4 new pubs in London...

Well, not quite all new pubs, though one of them is, but all new to me, and the first 3 I hadn't been to before are all in CAMRA's Good Beer Guide 2014, so a promising day was ahead... 

After drinking elsewhere (the Harp, more of soon), I wandered down to The Edgar Wallace, Essex Street, in the Temple area. This is a good looking building and has a lovely comfortable feel to the interior, though the downstairs bar area is smaller than I'd imagined before entering, there is also an upstairs area (tables and seating) that would feel as comfortable as being at home when dining here! 8 real ales on sale, which come from the Enterprise standard list, sadly, so not too many micro ales. Anyway, 2 regulars, their 'own' Edgar's Pale Ale (3.5%) brewed by Nethergate, so presumably their own IPA, an OK bitter, but a bit thin, and the rather good Crouch Vale Brewers Gold (4%). The other ales you wouldn't be surprised by...

My next visit was to The Castle, in between Fetter and Chancery Lanes, and a 'Red Car' pub, a small pubco that appears to have a background in Redcar; certainly the landlord here comes from up there. A more varied selection of ales here, though, coincidentally, their 'own' ale was brewed by Nethergate! That is, Red Car Best Bitter (3.9%); this time, presumably Growler Bitter. A nice Victorian pub, with a very pleasant Kiwi behind the bar, Lauren, who is going home to New Zealand in a months time, though may be back, no problem, as her parents are both Brits. Other ales included London Pride; Abbey Ales Bellringer (4.2%); Dixon's Hoppy Daze (4.2%), brewed by Riverside brewery; Spitting Feathers Farmhouse Ale (3.6%); and Atomic Brewery's Dark Matter (4.1%) and Strike, a 3.7% quite sour pale bitter, not bad. Missing you already Lauren... 

My third 'new' pub was just up from Smithfield Market, the Old Red Cow, another run by someone from up int' North, so much so that they didn't take the tight sparkler off when I asked them to whilst pouring my ale! The barstaff were friendly enough, though, and 4 ales on sale, at a quite high price, mostly over £4, and some 'craft' beers on at over a fiver; this isn't a cheap pub to visit. There were 2 pale bitters, Windsor & Eton Windsor Knot (4%) and West Berkshire Full Circle (4.5%), Signature Brew Bad Carols (5%), and Alchemy Five Sisters, a 4.3% 'red' ale with plenty of roasted malt flavour. The prices and tight sparklers mean I shan't be returning too soon... 

My final new pub, is a new pub called The Mansion House, near to Kennington tube station, round the corner from where I used to live, and opposite the church I first got married in! It was dark by now, so the photograph taken with my mobile phone of the outside is pretty poor, but it's a new building as well, so not that exciting, lots of glass, you can guess. This is the fourth Oakham Brewery bar, as far as I can tell, and, like the others, (the Bartons Arms in Birmingham is the other I've visited before), all seem to sell Eastern food, an 'oriental' restaurant being incorporated here (site). I also met up with 3 members of the Musicians Union NEC, so intelligent conversation was enjoyed too, as well as the beers of course!

Sadly, though, I needed to catch a bus back to Clapham Junction from outside the nearby Imperial War Museum, and from there to catch my late-ish train home, so I could only have a couple of ales. As you'd expect, there were all the regular Oakham ales, spoilt for choice really: JHB, Inferno and Bishops Farewell, but Citra only in bottles, and a real cider of their own. They did, though, have a rather lovely 6% ale brewed with Citra hops, Green Devil IPA, pale, dry, fruity aroma and taste, grapefruit++, plenty of body, and pretty damn good! They also had a guest ale from Blue Monkey Brewery, another 'Black' IPA, which I shall one day be dedicating a blog to, Bonobo (5.3%), as with other black IPAs, dark, tasting lighter than you'd expect, though, of course, not anymore now I'm used to them. A bit too easy to drink...

Cheers!

3 pubs in London and even more great ales!

Another long walk, following the Thames from Putney to Tower Bridge and back, crossing the Thames via Chelsea, Vauxhall (both twice), Tower and Blackfriars bridges, not far off 20 miles in total, and we saw the new Routemaster on the way.  Though I was more impressed than the Routemeister himself, he pointed them out to me, but he does favour the original versions, which I do too, of course...

Anyway, not too far off halfway in our walk and we came to Borough Market, near London Bridge and Southwark Cathedral, ie we reached The Rake, one of my 3 favourite bars/pubs in the area. Ooh! There's inspiration, another "3 of" to come...

3 ales on at The Rake, as usual, I tried 2 of them, though not the 5.8% Celt Experience Cat Scratched Celt, a bit too strong for so early in the day... So we each had a pint of the less strong Glastonbury Golden Chalice, a mere 4.8% slightly sour pale golden ale, very nice and much enjoyed by the Routemeister himself. Anyhow, I couldn't stop myself buying a quick half of the 6.4% Art Brew Orange IPA!  Dan didn't enjoy his sip, but I do prefer the more intense hoppy ales, and this was intense, indeed, hops and bitter orange in the taste with a slightly fruity aroma, dry and bitter plus plus! Loved it, one of my 2 favourite ales of the day... 

We then carried on to Tower Bridge; there are a few more photographs on my personal facebook page, by the way.  We crossed Tower Bridge, came back on ourselves, passing the Tower of London and St Pauls Cathedral, to Blackfriars Bridge, where, just north of it is the Blackfriar, a pub I used to frequent in my teens and early 20s, particularly with Gill, an old friend and muse of mine from work in those days, a 1905 fantastic art nouveau pub with marble, wood, copper and brass in abundance, and now a Nicholsons pub, so plenty of atmosphere and much food too.

 

Among the 8 ales available were included Bath Ales Summer Hare (3.9%), Squirrel Brewery Jack Black London, a "black IPA" (4.8% and more of on another day), and Growler Brewery Gladness (4.2%).  However, the one we each had a pint of was Lancaster Brewery Lemon Grass, 4% and pale and dry, very nice, with a hint of lemon grass in the taste too.  Another pub I love! 

So, back along the Thames and the regular visit to my Putney 'local', the Bricklayers Arms where, among other ales from its total of 12 handpumps, were many beers from 2 breweries I had little or no knowledge of.  From Andwell Brewery, a Hampshire brewery opened in 2008, there were King John, a 4.2% "amber ale"; Resolute, a 3.8% "light amber bitter"; Ruddy Darter, a 4.6% "ruby ale"; Golden IPA, a 4.8% ale that, apparently, does what it says on the pump clip; and the one we tried a pint of each.  The Gold Muddler was 3.9%, and a dry light golden ale with a hint of roasted malt flavour, very refreshing after 20 miles of walking!

 

The other 'stranger' was the XT Brewing Company, that opened in 2011 in Buckinghamshire; shame we weren't aware of this for our previous days walk, though likely it would have been too complicated to include a visit.  Anyway their ales were XT Pi, sorry, can't work out how to add the image of pi, but that's what it is called, a 3.141% mild ale, yeh, I know; XT 6, a 4.5% "rich ruby" ale; XT 8, a 4.5% "dark roast" ale; and, OK I had to try a half, the XT XPA.  Dan wasn't so excited as I was, again, but the XPA is a 5.9% very pale bitter with grapefruit aroma in your face, dry, and well, it was excellent, my favourite ale of the day! 

 

Cheers! 

Update from yesterday & Dolphin, Hastings

A gorgeous day yesterday, a bit more overcast today, and to the Dolphin...

I was here Thursday evening for the quiz too, our team, At The Bar, came equal first, though there were only 5 other teams this week (compared to 13 in total last week), potentially easier to come last too! There was a lovely near-full moon to admire from the beach on the walk home too, very atmospheric. Anyway, A few changes ale-wise at the Dolphin...

Because of trouble with the Directors, and I still think the recipe of that has been altered, if not the flavour has been effected by being brewed in Bedford now, Mark has brought in Youngs Special, ironically, brewed in Bedford at Charles Wells too!  It may not become the regular replacement, but signs are of sales of Special being significantly more than the Directors, so wait and see...

Sussex Best and Hophead remain regulars, and the APA remains as the summer reguar too, plus 2 guest ales, ie the Stonehenge Heel Stone (4.3%) already mentioned in previous blogs, and Growler Lemon Head (4%). The Lemon Head is a ginger and lemon flavoured ale, no surprise there then, though the ginger is very subtle, the lemon is in your face.  It's very refreshing, if a tad different, good summer ale, especially if you like shandies. By the way, I was confused by Growler Brewery, but it appears Nethergate are now calling themselves Growler, unless they always did and I just wasn't aware?

Cheers!