EdinBeer

As per usual it's taken me far too long to get this blog up, but after being hassled by a friend I've finally collated my notes and memories together! Myself and Christine headed off to Edinburgh in late November for a long weekend of site seeing and of course beer drinking.
Our first experience almost tarnished the whole trip. Aimlessly walking about the old town looking for a good pub for lunch, tiredness got the better of us and so we stumbled in to the nearest place. As soon as our food arrived, we realised the error we'd made! And so the bar was set (albeit low) by The Castle Arms!

But we this wasn't going to a problem to beat, knowing that the Brew Dog bar was only a short walk away. Perfectly positioned just off from the Royal Mile on Cowgate we popped in the next day for a well earned drink after a days site seeing! At the time this was the first time I'd visited a Brew Dog bar and I was fairly intrigued as to what the experience would be. As you walk in you're instantly greeted with the bold statement "No Football! No shots! No Stella!" and that sums Brew Dog up pretty well. The bar's stripped back appearance was great leading to the cosy informal atmosphere and with Biffy Clyro's greatest hits playing in the background, we grabbed a beer. Christine was excited at the chance to reacquaint herself with Tokyo* 18.2% ABV having tasted it around the time of its original hype laden launch. I plumped for the rather disappointing Christmas Porter 6.2% ABV which tasted all too similar to its parent beer Alice Porter and for me offered no seasonal spiced notes that it promised.

We returned to the bar late one evening with the place bustling, full of people. The bar had taken on a completely different vibe, with the draft and guest beers having changed from the day before I tried the prototype beer Hops Kill ? 7.8% ABV as well as treating my self to a expensive bottle of Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout 7.5% ABV.Chatting away to people on other tables about their beers it was great to see the craft beer scene was so popular.

Two off the other fantastic pubs among several we visited both severed Ale in the traditional Scottish method, using tall founts. These use air pressure driven by a water engine to push the beer through the tap instead of the English hand pump method.

One of these; Thomson's was only a few doors down from where we were staying and had a great selection of beers and whiskeys on offer. The cosy wood clad bar based on the designs of the architect Alexander 'Greek' Thomson, was busy when we popped in one night. Offering an extensive array of single malt whiskies as well as Scottish ales from Arran, Fyne, Cairngorm and Caledonian (when we visited). Thomson's is a great pub, full of regulars and those stopping in on their way to Haymarket station!

Bow Bar

Blink and you'd miss Bow Bar hidden on  West Bow a small winding street below the famous Edinburgh Castle and Royal Mile. The single room bar had been voted Edinburgh's best Whiskey bar, but also gave great attention to its ales with 8 taps and well stocked international bottle list to match . Its walls adored with old Brewery Mirrors from Scotland's brewing past. The barman was highly knowledgeable about his whisky, helping and advising the group of tourists humming and haring over the 200 plus Malt's on offer. He also had great passion for the beer and spent a great while explaining the workings of the Scottish tall founts serving the ale. We popped in to Bow Bar several time during our stay in Edinburgh, trying several of the ever changing ales, including: Stewart’s Edinburgh No 3 4.3% ABV (a scotch ale), Darkstar Green Hopped IPA 6.5% ABV, Elland 1872 Porter 6.5% ABV & Fyne Highlander 4.8% ABV. If you're visiting Edinburgh I'd definitely recommend popping in for a wee dram and pint, you wont be disappointed.

The final pub that deserves a mention is The Cafe Royal, based in the New Town off the main shopping precinct Princes Street, The Cafe Royal is a pub like no other, upon entering I was taken aback at the grandeur of the fittings! With a spectacular ornate ceiling, chandeliers, stain glass windows, mirrors and large island bar, (although decked in rather early Christmas decorations). The main feature are the six pictures on the wall of the bar painted by John Eyre and manufactured as tiles by Doultons. Each show inventors, at the moment of their discovery. With 3 or 4 Scottish ales on offer and yet again a wide whisky selection, drinking in The Cafe Royal gives you an opportunity to enjoy a drink in decadence.  

We had a great trip to Edinburgh and managed to do an awful lot in a long weekend. The views from Arthur's Seat were spectacular and the Castle offered a great day out. It was also pleasing to get the chance to sample so many Scottish beers, it's great to see that Scottish pubs and restaurants are proud to sell their countries beers!

A Tale of Two Beer Festivals

October was a rather busy month for me on the Beer Festival front, with the JD Wetherspoons self proclaimed "Worlds biggest Real Ale & Cider Festival" running for over 3 weeks. As well two contrasting local festivals; Wallington and Wandsworth.

Wallington Beer Festival in full swing

The differences between the two were vast, first up was Croydon & Sutton CAMRA's 18th beer festival hosted in the slightly dilapidated Wallington Hall. With a emphasis on the LocALE campaign with over 50 real ales on offer from 27 different breweries coming within 30 miles of the venue! I first attended the Wallington festival year and had a great time despite being noticeably the youngest person in attendance and this year was no difference! The festival seemed quieter this year but that meant being served at one of the 3 bars was never going to be a problem.

Perched next to a Sambrooks Powerhouse Porter 4.9% ABV pump-clip and having missed out on this first of Sambrooks seasonal ales last year it seemed wrong not to try it. Sticking to the Porters next up was Botanist Night Porter 5.0% ABV, having never come across the Kew based microbrewery before I was delighted with this traditional porter. With a malty caramel nose and a lovely smokey roasted taste, I'll be sure to look out for more Botanist beers in the future.
Other highlights were Westerham's Little Scotney Green Hop 4.0% ABV brewed from hops from the National Trust's hop farm at Scotney Castle, But the beer that got my taste buds tingling was Brodies Kiwi 3.8% ABV. A wonderful golden ale laced with Nelson Sauvin hops giving a hoppy sweet long bitter after taste.
Although the festival is always friendly, I feel just feel something else is lacking, some entertainment to break things up a bit or maybe just a change of venues would breath more life into the festival.

On the other hand Wandsworth Common's Halloween Beer festival was a different experience. Set in the amazing Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, which has seen a number of uses over its 150 years including a field hospital for the soldiers of the First World War & as a base for the secret services during the Second World War, including the interment of the Nazi politician Rudolf Hess. Although not run by CAMRA, members did receive discount. Offering 90 ales including Darkstar, Thornbridge and Sarah Hughes. However despite the promotional posters listing Brew Dog, a note in the program detailed the organisers choice to not server their beers, due to the fact "Brew Dog in their infinite wisdom have decided to produce their portfolio of beers in bottle and in keg only". This is the downside to Brew Dogs choice but I'll leave that for another blog and another day.

Myself and Tom (again the other one) were pleased to see five Thornbridge beers on offer including the brilliant St. Petersberg Stout, however the new Sequoia American Amber Ale 4.5% ABV was my choice with a citrusy pine flavour and a lovely balanced bitter after-taste.
With two more friends joining us we returned to the bar this time I tried Art Brew - Blackberry Stout 4.6% ABV. I'm still not sure if I actually liked this beer, tasting somewhat like a Guinness and black. The blackcurrant's really over powered the expected smokey taste of stout leaving you with an unexpected sweet after-taste.

As the courtyard started to fill up with people it was clear that the festival had attracted a much more diverse crowd than Wallington, with several groups of younger people quaffing the ales and ciders the bars soon became a free for all and it became increasingly difficult to be served. Maybe it was the Green Jack- Baltic Trader Imperial Stout 10.5% ABV but I didn't seem to mind the wait. This beer packs a punch as you would expect for an Imperial Stout , with a slight mocha after-taste. I'll try to get hold of a bottle as it would be more sorted to a quiet night when it can be sipped leisurely.
The other highlight was Redemption Brewery - Big Chief 5.5% ABV a brilliant IPA packed full of New Zealand hops offering a unmistakable citrus flavour, I love beers like this but it slightly felt out of place on a dark, wet October night!

Overall October has been a great month for trying new beers, with three festivals showcasing some of the countries top breweries. The contrast in the attitude and environment environment of the two events I attended, suggest to me that CAMRA still needs to work on their image, while the beers are starting to speak for themselves.

Grape & Grain Autumn Beer Festival

So I've been living in the threshold of Crystal Palace for over a year now and one of the first events I attended was the Grape and Grains first beer festival. A year on and this now bi annual event has come on leaps and bounds. Offering over 60 Cask Ales including Westerham Rick's Birthday Bitter 4% ABV brewed especially for landlord Rick's birthday on the Sunday of the festival!!

We headed in for last orders on Friday night, knowing that we were set to return with friends for a Saturday evening session.
Art Brew Smokey Bastard 5.5% ABV named after a band of the same name. This beer poured jet black and as the name suggest was beautifully smokey. A deep rich chocolate taste with a lovely silky smokeyness I could have happily drank this all night, but alas final orders were soon called.

Returning the following evening, the festival was already in full swing and after one day already several casks were missing, including to my disappointment Fyne Ales Jarl, but there were still several for us to sample.

Acorn Gorlovka Imperial Stout 6% ABV a rich aroma of chocolate, liquorish and raisin. Tastes fruity with a strong hit of alcohol, synonymous with Imperial Stouts. With the taste lasting for the duration and developing as the beer warms. A great addition to the festival even if it was overlooked by my friends.

Sticking with the dark porters and stouts, Beowulf Brewery Finn's Hall Porter 5.2% ABV has a wonderful smokey aroma with a well balance hoppy taste with hints of vanilla coming through.

And of course several other beers were sampled throughout the night, but as well as the beers the brilliant band The Twilighters delighted the punters with there 60's inspired swing/surf rock which were a delight to watch and got everyone toe tapping! 

I'm lucky to live so close to The Grape & Grain and Rick and co have done an amazing job with building the pubs reputation. The first beer festival had around 30 ales growing to 40 for their spring festival earlier this year, to organise and rake up 60 casks is no mean feat! I can't wait to see how the events develop next year!
If you ever venture into SE19 be sure to drop in for a pint, I'm sure you wont be disappointed.

Summer time and the weather..........is crap! (belated)

So its been months since I last posted! I've been busy & lazy and a whole other load of excuses, but here is a post I started to write at the end of August and never got round to posting.

Great British Beer Festival:

The start of a very long day

I guess I'm always lucky that the Great British Beer Festival falls on or around my birthday. It makes organising a night out considerably easier when you do the same thing every year!
This year however I attended on both the Thursday and Friday, having found previous years that all the beers I had planned to try had gone.
Heading with Tom (the other one!) after work on the Thursday, we made a b-line straight for the Sans Frontier bar, looking in wonder at the vast array of American and World beers on offer. Seeing as it was International IPA day we started on a beautiful American IPA

Moozying about off to the SIBA stand, which rather surprisingly was mainly staffed by a group of young blond girls! A far cry from every other bar at the festival.

Thornbridge are always firm favourites with us & with Tom having connections at Thornbridge Hall it would clearly be rude not to sample. Raven - a Black IPA having earlier read Rodger Potz attack at the style in CAMRA's Beer Magazine.

Then I stumbled upon Grey Ghost IPA, my beer of the festival. Having tasted and thoroughly enjoyed Dark Peak Stout in the past, I was intrigued about this new brewery. All I can say is from the two beers I've now sampled is wow! Grey Ghost was full of hops sweet citrus flavours

I also finally got to pick up a bottle of Hitachino Nest Japanese Classic Ale as well a few bottles of Mikkeller. After this my notes became a bit bury, and so day one came to a close.

The Friday is always so busy,as such our plan of action was to arrive late afternoon decamp at a table and await our many friends coming to celebrate my birthday. Our plan worked magnificently, perched to the side of the stage, with in spitting distance of the Czech and German beers (which suited my "Ale-phobic" friends)

With a perfect view point for Ade Edmonson's set with his band The Bad Shepherds, the night quickly descended into a drunken blur. Some of the beers I can remember were:


Pivivar Kocour Svetly Lezak 4.6% ABV - a beautiful Traditional Czech lager, golden colour with a full flavoured hoppy aroma and rich foamy head.

Klásterní Pivovar Strahov 16 IPA 6.3% ABV -  half Czech lager half American IPA, amazing sweet hoppy taste with a refreshing carbonation.

Clipper City DIPA Double IPA 10% ABV - amber in colour with a big nose of citrusy hops. Big hoppy flavour with a pleasant sweet aftertaste.


Oh and of course there was Stone Chipotle Smoked Porter 5,9%ABDV!! So hot they were only selling this in halves. Smelt smokey peppered tasted smokey and then the chili hit and simply came on coming. Glad i got to try this one but never again!!

Overall I had a fantastic birthday and a great way to celebrate getting close to a 30 Something Blogger!!!

Oh and thankfully I wasn't purchased and balloon hat this year! (thanks guys)

The final highlight to the "Summer" came the following weekend at LeeFest. 6 years ago our friend Lee was told he couldn't have a house party, while his parents were away on holiday. Being the crafty chap he is, he realised that they didn't ban him form having a festival! 6 years later and now on a farm rather than a suburban
back garden, LeeFest has made it on the the scene. This year spanning two days & featuring headliners including Fenech Solar, British Sea Power & the chat topping DJ Fresh along side a host  local up and coming bands was the best year yet.

A great summer, shame about the weather though!

Bernard & Bangers

With the weather somewhat improving last weekend I took the chance and invited a few friends over for a BBQ. Ever since we discovered Villagers Sausages in my local high street, BBQs haven't been the same!

No longer do I feel obliged to buy a 50 piece BBQ Family Feast Pack for £5 from Iceland, as Villagers offers a host of different sausages; all made on the premisses, from your traditional Cumberland and Lincolnshire, to the more unusual Kangaroo and Wild Boar sausages.
Buying a random selection and offering them to friends to try some of the more interesting variations on the British classic is slowly becoming a tradition at our BBQs.

Now of course with every good BBQ you'll need beer, My choice of the day however was Bernard Dark 5.1 % ABV a Czech dark lager produced with five types of malt.
I've been a fan of Bernard ever since a Czech friend recommended the "light version", so when I spotted the beautiful swing top bottle on the shelves of my local Tesco, I simply has to oblige.

Pouring a deep and rich dark black, with a caramel, chocolate & roasted malt nose. The taste is predominantly of dark chocolate, caramel and bitter hops as well some roasted coffeeness. Unlike most "lagers" on the market, this beer is actually largered for 40 days after fermenting, which only adds to its unique light bitterness.

I know that Mark from Pencil & Spoon has recently posted about his attempts to pair beer with Sausages, Chips and Beans, but this pairing was for a different environment and a array of sausages. The deep rich flavours perfectly matched a meatier choice in sausage, such as Boreswors or Steak and Guinness (which happen to be my favourite). Several friends also commented how palatable this beer was, even those who don't usually prefer dark beers.

If you're lucky enough to have your local Tesco stock it then, I'd definitely make sure you get your hands on a few bottles and some good sausages too!!

AB:05

Since pretty much the first Blog I posted was about Brew Dogs AB:04 I felt I might as well briefly write about the next bottle in the Abstrakt range. AB:05 12.5% ABV is a Belgian Imperial Stout aged on toasted coconut and cacao. (The cacao coming from the famous Willie’s Cacao)

The beer pours black as night (completely opaque), with a deep rich sweet chocolate nose and only a light fizz with no head on pour, which was a bit disappointing as other reviews and promo pictures had led me to expect a "coffee brown head so thick you could almost stand on it".

However the proof is in the tasting, silky smooth on the tongue with a strong rich alcoholic flavour with a smoky lingering taste of chocolate. Although there weren't any noticeable coconut flavours coming through, I'm guessing the delicate flavour was easily lost with the punchy alcoholic taste.

Luckily I've got a 2 more bottles and can't wait to try them in a few years time!

Glad All Over!

Selhurst Park

So as previously mentioned last weekend was the first CPFC beer festival. The festival originally started as a small festival with just 500 tickets but ended up having over 1400 in attendance had been spurred on after requests from fans earlier in the season for Real Ale to be sold in the bars around the ground.

With the final list offering over 80 Ales and Ciders, spanning the length and breath of Britain from St Austell to Isle of Arran. (Although the initial beer list had promised 3 casks from Brew Dog, which I had been looking forward to showcasing to some friends and family for the first time had sadly been omitted from the final list) Held in the gangways and bar of our "kop end", The Homesdale Road stand it was a bit strange catching glimpses of an otherwise empty stadium.

For me there was only ever one option for the first beer of the the festival. Neil Morrisey's Palace Blonde 4.2% ABV and it didn't disappoint! I've not been a fan when I've previously tried Neil's beers but Palace Blonde was fantastic! With a beautiful golden colour and a sweet floral nose the taste was well balanced with a pleasant non overpowering bitterness, a perfect summer session beer. I really hope I get to taste this again!

Me and Oz Clarke

Spoilt for choice with Kelham Island Easy Rider 4.3% ABV and Castle Rock Harvest Pale Ale 3.8% ABV, which I had been disappointed with in its stronger bottled version but is proved why its the Champion Beer of Britain on cask. With the FA Cup Final being shown on TVs around the stand I was lucky enough to get a chance chat to Oz Clarke about his future shows with James May, including the hunt for great pork pies! Oh and of course great beer. Oz also agreeing that Palace Blonde was excellent and almost on cue we we're joined by Neil Morrisey, who was both elated and disappointed to discover that all 5 casks of his beer had sold out!

With the match over it was time to try a few more beers, other highlights were Toad M&R Chocolate Stout 4.6% ABV  and Darkstar Festival 5.0%.  However for me the beer of the day for me was local brewery Sambrook's Celebration Ale 4.9% brewed in celebration of Royal Wedding, amber in colour with a strong flora citrusy aroma leading to a lovely sweet taste of lemon and honey with a distinctive floral flavour.

By 7pm a black market in beer tokens was in force, the club having purposely sold enough to cover what was available, so wearily I headed home. The whole day had been brilliant, sampling great beer in view of the pitch of my favorite football team was a great experience, But you didn't have to be a Palace fan to appreciate the day, with local bands providing entertainment throughout the day as well as the now infamous Crystal cheerleaders performing a few of their routines. The debut Beer Festival was a great success so much so that I'm told plans are already a foot for an autumn festival later this year!