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!
