London 6th - 8th March 2013

I arrived at Clapham Junction on the 6th, and departed from Clapham Junction on the 8th, as you can see, a bit wet then, so a trip to The Northcote, Northcote Road, now it's a nice safe pub to visit, and not just for me, but a very woman friendly environment, together with a wide range of customers, young and old, as well as my age, in the middle a bit, haha, and, of course, male and female.  I was served a pint of the ale shown below by the delightful Ruby, who has been present on a previous visit too, and she asked me to mention their having a young Brazilian lad working behind the bar too, presumably, for my female readership?

So, apart from the obvious, other ales included Youngs Bitter (3.7% and called 'Ordinary' by us older Youngs drinkers, or someone like me who worked in a Youngs' pub in my yoof, when their ales were still brewed in Wandsworth) and Sharps Doom Bar (4%). I'm sure I must have drunk this before, anyway, I tried a pint of the Adnams Ghost Ship, a 4.5% reasonably pale coloured bitter, though not quite the "ghostly pale ale" the brewery describes it as, but a decent bitter nonetheless; and, of course, a pint of the local Sambrook's Junction, a 4.5% medium coloured bitter, what I always think of as a typical London bitter colour, I'm sure you know what I mean, and it tastes like a typical London bitter, very nice too, cheers! 

Previously, my brother, The Routemeister, had met me in The Candlemaker, Battersea High Street, on the 6th, where Kathryn appeared shortly after our arrival (I think that's how to spell her name, sorry if I'm wrong, K) and we were served by a very friendly Antipodean, Holly, who also has family links to South East Sussex. We each had a pint of the Sambrook's Pale Ale, a nice pale and hoppy 4.2% bitter from the local brewer.  They also had available the same brewery's Wandle, a 3.8% session bitter, Kings IPA (5.2%), which I'd have loved to try, but a bit strong for the middle of the day, and their own brewery, Laine's Best Bitter (4.1% and reported on before).  

Finally, we had a drink at The Bricklayer's Arms in Putney, where there were still many ales on from their 'Yorkshire Beer Festival', too many to mention now, but have a look at their website (site) for more information. We had a pint each of Great Heck Brewing Dispensible, a 4.5% pale beer, we were a little disappointed with, as, frankly, it needed more hops. Also, I was a wee bit upset I'd missed the Kelham Island Pale Rider, though I was to drink their Easy Rider at my local, the Dolphin, in Hastings, less than a week later (both ales I have brewed when I worked for Kelham Island). 

 

Cheers!

12th December - A new pub for me in Battersea!

On my way back from London, I left Putney and walked along the Thames Path again to Battersea, and made my way down Battersea High Street to a new pub for me, The Candlemaker, which I'd seen about in CAMRA's latest editon of London Drinker, and which had only opened at the beginning of November.  I ventured alone this time, as the Routemeister had caught an early Eurostar to Brussels, and was probably in Brussels by the time I got to the top of Battersea High Street.  

The Candlemaker (website) is one of 4 pubs recently opened in London by a Brighton company, this one re-opened in what used to be The Greyhound at 136 Battersea High Street.  Their opening times are 12-12 on weekdays, and 10-1 and 10-10 on Saturdays and Sundays respectively, consequently, as it was only 11.00, I made a detour to Clapham Junction (where I would be shortly catching my train from) and back.

So, only 10 minutes walk away at Clapham Junction is an old 'friend' The Falcon (website), what can I say to add to previous comments about the pub with the Guinness Book of Records label of having 'the longest bar in the country', and hence 22 handpumps?  Well, they have up to 20 ales at any one time and, remarkably, for so many ales, they do keep up a good quality of ale too!  They also had Renata, an efficient and friendly young Polish woman working behind the bar when I was there; many thanks for your advice on the day, Renata, a pleasure. 

Ales? I shan't mention every one of them, just the two especially brewed for Nicholson's, yes, this is a Nicholson's pub, if you weren't aware already, and the 'seasonal' ales.  The 2 brewed for the company were Brentwood The Only Way is Santa (5.2%) and Petersfield (London Style) Porter (5%), which I had a pint of, which was a smooth, sweet even, creamy dark porter. I liked it very much.  Other seasonal ales were Vale 5 Gold Rings (4.8%); Andwell Ding Dong (4.2%); Brains Captain Cat (4.2% and something to do with Dylan Thomas, a character from Under Milk Wood, I believe) a winter ale; plus many many more!  

So, back at The Candlemaker, where I was waiting on the doorstep of for them to open, and they kindly let me in a little early, feeling sorry for me.  There were 5 ales on, including their own (I do believe, or at least it's an associated brewery from Brighton), Laine's Best, see below, a 4% malty best bitter, not bad, but not particularly to my taste. They had 2 old favourites from Sussex brewery, Dark Star, ie the Hophead and APA, crackin' ales! They also had the very local Sambrooks Wandle bitter, more about which is written in previous blogs, and my favourite ale of the day, Buxton Target (3.8%), a 'single hop' ale.  Target is a good hop, and this was a very drinkable pale and quite bitter ale, very enjoyable!  

At The Candlemaker, I met Kathryn (two friendly barmaids in one day cannot be bad) and Freddie, two very likeable young characters who had both moved up from Brighton in connection with this new venture, and who were enjoying their time in Battersea, well, it's certainly changed a lot since my youth, Battersea, that is! 

I'll be back, cheers!