Having negotiated my way around 11 pubs of St Albans on Saturday as well as my normal local offerings, I have plenty of options this week. Since I like hoppy beers the obvious one that stood out was the new Sharp's seasonal 6 Hop IPA that was joyously sunk at the Lower Red Lion in St Albans. I don't think Sharps have ever made a bad beer and this one continues the trend.
Hi Roger, I'll be interested to hear what you thought of St Albans' pubs, especially the Blacksmiths Arms if you got there. They have a special 'Hoppy' Easter beer festival on 1-5 April where they'll be having a lot of heavily hopped beers.Originally Posted by RogerB
Of the 11 pubs we did this weekend, only 2 were duplicated from my previous crawl around town 3 or 4 years ago. There is still another 7 or 8 that I have on my radar that I still haven't been to, including the Blacksmiths. My scheduled footy for the Saturday that weekend is at Waltham Abbey so I'll be half way to St Albans anyway and I don't need too much of an excuse to pay the town a visit. It all depends on transport sutuation but I could well pay the Blacksmiths (and a few others) a visit.
On the presumption that you may have cherry-picked the list on you first crawl Roger (as I would), does that not mean that your weekend tour party were denied some St Albans highlights?
My botw could easily be the same as Millay's with the Bishops Farewell again in stunning form at the George, but I'll diversify & go for Southport Cyclone at Croydon's Cricketers (Shirley Rd), surprisingly fruity for a copper beer and, despite doubts from my pals who were also drinking it, my suspicion regarding blackcurrant proved to be correct.
My first crawl about 3/4 years ago was a daytime session and from what I recall consisited of the Boot, the White Swan, Farriers Arms, Portland Arms, Blue Anchor, Six Bells, Black Lion, Spotted Bull and the Glass House (simply because it was closest to the station and we had 15 minutes before the train). We were a bit limited as some pubs I wanted to do (Lower Red Lion for one) were closed during the day. Spurs had a game in the evening so I had to get to WHL for kick off. A couple of years ago we stopped off to find a pub with Setanta showing the Man U v Spurs match (the one where we went 2-0 up and then blew it big time) and the only place we could find showing the game was O'Neills! We also did the Boot and the Cross Keys that day. Saturday's crawl took us to the Goat, White Lion, White Hart Tap, Farmers Boy, Ye Olde Fighting Cocks, Six Bells, Rose & Crown, Lower Red Lion, Portland Arms and the Veralum (we tried to get in the Farriers first but it was gone 11 and they wouldn't let us in). We also did the Waterend Barn 'Spoons for breakfast! Still plenty of options left for another day. One of the guys I was with Saturday lives in St Albans so I was happy to go with whatever he suggested although I did single out the Lower Red Lion & Farmers Boy as personal necessities.There will be a detailed blog posted in due course for those who like that kind of thing.
Only three beers to choose from this week, largely due to the fact that I spent the latter half of the week in hospital with a kidney stone and accompanying UTI, (imagine being stabbed in the kidney and then someone twisting the blade). I also learnt I now have Type II Diabetes- sometimes the fun never stops!
However I digress. Between Dunham-Massey 'Cheshire IPA', Elland 'Pacha' and Acorn 'Motueka IPA', the clear winner was the grassy, herbal and markedly bitter Acorn.
'And where he supped the past lived still. And where he sipped the glass brimmed full' John Barleycorn, Carol Ann Duffy.
Only three beers to choose from this week, largely due to the fact that I spent the latter half of the week in hospital with a kidney stone and accompanying UTI, (imagine being stabbed in the kidney and then someone twisting the blade
Sounds like a horrible week, hope they have successfully broken the stone up, I have heard many painful descriptions of kidney stones. Does the diabetes just mean you have to watch your diet now?
Not the best start for 2010. Let's hope things pick up for you.Only three beers to choose from this week, largely due to the fact that I spent the latter half of the week in hospital with a kidney stone and accompanying UTI, (imagine being stabbed in the kidney and then someone twisting the blade
Last week proved to be a relatively quiet one, beer-wise. Just 10 pints over two days with no real surprises or interesting ales sampled. I think my BOTW will have to be the Everards Tiger I had last Tuesday eve down the social.
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