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!