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!

Friday 5th October in Hastings

Following a rather large brunch at Unwind, George Street, I started my wandering and drinking at the nearby Dolphin, where the wonderful sisters, Louise and Laura, were behind the bar.

I drank my usual Hophead from Dark Star Brewery, though I had tried a pint of one of the guest ales on Thursday evening, ie Oakleaf Brewery's Squirrel's Delight, 4.5%, medium coloured bitter, a bit sweet at first, with a roasted malt undertone and hint of coffee, well, that's what I thought.  There were also the other semi/regulars, Dark Star American Pale Ale (APA), Youngs Special, Harveys Sussex Best, and Sunny Republic's Dorset Cross (5%) is still a guest ale. 

 

I then walked west along the front and uphill at St Leonards to the Tower, London Road, where I still missed Louisa, I'll have to time my visits to this pub a bit differently, obviously, but Linda was there again, so still crackin' bar staff, and crackin' ales too! This is one of the best value pubs in the area, where you can get a pint of real ale for well under £3 a pint, I had my Hophead, of course, and tried a half of the 1648 Laughing Frog too, 5.2%, rather easy to drink, a bit sweet but with a bitter aftertaste. There were also Dark Star APA and Long Man Sussex Pride (4.5%).  After a good chat and drink there, I crossed Bohemia Road and entered the North Star.

Tasha was behind the bar at the North Star, always a welcome sight, some lovely barstaff around today!  The 5 ales today were Timothy Taylor Landlord, Sussex Best, Laughing Frog, Jennings Crag Rat, a 4.3% golden ale, and Rother Valley Ebulem, which I had a pint of, and which filled my loyalty card, meaning, a free pint on my next visit to either the North Star or their sister pub, the General Havelock in town. The Ebulem is a dark 'elderberry' porter, fruity aroma, and a dry porter/stout, really delicious.  I then wandered homewards and down Bohemia Road to the Wishing Well.

Although he wasn't working until later, I had a brief chat with the landlord, Nick, and then his partner, the lovely Pinar, took over the bar. As ever, good banter around the bar, and the usual 3 ales on sale, Courage Directors, Wadworth Henry's IPA, and Hastings Best Bitter, which I am happy to drink for just under £3 a pint, thank you very much!  I had started maudlin a bit, so I was happy to be cheered up and then go home to polish off some wine and cheese.

 

Cheers! 

Friday 7th September 2012 Bricklayers Arms, Putney

We concentrated more on helping my bro, the 'Routemeister', to move to Putney today, but we did make lunchtime and evening visits to his new 'local', though he reckons it's more MY new Putney local, The Bricklayers Arms, a regular London CAMRA Pub of the Year...

 

Lunchtime was very quiet, as you can see from this photograph from where we were sitting in the 'garden'. No food here, but they were happy to accept us bringing our own sandwiches from Waitrose in Putney High Street. There are 12 ales served from handpumps here and a real cider.

 

We only tried 3 of the ales available today, the Sunny Republic Beach Blonde at 3.7%, a sweetish fruity ale (website at Sunny Republic); Plain Ales Inn the Sun, a 4.6% 'blonde bitter' (website at Plain Ales), the Routemeister's favourite lunchtime drink today, an easy to drink 'fruity' pale ale; and my preference, though I had a try at the three of them, the Art Brew Bouncy, 5.2% of in your face hops, 5 hops actually, pale, dry, bitter, loved it! Website at Art Brew...

When we returned in the evening, I continued drinking the Bouncy, why not, it's pretty good?!? The Routemeister, ie my bro, Dan, started with the Inn the Sun, but couldn't resist drinking the Bouncy before we left. Great day drinking Bouncy, oh yes, and a a bit knackered with all the lifting, so slept well...

Zzzzz....