Another trip to London & Two Excellent Ales

A crackin' weekend in London with my brother, the Routemeister, and about 35 miles walked. The first round trip being to Richmond and obviously including our favourite pub there, the Watermans Arms (website), where we had...

OK, I know I always drink this, when they do sell Youngs ales, being a Youngs pub, but also another Twickenham (website) ale this day, their 3.8% Grandstand Bitter, but we had to drink the Naked Ladies again: 4.4% of pale, dry, bitter, hoppy delight, packed with flavours from Pilgrim, Celeia and Chinook hops, excellent!  

On our walk back to Dan's we decided to visit the Halfway House (website), near Barnes, walked past it a few times, but never been in! Really friendly place, great music venue, and beer in good form, sadly though, I forgot to make a note of what we drank, and my brother can't remember either, but it was certainly Scottish, from Edinburgh, I believe. I seem to remember 3 ales were on the bar (handpumps), maybe London Pride and Doom Bar the other two, anyway, a 'tick' pub...  

Our second round trip was to Borough Market/London Bridge/Southwark Cathedral (where a set of our great-great-grandparents were married). Oh yes, and to The Rake (website) of course, where I drank the also excellent...  

Oakham Ales (website) are another of my favourite brewers, and we were very lucky to find that, in addition to their Citra, oft tried and quality, they had this unique "Limited Edition" The Racketeer (5%). Oakham describe it as "Full on citrusy golden beer with powerful New Zealand hops dominating throughout." I wrote in my notes, thankfully written this time, as a 'tick' ale: "pale golden bitter, citrus aroma, citrus flavours, tangerine and grapefruit" - I liked it a lot!

I should also say they had a third beer on, as usual, this one from West London brewer, Dragonfly (website), their 4.3% "London Stout" Dark Matter. Anyway, a good chat with the two staff members, and another customer who used to run a bar in Putney, the excellent The Racketeer being imbibed, and a walk back to Dan's in prospect, meant I didn't try the stout, sorry... Cheers anyway!   

Best Beers II - Premium ales

I say "Premium Ales", but it's really ales between 4% and 5% in strength! Again pale ales and darker ones in my analysis, but starting with the darker ales this time.

Old Mill (website) of Snaith, West Yorkshire, who started up in 1983, brew some great ales, and I would have included their GBH (Great British Hopefuls), an excellent 4.2% bitter, but sadly it's only brewed every 4 years around the time of each Olympic Games. It is so good that I drank this only at a beer festival once I'd got the taste, ignoring other offerings, because it was that good. I first drank this back in 2000 AD, I do believe, and would happily drink it at any opportunity! 

Some great darker bitters are brewed more regularly, though, but not really to my taste, despite my being raised drinking London Pride and Youngs Special, both ales I continue to drink now and then, depending on where I am. However, Butcombe (website), a brewery established in 1978, and who moved to a 150 barrel brewery at Wrington in Somerset in 2005, brew the excellent Butcombe Bitter (4%) using Mendip spring water, and which I first tasted in the 1980s. This is a near perfectly balanced quaffing ale, tawny coloured with a dry refreshing bitterness, quality!

Hepworth (website) of Horsham, West Sussex, started brewing cask conditioned ales in 2003 and use locally sourced malt and hops for all their beers. Their 4.8% Classic Old Ale, does what it says on the label, it is an old ale, and it is a 'classic'! I suppose it is really a winter warmer, but it is a darn good ale, rich and flavoursome, with a lovely bitterness coming through at the finish. A very tasty dark old bitter indeed! 

All the ales already mentioned are very worthy of winning awards in all types of festivals, and in various categories, and have done! But I do have some humdingers to include with my paler choices, and Tiny Rebel (website) from Newport in Wales, have come onto the scene like a flash of lightning, brewing some crackin' ales at their 12 barrel plant since just 2012, winning numerous awards already!

Tiny Rebel's 4.6% Billabong is described as an 'Australian Pale Ale', and uses hops grown in Tasmania. I have seen numerous superlative reviews of this ale, "citrusy, bitter sweet, well-balanced, grapefruit aroma, lemon aroma" etc etc... My notes say it all, really, I believe this is an excellent pale bitter, with good body, and peach and grapefruit aroma and flavours, with a dry bitter finish. Say no more... 

I had to chose between 2 ales from Oakham Ales (website), either their superb 4.2% Citra, or the one in the photograph above, the 4.6% Bishops Farewell; though a very tough decision! One of my favourite breweries, as regular readers will be well aware, and the Bishops Farewell is a pale, fruity, hoppy ale with plenty of body and a lovely dry bitter finish. I'll even add the notes my brother sent to me when he drank this at the Swan & Rushes in Leicester, after I suggested he visit that pub whilst up there: "Pale, hoppy, fruity, smooth and slightly bitter", says it all, mostly!

From Salamander (website) in Bradford, West Yorkshire, founded at the end of the last century, and who expanded to a 40 barrel plant in 2004, comes a comparable ale to Oakham's contribution. Golden Salamander is a 4.5% golden bitter that uses Challenger and Styrian hops, and has a citrus aroma and taste, Salamander say it has an "assertive hop bitterness", and they ain't wrong! It is refreshing, fruity, and has a lovely dry bitter finish. Salamander are yet another excellent Yorkshire brewery, consistent, and their ales are always worth drinking, quality again...  

Twickenham (website), guess where they're based, consistently brew excellent ales too. They started off with a 10 barrel plant in 2004, expanding into larger premises and a 25 barrel plant in 2012. I first drank their 4.4% Naked Ladies well before trying it at the Crooked Billet, on the edge of Wimbledon Common, in March 2012, when I first made notes. It was excellent, and I have continued to drink it whenever, and wherever, I see it on the bar. My last couple of pints were tasted very recently at the Watermans Arms in Richmond, in the photograph above. Both of these pubs are Youngs pubs, by the way, which says a lot, but I have enjoyed my Naked Ladies at various freehouses too, eg the Bricklayers in Putney.

The name of the ale is inspired by the statues of water nymphs in York House Gardens in Twickenham, and the Naked Ladies is well-reported by me, obviously (love it!). This is an excellent pale golden bitter, very hoppy (using Pilgrim, Celeia and Chinook hops), citrus and peach aroma and flavours, with a light 'biscuit' malt about it, and a dry refreshing bitter finish. I'll repeat what I first said about it over 2 years ago, "Naked Ladies, you just can't beat them, continues to impress..."   

So! How is it that the Naked Ladies was pipped at the post, and it was just by a 'short-head', by a beer from Essex? I'm still scratching my head really, I was sure the Twickenham ale would be victorious in this category, but no... I kept looking at my copious notes and compared the two, and was surprised how Crouch Vale came into the reckoning right at the finishing post. Crouch Vale came into existence in 1981, moving to larger premises in 2006, and I have had quite a few very decent ales from them over the years; probably been drinking their ales for nearly 20 years now.

Anyway, the champion in this category is their 4.2% Yakima Gold, named after the Yakima Valley (named in turn after the Yakima Nation, whose reservation is on the east side of the Cascade Mountains), where the Amarillo hops used for this ale are grown. Indeed, 77% of all U.S. hops are grown in the Yakima Valley, and many grape vines too! I've had Yakima Gold in many different pubs/club and never had anything but a great pint or three, samples of my notes say "fruity, quite bitter, excellent"; "refreshing and very pale, fruity bitter with peach aftertaste, very good"; "genuine pale bitter, lovely stuff indeed!"

So, congratulations to the runner-up in this category have to be made (though all the ales mentioned are excellent!), I love the Naked Ladies, but the 'Gold Medal' goes to Crouch Vale Brewery and their Yakima Gold, cheers!   

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!!  

Part I - A long weekend, starting at The Bricklayers Arms...

Started on Friday at The Bricklayers Arms in Putney, sorry, but when I'm in SW15, I just have to go there, simples... 

Sara (may end with an 'h', in fact, probably does, apologies if I've spelt it incorrectly) behind the bar, which is quite usual, and very pleasant, and regular faces including John this side of the bar. A few ales were available from the Surrey brewer, Pilgrim, from whom I cannot remember having one of their ales before: Moild, a 3.8% dark mild, apparently they speak that way; Progress, a 4% copper coloured 'Best Bitter'; Surrey Pale Ale, a 3.7% pale ale, obviously, but lacking a wee bit of flavour and body; and Weald Ale, a 3.6% pale golden ale, slightly malty with a dry finish, not bad.    

Other ales at The Bricklayers included, from Wiltshire, Keystone Bedrock Bitter (3.6%), another pale bitter that ran off before I could sample it; also from Wiltshire, Plain Ales Inndulgence, which I'm sure I've had before, a 'ruby porter', 5.2% and a lovely deep red colour, with a roasted barley aroma and taste, very nice; and more local, Twickenham Grandstand, to be discussed in Part II of this blog...  

Over the weekend I mostly watched rugby, but also, on the Saturday, I had a fair old West London walk to Barnes, Surrey bank of the Thames, and Chiswick and Hammersmith on the Middlesex side. Of course, when in W6! The Dove, by the Thames in Hammersmith is an excellent Fullers pub, great history and very close by Kelmscott House, the late 19th century residence of one of my heroes, William Morris; it would have been nice to share a few drinks with him and to discuss arts and crafts and politics. It's a Fullers pub I've been to many times, but Matt, the ex-manager now, has recently taken off to Africa with his wife, so awaiting a new manager. 

Of course, Fullers/Gales ales are sold here from their 4 handpumps. The ales are always in good condition here, and, should you find Fullers beers not to your taste, this is one of the Fullers houses you really should go to and try a pint of Fullers at before turning your head away from them. There was Gales HSB (4.8%); the excellent full-flavoured Fullers ESB (5.5%), one of my favourite darker ales; London Pride (4.1%), pretty much the Fullers beer that everyone has heard of, which, when sampled at somewhere that sells it quickly and knows how to look after their ale, like here, this is very good too; Chiswick Bitter, only 3.5%, and difficult to find, quite rare, in fact. Dry hopped and a lovely session bitter, incidentally, Chiswick was the favourite tipple of the local beer writer, Michael Jackson R.I.P. (not the singer and Fulham fan).  

Still in W6, I also visited the excellent The Duchess of Cambridge, on Goldhawk Road, near to Stamford Brook, and had a good chat with Simon, the landlord. The Duchess allows 50p reductions per pint on its real ales, most of which are usually served by gravity direct from casks behind the bar, to CAMRA members, thank you very much, also to teachers and NHS workers, and ticket holders for the nearby QPR Football Club on match days too, I do believe! I finished with a pint of the Windsor & Eton Conqueror Black IPA (5%), which I do believe I've discussed very recently, anyway, this is dark, yet hoppy, with a slight smokey flavour, and just £3.10 a pint with my discount, cheers Simon! 

Other ales included, from Wales, Brains Farmer Walloon (4.5%), a 'Saison' type version of a Belgian style, I got the Belgian, just, not bad... There were also 3 ales from the Nottinghamshire brewer, Milestone, 2 rugby directed, ie English Rose (4.5%), pale amber coloured and very nice, and Welsh Dragons (4%), paler with a slightly more malty flavour, not bad, and the darker Olde English Ale (4.9%). Sorry, but I forgot to make any other notes!

Cheers for now, look out for Part II! 

Coming back from Sheffield via London and even more Steel...

I got back to Victoria, and what a lovely day it turned out to be, anyway, I crossed over Chelsea Bridge to walk through Battersea Park, and up to the mouth of the River Wandle, which, following it upstream, soon brings you to this pub in Wandsworth... 

The Armoury, which used to be called The Crane, in Armoury Way, virtually opposite the back of the old Ram Brewery of Young's, which, sadly, doesn't brew anymore. Indeed, the plan to sell up the real estate has fallen on lean times, it looks like no-one wants to build there in the current financial climate. Anyway, as we all know, Young's ales are now brewed by Charles Wells, Young's now being just a 'pubco'! 

The Crane used to be a Young's pub, of course, and I remember it as a bit of a bikers' pub from my youth, now it appears to be a clean and bright pub, and there was some pretty good music too, for ' bright young things' in still up and coming Wandsworth. There were 2 Young's ales and 2 ales from the new local brewer, Sambrooks (website) Wandle (3.8%) and Junction (4.5%). The Young's ales available were the 3.7% Bitter (or 'Ordinary' to us ex-locals) and the seasonal Winter Warmer, which I had a couple of pints of, a smooth deep dark red beer, full-bodied, with dark fruit in the flavour, still a very nice beer and well worth drinking if you get the chance! 

Anyway, that was it for that day, and I kipped at the old family HQ, still inhabited by my Stepfather. The next day I retraced my steps down the Wandle, then the Thames, to St Mary's Church, Battersea, and headed for the High Street. Just before you reach the Prince's Head, you come upon The Candlemaker, on your right, which used to be called The Greyhound, when I went to school further back up the High Street. This is another pub in the Borough of Wandsworth that has undergone a very good makeover, or having gone upmarket in effect. I had a good chat with a fellow customer, an Irish lad called Steve, and the barman.

There are 5 handpumps on the bar, but only 3 were being used last Monday, including one for their regular ale, brewed by King in Horsham, I do believe, and not at the North Laine brewpub in Brighton, ie the Laine's Best (4%), which I have reviewed before. They also had another Sussex brewed ale, Dark Star Partridge, a 4% 'Best Bitter' not one of their ultra hoppy pale bitters, and Truman's Swift (3.9%). I've had all these before, but wanted to give the Swift another taste, as I hope that the revived Truman's continues to prosper now they're brewing their own ale at their new brewery in East London (website). The Swift is described as a 'golden ale', and it isn't bad at all, maybe not quite the 'gorgeous' it is also branded as though. It's a bit sweet at first, with a slightly bitter dry aftertaste, again, I found it just a wee bit 'sour', and am looking forward to trying more of their ales over the coming years.      

I wanted to get closer to Clapham Junction station, to ensure I didn't miss my train home, but also to visit another couple of pubs I would never have gone into when I was a young man! This is a bit of a theme I hadn't planned to use in this blog, but realised it as soon as I started writing. All 4 of these pubs, discussed in this blog, in Battersea and Wandsworth, are all pubs that I wouldn't have entered in my youth, have all been given a makeover, and are all in the Borough of Wandsworth... and all now are pretty good pubs selling real ales too. The third pub I visited was The Northcote, on the corner of Northcote Road and Battersea Rise... 

There were 4 real ales on sale at The Northcote, including the 2 regulars, Young's Bitter (3.7%) and Sharp's Doom Bar (4%), hardly inspiring, but the guests offered something a bit more interesting. OK, I've had the Adnams Ghost Ship (4.5%) before, and it's certainly one of Adnams' better ales, but they also had an ale from a reasonably local brewery that I hadn't had before. Back to Twickenham Brewery, and this time a 'special' brewed with Australian and New Zealand hops, Galaxy and Pacific Jade, the Summer Down Under. This 3.9% very pale bitter certainly bursts with citrus flavours, I couldn't work out the aroma, but it was very refreshing. 

I decided to get to my fourth pub of this blog with enough time to have another drink before catching my train, so hurried to The Falcon, on the corner at Clapham Junction, diagonally opposite what was the local Department Store, Arding & Hobbs, but which is now a Debenhams. The Falcon is a Nicholsons pub, and, as I have said before, has the longest bar in the country (it is built in a long irregular circular fashion) according to the Guinness Book of Records; my second pub of the long weekend that is listed in that book, including The Dove in Hammersmith from the last blog... and my fourth pub of todays theme, it's all coming together!  

The Falcon has up to 20 real ales on at a time, but I only had time for one pint... so I had to have 2 halves, as seen in the photograph, first the Fullers Steel, a 'blonde ale' as it says on the pumpclip. This has been brewed in collaboration with my old friends, the 2 hop crazy brewers at Steel City Brewing in Sheffield, so my second ale of their's of the long weekend; see 2 blogs ago. This is a nice dry pale bitter, with a sour fruit aftertaste, not your usual Fullers, a few extra hops indeed... 

I also had a half of the Blueberry Ale, a 4.3% beer brewed by Lancaster Brewery, subtitled "Tales from the Brewhouse", which I'm guessing means it's what they term their 'specials'. There are New Zealand hops, and blueberries, unsurprisingly, which provides a very fruity aroma for this slightly darker golden ale. First taste gives you a mouthful of fruit, which is maintained throughout the drinking experience, with a slightly sweet, but drying out aftertaste. Another 2 fine ales from The Falcon...

Cheers!   

On the way... to Sheffield via London...

On the way to Sheffield, I had stayed the previous night at Dan the Routemeister's residence in Putney, ie with my brother and niece, and, before tea/dinner/supper (depending on your social or territorial grouping), we walked along the Surrey bank to Hammersmith Bridge, crossing to reach the excellent Fullers pub, The Dove, Upper Mall, W6 9TA.  

The Dove (website) was built in the early 18th century in rural, yes rural at that time, Hammersmith, overlooking the river; indeed, its balcony at the back of the pub is a pleasure to sit on, when not too busy, and warmer. On this day, however, we sat near the fire, which is in the main bar that you walk into when entering the pub. If you decide to go through the door to your right when you immediately enter The Dove, you will enter the "smallest bar room in Britain" (Guinness Book of Records) at 33 sq ft in area. If you had ignored the pub and walked further on, you would  have soon reached Kelmscott House, that was the home of William Morris and is now the site of the William Morris Society and museum (website). Indeed, The Dove has had an impressive number of historic and literary figures visiting over the centuries! 

The Dove has been a Fullers pub since 1845, serving good food as well as good ales, and you can't get much more locally sourced! You'll usually find their Chiswick Bitter (3.5%) and London Pride (4.1%) as regular ales, and the stronger and full-bodied ESB (5.5%) is often available too as one of the 2 guests, as it was this day; the fourth ale was the seasonal Jack Frost (4.5%). Dan hadn't tried the Chiswick before, so, as it is quite hard to find, even in Fullers pubs, we went for it; this having been the favourite ale of the famous beer writer, Michael Jackson, RIP. A lot of people may knock the Chiswick, and, if you've drunk something with lots of hops, or lots of flavour like ESB beforehand, you may find it lacks a bit. However, as the first drink of the day, and if you carry on drinking it, it is superb, consequently, Michael's love of the beer! A lovely bitterness comes through a nutty flavour, with a hoppy dry aftertaste, the result of, I believe, each cask being dry hopped before sealing, nice one!  

We then came back along the Middlesex bank and crossed Putney Bridge, and visited another excellent pub, The Bricklayers Arms, Waterman Street SW15 1DD, a freehouse, much visited and written about by me. The Bricklayers (website) is a regular CAMRA (and other) award winner, and has up to a dozen real ales on sale. I've gone on about this many times, as Dan reckons it's MY local in Putney, but they tend to bring in many ales from a specific brewery, this time from the local Twickenham Fine Ales, including the excellent Naked Ladies (4.4%), which I've written about quite a bit before, Redhead (4.1%), Sundancer (3.7%), and the seasonal Winter Cheer (4.4%). 

I drank the Sundancer first, pale and dry, with a nutty flavour coming through, and nice and bitter, yes, nice one. Then I finished off our pub drinking with a half of the Winter Cheer, a darker chestnut coloured ale, a bit thinner than I'd expected, nutty, with a hint of spices and a roasted malt finish, and quite bitter, not bad at all! 

We then wandered back to Dan's having luckily missed a shower, cheers!  

STOP PRESS! Naked Ladies...

I've been in touch with Twickenham Ales, many thanks for the response from them: here's the older pump clip, and the THREE naked ladies I remember were ONE naked lady and 2 horses! I'd be useless in a police identity parade...

So, always been called "Naked Ladies", but only ever been ONE naked lady pictured, here's the newer pump clip; glad that's sorted out! 

Whatever, Naked Ladies is a crackin' ale, enjoy it wherever you see it, cheers!

Twickenham to Sussex via places up North...

Well, I did visit London, which is up North to me, plus some ales from much further North than London reviewed here. Anyway, I included a visit to the Eagle Ale House, off Northcote Road, and close to the Junction; I never thought it would happen to me and a girl from Clapham, you know the one! This is a decent ale house, though seems to have less of the pale and hoppy ales I prefer. On this visit, they did have a golden ale from Hackney Brewery, H3 (4%); Clarence & Fredericks Best Bitter (4.1%); Woodforde's Wherry (3.8%); and I thought I should try the resurrected Truman's Swift (3.9%), another 'golden' ale, with quite a rich flavour, plenty of body for a lower gravity ale, and nice and bitter. They now have their own new brewery in the East End, and I'd love to have one of their glasses! Anway, more about them @ their website, and good luck to them too.  

I also visited my 'local' in Putney, the Bricklayers Arms, which had apparently been drunk dry by Fulham and Villa fans over the weekend! Anyway, they did have 4 Twickenham ales on sale, sadly, just ran out of Naked Ladies too (I'm sure it used to be called 3 Naked Ladies, the landlady said they certainly had changed their pumpclips, and had a similar opinion to me, though others present didn't agree, oh well). Anyway, Twickenham ales they did have were Grandstand, a 3.5% session beer; Redhead, a 4.1% "red ale", believe it or not; a very nice 3.7% pale and hoppy "golden" ale, Sundancer; and a 4.4% winter ale, Winter Cheer, a not too bad darkish bitter with a mellow maltiness and dry aftertaste.     

I have to mention the Tiny Rebel ale (which is from way up North) Hank (4%), reported on before, and still very good, but this time drunk at the First In Last Out, High Street, Hastings 'old town', nice one, cheers! Of course, the FILO also sells 4 or 5 of their own ales, also well worth trying, of course, but they had the Tiny Rebel on, so... 

Back to the Dolphin, Rock-a-Nore, Hastings, and this time I did manage to have a pint of the excellent pale and hoppy Oakham Bishops Farewell (4.6%), see my recent blog about pale ales that mentioned Oakham too, I do believe. In addition to their regulars, Hophead, Sussex Best and Youngs Special, they also had Ilkley (see, from Yorkshire) Rye N' Dry (5%), a deep copper coloured bitter with a roasted malt flavour, and the more local Franklins Pudding Stout (4.2%), a bit sweet with a hint of coffee and smoky malt flavour, not bad either.  

At the Tower, London Road, Hastings (upper) St Leonards/Bohemia, a number of crackin' ales, including from Dark Star, of course, have been enjoyed recently. They have had Hastings 'Handmade' number 11, their Black IPA, which I've also had at the Albatross Club in Bexhill on Sea, and more to be reported on soon with a blog just about 'Black' IPAs, which sounds like an oxymoron, and also the very good Hopback Citra (4%), which has a very citrusy aroma, hint of malt in the flavour, more than usual in such a hoppy ale, and a dry aftertaste. 

Since then I have enjoyed the great array of ales in the photograph above, with the 'session' ale being the 4.7% Dark Star APA, still just £2.60 a pint! First, I drank the new local Sussex brewery 360 Degrees (website) Pacific Pale #49, a 4.9% pale and hoppy dry bitter, a very good new ale indeed, and at £2.80 a pint, nice one, ta. Also, had a couple of pints of Thornbridge Jaipur, well you have to, don't you, when you can get this 5.9% Derbyshire ale for just £3.10 a pint? It was the best Jaipur I've tasted for a long time too, it appears more bitter and dryer than it used to be, what I always preferred about their Kipling, pale, dry and bitter; could be a good side effect of an accountant getting the grist reduced, so it is fermented out further to reach the strength... it's a thought? Oh! And Dark Star Critical Mass, which I have never had before. The reducing of the strength from 10% to the more manageable 7.4% was lamented by locals, but a darker roasted malt flavoured bitter (£3.20 a pint, usually up to £5 a pint elsewhere!), very good too.

And Louisa the landlady serving me on this visit too, cheers, and many thanks Lou! 

West London Thames Path walk, Naked Ladies, real fires and ale...

A visit to my brother, the Routemeister, will more often than not include a long walk, usually 12 to 20 miles long, and a few fine ales, and, now we're approaching Winter, real fires... So why should this visit be any different? The evening before the walk we popped into the Bricklayers Arms in Putney, and also following the walk, before me returning to the Junction to catch a train home.

The Bricklayers (site) is a fine pub that I've written about many times, and they appear to work on getting 5 to 10 ales from a microbrewer at a time, so you usually find at least 3 or 4 from the same brewer when you visit, among their dozen ales on offer, often, 2 or 3 from the last brewer they selected too. Their last brewer appeared to be Hobsons, from whom they had their 3.2% Mild, 3.6% Twisted Spire, a 'blond' beer with a slightly nutty flavour, and the very good Old Henry (5.2%), a "rich autumn ale". 

Their next brewer is the Kent brewer Goody, with many "good this and good that"; over the two visits I tried the very good Good Heavens, a 4.1% 'best bitter', tasted like a typical bitter from the South East, nice deep copper colour. My second one was Goodness Gracious Me, a 4.8% pale bitter with a nutty aroma that reminded me of the Belgian lambics in a way, with a slightly sour taste, pretty good stuff too, apparently, a green hopped ale. 

We also sampled Mulberry Duck Amber Sparkle, a 4.1% light malty dry bitter, and Wildflower, a darker 4% bitter; and Red Squirrel Conservation Bitter, a copper coloured sweetish fruity ale, at first taste, with a dry bitter aftertaste, not bad at all. 

Our lunchtime 'port of call' was the Waterman's Arms in Richmond, a wonderful Youngs house (site), kept to a high standard by the Irish landlord and lady, which we used to enjoy Thai food at quite regularly, before cutting back on our expenditure due to necessity. The usual Youngs ales here, always kept in great condition, Special and 'Ordinary' Bitter, and the seasonal Winter Warmer, but their 'guest ale' outstrips sales of the pub company's own ales, ie Twickenham Naked Ladies! 

Naked Ladies is pretty much a local ale, certainly much more local than Bedford brewed Youngs these days, and pretty damn excellent too! I'm sure it used to be called "3 Naked Ladies", and surely the pump clip included the image of 3 naked ladies on it (all very tasteful of course), but now just the one on the pumclip, despite the plural in the name; maybe a modern day Mary Whitehouse complained or something? Anyway, this is a 4.4% pale bitter, very nice and bitter too, cheers!  

We then walked up to Richmond Park, leaving the Thames Path, crossed the Park, and then crossed Wimbledon Common to visit one of two Youngs pubs, we gave the Hand in Hand a miss, mostly because last time we visited the Crooked Billet (fire therein above), situated in Crooked Billet, Wimbledon Common (site), a few doors down from the Hand in Hand, they had the Naked Ladies too, and we wanted to carry out a  taste comparison. 

Anyway, no Naked Ladies this time, sadly, but the usual Youngs Bitter, Special and Winter Warmer, Wells Bombardier, and Courage Directors, all brewed by Wells these days, of course. We had a pint each of the Special, and it was in very good condition, a nice pint indeed, which it still can be, many thanks, but not as good as the Naked Ladies, oh well...  

Cheers!

Richmond, Surrey (Wednesday 15th May 2013)

What to do, what's the weather going to be like? We'd decided to make our 'country walk' tomorrow, so Wednesday was to be our River Thames wander, which turned out to be a much longer walk than tomorrow's, this day, only about 22 miles...

From Dan's in Putney, we walked westwards along the River Thames to Kingston, a few miles, indeed... then up to Kingston Gate and into Richmond Park, on to the Pen Ponds in the centre of the Park, and out to Richmond Gate and a short way down the hill to the famous view above.  

We could have gone into the Roebuck at the top of the hill, another good pub, but decided to wander down the hill and visit one we hadn't been to for quite a few years, The Victoria Inn, Richmond Hill, which used to be a rather too smokey pub in the 'old days', as it is a small one-bar building, though with a garden out the back, and now a Punch Taverns' house. 3 ales here; 2 regulars, Sharps Doom Bar (4%) and Youngs Bitter, or 'Ordinary' (3.7%), and the guest on this day, Thwaites Wainright, a 4.5% golden ale, not bad, and the pub has improved in the smoke-free atmosphere, nice sights out of the window, and bragging a warm landlady, Denise, inside, cheers m'dear!

We then dropped down the hill to the river again, and visited one of our favourites, the Waterman's Arm's, a Youngs' pub, that now outsells it's always well-kept Special (4.5%) and Ordinary (3.7%) with the regular guest here, Twickenham Three Naked Ladies (4.4%); I do like this beer!  The Irish landlord, a regular conversationalist, was away, we believed, but didn't ask, however, we missed his chat and updates.  We then headed back to Putney...

 

Tomorrow, and into the deep excesses of Surrey (honest!) cheers!

Thursday 7th February - Isleworth

Oops! I thought I'd already posted this, but blogger hadn't saved or published it, so, here I go again, let's hope my memory is up to scratch!
 

Walking along the Thames to Isleworth with Dan, my brother, the 'Routemeister', we usually visit the London Apprentice, but on Thursday, we had a different goal, ie visiting two new pubs to us in Isleworth, the first, the Victoria Tavern on the corner of Worple Road, where we were warmly greeted and served by the knowledgeable and very lovely barmaid, Sam(antha). The Victoria has 2 rooms, we settled for drinking in the room shown below, which was tasteful, and comfortable to sit in. 

Ales? 3 on... Sambrook's Wandle, which I've discussed sufficiently before; Sharps Cornish Coaster, a 3.6% pale bitter, not that hoppy, thus very easy to drink; and Belhaven Robert Burns, a 4.2% darker "Scottish Ale", typical Scot's ale, indeed, if they called it '80/-', you woodnae be surprised!  

We then wandered down to the Red Lion, a 10 minutes walk away, and a much bigger pub in Linkfield Road, apparently run by the daughter of the Victoria's landlord, and a regular in CAMRA's Good Beer Guide. This has 3 rooms, a large room with impressive stage at the back, where there are regular gigs, and two rooms to the front, including the one below, that could be someone's front room, if it were a wee bit smaller!  Up to 10 ales on sale here, of which we drank the 3.8% Twickenham Grandstand Bitter, a very nice pale bitter, and I have to say, I haven't yet been disappointed by Twickenham Brewery and their ales. 

So, what other ales were there? Hogs Back Snout, a 3.8% 'dark winter stout'; Cottage Plunge (4.6%); Guilsborough Nobby's Virtue (4%); Ringwood Old Scrumper (4%); Hardys & Hansons Olde Trip (4.3%); Adnams Lighthouse (3.4%); 1648 Ruby Mild (3.6%); and Vale Black Swan, a 3.9% dark mild.

 

We then wandered back alongside the Thames to Putney and the Bricklayers Arms, more of in my next blog... Cheers! 

Saturday 8th September - Happy Birthday to me ;-)

Dan and I walked along the Surrey side of the Thames from Putney to Richmond to have lunch at the Waterman's Arms, and a lovely Thai meal it was too ( Pad Ki Moaw, stir-fried noodles with chicken, chilli, garlic and vegetables), Happy Birthday lunch! Also, in addition to the usual Youngs Special and 'Ordinary', the landlord now sells Twickenham Three Naked Ladies, an excellent 4.4% pale bitter which is as good as you'll get it here, and their ales never seem to disappoint me, plus this landlord is the 'real deal', having run the pub for years now, quality.

 

As we walked out of the Waterman's, we met up with an old mate, Colin, who joined us for a large amount of the continuing walk and pub trip... From Richmond, we walked back a wee while eastwards and crossed the Thames to come in from the west, and Middlesex bank, to Isleworth and The London Apprentice! Now, I've discussed the Apprentice before on this blog, so I'll just mention the ales available on Saturday, plus the Westons Traditional Scrumpy (6%) and Country Perry (4.5%).  We were served by the admirable Cat, who, whatever she professes, should be Irish (she'll appreciate what I mean when she reads this, I trust, because it is a compliment from me) and pulled 3 pints of the excellent Purity Ubu for us, 4.5% and a slightly darker than usual ales for me!

 

They also had old stalwarts, Pride, Doom Bar and Thwaite's Wainwright, a great old historic pub,  with a great view across and down the Thames, a West London favourite.

 

 

We continued eastwards along to the Bulls Head, Strand on The Green, Chiswick, a Chef & Brewer pub, so a bit food dominated, where we drank Fullers London Pride; they also sold Tribute, Doom Bar and Landlord, fairly trustworthy ales, if a little lacking in interest for me anymore, but the Pride was in decent form! This is close by the "Beatles' pub", but I've written about that not so long ago, and I really wanted a 'new' pub to visit on my birthday, ie one I'd never been to before, so this was it... 

 

 

OK, Colin had had enough of us by now, so left us, and we carryied on towards Hammersmith, past the Fullers Brewery at Chiswick, past William Morris' Kelmscott House, and we reached The Dove, one of my 2 favourite pubs in Hammersmith, both Fullers' houses... 

 

 

Again, I've written about this pub before, about its history, its overlooking the Thames, its rear 'balcony', it's crackin' bars, the Fullers ales, decent food... What more can I say? Well... In addition to the usual Pride and ESB, they had the seasonal Summer Ale and, one of my favourite Fullers' ales now, Wild River, a crackin' 4.5% bitter!  Enjoyed it here as usual, a Happy Birthday was enjoyed, and we went back to Putney to enjoy a curry...

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

Wimbledon Village and Common

We visited Wimbledon on Thursday and Friday, so had to visit the 3 decent Youngs pubs in the area. All sell good ales, all have plenty of friendly staff working for them, and all sell decent food too...

First was the Crooked Billet, Crooked Billet, SW19. All these 3 Youngs pubs sell good ales, not just Youngs, as we have recently come to expect due to the reorganisation of their relationship with the Bedford lot, but guest ales are common too.

Dan and me really like the Crooked Billet, mind we really like the others too. Crackin' atmosphere, good ales, friendly staff, especially love the manager!

I'll not mention the obvious ales, though they are having a Hogsback season at the moment, but I'll just say what we drank, ie Twickenham Original at 4.2%, and I have not been disappointed by any ales from that brewer. This has a fruity aroma, is easy to drink, a medium coloured bitter (proper colour for a bitter to a Youngs drinker from an early age), and is slightly bitter with a pleasant dry aftertaste. Very nice again...

The Hand in Hand seems to always have very lovely bar staff too, and Youngs again, but I decided to order the Otter Bitter, very disappointed... Oh well, can't get it right every time, but should have gone for the Youngs Special straight away, always excellent here!

The 3rd excellent pub in this Wimbledon Village/Common trio is the Rose & Crown, an old coaching inn, that used to be the last outpost when leaving London from this direction, just before the highwaymen robbed you. Good job the staff are warm and friendly; again, we drank Special here, crackin' ale!

Hove CAMRA beer festival

Yesterday, I visited the Sussex CAMRA Branches Beer & Cider Festival at Hove Town Hall, ends today.

OK, so the town hall isn't too impressive a building, though the older part around the corner is a little more interesting, but inside was very interesting, as there were a few rooms full of ales, bottled beers, ciders and perries, food, bits & bobs, and people who enjoy good beer!

I had 10 halves in my shortish lunchtime visit (open 11-3pm yesterday and again in the evening; I don't think it closes during the afternoon today though), so I'll list them as I drank them.

My first was Bowman's SHB (3.7%), which wasn't listed in the programme, nor is it on their website, so either a brand new ale, or a 'mix', not sure which, but it was very tasty for my first choice. OK, it's the winter (nearly over), but today I was concentrating on pale, session ales, and this fit the deal, a pale and very easy ale to drink, though not much aroma, so I'm guessing no American hops with their floral and fruity aromas. Anyhow, whilst just starting this, I met Keith of Porter Tours, someone I've known for years, but hadn't seen for a few; in fact, the last time was in a Eurostar bar, returning from Brussels! Great to meet up and hear news of people from an old haunt, the Andover Arms in Hammersmith.

I also met up with a couple of people from the Gardeners Arms in Lewes, otherwise, most people I knew who were coming were probably at the business end on Thursday.

I was served by a lovely young woman for my first two drinks, who tolerated my waffling too, and had the second ale, Twickenham's Grandstand (3.8%), pale, fruity, dry, and very nice!

Next, Sambrook's Pale Ale (4.2%), again pale, dry, slightly fruity flavour, another not in the programme, and cannot see anything about it on their website, but nice.

King's Cascade (4.2%), pale and hoppy, but not as much fruit flavour from the hops that I'd expected by the name.

Langham's Flor-ale (3.8%), pale, but not as much hops as I'd expected.

Fallen Angel's Gardeners Delight (4.2%) was dry and pale, very good, though missed the labels from their bottled beers (if you've not seen them, they're quite outstanding, in a sexist sort of way!), first time I've tasted one of their ales from cask.

Surrey Hills' Shere Drop (4.2%) was pale too, but tasted more like what I'd call a proper bitter from my youth, ie it was bitter, and they used to always be a mid-copper or bronze colour; I liked it!

I then had to try Bradfield's Steel Cow (4.5%) from my old stomping ground in South Yorkshire. I'm not sure if he works there now, but an old colleague of mine when I worked part-time at Kelham Island Brewery, Paul Ward, was their first brewer, I believe. It was worth trying too, pale and dry, and my notes say "not so bad", so it was good!

My penultimate drink was South Downs' Truleigh Gold (3.7%) which was pale and bitter, nice, but one of my favourite ales I kept til last, so 9 beers I'd never tasted before, and I was very happy, in more ways than one...

Dark Star APA (4.7%) is a pale, dry and bitter ale with the three 'Cs' of hops providing aroma and fruit flavours, crackin' ale and only £1.20 for a half! So, ended with 10, mostly 'locale', ales, and I enjoyed them all, and the wasabi peanuts and beansprouts too.

The view as I walked back into Brighton and my pre-station visit to the Evening Star (had to be done), where I drank 2 pints of the very good Magic Rock's Rapture, I think it was called, my notes aren't so clear now as I was a bit 'merry', at 4.6%, darker, but light very fruity flavour. I chatted to quite a few people, who probably wished I hadn't, and met up with Keith again. Good day, cheers!