A pub is for life not just for Christmas
Being partial to fresh beer from the cask, albeit with a short period in a takeaway container, it's got to be either Red Top direct from the Old Dairy Brewery in Tenterden or its single-hop Green Hop made from Challenger several months ago, but still in excellent condition from Larkins' Alehouse in Cranbrook.
Last edited by rpadam; 20-12-2020 at 19:53.
Cask
Disruption Single Hop - Amarillo
Disruption Chaos More - Chaos
A Bloke Down The Pub - Handy Andy
Banks & Taylor - Plum Mild
Wantsum - Golgotha
Cans
BrewDog - Hoppy Christmas
BrewDog - Mistletoe Mafia
Northern Monk - Scafell
Vocation - Love & Hate
Bottle
Greene King - IPA Reserve
BOTW this week is Wantsum Golgotha a 5.5% substantial and tasty Oatmeal Stout. The name translates as "Place of the skull" and is named after an ancient burial site and tunnel. Taken in The Alfred.
"Everybody's got to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer."
-W.C.Fields
A decent week with two pub visits.
Titanic -- Cappuccino Stout (b)
Vocation -- Life & Death * (c)
Titanic -- Plum Porter Grand Reserve * (b)
Five Points -- XPA * (cask)
Siren -- Here's Johnny * (cask,3PT)
Marston's (Eagle Brewery) -- London Stout (keg,3PT)
Marston's (Banks's) -- Wainwright (cask)
Titanic -- Chocolate & Vanilla Stout * (b)
BrewDog -- Elvis Juice (c)
A very decent selection and great to get some cask but there wont be much more of that now that I've been plunged into Tier 4.BOTW goes to Siren Here's Johnny,described as a red ale with various malts and Citra,Simcoe & Mosaic it was well balanced and flew down in the 3 hours meal window at The Fox & Hounds.Top pint(s),top pub.
Going forward it will be all can and bottle but the stash is growing and will offset the wait for the jab however long that may be.
Last edited by Bucking Fastard; 21-12-2020 at 09:34.
"Good people drink good beer" Hunter S Thompson
I'm not sure what's odder, naming a beer after the biblical Calvary or this railway tunnel?
Laid off it a little bit last week:
XT 8 (4.5%) (mini-keg) *
Lervig Holiday Haze (4.7%) (can)
Arkell's Sir Noel (5.0%) (bottle)
Siren Caribbean Chocolate Cake Pancake Stack (7.4%) (can) *
Siren Nitro Caribbean Chocolate Cake (7.4%) (can)
Siren Barrel-Aged Caribbean Chocolate Cake (8.8%) (can)
Siren Death by Caribbean Chocolate Cake (10.2%) (can)
Was treated to an early Christmas present of a 5L mini-keg of XT 8 from XT Brewery by the other half; a moreish, easy-drinking porter which I consumed over the course of two evenings and which was a nice respite from some of its stronger cousins, although I decided to take all four cans of the Siren CCC 2020 range in one evening, which I knew about the next day. Forgot to 'hard pour' the Nitro one, so lost out on the aesthetic for that one, although the maple syrup finish of the Pancake Stack version more than made up for it.
BOTW: Siren Caribbean Chocolate Cake Pancake Stack
"Breakneck speed we drown ten pints of bitter"
I think only one bottle of beer this week, so Darkstar Hophead. It has taken a bit of a bashing in these pages recently, but seemed fine to me...
Drinking cask whenever possible:
Oakham Bishops Farwell (cask)*
Brancaster The Wreck (cask)*
Tiny Rebel Clwb Tropica
Oakham Citra
Northern Monk New World IPA
Blue Monkey Big Blue
Northern Monk Tropical World
Elusive Brewing Overdrive
Northern Monk Scafell
All the bottles and cans were good but again the cask beers deserve the stars. Only 2 had as the boozers I've been to have a more limited selection than usual. Understandable and it meant that both whizzed through the 3 pint test.
BOTW Brancaster The Wreck. A dark, 4.8% beer but difficult to categorize. I wouldn't call it a stout or a porter and have seen it described as an old ale which doesn't seem too far off. Sweetish but not overpowering and hints of coffee give way to decent finish which makes getting round a few no problem.
"Beer is food." Morse, Colin Dexter