Beer-related travel, at home and abroad, exploring and indulging my passion for beer.
Friday, 12 July 2013
SIBA South East Beer Festival 2013
This weekend sees Tonbridge Juddians Rugby Club once again hosting the SIBA South East Regional Beer Festival. After the debacle of last year, when the event had to be cancelled due to flooding, the weather over the next few days looks set to be sunny and warm, just the weather for a spot of beer drinking. The gates open at 5pm this evening, and I am planning to go along a little later to see what's on offer.
Actually, having downloaded the beer list, I already know there's around 150 beers on offer supplied by SIBA members from all over the South East. The festival has a serious side of course, in so much that prior to opening to the general public, beers are judged by a panel of experts and awards are given for Bronze, Silver and Gold over a number of different categories and styles of beer. Having just looked on the SIBA website, there are eight different categories for draught (almost exclusively cask) ales, plus six for bottled beers. Several members of our CAMRA branch committee will have been involved with the judging, so it will be interesting to see what they come up with.
I've made a short-list of beers I want to try, and as well as this evening, I also hope to be going along tomorrow. As well as all this beer there are all the other things one would expect at a festival, including food and live entertainment. Coupled with that is the parkland setting of the festival itself, housed in a marquee attached to TJ's clubhouse. If you are in the area and fancy trying something a bit different on the beer front, get yourselves along to Tonbridge Juddians. Full festival information, together with a list of all the beers, can be found here.
Thursday, 11 July 2013
Shepherd Neame India Pale Ale - Limited Edition
Regular readers of this blog will know I am no fan of Shepherd Neame, despite them being by far and away the largest brewery in Kent, and owning some iconic pubs. Ironic considering I was once a huge devotee of the company's beers; particularly their bitter, but this was back in the day when it was just plain "bitter" and not a beer with a fancy title such as "Master Brew".
Sometime between the late 1980's and early 1990's, Shepherd Neame beers underwent a dramatic change in both taste and character. Gone was the well-balanced traditional Kentish ale with a lovely flowery hoppiness, which generations of local drinkers had cut their teeth on, and in its place was a beer with a harsh, stewed bitterness and a nasty metallic taste . This was combined with a change in character of the beers, which became thin-tasting, lacking in body, with an unpleasant and very dry aftertaste. Rumour has it the changes were due to the brewery "cleaning-up" its yeast, changing from a multi-strain variety to a single-strain one, thereby losing a lot of individuality and character along the way.
I don't know how true this story is, but try as I might I just can't get used to what Shepherd Neame beers taste like these days, and therefore tend to avoid them. However, towards the end of last year I was intrigued by a post on Mark Dredge's Pencil & Spoon site in which he reviewed two limited edition beers from Shep's, both of which were based on historical recipes from the company's archives. One of these beers was a Double Stout, whilst the other was an India Pale Ale. Being brews from a bygone era, both beers were on the strong side, but intrigued as I was,and despite my best efforts, I never managed to track these rarities down.
Until last weekend that is. Whilst browsing the shelves of Tesco's huge superstore in Sevenoaks, I came across a single bottle of Shepherd Neame India Pale Ale.. There was no price or descriptive label on the shelf, so this must definitely have been an end of line. I eagerly snapped it up and am now enjoying a lightly chilled glass of it.
I have to day it's rather good. In fact I'd go further and say it's excellent and if the bog-standard Shepherd Neame beers tasted anything remotely like this one, then I would have no hesitation of drinking in their pubs.The only slight drawback with this particular offering is that because it's based on an historic recipe, it's a rather strong 6.1% abv beer that, whilst good for a beer to enjoy and savour, definitely isn't one to have a session on. However, I'm very glad I managed to find it, and am pleased to report that despite its strength it really reminds me of how good Shepherd Neame beers used to taste back in the day when I first started drinking. Now all I need to do is to track down that Double Stout!
The blurb on the back label reads as follows: "An historic brew which conjures up images of high seas and faraway places. An IPA encapsulates centuries of brewing tradition, a quintessentially strong and hoppy beer with a bold, stirring character. Our India Pale Ale delivers this magnificently; pale in colour and generously bittered with locally grown Fuggles hops.
The high hop rate in this brew originally protected the beer during its arduous journey across the continents. The same Kentish hop notes can now be enjoyed for their own sake in this original recipe from Britain's oldest brewer."
Saturday, 6 July 2013
Disappointment on the Beer Front
It was very disappointing on the beer front the other night;
doubly so after the excellent choice of top quality beers we had enjoyed a
couple of days previously. I had turned
up to the third meeting of the organising committee of the Spa Valley Railway Beer
Festival, held at the normally reliable Royal Oak in Tunbridge Wells, looking
forward to something pale, hoppy and refreshing. Instead I was confronted by
three brown beers - Harvey’s Best,
Mighty Oak – English Oak and Tonbridge Copper Knob; all perfectly good beers in
their own right, but not what I was looking for at the time.
One could argue that drinkers are spoilt for choice these
days, and in certain pubs we are. However, many pubs continue to offer just
one or two “safe” options – (Harvey’s
Best, London Pride or Greene King IPA in this area), but at least with those
type of pub one knows there what will be on offer. When one is relying on a pub
which is normally renowned for sourcing something out of the ordinary, then it
comes as something of a disappointment when it doesn't come up with the goods.
It wasn’t just the Royal Oak
that failed to deliver last Tuesday. When the meeting had finished, a couple of
us called in at the Bedford on our
way back to the station. There were around eight beers on sale, but again
despite lots of apparent choice, I didn’t really see anything that grabbed my
attention. In the end I opted for Clarence & Fredericks Best Bitter, which was a very
disappointing pint to finish on, reminding me of a pint of home brew, back in
the bad old days. My friend fared rather better with the same brewery’s mild.
So what of the beers back at the Royal
Oak? Tonbridge Copper Knob is a fairly dry, fruity
3.8% beer, copper in colour, as its name suggests. English Oak, on the other hand,
was a full 1.0% higher in strength, and was fruity in character with caramel malt
being the main characteristic.
OK, perhaps we shouldn’t have expected too much on a quiet
Tuesday evening and I’m being more than a little churlish here, but with the preponderance
of pale golden ales available these days, it was odd to find nothing apart from
malt-driven brown ales.
Friday, 5 July 2013
Bargain Beer at Lidl's
From time to time supermarket chain, Lidl run cut-price promotions on certain bottled English beers. The offers are either from Shepherd Neame or Marstons,
but given my antipathy towards Shep's it's only beers from the latter
group which interest me. Earlier this week our local branch of Lidl, in
Tonbridge, was selling two different Jennings beers at the bargain price of just 99p per 500ml bottle. The beers in question were Jennings Bitter or Cocker Hoop,
and it was the latter brew which took my fancy, as I rate it as by far
the best beer to come out of the Jennings stable. Golden in colour and
with just the right balance between juicy malt and resinous bitterness,
this 4.2% beer really hits the spot so far as I'm concerned.
At such a bargain price, both beers were selling like hot cakes. I picked up an eight-bottle case yesterday, but when I returned earlier this evening, both beers had completely sold out. I'm not surprised, but if you're quick, it might still be worth checking your local branch of Lidl to see if there's any left on the shelves.
At such a bargain price, both beers were selling like hot cakes. I picked up an eight-bottle case yesterday, but when I returned earlier this evening, both beers had completely sold out. I'm not surprised, but if you're quick, it might still be worth checking your local branch of Lidl to see if there's any left on the shelves.
Wednesday, 3 July 2013
A Day in the Kent Countryside
I have written on at least two previous occasions about the CAMRA National Inventory listed Old House, at Ightham Common. Sometimes described as a “hobby pub” in so much it is only open during the evenings and at weekends, as owner Nick Boulter has a full time job elsewhere, it should more accurately, and more kindly, be described as a labour of love. It is always a wonderful experience to visit this marvellously unspoilt pub, not least because one is assured of being able to sample some excellent beer there.
So it was that last Saturday, a group of nine local CAMRA members and friends boarded the 222 bus outside Tonbridge station, to make the short journey up to Ightham Common. En route we passed through some unbelievably pretty places, including the large village of Plaxtol. This area was once known for paper making, and this industry is celebrated in the name of one of Plaxtol’s two pubs, the Papermaker’s Arms. However, we were leaving the delights of Plaxtol for another day, and another outing, and after our bus had climbed the steep escarpment of the Greensand Ridge, and deposited us just outside Ightham village, we made the short walk down along Redwell Lane, reaching the Old House just after 11.30.
Apart from regular customer and local CAMRA member Clive, we were
Nick’s first customers; in fact he had nipped outside for a crafty cigarette
before opening. He ushered us in and after we’d had the chance to peruse the
beers on offer, suggested to keep things simple we hold a “whip” whereby each
of us put a tenner into a kitty, and he would then take the drinks money from
that, as and when required. This seemed a good idea, so we all chipped in and
then proceeded to order our drinks. I started with Dark Star Hophead, a bit of
a no-brainer really. It was pale, cool, refreshing and wonderfully hoppy, and I
was tempted to go for another had it not been for my attention being
caught by a beer from the Bristol Beer Factory, called Seven. Now beers from
this company are something of a rarity in rural Kent,
in fact I haven’t come across them outside of London,
so I made this my second pint of the day, and was glad that I did. Not
quite as overtly hoppy as the Dark Star, Seven was nonetheless an extremely
good pint. Several of my companions thought so as well.
Before going any further, a word or two as to the intended format of the day. The 222 bus service runs back and
forth between Tonbridge and Borough Green. It is operated by the same driver,
which means that it runs once every two hours in each direction, with a
three hour gap mid-afternoon to give the driver a break and the chance for some lunch. The idea was we would catch the 14.09 return service to
Tonbridge, but would break our journey at the small hamlet of Dunks Green, home
to the Kentish Rifleman, another excellent country pub which we don’t get to
visit all that often. We could then spend the next three hours there, catching
the 17.19 service back to Tonbridge or, mid afternoon, we could walk across country
to the somewhat up-market Chaser Inn at Shipbourne, and then pick up the same
bus there a few minutes later.
Either option meant a problem with food; apart from nuts and
crisps, the Old House doesn’t do food, and we knew that the kitchen at the
Rifleman closed at 2.30pm. We didn’t
think the kitchen staff would fancy a rush, last minute scranble for food, so the
sensible option was to bring a packed lunch. Nick had no problem with us eating
our rolls inside the pub, but as it was such a nice day, several of us went and
sat outside, enjoying the sun which has been sadly missing for much of the
summer so far.
Alongside the Dark Star and the BBF beers, were Wickwar
Coopers Ale, Mauldons Black Adder and Young’s Ordinary. Dismissing the latter as no longer worthy of
consideration since its move to Bedford, I gave both the Wickwar and the Mauldons a try
before leaving, The pub had become quite crowded by the time of our departure;
not just with ourselves, but a healthy sprinkling of regulars, plus a group
from Croydon and Sutton CAMRA branch, It was also reported that a mini-bus load
of SPBW (Society for the Preservation of Beer from the Wood) would be calling
in as well. (We spotted them in their bus, en route to the Old House, whilst
waiting for ours.) We departed shortly before 2pm,
thanking Nick for his hospitality and his great beer, and were waiting at the
stop in time for the onward bus to our next destination.
As I mentioned earlier, Dunk’s Green is nothing more than a
hamlet, but it is fortunate in still having its own pub, and a pretty fine one
too. Dating in part from the 16th Century, the Kentish Rifleman
survived a serious fire back in 2007, which necessitated some major restoration
work, especially to the roof. Looking at the pub today it’s difficult to imagine
just how bad the damage was at the time. The front entrance leads straight into
the main bar, which is long and low. Leading off from this is another long and
quite narrow room, which is slightly more upmarket, and is mainly used by
diners. At the rear of the pub is an attractive and secluded garden, and this
is to where most of us gravitated; all that is except Eric and I who stopped to
chat to a couple of characters sitting at the bar.
The Rifleman had four beers on offer – the low strength Tolly
Cobbold English Ale, Whitstable Native, Harvey’s
Best and Westerham 1965. The first two beers were on sale at £3.00 a pint,
whilst the latter two were more expensive, at £3.50. This price differential
reflects the wholesale prices charged by the respective breweries, as both
Harvey’s and Westerham are well-known in the trade for charging higher rates
for their beers. I sampled the Native and the 1965 and am pleased to report
both were in tip-top condition.
Eric and I joined the others in the garden for our second
pint; after all it was a shame to be stuck indoors on so pleasant a day. It was
from here that the majority of the group decided that a cross-country walk to
Shipbourne would be a good idea, as not only would it gives us some exercise,
but it would also give us a bit of break from the beer. It was the perfect
summer’s afternoon for a walk, most of which was across fields and through the
odd copse. Eventually we could see the tower
of Shipbourne church beckoning in
the distance across the grassy expanse of the common.
I can’t remember the last time I’d set foot in the Chaser,
but I wouldn’t mind betting it was a quarter of a century ago. As I mentioned
earlier, it’s a somewhat up-market sort of place; nothing too stuck-up mind,
just rather expensive. The pub is part of a small chain called Whiting &Hammond. The chain runs seven pubs in total, most of which are leased from Greene
King. One of these is the Little Brown Jug at Chiddingstone Causeway,
which is five minutes walk away from where I work. My company uses the Jug for entertaining
customers; leaving do’s and staff drinks each Christmas Eve, so I know the sort
of package the group offers. It is a good package, and the food is especially
recommended, with generous portions and some imaginative dishes, but of a
normal lunchtime I tend to steer clear, if only so as to keep a clear head for
the afternoon.
As well as Greene
King beers the Jug regularly stocks Larkin’s beer brewed just down the road, but
like most local pubs the Larkin’s on tap is the 3.4% Traditional Ale. Now for a
lunchtime pint this is a very good session beer that packs in lots of taste for
its low strength, but it’s not often one sees any of the other beers that the
brewery produces. I was especially pleasing therefore to walk into the Chaser
and see Larkin’s Best Bitter on sale. At a much more respectable 4.4% abv, the
Best is packed full of chewy-toffee, juicy-malt flavours which are perfectly
complemented by the WGV and Bramling Cross hops grown on the brewery’s own
farm. In fact, so good was the beer that
I didn’t mind paying the rather steep £3.80 a pint price tag.
We sat out in the garden at the side of the pub, which is
just in front of the church, enjoying the beer and making those who had
remained at the Rifleman jealous by posting text-messages telling them what
they were missing! We joined up with
them just before 5.30pm, despite
their having primed the bus driver not to stop for us! Back in Tonbridge, most of
the party, being gluttons for punishment decided to call in at the local
Wetherspoons. Myself and a colleague decided that discretion was the better
part of valour and that we’d had more than enough ale for one day. Not only
that but Spoons would have been somewhat of an anti-climax after three such
excellent pubs, so we stayed on the bus for a couple more stops before walking
back to our respective homes.
Thursday, 27 June 2013
A Day Out in London - Part 2
After crossing London Bridge, we headed along Gracechurch Street towards the Crosse Keys, our next port of call, and one of Wetherspoons flagship pubs in the capital. However, when Gracechurch Street merged into Bishopsgate we realised we must have missed it. Undeterred we turned right into the covered splendour of Leadenhall Market for the chance to visit the Lamb Tavern, an unspoilt gem of a pub which dates back, in its present form, to the 17th Century and is on the site of a much older establishment of the same name. Alongside the usual Young’s offerings was Sambrook’s Pumphouse Pale. This turned out to be a very good beer, but at over £4.00 it pint it jolly well ought to be! One of the Lamb’s most attractive features was a large Bass mirror (see picture below), which would look nice on my wall at home!
We asked the barmaid as to the whereabouts of the Crosse
Keys and were told it was definitely in Gracechurch
Street, but on the opposite side of the road to
where we had been looking. Re-tracing
our steps I spotted the small, unobtrusive sign (no wonder we missed it),
hanging next to the entrance of what must be one of Wetherspoons most
ostentatious pubs. Converted from the palatial marbled banking hall that was
once the London Headquarters of the Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank, the Crosse Keys
offers one of the widest ranges of cask ales of any JDW outlet; up to 24 in
fact! These are displayed on TV monitors above the bar, but we hadn’t noticed
that, so spent quite a bit of time perusing the pump clips before deciding what
to order. We opted for Wayland Smithy, a 4.4% American red ale brewed by Oxfordshire brewers White Horse of Stanford-in-the-Vale. I think Eric enjoyed his but I found the beer not really
to my taste.(a touch too much roast malt for my liking).
Soon it was time to move on again, and we had a bit of a route march ahead of us, especially as we wanted to get back to the Charing Cross area. We made our way up Cornhill, passing the Bank of England, before continuing along Cheapside and the back of St Paul’s and then along towards Holborn to the Cittie of Yorke, a well-known London pub, and one of a number in the Capital belonging to Yorkshire brewers, Samuel Smith. Sam’s are renowned for their keen prices and for their policy of only stocking “own-branded” products in their pubs, so as well as their one cask ale Old Brewery Bitter (OBB), their pubs sell their own lager, stout, an extensive range of distinctive bottled beers, own-label wines, plus even their own branded crisps! We opted for the OBB; I didn’t notice what the price was as it was Eric’s round, but knowing Sam’s value for money policy it would have been on a par with what we paid in Wetherspoons.
The pub itself is well worth a visit, consisting of one long
bar, with a high vaulted ceiling. It looks very much like a baronial hall, so
it is surprising to learn it was only built in 1924. The sides of the building,
away from the bar, are lined with booths which resemble confessionals, or the sort of enclosures once found in courtrooms for lawyers and their clients to discuss
matters relating to the case, privately. Being a Friday afternoon, the pub was
starting to fill up quite rapidly; not just with city workers finished for the
weekend, but with a healthy sprinkling of tourists as well.
We drank up and departed for our final stop of the day, the
Harp in Covent Garden. I wasn't certain whether I’d
visited this award winning pub before, but I was certainly glad that we called
in on our way back to Charing Cross. The pub was packed
when we arrived, with people spilling out onto the street. This wasn’t a
problem as the Harp has what must be removable windows. These help give a
feeling of space and on warm summer days, allow both light and air into the pub.
Once at the bar we were spoilt for choice with around eight different cask ales
to choose from. To start I went with the Red Squirrel London Porter, whilst
Eric opted for the Dark Star Original.
We spent longer than intended at the Harp, such was the
atmosphere and the quality and range of the beer. There was also a bevy of
attractive barmaids pulling the pints and serving the customers with just the right
mixture of efficiency and charm. I ended up sampling the Conqueror, Black IPA
from Windsor & Eaton and then finally Sambrook’s Lavender Hill, a 4.5% pale
ale, before finally calling it a day.
From the Harp it was a short step to Charing
Cross station and the train home. It had been a good day out, with
some excellent pubs visited and quite a few good beers dunk as well. This trip
wasn’t about searching out “extreme”, cutting-edge beers, but more a chance for
a couple of old friends to get together, visit a handful of decent pubs, and
catch up on what’s been going on over a few decent pints. Our next day out is
likely to be to Hastings – local inhabitants, you have been warned!
Monday, 24 June 2013
A Day Out in London - Part 1
“A trip to London” my friend Eric suggested, “taking in a few pubs around the London Bridge area.” This seemed like an excellent idea; I had spent most of the week at home doing some decorating, and I ached from climbing up ladders and crouching down to reach awkward spots. Besides, I had not really had a chance to catch up with Eric since my return from Japan, so a day’s drinking in some of Southwark’s finest hostelries seemed the perfect opportunity for a break from the painting and a chance to swap experiences about the Far East, (Eric has visited Japan in the past, so we had a lot to talk about).
After a train journey of just over half an hour, through the pleasant and very green-looking Kent countryside, we alighted at London Bridge. Although it must only be two months or so since I was last up there I was surprised at the amount of alterations that had taken place. The station is undergoing a massive redevelopment programme, the first part of which seems to have been the demolition of the train shed on the “Surrey side”. This left us with an uninterrupted view of the Shard, London’s latest white elephant, (anyone who remembers Centre Point from the 1960’s will know what I am talking about!)
I had brought with us, for guidance, Des de Moor’s excellent “CAMRA Guide to London’s Best Beer Pubs & Bars”, but to start off I suggested we call in at the historic George Inn, just off Borough High Street. Eric hadn’t been there before, despite being a member of the National Trust, and was very impressed with the antiquity and character of what is the last remaining example in London of a galleried coaching inn. As it was only shortly after 11 o’clock, the pub was fairly quiet, and in view of the early hour, and the fact we had the whole day in front of us, I suggested we just have a half. The other reason for this was the George is leased to Greene King, not our favourite brewery, although we did spot a beer from Portobello Brewery, called Star on the bar. We were charged two quid a half, and later found out from looking at the price list, that the George charges a premium for halves, as pints were £3.85. This is a money grabbing practice which unfortunately has become much too common. It made our minds up to drink pints for the rest of the day.
The beer itself was not particularly great, not down to the
brewery I hasten to add, but much more likely the end of the barrel. Never
mind, we had a good look round before crossing the road and heading through the
bustling Borough Market opposite. The majority of the construction work
involved with squeezing in the new railway viaduct, high above the heads of the
market below, has now been completed and the Wheatsheaf pub which had the top
sliced off it in order to accommodate the new structure has now re-opened for
business. However, it was not our intention to be drinking Young’s beers as
since their move to Bedford they
really are a shadow of their former self. Instead we headed for everyone’s
favourite real ale pub in these parts, the Market Porter.
The pub was virtually empty when we arrived, in fact this
was the quietest I have ever seen it, but then it was just before midday and I
was certain that by early afternoon the place would be heaving as usual. With a
choice of 12 cask ales on offer it was difficult to decide what to go for. In
the end we opted for Signal Mainline from the recently opened Settle Brewery. We
had purposely chosen a weak beer to start with, but whilst this 3.6% abv brew
was pleasant enough, but a little on the sweet side so far as I was concerned,
and thus didn’t really hit the spot. I said that there weren’t many people in the pub, but
despite that there weren’t many places to sit down either. I put that down to
the fact that tables and chairs take up too much floor space, and when the
Market Porter is as packed as I’ve seen it every available square foot is
needed to accommodate all the punters. We did however, manage to grab one of
the last small tables, together with a couple of stools, in the extension at
the rear of the pub. This gave us a chance to sit down, consult the guide and
peruse the map, not that Eric could do much perusing as he had left his reading
glasses at home!
We could, of course, quite easily have spent the rest of the
day in the Porter. After all there were plenty of other beers for us to try,
but onwards and upwards we decided to give somewhere else a try and decided on
the Southwark Tavern, described in Des’s guide as a “contemporary pub”. The pub
is situated right on the edge of Borough Market, fronting on to Borough High
Street, and with its attractive tiled frontage, and evidence of its one time
owners Meux and Co still clearly visible, we stepped inside. Apart from the
dreaded Doom Bar, there were three other cask ales which caught our eye –
Stonehenge Eye-Opener, Red Squirrel Jack Black – Black IPA and Wharfe Bank Fair
Dinkum. We opted for the latter, a 4.3% cask lager, brewed using Australian
hops. It was nice and refreshing and this time really did do the trick. The
Southwark also offers a number of keg beers, including several foreign ones,
and I’d made a mental note to look at these more closely on my trip back from
the gents, but unfortunately quite forgot to do so when the time came.
We thought it wise to get something more solid inside of us
before any more beer was consumed, so where better than one of the many food
stalls operating in the adjacent market. A freshly cooked, hot, salt beef
sandwich, served up in a doorstep wedge of crusty bread with English mustard
and gherkins proved just the right amount of nourishment before moving on to
our next port of call.
I’d had it in mind to visit Katzenjammers, a German-themed
bier Keller sited in the basement of the old Hop Exchange. My son was rather
impressed with the place when he and a friend had visited the other year, but
after taking a wrong turning and ending up next to the cathedral, I decided to
go along with Eric’s suggestion of crossing the river and seeing what was on
offer in the City. This fitted in with the vague plan we had of gradually
making our way westwards towards Charing Cross station.
(To be continued).
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