TJ's Sells Out

Disappointment was the order of the day following the beer selling out early at this weekend’s Winter Beer Festival, held at Tonbridge Juddian’s Rugby Club.

We sort of knew the event was going to be popular; coinciding as it did with the start of the Six Nation’s Rugby Competition, so for this reason most of us avoided the opening session on Friday evening. As the club were screening the opening game of the contest, featuring Wales versus England, it seemed wise to wait until the following day to get along and sample the beers. My wife’s niece and her partner had gone along on the Friday and had sent a message via Social Media that the club-house was absolutely rammed; so much so that it was difficult to move around and that it was standing room only.

Considering I had made a wise decision not to go along for the opening night, I set off from home shortly after 4pm, looking forward to sampling a few of the 24 ales on offer; the majority sourced locally from Kent and Sussex breweries.  I walked along the riverside path beneath the walls of Tonbridge’s historic 12^th Century castle, and made my way past the swimming pool to the TJ’s clubhouse. As I approached I thought I recognised the figure coming towards me as friend and fellow CAMRA member, Jon. When he told me that most of the beers had run out and that the place was absolutely heaving, I thought he was joking.

He wasn’t though, as he had just come from the clubhouse. He suggested that I pop in and take a look for myself. On doing so one of the women on the door explained there was only around five or six beers still on, and that these were likely to run out soon. The organisers were putting a further three casks on sale at the clubhouse bar, so suggested I go in for a quick look first, before deciding to purchase a “starter pack” (glass plus tokens).

A much more relaxed festival at TJ's back in 2013

I forced my way inside, but there were so many people present that I was virtually impossible to get near the bar, or to see what, if anything was available on the stillages at the front of the clubhouse. I gave the whole thing up as a bad idea, but on my way out I bumped into Jon again. He was aware that Nigel, another friend of ours was in the clubhouse and he asked if I had seen him. Well given the number of people inside my reply was “No”, so after leaving a message for him on “WhatsApp”, we headed off in the direction of our local Wetherspoons for a much needed beer.

The Humphrey Bean was busy, but not too crowded and after ordering our beers, we managed to find a table. Jon went for Birra Armada a 4.8% Spanish Craft Beer brewed in collaboration with Adnams at their Southwold Brewery. I went for a pint of  Turner’s American Pale Ale, which was very good. We hadn’t been there that long before we were joined by Nigel. He explained that having bought £10 worth of tokens at TJ’s, he wanted to use them up before joining us in Spoons. He mentioned a very nice Oatmeal Stout from 360˚ Brewery, and had also managed  to sample the new Pale Ale from local heroes, Larkin’s.

The Bean also had a presentation of Rockin’ Robin beers on the bar, with three of the brewery’s beers on sale. Both Jon and Nigel went for one, but for my next pint I opted for the Spanish beer which Jon had been drinking earlier. I can’t say I’m a fan of Rockin’ Robin beers, despite having met the brewery’s gregarious and larger than life founder, Robin Smallbone. Robin readily admits he has stuck with the tried and tested malt-driven, “brown bitter” format, rather than going down the strong pale ale, bittered with New World, citrus-like hops style which has been very much in vogue over the last few years, and his decision has obviously struck a chord with local drinkers. Good luck to him for going against the trend and sticking to what he does best!

A third pint was called for, along with a bite to eat. The 6.0% ABV Rogue Brutal IPA, another collaboration brew from Adnams, hit the mark, as did the pulled-pork sandwich I ordered. Nigel departed; he had promised his wife he would pick up some shopping on the way home. Jon had the best part of an hour to kill before his train home, so we decide to head up towards the station and call in at the Punch & Judy.

This suited me as well as the P & J  is on my way home. The pub was pleasantly busy and had a welcoming log fire blazing away. On the bar were Harvey’s Best, Tonbridge Alsace Gold, plus a beer from Wychwood whose name escapes me. Jon went for the latter, whilst I opted for the Alsace Gold, which was in fine form. There was just time for another swift half before Jon left to catch his train. I wandered back up the hill towards my house and surprised my family with my early arrival. They had obviously been expecting me back home a lot later.

It was obviously a shame about the TJ’s festival; good for the club, but not so good for all us thirsty local punters. For those interested in what brews were available, here is a list of the 24 beers.

The Other Weekend's Bus Trip

Our bus trip the other weekend, out to a few of the more outlying pubs in our area, proved to be something of a mixed bag. I am referring to the social organised by West Kent CAMRA to Edenbridge; a small town situated at the far western extreme of Kent and close to the border with Surrey.

The first pub on our itinerary was the GBG listed Old Eden; an attractive 16th Century building sited right on the banks of the River Eden. For reasons I've never been able to put my finger on, the Old Eden has never been a "destination pub" as far as I am concerned, despite the pub ticking all the right boxes,. And so it proved thus the other Saturday.

Our party of nine had been split into two, due to a mix up with the buses. I was in the advanced group. The Old Eden is a long, narrow building; having been converted from a number of former cottages knocked through into one. There were a couple of open log fires which were a welcome sight on a cold January day. We grabbed a table close to one and then proceeded to see which beers were on offer. This was probably the first indication that things had changed at the pub. The usual two Westerham beers were still on, but the Taylor's Landlord and the Whitstable Brewery beer had disappeared.  In their place was Otter Bitter, from the West Country.

Most of us went for the Otter, which was in good condition, tasty and, at just £3.40 a pint, was excellent value as well.  The same could not be said about the next beer I went for; Westerham 1965. Not only was the beer hazy, it was also expensive - a shocking £4.00 a pint! To be fair to the pub, Westerham beers are notoriously expensive; a fact I know only too well, having been the beer buyer for last year's Spa Valley Railway Beer Festival.

Lunch - not as good as it looks!

Shortly after ordering my second pint, the other members of our party arrived. Having missed the bus in Tunbridge Wells, they had adjourned to the nearby Bedford where, as usual, there was a choice of 10 beers. I was getting peckish, so ordered myself a spot of lunch. Unfortunately it wasn't just the beer which let the Old Eden down, the liver and bacon I ordered was definitely not up to scratch, with undercooked liver, and chewy, tough and rather fatty bacon. Most disappointing!

Before catching the bus to our next scheduled stop, we walked the short distance up the road to the King & Queen; a Shepherd Neame pub, but one which we had heard some good reports about. Regular readers of this blog will know I am no fan of Shep’s beers, so I was pleasantly surprised to see a pump-clip advertising Otter Ale – the stronger 4.5% counterpart to the 3.6% bitter we had enjoyed earlier. The beer was in fine form; a sharp contrast to the visit the same group of us made a few years previously, when all the cask beers (all Shep’s), were undrinkable and we ended up walking out.

The pub is under new owners, and it seems they have made a pretty good job of turning the place round. In common with several other pubs in Edenbridge the King & Queen is an old pub with the associated beams and wooden floorboards. There are some comfortable leather sofas in front of a roaring log fire, and a raised area where pool and darts can be played. It was good to see the pub on the up.

Four Elms Inn at Four Elms

Our last port of call was on the bus route home. The Four Elms, in the village of the same name, is another pub with a recent chequered history. It is also a pub which has been rescued by new and sympathetic owners, and is in the process of being turned round. The Four Elms dates back to the 16th Century, and is deceptively roomy inside. Inside there is a main bar, a snug, a saloon, plus a restaurant and family room. Outside there is a large garden with a stream, but being a freezing cold  January day we didn’t hang around long to investigate.

As in the previous two pubs, there was a nice warming and welcoming log fire to greet us as we entered the main bar. The place had befitted from a recent redecoration, giving a bright and airy feel to the place. There were two beers on sale; local favourite Harvey’s Sussex Best and Wadworth Henry’s IPA. Not being a huge fan of Wadworth’s beers I plumped for the Harvey’s and was glad I did for two reasons. The first was the Wadworth IPA was coming to an end; a fact realised by the landlord, and the cask was promptly changed for Larkin’s Traditional (an even more local favourite). The second was the Harvey’s was in excellent form and turned out to be one of the best pints of Sussex I have had in a long time.

I had a brief look around the rest of the pub, before joining my fiends at a table close to the fire. I was racking my brains to try and remember whether I had been in the Four Elms before. If I had it must have been over 30 years ago, so it was small wonder that not much looked familiar. Our branch chairman and social secretary stood at the bar, chatting to the landlord, who was undoubtedly pleased to see us. Eight thirsty CAMRA members must be a welcome sight to a hard-pressed publican on a cold January afternoon! Mine host is a trained chef, who has major plans for the pub. It is good to see a formerly closed hostelry being brought back to life and we all wish him and his team every success with this.

We had to leave shortly before 5pm to catch the last bus back, but a brisk walk along to the bus stop saw us there in plenty of time. My colleagues continued into Tunbridge Wells, but I alighted at Bidborough in order to catch a bus back to Tonbridge. I had just received a phone call from my sister, informing me of my mother’s fall, so I needed to get home and get a bag packed ready for the trip up to Norfolk the following morning.

Leave of Absence

I’ve been stuck up in Norfolk, away from the blog, and also from my immediate family for the past week. My mother had a bad fall just over a week ago, and is currently still in hospital. I took a week off work to look after my father, who has Alzheimer’s. There’s no internet connection at my parent’s bungalow, which meant the only chances I had to go on line were when dad and I visited mum in hospital.

The Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital offers free Wi-Fi for both patients and visitors, giving me a brief chance to catch up with what’s going on.

I’m back in Kent now; mum is slowly improving and I managed to arrange a package of  three times a day “home care” visits to look after dad. Luckily I’ve a sister that lives close-by who can pop in and keep an eye on dad, and also visit mum when her work schedule allows.

It was good to spend some time with dad, even if his conversation and memory aren’t up to much these days. I did think of dragging him down to the local pub for a quick pint, but he’s never been much of a drinker and besides he can’t walk far anymore. Tempted though I was to get a few bottles in, it somehow didn’t seem right, so on top of being away from the all-encompassing world-wide-web, it’s been a pretty dry week as well.

I’m just about to crack open a bottle of Fuller’s London Porter which, I’m sure, will taste all the better following my forced abstinence!

My Other Blog

 

Most readers of this blog will probably be blissfully unaware that I have a second bog which I write from time to time. Titled Paul’s Beer Travels the blog follows a similar theme to my main blog, but is more of a travelogue with a beery theme. Amongst the places I have covered are Berlin, Pilsen, Bamberg and Munich. Closer to home, I have written about Edinburgh, Liverpool, Whitstable and the Cotswolds.

I haven’t posted anything on the blog since April last year, but whilst trawling through various unfinished drafts, I came upon this incomplete piece about a trip I made to Helsinki, back in February 2009. I had started writing the post in the summer of that year, but for some reason (laziness, probably!), had never finished it.

I decided it should see the light of day, and completed it a couple of days ago. If you are interested in learning a bit more about Finland’s capital city, and quite a bit less about its beer culture (expensive!), then do follow the link and see what you think.

See you on the other side, as the “buy now” button says on all good internet marketing sales pages!

Not All Doom in Cornwall

Part of the Connoisseur's Choice range

My recent critique on Doom Bar whilst chronicling the rise of Britain’s top selling cask ale, was probably more than a little unfair on Doom Bar’s creator; Sharp’s of Rock in Cornwall. Hopefully the piece which follows will help set the record straight.

Maybe it’s a peculiarly English thing to knock the success of others, but my recent post about Doom Bar was more about the way this inoffensive but perfectly drinkable beer has spread inexorably, like the “red weed” in the “War of the Worlds” across the nation’s bars, rather than a criticism of the brewery which spawned it.

All power then to Sharp’s elbow for coming from nowhere to create the UK’s No.1 best selling cask ale in the space of less than 20 years. Despite the sniping and ridicule from beer connoisseurs and writers, including me in my recent post, it has to be said that many of Sharp’s other beers are extremely good, and included amongst them are some real classics.

Stuart Howe, the company’s Head of Craft Brewing and Innovation, has a reputation which is internationally acclaimed. Stuart has been involved with Sharp’s since 2002, swapping a career in engineering for the life of a brewer. His goal remains to make great beers which appeal to true connoisseurs but at the same time are accessible to the average drinker.

Returning to Sharp’s beers; I have tried Cornish Coaster, which at 3.6% ABV is the weakest beer in the company’s portfolio, but I have never come across the 4.4% ABV Own, or the 5.0% ABV Special. I also note from the company’s website that Sharp’s brew a 5.2% ABV Cornish Pilsner, which they claim is inspired by the great Pilsner beers from the Czech Republic. Some 30 outlets in London are listed as stocking this "pale straw beer which is fermented with a genuine Czech yeast then lagered on a bed of Saaz hops to create stunning, zesty herbal notes and a delicious clean, citrus flavour."

Sharp’s also produce some highly respected bottled beers. These include the attractively packaged Atlantic Pale Ale, 4.5% ABV and Wolf Rock Red IPA 4.8%.   Also not forgotten are Chalky’s Bite, produced in collaboration with Rick Stein, plus the lesser known Chalky’s Bark. Pride of place though surely goes to the Sharp’s Connoisseurs Choice range.

Beers for the real Connoisseur

There are nine stunning beers in the range, each one numbered from 1 to 9. The only one I’ve tried is the amazing No. 1 Quadrupel Ale. Brewed with four malts, four hops, four yeasts and four fermentations; the result is a beer which transcends beer styles, a unique fusion of a Quadrupel, a strong dark ale and a barley wine that thinks it's a port. There are also three Single Brew Reserves, numbered 2, 4 & 8, with each representing the years 2011, 2012 and 2013 respectively. The thinking behind these is that each Single Brew Reserve profiles the best hops from the year it was brewed.

Completing the range is the No. 3 Honey Spice Tripel, the No. 5 Spice Red, the No. 6 Dubbel Coffee Stout, No. 7 Honey Spice IPA and the No.9 Six Vintage Blend. The latter is, as its name suggests, a blend of several beers, including a Trappist Dubbel, a sweet barley wine, a Quadrupel fermented with yeast from a world renowned Trappist brewery, a honey wheat beer which has been naturally soured by lactic acid and finally a US dry-hopped double IPA. The company claim that this blend of aged beers represents the evolution of brewing at Sharp’s.

This all sound pretty good and a far cry from the dreaded Doom Bar. However, let’s not forget that without the success of this ubiquitous best seller, Sharp’s would probably not be able to afford the luxury of brewing the Connoisseurs Choice range. Credit should also be given to new owners Molson Coors, who have not only invested heavily in the brewery at Rock but have given the management team there a free hand to develop these sorts of beers. It’s also a pretty safe bet that Molson Coors will have provided technical expertise and support to Stuart Howe and his team.

So next time you see a pump on the bar dispensing Doom Bar, think that in its own way it is helping one of the country’s most respected brewer to turn out some truly great and world-beating beers.

Look at Me Everybody!

Well we’re already halfway through January and in my, albeit somewhat limited experience of what’s happening in the pub trade I haven’t seen much evidence of this Dryanuary nonsense. Admittedly I blocked the ads for this self-serving, self-effacing exercise for people to blow their own trumpets, from appearing on my own Facebook page, as I was sick of seeing them pop up every time I logged on. If the money raised is supposed to help fund cancer research, then splashing adverts all over social media is hardly an example of money well spent!

Leaving aside the dubious nature of the fundraising itself, I am yet to be convinced of the value of any of this, apart from helping the cause of the anti-alcohol brigade, whilst at the same time helping to swell the coffers of the charities concerned. We all know charity is big business these days; a drive past the flashy head-office of the Charity’s Aid Foundation at the nearby Kings Hill Business-Park yesterday confirmed this. It is also no big secret that the large charities, and quite a few of the not so large, pay their top executives massively inflated salaries. An acquaintance of mine hawks his services as a data base manager around various such organisations on a short-term contract basis. I wouldn’t dream of asking how much he earns from this, but the fact him and his wife can afford to spend several months each year in Australia tells me it is certainly not small beer!

To return to the Dryanuary campaign for a moment, I wish to state that I have nothing against people who, for genuine health or indeed personal reasons, wish to abstain from drink for a period of time. If it genuinely makes them fell good then fine; but please leave out the self-satisfied smugness and please don’t plaster your “achievement” all over social media.

That said, there is no proven health benefit from giving up alcohol totally unless, of course, one has a serious drink problem or is a registered alcoholic. Cut down, if you must and drink sensibly – but not by following the ridiculous Department of Health guidelines where, as we all know, the figures were literally “plucked out of thin air”!

Also, January is the worst month possible for people to be abstaining, especially as far as the licensed trade is concerned. I know from our own experience of running an off-licence that whilst Christmas is undoubtedly good for trade, you definitely feel the flip-side come January. After the over-indulgence and massive over-spend of the festive season, trade in January falls off a cliff. This plays serious havoc with your cash flow, as the Christmas bills all start to come in. I remember us nearly going under one New Year when a local builder’s merchants insisted on a full 30 days credit for a large order, mainly of spirits, we had supplied for Christmas. We of course, had our suppliers to pay, but on top of this we had paid upfront for a large chunk of this order, as the local Cash & Carry does what it says on the tin, i.e. you pay for your goods at time of purchase!

We learned the hard way, and after that it was cash strictly on delivery, but this example illustrates the problem facing small businesses that without sufficient cash to cover the day to day running costs, many risk going under. The last thing a cash-strapped publican wants is silly self-centred people going “dry” for the month, just because their mates are doing it. Get a life for f***s sake!

In the eight years since we sold our off-licence business, the situation the licensed trade finds itself in has got steadily worse. January now even more so than before, can be the month which breaks a publican’s business. This one month can undermine all the hard work of the year before and, at a time when most people are looking forward to the year ahead, starts the New Year off on a real low. If you really care about our pubs it is definitely NOT the month to be going dry!

Sheffield Blogger, Wee Beefy summed this up nicely on a recent post.

“No-one is suggesting you should, say, drink to excess at Christmas and then carry on a booze fuelled orgy of over indulgence into January. What I am saying is, do continue to go to the pub, and keep money running through the tills of the places you would expect to drink in, or outside of, when the summer sun comes.”

“A friend of mine recently said he was giving up alcohol for January. He wasn't doing it as part of a charity campaign, but he noticed his friends were doing it and wanted to join in. I'm not for a second suggesting that my pub and bus stop learnt medical acumen stretches to doubting the benefits of a dry month, but I do know that January is not the month to do it. Someone who works in one of Sheffield's numerous real ale pubs said he had friends who'd made the same threat, sorry, promise. His response had been “Well, I wonder if there's some way I can go and fuck up your business in January as well.” He was joking, of course. Sort of.”

Dave Bailey, over at HardKnott Dave, makes an eloquent plea along the same lines. Dave of course, runs his own HardKnott Brewery, up in the Lake District, and suffers from exactly the same cash flow problems I mentioned earlier. It’s even worse for a brewery, especially when you have to keep chasing strapped-for-cash publicans to pay for the beer you supplied them in the run up to Christmas.

He summarises the problem by stating, “What we would all like in business is solid, dependable and constant cash-flow. Buying in of raw materials, production, delivery and timely payment of invoices. Seasonality mucks this up something terrible. We need to try and find enough cash resources to fund the production of extra beer in November and December if we are to fully benefit from this peak in trade. On top of the risk of not selling what beer has been made, there is the difficulty and cost of finding that cash.”

I will end on a similar note to Dave, and that is a suggestion to give Tryanuary a go as an alternative. This is where you try something new, or something different during January instead.  As their website says: "Make it your mission to seek out new INDEPENDENT breweries, beers, bars and bottle shops, and share your discoveries with people throughout January. This isn't about drinking more. It's about trying something different. Tasting something new. Experiencing something interesting."

Here, here!!

The Doom of Doom Bar

The UK's No. 1

Keen observers of the brewing industry will have noticed that last year Sharp’s Doom Bar became the No.1 selling cask beer in the UK! This is good news for Sharp’s of course, but it’s not so good for the nation’s beer lovers. In pubs up and down the land, local beers are being elbowed off the bar to make way for this all pervasive brew; small wonder then that many are referring to this phenomenon as the “Doom of Doom Bar”!

So how did this beer, which didn’t even exist 20 years ago, come from nowhere to become Britain’s biggest selling cask beer, eclipsing even the likes of Greene King IPA and Fuller’s London Pride?

Sharp's Brewery was founded in 1994 by businessman Bill Sharp. For Bill beer-making was little more than a hobby. He had no background in brewing and according to legend took the recipe for his beer from a home-brew kit. It was rumoured that he started off making his own beer in his shed because he was newly-married and his wife didn't like him going to the pub!

After some success with his home-made efforts, Sharp decided to try brewing commercially, particularly after realising that there was almost no competition locally. He found premises just outside the Cornish village of Rock, and started off with three beers - Sharp's Ale, Sharp's Special and Cornish Coaster. Eighteen months later he blended Sharp's Ale and Cornish Coaster to create the new beer which became Doom Bar, named after a notorious sandbank in the nearby Camel Estuary.

In 2003 Bill sold his micro-brewery to Nick Baker and Joe Keohane. They also had little brewing experience but they had worked in the food industry and knew the importance of quality control, of using the finest ingredients and listening to their customers. They were also very ambitious, especially about creating and building a big brand, and in this respect Doom Bar more than fitted the bill.

Unlike many micro-breweries at that time, Nick and Joe weren’t interested in pretending to be an old traditional company, and made no secret of the fact that they were growing the business with a view to selling it off. And grow it did, driven by Doom Bar; their premium brand. In the year from 2009 to 2010, sales doubled. In January 2011 they reported that profits had quadrupled in the previous year after turnover leapt from £11.4million to £16.1million - a massive increase of 40 per cent.

This phenomenal growth attracted the interest of North American brewing giant Molson Coors, who bought Sharp's in February 2011 for £20million. In the first year under new ownership, sales rose by a further 22 per cent. Brewery employees and beer lovers were initially apprehensive but their fears proved unfounded. Molson Coors took the view that if it ain't broke, don't change it and immediately announced it had no intention of moving production away from Rock.
 
Sharp's were allowed to carry on brewing as they always had, but with Molson Coors behind them. The multi-national invested £5million in the company and also brought their marketing expertise and budgets to further fuel the expansion of this one time “hobby” brewery.

CAMRA spokesman Neil Walker, said at the time that he didn’t foresee any decline in Doom Bar's popularity, describing the brand as “a classic English beer”. He added that “The fact that it comes from Cornwall gives it even more positive connotations. People think of happy holidays they spent there. It's a beer that you can drink all day."

I tried a bottle of Doom Bar the other night; it was included amongst the beers I was given for Christmas so it seemed rude not to crack it open and give it a go. The bottled beer is slightly stronger than the cask version, weighing in at 4.3% rather than 4.0%. It’s difficult not to have pre-conceptions about a beer which has become the top-selling cask beer in Britain, but somehow I thought the bottled version would be better. Unfortunately I was wrong and I would say it’s no better and no worse than the stuff one sees on sale in pubs and bars up and down the country.

Ironically I really enjoyed my first glass of Doom Bar. Ten or more years ago, back in the days when we had our Real Ale off-licence, I was given a ticket for the Pub & Bar Show. Held in London, at either Earl’s Court or Olympia (I can’t remember which), this was a strictly “trade only” show, but being an off-licence proprietor I obviously qualified. I wasn’t overly enamoured with the show, which is probably why I never went again. If you think the trade day at GBBF is little more than a glorified “publican’s outing”, then you’ve never been to the Pub & Bar Show!

After trying various varieties of crisps and the odd cocktail, I decided it was time to head for home; after all I had an of-licence to run and my paid help was only covering the lunchtime shift. As I made my way towards the exit I came across Sharp’s trade stand, shining out like a beacon in a sea of mediocrity. With its clean modern looks and contemporary design I was quickly drawn towards it.

There was no draught beer on the stand, but they were offering tasters (500ml bottles) of their newly re-branded beer- Doom Bar. Against a backdrop of colour posters depicting the Camel Estuary where the notorious Doom Bar sand bank lurks, plus stand-ups and other point of sale material, the attractively-packaged beer was enough to draw me in to request my sample.

I can honestly say it was the best beer I had sampled in a long time, with a clean, refreshing taste to match its stylish modern appearance. I was impressed. But at the same time disappointed because despite Sharp’s presence at the trade show, there was no way at the time they would be able to send a couple of cases to our own little off-licence.

The isolated Royal Oak at Hooksway

And so it proved, because the next time I saw Doom Bar was not in bottle, but on draught at a pub deep in the West Sussex countryside. This was several years later and things had moved on. We had sold the off-licence after I was offered a much more lucrative job working back in industry. I was walking the final stage of the middle-leg of the South Downs Way with a friend, when we stopped off for lunch at the remote and unspoilt Royal Oak at Hooksway. On the bar was a hand-pull offering Doom Bar. My friend had never heard of it, but I obviously had, so we ordered a pint each.

It slipped down a treat, especially after our long and quite arduous walk all the way up from Cocking, far down in a valley to the east. The beer was so good that we had three pints to go with our light lunch, which wasn’t the best of ideas given the not inconsiderable distance we still had to cover before the day was over.

Over the next few years Doom Bar began appearing in pubs closer to home and became so popular that it even replaced former pub favourite Taylor’s Landlord in many local pubs. I tried it on several occasions, but the beer seemed to have lost some of its original character.

A natural wonder, but for how much longer?

The brewery will of course deny this; but then so did the brewers of Bass, Boddingtons, Young’s and more recently Timothy Taylor’s. Perhaps this is the fate of all “cult beers” which attract an almost messianic following and end up as victims of their own success. Doom Bar has certainly achieved national cult status; I know people who actively seek the beer out, whilst for others it is their favourite beer. However, having seen many such beers come and go over the past 40 years I wonder how long this one will last?