10th and 11th December - Bricklayers Arms, Putney

2 drinking shifts for me earlier this week at The Bricklayers Arms in Putney (website) whose landlady collected an award, on the 14th, as a finalist of 'Headway Campaigner of the Year', warm congratulations to Becky!   

Anyway, the Monday was spent in the company of my brother, the Routemeister, but solo on Tuesday whilst he was running an errand for my niece.  The Monday was virtually a Yorkshire beer festival, with ales from Ilkley Gold (3.9%) and Best (4%), the Gold is a nice pale bitter; my brother tried the Acorn Barnsley Gold (4.3%), having drunk many Acorn beers in the past and having worked with their head brewer (not sure if he still works there, though), I gave this a miss purely because I know their ales, and they are very good; Wold Top Bitter (3.7%), a nice traditional bitter, and the excellent Wold Gold, 4.8% of full-bodied golden bitter, very nice.

 

Amongst the other ales, there were also 2 from Bath, the 3.7% Spa and 4.1% Gem, and Downton Chocolate Orange Delight (5.8%), which I was hoping to drink the following day, but missed out on, that's life and ale drinking at 'London's Permanent Beer Festival', aka the Bricklayers Arms, my Putney 'local'. Oh yes, and yet another real fire for me...  

On the 11th, I returned early evening, missed the Downton choccy one, but tried the very good Bowman Quiver, a 4.5% pale bitter ale and the equally very good, but very different, Vale Brewery Black Swan, described as a 'dark smooth rich mild', certainly plenty of body for a 3.9% mild and very drinkable!  There were also, from Vale Brewery, Red Kite (4%), a 'chestnut red malty bitter' and the 3.4% Brill Amber, and many other ales on their 12 handpumps, including another Yorkshire ale, Clarks Twister (4.2%) from Wakefield.

 

2 enjoyable sessions... Cheers!

8th December - Wigan and The Orwell

Why name a pub at Wigan Pier "The Orwell", goes without saying really, doesn't it? Certainly one of my favourite authors and political influences, but, sadly, I couldn't make the visit last Saturday, but have had this feedback from Paul, and the model in the photograph is Tom; 2 lads I first met many years ago when I was returning to Sheffield on a train, and they were returning to York.

Anyway, I recommended The Orwell (website) at Wigan Pier, a converted cotton warehouse originally built in 1877 by the canal there.  This is Paul's contribution, who went to the football in Wigan that day, many thanks mate.  Paul found The Orwell to be a large pub with lots of seating, fans from both teams getting along with no problems, children-friendly, and non-football fans too. Good value food is on offer, including a range of pies and pasties, and a £3 pie and peas 'match day special'; a more detailed menu can be seen on their website. 

 

The ales available were from the local Prospect Brewery (website) which was first established in a garage in 2007, moving to larger premises in Standish in January 2010.  Both ales Paul tried were a "nice drop": ie the Silver Tally (3.7%), a pale hoppy bitter with a citrus aroma, and the 4.5% golden ale, Gold Rush, a hoppy bitter.

 

Cheers Paul!

Much to come!

True!  Just back from London, I'll be blogging soon...

 

Whilst resting, however, just a comment on the Hastings Porter I recently drank at the Dolphin; it's 4.5% and the best ale I've so far had from them so far, pretty damn good, cheers!

5th December and The Tower, London Road, Hastings

I get a bit confused if this is St Leonards up the hill here in London Road, or Bohemia?  Whichever, I visited the Tower and Louisa, and had a few ales. The photograph below is from a few months ago, but I forgot to take a photo this time, and it's quite nice and sunny in this picture, anyhow, I did take a photograph of the beer pumps and fire, further below:

Louisa is great company, keeps a friendly house, and serves up well-conditioned ales at some of the lowest prices in Hastings.  The 4 ales on offer today were Fullers London Pride (4.1%), I hadn't drunk a pint of Pride for a few months, so had to taste it, still a good ale, no doubt about that, despite my tastebuds now going for more pale and bitter ales, and at £2.40 a pint, had some mates of mine, I bragged to by text, very envious.  Similarly, I bragged about the excellent 5.9% Thornbridge Jaipur at £3.00 a pint to another set of friends; I'd forgotten how good Jaipur is, so I can only imagine what it would have been like to be drinking their Kipling!

 

Louisa also had two Dark Star ales on, the American Pale Ale (4.7%) at £2.40 a pint and Rock Star (6%), an "American Brown Ale" that was a collaboration with Magic Rock Brewery, at £2.90 a pint.  A Christmas visit could well be a priority for me, as for the week from 18.00 hrs on Christmas Eve, until 18.00 hrs on New Years Eve, she will be selling Sharps Doom Bar (4%) at £1.99 a pint!  As the pub is also open on Christmas Day from 11 to 3pm, I may just pop in on Christmas Day, just to wish everyone a merry Christmas, whatever, I will be there at some time during the festivities...

 

 

...and another real fire!

Cheers Louisa :-) 

30th November Part II

We caught the bus back to St Mary's and walked into the Marsh to St Mary's in the Marsh and the Star Inn, cracking country pub, friendly landlord and patrons, had a good couple of hours here drinking Youngs Bitter (3.7%) and Hop Fuzz English (4%), and they also had Youngs Special (4.5%) and Shepherd Neame Kent's Best Invicta Ale (4.1%), and Skinners Ginger Tosser (3.8%) came on as a replacement whilst we were there.

The bus didn't turn up to return us to New Romney, but we received a lift from one of the many patrons who volunteered to drive us to New Romney, friendly bloke who dropped us dead opposite the Cinque Ports Arms, many thanks!  We had a half each in here of Youngs Bitter ("Ordinary" to us ex-Wandsworthians) - they also had Skinners Ginger Tosser - and then a half of Sharps Doom Bar (4%) and egg and chips (a pickled egg in a packet of crisps each) in the New Inn before catching the bus back into East Sussex.

We got off at Icklesham and dropped in at the Queens Head, nice and busy, fun to be had, the Pubmeister being more of a regular than me here, so banter with those behind the bar, who had shaved off their 'Movembers' earlier in the day. 
 

Even better, Mrs Pubmeister, the marvelous Mo, collected us from outside the pub and returned us to the Dolphin in Hastings, where we had commenced the day.  As usual, wonderful staff, great ales, music (it being a Friday evening), and interesting fellow patrons, nudge nudge...

Mark drank the Wadworth's Swordfish (5%) and I drank the excellent 5.2% Anchor Springs Black Pearl, both of which I have reported on before, then he made his way upstairs, and I wandered along the beach home; many thanks for a classic day! 

An assessment of the day? Kentish folk like medium coloured bitters, Youngs for example (I believe they are pushing hard in Kent), not a lot of variety in the choice of ales on offer, though quite a few different brewers, but similar ales, oh well...

Pub of the Day?  The Three Mariners in Hythe, cheers!

30 Nov - Hythe, new pubs + another real fire

A lovely bright, if a bit chilly Friday, and I met up with Mark (the Pubmeister) at the Dolphin, Hastings, where, as you can see below, two drays were delivering ale, including from Hastings Brewery, great timing! We had a coffee before leaving to catch the 10.17 bus to deepest darkest Kent.

We had considered visiting the Red Lion in Snargate, but it was just too complicated to fit in yesterday (that will be for another memorable day, no doubt), so we undertook the near 2 hour bus trip straight to Hythe, on a lively number 100/101 bus, and the time seemed to pass very quickly too. Good chat one of the reasons for that.  Anyway, we arrived in Hythe shortly after noon and made straight for our first destination, The White Hart in the High Street.

The White Hart is a lovely big pub, originally built in 1395 as an inn, but now more of a restaurant and also selling two real ales, sometimes 3 during busier times.  This Friday the two ales on were Greene King IPA (their regular ale) and the guest was the Kent brewer Hopdaemon's Incubus, a 4% nutty flavoured bitter, not bad at all, which will be replaced by the same brewer's 5% Green Daemon, a great shame that wasn't on yet (Hopdaemon website).

From there, we crossed back over the Military Canal and walked the short distance to The Three Mariners in Windmill Street where we met the very friendly, efficient and enthusiastic manager, Sarah, and chatted to a few of the 'locals' too. The Three Mariners is a freehouse and regular CAMRA awards winner, and has 8 handpumps, in usual circumstances serving 5 or 6 ales, and a real fire, and you know how much I like real fires...

Anyhow, we had halves of 3 of the ales on offer, missing out on Caledonian Autumn Red (4.4%) and their only regular, the 3.7% Youngs Bitter (more of in my next blog). The 3 we drank were all Kentish ales, Gadds (website at the Ramsgate Brewery) Seasider, an easy to drink 4.3% pale amber ale; Westerham (website) British Bulldog, a golden coloured 4.3% best bitter; and Goachers (website) 4.5% Imperial Stout, a dark stout brewed with roasted barley and Fuggles hops, a too easy to drink ale, and both of our's favourite in Kent this day, I do believe.

 

Unless you include crisps and nuts, The Three Mariners is not somewhere to go for food in Hythe, but it is the place to visit if you want convivial company and well conditioned ales, nice one!

Our final port of call in Hythe was The Red Lion Hotel, Red Lion Square, another large interior well set out as a restaurant too. We met Debbie behind the bar here, who asked to be remembered to Brian at the Star in St Mary in the Marsh (more of in part 2 of this day's blog, I'll probably publish that tomorrow). usually 3 ales here, the guest was the 3.6% Greene King IPA, and two regulars Wells Bombardier (4.1%) and the Kent brewer Old Dairy's (website) Red Top (3.8%), which we had, a nice mixture of hops in this easy to drink session bitter.

 

Well, more to come in Part 2 of Friday 30th November, but for now, cheers!

The Pubmeister

 The Pubmeister (aka Mark)