Strolling, and drinking, in London. SW15 to SE1 and back to SW11, along the Thames...

So, the Routemeister and I left Putney early-ish, heading for Tower Bridge, a lovely walk along the river, and no rain! The inclement weather was the day before, thankfully...

Our first port of call was The Rake, by Borough Market, 2 ales from Dark Star brewery of Sussex, and, as you'd expect, I had to drink the Revelation (5.7%), loadsa hops, and, well, I've gone on about it enough before, love it... Also Dark Star's Partridge 'best bitter' (4.1%), and Dan went for the Cumbrian brewer, Hardknott's Cool Fusion (4.4%), which he liked a lot, reminding him of his regular visits to Belgium really. This was lambic-like, strong citrus, sour and sharp; we were both happy with our choices, thank you very much!

From there, we wandered up to Tower Bridge, had a sandwich, then headed for Simon the Tanner in Long Lane, close to where the old tannery used to be, where we met the very interesting Julie (the barmaid) of Greenock in Scotland. Apart from interesting bar staff, there were also ales to drink. Of the 4 handpumps, one is dedicated to a real cider, in this instance, Gwynt Y Ddraig's Black Dragon (7.2%), and one was in the middle of being changed, so 2 ales for us. There was Redemption's Trinity, I'm guessing 3 hops, or was it to do with the strength? Anyway, only a 3% ale, bitter, but, not unexpectedly, a bit thin. So we went for the other London brewer, Portobello Pale, a 4% "refreshing golden ale", a very easy to drink, and pleasant pale bitter.

We then headed back to Pimlico and the Cask Pub and Kitchen, with its 10 handpumps, from which we sampled 2. The very easy pale hoppy bitter of Mallinsons, HPA, only 3.7%, but packed with flavour, fruity and bitter, we liked it a lot, but I cannot remember ever being disappointed with an ale from Mallinsons. I also had a half of Blue Monkey Infinity Plus One, a 5.6% deeply bitter pale beer, with plenty of body, a peachy aroma, and yes, very bitter, loved it. I know the brewer, Richard, and can say, "cheers!" to Richard.

I was heading back from Clapham Junction that evening, so our final refreshment was at The Candlemaker, in Battersea High Street, just 10 minutes or so from the station. Only 3 ales from their 4 handpumps that evening, a busy and friendly establishment just down the road from where we went to school. All 3 ales were from East Sussex too, amusingly, though their own Laines Best (4%) is always on, I believe, and 2 from Dark Star, Hophead and American Pale Ale (APA), and you should know by now what I think of Dark Star ales... we went for the Hophead, cheers!

Albatross Club Beer Festival

OK, I made it to the 2nd Albatross Beer Festival eventually, so missed out on trying a few ales, it being the last day of the festival, though I did manage a few, despite having not slept for over 30 hours...

It would be easy to list all the ales and 'tasting notes', but I'll only talk about the ales I actually tasted myself. I started off with drinking halves, first, Mallinsons Aramis, a 3.9% very dry pale bitter with the aroma of the aramis hops standing out, very nice, and I only just managed to get a drink before this ran out. 

Not having many weaker ales, and, as the poster said "NO BLAND BEERS", I moved on up to Ascot Ales Red IPA, 5.5% of a darker bitter, hard to describe the aftertaste, I wish I could have worked out the hops used, but couldn't today.  I then moved on to the 'in your face' hops of the 6.5% Stringers Hop Priest, this was dry and bitter and lovely.

Then came the 6.6% Summer Wine Diablo, my favourite ale of the day, a dry hopped pale bitter, incredibly, with a tropical fruit aroma!  The I moved onto the one below, brewed by Dave ''Unpronounceable' and his mate in the brewery behind my old Sheffield local, na zdrowie!  Steel City Hopfenstraube, a 4.5% wheat beer, cloudy, as you'd expect from the type of beer, and oozing hops and bitter, as you'd expect from Steel City's ales, and a hint of orange in the bitterness, nice one...   

... and I tried the Ilkley Lotus IPA too, 5.6%, slightly dry aftertaste and bitter, and other good ale, then the Bristol Beer Factory Southern Conspiracy, 6.5% of a pale ale, finishing off with a pint of 7.2%Redwillow Ageless, and I have to own up, I think I mixed up my own notes, so shan't say anything more about the final ales, well, I had gone about 34 hours without sleep by now, and a few ales...

Anyway, good choice of ales at only £2.60 a pint, or equivalent, I like the Albatross Club and would visit more often if it were closer to home; pleasant company, good banter, pretty damn nice time overall, though knackered by the end of it, cheers!