Coming back from Sheffield via London and even more Steel...

I got back to Victoria, and what a lovely day it turned out to be, anyway, I crossed over Chelsea Bridge to walk through Battersea Park, and up to the mouth of the River Wandle, which, following it upstream, soon brings you to this pub in Wandsworth... 

The Armoury, which used to be called The Crane, in Armoury Way, virtually opposite the back of the old Ram Brewery of Young's, which, sadly, doesn't brew anymore. Indeed, the plan to sell up the real estate has fallen on lean times, it looks like no-one wants to build there in the current financial climate. Anyway, as we all know, Young's ales are now brewed by Charles Wells, Young's now being just a 'pubco'! 

The Crane used to be a Young's pub, of course, and I remember it as a bit of a bikers' pub from my youth, now it appears to be a clean and bright pub, and there was some pretty good music too, for ' bright young things' in still up and coming Wandsworth. There were 2 Young's ales and 2 ales from the new local brewer, Sambrooks (website) Wandle (3.8%) and Junction (4.5%). The Young's ales available were the 3.7% Bitter (or 'Ordinary' to us ex-locals) and the seasonal Winter Warmer, which I had a couple of pints of, a smooth deep dark red beer, full-bodied, with dark fruit in the flavour, still a very nice beer and well worth drinking if you get the chance! 

Anyway, that was it for that day, and I kipped at the old family HQ, still inhabited by my Stepfather. The next day I retraced my steps down the Wandle, then the Thames, to St Mary's Church, Battersea, and headed for the High Street. Just before you reach the Prince's Head, you come upon The Candlemaker, on your right, which used to be called The Greyhound, when I went to school further back up the High Street. This is another pub in the Borough of Wandsworth that has undergone a very good makeover, or having gone upmarket in effect. I had a good chat with a fellow customer, an Irish lad called Steve, and the barman.

There are 5 handpumps on the bar, but only 3 were being used last Monday, including one for their regular ale, brewed by King in Horsham, I do believe, and not at the North Laine brewpub in Brighton, ie the Laine's Best (4%), which I have reviewed before. They also had another Sussex brewed ale, Dark Star Partridge, a 4% 'Best Bitter' not one of their ultra hoppy pale bitters, and Truman's Swift (3.9%). I've had all these before, but wanted to give the Swift another taste, as I hope that the revived Truman's continues to prosper now they're brewing their own ale at their new brewery in East London (website). The Swift is described as a 'golden ale', and it isn't bad at all, maybe not quite the 'gorgeous' it is also branded as though. It's a bit sweet at first, with a slightly bitter dry aftertaste, again, I found it just a wee bit 'sour', and am looking forward to trying more of their ales over the coming years.      

I wanted to get closer to Clapham Junction station, to ensure I didn't miss my train home, but also to visit another couple of pubs I would never have gone into when I was a young man! This is a bit of a theme I hadn't planned to use in this blog, but realised it as soon as I started writing. All 4 of these pubs, discussed in this blog, in Battersea and Wandsworth, are all pubs that I wouldn't have entered in my youth, have all been given a makeover, and are all in the Borough of Wandsworth... and all now are pretty good pubs selling real ales too. The third pub I visited was The Northcote, on the corner of Northcote Road and Battersea Rise... 

There were 4 real ales on sale at The Northcote, including the 2 regulars, Young's Bitter (3.7%) and Sharp's Doom Bar (4%), hardly inspiring, but the guests offered something a bit more interesting. OK, I've had the Adnams Ghost Ship (4.5%) before, and it's certainly one of Adnams' better ales, but they also had an ale from a reasonably local brewery that I hadn't had before. Back to Twickenham Brewery, and this time a 'special' brewed with Australian and New Zealand hops, Galaxy and Pacific Jade, the Summer Down Under. This 3.9% very pale bitter certainly bursts with citrus flavours, I couldn't work out the aroma, but it was very refreshing. 

I decided to get to my fourth pub of this blog with enough time to have another drink before catching my train, so hurried to The Falcon, on the corner at Clapham Junction, diagonally opposite what was the local Department Store, Arding & Hobbs, but which is now a Debenhams. The Falcon is a Nicholsons pub, and, as I have said before, has the longest bar in the country (it is built in a long irregular circular fashion) according to the Guinness Book of Records; my second pub of the long weekend that is listed in that book, including The Dove in Hammersmith from the last blog... and my fourth pub of todays theme, it's all coming together!  

The Falcon has up to 20 real ales on at a time, but I only had time for one pint... so I had to have 2 halves, as seen in the photograph, first the Fullers Steel, a 'blonde ale' as it says on the pumpclip. This has been brewed in collaboration with my old friends, the 2 hop crazy brewers at Steel City Brewing in Sheffield, so my second ale of their's of the long weekend; see 2 blogs ago. This is a nice dry pale bitter, with a sour fruit aftertaste, not your usual Fullers, a few extra hops indeed... 

I also had a half of the Blueberry Ale, a 4.3% beer brewed by Lancaster Brewery, subtitled "Tales from the Brewhouse", which I'm guessing means it's what they term their 'specials'. There are New Zealand hops, and blueberries, unsurprisingly, which provides a very fruity aroma for this slightly darker golden ale. First taste gives you a mouthful of fruit, which is maintained throughout the drinking experience, with a slightly sweet, but drying out aftertaste. Another 2 fine ales from The Falcon...

Cheers!   

Twickenham to Sussex via places up North...

Well, I did visit London, which is up North to me, plus some ales from much further North than London reviewed here. Anyway, I included a visit to the Eagle Ale House, off Northcote Road, and close to the Junction; I never thought it would happen to me and a girl from Clapham, you know the one! This is a decent ale house, though seems to have less of the pale and hoppy ales I prefer. On this visit, they did have a golden ale from Hackney Brewery, H3 (4%); Clarence & Fredericks Best Bitter (4.1%); Woodforde's Wherry (3.8%); and I thought I should try the resurrected Truman's Swift (3.9%), another 'golden' ale, with quite a rich flavour, plenty of body for a lower gravity ale, and nice and bitter. They now have their own new brewery in the East End, and I'd love to have one of their glasses! Anway, more about them @ their website, and good luck to them too.  

I also visited my 'local' in Putney, the Bricklayers Arms, which had apparently been drunk dry by Fulham and Villa fans over the weekend! Anyway, they did have 4 Twickenham ales on sale, sadly, just ran out of Naked Ladies too (I'm sure it used to be called 3 Naked Ladies, the landlady said they certainly had changed their pumpclips, and had a similar opinion to me, though others present didn't agree, oh well). Anyway, Twickenham ales they did have were Grandstand, a 3.5% session beer; Redhead, a 4.1% "red ale", believe it or not; a very nice 3.7% pale and hoppy "golden" ale, Sundancer; and a 4.4% winter ale, Winter Cheer, a not too bad darkish bitter with a mellow maltiness and dry aftertaste.     

I have to mention the Tiny Rebel ale (which is from way up North) Hank (4%), reported on before, and still very good, but this time drunk at the First In Last Out, High Street, Hastings 'old town', nice one, cheers! Of course, the FILO also sells 4 or 5 of their own ales, also well worth trying, of course, but they had the Tiny Rebel on, so... 

Back to the Dolphin, Rock-a-Nore, Hastings, and this time I did manage to have a pint of the excellent pale and hoppy Oakham Bishops Farewell (4.6%), see my recent blog about pale ales that mentioned Oakham too, I do believe. In addition to their regulars, Hophead, Sussex Best and Youngs Special, they also had Ilkley (see, from Yorkshire) Rye N' Dry (5%), a deep copper coloured bitter with a roasted malt flavour, and the more local Franklins Pudding Stout (4.2%), a bit sweet with a hint of coffee and smoky malt flavour, not bad either.  

At the Tower, London Road, Hastings (upper) St Leonards/Bohemia, a number of crackin' ales, including from Dark Star, of course, have been enjoyed recently. They have had Hastings 'Handmade' number 11, their Black IPA, which I've also had at the Albatross Club in Bexhill on Sea, and more to be reported on soon with a blog just about 'Black' IPAs, which sounds like an oxymoron, and also the very good Hopback Citra (4%), which has a very citrusy aroma, hint of malt in the flavour, more than usual in such a hoppy ale, and a dry aftertaste. 

Since then I have enjoyed the great array of ales in the photograph above, with the 'session' ale being the 4.7% Dark Star APA, still just £2.60 a pint! First, I drank the new local Sussex brewery 360 Degrees (website) Pacific Pale #49, a 4.9% pale and hoppy dry bitter, a very good new ale indeed, and at £2.80 a pint, nice one, ta. Also, had a couple of pints of Thornbridge Jaipur, well you have to, don't you, when you can get this 5.9% Derbyshire ale for just £3.10 a pint? It was the best Jaipur I've tasted for a long time too, it appears more bitter and dryer than it used to be, what I always preferred about their Kipling, pale, dry and bitter; could be a good side effect of an accountant getting the grist reduced, so it is fermented out further to reach the strength... it's a thought? Oh! And Dark Star Critical Mass, which I have never had before. The reducing of the strength from 10% to the more manageable 7.4% was lamented by locals, but a darker roasted malt flavoured bitter (£3.20 a pint, usually up to £5 a pint elsewhere!), very good too.

And Louisa the landlady serving me on this visit too, cheers, and many thanks Lou!