Returning via the White Horse and Bricklayers Arms, and more...

When we left Earls Court, our initial target was to walk down to the White Horse on Parsons Green, which the Pubmeister, Mark, had never visited before. Obviously, I felt obliged to aid his learning experience, and it is a mighty fine pub, so we headed southwards, however, on the North End Road, we had to make a logistical stop, OK, had to use a loo, so we stopped in a pub, that I shan't tell you any more about, as I'd hate for anyone to think I was recommending it, which I wouldn't. What we did have was London Pride without any pride or life in it, oh well, at least we felt more comfortable, if aggrieved, when we continued our walk to the White Horse.  

Here, we were served by the excellent Michelle, who went out of her way to find out some important information for me.  Anyway, we sat outside at the front, under one of the umbrellas provided, drinking our choice from the White Horse. This was an interesting beer from another 2011 founded micro, the London Brewing Company, called Zingibier (5.4%), a ginger flavoured beer, very fresh and bitter too; now, we had had a few by now, but I can read my notes easily, so still intelligent analysis, and I drew a smiley face next to my notes, noting that plenty of ginger flavour "but still a beer". There you go, we liked it, and the Pubmeister liked the pub too! We now were heading further south (slightly west of south actually) to Putney...

The Bricklayers Arms in Waterman Street is, what I like to think of, as my Putney 'local', even though it's my brother, Dan the Routemeister, who actually lives near it, though he only comes here when I visit him. So, I surprised Dan when I telephoned him from the White Horse to say we were in the area, would he fancy meeting up? Consequently, we met the Routemeister at the Bricklayers.  Here, from the 12 ales available, we tried two of them, the Aylesbury Pure Gold (3.8%), a pale golden session bitter, pretty good, and the stronger Vale Brewery Gravitas (4.8%), a 'fresh' pale bitter, dry and bitter, but without as much flavour as I'd expected for its strength. Anyway, Mark found this to be his favourite of the pubs, indeed, he's since repeated a couple of times how much he liked it, so that's a "nice one" to the Bricklayers!  

We caught the 337 bus from Putney to Clapham Junction, where we were catching our train back to Hastings, and had a final London drink of the day at the Falcon, on the corner of St Johns Hill and Falcon Road, a Victorian Nicholsons pub, carefully preserved, with 20 or so ales, and the longest continuous bar in the country, so say the Guinness Book of Records. The Pubmeister was impressed by the building and its interior too, and we tried 2 of their ales. Both were pretty interesting, Itchen Valley Belgarum (3.9%) was described on the pump clip as having a "twist of honey & elderflower" flavour; I didn't really pick up the elderflower, yep, it was pale and hoppy, and a bit sweet, not bad, but... The second beer was Box Valley Brewery Funnel Blower (4.5%) a "dark vanilla porter", though I picked up a chocolate malt flavour rather than vanilla, the aroma being more vanilla; very nice too! 

So we caught the train back to Hastings, and managed to get back to Mark's pub, the Dolphin at Rock a Nore, in time to catch a bit of the 'Irish' music and I drank the Dark Star Red Shift (5.5%), which I've already reported about, ie it has a dark ruby colour with a blackcurrant aroma, plenty of body, very nice. The Pubmeister had a half of the Salopian Oracle (4%), another nice pale, dry and bitter ale. So we ended the day still drinking excellent ale... 

Though my day wasn't quite over as I decided to walk along the beach back to my flat, it was a lovely clear sky, and I wanted to see if I could spot any meteorites, as the previous night had been widely reported that many sightings of 'shooting stars' or whatever, I'm not sure of the physics, had been made. This was coming close to midnight now, and there were quite a number of fishing boats out to sea, I could see their lights. I may have seen a meteorite or two, I certainly made out a bit of activity in the sky, but my most interesting find was 2 badgers foraging in a bin near the beach (I forgot to change my mobile phone camera to 'night' so was unable to capture a photograph). Anyway, I hadn't seen a live badger since I lived in Devon a few years ago, and now 2 turn up at once... 

That's it for now, cheers!

Back to Hastings via the Junction again (Friday 17th May 2013)

So, back to Hastings, but laden with paperbacks to read, courtesy of my stepdad, so I caught the bus rather than walk... Also, I wanted to include a visit to the Falcon at Clapham Junction (The Junction being where I regularly catch my train, the largest railway 'Junction' in Europe), and the Falcon being the pub with the longest continuous bar in the UK/England/whatever (according to the Guinness Book of Records, though like 'oldest' pubs, etc, many different claims and ways of reaching decisions).  Whatever, it is a very long circular shaped bar, with indentations, partitions, beer engines and pumps galore, and varying corners...  

...and loadsa ales, with up to 20 different ales served from handpumps!  I'll not go into them all, but they included Castle Rock Sheriff's Tipple (3.4%), and we all know Robin Hood came from Sheffield, of course; Broughton Greenmantle (3.9%), which was my main tipple when I lived in the Scottish Borders, not a lot else available at that time; Adnams Southwold Kristal White (4.2%), a "clear golden wheat beer"; St Austell Proper Job (4.5%), and when I lived down in Cornwall there wasn't too much available there either! "Proper job" being a colloquialism; Titanic Cappucino (4.5%); but I drank the excellent Thornbridge Jaipur, 5.9% of pale hoppy ale, a bit sweeter than their slightly weaker Kipling, which I prefer, and happy memories of drinking a 'dry hopped' version of Jaipur when I lived up North will always remain with me, proper job!   

 

After sorting myself out on my return to Hastings, I decided to visit the Dripping Well in Cambridge Road early evening, and an excellent decision that was.  Nick, the landlord, was serving that evening, always a pleasure to have a chat with him, and the lovely Maria, a Portuguese 'regular' was this side of the bar, on her way home from work, and I had a very pleasurable lengthy chat to her too, cheers m'dear!  Oh yes... ales too. At the moment, Nick is only selling the Wadworths Henry's IPA (3.6%) and the 4.7% darker ale that is Adnams Broadside, which I enjoyed a few pints of too.  Nick is considering trying Wadworths 6X (4.3%), a fine West Country ale that I first drank many years ago when visiting friends down in Devon, so watch this space, or the bar of the pub...

 

Back soon, cheers!  

Friday 26th October - SW11, leaving London again...

I usually return via Clapham Junction, (ie in Battersea, for those who think it's in Clapham, oh no it ain't), which you've likely noticed by now, unless I'm north of the river.  So back to the Junction on Friday, and my first visit was to a pub I hadn't been to for years, The Northcote (website) along from Clapham Junction, on the corner of Northcote Road and Battersea Rise.

I'm very impressed with The Northcote, not really the pub of my memories, though, as it is, quite frankly, not a 'spit & sawdust' pub anymore, no doubt due to the area being more 'upmarket' than it was in my youth.  Anyway, I met the manager, Tom, who's very interested in his ales it appeared, and was served a pint of Dark Star Hophead by the friendly, keen and knowledgeable (I'm running out of good adjectives to use) Ruby, who passed on a lot of useful information to me, many thanks. 

 

There are 4 ales on sale at any one time, on Friday they were the very local Sambrook's Junction  (4.5%), brewed in Battersea; ex-Wandsworth brewer, Young's Bitter, called 'Ordinary' in my regular Young's days (3.7%), now brewed by the new national Wells & Young's in Bedford; Sharp's Doom Bar (4%), now owned by the global giant, Molson Coors; and a brewery more local to me in East Sussex, and a personal favourite, as you'll know if you've read just a few of my blogs, Dark Star Hophead (3.8%).

 

I could have drunk a more local ale, and my brother would have, no doubt, but if I like a beer, why should I drink one of the others, and I have drunk them all many times before, so it was Hophead for me, and in very good condition too, cheers! Though they regularly change their ales, they do like to have an ale from Sambrook's and one from Young's at any one time; they also have ales from Adnams quite often too.  Oh yes, and the food looks pretty good too, served 12-15.00 and 18-22.00 weekdays, and all day at weekends.  I'll be back...

Up St John's Hill, from Clapham Junction, and you reach The Beehive, (website) one of the few Fullers houses in Wandsworth Borough, and, I believe, the only one in Battersea? I may be corrected. Whatever, this is a very good pub, and I have mentioned it before. So, Fullers ales, including Gales Seafarers (now brewed by Fullers, of course), ESB, London Pride, and the excellent Bengal Lancer; oh, how I'm enjoying this 'seasonal' ale from Fullers, cheers.  In addition, they sell food from 12.00 onwards every weekday. 

Finally, that fantastic old monster of a pub on the corner at Clapham Junction, a regular last stop for me when leaving London, The Falcon (website), a Nicholson's pub, that is the proud owner of the longest pub bar in the UK, which, consequently, has a vast array of handpumps around that bar.  The Falcon sells mostly ales from micro-breweries, near and far, I shan't mention them all, but they have got a house ale brewed for them by St Austell Brewery in Cornwall, Nicholson's Pale Ale (4%).

 

I had a good chat with a Southern Railways employee, who had finished work for the day, and was imbibing before happily heading off for home, but I only had one of the ales on offer, I had a train to catch, ie I tried one from the West Yorkshire brewery, WharfeBank, the 3.6% Verbeia Pale Ale (VPA).  My notes say "pale, light & refreshing", coincidentally, the notes in CAMRA's Good Beer Guide say "A pale golden session ale with a citrus, fruity taste. Light and refreshing." There you go then!

 

Some other ales, from among the many, on offer, included Sambrook's Junction, Kelburn Cart Noir (4.8%), Great Heck Angel (3.9%), Ramsgate Brewery Gadd's No5 (4.4%), and Sunny Republic Huna Red (4.2%). Oh yes, food is served 10-22.00 Monday to Sunday!

Cheers!

Sunday 9th September 2012

Sunday was more work, and a bit busier lunchtime back at the Bricklayers Arms, but fewer ales available on Sunday...

 

We drank the excellent 'wheat beer' Wolf Brewery Straw Dog at 4.5%, pale and refreshing, slightly fruity and a hint of being 'sour', very European in style, and very enjoyable, so much so, that we had 3 pints with our sandwiches, this time bought in Sainsbury's...

When I left the Routemeister's new abode in Putney, I walked down to the Upper Richmond Road and caught the 337 bus to Clapham Junction, happily arriving early enough to step into the Falcon before catching my train...

Here, at the longest pub bar (according to the Guinness Book of Records), from the great array of ales available, I drank the Itchen Valley Calypso, a 4.1% 'American Pale Ale', ie, American hops. Not bad, but I missed the opportunity to drink another Purity ale, as I'd not spotted it on my arrival, oh well...

 

Cheers! 

Wednesday 15th August, great ale and disappointment too...

We were thinking about another long walk today, ie 15th, but only managed about 6 miles or so in total... the rain put us off...

But, not before we stopped at the excellent, as ever, Dove, by the Thames in Hammersmith. I love this pub, probably in my Top Ten of pubs, a Fullers house, where we drank the excellent 4.5% Wild River, sat overlooking the Thames out the back, well, generally enjoyed ourselves in a very laid back fashion.

We also went inside for a while, and this is a very atmospheric older pub, but my brother, the 'Routemeister', decided to take an amusing (to him) photograph, cheers Dan!

From The Dove, we went to the other great Fullers pub in Hammersmith, the Salutation in Kings Street, where we drank more of the excellent Wild River, well, you have to when it's on, as, apart from the London Porter and darker ales, this is, in my opinion, the best bitter they brew... There! I said it, I even prefer it to London Pride.

I also love the front of the Salutation, and the tiling inside, which gives it a unique decoration. From here, though, we headed back along the Thames to Putney and we made our first ever visit to The Cat's Back, a Harveys house in Wandsworth!

Now, as you'll realise, even though I live in Sussex, I rarely drink Harveys, but this meant I had to. We tried the Olympia Golden Ale (4.3%) at first, a golden ale, but sadly, about to go off... so, the wonderful Natalie, the landlady, poured us out some Tom Paine (5.5%), an ale the Routemeister said I should drink, my respecting the man himself an' all... A very good darker ale, though not tasting too heavy, but quite bitter, nice one!

Oh, by the way, they also had the ubiquitous, at least down in Sussex, Sussex Best and Sussex Dark Mild, though they do change their ales regularly. We'll be back...

From here we returned to the Bricklayers Arms, as described yesterday, still had the Fyne Ale on, so happy to appreciate that again, and it is crackin'!

I had a pint of Kelham Island Pale Rider at the Falcon, Clapham Junction, just before I caught my train back to Sussex; having brewed this ale myself, I hardly recognised it! It's either had a recipe change, big time, or they'd served up the wrong ale from the pump in error, or, frankly, something had gone wrong? Drinkable, but not the Pale Rider I remember... Dave Wickett would be turning in his grave RIP.

When I got back to Hastings at 22.30, sadly, Frank's Front Room wasn't open, looking like it had just closed, so I dropped into Pissarros, where another lovely barmaid, Lucie, served up a pint of Long Man Long Blonde, and I met my neighbour, Robert, to have a chat with.  Now, I've appreciated Long Man ales so far, but this wasn't great, I suspect it was on the way out... not completely my day today then!

Oh well, next time... Cheers!

Friday 10th February 2012 'Wander'

Met up with Dan and Kieran at Clapham Junction, hadn't had a drink for a while together, but, as I arrived first, despite a strangely diverting rail journey to the Junction from home, I had a pint of London Pride in the Windsor Castle, St John's Hill.

Hadn't been in the Castle for a while, great building, the bar at the back is barn-like, wooden panels, and with a high roofed ceiling with beams, further back. The front bar is less impressive, worth going straight to the back room (via door at the side of the pub).

Also had Thwaite's Wainright and Sharp's Doom Bar on the bar.

Gave the Falcon a miss today, despite their holding a beer festival, as we wanted to get to the next pub, the Eagle Ale House, so shot past Debenhams (Arding & Hobbs, to those who haven't been here for a while) up to Northcote Road...