A pub is for life not just for Christmas
A limited number of venues,just two in fact but half decent beer all the same.
Flowerpots Four Candles
Flowerpots Perridge Pale
Northdown Pale Ale Mary
Northdown Muggy Porter
Three Castles Beerista
Three Brothers Trilogy Blonde
Heritage Its A Cracker
Prospect Big John
Hop Kettle Rising Star
3 Piers Mariners Gold
Best of the bunch was the Hop Kettle Rising Star, as the brewery name suggests , this was a hop forward, peachy/ mango flavoured 4.8% beer tried in The Alfred this lunchtime.
"Everybody's got to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer."
-W.C.Fields
Kent
Kent-Session Pale:3.7%abv. A classic,full of herbal flavours.
"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.
Limited selection but good quality:
Ashover Damson Porter*
Oakham Bishops Farewell*
Blue Monkey King Kong*
BOTW Ashover Damson Porter. Exactly as named and a perfect pork pie accompaniment in the ever reliable Seven Stars.
"Beer is food." Morse, Colin Dexter
Another quiet week:
Theakstons - Old Peculier
Kingfisher - Lager
Black Sheep - Bitter
Taylors - Boltmaker
Rat - White Rat
Oakham - Green Devil IPA
Harrogate - Plum Porter
Tapped - Sorsby Stout
Titanic - Plum Porter
Oakham - Green Devil IPA
Sarah Hughes - Dark Ruby Mild
Everything was in top condition (Kingfisher excepted)
Botw Harrogate - Plum Porter served from the wood and smooth as a smooth thing, it lasted about 4 hours in the pub but it was only a pin (4 1/2 gal) of which I had 10% .
A Big Week.
Burning Sky -- Aurora* (3PT)
Thornbridge -- Jaipur IPA *
Acorn -- Blonde * (>3PT)
Northern Monk -- Eternal *
Errant -- Culture Shock
Thornbridge -- Pollards (Coffee Stout)
Brew Dog -- Zombie Cake (keg)
Greene King -- Rockin' Rudolph
Mc Mullens -- AK
Mc Mullens -- Bootwarmer
Marston's -- Owd Rodger *
Tiny Rebel -- Peloton Pale *
Fullers -- Seafarers
Five Points -- Railway Porter*
St Austell -- Tribute
St Austell -- Proper Job *
Some fine ale slipped down and by a narrow head BOTW goes to Marston's Owd Rodger,back on cask at 7.4% and supped in The Old Barge.A very fine barley wine and although the nose is challenging ,the more you got down the better it tasted.Better than I remember it from long ago.
Next week a Craft Beer Co. visit normally throws up something good.
"Good people drink good beer" Hunter S Thompson
Some top beers this week
tankleys -mild
tydd steam -cock mild
franklins -black forest stout
franklins -lawless
pig and porter -blackbird stout
loch Lomond -ipa
botw
broken drum -gaspode mild taken at the Bell and Dog Deptford
Merry Christmas john
Just a single visit to the local Rose & Crown.
Osset Cashmere 4.0%
Acorn Guiding Star 4.5%
1648 Gold Angel 4.8%
ELB Jamboree 4.8%
Salopian The Bends 5.2%
Beatnikz Republic Off The Road 5.5%
Kelham Island Dancing In The Air 5.5%
Robinson's Old Tom (keg) 8.5%
The winner is a Xmas beer the Kelham Island Dancing In The Air (£4.00). It's a typical New World hopped Pale so hardly a Xmas beer. The Old Tom was and it's the first time I've ever seen it on keg. It was colder than cellar cask but fine otherwise. It was infinitely better than served from a cask on the bar like in the old days.
The price tag of £5.15 recalled to me the lyrics of an old song 5:15 by the Who.