Part II - Return to the Bricklayers and saved by Naked Ladies again...

On the Monday, I walked into London, mainly along the Thames Path, my prime target being The Old Bell in Fleet Street, a very old haunt of mine from my youth...

The Old Bell was built in 1670 by Sir Christopher Wren to provide accommodation for, and to refresh the workers who were rebuilding the 'wedding cake tier' St Bride's Church, behind the pub, following its damage in the Great Fire of London in 1666. The lad behind the bar seemed to think the pub had been owned by Nicholsons since the 19th century, though I'd be surprised if it was a Nicholsons pub when I used to drink in here in my late teens and early 20s, when the only real ale it sold was Worthington E, an excellent ale of its time! The Old Bell has to be visited if in the area, and on this visit, I enjoyed drinking the Ilkley Mary Jane (3.5%), very pale, dry and bitter, all the way from West Yorkshire, and very refreshing after walking for 3 hours!   

I then had a bit of a wander around the City of London and crossed back to the south of the Thames via London Bridge, heading for Borough Market and The Rake, which I was a bit disappointed with this day, though I had a good chat with a QPR fan there, Donald, cheers! The 3 ales were Brains Farmer Walloon (4.5%), discussed in my previous blog; Great Orme Celtica, also 4.5%, a 'blonde' ale, which was quite bitter and pale, and wasn't too bad actually, very drinkable... But I was very disappointed with the Windsor & Eton Zinzan's Drop, a 4% "All Black Bitter", which had a strange aroma, dark with roasted barley, but, well, let's just say that the flavour wasn't to my taste...  

So a long walk back to Putney, and I felt a little disappointed with the day so far, so had to pop back into The Bricklayers Arms yet again, for my last ales before leaving London the next morning... Naked Ladies, eh? You just can't beat them, and they certainly came up trumps again, together with 2 other good Twickenham ales! Grandstand (3.8%) is a nice golden fruity bitter with a dry aftertaste; Spring Ale (4.4%) is the palest of the 3, nice and dry, and something else I meant to report, but cannot read my writing sadly; and the excellent Naked Ladies (4.4%) which continues to impress, a lovely pale golden bitter, a fruity flavour including peach, with a nice dry finish. All 3 were excellent ales from Twickenham Fine Ales, cheers! 

I will write more about The Old Bell at some time, in a blog or 2 I want to write about pubs of my youth, good and bad... Cheers again!!  

Albatross Club 2013 Beer Festival

As I've already alluded to, there was a beer festival at The Albatross Club (RAFA) in Bexhill on Sea at the weekend, which I attended on the first day, ie Friday, all ales at £2.60 a pint, and mostly gravity fed, thank you very much!  There were 15 ales on, all told, including 2 from Thornbridge Brewery, old favourites, Jaipur (5.9%), and my personal favourite of their's, the excellent (grape)fruity pale bitter, Kipling (5.2%), which is currently on sale at the Dolphin in Hastings, by the way.

There were 1/3 pint glasses available, for those wanting to try most, if not all, the ales, but I mostly stuck to half pints, and I shall only detail the ales I tried myself, starting with the lower alcohol beers, and working my way up.  Indeed, the lowest gravity ale was my favourite for most of the session, ie the Redemption Trinity, only 3%, but the combination and volume of hops (and malts) used provided more body and flavour than I'd though it would, lots of peach in the nose and, quite frankly, a surprise, very good!  

Also were Ilkley Mary Jane (3.5%), another good pale hoppy bitter, and Joshua Jane (3.7%), a slightly darker dry bitter; Tyne Bank Jamaican Mild (3.8%), a dark copper coloured mild with a spicy and slight fruity taste; Roosters Wild Mule (3.9%), a pale bitter with a weird aftertaste, maybe 'roasted' grapefruit, not quite what I expected from past experience of their ales.

 

In addition, I tried Boggart Hole Clough I Am Beer (4.2%), a much too sweet malty beer for me, virtually liquidised Caramac; Liverpool Organic Josephine Butler (4.5%), a full-bodied smooth beer, quite sweet again; and Binghams Space Hoppy (5.2%), which was slightly sweet to start (may have been influenced by what I drank before it, but a nuttier roasted flavour as it went down, not bad at all.    

But my favourite of the day was left until last, Ascot Ales Imperial Stout, 8% of a rich dark, full-bodied, beer, as you'd expect.  Strangely, for all the flavour it packed, not much aroma, but much liquorice domination, and coffee and chocolate coming through too, liquidised christmas pudding...  Very enjoyable, cheers!