FUGSCLUB redemption

I called into Fuggles, Tonbridge on Sunday, in order to redeem my £15 FUGSCLUB loyalty voucher. My visit wasn’t quite as intended, as young master Matthew had other plans for the afternoon, and they were plans that didn’t involve his dear old dad!

The pair of us had originally intended to use the voucher for a sampling of some of Fuggle's lagers – brews such as Utopian British Lager, Lost & Grounded Keller Pils, along with whatever foreign “import” that might be on sale, but with time running out, Matthew otherwise engaged, and the voucher expiring at the end of August, I opted for Plan B, instead.            

Plan B was to spend the voucher mainly on takeaway bottles, and grab a cheeky pint in the process – only because it would be rude not to, so shortly before 4pm, I pitched up at Fuggles to see what options were available on the take out front.

The pub-café was reasonably full, although there were still several free tables, but before choosing one, I inquired at the bar about spending my voucher and then choosing a few suitable bottles to take home with me.

My choice was a conservative one, and having noticed a couple of bottles of Schlenkerla Märzen lurking in the fridge, I immediately laid claim to them. Aecht Schlenkerla is by far the smokiest of Bamberg’s famous Rauchbiers, and seems quite hard to come by at the moment, so that choice was a no-brainer.

I also opted for another Bavarian beer, this time in the form of Tegernseer Hell, a pale but very satisfying beer brewed at Brauhaus Tegernsee, on the shores of the large Alpine Tegernsee Lake.  A day trip out to Tegernsee, on the privately operated BOB train, has been a regular feature of summer visits to Munich, for both Matthew and I.

The chance to enjoy a few mugs of this locally produced beer in the atmospheric beerhall, along with a plate of hearty Bavarian food, is not one to be missed, so with these memories in mind a bottle of Tegernseer Hell will go down very well.

My third choice was a bottle of Westmalle Tripel; another beer that is hard to get hold of. Waitrose stock the much darker Dubbel, but Westmalle Tripel regularly features in lists of the world’s top beers.

Those four bottles came to a little under £15, so with my initial plan of a crafty pint, still very much in mind, and an extra four quid to pay, I looked at the board to decide what to order. Should I go for keg and try the Utopian British Lager, or should I remain loyal to cask?

After four and a half decades of loyalty to the latter, it seemed hard to abandon it now, even though the fact I am no longer a CAMRA member means no longer being bound to the strictures of the mother church, as Ed Wray would put it.

Cask it was then, in the form of Mosaic – a single hop beer from Downlands Brewery.  I am not normally a fan of single hop beers, as they can be somewhat one-dimensional, but being aware that Mosaic is a hop variety with some interesting flavours, I thought I’d give it a try. The beer was perfectly drinkable, and in excellent condition, but if I’m brutally honest, this particular brew didn’t really do it for me.

I left it at just the one beer, as I knew that Mrs PBT’s was putting together a meal of lamb kebabs with rice, pittas and salad, at home. I certainly didn’t want to be late, and neither did I want more than one beer, due to the risk of falling asleep in the armchair afterwards - a big, no, no as far as the lady of the house is concerned,

I sat there finishing my beer, taking in the comings and goings, along with the ambience of a summer Sunday afternoon. What I observed reinforced my feelings that Fuggles is a very pleasant place for a paced and moderate, afternoon’s drinking. It is a definite asset to the town, and it’s good to see the place up and trading again after the turmoil of the last 18 months. 

I was also pleased to have made good use of my loyalty voucher, which in effect was reward for me sticking with Fuggles, throughout the tumultuous months of late winter and early spring, when the only way they were able to trade was by means of home deliveries and schemes such as FUGSCLUB.