Went to the wifes work Xmas do last night(honest) so only a couple of beers tried , Wye Valley Butty Bach and Ringwood Boondoggle so BOTW will be friday nights Empire - Knocker Upper
Went to the wifes work Xmas do last night(honest) so only a couple of beers tried , Wye Valley Butty Bach and Ringwood Boondoggle so BOTW will be friday nights Empire - Knocker Upper
Theres a Man with a Mullet going Mad with a Mallet in Millets !
Good weeks drinking topped off by a few excellent Whitstable Oyster Stout's in The Wheatsheaf ,SE1 which was a great BOTW.Although billed as having a distincitive coffee/mocha flavour,I found it easy to drink and a case of a finished pint demanding another .
Lots of travelling around this week with Harrogate, Knaresborough, Scarborough plus Derby and the Derby beer festival all to consider.
At the festival my 2 favourites were White Horse Blowing Stone & Coppice Side Blonde.
The Valley & The North Riding Hotel in Scarborough are still doing a sterling job with every pint being top notch.
Loved The Crosse Keys in Knaresborough and Ossett Yorkshire Blonde was another contender.
But BOTW is going to be Great Newsome Stone Creek tried at The Alexandra in Derby. Now back to it's best with a new landlord (ex Brunswick chef) and landlady.
A pub is for life not just for Christmas
Some good stuff this week including Hawkshead Lakeland Gold, O'Hanlon Port Stout, Dark Star Six Hop, Purple Moose Glaslyn Ale and Milton Minotaur.
But BOTW goes to Bitter End Lakeland IPA. I'm not a big fan of IPA's but I loved this one, from a brewery that is new to me.
Not much in the way of pub visits lately,though I had a very fleeting visit to the Fitzwalter Arms in Goodnestone, a pub I'd last been in sometime in my youth. I won't include the Sheps Master Brew as my BOTW, but it was one of those pints of a frankly average standard bitter that goes down in the beer memory as something to be cherished with deep gratitude. I suppose a combination of time , place and atmosphere , combined with the skill of the landlord and brewer. Made me proud to be a real ale drinker.
My BOTW is drawn from a couple of interesting Kentish bottles: Hopdaemon's Leviathan, at 6%ABV an amber well hopped strong ale, and Old Dairy's Hop Top, a "double IPA"at 9%ABV and a painful £3.40 from an enterprising but rather upmarket wine merchant that has opened nearby.I'm not sure what a double IPA is, and the label didn't enlighten me as to what the hop bill was, but as a treat and a speciality, this was an intriguing drink. Intensly hopped, as one would expect, dark chestnut in colour, with a deep malt flavour, but not as cloying as a barley wine.
I'll probably see if I can save up and buy a couple to put away for next Christmas Eve, though one bottle is enough!
My BOTW-Hop Top from Old Brewery.
"At that moment I would have given a kingdom, not for champagne or hock and soda, or hot coffee but for a glass of beer" Marquess Curzon of Kedlestone, Viceroy of India.
Easy choice this week (or rather last week). Conwy Bachder Cymru (or Welsh Pride as they say this side of the Severn Bridge). Excellent stuff consumed in one of my too rare outings to probably the best 'Spoons in town, the Cross Keys in Gracechurch Street.
Essentially, more hops, body and alcohol. See link for more info:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...er.html?cat=22
'And where he supped the past lived still. And where he sipped the glass brimmed full' John Barleycorn, Carol Ann Duffy.
Thanks for the link, a&h. Much as I thought, from drinking the beer! A bit extreme for everyday drinking, to my taste, but damn good all the same. My comfort level extends to Hophead-(in the North, something like Bradfield Farmer's Blonde-I found Yorkshire Dales' Muker Silver too austere for my southern sensibilities, though I've repeatedly rated it 4.5-5 stars.)Not sure what all these are in terms of IBUs:indeed, do I really worry about such things?-probably yes.
"At that moment I would have given a kingdom, not for champagne or hock and soda, or hot coffee but for a glass of beer" Marquess Curzon of Kedlestone, Viceroy of India.
My beer of the week is Marstons Pedigree i had this in the Tappers Harker in Long Eaton and it did'nt cost a penny thanks to rpadams voucher watch thread.
As the barman said free drinks always taste better.