a bore on the subject I want to continue with the theme of my last post and look further at the options available to non-drinkers in pubs.When reasons such as work restraints, potential adverse reactions with medication or perhaps when one has to drive to the pub, whether as "named driver" or just because there is no other way of getting there, not drinking alcohol in a pub can be a really frustrating experience.

Often when you're in this position Sod's law will apply and not only will the beer selection be something to die for, but the quality of said selection will also be second to none. You can just imagine your friends telling you how good the beers are, and "isn't it a shame you're unable to sample them yourself!". Small matter, we all have our crosses to bear from time to time, and hopefully on another occasion the tables will be reversed and you can get your own back. When you are in this position though the question of "what to drink?" once again arises.

Normally I would have a pint of an average strength beer (say around 4.0%), before switching to something non-alcoholic. This is always a difficult decision as, ever since my mid-teens, when I began to acquire a taste for beer, I've not been a huge fan of soft drinks. Drinks such as lemonade, Colas etc not only just don't do it for me taste-wise, but because they're so packed full of sugar I tend to avoid them for health reasons as well. Colas are even worse than lemonade as they're highly acidic in nature and likely to quite rapidly lead to the rotting of one's teeth. So-called "diet" versions are little better, being packed full of artificial sweeteners and additives, and still with the tooth-decay risk, especially in the case of "Diet Colas". Fruit juices provide a better option, but they once again are full of sugar, albeit in a more natural form. I once drank a pint of pure orange juice and ended up feeling thirstier than when I started!

Often it's down to good old mineral water, but again there's only so much one can drink of this and also bottled water is expensive, particularly in pubs. I appreciate pubs have to make a living, but the mark up on soft-drinks in licensed premises is nothing sort of scandalous and does nothing to encourage non-drinkers to venture along to their local hostelry. For people in my current position, visits to the pub can therefore be not only a frustrating experience, but also an expensive one as well!

What to Drink?

2012-02-09T12:51:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my previous post I have drunk very little beer over the last 10 months. This is hopefully a temporary state of affairs, but during this time I have obviously missed the taste, so to compensate have tried various alcohol free and low alcohol beers. I have to admit none have been particularly enjoyable, but some have still been better than nothing! In the pub trade Becks Blue appears to be the best most widely available alcohol free beer, having pushed the likes of Kaliber and Clausthaler to one side. However, as I haven't been feeling particularly sociable for the best part of a year, visits to the pub have been few and far between, and the majority of the alcohol free and low alcohol beers I've sampled have been consumed at home.

My thoughts on three alcohol free/low alcohol beers are given at the end of this post, but after months of struggling with them I've recently come across an excellent website for the Alcohol Free Shop. Based in Greater Manchester I was surprised to see that the shop stocks 24 different types of alcohol-free beer, including some interesting offerings from Erdinger, Krombacher, Maisels, Schneider, Veltins and most surprising of all Bernard from the Czech Republic. The shop also stocks a wide range of alcohol free wines (I hope they taste better than the one from Sainsbury's my wife and I tried the other weekend!), plus alcohol free ciders.

With the exception of the Bernard beer, which is an amber coloured Czech lager, all the others listed above are pilsner style beers. For ale drinkers there's virtually nothing available (I don't know whether the former Whitbread-brew, White Label is still around, but from memory it was pretty awful). Harveys however, stock two low-alcohol beers in their pubs. Both are produced from regular Harveys beers, before some of the alcohol is removed. John Hop is produced from the company's Best Bitter, whilst their Old Ale is used to produce the dark beer, Bill Brewer. Both have an abv of 1.0%. I haven't tried either in many a long year, but from memory the Bill Brewer was slightly more drinkable than the John Hop.

Before ending I want to stress that the sole reason for my avoiding alcohol has been that whilst I enjoy it at the time, it seems to make my anxiety symptoms worse, particularly the following day. It is difficult to know the reasons for this; they may be purely psychological, or alternatively the alcohol may be interacting with my medication. On the other hand it could just be down to the simple fact that alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, and can enhance any feelings of depression. Whatever the reason. I don't want to turn into some rabid anti-alcohol crusader, and as I start to gradually feel better, and slowly cut back on the medication. I will start to gradually re-introduce my system to some proper beers!

Review Time:

Becks Blue - Probably the widest available alcohol free beer, but in my opinion the worst of the lot. Thin and metallic with a nasty aftertaste to match, this beer to my mind isn't even a distress purchase. In fact when faced with this beer or no beer in a pub I would go for a mineral water instead!

Bavaria Holland 0.0% alc Premium Original. - It has always puzzled me as to why a company in the Netherlands should adopt the name "Bavaria" for its brands, but nevertheless this alcohol; free beer is a huge improvement on the Becks version, and quite drinkable, However, it still lacks that certain something. Most alcohol-free beers can contain up to 0.5% alcohol-by-volume, but Bavaria claim their version is different in that it's specially brewed to contain no alcohol and is a genuine 0.00% beer.

Sainsbury's Low Alcohol Czech Lager. - Brewed at the Staropramen Brewery in Prague which I know is more of a beer factory than a traditional Czech brewery, but this 0.5% low alcohol beer is the best of the bunch, and at least tastes like a lager.

I'm Still Here!

2012-01-22T11:23:00.000-08:00

It's been a month short of a year since I last posted anything on this blog, but a quick look at the stats shows there are still some visitors to these pages. A word or two of explanation as to why nothing has appeared during this time is therefore long overdue.

Back in March 2011, shortly after my last post, I experienced what can only be described as a mental breakdown. Looking back, the situation had been building for several months (or even longer), prior to that, but came to a head whilst on a visit to Cologne, where I was helping to man our company's stand at the International Dental Show. This event takes place every two years, and normally is something I would have looked forward to, especially as the evenings afford the opportunity to enjoy a few Koelsches, in some of the city's unspoilt taverns. This year though was different, I felt really anxious prior to the event and didn't want to go at all. Once there, as well as feelings of extreme anxiety, I started to experience some bizarre physical symptoms, that included fluid retention in my legs, extreme thirst and chronic fatigue.

Convinced I was suffering from something sinister; kidney problems or diabetes sprang to mind, I took full advantage of my E111 card and presented myself at a local hospital. Here I have to take my hat off to the German Health Service, as after just half an hour's wait I was seen by a doctor who, after noticing my swollen lower legs, gave me a thorough check up. This included checking my blood pressure, heart rate and even a full ECG. A blood sample was also taken and I was told to return 24 hours later to obtain the results. (Back home this procedure takes nearly a week!) On my return, the doctor showed me the results, which were entirely normal. After informing me there was nothing physically wrong, he looked me directly in the eye and said the symptoms were almost certainly psychosomatic in nature.

When I returned to the UK my own GP carried out further tests, which confirmed the findings of his German counterpart. I was diagnosed with severe depression and prescribed anti-depressants, primarily to relieve the anxiety symptoms I was experiencing at the time. Despite this I was reluctant to take this type of medication, but after being signed off work for a period of six weeks, did so out of desperation. Had I known then what I know now I would never have taken the tablets, especially as this type of medication (known as SSRI's) alters one's brain chemistry. The medical profession claim that SSRI's are non- addictive, and whilst this may be true physically, one's body still gets used to this chemical poison, making it extremely difficult to wean oneself off them, even when one is starting to feel better. (I have read of people suffering from extremely unpleasant withdrawal symptoms for several weeks when trying to do so.)

The worst thing about depression is one loses interest in virtually everything, and things that once afforded the greatest pleasure no longer matter or seem important. Included amongst this unfortunately, has been my love of beer, and since returning from Cologne I have been virtually teetotal. Whilst the beer did help me relax initially, I found myself waking the next day, or even in the night, feeling more anxious than ever; hence I knocked it on the head (temporarily I hope!).

Over the course of the last last year I've neglected many things. Our once neat garden, whilst not totally overgrown, is looking very sorry for itself. The house is in bad need of decorating, both inside and out, but worst of all though is the way I've neglected friends, my family and myself. Physically, although I lost a lot of weight initially, I've started to put some of it back on through a combination of unhealthy eating and lack of exercise. When I look at how my thigh and calf muscles have wasted away through inactivity I feel a deep sense of shame - these aren't the same legs that walked the Weald Way last year, or the South Downs Way a year previous to that! My upper body looks frail as well, compared to what it was just 12 months or so ago.

Mentally, I've found it extremely difficult to concentrate, and not only has this affected my work, but also more everyday tasks. Sadly I had to give up the German class I was taking, despite making good initial progress with it. In the end I just couldn't concentrate, so despite having shelled out nearly £300 on course fees I had to call it a day, as it became just one more mental stress too many.

My not drinking, visiting pubs or socialising, combined with ongoing difficulties in concentrating, have meant that blogging has been the last thing on my mind. However, as I said at the beginning I felt I owed people a long over-due explanation as to why I stopped. I still try and keep up with developments in the world of beer, even though it's extremely difficult to read about something I formerly enjoyed so much and miss such a lot.

This year though I am determined to get myself better, get my confidence and fitness back and to start living again. I am also determined to wean myself off this horrible medication and get back on the beer!!

Royal Oak, Tunbridge Wells.

2011-03-10T11:54:00.000-08:00

Just recently I've enjoyed a couple of excellent sessions in the Royal Oak in Tunbridge Wells. This friendly local is sited a short distance from the town centre, and is definitely well worth a visit if you are ever in the area. With its dark-panelled walls, comfortable sofas plus a number of alcoves in which to hide away, the Oak is a welcome retreat from the outside world. The pub attracts a largely broad-based clientele and is well-known for its regular functions, including live music evenings and special culinary events.

A couple of Saturdays ago I was part of a group of local West Kent CAMRA members visiting the Royal Oak for its beer festival. We met up with colleagues from Maidstone & Mid-Kent CAMRA who were in town on a pub crawl. We joined them later on their tour, but not before we'd sampled a few of the excellent beers on sale in the Oak. These included 99 Red Baboons from Blue Monkey Brewery, Larkins Porter and Dark Star Six Hop Ale. The latter certainly got my vote, although at 6.5% it definitely wasn't a lunchtime beer!

The other night, the Oak was the venue for our CAMRA committee meeting, and once again there were some interesting beers on offer. I plumped for the Harvey's Old to begin with, especially as it's likely to be the last time we'll see this winter favourite until October. As ever, it proved a fine example of this style of beer, dark and mellow, but still with a fair degree of hopiness. I then moved on to the Larkins Traditional. This 3.4% beer certainly packs in some flavour, and is the ideal lunchtime pint. It is also by far and away the company's best seller; a fact that is probably helped by the majority of pubs supplied by Larkins being rural outlets.

As before it was a Dark Star beer that I finished up on. This time it was the company's Green-Hopped Ale, another 6.5% offering. Like the Six Hop, bitterness was certainly to the fore, but it was definitely a good beer to finish up on.

West Kent CAMRA Pub of the Year Tour 2011

2011-02-22T12:02:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday saw a dozen or so West Kent CAMRA members embarking on a tour of of the six pubs nominated for this year's Pub of the Year award. As in previous years we travelled in a hired mini-bus, complete with designated driver.

First port of call was the Anchor, at Sevenoaks, one of a dying breed of proper town locals. we were given a warm welcome from the irrepressible Barry, who has run the pub for the past 30 years or so. Harveys Best, Sharp's Doom Bar plus Ebony Moon, a new 4.2% seasonal beer from the Tonbridge Brewery, which was only set up last year. As its name suggests, this was a dark coloured beer with plenty of roast malt flavours and a good hop finish at the end.

We then moved on to the Bricklayer's Arms in nearby Chipstead, a tardis-like Harvey's pub over-looking Chipstead Lake. The pub is unusual in that it has casks of Harvey's Best Bitter racked up on the back-bar for gravity dispense. Myself and several others though opted for the Rationale, a new beer brewed at just 2.7% and designed to take advantage of recent tax breaks for low-gravity beers.

At such a low strength it did taste a trifle on the thin side, but still had that distinctive Harvey's taste. However, with a long day's drinking ahead of us, it seemed the sensible option. Most of us opted for lunch at the Bricklayer's as well, although in my case having already enjoyed a bacon sandwich at the Anchor, a roast pork baguette (with chips and salad to accompany), was more than enough!

Our next port of call was the Royal Oak at Crockham Hill, a pub belonging to the nearby Westerham Brewery. Three draught Westerham beers were on sale alongside a range of the brewery's bottled beers. The pub though showed clear divisions of having recently been converted from two bars, and somehow the two halves didn't quite seem to go. Having said that we still received a friendly welcome from the landlady and her staff.

Travelling the relatively short distance down the road to Edenbridge, we came to the next pub on our list, the Old Eden. This comfortable old pub was originally a couple of 15th Century cottages. The landlady did give us a potted history of the pub to read, but I wasn't really paying sufficient attention to remember exactly when the cottages were knocked through to form the present pub. There were some excellent beers on sale, including Whitstable Native and Hepworth's Old. The latter at 4.8% was a fine example of the style, and just the thing on a damp, mid-February afternoon.

Our penultimate port of call was several miles away in Tunbridge Wells. The Royal Oak lies a short distance from the town centre, but it miles away from the hustle and bustle of the shops. The pub has come on in leaps and bounds over recent years, having been given a new lease of life by its current owners. There is a large central serving area, with plenty of tables, chairs and comfortable bench seating all the way round. The pub hosts regular live music sesions and other events. The clientele is mainly young, and perhaps slightly Bohemian, although that is no bad thing in my book. When we called in, Larkins Traditional and Porter were on sale, alongside Royal Tunbridge Wells Sovereign. The latter two were in excellent form.

The Halfway House at Brenchley was the our final stop. For those not in the know, this excellent country alehouse has up to a dozen cask beers on tap, all served by a clever gravity-fed arrangement from a temperature-controlled room. Virtually all the beers are from micro-brewers, and usually include a mild, as well as porter or old ale in winter. A local Kentish cider is normally available as well. If all this wasn't enough, the pub itself is a characterful former coaching inn, that dates back to 1740. There are a series of inter-connecting rooms that lead up to the main bar area, with the aforementioned gravity-served beers.

There was a welcoming log fire burning at the time of our visit, and a good mixed crowd in the main bar. The two beers I sampled, Old Dairy Gold Top and O'Hanlons Port Stout were both excellent, and were a fitting end to a really good day out.

Although I have an inkling as to which pub won Pub of the Year, I am not at liberty to divulge its name; not until the announcement is made official that is.

BCA's Revisited

2011-02-15T11:41:00.000-08:00

I have written in the past, at some length, about Bottle-Conditioned Beers (BCA's) and after my experiences with the Woodforde's range I was sent to sample, and more recently with Beau Porter, from Royal Tunbridge Wells Brewery, have only served to endorse my earlier views. These are that bottle-conditioning is a very hit and miss affair, and that consistency is certainly NOT guaranteed with this process.

Matters came to a head the other night when I poured, or I should say attempted to pour, a glass of Beau Porter, from RTWB. Normally an excellent beer, the bottle I opened was extremely lively. Granted it did not fob all over the place, but despite slow and careful pouring I still only manged to get about a third of a pint in my glass, (the rest was all foam). Interrupting the pouring process of course led to a glass of cloudy beer; not too much of a problem with a dark beer such as porter, but nevertheless the suspended yeast still affected the taste.

For me, this was a good beer spoilt, and quite unnecessarily as well. So far as I am concerned, bottle-conditioning adds nothing to a beer, and runs a strong risk of spoiling it. I have now reached the stage where I actively avoid BCA's, and I think CAMRA has got it very wrong with their persistence in endorsing this style.

Fuller's London Porter

2011-02-11T12:17:00.000-08:00

Just a very short post to let people know that Fuller's London Porter, in my opinion one of the finest examples of the style on the market, is currently on offer at Sainsbury's at £3.00 for two bottles. Why not treat yourself to a few bottles of this excellent beer?

Brakspear's Organic Gold

2011-02-05T11:57:00.000-08:00

Our local Sainsbury's currently has Brakspear's Oxford Gold on offer at two bottles for £3.00. I bought a couple and have to agree with the description on the label, "Craft brewed with a zesty aroma and fruity flavour." Burnished gold in colour, rather than pale gold, the beer has a very satisfying and thirst quenching bitter finish. At 4.6%, and an Organic Beer to boot, this is definitely one to look out for.

I believe that this used to be a bottle-conditioned beer, but this is no longer the case. Readers will probably be aware of my views on BCA's, so I am not complaining; in fact I'm glad of the fact that I can stick the bottle in the fridge for an hour or so and then drink the beer straight away. No having to wait days for the contents to settle following the journey home from the supermarket!

Good Beer Guide 2012 Selection Meeting

2011-01-30T10:43:00.000-08:00

Today our local CAMRA Branch held its selection meeting for the 2012 Good Beer Guide. We had deliberately chosen a pub a little off the beaten track, but one which was still readily accessible by public transport. That was the theory; unfortunately we had reckoned without Network Rail's plans for extensive engineering work this weekend, that would have turned a straight forward half hour rail journey, into an hour and a half bus and train marathon. Fortunately a group of us were able to travel over by car, whilst a few members who lived a bit closer were able to brave the rail-replacement bus service, so in the end we had a reasonable turnout of members.

The pub that was hosting our meeting was the Two Brewers in the picturesque village of Shoreham, to the north of Sevenoaks in the Darenth Valley. There are four pubs in the village, and in the past I always regarded the Two Brewers as the poor relation. How things have changed! When we entered the pub we were pleasantly surprised to see the alterations made by the couple who took over the pub some 15 months or so ago. The red-velvet, padded bench seats were gone, along with the jaded carpet and oppressive decor. Instead we were presented with a pub with a bright, modern contemporary feel, with a warm welcome from the landlord and his staff. In short we were really made to feel at home!

There were three cask beers on offer, Black Sheep Best, St Austell Tribute and Reverend James from Brains. Not stunning beers so far as some beer bloggers are concerned, but still a pretty reasonable selection in my book. Most of us went for the lunch option, prior to the meeting, and my chicken, bacon and leek pie was first class.

The meeting itself didn't kick off until 2pm and got off to a bit of a slow start. As is usually the case though, once the obvious candidates had been chosen there was quite a bit of wrangling over which other pubs should also be included. Eventually, we managed to whittle down the 40 pubs shortlisted to our allotted 22, and some two and a half hours later the meeting drew to a close.

For me though the best part of the day, apart from some good beer and food in the company of friends, was to find that the Two Brewers had been transformed into such a thriving, successful and vibrant pub!

Woodforde's Beer Review Week Pt. 2

2011-01-27T12:50:00.000-08:00

The weather's turned cold again, so what better beer to go for on a frosty January night than a dark Winter Ale. Keeping with my Woodforde's review theme I've selected Norfolk Nog, a former champion beer of Britain. According to the back label the beer is "a smooth, reddish-black, rich and rounded Old Ale with a velvety texture." The label then goes on to say "The beer oozes dark and sweet roast malt flavours including hints of chocolate, treacle and liquorice."

That's enough of what the label says, so what do I think about the beer? Well, there was virtually no head when it was poured, but the beer itself seems reasonably lively. I wouldn't disagree with the brewer's description which probably sums the beer up as well, if not better, than I can. It's certainly been the best of the three beers I've sampled so far but, as with the Wherry, I imagine that this beer would be even better on draught. This aside, bottled Norfolk Nog is still a very good beer and, as I said earlier, is just right for a cold, late January night.

Next up is Admiral's Reserve, a 5.0% dark-amber coloured beer. Like the Nog, it poured with very little head, and taste-wise is rather sweet and malt-accented. Although I managed to pour a clear glass, the beer seems to have a slight yeastiness lurking in the background. I'm afraid this beer is rather too sweet for a Kentish lad like myself, and a touch more hops would certainly have not gone amiss! That aside, if you are someone who enjoys a malt-accented beer, then you would certainly appreciate this one.

So, as with the previous two beers, the first one gets the thumbs up, whilst the second gets the thumbs down from me. This now leaves me with just two Woodforde's beers to sample; Nelson's Revenge and the mighty Headcracker. At 7.0% though, I'll be taking it easy with the latter!

Elephant's Head Hook Green

2011-01-23T10:01:00.000-08:00

On Sunday I took my promised walk out to complete the last of my surveys for the 2012 Good Beer Guide. It always amazes me that surveying has to be done so early in the year, but when you take into account the fact that the Guide is launched in October, in time for the Christmas book trade, then it begins to make sense.

The pub I visited was the Elephant's Head, situated in the tiny hamlet of Hook Green, close to Lamberhurst on the Kent-Sussex border. The pub is virtually impossible to reach using public transport, so the only alternative was to walk there, at least part of the way!

I set off from Tonbridge, in the company of two friends, catching the train as far as Wadhurst. From here we followed the myriad of minor roads and back lanes, through the rolling High Weald landscape of grassy fields and small tracts of woodland. Along the way we passed through the small, isolated settlement of Woods Green, eventually reaching our destination after an hour and a half's walking.

The pub was packed when we arrived, and we were lucky to get a seat, but after our walk we were glad of the chance to take the weight off our feet and enjoy a well-earned pint or two. The Elephant's Head is a Harveys tied pub which dates back to the late 15th Century, although the building has only been a pub since 1768! As befits an old building there are walls of bare sandstone and brick, a wealth of oak beams and a large open fireplace. There is a central serving area, with a modern conservatory to the rear, but we sat in a small alcoved area adjacent to the main entrance.

Harveys Best, Armada and Old Ale were the beers on offer; the Old being particularly good. Unfortunately the same could not be said of the Armada, and one friend ended up having to return his pint. It was promptly replaced with Best Bitter and so, this grip aside, we couldn't really fault the pub. Sunday lunchtime is obviously the busiest time, with the carvery proving extremely popular.

Looking around though we noticed that most of the diners were either drinking wine or soft drinks. The latter is perhaps understandable, given the fact that most of them had arrived at the pub by four-wheeled transport, but where were the beer drinkers? As I mentioned earlier, there were three cask beers on offer, and whilst two of them were fine, one definitely wasn't. When it came to asking the questions for the survey, the staff told us that they sometimes close early on Monday and Tuesday evenings, especially when there are few customers. All this points to a heavy reliance on the food rather than the drink trade, but if that is the price for the survival of rural gems, such as the Elephant's Head, then perhaps that is no bad thing!

Woodforde's Review Week Pt. One

2011-01-22T12:34:00.000-08:00

Well it's time for my first review of some of the Woodforde's beers I've been sent to sample. First up is Sundew, a pale, golden ale, with an abv of 4.1%. It has a pleasant citrus aroma, with an equally pleasant hoppy-citrussy taste. It has a good hoppy finish, which balances the juicy maltiness from the Maris Otter barley used to brew the beer. According to the back label, the beer is named after the Sundew flower that grows locally in the Fens of East Anglia. This would be a good beer to enjoy chilled, on a hot summer's day. Like all the beers I've been sent, Sundew is bottle-conditioned. The yeast sediment was perhaps slightly loose, but I still managed to pour a clear glass of beer.

The second beer is Wherry; an old favourite in cask form. The beer poured with much more of a head than the Sundew, and is quite lively from the bottle-conditioning. It has a slight yeasty nose, perhaps because I didn't quite manage to pour a perfectly clear glass, although the yeastiness is overlaid by a zesty aroma from the hops. The beer itself tastes somewhat grainy, but this is balanced by a citrus-like hopiness. The beer is pale amber in colour, but whilst pleasant enough, has no features that really stand out.

I feel this is because beers of this strength (3.8%), don't really lend themselves to bottle-conditioning. This is not just a criticism of Woodforde's, but something I believe applies to all bottle-conditioned beers. I remain a fan of cask Wherry, but regrettably would not go out of my way to buy the bottled version.

So for the first two beers sampled, one gets the thumbs up, whilst the other perhaps the thumbs down. I look forward to moving up the gravity scale and tackling some of the stronger beers, later in the week.

Update on Lidl's

2011-01-22T05:39:00.000-08:00

Following my recent post about our local branch of Lidl's being prosecuted for selling alcohol to underage drinkers, the case has now been dealt with by local licensing officials. The store has been allowed to keep its Liquor Licence, but on the strict understanding that they operate a "Challenge 25" policy.

The group claim that they already have a "Challenge 21" policy in place, but have been told they must apply the stricter guidelines. Tonbridge will now be the first Lidl's branch to operate "Challenge 25", but the German-owned chain has indicated that they now intend to roll this policy out across all their UK stores. The procedure is already in operation, as my 19 year old son found last night. He was asked to produce ID, which of course he was able to do, whilst paying for his beer at the checkout.

Woodforde's Norfolk Ales

2011-01-20T11:21:00.000-08:00

Today, after two and a bit years of writing this blog, I received my first beers to review, courtesy of Woodforde's. Actually, I think it's their PR Agency I've got to thank, as they're the people who, after reading my blog, contacted me and asked if I'd like to review some of Woodforde's beers.

I must admit I'd almost forgotten about the matter, as it was a couple of months ago when the agency first contacted me, and when the beers didn't turn up in the run up to Christmas, as expected, I thought maybe they'd changed their mind. It was therefore a very pleasant surprise when a case turned up today at my place of work.

There's a total of six different beers to sample and write about, ranging from Wherry at 3.8%, through to Headcracker at 7.0%. In between there's such delights as Sundew, Norfolk Nog and Admiral's Reserve. I don't intend to crack the bottles open straight away, and when I do it will probably be a bottle or two a night. Look out though for my thoughts and observations, regarding these beers over the next few weeks.

It goes without saying, of course, that my reviews will be as objective as possible, and I will not let the fact that the beers arrived foc. influence me in any way.

All Quiet on the Beer Front

2011-01-14T10:56:00.001-08:00

A bit of a quiet time on the beer front at the moment, with not a lot happening. Mind you, January's always a dull month, and often a lean one as well, after the excesses of Christmas. We've got our Good Beer Guide Selection meeting at the end of the month, which promises to be a lively event. I've still got one more potential candidate to inspect; a real gem of a country pub. I don't want to drive there, for obvious reasons, so a friend and I are planning a walk out to it next weekend.

I've still got the beer I brought back with me from Bamberg to drink, plus a bit left over from my Christmas stache, so am unlikely to go thirsty at home! So until I've got anything more exciting to report or comment on, it's bye for now.

Final Musings about Bamberg

2011-01-08T07:23:00.000-08:00

Despite it being the main reason for my visit, I decided to give the beer a bit of a rest during the first half of my second full day in Bamberg. Whilst I hadn't been drinking all that heavily, I was feeling a bit jaded. I don't know whether it was the bitterly cold weather, or a touch of the post-Christmas blues, but whatever the cause I thought a slight break from the booze, combined with a bit of exercise and fresh air, would do me the power of good.

I therefore decided to hike up to the Altenburg Fortress, the impressive former refuge of Bamberg's ruling Prince Bishops. The Altenburg Fortress is situated on the highest of Bamberg's seven hills, and you can read all about my visit, and see some of the photo's, by clicking onto my other blog, Paul's Beer Travels.

It was definitely a worthwhile visit, even if the walk back was a lot easier, and much quicker than the outward journey! I spent the afternoon shopping, including purchasing a mixed case of bottled beers from the famous Schlenkerla Tavern, when I arrived back in Bamberg, before heading back to my hotel. I had some packing, ahead of my departure the following day! Come late afternoon though I was definitely in the mood for a beer or three!

From my hotel, I headed across the Main-Donnau canal via the new bridge that was in the process of being built during our previous visit to the city. I made my way to Spezial, slightly surprised to find the place open as I was given to understand it was closed between Christmas and New Year. It was busy, but I managed to find a seat. This is something I really love about German pubs; the willingness of the locals to make room for newcomers. There is none of the spreading out, coats on benches, "this is my space" type attitudes that are all too common back home. The willingness of people to start chatting to strangers is another thing that really impresses me, and no doubt accounts for why pubs are still so busy and well used in the Federal Republic.

As I sat enjoying my glass of Rauchbier Lager, I was joined at the table by a group of newcomers. I soon got into conversation with one of them who turned out to be a railway worker from one of the surrounding villages. He had called into Spezial for a drop of refreshment whilst his wife went shopping in the city. He spoke no English, but my German was of sufficient standard for us to have a rudimentary conversation. He reckoned that beer was expensive in Bamberg compared to some of the villages, where it could be found for as low as 1.60 Euros a glass!

Later on I decided to give the seasonal Rauchbier Bock a try. It was dark in colour, very tasty and quite moreish, but I resisted the temptation for another. My new found friend's wife and son had arrived, and after they had consumed a quick drink the family departed, but not before the railway worker handed me over a bottle of Rauchbier as a parting gift. This was a really nice gesture and just serves to illustrate my point further about how friendly the local people are in their pubs.

On leaving Spezial I crossed the road to Faessla, another of Bamberg's famous brewery-taps, where again I managed to get a seat despite the large number of people inside. I ordered a Lagerbier to drink, plus a Wiener Schnitzel to eat. The latter seemed to take an awfully long time to arrive, which was very unusual for a German pub where service is normally extremely prompt. I mentioned this to the couple sitting next to me and their reply was that the waitress must have forgotten. They called her over, explained the situation, and a short while later my food appeared. It was worth the wait, and I switched over to the stronger and darker Zwergla.

By this time I was deep in conversation with my new found friends. It turned out they were from Essen, but were holidaying in Bamberg and actually staying at Faessla. After learning about my interest in beer, Olaf recommended the region to the east of Bamberg known as Fraenkische Schweiz (Franconian Switzerland) as a particularly good area for beer and pubs. I promised I would bear it in mind for a future visit to Germany. Before leaving Olaf and his wife treated me to a glass of Schnapps, which again illustrates the friendliness and generosity of the German people.

The following day was time for me to leave Bamberg. After a last look around I lunched at Schlenkerla where, once again, I spent much of the time conversing, in German, with someone who was a regular visitor to the pub. After some soup and a couple of Rauchbiers, it was off to the station for the train back to Nuremberg Airport and my flight home. It had been a good few days seeing Bamberg at a totally different time of year, and it was especially good to have the chance of sampling some of the seasonal beers.

As I've said before, all beer lovers should make a point of visiting this beautifully unspoilt city to experience its delightful and beery charms for themselves!

Lidl's in the Dock

2011-01-08T06:14:00.000-08:00

It looks like our local Lidl's could be in danger of losing its alcohol license, if reports in the local press are true. According to this week's edition of the Kent & Sussex Courier (our local newspaper), the store is charged with two counts of selling alcohol to persons under the age of 18. Now the supermarket's alcohol license is up for review, and could be revoked.

This would be a great shame for many of the town's drinkers, especially those on low incomes, who enjoy picking up the odd bargain from the German company's store. I am often tempted myself by some of the bargains they have on offer from time to time, and it would be a pity if local shoppers are forced to lock elsewhere for their cheap booze.

As is usually the case, the store was caught following test purchases made during "sting " operations carried out by local Trading Standards Officers. No doubt they deliberately picked tall, mature-looking "volunteers" to carry out the test purchases in order to catch staff off-guard and not to arouse suspicion. Whilst no-one would condone under-age drinking, the use of "agent provocateurs" to entrap businesses in this fashion, really needs to be called into question.

Learning the Language!

2011-01-04T13:41:00.000-08:00

Next Monday evening, after a lay-off over the Christmas period, it's back to my evening class where I'm learning German. The class I attend is for Level Four students, which is equivalent to GCSE "O" level. There's a small, mixed bunch of seven of us in the group, ranging from a couple of retired ladies to a young female student from Kazakhstan. In between there's a car-salesman, a middle-manager who's wife is German (he's got a definite advantage!), and of course, me!

I've actually got "O" level German, obtained during my schooldays back in the early 1970's. However, despite this and frequent trips to the Federal Republic where I always do my best to converse in German, I felt an evening course would be a good idea, especially to get some of the grammar sorted out properly.

The course is very good and a lot of fun. It's ably presided over by our tutor, Gabrielle who, whilst German herself, lives locally and is married to an Englishman. It's something to look forward to each week, especially on dark winter Monday evenings.

Of course, my main reason for attending the course is to improve my German language skills, something I feel is important given the fact I take regular holidays in the country. Another way to learn a language though is through books and tapes, or a combination of both. There are also plenty of on-line resources available to help with the process.

German at about.com is particularly useful, and what's more it's free! There are also numerous pay-to-learn sites, most of which offer quite intensive courses, designed to get you up to speed in as quick a time as possible. For further information on one of these, click here!

First Full Day in Bamberg

2011-01-01T11:59:00.000-08:00

Apart from the obvious places, such as Mahrs Braeu and Schlenkerla, I hadn't made any definite plans as to where else to visit during my stay in Bamberg, but as the first full day of my trip dawned cold and bright, a ride out to one of the surrounding villages seemed a good idea. My hotel was literally a stone's throw from the Central Bus Station, so after breakfast I availed myself of an all day ticket and jumped on a bus out to Memmelsdorf.

The latter is a large village, a few kilometres to the east of Bamberg. It is home to two brew-pubs, which of course was the main reason for my visit. I only really had time to visit one pub, so I chose the largest and the one with the widest range of beers. Drei Kronen was a very pleasant, solid-looking, yellow-painted establishment, with a number of rooms leading off from the central entrance hall. I entered the one straight ahead, and although all the tables were laid out for diners, the waitress was quite happy to serve me a beer. I selected the Stoeffla, which although described as a Kellerrauchbier, didn't taste all that smoky to me. It was pleasant enough though, but whilst tempted to stay for another, I needed to get back to Bamberg for my planned luchtime visit to Mahrs Braeu.

Two bus rides therefore saw me alighting in the suburb of Wunderburg, from where it was a short walk along to Mahrs. This excellent brewery tap is a firm favourite with visitors from Britain, and stepping inside it's not difficult to understand why. I made my way to the right hand room, complete with its low beamed ceilings and dark-stained wood panelled walls. There is also a traditional tiled stove, although the latter did not appear to be lit. To top this, the beer is served direct from a barrel perched behind the serving area.

On our previous visit, back in the summer, we had sat out in the small, shady beer garden, only venturing inside to use the toilets, so being able to soak up the traditional atmosphere inside the pub was a real treat. I was joined at my table by two visitors from outside the city. They spoke very little English, but I was able to converse with them in their native tongue without too much difficulty. To drink I enjoyed an Ungespundetes, plus the stronger Heller Bock (6.5%); both were in bottled form. For my lunch I had the local version of Leberkaes, which is called Fleischkaesse, with Spiegel Ei and Kartoffelsalat, and it was my enquiring about this dish that had brought me into conversation with the locals.

Before leaving the brewery I bought a selection of bottles from the brewery office and then caught the bus back into town. Later that evening I made the stiff climb up the Kaulberg to Greifenklau, which is the smallest of Bamberg's breweries.Greifenklau was the nearest brewery tap to the apartment we stayed in last summer, and on several occasions we ate there, in the shady beer garden at the rear of the pub. Unfortunately the room I chose this time turned out to be the wrong one. There were two quite noisy family groups inside, both of whom had fractious and badly behaved children with them. This was something new to me, as most German children I'd come across in the past seemed to exhibit exemplary behaviour. I therefore decided just to have the one drink there and eat somewhere else. The unfiltered Zwicklbier was very tasty though, so it was a shame to have to leave.

I made my way back down into the Altstadt and found my way through the narrow streets to Klosterbraeu. This is probably the most picturesque of Bamberg's breweries, although I have to agree with such illustrious writers as Ron Pattison and Gazza Prescott that the beers leave a lot to be desired. This aside I was hungry by now, so managed to grab myself a seat in the cosy restaurant. I ordered Schweinebraten (roast pork) with Kloss (dumpling) and Wirsing (purred cabbage). To wash my meal down I had a glass of Schwaerzla, a dark beer with an unpleasant phenolic taste, which reinforces the comments I've written above. I therefore just had the one, paid my bill and left.

On the way back I popped into Schlenkerla where I was able to sample the strong Christmas Doppelbock called Eiche. This dark 8.0% beer is brewed using malt smoked over oak wood, rather than the usual beechwood. It was very moreish, but at this strength I thought it unwise to have more than one! So ended my first full, and somewhat beery day in Bamberg.

Return to Bamberg - Day One

2010-12-31T11:14:00.000-08:00

I returned early this morning from Bamberg, where I spent four extremely pleasant, but very cold days enjoying the beery delights of this beautiful Franconian city. In contrast to our visit earlier in the year, where we enjoyed temperatures in the mid-30's, the mercury this time was well below freezing and there was a covering of snow, at least a foot deep. Still Germany is a country used to cold winters, and everything was functioning as normal. My inbound flight was delayed slightly by around 40 minutes, but that was all, and although it was snowing heavily when the plane touched down at Nuernberg Airport, the runway was clear as, I observed, were the pavements when I later arrived in Bamberg.

After checking into my hotel, and donning some extra layers of clothing, I walked the short distance into the Altstadt, or old town. My first port of call was Ambraeusianum, a brew pub situated just a few doors along from the famous Schlenkerla tavern. Back in July my son and I sat outside, but one would have needed to be an Eskimo to survive the kinds of low temperatures the city was experiencing this time around!

Ambraeusianum is pleasantly decorated with tiled floors and lots of light-coloured wood-work. Like all of the city's pubs it was looking suitably festive, as befitted the time of year. I ordered a tall mug of the pub's house-brewed Helles, which I remembered from the previous visit as being particularly enjoyable. Some beer writers have, unkindly in my view, described it as disappointing and lacking in balance, but I found it to have a good, full-bodied, underlying maltiness.

Even so, one beer was enough before moving on the short distance to Schlenkerla, but not before a quick reconnaissance along Untere Sandstrasse where I wanted to check out a few other drinking establishments for later on. As it turned out, none of these places opened until the evening, so not wishing to stay out in the cold any longer I headed back to Bamberg's most famous pub.

I should add that for guidance, as well as jolly good read, I had brought along a copy of John Connen's excellent Guide to Bamberg & Franconia. Now in its second edition, the guide has been completely revised and updated, with lots of colour photo's, as well as vital information about what can rightly be described as "Germany's Brewing Heartland".

Schenkerla was packed, as it seemed to be on every day of my trip, but I managed to find a seat, and settled down to enjoy a glass of the famous, almost coal-black, Rauchbier. It was every bit as good as I remembered, and I followed it with a glass of the stronger, seasonal Ur Bock. At 6.5% this is like a stronger version of the brewery's normal strength beer, but is sufficiently well-hopped to balance the additional body supplied by the malt. At 500ml a time though, it is definitely not a session beer so with this thought in mind, and the fact I was feeling peckish, I headed across the road to the Alt-Ringlein.

This former brew-pub is now a slightly up-market hotel, but its downstairs rooms still retain their traditional ambiance. I also remembered it as serving some extremely good roast pork! Unlike its neighbour across the road, Alt-Ringlein wasn't full to bursting point and I had no trouble in getting a table to myself. I ordered a glass of Spezial Lagerbier which although nowhere near as smoky as Schlenkerla's version, still has a pleasant, subtle smokiness lurking in the background. I decided to leave the Schweinebraten (roast pork) for another time, ordering instead a Schnitzel and chips. Once the Spezial was finished, I decided to move onto one of the hotel's other beers; this time Ungespundetes from Mahrs Braeu.

Dark amber in colour, with sufficient maltiness to match, Ungespundetes was a good beer to finish on. It had been a long day and I had been up since the early hours for the drive to the airport. I settled my account and wandered the relatively short distance, through the snow-covered streets, back to my hotel and a welcome night's sleep.

Christmas Day

2010-12-26T03:54:00.000-08:00

I was quite restrained on both the drink and the food front yesterday, surprising even myself. I cracked open my first bottle of beer shortly before one o'clock; my choice being Festivity from Bath Ales, as recommended by Mark Dredge. The brewery describe it thus: “Hints of rum mingle with coffee and vanilla flavours to make a truly wonderful old-style porter.”, but I thought it more of a cross between old ale and porter. Whatever it's supposed to be, it was an excellent winter ale, and a good beer to start the day's drinking with.

Christmas dinner was on the table by two o'clock, and as usual my wife Eileen had done us proud. We had a roast turkey crown, with pigs in blankets, stuffing, bread sauce, roast potatoes, broccoli, chestnuts plus, of course, the obligatory brussel sprouts! It was truly excellent, so thanks once again, Eileen. To help wash this feast down I had selected a couple of bottles of Fuller's 1845, with a bottle of Brakspears Triple in reserve.

As things turned out the two bottles of 1845 were more than enough, and I had a good half a glass left to drink after the meal. I had a bottle of Robinsons Old Tom put by to go with the Christmas pudding, but it seemed a shame to open this, especially as I had quite a bit of 1845 left, and anyway I thought keeping it back for the cheese course later on, might be a more sensible option.

In the end, we left our cheese and biscuits until the evening, so after finishing the 1845 and settling down to watch a bit of TV, I moved onto coffee to go with the mince pies and brandy sauce. Later in the evening I fancied another beer, but wanted something a bit lighter. Oxford Gold from Brakspears fitted the bill and was followed by my final beer of the day Beau Porter from Royal Tunbridge Wells Brewery.

Whilst this was the final, it was also the best beer of the day, and a stunning example of a traditional porter. There were chocolate and coffee notes combined with a rich roast bitterness. As the brewery themselves say, the beer has "A nice balance of malty sweetness and hop bitterness." RTWB have been brewing for less than a year, but in this short time have managed to come up with some excellent beers. For me, their porter is surely the jewel in the crown, and I look forward being able to sample it on draught.

So ended Christmas day; as I said at the beginning of this post, it wasn't as beery as I'd perhaps first planned, but even so I still enjoyed some excellent beers, some fine food and above all the company of my family!

I probably won't be posting for a few days, as weather and transportation permitting, I'm off to Bamberg in the morning. Hope everyone else enjoyed their Christmas drinks as much as I did!

Meantime India Pale Ale

2010-12-24T14:22:00.000-08:00

Just cracked open the first of my Christmas beers. Meantime India Pale Ale comes in a 750ml wine-style bottle, sealed with a wired cork. At 7.5% abv it doesn't take many prisoners, but it's one of the finest examples of the style I have tasted to date.

According to the back label "Pound after pound of Fuggles and Golding hops are needed to enable us to achieve the mighty dry hopping rates necessary of the original 19th Century IPA's to recreate this great beer style."

The beer itself is pale amber in colour and, whilst not bottle-conditioned, is lively with a loose foam head that soon collapses. The hop rate is just right for me, probably too bitter for some, but no doubt based on historical rates of hop additions. The label also advises the drinker to "Enjoy with hot food and spicy friends, or vice versa."

A large bottle, such as this is obviously meant for sharing, especially at such a high abv, but for me it's a Christmas Eve treat, and seeing as Christmas only comes once a year then why not the occasional bit of indulgence!

Welton's Smoked Porter

2010-12-24T12:00:00.001-08:00

Earlier this week our planned CAMRA Christmas social to Otford had to be called off. The reason; bad weather, and the risk that the trains might not be running, or the possibility that the last ones back might indeed be cancelled.

Not wishing to end up stranded in Otford, a small group of us decided to meet up instead at the Humphrey Bean, JDW's Tonbridge outlet. I had some last minute shopping to attend to, so was a bit late in arriving, but when I eventually made it to the pub found it bustling and pleasantly busy, but not full to bursting point. I was pleased to see a reasonable selection of ales on offer, and settled for a pint of Smoked Porter from Welton's Brewery. This proved to be a good choice, and I remarked on this fact as I joined my companions at their table.

The beer has a strength of 5.2%, and being a porter is of course almost black in colour. I couldn't really detect that much smokiness, but it was there, subtly lurking in the background. My friends also gave it a try themselves and agreed that it was a very good beer. Smokiness is something that people either love or hate in a beer. I love it, and indeed in a few days time am off for a short break in Bamberg; the centre of "Rauchbier" production. Beers brewed there, such as Schlenkerla, have considerably more smokiness in their palate than Welton's offering, but in no way should this denigrate the attempt of this Horsham-based brewery to brew something bold and different, and help introduce UK drinkers to the delights of "smoke beer". Therefore full marks to Ray Welton and his team for coming up with this version.

I had intended to move on to the Santa's Wobble, from Hogsback Brewery, that I'd noticed earlier, but by the time I was ready to order a pint, it had run out. At 7.5% this was probably just as well, especially as I had work the following day, so I stuck with the Smoked Porter. If you come across this beer, do give it a try, although I would imagine so far as JDW outlets are concerned, it is only available locally.

I probably won't get another post in before the big day tomorrow, so would like to take this opportunity to wish one and all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Young's Special London Ale

2010-12-19T13:46:00.000-08:00

I cracked open a bottle of Young's Special London Ale a short while ago, whilst settling down in front of the TV to watch David Suchet on the Orient Express. Excellent programme with some superb scenery, and some equally superb restored 1920's carriages.

It's a shame I can't say the same about the beer. What on earth has happened to this former classic? It seems someone has forgotten the hops. You used to be able to smell them as soon as the crown-cork was released, and when the beer was poured it was like drinking in a hop-garden! Somewhere along the line, this once excellent beer has lost its essential character.

I suspect this "dumbing down" occurred after Young's shifted their brewing operation to Bedford; throwing in their lot with Charles Wells. However, I'm still not certain why this change should have come about, but feel it's unlikely to be just down to the different water and brewing environment in Bedford. Did the company feel that the beer was just too hoppy and decide to go for a safer, more mainstream market?

I used to be a big fan of Young's beers back in the late 70's and 80's. Sadly this is no longer the case, and Special London Ale is now anything but special, so far as I am concerned!

Beers for Christmas Day

2010-12-17T13:46:00.000-08:00

Over the past few years we've always had guests joining us for Christmas dinner, and invariably they've preferred wine to beer. I've normally felt obliged to join them, as it's not often I get the chance to enjoy a drop of fermented grape, but this year, there'll just the three of us sitting round the table. My wife Eileen doesn't really drink, whilst son Matt likes his "cooking lager". This leaves me free to enjoy a selection of whatever beers take my fancy.

I've been building up a stock of bottles over the past few weeks, which includes several bottles of Fullers 1845. I believe that this strong, full-bodied ale will be just right to accompany the roast turkey, which can sometimes be rather a dry meat. It is also important that the beer does not overwhelm the assorted vegetables and trimmings, which I prefer to the bird itself!

In reserve I have a large 750cl bottle of Meantime IPA, some Young's Special London Ale plus a bottle of Brakspear's Triple. On reflection, the first two might be a touch too bitter, so the Triple would be a better bet. I noticed that Mark Dredge was recommending, amongst a whole host of different beers, Chimay Bleu, to go with the turkey, and I know from past experience that this is a good accompaniment. I'm sure other similar strength Trappist beers would also fit the bill, but as Chimay Bleu is readily available from Waitrose, I might have to grab a few bottles next time I'm down that way.

I'm certain that most of the above named beers would also go well with the cheese course, but what about the Christmas pud? Last week, at our CAMRA Christmas Meal, we had draught Harvey's Christmas Ale as an accompaniment, and it was a good match. I've probably left it a bit late to get some bottles of this superb 8.1% barley wine in, especially as I've not been able to get over to Tunbridge Wells this weekend due to the heavy snow. This also precludes another beer that has worked for me in the past; Samuel Smiths Imperial Stout. Robinson's Old Tom might fit the bill though, and I noticed it's on offer at Sainsbury's at two bottles for £3.00.

As for a post-breakfast, mid-morning beer?, well I've got several bottles of Fullers London Porter in stock, as well as a couple of bottles of Beau Porter - the new seasonal beer from Royal Tunbridge Wells Brewery. One thing's for sure, I shouldn't go thirsty this Christmas, and with a pre-New Year trip to Bamberg planned as well, there's certain to be a lot more fine beer to be drunk over the festive period.

Christmas Ale to be Hit by Tax Hike

2010-12-12T07:21:00.000-08:00

Sitting in the cosy post-Christmas meal afterglow of the Brecknock Arms yesterday, sipping a couple of halves of Harvey's Christmas Ale, left me with the nagging thought that this excellent strong, seasonal offering is going to be one of the beers affected by the government's proposed tax hike on strong beers. As many people are aware, the people we entrust to look after our interests are planning quite large rises in tax on all beers with an abv above 7.5%.

Their purpose is to try and crack down on problem drinkers, and having already hiked the duty on "white cider" (Diamond White, Frosty Jack etc), the government have now set their sights firmly on those people who enjoy the odd can or three of "tramp juice" (Carlsberg Special Brew, or Tennents Super to you and I). What they don't realise is that people with a serious drink problem will either move onto a different drink, or find the money, somehow, from elsewhere. This is the trouble when politicians think they can micro-manage people's behaviour, and attempt to control how they spend their money.

The unfortunate effect of all this, of course, is that strong seasonal beers, such as Harvey's Christmas Ale, and a host of others, will face a significant increase in their retail price, just to stop the odd hobo getting off his face with them! Now we all know that these rich, warming and well-crafted beers are not "park bench" material, but when the powers that be interfere in a mis-guided attempt to control a problem that only affects a relatively small number of people, this is what happens.

For the record, at £2.30 per half pint, Harvey's Christmas Ale is dear enough already. I can't see the odd "knight of the road" hot-footing it down to the nearest Harvey's pub, to get trollyed at those sort of prices! Further more, it is impossible to rush such a strong and rich beer anyway, and a few halves is plenty enough for most people. Unfortunately, these superb examples of the brewers art will either be priced off the bar next year, or will be brewed to a strength that is below 7.5%; thereby losing some of their essential character!

West Kent CAMRA Christmas Meal 2010

2010-12-11T09:58:00.000-08:00

After five, or was it six, years of holding our annual Christmas meal at the Rose & Crown in Halsted, West Kent CAMRA broke with tradition and moved the event to the Brecknock Arms at Bells Yew Green. The decision to move the venue was partly influenced by the departure last summer of popular landlord, Bob from the Rose & Crown, but also by the desire to go somewhere else for a change.

Unfortunately, the Brecknock will probably not be hosting the event next year, as licensees Joe and Charlotte are handing the keys back to Harvey's in January, and leaving the trade altogether. This is a great shame, as the couple have put a lot of effort into running this small, Victorian local situated just outside Tunbridge Wells.

Without wishing to dwell too much on these changes, the meal itself was a great success. Twelve members in total turned up, with most of us travelling by train from Sevenoaks, Tonbridge or Tunbridge Wells. Charlotte had stuck several tables together in the pub's main bar, which was decked out in suitably festive attire. There were four ales on sale in the pub; all of them from Harveys. Alongside the staple Best Bitter; Dark Mild, Old Ale and Christmas Ale were all available on hand pump, the latter being a rare, but welcoming sight at this time of the year.

Following a few pints, and after warming ourselves in front of the pub's welcoming log fire, we sat down to enjoy our meal. Most of us opted for the traditional roast turkey, complete with all the trimmings, although roast beef was also available as an alternative. After a suitable interval, we moved on to the dessert, with many of us opting for Harvey's Christmas Pud. This was the cue to sample the Christmas Ale; half pints only mind you, as at 8.1%, this rich, dark amber ale is a beer that needs to be treated with the utmost respect.

Coffee and mince pies followed, after which there was time for one last quick drink, before taking our leave of Joe and Charlotte and walking the short distance back to the station. Most of the part alighted in Tunbridge Wells, with the intention of heading up to the Grove Tavern. Myself, son Matt, plus friend Don however, decided to call it a day and stayed on the train back to Tonbridge. All three of us were just too full to attempt to drink any more beer! All in all though, it was a good afternoon, and the prelude to more over-indulgence over the festive period!

Open It! - Day Two - Löwenbräu Triumphator

2010-12-05T01:26:00.000-08:00

So here we are on day two, or should it be three?, of "Open It! Weekend", and the next beer for me to open is another one from the Fatherland. This time it's Triumphator from Löwenbräu. I must admit this particular bottle hasn't exactly been gathering dust at the back of the cupboard. On the contrary, I only acquired it last month, when my son's friend Will, brought it back for me following a trip to Munich. Seeing as he generously bought me a couple of bottles, it seemed a good idea to open one now and write something about it!

Now to start, Löwenbräu are an industrial sized brewery; one of Munich's "Big Six" brewers. Seasoned observers though of drinking in the Bavarian capital, will know that really there are now only four breweries in operation as, not only do Paulaner brew Hacker Pschorr beers, but Löwenbräu now brew Spaeten beer bands. (Takeovers, consolidations and rationalisations, are no longer exclusively a phenomenon of the UK Brewing Industry!). That said, to the outside world, Löwenbräu are probably the best known of the Munich breweries, and whilst their core range might not be particularly challenging, they have still managed to come up trumps with Triumphator, a strong, Doppel-Bock style beer, available on draught for a limited period during March, (Starkbierzeit) but in bottle, all year round.

So how about the beer itself? After chilling overnight in the fridge, the beer is dark brown in colour, with a thin white head when poured. The nose of rich toffee and caramel notes from the dark Munich and Melanoidin malts is immediately apparent as the glass is raised to the mouth, and these intense flavours continue and linger on the tongue as the beer is drunk. The fullness of this strong beer, with its rich maltiness and the comforting warmth from its 7.6% abv strength, makes it the perfect drink for the cold weather we are experiencing at the moment.

The brewery describes it as their "dark, strong beer speciality", and state that it is "spicy and full-bodied in taste". I find it hard to disagree with their assessment, and think it proves that large breweries can, on occasion, brew some truly excellent beers. I am sure that Triumphator would be even better on draught, and it would be well worth making the journey to Munich to try it during Starkbierzeit.

Open It! - Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier

2010-12-04T13:36:00.000-08:00

Unlike some of the more illustrious bloggers who I'm sure will be tasting some rather rare and exotic beers over the course of "Open It!" weekend, I don't profess to have a particularly well-stocked beer cellar. In actual fact, I don't even have a cellar; just a cupboard in the coolest part of our extension. When I lived in Maidstone, some 26 years ago, my Victorian terraced cottage had a large, dry cellar that would have been ideal for the storage of beer (draught, as well as bottles), but 1930's semi's were never built with such luxuries in mind, so the cool cupboard has to suffice.

I've been building up a stock of beers over the past few months, primarily to enjoy over the Yule-tide period, but there's been a few that have been hanging around for some time now, so I've dug a couple of them out to open, drink and enjoy, and then hopefully write something that makes a bit of sense.

First up is Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier, the last of a stash of bottles I brought back from my trip to Bamberg, last July. I was going to save it for the Festive Season , but as I've booked a return visit to this unspoilt Franconian city between Christmas and New Year, it seems a little pointless; especially as I'll be drinking plenty of this beer on draught, so here goes.

Most beer lovers will be familiar with this beer, which is a renowned world classic. The neck label on the bottle proudly proclaims "Bambergs Speczialitaet", and has a logo depicting Bamberg's famous town-all, or Rathaus, with the words, "Altstadt Bamberg - Weltkulturerbe", which I believe translates as "World Heritage Site".

Now for the beer itself. Dark brown in colour, rather than the almost black beer I remember drinking in the renowned Schlenkerla Tavern, with a dense white, rocky head, the beer has the un-mistakable aroma of smoky-bacon. The intense smokiness is evident from the first mouthful and lingers after swallowing in a very pleasant way. For me, it's a very moreish sort of beer, with tremendous depth of character from the beechwood-smoked malt used in the brewing process. Being bottled, there is a pleasant prickliness from the relatively high CO2 content, that serves to add to the character of the beer, rather than detract from it.

It's been said that Rauchbier is a style you either love or hate, and I'm certain that's true. Fortunately I love it, and I've met very few people that disagree with this view. Although we drank quite a few half litres of this beer during our stay last summer, it is definitely a beer more suited to the chills of winter, rather than the mid thirties temperatures we experienced back in July! Personally I can't wait to get back to Bamberg, later this month, and drink a lot more of it, together with the stronger Urbock which, hopefully, might still be on sale when I get there!

Greene King Abbot Reserve

2010-12-03T12:05:00.000-08:00

After nearly a year since I sampled the bottled version of Greene King's Abbot Reserve, I finally got the chance today, to sample the draught version. Like the bottled, I am sorry to say I am not impressed. More about that in a minute.

Abbot Reserve feature's on this year's list of Christmas Ales in JDW outlets, and for the second day in a row, I found myself in our local Wetherspoon's. A fall of nearly a foot of snow, Wednesday night/Thursday morning had prevented me getting into work. Given the extreme weather conditions, I didn't even attempt to try getting the car off the drive, and a check on the National Rail Enquiries website revealed there were virtually no trains running. Although the snow abated last night, road and rail conditions were pretty much the same, which meant a further enforced day away from work.

Like the previous day, I had some shopping to get, both for ourselves and our elderly neighbours, so off I trudged, through the snow, down into Tonbridge. I had called into Wetherspoons earlier in the day for a coffee and, after the poor choice of ales on the previous day, was delighted to see the pump clip advertising the Abbot Reserve. After clearing some of the snow off the drive, getting a few Christmas cards written out and the aforementioned shopping, I finally made it back to the Humphrey Bean (our local JDW) just after 3pm.

This turned out to be a good time to call in, as there was virtually no queue at the bar. I ordered a pint of the said beer, paid just £1.85 for it, using my last CAMRA JDW voucher, and sat down to enjoy my pint. As expected, it was mid-brown in colour, with just a loose head on top. There was virtually no aroma to the beer (hops or otherwise), and taste wise I found it pretty disappointing as well. The 6.5% abv strength was quite evident, and there was a pronounced spicy pepperiness from the hops, but I found the beer totally lacking in depth. Although the spiciness was present at each mouthful, it quickly vanished once the beer was swallowed. There was certainly nothing to back up the initial tastes of the hops and the alcohol.

This, I thought is a very one-dimensional beer, and I was left wondering where were the fruitcake and toffee flavours described on the brewery's website? West Suffolk CAMRA are also shown on the website, singing the beer's praises, so either I sampled a duff cask (I don't think so, as it was fresh on this morning), or I am missing something? Again, I don't think so, as not only was the bottled version disappointing, but I have also seen other poor reviews of this beer. It's a shame really, as I know Greene King are trying hard to expand and improve their cask portfolio. But for me personally, it was even more of a shame as I had so been looking forward to sampling this beer!

Greene King Very Special India Pale Ale

2010-11-30T13:46:00.000-08:00

Greene King's Very Special India Pale Ale has been on offer recently at Waitrose. This 7.5% beer comes in a clear glass 355ml bottle and is said to be "brewed to emulate the early india pale ales that were shipped during the 18th Century".

That's quite a reputation to live up to, especially as we don't really know what such beers actually tasted like. However, 7.5% is a good strength for such a beer and it tasted pleasant enough. Unfortunately it didn't really deliver much else; certainly nothing like what I was expecting. For a start a clear glass bottle is a bad move in my book. Brewers have not been bottling their beers in brown, or green glass bottles these past 200 years or so without good reason! Second, the beer just wasn't hoppy enough for my liking, although I have to say it did deliver in terms of juicy maltiness.

If it is still on offer this weekend, I'll buy another bottle and give it a second try. It's a beer that ought to succeed, but which may need a bit more in the way of adjustment.

West Kent CAMRA 2010 AGM

2010-11-28T11:15:00.000-08:00

I mentioned in a previous post that this weekend my local CAMRA branch (West Kent), was holding its Annual General Meeting. This took place at the Oak Tree in Sevenoaks, a large town-centre pub housed in an historic building that dates back several centuries. We had booked a side room that leads off from the main bar, for the meeting, as this area is generally quieter than the rest of the pub, and is free from both TV and piped music.

The Oak Tree has, in the past, offered up to five cask beers, so it was not a good sign when, on arrival, we noticed the Harvey's pump clip turned round and just two other ales on sale; Wells Bombardier and Westerham British Bulldog. I opted for a pint of the latter, which was excellent and, at only £2.40 a pint, extremely good value. The meeting was slightly late in starting, but branch chairman Iain manged to keep things in order, and business was conducted at a brisk pace. Halfway through though, my glass was empty so I sneaked of to the bar for a refill. I hadn't really noticed before just how busy the pub had become, but as I waited to get served I was joined by a friend and we both noticed that only Bombardier seemed to be available. We were even more mortified when we heard the barmaid announce that there would be no bitter on for a while, as she needed to pull another one through.

Apart from a dozen or so of us CAMRA members, the Oak Tree was primarily busy because of the England v South Africa Rugby match being shown on the three TV screens dotted throughout the pub. It was only when I fought my way through to the gents that I realised just how many people were packed into the place. Now rugby supporters are well known for their love of decent beer, so it was perhaps not surprising that supplies were running low, but fortunately the new cask had been pulled through on my return. I patiently queued and was rewarded with a pint of Bombardier for the princely sum of just £2.30! Now I have never been a huge fan of this beer, but I have to say that my pint was superb, with a wonderful aromatic hop aroma evident as soon as one placed the glass to ones lips, and a nicely-balanced citrus hop flavour to match.

I rejoined the meeting in time for the election of the new committee. I had previously agreed to stand again as BLO for Larkins, and was duly re-appointed without challenge. We had a short break in order to eat the buffet that the pub had laid on for us. Afterwards the meeting resumed to consider nominations for the 2012 Good Beer Guide.

We would probably have stayed longer in the pub had there been a wider variety of beers available. As it was the new cask of Bombardier looked as though it was going to run out soon. I couldn't help thinking that the pub's management had missed an opportunity here. Not only were there a dozen or so CAMRA members present who's presence they must surely have been expecting, given the fact that the meeting was pre-booked a couple of months previously, but also the fact that a major rugby game was being televised could not have escaped their notice. To have failed to ensure that sufficient cask beer was available was a spectacular "own goal". Having said that I will certainly give the Oak Tree another try, as I especially like its keen prices, as well as its layout and good mix of clientele.

We moved on to sample the wares of a couple of other pubs in the town. First stop was the Sennockian, scene of our visit a couple of nights previously. This time they had a couple of interesting dark ales on tap; both left over from their recent festival. Lion Stout, at 5% was good, but not as good as the 8% bottle-conditioned version I used to stock in my off-licence. The Titanic New York Wheat Porter was much better, in my opinion, despite its lower strength of 4.2%.

Some of the party wanted to move on, so we walked the short distance, back up the High Street, to the Chequers. I have long considered this 16th Century, former staging post inn, to be one of the best pubs in Sevenoaks, not only for its historic and characterful interior, but for the interesting range of beers it often has on sale. I didn't clock all the ales they had on offer, but I did pick out St Austell Tribute and Black Sheep Best Bitter as the ones to go for. We grabbed a section at the far end of the bar, furnished with plenty of comfortable chairs, and looking out over the street outside. On such a bitterly cold night it was nice to be in the cosy warmth of this ancient inn, and bask in the glow from the open log fires that were keeping the freezing outside temperatures at bay.

A few hardy souls went on to the Anchor, but the majority of us had had sufficient beer by this time, and made our way home. It was bitingly cold walking down to Sevenoaks station, and I was glad to reach the warmth of home. All in all it had been a good afternoon/early evening, with a successful AGM behind us, and another year's campaigning and socialising to look forward to.

Another Good Night at the Anchor

2010-11-26T12:55:00.000-08:00

Every year, as part of our busy CAMRA social calender, Barry - the genial, and long-serving landlord of the Anchor in Sevenoaks, lays on a "themed meal" for us to enjoy. Last night it was an Indonesian-themed meal, which was very good, especially the chicken satay. Barry had three beers on tap for us to enjoy; Sovereign from Royal Tunbridge Wells, Copper Top - a seasonal, dark, "autumnal ale" from Old Dairy Brewery, plus that old favourite and "must-stock" beer for most local pubs - Harvey's Best. The Copper Top was especially good on a cold winter's night, such as we experienced yesterday, and went down well with the spicy food.

Prior to the meal, myself, son Matt plus friend Don had called in at the Sennockian (Sevenoak's very own JDW) where they still had a few beers left over from their recent Beer Festival. Unfortunately the Lion Stout was flagged up as "Available Soon" (I wish Spoons wouldn't do that!), but we did get the chance to sample a couple of rather unusual beers; Double Espresso from Traditional Scottish Ales and Vanilla Orchid from Tom Wood's. Both beers were brewed to a strength of 4.8%, but of the two I much preferred the Vanilla Orchid. Neither were really the sort of beers I would normally choose to drink, but sometimes it's good to experiment a bit, and at only £1.49 a pint with our CAMRA vouchers we couldn't really go wrong!

All in all it was a most enjoyable night out, and we even got into double figures (just) attendance wise for the meal! Tomorrow we're back in Sevenoaks for the branch AGM, which promises to be an interesting meeting. There's the, by now, traditional pub-crawl afterwards, and no doubt we'll be calling in at the Anchor, as well as JDW. Hopefully the Lion Stout will be on sale by then; we'll need something strong and dark to keep the cold at bay!

Fearsome Pub Landladies

2010-11-23T05:43:00.000-08:00

When I first started drinking, back in the early 1970's, the battle-axe landlady who ruled her pub with a rod of iron, and tolerated no nonsense from her customers, was quite common-place, but times have changed, and matriarchal women in charge of pubs, appear to be a dying breed.

I'm sure there are several reasons for the decline of the lone female in charge behind the bar, but looking back to my days at primary school (early 1960's), we had quite a few elderly (or so they seemed at the time), spinsters in charge of our classes. This was perhaps hardly surprising, coming just forty years or so after the carnage of the First World War, in which the flower of British manhood was butchered in the fields of Flanders, thereby condemning a whole generation of women to eternal spinsterhood. That there should be a large number of un-married women, of advancing years, running many of the nation's pubs during the 1960's and early 70's, therefore comes as no surprise.

I can recount quite a few tales concerning some of these legendary matriarchs, but will confine myself to just a couple. The first relates to an elderly lady called Norah, who ran a pub called the Rose, situated in the village of Willesborough - now long absorbed into the town of Ashford. Willesborough was the place where I spent 11 happy years of my childhood, before we moved further out into the country.

I first knew the pub as a child, having been taken there by my parents and maternal grandparents, when the latter made one of their regular visits from London. The Rose was unusual in that it was built into the side of a hill. This meant it was constructed on two levels, with a public bar at the higher level, fronting the road, and a saloon-cum-games room, plus children's room, at the lower level. This was reached by descending a series of steps from the road, and also the car park. I remember having my first sip of beer, from my grandfather's glass here, and absolutely hating it, but to continue with the story I became re-acquainted with the pub as an 18 year old, back in the early 1970's.

I had just left school and together with a couple of friends, had taken a job at a local food processing factory whilst awaiting my A-level results. The work was dull and boring, but paid reasonably well, and we were placed on permanent late shift, which ran from 2pm until 10pm. Back in those days most Kent pubs closed at 10.30pm Monday to Thursday, with an extension to 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays. The Rose was the nearest pub to the factory, and if we left as soon as the shift ended, we just had time to hot foot it along to the Rose and get a couple of quick pints in before time was called.

Presiding behind the bar was this fearsome old lady called Norah. She appeared to run the pub single-handed, although we later learned that one of her sons helped her with the cellar work and other heavy duties. We tended to frequent the lower saloon bar on our after work visits, primarily to engage in a game or two of bar-billiards, and despite our relatively young ages, Norah seemed quite glad of our custom. One friend though recounted a tale of how Norah had once barred his father from the pub, purely because she "didn't like the look of him", and we were soon to experience this side of Norah's character for ourselves.

One weekend myself, plus the same friend called in at the Rose, but this time we decided to patronise the public bar. We were sitting chatting and enjoying our beer, when Norah suddenly enquired if we would like to play bar billiards? We replied that we were quite happy as we were when she suddenly became quite insistent that we go downstairs and have a game. She did explain herself after a while, informing us that there were a couple of boys using the table downstairs who, in her view, had been there long enough. We were to be her reason for getting them to leave. The next thing we heard was Norah disappearing down the steep wooden stairs to the lower bar and telling these couple of lads "There are two boys upstairs who want to play bar billiards. You two have been playing quite long enough, so kindly finish your game and let others have a turn!" Fearing some sort of trouble we delayed going down to the lower bar as long as possible, but when we did, we still got a scowl from the departing players who had done nothing wrong apart from perhaps outstaying their welcome in the games room.

At the end of that summer I left home to go to university. When I returned the following summer, I had a different part-time job which was nowhere near the Rose. I therefore lost touch with the pub. I believe it became a "Hooden Horse" themed pub for a while, part of a small local chain that specialised in decent ale and food, but which ran into difficulties and was eventually bought out. I have carried out several on-line searches, all of which have revealed that the Rose is no longer a pub. Mind you, without its fearsome matriarchal landlady, it wouldn't really have been the same!

The other pub I want to mention is the Ringlestone Inn, situated high on the North Downs, between Maidstone and Ashford. I first became acquainted with the Ringlestone when I bought a house in Maidstone in the late 1970's; a move that marked my return to Kent after an absence of some six or so years. It was an unspoilt pub that served a couple of beers direct from casks kept behind the bar. I can't remember the landlord's name, but it's a couple of his predecessors I want to write about here.

Back in the 1960's the Ringlestone was kept by two elderly sisters; both spinsters, and with a reputation for their no nonsense approach when dealing with customers. They were reputed to have kept a shotgun behind the bar, and were said to have had no qualms in pointing this weapon at anyone they didn't like the look of. For two relatively elderly women, living on their own in such an isolated place, this was probably quite a sensible thing to do, although one wonders how many times they actually produced the gun. I also wonder whether the weapon was loaded? I would like to think not, but who knows? However the story passed into local legend, and was quite well known, even as far as East Kent where we lived at the time. My parents, neither of whom were regular pub goers, had both heard the story, and I remember them recounting it to my sister and I.

I like the tale, and mourn the passing of such eccentric characters as these two feisty women, keeping the nation's bars in order. I am therefore, pleased to report two pubs runs by elderly ladies who, whilst perhaps not quite resorting to scaring customers off with firearms, still run their pubs with an old-fashioned, no-nonsense approach. The pubs in question are the Red Lion at Snargate, and the Queen's Arms at Cowden Pound. Both establishments are on CAMRA's National Inventory of unspoilt "Heritage" pubs, and you can read more about them by clicking on the above links.

In the meantime, I would be interested to hear any similar tales of eccentric old battle-axes, either past or present, and the pubs they ran.

Saturday Night's Alright??

2010-11-21T07:48:00.000-08:00

I must admit that these days I don't often venture out to the pub on a Saturday night. There was a time when a visit to the pub, or indeed several pubs, was the highlight of the week, and a session that was virtually un-missable. I have written before about the reasons I don't visits pubs with anywhere like the frequency I used to, (family, financial, lack of decent pubs close-by etc), but it seems I am not alone in this.

Last night my son and I, together with our friend Eric, caught the train over to Frant, in order to visit the excellent Brecknock Arms at Bells Yew Green. This unspoilt Harvey's pub has long been a favourite of mine, and it is well worth the short train journey to enjoy some excellent beer and some good company in this small, but welcoming village local.

We caught the 18.59 train, arriving at our destination some 20 minutes later. On entering, we were surprised to see that the only customers in the pub were a slightly loved-up couple, enjoying a drink in the far corner. We received a warm welcome from hosts Joe and Charlotte, and were please to see not one, but three dark ales from the Harvey's stable, on sale alongside the Best Bitter. We gave the mild a miss, as none of us are great fans of this style, opting instead for the Old Ale. It was excellent; smooth, dark and full-bodied and just the beer for a cold and slightly damp winter's evening.

Charlotte recommended we try the Lewes Castle Brown Ale next. This is a 4.8% brew that is normally only available in bottles, but she told us the brewery sometimes have some left over from the bottling run and they make this available in cask for any pubs interested in taking it. It was therefore something of a rarity to see this strong brown ale on draught. We found it similar in taste to the Old, but fuller in body, and perhaps slightly more bitter in flavour. It was definitely an interesting beer to try.

We sat at a table, opposite the bar enjoying our beer and chatting to Joe and Charlotte. The lovey-dovey couple left, but soon after one one the pub's regulars called in and sat at the bar enjoying a few pints of Old himself, and joining in the general conversation. What struck us more than anything was how quiet the pub was, especially for a Saturday night. It had been like this on our previous Saturday visit, back in September, when Eric and I had called in for a quick pint on the way back from Eastbourne at the end of our Wealdway Walk. Charlotte told us that Saturday's were always quiet at the Brecknock; in fact it was normally the quietest session of the week. She told us they usually had more people in on a Tuesday lunchtime than on a Saturday evening. The pub had been packed the night before, and they were fully expecting to be extremely busy Sunday lunchtime, when the pub is popular with diners.

This got me thinking; where were all the people who should have been packing the pub out? and what were they doing instead? Surely they weren't all sat at home watching dross like X-Factor and I'm a Celebrity, or were they? Have the nation's habits changed? Do more people now prefer sitting in the comfort of their own homes on a Saturday night, even if there is only drivel on the TV to keep them entertained? As I said at the start of this post, I don't go out enough on a Saturday to know the answer. All I can say is, whilst I may be enjoying a drink or two at home, I am not doing so in front of the TV watching rubbish!

I would be most interested to hear other people's thoughts on this matter.

Larkins Porter

2010-11-17T05:50:00.000-08:00

I finally got my hands on some Larkins Porter last night, and boy was it good! I attended a pre-AGM CAMRA Committee meeting, held at the excellent Royal Oak in Tunbridge Wells where, amongst some other interesting offerings, my friend and I spotted a hand pump with Larkins Porter on tap.

I ought to declare an interest here, as I am CAMRA Brewery Liaison Officer for Larkins, and am a fairly regular visitor to the brewery. Even so, whenever I call round to see owner Bob Dockerty, he never seems to have any Porter on tap. Bob brews this strong, dark, tasty beer twice a year, and then allows it to matures, in cask, for a minimum of six weeks before sending it out to trade. Traditionally the first batch is not released until Bonfire Night, meaning that the beer will have been brewed back in mid-September. This brew normally lasts through until Christmas, after which Bob normally brews a second batch. Very occasionally, he will produce a third batch, although this is quite a rare occurrence, as for some reason, strong dark ales sell well in the run-up to Christmas, but not so well afterwards.

So, just over a week from the beer's launch, it was good to enjoy a few glasses of it last night. Brewed from a grist that includes plenty of chocolate and crystal malts, Larkins Porter has a rich, full mouth feel, with plenty of bitterness to match the lush sweetness of the malts. At a strength of 5.2%, it is a beer for savouring, rather than swilling. Even so, I couldn't resist having three pints of it!

Larkins wasn't the only porter I enjoyed last night. Simon Lewis, owner of and brewer at the recently opened Royal Tunbridge Wells Brewery was also present at the meeting, and he brought along a bottle of his own new Porter for us to try. With an abv of 4.8%, it is similar in strength to Larkins, and also similar in colour. Tasted alongside Larkins, RTW is perhaps slightly more bitter. It was difficult to tell, as the latter was far livelier, being bottle-conditioned, but it did have an excellent aroma. It is a beer that I definitely look forward to sampling, when it appears on draught. I will also pick up a few bottles once they make an appearance in local shops.

CAMRA from a Personal Perspective

2010-11-14T07:59:00.000-08:00

There has been much heated debate over the last week or so regarding CAMRA, and it's definition of Real Ale. Some have argued that the definition, whilst relevant when CAMRA was founded, is too narrow, whilst others have maintained it is the organisation's Unique Selling Point. I do not wish to get into the argument, especially as the likes of Pete Brown, Tandleman and Martyn Cornell have argued the case for and against far more eruditely than I could. The only thing I wish to add is whilst cask-ale is my drink of choice, other factors such as occasion, location etc, also play a part when it comes to deciding what to drink, and ultimately it's my taste buds that decide in the end.

For my part I have been member of CAMRA since the mid-1970's. This is an unbroken run as well, as my membership number is in the 3,000's. I have seen many changes during this time, including the un-precedented rise in the number of breweries that are operating today. I have been active at local branch level for much of the past 35 years, and during this time I have made many good friends and acquaintances. It is probably the social side that has led to me remaining actively involved in branch affairs for so long, and this aspect was reinforced at the weekend when I attended the Kent Regional Meeting (KRM), at Edenbridge.

KRM's are held every two months, with each branch taking a turn at hosting the meeting. As there are nine branches in the county this is not a particularly onerous task, but even so the host branch need to come up with a suitable venue, offering a reasonable selection of beers, and also provide a buffet lunch for the attendees. Most importantly, and for obvious reasons, the venue must be easily accessible by public transport; preferably rail. This time it was my local branch's turn to do the honours, and we chose the Old Eden, in the small town of Edenbridge, close to the border with Surrey.

Edenbridge is almost as far west as one can be in the county and still be in Kent, which meant a long journey for some delegates. In the end, whilst representatives from both Ashford and Dover branches turned up, members from Canterbury, Swale and Thanet branches did not attend. The next meeting is in Thanet though, which will mean a lengthy journey for West Kent members.

All in all 18 members made it to the meeting, including five of us from West Kent Branch. Although the Old Eden is a bit of a hike from the town's main station, it proved the perfect place for the meeting. There were five cask-ales on sale; two from Westerham Brewery (British Bulldog and 1965), two from Whitstable Brewery (Native Bitter and Oyster Stout), plus every one's favourite session beer, Harvey's Best. The characterful old building was warmed by three open fires, whilst the meeting itself took place in an upstairs galleried room, reached by an open staircase so that it did not feel completely cut of from the main part of the pub.

I sampled both the Whitstable beers plus the Westerham 1965, which was stunningly good. The meeting dragged on somewhat, despite the best efforts of our branch chairman, Iain, to keep things as brief as possible. There was a lot of business to discuss though, including reports on recently held branch beer festivals, as well as plans for next year's events. What is particularly encouraging is the news that there are now 17 independent breweries in the county, with reports of at least two more in the pipeline. Five of these breweries are within our branch area, which does ask the question, how can they all survive? The answer is that they all seem to be doing ok, which is encouraging news.

As well as some decent beer, we enjoyed an excellent buffet lunch. It was good to meet up with old friends from other branches again, especially people I hadn't seen for a while. The slightly worrying thing though is that none of us are getting any younger, and this I feel is the main problem facing CAMRA. There are already reports from other regions of branches having to give up on long-standing beer festivals, and other events, due to an increasingly aged membership, and lack of new blood to replace them.

Fortunately this is not yet the case in Kent, and we received reports of very successful festivals organised by Canterbury and Maidstone branches in particular. However, although the Campaign does have quite a large number of young members on its books it needs to find ways of getting them more actively involved within their respective branches. This is not easy, as we have found in our own branch where, out of a total of 450 members, we are lucky if we get an attendance that gets into double figures at our socials. I don't know what the answer is, as we have tried all sorts of approaches in order to try and tempt people along. One thing's for sure though, and that's without an influx of more active members, CAMRA will be in danger of dying on its feet, and that's something I don't think any of us would wish to see.

Wetherspoons Re-Visited

2010-11-13T13:40:00.000-08:00

Despite their current beer festival, I'd been avoiding our local Wetherspoons for a number of reasons. These include too many kids running around the place, too many undesirables, dirty tables and not enough staff. Earlier this evening though, whilst on my way home from the Kent CAMRA Regional Meeting at Edenbridge, I decided to give the place another chance.

After a day of not immoderate beer drinking, I was motivated primarily by the need for something to eat, at a sensible price. Wetherspoons fitted the bill, and when I called in I found the place quite quiet, with plenty of empty tables. I grabbed one and headed for the bar. A placard advertising the "Manager's Special" caught my eye; several different varieties of curry. I opted for a chicken korma, and also ordered a pint of Cotleigh Ettaler. I handed over one of my CAMRA JDW vouchers, and the bill came to a very respectable £5.49.

The beer was good, although I'm not convinced about its description as a Bavarian-style lager ale! My chicken korma was also good, and arrived accompanied by pillau rice, narn bread, plus a couple of poppadoms. It wasn't the best Indian meal I've had, but at that price I couldn't grumble, and it certainly satisfied my hunger.

As for the Wetherspoons outlet itself, most of the usual semi-permanent undesirables were conspicuous by their absence, although there were still too many unsupervised children for my liking. I won't be in a huge hurry to return, but at least it proved if you catch the place at the right time then it isn't too bad.

Adnams Old

2010-11-08T05:40:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post about a weekend visit to Norfolk that just seemed to fly by. First, apologies to Paul Garrard for not getting in touch and arranging to meet up. There just wasn't time I'm afraid Paul, as we travelled up on Saturday morning, and returned yesterday (Sunday) afternoon.

The main reason for our visit was to see my parents, who retired up to Norfolk about 18 years ago. They probably won't thank me for saying so, but they are getting on a bit, so rarely travel down to Kent to visit us. Anyway, it was good to see them. Life in Norfolk obviously suits them, and they were both looking hale and hearty.

With only the one night stop-over, there was little time for much beer drinking. However, son Matt and myself did manage to visit the George in Dereham on Saturday night. This Good Beer Guide-listed pub was opposite our hotel, so we didn't have far to stagger come closing time. The bonus, so far as I was concerned, was finding Adnams Old Ale on tap, and apart from a pint of the company's Broadside to finish up on, I stuck on the Old all evening.

It was just the right strength, and had just the right amount of dark, roast, luscious sweetness to make it the ideal drink for an evening that was decidedly on the chilly side. It is a long time since I last enjoyed a glass of this excellent ale, and it was good to be able to sample it close to its source.

The George itself was very pleasant as well. It wasn't full to bursting point, like on our previous visit back in February, but it had a nice mix of clientele, with no noisy juke-box or piped music to disturb the conversation. Even better, the beer was served in proper, stylised Adnams glasses (other brewers and pubs, please take note). All in all it made for a most enjoyable evening; the only disappointment being not being able to repeat the experience the following night!

British Lager - Part One

2010-11-03T13:44:00.000-07:00

In a previous post about The Death of the English Pub, I described some of the problems facing the pub trade back in the early 1970's. These were highlighted in the book of the same title.

One subject that barely received a mention in the book, was that of British Lager. This is perhaps hardly surprising, as back then lager counted for about 2% of total beer sales. The only reference I recall was to Carlsberg and Tuborg Lagers, brewed under licence at the time by Watneys and Trumans respectively. Decrying their pitifully low strength, a reviewer from the Daily Mirror had made the comment "We think these two lagers more suitable for a maiden aunt of moderate habits than a man who uses his muscles." That comment sums up the main problem with British Lager 40 years ago; namely it was as weak as gnat's piss!

I can remember when lager as a drink first entered my consciousness. I was aged 17, and was with a group of school friends on a night out in Folkestone. With the exception of a friend of a friend, who had joined us for the evening, none of us was legally old enough to be drinking in a pub, but that didn't seem to really matter back then. I can't recall the name of the pub, and I don't think it was anything special, but it was in the centre of Folkestone, and I remember the aforementioned "friend of a friend" ordering a pint of "lager and lime". (By the way, I never got to know the real name of this character. He was referred to as "Dinky Dalton", and as he seemed a bit effeminate I didn't like to enquire further!).

At first I thought this was a soft drink, and I wondered why Mr Dalton, who was trying hard to project an image of sophistication, was drinking such a drink. I was vaguely aware from childhood of a concoction called Limeade and Lager, but this was something different). I have to say the drink looked appealing in the glass, even if it was only Harp Lager! For a start it came in its own stylized glass, and second being chilled, and with the beads of condensation running down the side of the glass, it was worth ordering one myself. Before doing so I asked Mr Dalton what the purpose of the lime was? His reply was it took the edge off the beer. I skipped on the lime, but found the beer itself totally unremarkable (perhaps it would have been better with a shot of lime in it!). This lack of any real endearing characteristics was hardly surprising as, apart from the might of the Guinness empire behind it, Harp never really had much going for it. (You could say a real triumph of style over substance!)

Harp was probably the most widely distributed British-brewed lager during the early 1970's, but it was closely followed by Heineken, which was stocked by Whitbread in most of their pubs. However, with an abv of only 3.4%, it was nothing like its continental namesake, which is brewed to a respectable strength of 5%. The story goes that when Colonel Whitbread approached Freddy Heineken when he was first looking for a continental-style beer to sell in his company's pubs. However, he was convinced that a five percent strength beer would be too strong for British drinkers, used to supping milds, bitters and light ales most of which were brewed to a strength about 3.5%. He managed to persuade Freddy and the rest of the Heineken management to allow Whitbread to brew a much weaker version of their famous beer under licence, which is how the ultra-weak Heineken came to be sold in the UK.

Like I said earlier, not only was this British-brewed lager as weak as gnat's piss, but it tasted pretty much like it as well! There is a good reason why classic European Pilsner-style lagers are brewed at around 5%; they need sufficient body not only to counter the high hopping rate, but also to allow the necessary maturation period to take place. As I write I am drinking a bottle of Pilsner Urquell; it may have lost some of it's character over the last couple of decades, but it's still a classic beer light years removed from such horrors as Harp, Whitbread-brewed Heineken, Skol etc.

Other lagers popular at this time were the aforementioned UK-brewed versions of Carlsberg and Tuborg, plus that old favourite Carling Black Label. Now I'm no fan of Carling, but it is one British lager that does seem to have stood the pace of time and is a rare survivor from 40 years or so ago. It's slightly higher strength of 4% may have helped it's longevity, as well as some clever advertising campaigns.

As the seventies unfolded, many of Britain's independent brewers decided to jump on the band waggon and started producing their own lagers. Most were instantly forgettable; I remember "lagers" such as Einhorn from Robinsons, Regal (a palindrome of lager) from Holts, Grunhalle Lager from Greenall Whitley and Brock Lager from Hall & Woodhouse to name but a few. All pretty dire, and all best forgotten! The story was that most of these ersatz lagers were brewed using an infusion mash, rather than the traditional continental decoction mash, were bittered using UK hops, and only received the minimum amount of maturation (lagering); nothing new there then, as many of today's international brands, also receive little or no proper lagering either!

Despite it's lack of taste, and total absence of any real pedigree, lager sales went through the roof during the later half of the 1970's and into the 80's. In the next part of "British Lager", I'll be looking at the rise of Premium Lagers, and the so-called international brands.

Dark Beer Night

2010-10-30T12:28:00.000-07:00

It's definitely a dark beer night tonight. Nothing to do with Halloween; it's just that I happen to have two bottles of fine dark ales to savour this evening, and enjoy them I certainly will!

First up is Double Stout, from Hook Norton, a superb dark stout brewed to a 100 year old recipe. Poured into the glass, it is a jet black beer with a real thick creamy head. Taste-wise, it is a full-bodied beer, dry in taste, with roasted malt and chocolate flavours and just the right degree of bitterness to match. It is also bottle-conditioned as well, and drinks far stronger than its 4.8% abv suggests.

Next up is an old favourite; Fuller's London Porter. Slightly stronger at 5.4%, and not quite as dark; this is another recreation of an old recipe. Brewed using pale, crystal, brown and chocolate malts and bittered with Fuggles hops this is a stunning, silky-smooth beer with wonderful chocolate notes to the fore, and just the right degree of subtle bitterness in the background. It doesn't pour with quite the same thick, creamy head as the previous beer, and despite its extra strength, doesn't taste quite as strong as the Hook Norton stout either, but it's still a world-class beer in my book. I hope to see it on draught some time over the next few months, alongside my all time favourite Porter; that brewed by Larkins of Chiddingstone.

More on "Top Pressure"

2010-10-28T13:33:00.000-07:00

It seems my recent post about the Pubs of my Youth has sparked a bit of debate, especially with regard to the subject of "top pressure". Our friends in the north have commented that this system was virtually unknown in the northern heartlands, and yet it was pretty common down south. Basically it was a system designed to serve cask-conditioned beer using "top pressure" CO2, which was applied, via an adaptor, to the shive hole of the cask and then, when a tap was opened on the dispenser on the bar, used to force the beer out of the cask and into the customer's glass.

The brewers claimed that the system kept beer better, and prevented it from going off. Whilst the latter was undoubtedly true, the former was not, as the gas applied to the beer had a tendency to dissolve and make the beer overly gassy, and at times quite unpalatable. Nevertheless, during the early 1970 this system was adopted by several of the large brewing conglomerate's that had sprung up during the previous decade, and was particularly favoured by both Courage and Whitbread who owned the majority of the pubs in the part of East Kent where I grew up. To say that "top pressure" was actively encouraged by the brewers is an understatement, and it was the "norm" in most of the local pubs. But not everywhere, as I am about to relate.

Back in 1974, during the summer break from university, I popped my head around the door, for the first time, of what for a while became one of my favourite pubs in my home-town of Ashford. This was at a time when I had started to take a firm interest in Real Ale and real pubs. The pub was called the Trumpeter and, as it was a Whitbread house, I ordered a pint of Trophy. To my surprise the landlady went to a bank of antique looking hand pumps and pulled me a pint. Although my village local sold "Real" Trophy, this beer in an un-pressurised form was like gold dust, especially in Ashford itself. However, here I was in a pub which I had never been in before, drinking a pint of Whitbread Trophy that wasn't full of bubbles.

I told a friend, and fellow CAMRA member, the good news, and he hot-footed it down to the Trumpeter to see for himself. However, on my next visit to the pub I ended up being served a fizzy pint from a gas tap, fitted to the outlet of one of the other pumps. Thinking that the brewery conversion team had been in, and fearing the worst, I enquired about the means of dispense, only to be told that the real thing was still available, but was reserved for regulars only, plus "those in the know"!

The reason for this clandestine approach was that, so far as the brewery were concerned, the Trumpeter sold only pressurised Trophy. However, the locals were not at all keen on having their beer gassed up, so unbeknown to Whitbread, one hand pump had been left in working order and was still connected. I was sworn to secrecy over this matter, as was my friend when he joined me for a drink later that evening. The last thing the landlady and her regulars wanted was for the brewery to get wind of the fact that one of their pubs was serving cask beer by “non-approved” methods.

As well as serving traditional beer, the Trumpeter was an unspoilt traditional town pub. Over the course of the summer, until my return to university, I became quite a regular there and eventually ended up on first name terms with the landlady. Her name was Ethel, and in common with other legendary female licensees, ran the pub single-handed in the time honoured tradition, standing no nonsense and governing proceedings with a rod of iron. Despite this, she always had a friendly smile and a greeting for customers - with the exception of representatives from the brewery that is!

I have related the above story, in depth, to illustrate the point that "top pressure" wasn't universally welcomed by drinkers, and was even unpopular with certain licensees. It was the real "bug-bear" of CAMRA back in the early days, especially as it ruined otherwise perfectly acceptable beer.

I have scoured Google Images for pictures of the Trumpeter (demolished as part of a road-widening scheme during the 1980's), but so far without success.

Upmarket "Pong"

2010-10-27T13:47:00.000-07:00

Although budget supermarket chain, Lidl are continuing to crank out cut-price bottles of ale from the likes of Marstons and Shepherd Neame, upmarket Waitrose are currently mid-way through an excellent promotion on bottled beers. A wide range of bottles from the likes of Brakspears, Fullers, Hook Norton and Jennings are on sale at two for £3.00, and what's even better is you can mix and match!

Some of the beers included in the offer are extremely good value when purchased in this manner. They include Fuller's 1845 and Brakspear's Triple; both premium strength beers, and both fine examples of the brewer's art. Fuller's London Porter, which is another old favourite of mine also features on the list, as does Hook Norton Double Stout. I also noticed Pilsner Urquell on sale at the same two bottles for £3.00, but this might be a different promotion.

My advice therefore is get down to Waitrose quick, whilst stocks last. The promotion runs until 9th November, but with such good bargains available, some beers could run out long before this!

The Pubs of my Youth - Part I; Country Pubs

2010-10-25T14:09:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I posted a piece about why I stopped going to the pub on a regular basis. Here I describe my introduction to the world of pubs and beer as a teenager back in the early 1970's.

I spent my formative years living in East Kent, and the pubs I knew in my youth were a mixture of both town and country ones. When I first started drinking, most of the pubs I visited were real in the sense that they were unspoilt "pubby" type pubs, even though most of the beer sold in them was not, certainly in the CAMRA accepted meaning of the word. (Most of the beer was cask-conditioned back then, but served by "top-pressure" dispense.)

I first began to explore local pubs when I reached the age of seventeen. Shortly after my birthday, my parents bought me a motorbike. It wasn't exactly the sort of thing teenage dreams were made of, but I was grateful to them nevertheless. The vehicle in question was a Honda C 90; a semi-automatic, 3-gear, 90cc machine. The reasoning behind their purchase was to save my father having to ferry me about. Living in the country is all well and good, but when you're a teenager you want to be where the action is, which normally means reaching the nearest town. The other idea was to get me out of the house more. My parents were concerned that I was spending too much time in my bedroom, listening to the likes of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull etc. and the motorbike certainly certainly achieved this, as I am about to relate.

One of my school friends had a similar machine, so we decided to make the most of the light evenings of early summer and explore some of the local country pubs. My friend had a head start on me, in this respect, as he had already been "dragged" round quite a few of them by his older brother. He was thus the ideal person to introduce a somewhat shy and introspective sixth former, as I then was, to the delights of some of south-east Kent's best country pubs.

We visited some superb pubs, a few grotty ones and some in between. What most of them had in common though was the fact that they still functioned as traditional pubs, acting as focal points for the communities they served. Most had separate public and saloon bars, the former particularly appealing to the pair of us, as we both were aspiring dart players. Beer was inevitably cheaper in the public bar, the furnishings fairly basic, with lino or tiled floors being the order of the day. The saloon bars, on the other hand, tended to be more comfortably furnished and were earmarked as places where one could take a girl to, should we be successful in asking one out!

Whilst not all the rural pubs we visited fitted the archetypal image of the unspoilt, traditional country alehouse, run by the same family for generations, complete with stone-flagged floors, scrubbed oak tables, high-backed, wooden settles, a simple serving hatch for a bar, behind which casks of beer are stillaged waiting to be drawn off by gravity, most of them existed as pubs which still served their original purpose, i.e.. to serve the local community. These days many have become upmarket restaurants or, worse still, closed altogether.

I have many happy memories of those pleasant summer evenings, spent riding out to local pubs. The territory we covered ranged from Romney Marsh (still home to a couple of real gems), through to the area of the North Downs between Ashford and Canterbury. I won't name the pubs, as they are unlikely to mean much to most readers. More to the point, many of them are either closed now, or altered out of all recognition. What seems remarkable now though is that as seventeen year olds we had no trouble getting served in these pubs. We were accepted by landlords and locals alike and, as I said earlier, happily took on some of the latter at darts, even though we invariably lost!

I look back on those days with a considerable amount of nostalgia. Life in general was much simpler then, with far less restrictions, rules and regulations. Landlords were free to police their own pubs, without interference from, or "sting operations" by the likes of trading standards officials or public health inspectors. Licensees were also much more free to run their own businesses as they saw fit, rather than as the owning brewery or pub company dictated to them. I belong to a generation that was lucky to have known this unspoilt world of pubs, even though it was soon to disappear. As they say, "those were the days!"

A Walk in the Country

2010-10-24T13:02:00.000-07:00

I spent a most enjoyable day out walking in the pleasant Kent countryside today, in the company of two friends and fellow CAMRA members. We walked out to a pub a little off the beaten track, and one that we don't often get the chance to visit. The pub in question was the Chafford Arms, in the small village of Fordcombe, roughly four miles from Tunbridge Wells.

It was from the latter town that we set off, shortly before midday, in the bright late October sunshine. Our walk took us up over Tunbridge Wells Common and then on into the suburb of Rusthall. From here our route took us across some undulating country, part patchwork fields and part woodland. We reached the pub around half one, having built up a bit of a thirst and also quite an appetite.

Things were somewhat different to when I last visited the Chafford. I'd walked there on that occasion, but that was back in June as part of the Wealdway Walk, and temperatures were in the low 30's. This time the weather was much more pleasant for walking, which probably explains why we made such good time in getting there.

The Chafford is unusual these days in still possessing a public bar. This was a bonus for walkers like ourselves, as it meant there was no need to remove our boots, (they weren't that muddy, but in a carpeted bar we would have felt obliged to take them off). The bar was fairly full, but most of the other diners were in the adjacent saloon, allowing us to grab a table without any difficulty. For drinks we had the choice of Larkins Traditional or Harvey's Best. My companions tried both, but I stuck to the low gravity (3.4%), but full-flavoured Larkins; surely the ideal lunchtime pint?

We enjoyed the home-cooked food served up in the pub; my fish pie being especially tasty and filling, but the main purpose of our visit was to present landlord Paul and landlady Jackie with their Licensee's Pack informing them that the Chafford Arms has been selected for, and is in, the 2011 Good Beer Guide. The couple were obviously pleased with the pub's inclusion, something that is in my opinion, well deserved.

We took a slightly longer route back to Tunbridge Wells; arriving in Rusthall just as the heavens opened. We decided there was time for a quick farewell pint, so headed down to the Pantiles area of town. We called in at the Sussex Arms where we were pleased to see Skinner's Betty Stoggs on sale. It made a good pint to end on before catching the train back to Tonbridge and home.

Even More Cheap Supermarket "Pong"

2010-10-21T12:29:00.000-07:00

Lidl's have done it again with their cheap bottled beer offers. I chanced upon their latest offers earlier this evening, when I picked my son up from the station after work.

First there were two offerings from Shep's, Tapping the Admiral and Dragonfire, both 4.0%. I'm glad I didn't buy the former, having read Beer Nut's rather unflattering review of the beer; but I did succumb to a bottle of the latter, purely out of curiosity as the label claims it is brewed from a blend of oats, rye and wheat, as well as malted barley. I haven't tried it yet, but will let you know what it's like when I have.

Also on offer were two beers from the Marstons stable; Burton Bitter and Banks' Bitter (both at £1.00 each), plus two from Wells & Youngs; Young's Bitter and Bombardier, (£1.19 each). I bought a couple of the Marston's group beers; at a pound each it was foolish not to. Presumably Shep's, Marstons plus Wells & Youngs must be subsidising these cut price deals, but I for one don't mind taking advantage of them from time to time.

London Drinker

2010-10-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

Whilst doing a bit of research for my recent trip round a few choice London pubs, I neglected a rather important source of information. The source was none other that that excellent bi-monthly publication, London Drinker.

I was reminded of this at the weekend, when a friend lent me a copy he'd picked up recently. As well as a good read, the magazine is packed with adverts from good real ale pubs, many of which sound worthy of a visit. For instance The Cask, close to Victoria Station, sounds well worth calling into as do the King William IV (Brodie's Brewery), the Pembury Tavern, the Red Lion (Isleworth) and the Old Coffee House.

The current edition also has a feature on German Beer Pubs in London. I wish I'd read this article prior to last week, as I learned that an establishment called Katzenjammers is situated just round the corner from Borough Market. I was in this vicinity last Thursday, drinking in both the Rake and the Market Porter. Had I known, I could have called into Katzenjammers and sampled some German beers as well!

The silly thing is I've got plenty of back issues of London Drinker at home; why didn't I think of consulting them?

ps. A certain well-known, and somewhat controversial free-house also has a large ad in the current edition. No prizes for guessing which pub it is!

More Cheap Supermarket "Pong"

2010-10-17T13:39:00.000-07:00

I popped into Lidl's over the weekend, primarily to stock up on a few bits and pieces. In case it hadn't escaped any one's notice, it's Halloween in a couple of weeks time. I know it's an unwelcome import from across the Atlantic, but unfortunately it looks set to stay, and every year there seems to be more and more ghoulish tat in the shops. Anyway, getting in the spirit of Halloween Lidl's were offering a couple of Wychwood beers, with a loose 31st October theme, at the bargain basement price of just £1.00 a bottle!

The prime contender for Halloween was the appropriately named Wychcraft, a blonde 4.5% abv beer said to be brewed from three different malts and three different hops, (the label doesn't state which varieties though!). Less obviously connected with Halloween was Wychwood's Goliath, a much darker 4.2% beer.

Both beers were pleasant enough, and of the two I much preferred the Wychcraft. Obviously Marstons are promoting, and heavily discounting both these beers. I don't want to get into the territory of minimum pricing, or other health-lobby sponsored nonsense, but what I will say is just because these beers are dirt cheap, and I bought a fair few of them, I haven't been sitting here getting sloshed or used them to "pre-load" before going out on the town! Alcohol Concern, and other similar busy-body do-gooders, please take note.

Last Week's London Crawl

2010-10-16T10:57:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday, I had my eagerly anticipated trip around a few London pubs. On the whole it lived up to my expectations, and even threw up the odd surprise. The beer quality was on the whole, good, and prices reasonable, but it was the pubs themselves that were the chief reason for this mini-pub crawl, and I'm pleased to report that none of them disappointed.

Seeing as I was starting out in Docklands (a Dental Show at the Excel Exhibition Hall), I followed Tyson's suggestion and started my crawl in Greenwich. Travelling via the DLR I alighted at Greenwich station and walked the short distance up Royal Hill to the Greenwich Union, my first port of call. The Union is owned by Meantime Brewery, an innovative and forward-thinking brewery founded and run by master brewer Alistair Hook. I have long been an admirer of Meantime's beers, and whilst it might not be CAMRA's favourite brewery (producing just a single cask-conditioned beer), it gets my vote for the sheer quality of both its continental-style beers, plus its authentic recreations of old, traditional English beer styles.

The first surprise, (not a surprise to anyone who knows the area), was that the Greenwich Union is next door to the Richard I, a Young's pub that I have rather fond memories of. The Richard I is also known as Tolly's, as many years ago it was owned by former Ipswich brewers, Tolly Cobbold. I didn't venture inside Tolly's; the sight through the window of two hand pumps dispensing Courage beers was enough to put me off (I know Well & Young acquired the brewing rights, but why they would want to promote the stuff in their own pubs is beyond me!).

I digress; Meantime beers were what I was after, that plus the chance to unwind after traipsing up and down the aisles at a very busy trade show. The Greenwich Union delivered on both counts, with some excellent beer, plus pleasant contemporary surroundings in which to sit and relax. I say the beer was excellent; most of them were, apart from the London Pale Ale, which was first one I tried. The pub had both keg and cask versions on tap. Being a CAMRA member, I opted for the latter and have to say it wasn't quite at its best. Possibly the Union doesn't sell a lot of cask, although having said that there was also Dark Star Hophead plus Ringwood Old Thumper on tap, or perhaps I was just unlucky, but afterwards I moved on to try a couple of Meantime's brewery-conditioned beers. Starting with the 4.4% Helles, a fine crisp and refreshing German-style lager, I moved on to Meantime's Oktoberfest Bier. According to the notice board, this beer is brewed in March, to a traditional recipe, and is then lagered until the autumn. The lengthy lagering period certainly made for a fine, smooth and at 5.6% abv, a well-balanced traditional Munich-style festbier.

I was tempted to linger, and sample a few more beers. The pub was comfortable, with some quality newspapers left out for customers to read. I liked the general ambiance of the place, with is light wood bar fittings and its long narrow stone-flagged bar leading out, via some french-windows, to a small garden at the rear, but there were other pubs to visit and it was time to move on.

From Greenwich station I caught an over-ground train to London Bridge. Alighting from the train and making my way through a Borough Market which was starting to run down for the evening, I found myself approaching the Rake. Now it's confession time; until this moment I'd never set foot inside this revered establishment. I'd walked past on a number of occasions, but it always seemed full to bursting. This time I could see un-occupied floor-space, so I nipped inside just behind a party of visiting Americans. Their slight indecision gave me time to peruse the bar, and the well-stocked chill cabinets behind. Deciding to stick with cask, I went for RCH Steam Fair Bitter, 4.5% abv, and very competitively priced, I thought, at £3.10 a pint. I've long been a fan of RCH beers and this seasonal special didn't disappoint, which is more than can be said of the second beer I tried; S.O.S from Pontypridd Brewery, a pale 4.8% beer that certainly seemed to be lacking something.

I sat out on the covered timber-decked area at the side of the pub, indulging in a spot of people watching, before walking the short distance to the Market Porter; a pub I often pop into when in this part of London. The place was absolutely heaving, and I had trouble in getting to the bar. It was worth it when I did as there were some cracking beers on sale. The Market Porter could be construed as something of a ticker's pub; certainly on the evening of my visit there were twelve ales on tap, but the large number of customers ensures that there is always a rapid turnover of the beers. One thing's for sure, I've never had a duff pint in the Market Porter.

To start, I opted for a pint of Saltaire Cascade Pale Ale which, as its name suggests, is an American-style pale at, brewed to a strength of 4.8% abv. I have enjoyed this beer before, and it tasted every bit as good as previously. After the Saltaire I spotted a Dark Star beer on sale. It was their Oktoberfest offering, but it was unlike any Oktoberfest beer I have ever sampled. It was brewed in the typical Dark Star style, ie. extremely well-hopped.

As I said earlier the Market Porter was busting at the seams. The pub seemed to have been extended since my last visit and tempted though I was to stay and sample more of its wares, I thought it was high time I grabbed something to eat. I re-traced my steps back to London Bridge and boarded a train to Charing Cross. I knew there were a couple of Sam Smith's pubs in the vicinity, and as well as selling cheap beer, they also offer value for money meals. I called in initially at the Chandos, just off Trafalgar Square, but it was almost as busy as the Market Porter. Instead I walked along the Strand a while, looking for the Lyceum Tavern. I was beginning to think it had closed until I eventually chanced upon it, and noticing a sign outside stating that food was served up until 8 o'clock, quickly climbed the stairs to the first floor bar. I managed to grab the one vacant table and ordered a meal at the bar alongside a pint of Old Brewery Bitter.

Served of course with a traditional tight Yorkshire head, Sam's always seems to have a slight sharpness lurking in the background. This is probably a characteristic of the house yeast, and at just £1.99 a pint I really couldn't complain. My meal was equally good value, coming in at just over £5.00 for chicken and mushroom pie, chips, veg and gravy. It was no gourmet meal, but was filling and tasty enough, and certainly acted as blotting paper to soak up some of the surplus alcohol.

I left the Lyceum Tavern feeling full and well satisfied. On my way back to Charing Cross I walked past the Coal Hole, another London pub I used to frequent. The board outside advertised several interesting ales including Ghost Ship, the new beer from Adnams, plus at least one offering from Thornbridge. I resisted the temptation to call in, as by this time I knew I'd had enough after what had been an interesting and most enjoyable visit to the capital.

Cheap Supermarket "Pong"?

2010-10-11T05:44:00.000-07:00

Cooking Lager, in his humorous and highly enjoyable blog, has made much of the virtues of cheap supermarket lout. Whilst not adverse to the odd drop of properly brewed Czech or German "lager", as opposed to the mass-marketed "international brands", I find myself agreeing with some of his sentiments, especially that of price. Both lout drinkers and "pong" drinkers (as Cookie would call us ale lovers), are increasingly being priced out of pubs by high prices. Just the other evening I was paying £3.30 - £3.40 for a pretty average pint of beer, and whilst I am reasonably well paid, I certainly could not afford to keep up that level of spending by visiting the pub on a nightly basis (however much I might like to!), given other commitments, such as mortgage, council tax, utility bills etc.

The answer for me, like Cookie therefore is to do much of my drinking at home. (I find sitting in front of my computer, with a glass of beer, helps my creativity). However, unlike our canned lout lover, my drink of preference at home is invariably bottled ale. With some judicious shopping around it is quite possible to pick up bottled ales at knockdown prices. Call it Cheap Supermarket "Pong" if you like, but at the sort of prices that can be found, it's hard to resist the temptation on the supermarket shelves. For those who would like to take advantage of these offers, here is a guide to some of the bargains currently available.

Iceland - Brakspears Bitter - 2 bottles for £2.00
Lidl - Brains SA - £1.19 per bottle
- also seen in Lidl's recently Youngs Bitter (BCA) £1.19; Marstons Pedigree £1.00, plus regular promotions on Hobgoblin and Shepherd Neame bottled beers.

Locally we have both Sainsbury's and Waitrose. Both run regular two bottles for £3.oo promotions. Amongst others Sainsbury's currently have Fullers ESB, Pilsner Urquell and Guinness Foreign Extra Stout on promotion at the above price.

Also on promotion, and definitely worth sampling, is the new Sainsbury's Taste the Difference IPA, which is currently on offer at just £1.26 a bottle. This is a fine example of a traditional IPA. Brewed by Marstons, at an abv of 5.9%, this beer is perhaps a little less hopped than their Old Empire, but is still a fine, well-balanced, and well-crafted ale.

Once I get my home-brewing back up and running, things could change, but for the moment I'm enjoying some of the bargain ales (and the odd Pilsner) on offer at our local supermarkets, and saving money in the process.

ps. I know I should be supporting pubs wherever possible, and I haven't forsaken them completely. I attend regular CAMRA socials and still go out for the odd drink, or two, with friends and family. As many of you know, I also like to travel abroad in search of good beer, and the money to pay for these trips has to come from somewhere. Given the dearth of decent pubs locally, I would rather put the money saved towards drinking somewhere (and something) half-decent, be it home or away!

London Drinking

2010-10-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

There's been quite a lot of posting recently on various Blogs, Tandleman's and Curmudgeon's in particular, about drinking in the capital's pubs. Thirty years or so ago, I might have felt qualified to comment on the London pub scene as I lived and worked there for a few years. Nowadays, although it is only a 40 minute train journey from where I live, unless there is a specific reason I don't tend to visit London as much as I once did. It's not that I don't like the place, or its pubs, it's just that whilst London is easy to get to, the £11.20 return train fare does mean that a trip needs a bit of forward planning, and possibly combined with an activity such as shopping, visit to a museum or art gallery, to make the cost of the rail fare worth while.

This coming Thursday I am planning to attend a trade fare in London Docklands, through work, which will mean of course that the company will pay my rail fare for the day. In the evening though, I will be free to visit the odd hostelry or two and this time I intend to try a few new ones, rather than my usual habit of sticking to old favourites. I probably won't be relying on the Good Beer Guide in making my selections, (I haven't bought the new edition yet!), but instead will make my decision based on recent blog comments combined with my natural instinct for hunting down a good pub.

l will of course report on my findings, but in the meantime if anyone wants to recommend a few "must visit" pubs, then by all means please go ahead.

An Evening in the Sticks

2010-10-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

It was a low turnout at Wednesday's CAMRA social, with just four of us making the trip out to Marden, (correction three of us; the other member lives in the village!). It was shame really, as those of us who did make it there found both pubs in the village to be thriving.

For those not in the know, Marden is a typical Kentish village, situated in the flat, low-lying part of the Weald in between the Greensand Ridge to the north and the High Weald to the south. For me it is easily reached by train, being just two stops down the line from Tonbridge. However, although I have passed through Marden station dozens of times during the course of a life lived in this part of Kent, it is probably only the third time I have ever visited the village itself. Like several other villages on the Kent Coast main-line, Marden is a popular place for commuters to live. However, on alighting from the train and walking the short distance into the village, I was pleasantly surprised to see evidence of a thriving local community, with several shops, a fish and chip shop, plus an Indian restaurant. The latter though is a former pub which I believe was called the Chequers. There also used to be a further pub in the village called the Rose & Crown, which closed as long ago as the early 1980's.

There are still two pubs in the centre of Marden though, and we called in at both on our visit the other night. First stop was the Unicorn, a handsome white-painted building that still shows evidence of its two former bars. Harvey's Best plus Sheps Master Brew were on offer as the regular beers, with Wychwood Hobgoblin as guest ale. I opted for the Harvey's; those who read this blog regularly will know I am no fan of Shep's, and I have to say I am not keen on Hobgoblin either. To me the beer contains too much roast malt to be a bitter, and nowhere near enough to be a stout! Enough said; it may be a bit of a cult beer for some, but it just leaves me cold. There was a lively crowd sat at the bar, plus a few diners enjoying what looked like some well-presented food. For a foggy and slightly damp Wednesday evening it was good to see the place looking busy.

I only stopped for one in the Unicorn, as I wanted to meet up with my friends whom I knew were eating first in Marden's other pub, the West End Tavern. I re-traced my steps past the small, but attractive church and back past the station, and entered the aforementioned West End Tavern. It's a good job I'm relatively short as I would have had trouble scraping my head on the low-beamed ceiling! If I thought the Unicorn was doing ok, then the West End Tavern was doing doubly so. Two of my friends had taken advantage of the two meals for £10 deal that the pub was offering and, judging by the number of people eating, plenty of other diners had done so as well! Beer-wise there was Harvey's Best, Shep's Spitfire and Westerham Finchcocks on sale. I stuck with the Harvey's which was in fine form.

I didn't stay all that long as I wanted to make sure I caught the second to last train home. I was the only soul standing on the cold and lonely station platform, and I was relieved when I could see the lights of the approaching train. I sometimes think it is good to visit places one wouldn't normally think of going to, especially when they are as easy to get to as Marden is from here. It was also good to visit a couple of new pubs, although I have a sneaky suspicion I have been in the West End Tavern many moons ago.

What was even better was to see two pubs thriving on an otherwise dull and dismal autumn night. Although situated in an obviously affluent area, it would still seem that these two hostelries are doing something right and bucking the trend. To me both seemed like pubs used to be, and by that I mean "pubby pubs". Both had a cosy and comfortable feel to them. There was no unnecessary intrusions like Sky Sports shoved in you face, and whilst there was music playing in the Unicorn, it was low volume and in the background. If I lived in the village I would feel quite at home drinking in either and that, to me, is the ultimate test of a good pub!

The Death of the English Pub

2010-10-05T05:48:00.000-07:00

Older readers may remember a book entitled "The Death of The English Pub". It was published back in 1973 and its author was a young journalist called Christopher Hutt. Mr Hutt later went on to become chairman of CAMRA, before launching CAMRA (Real Ale Investments), which was a small chain of pubs run along lines in sympathy with CAMRA's aims. Eventually he launched his own chain of pubs, but that's a different story.

"The Death of The English Pub" was a very hard-hitting look at what was occurring in the pub trade back in the early 1970's, and was full of dire predictions as to what might happen to the traditional English pub that we all knew and loved. I first saw the book on sale in the university bookshop, during my first year at Salford University. Despite the cover price of 75p (quite a sum for a student, back in the days when beer was around 12p a pint!) I purchased a copy and was glad I did. I was just starting to take an interest in different beers and pubs, and found the book to be compulsive reading. Now, nearly 40 years on it is worth taking a look back at some of the criticisms levelled at the pub trade, by Hutt, and examining their relevance today.

After a brief, introductory chapter, explaining the reasons for writing the book, the following three chapters of Hutt's critique are all about beer. Starting with The Quality of Beer, he focuses on the disappearance of traditional draught beer, and its replacement with nationally advertised keg brands; something that was common-place back in the early 70's. He argues that this was a move foisted upon drinkers, by the major brewers in an attempt to increase profits. The brewers argued that they were merely responding to public demand and, to be fair, no mention was made of the circumstances that had originally led to the introduction of keg.

I don't remember those days myself, but I have read much about the often poor quality of cask-conditioned ale during the early 1960's, caused largely, but not exclusively, by poor cellarmanship. Keg at least provided a consistent product that was very difficult to "mess up"; it's main drawbacks being blandness, served too cold and definitely too gassy.

Beer features again in the following chapter; this time it's The Strength of Beer that's being looked at. This is not an issue today, as the strength of all alcoholic drinks is quite clearly displayed, whether on the bottle label, or at the point of dispense. Back in the early 70's though, virtually all brewers were extremely secretive about the strength of their products. Hutt was able to demonstrate how some brewers were slowly reducing the strength of their beer, and thereby paying less duty, without passing on these savings to the drinker. This still goes on, as I can think of several well known beers that have been reduced in strength in recent years. The difference nowadays though is that the abv, is shown on the pump-clip or bottle, so anyone paying attention should in theory notice. In practice, most people don't and, as before, any duty saving made by the brewers are not usually passed on to the consumer.

The next chapter is all about The Choice of Beer, and goes on to describe how the choice of beers offered to drinkers was being dramatically cut, especially in those pub owned by the larger brewers. Examples cited, included those of Watneys, who had withdrawn locally-brewed Sussex Bitter from pubs in their Sussex estate, and replaced it with national brands such as Special and Starlight, plus Courage who were replacing locally-brewed Ordinary Bitter from much of their Bristol estate, in favour of a new beer, called "Full-Brew". The aforementioned Sussex Bitter was originally a hybrid brew, introduced by Watneys following their takeover of a number of local breweries during the late 1950's, and following another series of takeovers in Norfolk, the company was doing the same thing there with Norwich Bitter. The chapter ends by reproducing a list of 12 London Breweries that existed as late as 1951, but which were no longer brewing. Again this was used as an example of how the choice of beer, even in the nation's capital, had been dramatically reduced.

The next chapter details the then Big Six Brewers; Allied Breweries, Bass Charrington, Courage, Scottish & Newcastle, Watney Mann and Whitbread, and describes their rise to national prominence during the 1960's. This, of course was largely achieved by takeovers of smaller, local breweries, and mergers between some of the larger regional ones. The resulting brewery closure programme and consequential loss of favourite local beers is well chronicled, as are the "economies of scale" which many of the new brewing giants achieved by constructing a few mega-breweries close to the motorway network for the production of, and distribution from, of a few national, and heavily promoted keg brands.

The fifth chapter is about some of the remaining Independent Brewers, and the sharp contrast between how they do business compared to the activities of the Big Six, chronicled in the previous chapter. Hutt writes about Youngs, Theakstons, Northern Clubs Federation Brewery, Adnams and Boddingtons, detailing the David versus Goliath struggle by the latter company when they successfully fought off an unwelcome take-over bid from national giant, Allied Breweries. The main theme that emerges with all the examples he lists is their willingness to listen and respond to genuine (rather then perceived) customer demand, the way they treat their tenants and staff, and the fact they brew beer suited to local tastes and palates.

The sixth chapter, entitled Notice to Quit, exposes the replacing of successful pub tenants with salaried, brewery-appointed managers. This practice was quite prevalent at the time, and was especially common with some of the larger brewery companies, such as Bass Charrington and Watneys. This policy allowed the owning brewery to take what would have been the tenant's cut of the profits, as well as their own, and it was no coincidence that the pubs targeted for being switched to management were generally the most successful ones. These were pubs where the tenant had worked hard over the years to build up a thriving trade and a flourishing business. In effect, successful licensees were being penalised for their very success; something that was unheard of in other businesses.

The next chapter concentrated on the assault on the pub, where perfectly fine, traditional pubs were being converted into grotesque "theme" pubs, tarted up or otherwise generally knocked about in the so-called name of progress. Entitled The Blitz on the Pub, Hutt goes on to describe the treatment dished out to numerous pubs as a result of insensitive, and totally unnecessary conversions. Of course, things have moved on since then, with many pubs suffering far worse than some of the examples described in the book.

The eighth chapter relates the sorry tale of The Dry Villages, and centres on the notorious pub closure programme inflicted on East Anglia, and Norfolk in particular, by Watney Mann. This came about after Watneys had swallowed most of the local breweries in Norfolk, effectively handing them a monopoly over the county's pubs. Unfortunately the pub closure programme has accelerated in recent years, not as a result of the late, and unlamented Watney Mann's activities, but more a result of the policies of their successors - the Pub-Owning Companies, plus other factors like the smoking ban. In addition, pub closures are not now confined purely to rural areas either.

I will gloss over the penultimate chapter, as much of it is largely irrelevant to today's reader. It is titled Pubs and the Politicians, and details the findings of various commissions who had looked into the operation of the licensed trade in the run-up to the book's publication. Back then, there was no such thing as all day opening, and pub hours were still bound by restrictions originally brought in during the First World War. It seems incredible now that people were worried about the effect that liberalising these draconian measures would have on the pub trade, with many claiming all day opening would have a negative effect on the all important "atmosphere" of a pub.

The final chapter, titled Through a Glass Darkly, is a somewhat jaundiced view of what could happen to the pub trade if things continued along the same path. Few, if any of Hutt's dire predictions have come to pass, but then how could he possibly have foreseen the horror of such things as Sky Sports, Karaoke or, the dreaded smoking ban?

I apologise for such a lengthy article, but it is well worth dissecting this ground-breaking work and looking at it in detail. It shows that even 40 years ago, people were concerned with what was happening to both pubs and beer, and were prepared to stand up and do something about it. If you ever come across a copy of this excellent book, then do yourselves a favour and buy it. Hopefully I have whetted your appetites for the book's contents, rather than giving too much away. Once you start turning the pages I'm certain you will find it a most interesting read, just as I did all those years ago.

ps. This link from the Daily Telegraph explores much the same theme.

The End of Pub Going - A Personal Perspective

2010-10-04T05:44:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot written recently about the decline of the pub trade and the seemingly endless downward spiral much of the industry has got itself into. Curmudgeon wrote an excellent article a few weeks back describing the late 1970's as the peak of the pub's existence (both in terms of respectability and numbers of regular pub-goers), but since then it's been a slow, but steady downhill decline. From a personal point of view I feel partly responsible, albeit in a very small way, for this decline for it was in the mid-1980's that my pub going started to tail off.

Like Curmudgeon, I started drinking in the early to mid 1970's and for me, as with most of my friends and acquaintances, regular trips to the pub were a way of life. It was what everyone did, and it seemed an entirely normal thing to do. It would be an unusual occurrence for me not to call in to a pub on a weekday evening, and totally unheard of over a weekend. There would also be the odd lunchtime visit as well, back in the days when nipping out to the pub during one's lunchtime was not frowned on, or indeed expressly forbidden.

Things started to change for me late 1984 when I moved in with the lady who is now my wife. Eileen wasn't much of a drinker back then, whilst today she is virtually teetotal. It wasn't so much she minded me drinking, it was more a case of her preferring me to drink at home in her company, rather than clearing off to the pub to drink in other peoples'. This wasn't much of a problem back then as we lived within walking distance of an excellent off-licence that sold draught ale to take away by the pint. This was the very same off-licence that we ended up owning and running ourselves during the first half of this decade. Two or three pints of take-home draught beer a night, drank in the comfort of my own home, at least saw me supporting family and micro-brewers, even if I wasn't drinking the stuff in the pub.

All this didn't totally preclude visits to houses of refreshment. Sunday lunchtime was one session I rarely missed, and for several years I was a regular in a well-known Tonbridge free-house. Things changed though with the birth of our son, but also with a change of owners at the pub. I had less spare time, (and less spare cash), and with new owners behind the bar, my former local didn't seem the same either. To round off a year of change, the company I was working for shifted its production capacity from Tunbridge Wells to Lewes as the result of a takeover. I was now faced with either a 60 mile round trip each day, or looking for a new job.

I chose the former option whilst working on the latter. As things turned out I spent nearly four years making the tedious journey each day, by road, to Lewes and back. Working in Lewes though had its compensations in the form of Harvey's excellent Brewery Shop. For a knockdown price one could (and still can), purchase draught beer to take away. I became a regular at the Harvey's shop, calling in several times a week to re-fill my jug. Best Bitter, Armada and Old Ale in season were the staple beers, supplemented with the odd bottle or two from the Harvey's range.

Throughout this time I remained a member of CAMRA, and tried, wherever possible to attend branch socials. I was therefore still fairly au fait with the local beer scene, even if I wasn't drinking in the pubs that much. Following a further change of owners, I left my job in Lewes and managed to secure employment locally in Tonbridge. By this time I had commenced home-brewing; an activity I became quite adept at, producing a wide range of full-mash brews. At one stage I was brewing every 4-5 weeks and had a constant supply of tasty and well-crafted, home-brewed beers on tap.

Just under 10 years ago, my wife and I acquired the aforementioned Real Ale Off-Licence in Tonbridge. This was a fortuitous move for me and followed on from the voluntary liquidation of my then employer. As well as running a busy shop, I ended up being responsible for the keeping and serving of a range of cask-conditioned beers. We alternated between Harvey's and Larkins as our regular beers, supplemented by a couple of guest beers at weekends. I tried, wherever possible, to introduce our customers to beers that were interesting, well-crafted and full of character, and during winter weekends especially, I endeavoured to always have a dark ale, such as porter or old ale on tap.

The shop was virtually a 24-7 occupation, and with the cellar work on top of all the other necessary tasks it was a rare evening that saw me home much before half ten. As my wife would say though, "there's no point in having a dog and barking yourself", so most evenings I would bring home a couple of pints of draught to enjoy whilst sitting down and unwinding. The home-brewing had of necessity, long ceased, but this didn't matter given my access to a well-stocked beer cellar. The real downside though was precious little free time, and certainly no time at all for regular pub visits.

Now, having sold the business and back in the land of paid employment, whilst I have a fair amount of free time in which to renew my acquaintance with local pubs, I find it difficult to get back into the habit. It's not just me that has changed though over the past quarter of a century; pubs themselves have altered out of all recognition. The trend for knocking down dividing walls, whilst starting to take place 25 years ago, has continued to gather pace, so that today many pubs are nothing more than soulless, single room "drinking barns". Even worse is the more or less universal assault on ones ear-drums from juke boxes, piped muzak or, horror of horrors, karaoke! Many of today's landlords also seem to think their customers want a regular diet of Sky Sports, and many once unspoilt locals now resemble American bars where there is no escape from the all pervasive TV screens, or the morons wearing football shirts! Beer prices seem to have gone through the roof as well, with £3 being the average price of a pint locally.

Things have got to the stage where apart from the odd CAMRA social, or night out with friends, I now prefer to drink at home, and I'm sure I am not alone in this - as witnessed by the fall-off in people who visit pubs, or the number of pubs that have called "last orders" for the last time!

Perhaps my somewhat jaded views are influenced by the lack of decent pubs in my home town. There are some good ones a bit further afield in Tunbridge Wells for example, and there are still some relatively unspoilt rural gems in some of the surrounding villages. However, many of these pubs are forced to rely more and more on the food trade, given the hostility of the local gendarmes towards any driver who has so much as sniffed the barmaid's apron, and whilst they are fine to visit during daylight hours, particularly when combined with an invigorating walk in the countryside, they are not exactly "just around the corner"!

I was only joking when, at the beginning of this post I said I felt partly responsible for the decline of the pub trade. The trouble is there have probably been many hundreds, if not thousands of people who, like myself, stopped visiting pubs on a regular basis either for similar or for totally un-related reasons. As their customer base began to shrink, pubs tried to adapt in all sorts of unsuitable ways. The end result was even less people visiting their local - people like me who would have drifted back had there been something to go back for.

I don't know what the answer is, but if I had the means I might just be prepared to put my money where my mouth is and have a go at running a traditional, good old-fashioned, proper English pub!

Luck of the Draw

2010-09-26T13:55:00.000-07:00

As several of you will know I've recently returned from a short break completing the Wealdway walk down in deepest Sussex. As well as enjoying some pleasant and unspoilt countryside we visited some excellent pubs. However the word "excellent" could not always be applied to the beers we sampled, many of which were tired and past their best. On several occasions I seemed to end up with the last pint out of the barrel; my friend's pint was alright but mine definitely wasn't!

You could say that this was just luck of the draw, and to a large extent it was, but there is no excuse for the tired and over-aged beer we were served in a number of establishments. One such pub, all flower be-decked and in a picture post-card setting seemed far more interested in the food trade, even though it still two separate bars. Another pub, listed in the Good Beer Guide no-less, was obviously doing something wrong in the cellar, as despite changing two of the casks whilst we were there, the fresh ones didn't taste particularly fresh! We were chatting to the bar-staff and they told us how they religiously cleaned the lines every week, and also pulled clean water through in between changing casks (we saw then doing this). Something though had allowed the beer to become tired and un-interesting, and I suspect insufficient use of a hard spile was the prime cause.

It was a shame in the latter case, as the staff were obviously keen to serve up a decent pint and to do things right. My friend thought I was being a bit fussy and at one stage I was almost beginning to doubt my own judgement, but at the end of the day it's what was in the glass that counted. Back in the days when breweries maintained large tied estates teams from the brewery's cellar department would visit the company's pubs to instruct staff in how to look after beer properly and how to serve up the perfect pint. With a few exceptions this just doesn't happen nowadays. although the role played by Cask Marque in improving the condition of the nation's beer has to be applauded.

I won't go so far to say that the poor quality of much of the beer I drank spoiled the holiday, but it certainly took the shine off things. It wasn't as though the pubs in question were quiet either; most seemed to be doing a reasonable trade. It just seemed to be a combination of ineptitude or just plain lack of training that prevented me from receiving the perfect pint on a number of occasions.

I'm certain that I'm not alone in experiencing beer that isn't quite bad enough to send back, but at the same time isn't exactly an enjoyable experience either. When one is paying £3 and upwards for a pint, one expects better!

First of the Season's Old

2010-09-26T10:13:00.000-07:00

In a Harvey's pub in Eastbourne yesterday, at the end of our Wealdway walk, my friend and I were surprised to be told by the barmaid that Harvey's Old was on sale. This rich, dark winter beer has always been one of my favourites, and its appearance on the bar each year is always a welcome sight. However, Old is not normally seen until the beginning of October, so finding it on sale a week or so earlier, was a welcome bonus.

The pub we were in was no ordinary one, but was nothing less than the Lamb; by far and away the oldest pub in Eastbourne, and Harvey's show pub to boot. I had wanted to visit this pub for as long as I can remember, but on previous trips to Eastbourne there had either been insufficient time, or other commitments had prevented me from doing so. As I mentioned earlier, the Lamb is the oldest pub in Eastbourne, with parts dating back to the late 12th Century. Inside there are two traditional bars, plus an additional seating area leading off to the side. As befits a building of this age, there are plenty of exposed old beams, all genuine, plus a couple of ancient stone fireplaces. There is also an old, brick-lined and very deep well, now covered with a thick sheet of perspex. The Lamb is situated in the old part of Eastbourne, away from the more modern developments along the seafront. It stands next to the equally ancient St Mary's church, and is well worth a visit if you are ever in the area.

As for the Harvey's Old, it was in top form and one pint was definitely not enough! I look forward to many more over the coming months.

A Day in the Darenth Valley

2010-09-18T13:13:00.000-07:00

I've not long returned from an excellent day out walking in the picturesque Darenth Valley; a day that saw us taking in a number of pubs, as well as enjoying the Kent countryside at its early autumn best.

Five of us met at Eynsford station and then, after descending down into the village and crossing the ancient stone bridge over the crystal clear waters of the River Darenth, headed off on a circular walk of just over five miles duration. We couldn't have chosen a better day for it, as with blue skies and almost wall to wall sunshine, it was the perfect day for exploring this hidden yet scenic corner of Kent. Our walk took us to the top of the other side of the valley, before descending once more and following the Darenth along its course back towards Eynsford.

By the time we arrived back in the village we were both thirsty and hungry, so made our way to the Malt Shovel where we were able to satisfy both of these needs. Harvey's Best, Young's Gold plus the dreaded Sharp's Doom Bar were the beers on offer. I opted for the Young's; the Gold being a new one on me. This proved to be a good lunchtime pint, pale golden in colour, as its name suggests, with a good hop bite to match. The beer proved the perfect accompaniment to the steak and ale pie I'd ordered and after having eaten and drank our fill it was time to move on.

Our next port of call was the Five Bells, just along the road. This was probably the most attractive, and traditional of the pubs we visited, especially as it effectively still had two bars. There was an impressive display of pump clips above the bar, but we must have caught the pub on an off-day as there was only Young's Bitter on offer; the Harvey's having recently sold out. Still, it was good to sit in this thriving village local which was much more a drinkers' pub than the somewhat food-oriented Malt Shovel.

A number of our party departed at this point; two of them heading off on holiday to the West Country. Against my better judgement I was persuaded by my two remaining companions to visit the Shep's pub just up the road. The Castle was pleasant enough inside, having had a bit of a contemporary makeover, but the only cask ale on offer, Shep's Late Red, proved to be undrinkable. The landlady replaced the beer with Master Brew which although not off, was bland in the extreme. I was glad I'd only ordered a half, but even so I ended up giving most of it to one of my friends. I really don't know what Shep's are doing with their beers these days, but without wishing to say "told you so!", I felt vindicated in not wanting to step inside a Shep's house in the first place.

There is one more pub in Eynsford, the Plough, situated back across the river, over-looking the ancient bridge and even older ford. We had passed there earlier in the day, when setting out on our walk. The front of the pub looked given over to dining, so we tried round the side instead. The Plough has been considerably enlarged from what must have been the original building, and on the outside at least, everything appeared to have been painted grey. Inside, things seemed to be on two levels. We asked where the bar was and were told it was to our left. One of my friend spotted a hand pump dispensing the dreaded Doom Bar; I thought I'd spotted a fount dispensing Pilsner Urquell! The techno-jazz-funk muzak emanating from the speakers was very off-putting though, and probably accounted for why most of the bright young things were sitting outside, sipping their glasses of chilled white wine, with the bottles keeping cool in their ice-buckets. Despite the presence of Pilzn's finest I was out-voted by my companions who wanted to move on.

We walked back up to the station, and travelled just two stops down the line to Otford, another picturesque village that, like both Eynsford and nearby Shoreham is home to four pubs. We visited two of them. The Bull is a Chef & Brewer outlet (not my favourite chain), but the pub itself is an interesting old building, parts of which date back to Tudor times. As it was a nice day we sat out in the garden at the rear of the pub enjoying some well kept Adnams Bitter, before moving on to another of Otford's pubs.

The Crown is a genuine free house, boasting two inter-connected bars and a wealth of old beams. The pub also hosts regular live music evenings. Harvey's Best was on sale alongside a House Beer brewed by Westerham Brewery. In addition there were two guest beers; Woodfordes Wherry and Hepworths Summer Ale. I sampled the Westerham offering plus the Hepworths, both of which were very good. We sat on the small terrace at the front of the pub soaking up the mid-September sunshine whilst watching the traffic negotiating the nearby roundabout which, incidentally, must be one of the few roundabouts in the country with its own duckpond in the middle!

Eventually and somewhat reluctantly, we decided it was time to go. A short walk back to the station, followed by a train ride back to Sevenoaks, where we were able to change trains and continue with our journey home, saw the end of what had been a most enjoyable day out. The Darenth Valley isn't all that far away from London and yet it is a world apart from the bustling metropolis. If you ever find yourself in the vicinity do take the opportunity of spending a bit of time there. It is well worth it.

Beer Gardens Re-Visited

2010-09-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

Several weeks back I wrote a piece that asked the question "Would Bavarian-style beer gardens work here in the UK?" Despite my arguing strongly in their favour, the general consensus seemed to be that the concept would not work here. The main reason against the idea seemed to be the vagaries of the British climate, which doesn't exactly guarantee wall-to-wall sunshine. Another major point against the concept though seemed to be the inability of a small, but significantly vocal section of the drinking public to behave in a decent manner after they've had a few beers. Anyone that has been to Germany and drank in the beer gardens there, will know they are civilised, family oriented places, where drunkenness and loud, lurid behaviour just isn't tolerated.

Despite all this I still believe the concept could work here, and it seems I am not alone. Not only that, but someone has had the courage to put the idea into practice. I chanced upon this brave venture whilst trolling through various Beer Blogs. On Boak & Bailey's site, which I always find an interesting and entertaining read, I came across this post about a Bavarian-style beer garden in Richmond of all places.

The place is called Stein's, not the most imaginative name I know, but check it out by clicking on this link. The beer range appears to be confined to Paulaner Helles, plus a light and a dark Weiss Bier from Erdinger, but the menu looks authentically Bavarian. Stein's has been open since 2004, so presumably it must be doing something right. The website states that there is a large ex-pat German community in the area, so this may have something to do with the garden's popularity, but it is encouraging to see that someone has made the concept work successfully over here.

With autumn fast approaching it is unlikely I'll get the chance to visit Stein's before the bad weather sets in. Come the spring though I'm determined to give the place a try, but in the meantime if anyone else gets the opportunity to pop in, then do please let me know.

All Quiet on the Beer Front

2010-09-11T13:23:00.000-07:00

Not a lot to blog about at the moment as, apart from last Monday's CAMRA committee meeting, I haven't really been anywhere. I've been busy again on the home front, pouring the concrete foundations for a garden wall last week, and making a start on laying the blocks this weekend.

I've also been on a bit of a "save it" campaign as well, as not only does ballast, sand and cement etc. not come cheap, but I'm due a visit to the opticians tomorrow, and new spectacles definitely don't come cheap either! On top of this, in just over ten days time I'm off with my friend and walking companion Eric, to complete the last section of the Wealdway long distance footpath.

Still Lidl's came to the rescue last week, so far as beer is concerned. The store was knocking out various bottles from the Sheps and Marstons ranges for just £1.00 each. Most of you will know I am not a fan of Sheps, and Hobgoblin doesn't float my boat either. However, bottled Pedigree at a quid a time is not to be sniffed at, and the higher strength of the bottled version makes it stand head and shoulders above its draught counterpart. Needless to say I invested in quite a few bottles before the price went back up this weekend. (You have your cheap lager, Cookie, I have my cheap "pong"!)

There's a treat or two in store in the fridge though. Sainsbury's are selling bottles of Fullers Bengal Lancer at two for £3.00, so I'm looking forward to trying one of them in a minute. I've also still got a bottle of Schlenkerla Rauchbier chilling; the last of several that I brought back from Bamberg earlier in the summer.

Next weekend there's a ramble organised by our local CAMRA branch, starting from the picturesque village of Eynsford in the Darenth Valley. This will be relatively new territory for me, as whilst I know Shoreham (the neighboring village) quite well, I am not at all familiar with Eynsford and its four pubs. It therefore promises to be an interesting and fruitful day out, as well as useful training for the much longer walk the following week.

Back to the present, and Bengal Lancer is, I am happy to report, a most excellent beer, and a good interpretation by Fullers of an Indian Pale Ale. At 5.3% abv, and bottle-conditioned as well, it still has that touch of "Cooper's Orange Marmalade", which is Fuller's signature "house-style", but is none the worse for that. I may have to invest in another couple of bottles tomorrow!

Halfway to Paradise

2010-08-30T12:37:00.000-07:00

After a week of wind and rain, Saturday dawned clear and bright. It was still a bit windy, but a least the sun was shining and, what's more, there was a beer festival to attend. I have posted before about the Halfway House at Brenchley, and its beer festival, but the day in general, and the event in particular, were both excellent so I am going to write about them both again.

Five of us set out to walk from Paddock Wood station following a by now familiar and well-trodden route, climbing up through apple orchards, with the odd plantation of pears thrown in for good measure. We were rewarded with several impressive views across the Weald towards the Greensand Ridge and the North Downs, before dropping down into Brenchley and the Halfway House.

When we arrived the festival was in full swing, and we were greeted by other local CAMRA members and friends who had either walked from a different direction, or who had travelled by bus. We grabbed a table outside in the extensive garden and then got stuck into the impressive range of beers that landlord. Richard Allen had laid on. According to the programme there were 75 beers in total, although not all were available at any given time. Even so there were plenty to choose from, and plenty to please even the most discerning of palates.

The beer had been carefully selected by Dave Aucutt of East-West Ales, and Dave joined us on our table for a while. We had an interesting discussion about SIBA, breweries and the state of the industry in general, and Dave recommended a number of beers to try. I have to take my hat off to him for one recommendation in particular; namely Highland Dark Munro, an absolutely stunning dark ale, with just the right balance of roasted malts and hop bitterness, and a worthy past Champion Beer of Scotland. Other beers that impressed me were Harvest Pale from Castle Rock, which was Champion Beer of Britain at this year's GBBF, plus Elland Nettlethrasher. I also particularly enjoyed Hawkshead Bitter and Loddon Bamboozle.

As I said at the beginning of this piece, we were lucky with the weather which stayed dry right until the time we left. There was a fantastic atmosphere about the place, with a good mix of people all enjoying the beer, the sunshine, the barbecue plus each other's company. There was something quintessentially English about the festival set in this extensive pub garden surrounded by some attractive rural scenery. For me, and I'm sure many others, it formed the perfect end to what has been a really good summer.

We left some time after seven, walking back to Paddock Wood by a slightly shorter route across an abandoned golf course. Like with the outward journey, we have walked this route several times, and each time have noticed how nature is slowly, but surely taking over what was once a carefully manicured and artificial landscape. We had the odd light shower on the way back, but nothing worth stopping and putting our rain-coats on for. A bag of chips, smothered in salt and vinegar bought in Paddock Wood, and ate on the way to the station, was just right after our walk, and formed a fitting end to what had been an excellent day out. Yet again Richard had come up trumps with a beer festival that just seems to get better each time. Long may they continue!

Hoping for an Indian Summer

2010-08-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I posted an article about what a good summer it's been. Well that proved to be the kiss of death, as ever since the weather's gone steadily downhill, culminating in last weekend's heavy rain and strong winds. The only plus factor is the rain has at last managed to soak into the ground and it's no longer like concrete. This has at least allowed me to dig a trench for a small retaining wall I am planning to construct in the garden.

The weather also hasn't been that conducive to beer drinking. Those warm balmy evenings we spent sitting out in Spezial and Wilde Rose Bier Kellers back in Bamberg, now seem a distant memory, even though it was only six weeks ago. Hopefully the recent poor weather is only a temporary blip and normal service will soon be resumed.

At home, on the beer front, our local Lidl's was selling botttles of Young's Bitter for just £1.19 each. At such a bargain price I just had to grab a few bottles, and was pleasantly surprised to see that this is a bottle-conditioned beer. At 4.5% it's nothing like what I remember Young's Bitter tasting like, but it's a well-hopped, amber coloured beer that drinks well, despite there being precious little evidence of bottle-conditioning ie. virtually no sediment at the bottom of the bottle.

I also enjoyed a bottle of Hook Norton Gold the other night. I think my beloved bought it in Sainsburys; if so I will have to go and buy a few more, as it was an excellent 4.2% beer, gold in colour, as its name suggests and according to the blurb on the back of the bottle it is "a pale, delicately fruity and refreshing, moderately bitter with a spicy and noble aroma." It is also the first Hook Norton beer brewed using American Willamette hops. The above description doesn't really do it justice, but do try a bottle if you come across it

My faith in decent beer was further restored last Sunday when I called into our local JDW outlet and spotted two W.J.King & Co beers on sale. Summer Ale is an old favourite, whilst their new 5.2% IPA proved to be a fine example of the style, and everything a good IPA should be. I read that Ian Burgess, former second brewer at Harveys, together with his business partner, Nigel Lambe, have recently taken over the reins at Kings, following the decision of Bill King to sell up and retire. Bill, of course, is a member of the King family, and former director of the late lamented, and much missed, King & Barnes. We wish him well in his retirement and also wish the new owners every success with their new plans for the brewery.

On the away beer front there's the Halfway House beer festival to look forward to this coming weekend. A group of us will be walking over, as we've done on a number of occasions now. With around 75 beers to sample, all carefully chosen by Dave Aucutt from East West Ales, it promises to be an excellent festival., and if May's event was anything to go by it's likely to be a sell out.

Finally, I've booked time off for the third week in September, and sorted out the accommodation for the final stage of the Wealdway walk. This should take Eric and I from Five Ash Down, just north of Uckfield, to Eastbourne. There's some good drinking to be had along the way, including a lunchtime stop at the King's Head, East Hoathly - home of the 1648 Brewery. We're hoping the weather really will get back to what we should be expecting this time of year, and that we get an Indian Summer. After all there's nothing more miserable than trudging mile after mile through the wind and rain, even though there might be a good pub at the end of the road!

A Night on the (Pan)tiles

2010-08-13T05:35:00.000-07:00

There has been much comment recently about the demise of the pub trade, with some commentators even suggesting that the industry is in terminal decline. Well last night in Tunbridge Wells there was precious little evidence of any drop off in trade, in fact business could be said to be booming.

I met up with some of my friends from CAMRA, for an evening billed as "Jazz on the Pantiles". For those not in the know, the Pantiles is the oldest, (and some would say poshest) part of Tunbridge Wells. It is an area of raised colonnaded walks, with some characterful old buildings around the area where the "health-giving" waters, that gave the town its name, and which made its reputation, issue forth from the ground. Every Thursday evening, throughout the summer, a jazz band performs under the small bandstand halfway along the the Pantiles. Whilst I'm not a huge fan of jazz, live music, especially when its performed out of doors on a warm summer's evening, is an obvious attraction, especially where there's the possibility of a beer or two involved as well.

Half a dozen or so of us therefore met up outside a bar called the Ragged Trouseers, a pleasant, but fairly non-descript conversion of a former shop. When my friend Don and I arrived, having travelled over from Tonbridge, the rest of the party was already waiting for us and, more importantly, had saved us some seats, under the colonnade just along from the aforementioned bar. The place was already busy, right along the colonnade towards the bandstand, but as the Ragged Trousers was serving its beer in disposable plastic glasses, we followed our friend's advice and popped along to the Duke of York instead. Here we purchased our pints (Harvey's Best for me and Doombar for Don) in proper glass glasses, which we then hung onto for the rest of the evening.

The Duke of York is a fine old traditional pub that has thankfully reverted to its original name following a spell when it was somewhat incongruously known as "Chaplins". However, as it is sited a little way back from where the main action was occurring, we rather cheekily walked back along with our pints and joined our friends outside the Ragged Trousers. We then purchased subsequent pints here, transferring the contents from the awful plastic containers into proper glass ones. (We did all have the courtesy to return them to the Duke of York though at the end of the evening!).

As I said earlier, the entire area was getting busier and busier, in fact there were so many people present that the sound of the jazz band could barely be heard. The Ragged Trousers appears to be the "in place" for affluent Tunbridge Wells youth; most of whom seemed to be university students home for the long summer break. It was a job to get served at times in the "Trousers", with people three or four deep at the bar, but it was worth it, especially for the Hop Back Summer Lightning and Larkins Traditional. The attractive young barmaids, as well as many of the female clientele, also proved an added distraction whilst waiting to be served. With so many people taking their drinks outside, I could fully understand why the pub were using disposable plastic containers, even if I detest them.

The atmosphere outside was pleasant and good natured, with everyone having a good time, chatting to their friends and enjoying their drinks. There was not the slightest hint of any trouble; the crowd remaining good natured and friendly at all times. In fact it was the closest I have come yet to the atmosphere and ambiance of a German Beer Garden, although perhaps without the continental temperatures, and it reinforced my view that this concept could still work over here. (See my recent post on Beer Gardens).

This was my second experience this summer of drinking on the Pantiles, see Train now Standing, and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. Unfortunately there is nowhere similar to this where I live in Tonbridge, but on the plus side, Tunbridge Wells is only a short train ride away. I will therefore probably be making a few more trips over to the "Wells" before the summer is out.

Summer 2010

2010-08-06T05:51:00.000-07:00

Weather wise it's been a brilliant summer so far, in fact it's been the best I can recall for many a year, certainly down here in this small corner of the Kingdom. I've spent many a long evening out in my garden working on projects like extending my patio, moving my brick-built barbecue and, of course, erecting my new summer-house-cum-brewery.

Back in 2001 when my wife and I were going through the final stages of negotiating the lease on our off-licence, and were in the advanced stages of planning out our new business, I knew that the hardest thing to give up would be those long summer evenings spent pottering outdoors. I was right; running a retail business like an off-licence requires 100% commitment, and evenings are when booze shops do most of their trade. When we eventually sold the business, back in 2007, the garden was looking like a jungle, much of the house was in need of re-decoration and I was in need of a long overdue holiday. One makes these sacrifices, and looking back I would say they were worth it. We manged to sell the business for a reasonable profit, and I was able to go back to my old profession working as a Quality Controller in industry.

As you can imagine then, I appreciate my summer evenings out of doors even more these days, and although the weather's taken a bit of a nose dive over the last couple of days, there's still a fair bit of summer left. Sunny days, and long light summer evenings ought to make for good beer drinking. I haven't seen any figures yet, but I would like to hope that beer sales, especially those in pubs, are on the up. I've done my fair share of beer drinking over the past few months, most noticeably on holiday in Bamberg, but also in some delightful pubs whilst walking the Wealdway long-distance footpath back in June. There's also been quite a bit of activity on the local CAMRA front, what with the two beer festivals we've helped out at, plus my visit earlier this week to the Great British Beer Festival.

Ironically it's raining outside, not heavy rain, but enough to confine me indoors. I'm watching Gardeners World as I write, and they're showing off some stunning gardens. I've obviously got a lot more work to get mine looking anything remotely like the ones featured on the programme. Hopefully the summer will be back before long so I can continue to enjoy quite a few more long evenings outdoors before the nights start drawing in.

GBBF 2010

2010-08-04T12:22:00.000-07:00

I spent a most enjoyable nine hours at the Great British Beer Festival yesterday (Tuesday). The place was heaving right from the start, but we managed to grab a table and based ourselves there. The range and diversity of beers on sale was absolutely staggering, but unlike my companions I went armed with a plan of sorts. (Actually the Beer List on the GBBF website proved extremely useful, as it allows the user to construct their own list. A scan through the GBG beforehand, saved a considerable amount of time trying to decide what to go for from the programme). The plan paid off not just in terms of time saved either, as all the beers I tried were good (although some were obviously better than others!). Contrast this to my friends' rather more haphazard approach, which resulted in the odd duff beer, and the benefits of forward planning become even more apparent. (I better stop crowing as I know at least one of my companions reads this blog!).

Although I bumped into quite a few people I know, there were just so many people in the hall that it was impossible to seek out everyone. Apologies to any beer bloggers who were there that I didn't manage to catch up with. Some of the bars were extremely busy as well, and at one point I gave up trying to get close to the Bier Sans Frontieres Bar, although I did managed a few beers on a return visit, later on in the proceedings.

As well as good beer, there was some good food on sale. The pasties from the Crusty Pie Company were tasty and filling, and good value too at £2.50. Full marks too to Pipers Crisps, which were excellent. I couldn't resist grabbing some of the tasty free samples they had on the front of their stand every time I walked by (which was quite frequently), but I did buy a few bags to take home as well. The Green Thai Curry I finished on, nearly finished me with its intense heat, and my companions watched with amusement as I broke out in a sweat whilst tucking into it. (I'll go for the Red one next time!)

As for the beers sampled top marks go to Thornbridge for their excellent Kipling described as a "South Pacific Ale", but absolutely wonderful. This was closely followed by Saltaire Cascade Pale, and Marble Manchester Bitter; both fine beers, and with the latter, you could really smell the hops in the glass. Elland Beyond the Pale also hit the spot. I didn't get to sample as many dark beers as I would have liked, although Lancaster Black and Woodlands Midnight Stout weren't bad.

I had mixed feelings about BSF as although they had some absolutely stunning beers on offer, somehow I think that half the pleasure in Beer Hunting is actually travelling to the places where the beers originate, and enjoying them in their native setting. Having said that I did try the 3.8% Bernard Svetle Pivo, which I missed during my trip to Prague last winter, and also the Josef Greif Anna Festbier from Franconia. (We missed Anna Fest by a couple of weeks during our recent visit to the region.)

Unfortunately, owing to work and family commitments, Tuesday will be my one and only visit to GBBF this year. This is a great shame, as not only are there dozens more beers that I would like to sample, but also just being there is such an integral part of the whole GBBF experience. I would also like to go back armed with a large rucksack and stock up on some of the many excellent and hard to obtain bottled beers that are on sale there, although I'm not sure my bank manager would agree that this is a good idea! Another reason why several visits are a good idea, is so not to waste all the important information gathered on the initial one. (Getting acclimatised to the layout, finding where everything is etc,, as by next year you will have forgotten where everything is, and the layout will probably have changed as well!)

For those of you who are still planning your trip there, all I can say that it is an absolutely stunning festival that just seems to get better each year. Enjoy yourselves; I wish I was going with you!!!

Three Beer Festivals

2010-08-01T12:38:00.000-07:00

I've been back from Bamberg just over two weeks now and already I've attended two local beer festivals. On top of that I'm off to the Great British Beer Festival next week, so is it a case of beer festival fatigue?

Not at all, especially with regard to the two local events, both of which were good in their own ways. The first festival was that of SIBA South East, which was held at our local rugby club - Tonbridge Juddians. I was only able to make the Saturday evening session, where I was manning the CAMRA stand, but it turned out to be an excellent evening and I bumped into quite a few people I know.

This is the 4th SIBA Festival I have been involved with; the first two were held at the Hop Farm; a large complex near Paddock Wood that boasts one of the largest groups of oast houses anywhere. Until a couple of decades ago it was known as the Whitbread Hop Farm, and was where a large proportion of the company's hops were grown. Whitbread of course are no longer involved in brewing, and apart from a couple of "show fields", hops are no longer grown commercially at the farm. Staging large scale events, such as the War & Peace Show, or hosting big names from the world of show-biz such as Elton John and Bob Dylan, is what the Hop Farm is about these days, but despite its obvious connections with the brewing industry, somehow as a venue for a beer festival it didn't quite work out. (I could have told the organisers that, having been involved with two failed CAMRA Festivals there back in the early years of the new century, but that's a different story!). Lots of beer ended up being poured down the drain, but as the beers are all supplied by SIBA members, and at their own expense, the losses probably weren't too high.

Last year the event, which is a chance for all SIBA members in the south east to show off their wares, moved to a marquee housed behind Tonbridge Juddians Rugby Club; an excellent venue overlooking Tonbridge Sports Ground and, of prime importance, centrally located. This year's event built on what had been achieved the year before, and was much better publicised. What's more, entry was free and that seemed to make all the difference. By the time I arrived on the Saturday the place was really buzzing, and some of the beers had already run out. The organisers from both SIBA and the rugby club seemed pleased with the way things had gone, so hopefully we'll all be back there next year. Just so people know what they missed, there were over 100 beers on sale, from around 30 breweries. Several of these, including Flack Manor, Old Dairy, Redemption, Tonbridge and Wantsum are real newcomers on the scene, but it was good to be able to sample their beers.

Yesterday I spent the evening at another rugby club and another beer festival! This time it was the turn of Sevenoaks Rugby Club to host an event organised by Sevenoaks Lions. The Lions had hosted a similar event the previous year in the town's Stag Theatre, so it was quite a bold step for them to relocate from the town centre to a venue a bit further out.

The beer range was nowhere near as extensive as SIBA's, but did include a few old favourites such as Nethergate Augustinian and RCH Pitchfork and Old Slug Porter. There were also four beers from Whitstable brewery there, which was a bonus so far as I was concerned. The club-house was a superb venue for a beer festival, with views out across the playing fields to the wooded countryside beyond. A game of cricket was taking place and that, combined with a fine summer's evening, gave it that quintessentially English feel. The downside was there seemed to be a heck of a lot of beer left over. There had been a steady footfall throughout the early part of the evening, but it really needed a lot more people to have turned up and help drink the place dry.

I hope next year the organisers will return to the rugby club. I'm sure given more publicity, the event will be a great success.

That brings me onto the final festival of the trio, and the grand-daddy of them all. I am talking, of course, about the Great British Beer Festival which starts on Tuesday at Earl's Court. GBBF needs no introduction except to say it is a "must attend " event for all serious beer drinkers. I'll be there on at least one of the days, and hope to bump into a few familiar faces. See you there!

Beer Gardens

2010-07-27T14:14:00.000-07:00

Last year, Tandleman wrote an excellent piece about how civilised Franconian beer gardens were, and wondered whether they could ever work successfully here in the UK? At the time of his post, I had just returned from a trip to Munich, during which we visited a number of excellent beer gardens, ranging from small, almost intimate places such as Sankt Emmerams Muehle to massive establishments, such as Hirschgarten, the biggest beer garden in the world!

I commented at the time about just how good these places were, with people of all ages, both sexes and from all walks of life mixing happily, all enjoying good beer, good company and in a lot of cases some good food. I suppose good weather also helps, and this is perhaps more assured in central Europe than in the British Isles, where Atlantic weather fronts are inclined to make their influence felt on a much more regular basis. Leaving this consideration aside for one moment though, the one thing that really stands out, from a UK point of view, is the lack of drunkenness, anti-social or rowdy behaviour. In short, like Tandleman says, these places are not only civilised, but also very pleasant places to spend some time in.

This viewpoint was further reinforced during our recent trip to Bamberg where, although the number of actual beer gardens we visited was smaller, the same observations held true. Although quite large amounts of beer were being consumed, we witnessed no incidents of drunkenness or the sort of behaviour that is all too common back here in the UK. In fact on the first Friday we were there we walked back to our apartment alongside quite a large crowd of people who, like us, had just spent a very enjoyable evening at the Wilde-Rose Keller. The crowd was good natured and well-behaved and on that evening, as on all subsequent evenings we felt completely safe walking the streets.

Contrast this to back home when I often have to think twice about walking back along Tonbridge High Street on a Friday or Saturday night, and Tonbridge is quite a civilised place compared to some towns! Personally I believe it all boils down to cultural differences in relation to drinking. In Germany, for example, beer is still the universal drink for both young and old, male and female alike. Young people are not only generally a lot more respectful of the older generation, but what is also self evident is that they do not go out at the weekend with the sole intention of getting absolutely plastered! I don't ever recall seeing on sale such vile concoctions as WKD, Smirnoff Ice or any of the other alco-pops that seem so popular with young British drinkers, but this is possibly because when visiting the country we tend to restrict our drinking to beer gardens and the more traditional types of pubs.

Which brings us back to the question again, would beer gardens work over here? We have already worked out that the weather is probably against us, but then so is the behaviour that seems to have become the norm here over the last twenty or thirty years. However, if some brave entrepreneur were to open such an establishment, and restricted what was on offer to just good, locally produced traditional beer, with no mass-produced international fizz brands (although some decent, imported German or Czech draught beer would be ok.), no spirits and definitely no alco-ops, then perhaps they would be in with a chance. The place would have to offer good food of course, with plenty of attractive young waitresses to look after the tables; although they could also offer the self-service option that is available in Germany.

Whilst on the subject of service, over the course of the last few years I've visited a number of different European countries, and have dined in many pubs, beer halls and restaurants. I''ve never had to wait long for food in any of them, unlike here in the UK, where unfortunately poor service is all too common. To achieve an acceptable level of service though, it is necessary to employ sufficient staff to cope with demand. All too often the temptation in this country (and this applies to restaurants as well as pubs), is to manage and somehow "get-by" with the bare minimum number of people. It doesn't work, so anyone thinking of opening a beer garden here in Britain needs to take this on board. Provision for inclement weather would also be an important consideration, with a suitably equipped beer hall, offering the same facilities, attached to the beer garden.

So where should these British Beer Gardens be situated? The ideal answer is somewhere with an attractive outlook, and somewhere with a reasonable size population. Having said that, the concept could work in a more rural location, especially if it is well served by public transport. In urban areas, a spot on the edge of a park, or municipal garden springs to mind as a good starter, after all there are several excellent beer gardens in Munich's Englischer Garten. Locally I can think of a couple of locations that would be just perfect for such an establishment, but I am not going to let on where I have in mind until I have investigated the possibility of developing this idea further myself!!

Buttenheim

2010-07-24T14:31:00.000-07:00

The only other trip out of our holiday was a train ride to the village of Buttenheim. It was a 30 minute walk across town from our holiday apartment to Bamberg railway station which may explain, in part, why we didn't make any similar trips, but anyway, Buttenheim was just three stops away by local RB train. Although the station is signed as Buttenheim, it is actually in the village of Altendorf. Buttenheim itself was a good twenty minute walk away which would have been fine under normal circumstances, but not a lot of fun in the thirty degree heat!

Never mind, the trek was well worth it, as Buttenheim is home to two reasonably sized breweries. What's more St Georgen Braeu and Loewenbraeu are right next door to each other! We couldn't miss them as we turned into Marktstr., but unfortunately noticed that the St Georgen Braeu tap was closed (Ruhetag). Loewenbraeu though, was certainly open for business. We settled ourselves at a table in front of the brewery, and were soon enjoying cool, foaming Krugs of the company's Ungespundetes Lagerbier, along with a lunchtime meal of roast chicken, potato dumpling (Kloss) and purred cabbage. I asked the waitress whether other Loewenbraeu beers were available, but she said Ungespundetes was the only they had on draught.

We were keen to sample St Georgen Braeu beers, and after having read in John Conen's excellent Bamberg and Franconia Guide, that both breweries had bierkellers on the edge of the village, we followed his directons and soon found ourselves seated in the shady St Georgen Bierkeller, overlooking the village. At the keller we were able to sample both the brewery's Helles and their Kellerbier. I had drank the latter previously, back in the UK when the beer had featured as part of one of Wetherspoons International Beer Festivals. As we sat, whiling away the afternoon in the cool shade of the bier-keller. We noticed that it was slowly starting to fill up. I can think of few better ways to spend a baking hot summer’s afternoon.

Despite having consumed several half litres of beer, under a hot sun that day, I was keen to try some of the other Loewenbraeu beers. Their keller is opposite that of St Georgen Braeu, but on approaching it, we noticed it was closed. I suppose it made sense, seeing as their brewery tap was open, whilst that of their neighbour closed, for the situation with the kellers to be reversed.

It was probably just as well the keller was closed, and as we made our way slowly back to the station, I couldn’t help thinking fancy living in a place with two breweries next to one another. Wouldn’t that be like living in paradise? Particularly as I forgot to mention that all the beers we enjoyed that day in Buttenheim retailed at just 1.80 Euros per half litre. Bliss!

Franconia

2010-07-22T05:38:00.000-07:00

Our recent visit to Franconia, the northern part of Bavaria, barely scratched the surface Once a proud and independent state, Franconia was merged into Bavaria by Napoleon following his conquest and occupation of the area during the early part of the 19th Century. The inhabitants of this region however, still take their identity seriously, and Franconian flags and emblems were evident in many places during our travels.

The reason for barely scratching the surface was that we were based in the beautiful, world heritage city of Bamberg, and with nine breweries, and a host of unspoilt pubs within the town, there was precious little incentive to venture out into the surrounding countryside. (For more details of our experiences enjoying the products of Bambergs' breweries click here). The weather also played its part in keeping us within the city limits. With temperatures in the mid to high 30's, it was too hot to travel far, and all too often the temptation was to find a shady beer garden, and then sit down with a nice cool mug (or three), of the excellent Keller Bier sold in the majority of them.

We did venture out a couple of times though, and were impressed by what we saw. The first excursion was a short bus ride out to the village of Bischberg, just outside Bamberg. We called in at the unspoilt Zur Sonne pub, which brews its own beers. It was shortly before midday, and we sat outside, just across from a group of locals. The landlord brought our beers out to us; fresh Franconian beer at its best. It was priced at just 1.80 Euros for a half litre, and after enjoying the Helles we moved onto the Zwicklbier; both were good.

The idea in coming out to Bischberg, was to call in at Kaiserdom on the way back, but that plan was thwarted by the Gastatte being closed until early evening that day. Whilst waiting for the bus back though, I was reflecting on how can such enterprises at Zur Sonne survive? The pub itself looked up to date inside, although I gather it is of some considerable antiquity. There were a fair few locals enjoying the house-brewed beer, even at that time of the morning, but I couldn't help wonder how do such places keep going? As we stood at the bus stop, we saw the landlord go driving past on his forklift truck, with what looked like a metal bin full of spent grain on the forks. He waved in greeting to us, although he had only met him the once, and we naturally returned this courtesy. I don't know what the laws are in Germany regarding taking a fork-lift on the road, but I suspect they are less strict than they are here in the UK. Obviously mein host was taking one of the left over products of the brewing process to a local farm; it may have even have been his farm for all I know.

And there perhaps lies the answer. In this part of Germany, occupations such as farming and brewing, often go hand in hand, as they have done for centuries. Franconia is fortunate in still having many such breweries in operation, but, as with a lot of good things, their numbers are slowly declining. Back in the mid-90's, I bought a copy of Graham Lees's excellent Good Beer Guide to Munich and Bavaria. In a detailed introduction to the section on Franconia, Graham describes how villages of no more than a couple of thousand people, often have two or even three breweries. Many are little more than brew pubs, but alongside the brewery the family enterprise may well include a farm, a schnapps distillery, a butchers shop or even a slaughterhouse. He stated that whilst no single part of these family enterprises is profitable on its own, together they provide a reasonable income.

Even back then though, Graham was warning that many of the marvellous breweries he was describing were in danger of disappearing. Rising costs, changing habits and tastes, EU laws, and the inevitable march towards a more uniform and homogenised society had led to the closure of over 50 Franconian breweries. He stated that "one of them may have brewed your perfect pint" and bemoaned the fact that one such operation, now closed, had come close to brewing his perfect one. Unfortunately this closure process has gathered momentum. John Conen warned in the 2003 edition of his Bamberg & Franconia Guide that over 80 breweries had closed during the pre-ceding 15 years, and although he was hopeful that the closure rate had fallen off somewhat, I found whilst researching for our trip that quite a few of the breweries mentioned in Graham Lee's guide were no longer in production. The closure of the substantial Maisel Brewery in Bamberg, a couple of years ago, is a case in point

It is not all doom and gloom though. We spent our last night in Bamberg at the excellent Greifenklau Brauereigasthof. Whilst there I picked up an English language edition of a guide to what are known as Privateur Braugasthoefe, (privately-owned breweries that provide accommodation). This informative, and well illustrated publication lists 69 such establishments, primarily in Germany, but with a few in neighboring Austria and Denmark. Most are family run, and all pride themselves on producing good beer and serving it alongside good food.

Hopefully more breweries will join this worthwhile organisation, and the 2011 edition will feature more Franconian members. In the meantime I'm already planning my next trip to this beer lovers paradise.

Bamberg - An Introduction

2010-07-18T12:55:00.000-07:00

We arrived home from our trip to Bamberg, in the early hours of Saturday morning. After temperatures in the mid-30's all week, England felt decidedly cold. Being a glutton for punishment I ended up helping out at the SIBA South East Beer Festival, held at our local rugby club the same evening - but that's a different story!

Bamberg certainly lived up to its expectations and I hope to post a more detailed account of our trip over the next week or so, Suffice to say we enjoyed some excellent beers at prices ranging from 1.80 Euros (out in some of the surrounding villages), to 2.30 - 2.50 Euros in Bamberg itself.

It's hard to single out any one beer, or any one pub. or bier keller, but Mahrs Brau Ungespundet, Spezial Rauchbier Lager and Ambrausianum Helles were all good, as was the incomparable Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen. Particular thanks should also go to Tandleman for recommending the excellent Spezial-Keller, but we also enjoyed the nearby Wilde Rose Brau Keller, plus the bier-garten behind Greifenklau's pub-cum-brewery.

All this combined with a beautiful and unspoilt city, friendly people and Mediterranean-like weather, made for an excellent holiday. I can't wait for a return visit!

The Train Now Standing at Platform One

2010-07-04T08:29:00.000-07:00

I wrote in a previous post that it is often easy to over-look attractions on ones own doorstep, in favour of those from further afield. After this point was confirmed, during my recent walk along part of the Wealdway, it was further reinforced during last night's CAMRA social.

Our Social Secretary had arranged a trip for us on one of the Spa Valley Railway's Real Ale and Fish & Chip Special trains. For the uninitiated, the Spa Valley Railway operates part of the former Tunbridge Wells West to Eridge route. The railway plans to open right through to Eridge later this year, but for the time being trains terminate and turn round at Groombridge, on the Kent-Sussex border. The line originally connected with Tunbridge Well's other (and now only station, Tunbridge Wells Central), and closed comparatively recently, back in 1985. The closure was forced on a British Rail management that had been starved of cash by the Thatcher administration. For the sake of a paltry couple of million, this useful diversionary line was axed and the large station site at Tunbridge Wells West sold for re-development. A massive Sainsbury's supermarket now occupies the site.

A group of rail enthusiasts saw things differently though and slowly, and it must be added with some assistance from Sainsbury's, raised sufficient funds to purchase the trackbed, along with a former engine shed at the West station, which now forms their headquarters. Twenty-five years on and the Spa Valley Railway is now a major tourist attraction, and if all goes to plan will soon be linking back up with mainline services at Eridge, on the Uckfield Line.

We were therefore glad to join the railway on their Fish & Chip Special last night, which also had the added bonus of serving a drop of the real thing. Sixteen of us boarded the 18:45 service and after being directed to our comfortable, ex-BR mainline carriage, made our way to the buffet car, Kate, to sample the liquid refreshment that was on offer. The two beers available were Larkins Traditional, plus Best Bitter from the newly opened Royal Tunbridge Wells Brewery. Both of course were racked bright, and were probably slightly on the warm side, but at £2.70 a pint, coupled with a comfortable seat to watch the Kent and Sussex countryside pass by whilst enjoying the beers, this represented excellent value for money.

As we slowly steamed out of the West station, the train staff brought round our pre-ordered fish and chips, safely stored in polystyrene enclosed trays to minimise heat loss. We had just sufficient time to finish our meal when the train pulled in to Groombridge. The package gave the option of remaining on the train and enjoying two return trips back to Tunbridge Wells, or alighting at Groombridge and then waiting for the final return train at 20:25. This was the option our party went for as it allowed time to walk up to one of the best, and least spoilt pubs, in our branch area, the 16th Century Crown, that overlooks the village green.

En route we passed Groombridge's other remaining pub, the Junction Inn, which also looked a welcoming prospect, but unfortunately our itinerary didn't allow sufficient time to call in. Groombridge is unusual in that it straddles the Kent-Sussex border. The older part of the village is on a steep hill on the Medway Valley, overlooking the Green, whilst the slightly newer part is just across the river, in Sussex. The Crown is part of a row of attractive brick and tile-hung cottages that overlook the Green, with a well-worn brick path passing in front. It has a timeless feel to it that continues when one steps inside.

On a beautiful June evening though, most people were sitting on benches and tables outside, and after ordering our beer, we joined them. Harveys Best and Hepworths Pullman were the beers on offer. I stuck to the latter, which was in excellent form. Unfortunately there was only time for a couple of pints before we had to make our way back to the station where the train was waiting to transport us back to Tunbridge Wells. It is quite a stiff climb back up to the railway's terminus, forcing the steam locomotive to work hard as it pulled our train up the steep gradient.

The night was still quite young, so we made our way to the Pantiles, which is the oldest, and best known area of Tunbridge Wells. I am pleased to report that this part of town was buzzing, with crowds of people sitting out at tables outside the numerous cafes and bars along the famous Colonnade walk. We headed for a bar called the Ragged Trousers; a pleasant, single roomed establishment that, like the pavement outside, was absolutely heaving. The only drawback was that the staff had run out of glasses, so we had to settle for plastic ones (ugh!). The Larkins Traditional and Ringwood Boon Doggle though were both very good.

Our final port of call was the Sussex Arms. I have written about the Sussex in a previous post, so I won't repeat myself here. Although the pub is just round the corner from the main part of the Pantiles, tucked away down a side mews, it was quiet compared to where we had just come from. Although the Sussex is a Greene King pub, here were a couple of guest ales on, including Larkins Traditional (again) at £2.50 a pint from a cask perched up on the bar, and Bomber County, from Tom Wood. I opted for the later, which is a dark, full-bodied 4.8% bitter. Later I tried a pint of Greene Kings World Cup offering. I didn't bother making a note of the beer's name, but it was pleasant enough all the same. The bar staff seemed grateful for our patronage, especially as the pub was quiet. The beers we sampled in the Sussex were in fine fettle, so we were quite happy to linger there.

So ended a very pleasant evening that saw us visiting two of the top tourist attractions in Tunbridge Wells. As I said at the beginning of this post, it is all too easy to miss things on one's own doorstep, and once again last night's outing proved the folly of ignoring this observation.

Bamberg

2010-07-01T13:16:00.000-07:00

We're off to Bamberg in just under a week. It's the place that's been on my beer-places-to-visit wish-list for as long as I can remember, but to date I've only managed a quick stop-off there whilst on a "Christmas Market" coach trip, a couple of years ago. As time was limited I only managed to visit Schlenkerla, which needless to say was superb.

Now we're finally going to be spending some time in Bamberg I'm eager to sample as many beers and visit as many pubs as possible.. I've read about other legendary breweries in the city, such as Faessla, Mahrs Brau, Klosterbraeu, Kaiserdom, Spezial etc., and am going armed with a copy of John Conen's Guide to Bamberg & Franconia. I've also downloaded some of Ron Pattison's highly informative pages, together with information from The Online Beer Guide to Bamberg & Franconia, so I've done a fair amount of groundwork.

What I'm particularly interested in though are personal recommendations from other beer enthusiasts, as to the best pubs, beer gardens and beers in Bamberg, as well as suggestions as to which are the best places to visit in the surrounding area. We are only staying a week in the city, and want to make the best use of our limited time there, so please get in touch.

Thanks.

Watering Holes on the Wealdway

2010-06-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

I returned late on Saturday evening from four days walking along part of the Wealdway long-distance footpath. The path runs for 82 miles from Gravesend on the River Thames to Eastbourne on the south coast. After successfully completing the South Downs Way last year, my friend Eric and I decided to give the Wealdway a try this year, and after completing 50 miles of the trail have been very impressed by what we have found so far.

As the footpath runs roughly north to south it traverses several ranges of hills with subsequent changes of scenery. On our journey south we crossed the line of the North Downs, descended into the Vale of Holmesdale, climbed and descended the Greensand Ridge, hiked along the Medway Valley, before climbing once more, this time onto the High Weald, culminating with a walk across Ashdown Forest.

The Wealdway passes right through our home town of Tonbridge, and many of the places we visited are quite local to us. As is often the case though, there is a tendency to ignore what is virtually right on one's doorstep in favour of places further afield. The walk therefore afforded the opportunity to renew acquaintances with some familiar places as well as allowing us to discover a few new ones. The re-discovery of old favourites was no more evident than in the case of the pubs we visited en route.

Our first watering hole was the unspoilt Amazon and Tiger, in the small village of Harvel, high on the North Downs. We had started out from Gravesend earlier that day, and like all four days on this trek the weather had not only been fine and dry, but also extremely hot and humid. These conditions forced a relatively slow pace, and it was getting on for 2.30 in the afternoon that we finally turned the corner in to Harvel and found, to our relief, that the pub was still open. We needn't have worried as the pub was open all day, that Wednesday being the day of England's World Cup group match against Slovenia.

The pub was busy, but we managed to order ourselves a pint without any trouble. I selected the 4.3% Barnsley Gold from Acorn Brewery; the other choices being a 5% beer from Brew Dog, and a "badged beer" from Cottage Brewery. Eric went with my decision, and we were both pleased with our selection. The first pint hardly touched the sides, but subsequent pints revealed a deep golden coloured and extremely well-hopped ale, served nicely chilled and good value at only £2.80 a pint.

The Amazon and Tiger (named after two species of butterflies), is an un-assuming looking pub, that was deliberately built back in 1914, to look like a private house - so as not to offend worshipers attending services at the nearby village hall. It is divided into several different drinking areas and is the sort of pub I would like as my local. We watched the first half of the England game and stayed for the start of the second. However, we still had a fair distance to cover, so reluctantly we departed this excellent village pub and made our way towards Wrotham Heath, where we had booked accommodation for the night.

We were foot-sore and weary by the time we reached our destination, and after a shower and change of clothing set off in search of somewhere to eat and drink. I knew that there was a large Hall & Woodhouse pub in the village, but the B&B proprietor warned that it was the other side of the motorway, and therefore a fair trot. We settled instead for the Royal Oak, a large roadhouse and former motor-coach stop that is now a Beefeater Inn. Not expecting much, if anything, in the way of decent beer, we were pleasantly surprised to discover Old Hookey on tap, and what more it was in good condition and selling at £3.00 a pint. We opted for this, and settled down for a few pints and a well deserved meal.

Tonbridge was our destination the following day, and as our route took us through the tiny village of West Peckham, the Swan-on-the-Green, with its excellent home-brewed ales, was the natural choice for a lunchtime stop. We sat outside, limiting ourselves this time to just the two pints. I tried the 3.6% Fuggles, followed by the 4.0% Trumpeter; both were excellent.

It was a long and, at times, quite dull section of walking that eventually brought us back to Tonbridge shortly after 7 pm. The final 4 mile section along the Medway was an absolute killer, particularly on the feet, and by the time we arrived in the town we were just about ready to drop. We called in at the Humphrey Bean, our local JDW outlet, and were pleasantly surprise to bump into a couple of friends there. Later we were joined by a third mate, so we settled down to enjoy a few well-earned pints and to catch up on the local gossip. The beer range wasn't all that inspiring that evening, but the Everards Tiger was pleasant enough and certainly helped to assuage a king-sized thirst!

I met up with Eric the following morning, after a good night's sleep, in my own bed. We followed the course of the Wealdway from Tonbridge Castle, along the Medway, before turning off towards Hayesden. We then began a steep climb up to Bidborough Ridge, on what seemed like the hottest, and most humid, day of the year so far. Ignoring the Hare & Hounds in Bidborough Village and the George & Dragon in Speldhurst (to say nothing of the closed, and much missed Beehive on Southborough Common), we eventually reached the imposing Chafford Arms, in the small village of Fordcombe.

The Chafford is one of those pubs I keep meaning to visit more often, but never quite get round to doing so. Our late lunchtime stop showed me just what I had been missing. For a start the pub still has a traditional Public Bar, and dressed in our hiking gear this seemed the ideal choice. Harvey's Best and Larkins Traditional were the beers on offer; we both opted for the later which, although only 3.4% in strength, certainly hits the spot so far as taste is concerned. Three thirst-quenching pints later, and some interesting conversation with the landlady and her locals and we were on our way again. I forgot to take some photo's of this excellent village local, but check out the pub's website here.

Heading roughly south-west, through some very pleasant rolling countryside, we eventually dropped down towards the Sussex border. After passing under the Uckfield Railway line, we deviated slightly from the Wealdway and instead joined the Forest Way which follows the course of the former Tunbridge Wells to East Grinstead Railway line. Although the path was flat, it was very hard going on the feet, and we were glad when we finally turned off across the grassy meadows towards the tiny village of Withyham, our resting place for the night.

Withyham is home to one of my all-time favourite pubs, the unspoilt Dorset Arms, and on our arrival in the village we called into this tied Harveys house for a well deserved pint, and also to collect the key to our bed and breakfast accommodation opposite. Like the Chafford Arms earlier in the day, the Dorset Arms also sports a traditional public bar, alongside a large, comfortable restaurant. During the winter months the bar is heated by a large open fire, but in the fierce mid-summer heat the doors were wide open, a labrador lay stretched out on the floor, and the bar resounded to the sounds of easy going banter that is the hallmark of a good pub.

After a quick shower and change of clothing at the B & B opposite, we returned to the Dorset for several more pints of Harveys (the company's summer seasonal, Olympia, was in particularly fine form). We also enjoyed an excellent steak and ale pie; the steak being cooked to perfection and just melting in ones mouth. It is comforting to know there are still unspoilt, traditional pubs like the Dorset around, and although it is probably over 10 years since my last visit, I was relieved to find that nothing much had changed.

After a hearty breakfast the following morning, we left Withyham to complete the final stage of our walk. The weather was again hot and humid, so we were glad of the shelter provided by the trees of Five Hundred Acre Wood (of Winnie-the-Pooh fame!). Eventually though we emerged from the trees onto the wide open heathland of Ashdown Forest. Here there was precious little shade to protect us from the fierceness of the sun, but fortunately there was a cooling breeze blowing.

We passed Camp Hill, the highest point on the Forest, before starting the long descent on the other side. Passing through mixed heathland and woodland we found ourselves close to the village of Fairwarp. I knew there was a former King & Barnes pub there, but would it be open? A group of walkers we'd met going in the opposite direction, assured us it would be but after diverting off the Wealdway into Fairwarp and seeing the opening times posted outside, we discovered to our horror that the pub (the Forester's Arms), was closed for the afternoon. There were two women sat at a table outside, one of whom turned out to be the landlady. Having watched us struggle up the hill, with full rucksacks on our backs, she took pity on us and opened up for us to buy a quick pint. The Badger First Gold tasted especially delicious after that, and thirsts quenched we were soon on our way.

After getting lost in a wood, and having to make a slight detour, we eventually ended up in Five Ash Down, which is just outside Uckfield. We were debating whether to call in at the Pig & Butcher in the village when we spotted a Tunbridge Wells bound bus heading our way. We decided to leave the Pig & Butcher for another day, and after flagging the bus down were soon on our way back home.

Three quarters of an hour later we were ensconced in the Grove Tavern, enjoying some quality Timothy Taylor's Landlord in the company of a group of friends from CAMRA, in this most excellent Tunbridge Wells local. This proved to be a fitting end to what had been a good, but rather tiring walk, which had the added bonus of allowing me to re-visit some really choice pubs.

We still have another 32 miles left to follow the Wealdway to its finish at Eastbourne, but that's for another day!

Wealdway Walk

2010-06-22T13:33:00.000-07:00

I won't be blogging for a few days (hooray I hear you all say!). I'm off early in the morning for a four day walk along part of the Wealdway long-distance footpath. My friend Eric and will be starting from Gravesend, and then heading due south.

Four days should see us the other side of Ashdown Forest, having traversed the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge. Needless to say there will be a few pub stops en route, and I'll keep you posted about how we get on when I return.

1648 Brewery

2010-06-15T12:17:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday saw a small group of beer enthusiasts travelling down to darkest Sussex, in order to visit the 1648 Brewery. Originally set up back in 2003, in out-buildings attached to the King's Head pub in the small village of East Hoathly, the 1648 Brewery has since gone from strength to strength. Today, as well as supplying the adjacent pub, 1648 now supplies around 30 local pubs, and even sends its beer further afield via wholesalers such as Flying Firkin.

For most of us, it was our first visit to this attractive village, and although it involved a couple of changes of buses, it was surprisingly easy to get to. Our first port of call was the King's Head itself; a classic village local that dates back to the 17th Century. Three 1648 beers were on sale, alongside Dark Star Hophead and Harveys Best. Several of us opted for the 1648 Ruby Mild, a fine reddish-coloured mild, with an abv of 3.6%, before being invited to walk round to the brewery at the side of the pub.

We were met by brewer, Dave Seabrook, who took us inside the old stable buildings which house the neat and compact brewery. The plant was designed and built by Rob Jones of Dark Star Brewery, and is unusual in that it doesn't have a hot liquor tank. The brew length is unusual too, at 4.25 barrels (72 firkins). The old hay loft, above the brewery, acts as the malt and hop store and the way everything is shoe-horned into the available space is a marvel to behold. Dave brews four times a week during busy periods, turning out an impressive range of beers, which includes regular monthly specials.

After thanking Dave for his time, we returned to the pub where we were able to sample the other 1648 beers, as well as some excellent home-cooked pub food. I particularly enjoyed the 4.4% Signature, a very pale and well-hopped bitter, alongside the seasonal 4.6% Bee-Head, a golden coloured summer ale, brewed using local Sussex honey. The Cumberland sausage and mash I had for lunch was also extremely good.

We left the pub mid-afternoon, in order to catch the bus back home. Most of us though broke our journey at Crowborough and walked down to the Cooper's Arms; one of the best pubs in the area, and one that specialises in beers from Sussex breweries. Two Dark Star beers were on sale; Hophead and Best Bitter, alongside a beer called Red Ale, from Pitfield Brewery. A wide range of Pitfield's unusual bottled beers were also on sale at the pub, but as I didn't fancy having to carry them home, I made a mental note to return there another time. I have been to the Cooper's on a number of occasions, and its location down a quiet side road on the edge of Crowborough, and the stunning views from the garden at the rear make it the sort of pub I would like to have as my local.

All in all it was an excellent day out in the Sussex countryside, which saw us visiting a couple of really good pubs. A final word though about how the 1648 Brewery acquired its name. Quite simply, as previously stated, the brewery is attached to the King's Head pub. The monarch depicted on the crooked sign that hangs outside the pub is the unfortunate Charles the First. 1648 was the year in which Charles lost his head, so 1648 is the name of the brewery. So now you know!

Bloggers Meet Up

2010-06-06T12:36:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I met up with fellow Beer Blogger and all round nice-guy, Paul Garrard. I feel as though I owe a debt of gratitude to Paul, as he was the person responsible for getting me interested in bogging in the first place. Paul has hosted the excellent Real Ale Blog for a number of years, and it was in response to a request on his site for guest writers to contribute articles that led me to become involved. I had been writing articles on beer and pubs, for a number of years, with the aim of eventually getting them published. I e-mailed one of these articles to Paul, and a day or two later, was delighted to see it posted on the Real Ale Blog.

I followed this original post with a couple of other articles, one of which was freshly written on a topical subject. I hadn't at the time, intended to start my own blog, but after looking into it and discovering how easy it was to open a Google account, I took the plunge and set up a blog of my own. The rest, as they say, is history.

Although it's been less than two years since this process was initiated, I feel that I've got to know several fellow bloggers quite well - purely from reading their blogs, posting comments and receiving replies. This is, of course, a reciprocal arrangement and I've had some interesting comments and responses to some of the things I've blogged about. I discovered, quite early on, that I had quite a bit in common with Paul. For instance, he lives in Norfolk, a county I know well as my parents retired there, a decade and a half ago. I also learnt that Paul and his partner ran their own Beer Shop, in Bury St Edmunds. This is something I have particular experience of, as for nearly six years my wife and I ran our own successful Real Ale Off-Licence in Tonbridge. Paul had suggested meeting up a number of times previously, but somehow there always seemed to be a clash of events or prior engagements.

This time though was different. Paul informed me, via Facebook that him and his partner were planning a visit to Maidstone on 5th June, and would I be able to meet up for a drink? Maidstone is only 15 miles or so away from here, and is readily accessible by public transport, so after thumbing through the local pub guide, we decided upon a pub to meet up in. Both of us wanted somewhere that would do food, but not at the expense of the beer, so the Rifle Volunteers, one of only two pubs belonging to the local Goachers Brewery seemed to fit the bill perfectly.

My son Matt and I travelled to Maidstone by train, and as we arrived early we had time for a bit of shopping, before walking up to the the Rifle Volunteers. Paul was waiting for us in the bar, and after introductions we settled down to enjoy a few pints of the excellent Goachers beers on sale in the pub. I used to live in Maidstone, and know the Rifle Volunteers quite well. The pub used to belong to Shepherd Neame, but was sold to Goachers quite a few years ago. It is still run by the same landlord, and apart from the change of brewery ownership, has hardly altered at all over the last 30 years.

We spent an interesting few hours chatting to Paul, mainly about beer, CAMRA, running a beer shop and, of course, blogging. The Goachers Fine Light was especially good, and at £2.70 a pint was excellent value. We parted company shortly before the Rifle Volunteers shut for the afternoon. Paul went off to meet up with his good lady; Matt and I for a further look round the shops. It had been really good to meet up with Paul, and we hope to have a return match in Norwich in the not too distant future.