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!   

Ales @ the Welsh Beer Festival in Putney...

As per my last blog, sorry I'm taking so long these days, I seem to have more obligations than I used to! Anyway, I made 2 visits to The Bricklayers Arms (website) over the weekend, and had quite a fun time, though with family obligations, I couldn't drink too much, which was probably just as well...

For those who haven't read my previous reports on The Bricklayers, it is, as my brother says, my "local pub in Putney". Sometimes I visit, and there are hardly any ales available from their 10 handpumps, but on other visits, like last weekend, they had approximately 100 ales on stillage, with most of them in their beer garden (some of them in the photograph below), and more on handpump inside, or waiting to be connected up in the cellar, 'twas good, though, sadly, nothing from Tiny Rebel Brewery, shame! Anyway, I only drank 11 of them (which meant I missed out on nearly 90!), mostly half-pints, a few pints, and a few repeated that I particularly enjoyed, but I'll start with the ones that come at the bottom of my list and work my way up... 

OK, so scoring at the 'average' scale, to begin with, came a pale golden bitter with a hint of cider, being a bit tart, and from a VERY new brewery (so they have time to improve), Tomos a Linford Cmrw Canu (4%). Next, slightly above average, was the 4.3% Jacobi Red Squirrel, dry, with a hint of roasted barley and nutty aftertaste. 9th was Pixie Spring Deliverance (4.5%) an "American style pale ale", very dry and bitter, but I was disappointed there was less grapefruit in the taste than I expected! Then came Grey Trees Diggers Gold (4%), more US hops, a golden bitter and very subtle citrus aroma and taste. 

Then came a 'black IPA', and from Brains too, not usually my favourite brewer, I have to admit, but this wasn't bad! Their Black Mountain (5%) does what it says on the label, though a very deep red in colour actually, roasted barley aroma, plenty of body, bitter with a dry aftertaste. Then, from Caffle, came a paler ale, Darker Side of Pale (4.4%), nearly a bronze colour, not much aroma, but decent bitter. In fifth place was the unfined Axiom New Dawn (4.2%), clearer than I thought it would be, and a pretty good pale golden bitter too. Next was Big Hand Havoc (5%), pretty good, though it tasted nothing like the tasting notes, being very dry with a hint of roasted barley in the flavour, not like an APA at all! 

The top 3 were all very good, and my scoring was finely balanced, but... drum roll... in third, I put Otley APA (4.3%), not labelled as a rye beer, but my tasting notes say it is, with a hint of elderflower too, nice one! In second, with a lovely fruity aroma and dry aftertaste, came the very good 4.5% Celt Double Dose, but my winner, of not much more than a 10% sample of all the ales remember, was the Borough Neath Full Blast... A fruity aroma, I got plum as well as citrus, and very dry and bitter, I did like this 4.7% ale, cheers!  

Welsh Beer Festival - Bricklayers Arms, Putney

This weekend, a festival of Welsh ales! My views on Welsh ales were recently expressed, when Tiny Rebel Brewery got a big thumbs up from me! 

Borrowed this photograph off their twitter page, so many thanks for that, and just a selection of what is available this weekend at the Bricklayers Arms in Waterman Street, Putney SW15 1DD.

Visit and enjoy, cheers! 

Goodbye and best wishes to Binnie!

What can I say?!? Surprised I am! Fullers have taken over The Harp, in between Charing Cross and Covent Garden, and they did it last month! I only found out because it is reported in the most recent edition of CAMRA's What's Brewing...     

I've just looked at Fullers twitter page for The Harp, and it still appears to be retaining regulars from Sussex, as had been served up by the previous incumbent, Bridget 'Binnie' Walsh, for example, among the 10 real ales on offer are still Dark Star Hophead and American Pale Ale. They also have Burning Sky Plateau, and many other ales in addition to Fullers, so, not so bad and fingers crossed for the future... 

I'll add my best wishes to the ex-landlady for the future, she did a great job with The Harp, cheers m'dear!! 

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! 

5 Favourite (some old favourite) pubs in London...

So, not all the pubs I drank in on this visit to London, but all have had a few pounds sterling spent in them by me over the years...

The Harp, in between Charing Cross and Covent Garden, is an excellent pub to start off at, certainly when it's not too busy, and it does get very busy; this fact supported by them selling 9 real ales, and one of them, the Hophead, leaves 2 of their handpumps at the rate of a Barrel a day, ie 36 gallons+! Their 3 regular ales are Harveys Sussex Best, and two Dark Star ales, all have been reported on many times, Hophead (3.8%) and American Pale Ale (APA, 4.7%), both the Dark Star ales selling at £3.45 a pint, that ain't a bad price for a central London pub. 

Oh yes, and 6 guest ales, that included Sambrook's Junction (4.5%), and there is always an ale from the Battersea brewery, Sambrook's, regularly on sale here too; Crouch Vale Brewers Gold (4%) and Blackwater Mild (3.7%); Palmers Dorset Gold (4.5%) and Best Bitter (4.2%); and the West London brewer, Weird Beard's collaboration with BrewDog Kentish Town Beard, a 5.2% "American Wheat Ale", pale, a bit cloudy, hint of tangy orange, dry and quite bitter, liked it!        

My previous blog deals with most of the (new) pubs I drank in on this particular London visit, so a bit of time walking included in my day. Anyhow, although I didn't go into The Old Bell, Fleet Street, which was built by Christopher Wren for the builders who worked on St Bride's church, that is situated in a wee alley behind the pub, anyway, I had to photograph it. This was a regular lunchtime haunt when I worked opposite the Old Bailey in my youth, in the days when people still imbibed copious amounts of alcohol during work lunch breaks. This is now a Nicholson's pub, and credit has to be given to that pubco for taking over and preserving some excellent ale houses, and providing decent ales and food too. 

In my day, as far as I remember, there was only one real ale in here, the excellent Worthington E on draught; not one of the poor keg beers that proliferated at the time, but a genuine real cask conditioned ale. I know that people have conjectured over the years whether this was just re-badged Bass, but it most definitely was, and still is a different ale entirely, with its own recipe, and now brewed at, I believe, the old Bass Museum brewery in Burton; now owned by Coors, there's a surprise! I wish I'd gone in for a drink, but I was restricted for time on the day, so a potential target for the future.    

Not far away is another Nicholson's pub, and one I have reported on not too long ago, The Blackfriar, an Art Nouveau masterpiece built at the beginning of the 20th century, but with a hostelry on the site for over 400 years. I've written about this before, on here, and on facebook, and shall no doubt visit again sometime soon, maybe when I go to The Old Bell, and I have happy memories of using this pub as a quiet wee place to visit with female friends, though not so quiet these days... 

I crossed Blackfriars Bridge to the South bank of the Thames and turned left/east towards Borough Market. As can be seen above, it was starting to get dark; in this photograph is The Rake to the right, with the market behind, and Southwark Cathedral in the background, where a forebear of mine was married (when it was still a Parish Church, pre-promotion). I popped into The Rake, but the 3 ales on sale were either not interesting to me (2 of them), or too strong, the other being about 14% or something! So I wandered through the market to... 

The Market Porter, which I could have published a darkened photograph of, but I haven't, as it was my last ale before I visited the new Mansion House in Kennington (see previous blog), and a photograph of a dark ale here, just to prove I don't only drink pale hoppy ales! Many ales available as ever, including ales from Triple fff, Peerless, and Coastal Brewery, but this was my choice: Leeds Ale Mary, a very pleasant 4.5% dark ale with a hint of liquorice in the flavour. From there to Kennington, and my first bus of the day, and already written about...

Cheers!   

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!

Greene King

I visited a Greene King pub for a change, meeting up with a whole lot of friends from my youth at the Old Garage, Replingham Road, Southfields, London SW18; unsurprisingly, this used to be a garage. 

The food wasn't bad, and they didn't have their IPA on, but the 3 ales that were on included Greene King Abbot Ale (5%), not bad, Morland Old Speckled Hen (4.5%), OK, and Ruddles County (4.3%)... None of these ales are like what I remember them from years past, and all brewed by Greene King now, sadly. Memories of drinking very good Ruddles County at the Crooked Billet come to mind, and much stronger too, like the Old Speckled Hen of the not so distant past, oh well...

Fings change, and not always for the best, but the craic amongst our quite large group was very good, cheers!

More 'Red Shift', and something very interesting coming from Hastings Brewery...

The Dolphin in Hastings, Rock a Nore, was my target today, and not just because they have 2 firkins of Dark Star Red Shift (5.5%) to sell, but that's a good enough start! There were the usual Dark Star Hophead and APA, Harveys Sussex Best and Youngs Special, and the other guest was the fruity pale bitter from Salopian, Oracle (4%).

And, sitting by the Dark Star APA pump was the same brewer's Red Shift (5.5%).  I've already reported on it, but just to say again, this is a deep ruby bitter with a pronounced fruity Ribenaesque aroma. It still has a fruity taste, a subtle hint of roasted malts and plenty of body, it is a very nice ale, indeed, a warning though, you probably only have a few days before it's provision is ended here!

Oh yes! And the news connected to Hastings Brewery and one of their 'Handmade' ales to come... I was recently at the Tower, more of soon, but Louisa, the wonderful landlady, let me have a taste of the Handmade Number 6, Columbus, from an advance sample she had been provided me with because I keep on missing Hastings 'handmade numbers', many thanks Louisa!  The Columbus is a 4.8% pale bitter, single hop, with a very peachy aroma, it has plenty of body and a nice dry bitter finish. I liked it very much, so am hoping I'll catch it from the cask...

Anyway, lots going on, a visit to London to come, the CAMRA Beer Festival at Olympia too, and even more from the Tower, etc etc, 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! 

Congratulations to the Dolphin in Hastings for...

Congratulations to the Dolphin in Hastings for winning the local CAMRA Branch Pub of the Year for South East Sussex!

I shall very soon be blogging about pubs in London from my visit last week, and in WEST Sussex too, cheers for now!

Thursday 27th September, The Harp, London WC2

On my way back to Victoria Thursday morning, I was determined to visit The Harp, 47 Chandos Place, inbetween Covent Garden and Charing Cross. This pub won the CAMRA National Champion Pub of the Year in 2010, and London Cider Pub of the Year in 2011, but I walked right past it!  OK, I wasn't sleep walking, but the frontage is quite narrow, and there was scaffolding outside, it being redecorated at the moment, the windows were wide open (being of the sort often seen more on the Continent); I shall post a photograph of the outside when the work is finished, which should be by my next visit. But I did find it after walking up the (quite short) Chandos Place, and glad I am that I did!

This is what greets you immediately you walk through the door, a big hint of many ales served here in the past, and the many more to come.  Apart from ales, ciders and pump clips, the overall feeling is of wooden boards, bare floorboards (always a promising sign for a real ale pub, I think) and panelling on the walls and bar itself.  To the right of the bar is the standing area and, downstairs, seating is provided by bar stools and high tables and ledges; including upstairs, there must be about 20 stools in the pub.  Upstairs, there is a seating area with a high ledge along the side with stools, comfortable room for up to about 20, I'd imagine, with 14 comfy chairs at 'normal' seating level tables.

 

Also, a very friendly barmaid greeted me, apparently happy to give my many questions answers, and I did ask plenty, hopefully, not boring her too much, and ensuring I didn't interfere with the running of the pub, but you can find out more at the website.

 

You'll see more about the food on offer on the website, the pub opens at 10.00 hrs, Mon-Saturday, and 12.00 on Sundays; though opens at 10.00 on the Sundays before bank holiday Mondays.  Bottles of craft beers adorn cool cabinets behind the bar, usually 10-12 regularly changing ciders and perries (with 30 or so in the cellar for replenishment), and 8 or 9 ales, a fair old choice!  Again, I'll just discuss the ales I drank, but the usual 'regular' ales are Dark Star Hophead (I could be back at home), Harveys Sussex Best (I can't get away from it!), and Sambrooks Junction and Wandle.

 

Now, I've never actually tried the Junction, despite my coming from and growing up in Wandsworth (this brewery wasn't around then, of course), so I felt I'd have to sort that out... It's a 4.5% bitter, with a medium brown colour, the malt and hops are obvious, malt in the quaffing and hops in the bitter aftertaste.  I also drank a half of O'Hanlon's Stormstay, a 5% 'Premium Ale', again, bitter, a bit dry aftertaste, and easy to drink.  My favourite ale today was the Dark Star Kiwi, OK, and I've drunk it before, but this was even better, and I did enjoy it before.  A well conditioned pale, dry, hoppy ale, with a very fruity 'nose', very slightly hazy, which Dark Star own up to, but hardly noticeable, this was so good!  OK, I know I say it often, but I shall return, and looking forward to it.  

I got back to Victoria, via Buckingham Palace (I wasn't invited in, this time), with plenty of time before my train left, so took advantage of the 50p off CAMRA voucher at The Willow Walk, by the railway station. More expensive than my local Wetherspoons, this is Victoria after all, so, with discount, my ale was £2.39 a pint, instead of the usual £1.49 I pay a 'Spoons, but a decent enough pint of Hepworth Harvest Ale, a 4.5% golden ale.  Though I do have to make a note of the service from one of the barstaff, Lydia, who was an excellent example of customer service, who handled all customers with respect and panache; had to be said.  Great stuff, cheers!  

 

St Peter's Ale at the Dolphin Inn, Hastings

OK, a lovely morning by the sea, so a wander along the beach to the Dolphin at Rock-a-Nore opposite the fishermen's huts in front of the 'Old' Town.

I arrived to enjoy chatting to Mark, the landlord, Steve the customer (more than just one of us) and Louise behind the bar this morning.  The usual regular ales were among the 6 on offer, ie Hophead, Sussex Best and Directors, plus the seasonal regular, Dark Star APA, and two guests, Fullers Summer Ale and...

St Peter's Ruby Red Ale, a 4.3% unsurprisingly 'ruby' coloured ale, with the taste of roasted malt, but bitter, remarkably light in the circumstances, and undeniably thirst quenching!  Usually, you only see St Peter's ales in bottles like below...

...and the only previous time I have had beers of their's from the cask, was before a midweek match in London, at the Jerusalem Tavern, the brewery's flagship, which is open 11-11 on weekdays only, so a big treat today, see their website.

Cheers!