tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2307386243915994062024-02-11T23:44:47.530+00:00The Real Ale GirlBeer loving South Londoner,adapting my beer drinking to my other role as a new mum! Regular CAMRA volunteer, onetime member of The Guild of Beer Writers and the funkiest beer geek in London.Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-76031259000301592642013-02-11T19:26:00.000+00:002013-02-11T19:26:02.255+00:00New Parents- Get Thee to the Pub!<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">So I'm a mum now. It inevitably changes your life- new bits wobble, going to bed at 11pm feels like a late night and the living room floor looks like a Fisher Price catalogue. But it doesn't need to stop you going out and drinking beer. Not if you own a breast pump and a cosy pram. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">We still go to the pub. A lot. I am not overly tolerant with friends who moan about not being able to go out since baby has arrived. It just needs a relaxed attitude and some forward planning. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">And it is oh so worth it. Beer tastes all the sweeter when you have spent chunks of your mornings expressing your mum juice just so you can drink it guilt free. A single half pint in the pub after a day making googly noises into nappies feels like the ultimate reward; a bit of adult based fun, a glimpse into the child-free days of yore.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">We have a little Friday night habit (and often Saturday night and Sunday afternoons too) of popping to our local in the early evening, the glorious place recently rescued from the brink of supermarketerisation, that is </span><a href="http://www.catfordbridgetavern.com/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Catford Bridge Tavern</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">. Our little lady is welcomed lovingly by the staff, they love seeing her even more than us, despite the fact that we are are the ones spending the money. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">My pregnancy and the birth of little lady coincided neatly with the huge growth in London breweries. An exploration into the link between baby boom and brewery boom is a task for another day. To me, this just meant I was severely out of the loop- reading on twitter about cool new breweries and funky beer events when I couldn't take part just felt like the ultimate carrot dangling . So the first time I read some beer blogs and logged onto twitter after the birth felt like I'd landed in an alternative universe. Cronx, Partizan, Shamblehouse... who were these strange sounding breweries? And even stranger- a brewery in Penge? Blimey.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Catford Bridge Tavern, an Antic pub, has gone some way to guiding me about this new world, with beers from </span><a href="http://www.thecronx.com/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Cronx</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">, </span><a href="http://www.lateknightsbrewery.co.uk/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Late Knights, </span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">and </span><a href="http://cfbrewing.co.uk/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Clarence and Fredericks</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">, as well as new brews by more familiar breweries and those from further afield- Summer Wine, Marble, Kernel, Dark Star and Hardknott. Little lady gets cuddles from Francesca, the friendliest barmaid in South London, while we get to chill out and feel like more than just mummy and daddy for an hour, whilst drinking some damn tasty beer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">New parents- get thee to the pub!</span>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com54tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-27071100902721047642012-09-20T12:25:00.000+01:002012-09-20T12:31:24.440+01:00Baby Friendly Beer?<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqMJF-N2a1gOl1hEyEVGSfB01vgPzTbISeg_XhyUCfsek_pM6pz6TiA19ge7tHpxFrI_EmvnA6_kS-8rBaT2E4KDXSSu71Uls2_Ugzoqqkt-9wTofvdI17PqsUiluzG3N1EBzVTFLr8C0/s1600/c_1932_aday_po_th3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" hea="true" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqMJF-N2a1gOl1hEyEVGSfB01vgPzTbISeg_XhyUCfsek_pM6pz6TiA19ge7tHpxFrI_EmvnA6_kS-8rBaT2E4KDXSSu71Uls2_Ugzoqqkt-9wTofvdI17PqsUiluzG3N1EBzVTFLr8C0/s320/c_1932_aday_po_th3.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Back when our mother’s were having babies, they were commonly advised to drink a glass of stout a day. This usually meant a Mackesons or a Guinness and they were recommended by midwives due to their high iron content. My own very long pregnancy (I am 12 days overdue today) has inevitably stopped my beer drinking shenanigans (hence the lack of blog action!) but I have received regular tweets from folks telling me how they drank stout during pregnancy, even some from women who discovered beer through drinking it when they were pregnant and haven’t stopped since! I have allowed myself a few sips of new beers I couldn’t bear not to try and a glass of champagne at weddings, for example, but I certainly haven’t been drinking a pint a day. But should we pregnant women be following in our mothers’ and grandmothers’ footsteps and get on the stout? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Sensible Drinking report of 1995 advised pregnant women not to drink “more than 1 or 2 units of alcohol once or twice a week, and should avoid episodes of intoxication". In 2006, following alleged reports that this advice led to women miscalculating units and drinking higher than recommended levels, we were then told we should be drinking at all. So, interestingly, the advice not to drink at all during pregnancy is not necessarily due to potentially harming the baby, but that the government doesn’t trust our maths. Of course, we now know more about foetal alcohol syndrome and a pint a day may be too much. But could one or two stouts a week be beneficial? </span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">In December, Real Ale Bro and I delightfully received a box of </span><a href="http://www.bristolbeerfactory.co.uk/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Bristol Beer Factory’s</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Twelve Stouts of Christmas. We had ordered it to enjoy over the festive season and couldn’t wait to compare all the different flavours of our favourite style of beer. Then I found out I was pregnant. The box is still sitting there, waiting to be devoured. So could I have been drinking it all along?</span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Well, it actually turns out that there isn’t that much iron in stout anyway. In my pregnancy guide book (there are hundreds and they are all different) it says a pregnant woman should have between 16 and 20mg of iron a day. A pint of Guinness contains 0.3mg. A single egg contains 1.1mg. So you would need to drink a hell of a lot of the stuff. </span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">But I am not really that interested in drinking Guinness. I want to know about the content of all of those glorious stouts being brewed by innovative modern breweries. Does the craft stuff contain iron? Hours of internet searching hasn’t given me any answers so I call upon you beer enthusiasts and brewers- do you know of any wonder beers and super stouts that we pregnant (and subsequently breastfeeding) lasses can actually justify drinking? One thing to note is that many of the latest stout creations tend to be pushing the ABV up above what a responsible mother would feel happy drinking regularly- I like beer but I will also love my baby! I look forward to being inundated with your thoughts.</span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-8503548200299804142012-03-21T21:36:00.002+00:002012-03-21T21:49:53.187+00:00My very own beer, even if I can't drink it!<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is with immense joy that I announce that I am expecting my first baby, due on the 8th September 2012. We and the hubby really happy and thank you all for the well wishes and congratulations we have already received.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKY83RUB1nyMryA8f7SI5gwNycBLfjaPDjyoN4-QE8Nd0MSj4SaoKyElEk9wO4U-g9Vadqmyp6sebQXknWAdaBQAFZozYnXEkvzRgdbOmTGpgPY4Q8-OaIl9MoV40tlkWogkC0-Rm7hrY/s1600/Shea-Luke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKY83RUB1nyMryA8f7SI5gwNycBLfjaPDjyoN4-QE8Nd0MSj4SaoKyElEk9wO4U-g9Vadqmyp6sebQXknWAdaBQAFZozYnXEkvzRgdbOmTGpgPY4Q8-OaIl9MoV40tlkWogkC0-Rm7hrY/s320/Shea-Luke.jpg" width="179" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">But what happens to a real ale girl if she can’t drink, I hear you cry? Well, she drinks a lot of tomato juice and goes to bed early, in reality.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">However, it isn’t all slippers and soft drinks- I am determined to keep in the beer world loop an actually, there is a lot of beer fun to be had without actually drinking it.</span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Brewing it, for a start. I wrote a month or so ago about my trip with </span><a href="http://www.school-of-booze.com/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jane Peyton</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> and </span><a href="http://www.funf-media.co.uk/beerbeauty"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Marverine Cole</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> to </span><a href="http://brewstersbrewery.wordpress.com/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Brewster’s</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> brewing co. in Grantham Lincolnshire, to spend the day brewing. Three weeks ago, at</span><a href="http://uk.westfield.com/shop/stores/tapeast/stratfordcity?category_root=dining&retailer=45390"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Tap East,</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> we and a lot of beer loving friends (and some other who just came to be supportive!) cracked open two casks of that very beer, Chocolate Cyn, a chocolate an cinnamon porter style beer which went down a storm. I allowed myself a half, which my pregnant body found difficult to actually drink, and so despite they absolute deliciousness of the beer, that half lasted me all night. It’s going to save me a lot of money, this pregnancy lark.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPVqPazAbN707gR99XT1L6DLCWTEZA-yNekYyfri8NnOmgIANL0RslSXkPAkBOI-xkXrJkjITg8EoySvr45FKKojNSZm8vpoojXsZbyo9jJaRKnro2iIcXrI6qfR6xFfEYYqXPeSW1v5k/s1600/chocolate-cyn-brewer-signed-bottle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPVqPazAbN707gR99XT1L6DLCWTEZA-yNekYyfri8NnOmgIANL0RslSXkPAkBOI-xkXrJkjITg8EoySvr45FKKojNSZm8vpoojXsZbyo9jJaRKnro2iIcXrI6qfR6xFfEYYqXPeSW1v5k/s320/chocolate-cyn-brewer-signed-bottle.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Since the fun and success of the launch party, the beer has been available in The Rake and three Fuller’s pubs: The Mad Bishop & Bear, Paddington Station; The Victoria, Bayswater and The Artillery Arms near the Barbican. I’m currently awaiting for a delivery from Brewster’s of a couple of cases of bottles (so that I can drink more than a few sips once the baby is born!) while a shipment of quite a few bottles is winging its way to Fuller’s brewery shop in Chiswick.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTGX-q4iXf72L1d9urU-zMZj9HYl53e_qoJ5yUI4YIP3Ja814ENeKmrQn6_VsapJBL-WfMGBxoRZJdZkFYSonU0CvIJavluUrFrs952bgcHcBGFYJoszN2fbSAj6EKTs1mhcoL9PRQrhU/s1600/Brewsters-ChocolateCynLaunch1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTGX-q4iXf72L1d9urU-zMZj9HYl53e_qoJ5yUI4YIP3Ja814ENeKmrQn6_VsapJBL-WfMGBxoRZJdZkFYSonU0CvIJavluUrFrs952bgcHcBGFYJoszN2fbSAj6EKTs1mhcoL9PRQrhU/s320/Brewsters-ChocolateCynLaunch1.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Once again, I’d like to say thanks to Brewster’s for letting us loose on the brewery, to Tap East and the lovely </span><a href="http://rabidbarfly.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Glyn</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> for hosting the launch, to </span><a href="http://www.fullers.co.uk/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fuller’s</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> for supporting and selling the beer since, and of course, to my beer brewing buddies, Sara, Jane and Marverine. When are we doing it again? (If it after September, we’ll have a mini person for extra company!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">Oh, and thank you to <a href="http://www.drinkbritain.com/">Susanna Forbes</a> and the <a href="http://londoncocktailscholars.co.uk/">Cocktail Scholars</a> chaps for the lovely photos.</span></div>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-61929416532169066182012-02-09T21:21:00.000+00:002012-02-09T21:21:57.934+00:00It's a kinda magic!<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">About three weeks ago I travelled to <a href="http://brewstersbrewery.wordpress.com/">Brewster’s brewery</a> in Grantham, Lincolnshire with fellow beer loving ladies <a href="http://www.funf-media.co.uk/beerbeauty/index.php/2012/01/22/the-big-brewday/">Marverine Cole</a> and <a href="http://www.school-of-booze.com/">Jane Peynton</a>. A hectic few weeks since mean I’ve not been able to write about it yet, but actually it hasn’t made a difference to the enthusiasm and energy I felt that day- it is an experience that will stay with me; I could be writing about it in three years’ time and it would still feel fresh and exciting to me.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">The three of us dreamt up the idea of brewing a beer together when we went on a beer drinking spree in Marverine’s Midlands stomping ground. It was at the Stourbridge CAMRA beer festival as we worked our way through all the dark beers on offer; through the stouts and porters, to the dark milds, that we realised a beer made by us three would be darn good beer. None of this pale, honey light-struck stuff that female beer drinkers are expected to choose. </span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">We just didn’t ever imagine we’d actually get to make it. </span><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">I do remember drunkenly suggesting the idea to Sara Barton from Brewster’s at a project Venus launch party at The Rake and I thought no more of it. Then Jane did a bit of her schmoozing, visited Sara to discuss her beer recipe brewing competition for women and came back announcing we were making the thing! Us three! A bunch of three very different women, with very different lives and very different backgrounds, with a huge shared passion for beer.</span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">And so we went. After 187 emails. Emails to decide on when to go, the beer style, the recipe, the ingredients, the logistics, the travel, the food on the day and of course, what to wear. But we made it, on a very drizzly, early Saturday morning in deepest, darkest January.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Thanks for letting me steal your photo, Marv. Me, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">techical equipment and large vats of hot </span><br />
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</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am not going to describe all the processes and the steps involved, except to say that the whole brewing thing is genuinely marvellous. A lot of very accurate, exact skill, perfected by absolute scientists, mixed in with a huge amount of magic. Put simply, if such a precise practice can be put simply, it is alchemy.</span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">I learnt a lot that day. All of a sudden all those terms, like sparging, wort, early hop/ late hop, finings- all features of brewing that I have heard of, know the definitions of and have seen where they happen, only now make magical sense. I can see the meaning behind the definition.</span><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">I also learnt that I could never be a brewer. I could help out, clean the mash tun, measure the malt, weigh out the hop varieties and so on, but I learnt that day that you have to be thorough, calculated, precise and patient to brew successfully. Not to mention physically fit. I am not any of these things, and watching the phenomenally skilled Sara, Rich and Sean do their own magic, I have a whole new respect for brewers.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Right now, the result of our alchemic day out is maturing in cask, letting all the exciting ingredients we merged do their full flavouring business, ready for our beer launch party at Tap East on the evening of Tuesday 6th March. We would all love to see you there, and share with you the fruits of our hard, very fun, labours.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-50821560115362598202011-12-31T13:38:00.001+00:002011-12-31T13:41:28.250+00:00How to survive the sales (clue: Tap East)<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">A day at a shopping centre. As potentially divisive as the keg debate or the smoking ban. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Oh it won’t be that bad, we’ll get a bargain’ can be heard all over the country as, despite having spent the previous month shopping for Christmas, people are lured back in for the sales.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The ladies go shopping. The blokes moan and mope and whine about going to the pub. Or so the stereotype would have us believe.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I’m a young female. Which means I love shopping, right? Well, no. There are a lot of girly things I enjoy; early John Travolta films, glittery nail varnish, Gok Wan TV shows. But hours ambling around in a soulless, Americanised trading emporium? Not one of my hobbies.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Then Tap East was born, hiding in a sneaky little corner of the new shopping kingdom that is Westfield Stratford, in the heart of 2012 Olympic domain. From the people that brought us The Rake (in Borough Market- another retail mecca, but as dissimilar to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Westfield</st1:place></st1:city> centres as you can get), Tap East was made for girls (and boys) like me. For those who accompany shopping frenzied pals on their pilgrimages to in-store gift wrapping, loyalty cards and personal shoppers, wishing they were in the pub instead, sipping on something dark and silky (I am talking about beer, thank you). We all have to go shopping sometimes, and admittedly, it is also occasionally useful to have a few stores in one place, under one roof. I stress occasionally. But it isn’t pleasant. After a couple of hours of traipsing around with heavy bags, sore feet, a streaming nose caused by heating contrasts and an extremely irritable demeanour, you need a light at the end of the shopping tunnel.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Tap East is an extremely beery light at the end of that tunnel. Microbrewery, ale bazaar and beer geek heaven, all packaged up in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Westfield</st1:city></st1:place> friendly coffee shop-esque décor, with sofas and bookshelves and soft lighting.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Westfield Stratford should be screaming Tap East’s presence from its roof- it is certainly the only reason I choose to shop there. Normally, I stick to my local shops, or at a push head to <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Oxford Street</st1:address></st1:street>, but the lure of Tap East pulls me eastwards to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Stratford</st1:place></st1:city>. My first visit was the weekend after the launch of the microbrewery’s first beer- the Extra Stout at 6.6%- sneakily strong, it manages to be incredibly refreshing, while retaining the spice and chocolate of its beer style. It certainly did the trick of washing away all those shopping aches and pains. Over my subsequent visits, they have also had several beers by Brodies, Titanic, Thornbridge, Hawkshead and more of thier own microbrewery delights. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">More than enough to make me head to the shops more often. Any Londoners who have visited the Microbar in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Manchester</st1:place></st1:city>’s Arndale Centre will have been filled with envy that we didn’t have something similar here to sooth our shopping pain. But now we do. A message to all shopping centres, high streets and markets across the land- get good beer in, and we will come running.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-12838699980753815952011-11-30T22:19:00.000+00:002011-11-30T22:19:01.804+00:00Read (or write) all about it<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Writing about beer can be pretty darn cool for someone like me with a day job and a normal life. Random, friendly people say hello at beer festivals, sometimes brewers give you free beer, you may get to see your work printed in publications you read all the time and you often get invited to groovy parties like the launch party, last month, of the luscious </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Let-Tell-You-About-Beer/dp/1862059144"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Melissa Cole’s new book</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">, where those in attendance got to schmooze in the good company of other beer geeks and publishing folk, delighting in the mini beer fest that Melissa had provided.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">However, the greatest motivation for writing about beer is knowing your thoughts may be being read by lots of people, that they enjoy it and that it may enthuse them to love drinking beer as much as you do. These sentiments are celebrated at the biggest beer writing shindig around- The British Guild of Beer Writers’ annual awards dinner, taking place tomorrow night.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">The evening will celebrate all the things that make beer writing great, and praise the people who do it best. Proof that beer lovers can actually scrub up quite well, attendees spend the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>evening in fabulous company, eating sumptuous food, matched with gorgeous beers, nattering about their favourite topic before the high drama of the awards announcements. The exciting thing about the awards is that there are so many people now doing such great stuff that there are potential winners across all the categories, although I will be thoroughly relaxed and sitting back watching all the nervousness as I didn't enter this year). </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Who will win Beer Writer of the Year? I don’t know, but I do know we’ll all leave looking a little less pretty, and much less scrubbed, than when we arrived. </span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p> </o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">By the way, I was going to link to my latest 'A girl walks into a bar' London Drinker article but have discovered that the editors have bizarrely reprinted the one that went into the April/May edition.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Oh well, if you missed it first time round, here it is </span><a href="http://www.londondrinker.org.uk/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">http://www.londondrinker.org.uk/</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">.</span>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-26981912869396111182011-10-29T13:09:00.000+01:002011-10-29T13:09:16.827+01:00Its good up North!<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I had another moment of North envy this week. I can remember two occasions when I have suffered from this affliction before. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">First, was <st1:place w:st="on">North London</st1:place> envy, when for the only time ever, I wished I lived north of the river. Nothing to do with living near a tube station or any of the rest of that North/South of the river divide nonsense.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">No, it was because The Southampton Arms is in <st1:place w:st="on">North London</st1:place> and I wanted to be near it so that I could go there everyday and bask in its loveliness at every opportunity. Life would just be so much better if spare moments were spent there, rather than Lewisham Wetherspoons.</span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Then, this Northern desire stretched a bit further, up into the North of the country, on a trip to <st1:place w:st="on">Sheffield</st1:place>. Here was a city which knew what is was doing in pubs and brewing- even the student bars had a huge range of ale, and the city is bursting with pub heritage gems and microbreweries. I blogged about my awe and wonder at the time- <a href="http://realalegirl.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.html">here it is</a> if you fancy it.</span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I wasn’t expecting to have one of these Northern urges this week. After five hours on a delayed, stinking, sweaty coach from <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Victoria</st1:place></st1:state>, we pulled into Manchester Coach Station and I was fed up, not excited. I had discovered through Twitter, on the way, that The SIBA Great Northern Beer Festival was in town during the trip but we were visiting a friend who isn’t currently drinking much, who had also put thought into planning activities for our trip. I had the distinct feeling I wouldn’t be going to that festival.</span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And then, about seven minutes later, I felt like a selfish, ungrateful cow for even letting these thoughts enter my mind. Not only did he think we could fit the SIBA fest in, we were also scheduled a visit to the Didsbury Beer Festival, a Manchester city centre pub crawl, a drive around hard to reach village pubs in the Peak District, and to start it all off, a crawl from the City Centre to Didsbury, where he lives, stopping at six pubs between the two. I guess this friend does know us well- after 50 hours, when boarding the coach back down South, we had visited 25 different pubs, two beer festivals and had 69 different beers.</span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And here is where the envy sets in. I remembered the feeling from Sheffield- walking into a pub that from the outside looks like a dull old boozer which my have a couple of common ales on to please the old locals, only to find three, five, eight or more pumps with beers from local breweries seldom found in London, seasonal specials and rare delights. </span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The city centre to Didsbury crawl took us into the Friendship Inn, full of students watching football, and drinking Hydes’ Hubble Bubble Halloween special. In the <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Victoria</st1:place></st1:state>, in Withington, we had Queen’s Peach Treat and Hornbeam’s Top Hop Bitter. The old blokes at the bar were drinking Guinness, even though Hydes’ Owd Oak was on.</span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The next morning, our not-drinking-much driving friend had devised a mother of a peaks drive, which took in swooping lanes, sudden fog, thousands of sheep and some absolutely amazing pubs. </span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My favourites were both called The Old (or Ye Olde) Cheshire Cheese. One was in Hope, with ales from Bradfield Brewery, 5 Rivers in <st1:place w:st="on">Sheffield</st1:place> and Peak Ales. The other was in Castleton, a pretty, touristy village, absolutely brimming with pubs. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese had more from Bradfield and Peak Ales, as well Wincle and Thornbridge beers. Another village pub, The Nags Head, had a ‘Beer Tapas’ scheme, allowing you to try third of their ales, served in a nifty wooden glass holder. There are no Castleton pubs in the Good Beer Guide, proof that you can’t just live by the book.</span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Friday took us into Manchester City Centre, and there really are pubs everywhere you look. The Mancunians are a spoilt bunch, they really are- from cool beer dedicated bars like The Knott, Cask, The Port Street Beer House to more traditional boozers like The Ape and Apple and The Rising Sun, not to mention a beer haven in the Arndale Market, the Micro Bar (three dark ales on, in an indoor market!)</span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We made it to both the Didsbury and Great Northern Beer Festivals, by the way. There were fun, they had spectacular ranges of lovely Northern beer and they could easily warrant a blog post of their own. However it was all those pubs that really gave me the North envy this time; who needs beer festivals when you have this many great pubs on your doorstep?</span> </div>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-50220168212671393232011-10-12T21:39:00.000+01:002011-10-12T21:39:13.275+01:00Good beer comes to town!<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Once upon a time, on a Friday night about 3 years ago, we had no plans (a rare phenomenon, one which leaves us feeling quite discombobulated). We decided to go on a pub crawl along one of the local main roads, which had, at that time, 5 pubs along a walkable stretch. Now, please bear in mind this was a few years back, we were young and delirious with Friday night euphoria and keen to get just a bit merry. So we banned any drink that we normally order, ruling we must choose the weird, the unusual and the usually downright avoidable. This was also because we knew there would be no decent beer available in any of these pubs, having stood at their bars with a choice of Carling, John Smiths or Guinness on many occasions. Therefore, we consumed WKD blue, Archers and lemonade <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Malibu</st1:place></st1:city>, pre-mixed Sex on the beach and Snakebite. The hangover was hell. But we had a lot of fun, met some pleasant landlords and played the most despicable game of pool ever. But the sad part of this tale is that we were not alone in our weird drinking- we were among many drinking WKD that night. There wasn’t a lot of choice, to be frank. Good beer was hard to come by in Lewisham in 2008.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We had a similar night last week, but this time round, we tried no less than 11 different cask ales across three pubs all within a mile of our flat. Ok, two Wetherspoons in the midst of their ale festival featured , but I know of at least four more local pubs where we could have had more, had we had more time (and weren’t quite so drunk already).<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The current popularity of cask beer is well documented and much discussed, but I can’t pretend I didn’t feel more than a little bit excited being able to stroll into The <a href="http://www.ravensbournearms.com/">Ravensbourne Arms</a> at 11.20pm and see delights from Daniel Thwaites, Brewdog, and Redemption on the bar. Within walking distance! A mere 0.8 miles from my sofa. A sofa I will be spending very little time on now that we have local pubs rocking good beer.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-6022373143601784572011-09-21T17:23:00.002+01:002011-09-21T17:32:12.652+01:00A most dull blogpost.<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">10 beer related things to do when you are off sick.</span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="1"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Read beer blogs. I caught up with <a href="http://www.boakandbailey.com/">Boak and Bailey</a> and their trip to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Exeter</st1:city></st1:place>, <a href="http://www.beerjustice.blogspot.com/">Beer Justice’s</a> honourable work curating the Art by Offenders , <a href="http://www.beerbirrabier.com/">Beer Birra Bier’s</a> dream beer festival line up (prompting me to think about my own) and <a href="http://www.tandlemanbeerblog.blogspot.com/">Tandleman’s </a>thoughts about the idea of the <a href="http://www.camrgb.org/">Campaign for Really Good Beer.</a></span></li>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Go through your twitter account. I found a few new people to follow and stopped following some beer folks who actually only talk about transport difficulties.</span></li>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Find yourself on the internet. I found a picture of me, Real Ale Bro and Real ale Husband on the <a href="http://www.hertsale.org.uk/beerfest/SABF_Flyer_2011.pdf">St Alban’s beer festival flyer</a> thanks to a twitter tip.</span></li>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Search ‘beer’ on the BBC news website. The most recent mention (15<sup>th</sup> September) was a US Marine being awarded a Medal of Honour after sharing a beer with Obama, followed by a far more interesting story on the same day about <st1:place w:st="on">West Yorkshire</st1:place> brewing more beer than any other county, according to CAMRA.</span></li>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Try to get to the kitchen and look at what beers are in the house while waiting for the kettle to boil. I found a bottle each of Badger Hopping Hare, Sharps DW (75cl), Kernel Suke Quto Coffee IPA, Brewdog Hardcore IPA, 2 rogue cans of Carlsberg and a mini bottle of Kronenberg. Not sure where they came from. </span></li>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Wonder when you will be well enough to drink what you have found. Even the tea didn’t go down well.</span></li>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Admire your shrinking beer belly- one of the few plus sides of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> a </span>messed up digestive system.</span></span></li>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Try to spend your CAMRA online shop vouchers. Tricky. All the clothes are designed for old men and all the books are already on my bookshelf. I don’t have much use for either a CAMRA tie or pub food tea towel.</span></li>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Make a tweet cloud. My most written word was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">beer</i>, obviously, followed by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">thanks, night, <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">London</st1:place></st1:city>, stout.</i> I’m quite pleased. Last time I made one it featured the words <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fabulous</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">blimey</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wetherspoons.</i></span></span></li>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Look at your blog stats. I have quite a large readership in <st1:country-region w:st="on">South Korea</st1:country-region>, apparently, and someone in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indonesia</st1:place></st1:country-region> read my blog today. Hello, and thank you!</span></li>
</ol>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-71018823548036824112011-09-10T18:11:00.000+01:002011-09-10T18:11:25.366+01:00Here come the (beer-drinking) girls<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Every now and then I have a moment when I realise that being a beer drinking girl isn’t that weird anymore, and yesterday, on a normal Friday night out, I had several.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">We went to some friends’ birthday party in Katzenjammers, a Bavarian Bier Keller style bar near <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">London</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Bridge</st1:placetype></st1:place>. An Oompah band play disco and pop tunes (a genius combo- I wonder how many people here have ever danced to a French Horn on a night out before) and everybody drinks beer. The novelty of steins in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">London</st1:place></st1:city> means even those who say they don’t like beer drink it anyway, including the girls. Those people drinking wine or spirits stuck out like Jedward at Glyndebourne. After the Paulaner Dunkl, which wasn’t very dunkl but still very lecker nonetheless, I ordered a bottle of the 8.2% Schneider Aventinus which the barmaid assured us was the darkest beer available. It got a rapturous reception from a friend who was bored of Paulaner Hell lager after necking more beer than she had drunk all year. Yet more evidence for my mounting campaign on the success of getting girls into beer through dark, malty, roasted flavours rather than pale, hoppy ones. This was the perfect dark what beer, tasting just like barbequed bananas.</span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">It continued on the way home. We walked past the All Bar One which lurks in the shadows of the ever growing shard, and there was a girl outside drinking London Pride from the bottle with a bloke who had a glass of rose. I love stereotype reversal!</span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">On the train, some girls were continuing their evening with Marks and Spencer’s Cherry Wheat Beer. Which is housed in their station Simply Food next to the single serving bottles of wine and cans of Gin and Tonic.</span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Its all happening, lasses are exploring a wider range of beer styles and I am very excitexd to feel not quite so weird anymore.</span></div>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-73705195693146234732011-08-13T13:52:00.000+01:002011-08-13T13:52:13.456+01:00The Rare Ale Girl <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So GBBF is gone for another year, and next year us young'uns get the pleasure of seeing the fest hit <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Olympia</st1:place></st1:city> for the first time.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We had a pleasant, if rather warm, day at GBBF this year- I was accompanied by Real Ale hubby, Real Ale brother and Belgian Beer Girl. We only managed to go for one day, but if I had danced to a band that vigorously for more than one night, I might have need medical treatment (we rather enjoyed the jolly Jewish wedding music of Thursday's evening entertainment, Stan's Magic Foot). I was also delighted to win a colour changing light up rubber duck on the tombola. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But what about the beer, I hear you cry? Well, we drank lots of it. Running into <a href="http://www.desdemoor.com/">Des De Moor</a> (I do like a good name-drop) he asked us what we were mostly planning on drinking. To my reply of real ales we haven’t had before, he said ‘that shouldn’t be too difficult’. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But in fact it actually was. Don’t get me wrong, I am not claiming to have drunk all of the 700 odd beers available, but when you go to as many pubs and beer festivals as we do, it gets trickier to find new beers to try, although all the new breweries popping up are helping. One of the reasons I think it is getting harder to find new beers to try for me is that I am such a lover of the dark beers, the porters, stouts and milds, and while lots of the new breweries make luscious versions of these, there is also a huge trend for hop experimentation at the moment. I appreciate the genius involved in brewing a hop heavy IPA (and I know this makes me sound way older than my years) but I struggle to drink them over long periods of time and after a few I find myself feeling a bit more like someone on the first episode of Dancing on Ice than a Real Ale Girl. So I head for the darks. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkdOFce1ibqy6uCgB735g2J9vMh9AlpZpjMhpQXqtXa5PrA3h27vrqZieEeenctgI2yQKny7MYYLw5kNI4VWhRsnEFZiEjzbbsZcNCViOsQEMNCui-L9wiVgD1fNrsp7OU1IGeYq8bwjw/s1600/283841_10150747396900232_613505231_20444956_6232930_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkdOFce1ibqy6uCgB735g2J9vMh9AlpZpjMhpQXqtXa5PrA3h27vrqZieEeenctgI2yQKny7MYYLw5kNI4VWhRsnEFZiEjzbbsZcNCViOsQEMNCui-L9wiVgD1fNrsp7OU1IGeYq8bwjw/s320/283841_10150747396900232_613505231_20444956_6232930_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, we went on hat day.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Find some we did, however and I think Blackbeck’s Black Beck Belle was my beer of the festival, followed closely by Earl Soham’s Gannet Mild (yes I like mild and I’m not ashamed to say so). Meanwhile, Bowman’s Southsea Spice, the first beer I tried all day, and Enville’s Cherry Blonde did a go job of tempting me away from the dark side, an accolade indeed for them. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One festival that knows what its doing in sourcing the rarest, most exciting, hardest to find beers is the glorious <a href="http://www.eghambeerfestival.co.uk/summer-2011">Egham Real Ale Festival</a>, and the 9<sup>th</sup> one is this week. Just check out this list, and maybe I’ll see you there.</span><br />
<br />
*Ascot Ales – Camberley, <st1:place w:st="on">Surrey</st1:place> (2007)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Single Hop Sorachi Ace – 4.6% - Single hop<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Single Hop Apollo Ace – 4.6% - Single Hop<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Coconut <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cayenne</st1:place></st1:city>– 4.6%<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- Festival special<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Chilli Exile Stout – 5.0%<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- Festival special<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Red IPA – 5.5%<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- Brand new India Pale Ale<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Last of the Blue Devils – Cherry Imperial Porter – 8% - Festival special<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
*Betjeman Brewery –<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wantage, Oxfordshire (2011) (Cuckoo Brewed)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Wantage Bells – 5% – Hopmonster<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<st1:place w:st="on">Slough</st1:place> Bomb – 6% – IPA<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<st1:place w:st="on">Sebastopol</st1:place> – 7% – Imperial Stout<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
*Bingham, Ruscombe, Berks (2010)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Doodlepitch – 5% - Stout<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Ginger Doodle – 5% - Ginger Stout<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
*Black Cat Brewery – Groombridge, <st1:place w:st="on">East Sussex</st1:place>(2011)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Black Cat Hopsmack – 4.0%<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Black Cat Original – 4.2%<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
*Braydon Ales, <st1:place w:st="on">Preston</st1:place>, Wiltshire (2009)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
YerTiz – 4.1% – Triple Hopped bitter<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Galley-Bagger - 4.3% – Summer Ale<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Pot Walloper – 4.4% – Ruby Coloured beer<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Gert Ale – 4.8% – Russett coloured strong ale<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
*Brewshed, Bury St Edmunds (2011)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Pale Ale – 3.9% – Pale ale<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Best Bitter – 4.3%<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- Best bitter<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
*Byatts Brewery – <st1:city w:st="on">Coventry</st1:city>, <st1:place w:st="on">West Midlands</st1:place> (2011)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Coventry</st1:place></st1:city>Bitter – 3.8% - Golden hoppy session bitter<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Phoenix</st1:place></st1:city> Gold- 4.2% – Blend of 3 American hops golden.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Urban Red - 4.5% – Dark Ruby best bitter<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
*<st1:city w:st="on">Canterbury</st1:city> Brewers – <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kent</st1:place></st1:country-region> (2011)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Foundry Man’s Gold – 4.0% – Golden ale<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Canterbury</st1:place></st1:city>Wheat - 4.4% – Wheat beer<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Foundry Torpedo – 4.5%<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Street Light – 5.8% - Porter<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Canterbury Haka —x.x% - Pale Ale with NZ hops<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
*<st1:city w:st="on">Chester</st1:city> Ales – <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Chester</st1:place></st1:city> (2011)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Gladiator – 3.6% – Session beer.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Corvus - 4.6% – Dark.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
IPA – 5.2% – <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>Pale Ale.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
*Complete Pig Brewery - Britwell Salome, Oxon (2010)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Hallacre Gold - 4.2% - Golden<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Red Lion Best - 4.2% - Best<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Oxfordshire Black Porter - x.x% - Porter<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
*Devilfish, Hemmington, Somerset (2011)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Devils Best - 4.2% - Best bitter<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Blonde Bombshell - 4.5% - Blonde ale<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The Gold Devil - 4.2%<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- Golden<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Stingray—5.5% - New strong Ale<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
*Halfpenny Brewery - Lechlade, Glouc (2008)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Four Seasons - 4.3%<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
*Loddon, Dunsden Green, Berks (2003)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
In Yer Face IPA - 6.0%<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
*Longdog, <st1:place w:st="on">Basingstoke</st1:place> (2011)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Golden Poacher - 4.2% - Golden<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Brindle Bitter - 4.2% - Best Bitter<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
*Old Dairy, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Rolvenden</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Kent</st1:country-region></st1:place> (2010)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Heffer Weiss - 5.5% -Wheat special<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
*Old Forge - Coleshill, Oxon (2010)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Old Ted -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>3.6% - Dark mahogany mild.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Anvil Ale - 3.8% - Amber.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Blacksmiths Gold - 4.0% - Golden.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Hammer & Tongs - 4.2% - Chestnut.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Sledgehammer - 5.0% - Ruby bronze.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
*Rectory Ales - Hassocks, <st1:place w:st="on">East Sussex</st1:place>(1996)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Harvest Ale - 4.0%<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Mild Pilgrimage - 4.5% - Mild<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Rector's Celebration - 5.0%<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Rector's Revenge - 5.4%<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
*<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Sherfield</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Village</st1:placetype></st1:place> Brewery, Sherfield-on-Loddon, Hants (2011)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Threesome - 3.0% - Session beer.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Hindsight - 4.2% - Amber Bitter.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Solo Motueka - 4.3% - Single hop pale.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Solo Quintessential - 4.4% - Copper-coloured beer.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Pewter Suitor - 4.4% - Amber Bitter.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Foursight - 4.5% - Copper-coloured beer.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Pioneer Stout - 5.0% - A black stout.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Solo IPA—5.5% - <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>Pale Ale.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
*Waylands Sixpenny - Sixpenny Handley, <st1:place w:st="on">Dorset</st1:place>(2007)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Addlestone Ale - 4.2% - Pale copper best bitter.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Rushmore Gold - 4.3% - Golden ale.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
*Westerham - <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Edenbridge</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Kent</st1:country-region></st1:place> (2004)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Bohemian Rhapsody - 4.0% - Pilsners lager.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region> Pale Ale - 4.0% - <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> Pale Ale<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
National Trust Viceroy IPA - 5.0% - <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> Pale Ale.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Audit Ale - 6.2% - A strong ale.<br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></div>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-72191568289914771452011-07-09T12:12:00.001+01:002011-07-12T11:17:30.775+01:00Zoos, bars and fields- My Beer Summer Part 1<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Yo! As pressure in the day job begins to ease off for another year, and all the deadlines have been met, I am back, with a little slice of summer beer lovin', my summer so far, punctuated by beers.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My last post (yes, I know it was ages ago) was on the hot, quickly turning icy cold, topic of cask v keg and my opinions, morals, hunches and taste buds were tested to the maximum when I volunteered on The </span><a href="http://www.londonbrewers.org/"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">London Brewers' Alliance</span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Bar at London Zoo Lates.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Arriving on a rainy evening in the middle of June, we wound our way through summer dress and deck shoe clad visitors, snuck a peak at the new penguin beach, and found ourselves behind the bar, alongside the legend that is John Cryne, expert on all things CAMRA, and Andy Moffatt, mastermind of </span><a href="http://www.redemptionbrewing.co.uk/"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Redemption Brewing Co</span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">All the breweries invloved pledged to work behind the bar for 3 nights each over the two months of Fridays, and we chatted away with Nicola Chase, who works for Fuller's but also writes her own unrelated blog on ale, </span><a href="http://www.hop-on-fuggles.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">http://www.hop-on-fuggles.blogspot.com/</span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I couldn't get enough of Twickenham's new Honey Dark, and neither could the punters as it was one of the first to go from the range of cask and keg- Camden Hells Lager, Windsor and Eton Knight of the Garter, Fullers London Pride and Honey Dew, Zero Degrees Pale Ale, Wheat and Black Lager, Redemption Alexis' ale, Sambrook's Wandle Meantime London Lager. I know I've forgotten something- feel free to fill me in if you were around.</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><><><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span> </>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAgvKgnpNYRABrPS0XGIbs-KJTpNJx44D4PqmS1ibe7w_oOuPt11T4rnuhB1rAwz5hxX1D6fB4eK5waOWutb5M6TRzo9o5Ta6pAMwhypIJsXO7QF8PZVRCb-SV9rSYeHA-jXIrgJuQ6ik/s1600/2011_0624Camrasummer20110060.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAgvKgnpNYRABrPS0XGIbs-KJTpNJx44D4PqmS1ibe7w_oOuPt11T4rnuhB1rAwz5hxX1D6fB4eK5waOWutb5M6TRzo9o5Ta6pAMwhypIJsXO7QF8PZVRCb-SV9rSYeHA-jXIrgJuQ6ik/s320/2011_0624Camrasummer20110060.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">Real Ale Girl in keg serving shocker!</span></td></tr>
<><><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">John Cryne and I eyed the keg dispenser warily; I have served many a cask ale at beer festivals but this keg lark is an entirely different matter, taste debate etc aside- its just harder to pour! You find yourself faced with spraying froth, fizz, tilting glasses, crazy heads and bizzare splutters when it reaches the end... but I felt all proper barmaid after serving a couple of pints, and it cerainly helped me understand the difference between keg and cask from the more scientific, dispensing angle.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We left our posts for a wander, and I have to say, despite it costing the paying public around 18 quid for entry to the late opening, it really was quite something watching a tiger sleeping two foot away, a crisp pint of Redemption Alexi's Ale in your hand, fairy lights twinkling above and live acid jazz behind you.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOMGYY83HrlItCqgMRlld0crt_03aWJlaRVrK-TD1OePnQd3IAfZnmaMG9e-cXs5auNAX_YsHL7PL1Zi8GX2E3fyV-LOqy7OBEvvg5SwOl3X8v-Bi9GJVPDTx3Kx7bUsqiFYfu9DvXgwk/s1600/IMAG0467.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOMGYY83HrlItCqgMRlld0crt_03aWJlaRVrK-TD1OePnQd3IAfZnmaMG9e-cXs5auNAX_YsHL7PL1Zi8GX2E3fyV-LOqy7OBEvvg5SwOl3X8v-Bi9GJVPDTx3Kx7bUsqiFYfu9DvXgwk/s320/IMAG0467.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">Craft Beer Co. -Just go!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The following week saw the opening of the much hailed, much documented Craft Beer Co bar in Clerkenwell. I am not going to do some major review on here, many others have and will continue to. Meanwhile, I am simply going to continue to drink there, and all I will say at this point is, if you haven't been there yet, just go!</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrY2lFAp3L9FnFjl7tuSiqOUg19kPYQiw6GQ1gNeBkcXIu10E_IAxutvc9D1vXfeAeq9L6uvFoN9bcBvrabCpSpEXp8Brlfp21vv_I8b7Cy8ZzsnxaKPtLQNOYcmAc1fdWN5aie3MxgSE/s1600/DSC00791.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrY2lFAp3L9FnFjl7tuSiqOUg19kPYQiw6GQ1gNeBkcXIu10E_IAxutvc9D1vXfeAeq9L6uvFoN9bcBvrabCpSpEXp8Brlfp21vv_I8b7Cy8ZzsnxaKPtLQNOYcmAc1fdWN5aie3MxgSE/s200/DSC00791.JPG" width="150" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Then last week, one of the highlights of the year for me and my Paddock Wood dwelling family,<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the Hop Farm Festival. We set up the tent, stocked to brimming with cans of BrewDog Punk IPA. These little turquoise gems do the job perfectly; small enough to sneak in in your handbag (I only tried this once, late on our last night, and shocked myself with the thrill, as I am one of the most law abiding folks you’ll find) and they taste a darn sight better than the canned versions of cask beers that are readily available. </span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNBeM4DNw6aLY3ZqG4ZILNqf-wmwEGxFmbj7ZiawgO2dRcZq5eNj-XiFKdzbojoC-zgt9NPFqDGI2WTptmJWDngYZXe3TBahnvNaE-JROiy-HKQbCE8zgdsYfOAzxtETZhBVdFCKguY_Y/s1600/037.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNBeM4DNw6aLY3ZqG4ZILNqf-wmwEGxFmbj7ZiawgO2dRcZq5eNj-XiFKdzbojoC-zgt9NPFqDGI2WTptmJWDngYZXe3TBahnvNaE-JROiy-HKQbCE8zgdsYfOAzxtETZhBVdFCKguY_Y/s200/037.JPG" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Once inside the arenas, we were initially dissapointed to see the ale offereing was Shepherd Neame Spitfire. Nothing against the brewery, or indeed the beer, but it is far less exciting than the Gadd's Festival and Sesider available last year.Then, at about midnight, we found a smaller bar, by the late night disco tent, serving Gadd's festival itself, a perfect choice for the chilled madness (if that combo is possible) of a festival, with vital rehydration powers!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-88325800152989611402011-06-06T18:12:00.002+01:002011-06-06T18:24:31.818+01:00caskkegcraftbloggerattiCAMRAnoisesomebloggersblahblahblah<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Right then. I suppose I better stop drinking this Meantime Chocolate. I guess I shouldn't have given Real Ale Husband a bottle of Camden Wheat Beer for his birthday. Maybe I shouldn't have had that Cerveza Artesanal on my trip to Barcelona last week. In fact while we are at it, I better ban myself from drinking wine, vodka, maybe orange squash. Oh and what about tea?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I suppose I need to do all this because I call myself The Real Ale Girl. And I'm a member of CAMRA. So therefore, I must only enjoy Real Ale.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Or so it would seem. The grand caskkegcraftbloggerattiCAMRAnoisesomebloggersblahblahblah debate. I've had enough, to be frank. I think I might take a couple of years off reading blogs on the topic until its all blown over. As if this issue will ever actually be resolved.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I joined CAMRA in 2004 as I wanted to find out more about this lovely liquid that I'd just been introduced to. I had enjoyed going to a few CAMRA beer festivals and was attracted by the prospect of reduced entry, copies of their publications in the post and meeting other people who might be able to introduce me to more ales. While I recognised that CAMRA was founded at a time when keg was king and cask on the way out, I was also aware that it British brewing was on the way up and I was excited to be drinking beer at a time when it was all getting interesting.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I want to drink beer. I want other people to drink beer. I want other people to enjoy drinking new beers, exciting beers, beers with flavour and character and oomph. It may well be that many of those beers in the UK are served in cask form, but we can all think of some bloody good beers that aren't. And to tell you the truth, I like beer too much to deny myself a new one just because I can't tick it off in my Good Beer Guide. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Campaining for Real Ale, enjoying Real Ale, writing about Real Ale, should not mean demonizing every other beer around. It just means Campainging for Real Ale. That's it. In some circles, Real Ale enthusiasts are inadvertently making Real Ale (or its drinkers at least) the demons. I have never been embarrassed of my writing name, I just hope that we can keep it that way.</span>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-4772553325599539392011-05-21T17:33:00.002+01:002011-05-21T17:33:06.588+01:00Live Beer Blogging!<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So here it is- the infamous Live Beer Blogging Event- brewers come and effectively chat you up for a few minutes and convince you that their beer is the best. When I say live, I mean live, so please forgive grammatical errors, bizarre punctuation and mad statements!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">On my table are:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mark Dredge www.pencilandspoon.com,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Nathan Nolan www.mrdrinkneat.com</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Des De Moor www.desdemoor.co.uk</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Tim Holt from The Brewery History Society</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Check out their tweets and blogs to see their thoughts too.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.36</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Abbaye de St Martin</b> Dark with the lovely Mark McLain from the Brunehart Brewery in Belguim. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.38</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A tongue party- what a zing, unsual in something this colour. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.41</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Something very old fashioned about this beer, the bottle even looks like its been in a cellar for a few years.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.43.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bad Attitude Brewery</b>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lorrenzo , an Italian irritated by the dull scene in Italy at the time. Made cans before BrewDog. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.44</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Two Penny Porter (Birra Artiginale.) Love the bottle, would make The Sex Pistols proud. Doesn’t taste 8.15% I get the impression this has been going down a storm around the room.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.46</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Windsor and Eton. </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.47</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Conqueror<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Black IPA. Ive had this one before- yum yum yum! As they say, not what you’d expect, Nathan next to me just made an exclamation of surprise.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.48</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">‘Changing perceptions in beer’ Paddy the brewer says. Hugely popular, will other brewers be making it? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.49</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Des De Moor says ‘It does challenge perceptions- it’s really strange!’</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.51</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><u>Brains</u>- SA Gold. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ffion<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jones says ‘5.7% Golden Ale , developed 5 years ago.’ Its more popular in England than Wales.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.53</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mark Dredge asks ‘what would you pair it with? Ffion says’ fish’ Nathan and I say shellfish’</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.56</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><u>Innis and Gunn</u>- Canada Day special (who new Canada was Innis and Gunn’s biggest market?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.58</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Tasty! Smoky, bourbon sweetness. Delicious.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.59.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Blown away by this beer! Why do we never see the wider range of Innis and Gunn? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.00</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There is a hit of fruit after too- 8.3% This has really changed my views of Innis and Gunn.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.02</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Gerry from <u>Wychwood </u>with his own beer pouring goblin. Hobgoblin 5.2.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.03</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">They make 11 million in bottle, 6 million in cask. First brewed for a local publicans’ daughter’s wedding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Weddings with Beer- one of my favourite subjects.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.06</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><u>Adnams </u>and Broadside with the charming Fergus.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.08.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Fergus explains its tasting notes etc, including that it can be used to make Christmas puddings with. I made my Christmas pudding last year with Broadside!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.09.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Just found out Dark Star were supposed to be here and haven’t made it! Darn it!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><br />
</div>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-47071636901779537852011-05-21T13:52:00.002+01:002011-05-21T13:58:28.676+01:00So far at the Beer Blogger's Conference...<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Just over half way through The European Beer Blogger's Conference in London </span><a href="http://www.beerbloggersconference.org/"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">www.beerbloggersconference.org</span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What I've learnt so far:</span><br />
<ul><li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Happy bloggers are better than moany bloggers.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Red Shield goes well with salmon and parnsip.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'd like to go to a Brewdog bar and sit next to old couples who've been shopping.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I quite like the flavour of diacetyl.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sharps brewery are up to some very exciting, little known, cool stuff.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rhubarb and custard sweets are tasty with a hangover.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Pilsner Urquell's new advert is beautiful and is guarnteed to make anyone want to visit Pilsen.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I could be more open- minded "Beer isn't bad just because you don't like it" said Kristy (Molson Coors)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Beer folks should remember it is fun 'Its not the Middle East issue' said Darren from Beer Sweden.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">More later. This is fast paced!</span>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-34164151880049350222011-05-02T22:09:00.002+01:002011-05-02T22:12:04.625+01:00And one thing led to another...<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I don’t really go in for all that detox lark but if ever my body has been crying out for one it is now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What a mighty few weeks we have had. Any normal person would have come back from a weekend of 60+ different beers in Sheffield (well documented in my previous post) and drunk tea, eaten toast and watched some telly. We proceeded to fit in as many pub trips and beer festivals as we could without causing our relatives to stop speaking us.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A trip to do a boot sale near my parents’ in Kent led to a mega cider tasting (and purchasing and then drinking late into the night) at Middle Farm somewhere in Sussex.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A cooking class in Central London led to a visit to the new Old Red Cow in Smithfield Market. Well worth popping into, this is the brain child of the marvellous folks behind the glorious Dean Swift near Tower Bridge. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Meeting up with an old pal led to the pub quiz at the Grape and Grain in Crystal Palace, packed to the rafters, triumphing in such sad times of pub closures.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> A casual night round Real Ale Bro’s led to a mega tasting sesh of his Meantime College Beer club wonders.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A couple of days later, we moseyed on over to the (Stoke Newington) Jolly Butchers’ first birthday party with its amazing range of special, made for them, birthday beers, where I fell in love with Evin ‘Kernel’ O’Rhiordan’s baby. </span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV8f6zokYS0tki1bmNGIFF1WZ4K6SCKDqhtevMci2_xeHIjUzB8aKG8iId0MkqAVySoNiT-8VSv4jmvGligV34_JfenhVOzRThhlG9RFOub6OCJMj-3cBSMmir9_315bAJoghN6edsOCU/s1600/egham.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV8f6zokYS0tki1bmNGIFF1WZ4K6SCKDqhtevMci2_xeHIjUzB8aKG8iId0MkqAVySoNiT-8VSv4jmvGligV34_JfenhVOzRThhlG9RFOub6OCJMj-3cBSMmir9_315bAJoghN6edsOCU/s1600/egham.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">With the brewers from Ascot and Windsor & Eton</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">and 'Beer Justice' Steve at Ehgam Beer Festival</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Then came the Egham Beer Festival, and boy do those dudes know what they are doing. £1.35 a half for the some of the most unusual, exciting, beautifully crafted beers around. I go to a lot of festivals and I drink a lot of beer. I often struggle at festivals of this size to find anything new to drink. I struggled to find something I’d heard of, it was that well sourced a range. So good, that the brewers themselves turn up to see how their beers are going down!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d read about Egham fest but never made it before. If similarly, you’ve never quite made it I urge you to go. They make it easy by having three fests a year. And I promise you I am not on any sucking up mission or on any commission, just p***ed off it took me so long to go. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Then to Planet Thanet in Margate (via the Sportsman in Seasalter for a gourmet father-in-law’s birthday lunch and the delights of the gorgeous Lifeboat in Margate itself). Since our last visit to the festival a couple of years ago, the organisers had come to their senses and let us outside and also came up trumps with an impressively diverse beer selection. The Wantsum and Ramsgate joint venture Low & Behold, a 2.8% tax reducing beauty, was the perfect beer for basking in the sun- bags of flavour yet light enough not to exacerbate the sun stroke.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Back to work for a few days, and all the fun started again with Bexley Beer Fest at Sidcup Rugby Club. I wrote in depth about this lovely festival last year and again they did’nt disappoint. The added oomph of Royal Wedding brews went down well and 6 of us did a conga to the folk band while everyone looked at us with scared bemusement.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Royal Wedding day itself saw us drinking cans of Brew Dog Punk IPA in Hyde Park at 9.30am. Quite an experience, especially as the cans look like cheap lemonade. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I woke up the next morning craving ginger and couscous (is that my own detox recipe, afterall?) Bt instead we had more beer. Hiding in the tasting rooms of the Draft House on Tower Bridge were Melissa Cole, female beer writer #1, Stuart Howe, head brewer at Sharps, and a whole lot of secret, and mightily strong, special Sharps’ beers. Stuart entertained us with his amusing stories of wierd beer creations and boy, did the selection he brought with him change my mind about the sort of beers available with a Sharps label (Massive Ale, Top to Bottom 69 Hop, Monsieur Rock... who knew?).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Finally, with the Sharps 23% Turbo Yeast Utter Abhorrence From Beyond the Ninth Level Of Hades II (yes, the full name) doing its thang, we headed over to Leyton for Brodie’s Bunny Basher Festival. I’ve never been shy to bang on about my love of these guys and their wonderfully weird and ever inventive ales. It now seems that this quirkiness has spread into the food offering too- rabbit burgers on the BBQ? Weirdos. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So, the bank holidays and random days off are all done and dusted. Back to a more sensible level of beer consumption then. Head says ‘Darn it’, liver says ‘Hurray’.</span></div>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-76514663595377103532011-04-16T22:18:00.005+01:002011-04-17T09:21:45.168+01:00Who needs an AGM?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">As we speak, Sheffield is rocking under the weight of the CAMRA AGM, a weekend of beer bonding, beer pilgrimage, beer exploration.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">I did my own such pilgrimage last weekend. Never having been known to do things in the normal, easy way, we (Real Ale Bro and I) went to Sheffield on our own steam, for our own mega beer weekend- not an agenda in sight.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Saturday 9th April, our train pulls into Sheffield at 12.15pm, we are in The Sheffield Tap by 12.17. Having spent many an hour in The (lovely) Euston Tap, this was bigger (not difficult), brighter and simply the best station bar the world must have ever seen. We had 6 beers here, while it quickly became clear just how many amazing beers we were likely to come across his weekend.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Checked in, (9th floor- amazing views) we spotted The Rutland from our window. Four ales (from local breweries Raw, Brew Co. and Blue Bee) slipped down perfectly in the sunshine filled garden and before long we were at The Kelham Island Tavern. Approaching, we stepped into the photo that has been used in all the CAMRA pub of the year articles and on entering, there we were inside the Beer Tickers film. It is a weird feeling to actually, finally, be inside a place you have seen, read, heard so much about and wanted so much to go to. When you get there, the feeling is a strange mixture of cocky and smug, with awe and humbleness.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">The rest of the weekend took us to The Fat Cat (which I think I actually liked more- its got more quirk, more heritage, and on our visit, a more exiting beer range) and then The Harlequin, where we enjoyed the bounty of cellar runs for porter, a beautiful Roast and chat with Pete, the brewer at Brew Co. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">We made it over to the Devonshire Cat, where real ale pub meets student union meets world beer emporium and later, The Old House- funky, cool, with vinyl on the wall, but still all about beer. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Bath Hotel was a 1930's treasure, and we squeezed in to listen to the live blues on Sunday night, the Derwent Dark Mild fitting the aura of the place so well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">A bus ride to the Rising Sun, and a bar lined with beers by Abbeydale and more, and a huge box of used pump clips looking for caring homes, started off Monday beautifully. We popped into The Red Deer on the way back into the city. A pleasant pub, but in a city where most places have a beer selection to blow your mind, this pub just felt a bit too much like the less adventurous of the pubs we find at home.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Walking back into the city, we spotted a Thornbridge logo flying in the sky. In reality, it was on the side of a whitewashed bar, Trippets, which treated us to some of the rarer Thornbridge ales and a room full of beery, quirky memorabillia.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Good Beer Guide unfortunately led us to The Musuem, a souless city centre Greene King pub, and so we hotfooted it back to the Rutland for a range of beers completely different from those we'd had two days before. Finally, grabbing our cases, back to The Sheffield Tap.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">One weekend, 65 different beers and some truly amazing pubs. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm sure those AGM folks are having a whale of a time (judging by the tweets, the conference deabating is just about being outweighed by exploring the beer delights).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">However, we certainly got quite a kick out of doing it ourselves. And felt more than a touch of envy about those who live in The Valley of Beer. Do they know how good they've got it?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">P.S Hope you like the new look. There are photos of this trip on a memory card about a mile away from where I am now, some will be added soon.</span>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-85376735568728525242011-04-07T21:02:00.000+01:002011-04-07T21:02:48.952+01:00Let's hear it for the girls<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Early this week, I got a bit star struck. I'd been invited (get me) to the launch of the Project Venus Collaboration beer Venus Jade, a beautiful beer made by an equally beautiful gang of lasses- female brewers from across the UK and Ireland: Sara Barton from Brewsters in Grantham, Grainne Walsh from Metalman Brewery, Waterford, Eire, Sara Carter, from Triple FFF, Michelle Haylock Kelsall, Offbeat Brewery, Crewe, Cheshire and Kathy Britton from Oldershaw Brewery also in Grantham.<br />
Off to The Rake we went. Now those of you who have met me in person will know I'm not usually described as shy and retiring. But here I was, lurking in the corner- not knowing how to approach this group of groovy women who spend all day, every day creating beauty in a glass for us all to enjoy, while I just stand about drinking it. Listening in, I waited for an opening to join in the conversation- nodding and smiling while they discussed how many kilos of hop were required in the morning. All of a sudden, my beer knowledge and passion didn't matter anymore- these ladies make the stuff. What do I know? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">But, inevitably, I got chatting (thanks Jane </span><a href="http://www.school-of-booze.com/"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">www.school-of-booze.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> and Marveline </span><a href="http://www.funf-media.co.uk/beerbeauty"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">www.funf-media.co.uk/beerbeauty</span></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">/ </span>for coming to get me!) And several pints of the gloriously summery, way too easily drinkable Venus Jade later, it was like an episode of Loose Women but without Jane McDonald, thankfully.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">You don't need me to bang on about the role that women have in beer today. Its all been said. But what this beer did was actually show it. And show it off, in all its elegance and style.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: small;">L-R: Sara from Triple FFF, Kathy from Oldershaw, Real Ale Girl, Grainne from Metalman, Sara from Brewsters</span> <br />
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</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Humbled, and in awe of these groundbreaking, creative, collaborative beings, I ambled into the Market Porter. Knocking me right out of my pondering was a copy of the new London Drinker. With an article by me. Nothing anywhere near as cool as creating my own beer, but its a start. Strange how it has a pink cover this month...</span></div>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-62922423010701112422011-03-27T15:08:00.001+01:002011-03-27T15:08:54.479+01:00We know where it's at!<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Another blogpost, another Friday night. I do go out on other days of the week, honest. But this particular Friday night could not possibly go unblogged. For this Friday night saw me waiting under the clock in Waterloo. Not for a romantic liaison, but for Real Ale bro to appear so we could wing it on over to La Gothique for the Wandsworth Common beer Festival. Now the history of the place is indeed fascinating, what with its Crimean war orphanage, trench recovery hospital, World War 2 interrogation centre and the detention of Rudolph Hess. It is also architecturally intriguing, this eerily lit chateau sitting in the middle of blocks of flats, criss-crossed below by train tracks and the common.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But we all know what the real draw is. That beer list, is quite simply, dudesome. Twitter has made it impossible not to hear about all about the cool niche scene happening right now; collaborations, limited editions, quirky versions of established beers. However, hearing about the beers is one thing, getting them is another, especially if you don’t have the sort of life that means you can jump on a train at 1pm to get to the launch before it all runs out. These beers also bring a whole new slant to Beer Ticking. There is nowhere to tick ‘em- they aren’t listed anywhere! Which all adds to the exclusivity, the feel of the hunt, the buzz of actually finding one.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Or all of them, in a courtyard in Wandsworth as the sun set after a spring day that was dressed up as summer. The sneaky Dark Star Hophead Citra version, Oak matured casks of Sambrook’s Wandle and Junction (the cutest little 36 pint casks ever seen!) Summer Wines’ Apache APA, Redemption Trinity Pale Mild, Windsor and Eton Conqueror Black IPA... It was like stepping into the last few weeks’ hot topics in the beer realm of Twitter, without needing to go to work with a hangover or trekking to a pub on the other side of London only to get there two minutes after the cask is drained. Although, we did miss the Hophead Citra, by just one pint. That’s the last time I am honest when the barman says ‘Who’s next?’</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This really is a beautiful time to be a beer drinker in London. Yesterday, I was performing in Verdi’s Requiem at the Blackheath Halls and post performance, gasping and in need of a major beer style quench, R.A bro produced the most beautiful selection of brown bottles that he’d picked up on a quick afternoon hop to Kernel’s Saturday shop. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Imperial Brown Stout, on its first day of release, was just what Verdi himself would have chosen, I am sure. Followed by Suke Quto Coffee IPA, Dark Star/Kernel Imperial Marzen and blissful mainstay, London Porter. I am saving the Redemption and Kernel collaborative Mild until after tonight’s performance. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It’s all going on in London town- these limited editions and collaborations, as well as all the launch nights, make the beer scene here ever changing, innovative and, well, darn good fun. But thank goodness for festivals like Wandsworth Common’s, for giving those of us with day jobs the chance to get hold of them!</span>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-59697034188312577252011-03-06T14:15:00.001+00:002011-03-06T14:24:02.857+00:00The perils of a night with no real ale<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Friday night. Real Ale Husband isn’t home yet, it’s been a busy week, and it’s time for a rewarding drink. I look at our bottled ale selection- some fine specimens. And herein lies the rub. These beers are treasures R.A.H and I bought in a delightful farm shop on the outskirts of Oxford. (When I say farm shop, it was more posh supermarket in the middle of nowhere, but being a Londoner, anywhere that sells carrots with the mud still on feels rustic. If you ignore the woman flogging loyalty cards.) Anyway, the beers we purchased in this Waitrose in disguise were lovely specimens. Beers we can’t easily get in bottle form round these parts. (I’ve yet to enter the world of online beer ordering- it still pains me to picture the lonely landlord round the corner twiddling his thumbs while mine are twiddling on computer keys ordering beer to drink at home.) However, these beers we bought as we simply couldn’t resist- Hook Norton Double Stout, Wickwar Station Porter...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So as I said, this was my problem come 6.30 on Friday night. I couldn’t open one of them without the presence of R.A.H. These were treasures discovered together, to be enjoyed together. So now what? Aha. A wilting bottle of Sainsbury’s basics cider lies half full (or half empty? You decide). That’ll do. That’ll clear the stresses of the working week and I am sure you will agree that there was no way the hubby would mind that disappearing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Then he arrives home, and a bottle of Cava flies down our throats during dinner. We get rather excited about the line up of the upcoming Hop Farm festival and dance around the flat to Iggy Pop, and the party mood tempts us into a shot each of something bright blue and raspberry flavoured lurking in our drinks cabinet. (It’s more of a shelf, actually- it doesn’t have the doors that are surely prerequisite for a cabinet.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We head on out into the Lew-sharm night, armed with a drink for the train journey (Boris hasn’t banned us from drinking on this form of transport.) So, this pre-party tipple should have been one of the aforementioned bottled beers, I agree. However, something in the Lust for Life lyrics subconsciously made R.A.H reach for the vodka and make a portable Moscow Mule in a bottle of ginger beer. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We arrive at the party. In a wine bar. No real ale (or in the words of the dear ex-bus conductor ticker, Clippie- NORA), nor any beer that wasn’t Becks. Hell, I’d already started on the vodka, I better carry on. Vodka and Tonic please. Next- this is a wine bar- let’s get wine. Then- Oh look- you’ve got a Portuguese Bock- do you want to swap it for the rest of my wine? And then I stumbled, got a bit loud(er) and declared I needed to go home.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A hangover like no other ensued. My head was yelling "What are you doing to me, carzy woman? This is not the usual cosy yummy beer stuff that I am used to!" My stomach was equally unforgiving, "How dare you, Real Ale Girl! I will make you pay!" And I will keep the rest to myself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I tried toast. Paracetamol. More sleep. Hot chocolate, tea, ginger tea, lemon green tea. And then I went to the pub. To the beer festival at The Grape & Grain in Crystal Palace, to be precise. One half (North Yorks.' Flying Herbert) and all was well with the world. Hangover gone. Kapoof.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The moral of this long and winding story? Only drink real ale. That’s it.</span>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-1861882206670607742011-02-17T20:38:00.002+00:002011-02-17T20:44:13.049+00:00Giving something back...<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Cor blimey, you may recall me last month (yes, it has been a while) complaining of being a widow to my dear husbands other love, football. Well, I’ve gotta take it all back as he has been a beer widower on many occasions since that last post. But what is the point of drinking all this beer if there is no time to write about it? (Well, there’s lots of point to drinking beer other than writing about it, but it’s darn frustrating, I can tell you.)</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAIliW6so1VD7onpe_ouB-a3DDnkDVfFVSDEPPpxEIlQ9db_zwI_dqSUSiUo9XCK1YW07JHWNil1i9UKd1kb6WKKWdeFRA0B6JtN8117cGlkY2WX_IKcbtuVbg-jrkD_MZl7sa6V2m9Ww/s1600/pigs+ear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" j6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAIliW6so1VD7onpe_ouB-a3DDnkDVfFVSDEPPpxEIlQ9db_zwI_dqSUSiUo9XCK1YW07JHWNil1i9UKd1kb6WKKWdeFRA0B6JtN8117cGlkY2WX_IKcbtuVbg-jrkD_MZl7sa6V2m9Ww/s1600/pigs+ear.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">'Volunteering' with the lovely Bill at Pigs Ear 2009</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It all started with a fateful night at The Dog and Bell in Depford, when, at a SE London CAMRA branch, fuelled by one too many Rudgate Battleaxes, I agreed to do take over the branch newsletter. All very well and good until less than a week later, after several Ringwood Fortyniners at the Ladywell Tavern, I ended up on the branch’s Beer Festival committee. (May 28th and 29th, Beckenham Rugby Club, by the way. I’ve not been put on publicity for nothing, you know.) </span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I’ve also been beavering away on pub surveys for the Good Beer Guide- I think I’ve saved up 5 years of branch volunteering and shoved it all into one month. I don't think I can count working at CAMRA festivals working, you are paid in beer!</span> <div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I know I have some readers who are quite anti- CAMRA (and some who would rather see the whole organisation shoved into a mash tun and left for the enzymes to go to town on.) I agree there are some elements of the St Albans crusade that can be a tad out of date- believe me, of all folks, I would know. On the other hand, this is part of the charm. I love hanging out with the old school dudes at a festival. At Battersea last week, I ran into Malcom who holds me responsible for the fact he has worked at 25 festivals in the last year. (Not as creepy as it sounds- I put him in touch with the staffing officer at Pig’s Ear for his first festival volunteering experience and he’s never looked back). I had a good old natter about stout with Paul, who always wears shorts, and compared festival planning notes with the dude that is John Cryne (fresh off his appearance in the BBC news.)</span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">However, I am all too aware that these festivals can turn as many people off as on. Which is why I get involved.</span><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“We need you- you know cool people!” The festival organiser cried when I said I was too busy.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“You’re mates with the man from the Dean Swift and went to the Kernel Black IPA launch” said another. “You know how to use twitter!” </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What persuasion. How can a girl say no?</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-81104131987667508612011-01-09T12:22:00.001+00:002011-01-09T12:38:17.794+00:00Let's all club together<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">This week, you could call me a football widow. Real Ale Husband had training on Thursday and matches on Friday night, Saturday afternoon and is currenlty out for a Sunday morning match. However, I don't like the term football widow. It implies I'm sitting around weeping at him leaving me alone (well, I only do that occasionally). It gives the impression that he's out having fun while I'm at home oslaing over a hot stove (actually, that was only during the Friday match, and the homemade burgers were bloody lovely.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Football widow does not suggest the fun that I have as a result of all his running around fields pretending to be a professional footballer and taking it all a bit too seriously.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am not left behind at all, oh no, because I have discovered THE CLUB.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Occasionally, I think I'll go along and support the lovely South East Athletic boys as they battle, week in, week out, after the holy grail of Bromley and District Football League glory. Occasionally, I make it for the match. Often, I turn up sometime during the second half. However, usually, I scrape into the bar about the same time as the boys emerge from the showers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">The John Roan club house. A place of big screen TVs and piles of kit bags, of geezers who knew my Grandad and sepia team photos from yesteryear. And of ale. Great ale. Even if it seems to be only me, Real Ale Husband and occasionally, Real Ale Father-in-law drinking it- apparently lager is more refreshing after hard graft on a muddy pitch. I wouldn' know. But what I do know is that love this place. I love the ever changing seasonals from Harvey's and Batemans, I love the bargain dinners (Shepherd's pie, chips and beans for £3.50- carb overload, but athletes need sustenance, I suppose). I love the little boys throwing footballs about inside and smashing glasses. And I love the fact they make me feel like I belong there despite often being one of only a couple of women in the place. Maybe its the Grandad connection. Maybe its because I drink their ale and bang on about how good it is. Or maybe it's just because it's a welcoming, opening place, doing a brilliant job of serving the players and WAGS. Although I can't help thinking probably owe them some sort of membership fee...!</span>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-50253617605356377272010-12-16T22:24:00.000+00:002010-12-16T22:24:24.088+00:00Way out West-erham<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm not a country girl. I am city born, my lullabies are the sounds of sirens and 3am revellers. Four years living in Cambridge, albeit glorious and the location of my discovery of real ale, often felt like clasutrophibic village living to me. Meanwhile, my friend from rural Devon thought she had arrived in a dangerous, graffitti- ridden metropolis.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">So it was with a mix of intrigued trepidation that I allowed myself to be driven down the deepest, darkest lanes of Kent towards the Westerham Brewery. When I say I allowed myself to be driven, I should admit, we actually managed to convince Non-drinking Mum to drive us there, pay £8 for a shandy and stand in a cold barn. She didn't get the reward for the crazy journey, pot-holed driveway and snow-ramped car park that we did, as we heaved open huge sliding doors to find a brewhouse brimming with jugs of beer, the glitter of fairy lights bouncing off mash tuns and hundreds of balding heads. We paid eight quid, we poured unlimited ale into our non-plastic compostable cups and we merried ourselves squeezing into nooks between pieces of brewing equipment.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">We made our way along the jugs, from the refreshing 1965 Special Bitter, the William Wilborforce Freedom Ale (mixing demerera sugar- fairtrade, of course- with Kentish hops), past SPA, British Bulldog, Finchcocks Orginial and Grasshopper, to the Christmas brew God's Wallop and the relatively new Double Stout. We had an 18 pint box of God's Wallop last Christmas (it goes very well with turkey, in fact, the food offering at the brewery itself were baps of turkey marinated in the stuff). This year, we will be making our way through an 18 pinter of the Double Stout- a beautifully rich and fruity, yet smooth, easy drinking beer full of winter warming oomph. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Westerham is a brewery which, from the farmyard location and open-air gents, appears quaint and old-fashioned but in reality is at the forefront of innovation in beer. Robert Wicks, the brewery's founder, peppered his tour with nuggets of the future- his sccience geek 'hoprocket' system (oo-er), the eclectic, up-coming international beer style specials, the ethical and environmental credentials of the brewery, all the while singing of the health benefits of ale. They have recently started growing their own malt and use almost entirely Kentish grown hops, being loyal to the beer heritage of the local area both through the ingredients sourced and by creating beers to old recipes from the archives (and the original yeast) of the famous Black Eagle Brewery.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">A unique experience: a glimpse of the future, in a dark and muddy farm, while handling the biggest jugs around. (Ahem).</span>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-80147246548596624772010-12-01T16:40:00.002+00:002010-12-01T16:42:44.059+00:00All Hail The Harp<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I<span style="color: #274e13;"> just had one of those lovely moments where you exclaim out loud with glee and want to tell someone the news. I had one such moment this morning when a text arrived saying not to go to work because of the snow. But that's not the one I wanted to tell you about. This particular exclamation happened when I finally got round to opening this month's What's Brewing.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Behold, on the front page, a most marvellous piece of news-The (glorious) Harp on Chandos Place, London, has made it into the final four for the CAMRA best pub in the country. I always look at the pubs who win that accolade with a sense of wonder and intrigue- they must be spectacular enclaves of beer joy, full of ale loving pilgrims clutching their Good Beer Guides with rapture. But they are always so darn far away an I find myself asking the inevitable questions- will I be able to go there on a weekend away? How far is it from the nearest train station? When I get there will the punters look at me like I shouldn't be there (or offer me a glass of rose)? Before the cries of complaint at my naive comments leap from your mouths, I will confess to never having, to my knowledge, been to a CAMRA national pub of the year. Not even The Kelham Island Tavern. Indeed a travesty, and a black mark on ale loving credibilty.</span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But- oh! The Harp! Its 15 minutes on the train from my gaff! It's a mere delight filled skip from Charing Cross! And they never look at you like you haven't got the right to be ordering a stout with bosoms, a good figure, and no memory of the '70s, as the staff are in the same boat! This place is girl power Real Ale Stylee, a place I love so much that I will risk every elbow in the rib, every sweaty armpit up the nose, every moment of missing out on a bar stall, just to be inside. It was the first place I tried the heavenly Old Chestnut by the lovely dudes at Dark Star, and Sambrook's Powerhouse Porter, hot off the press in its first couple of weeks. The beers are reliable, exciting, beautifully served and varied, served to locals, commuters and Japanese tourists in equal measure, making it truly cosmoplitan whilst endearingly quaint, charming and well, bloody small.</span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Bigup to the lasses at The Harp- a well deserved place in the final four.</span>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230738624391599406.post-51678788457518433302010-11-22T22:08:00.002+00:002010-11-22T22:10:12.458+00:00The Tale of The Real Ale Girl and the Psychic Cellarman<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lewisham Wetherspoons. Friday, 9pm and I have the distinct feeling thre is a psychic about. One who can read into the depths of my dreams and who, for some reason, wants to make all my wishes a reality.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">At the <em>official</em> end of the latest Wetherspoons Real Ale festival, I had had 39 of the 50 beers. A memorable evening around The City's selections kicked it off, followed by several trips to our locals, Lewisham and Lee Green. We made a couple of stop offs in Mark Dredge's haunt Tonbridge, spent an evening in our wedding venue The Knights' Templar (where I was given a festival T-shirt which I am going to turn into the coolest bag around) and finished it all off on the last official day of the fest with an eye opening (and nostril torturing, in some) Northern Line JDW crawl. And with that, I thought it was over and I'd get all ticked off in my Good Beer Guide, with Wadworth's stunner Pixley Blackcurrant Stout getting my vote for beer of the festival.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">But lo and behold- the wizard that is the Lewisham cellar manager must have snuck a peak over my tasting note booklet and decided to reward me for getting through another week with five festival ales. Four, beautiful, untried, pristine pump clipped ales that I had not yet ticked off in my guide. (I say ticked-the black paper made ticking impossible, so I used glittery little star stickers, making my fest notes more glam than Cheryl Cole). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Okay, so I understand neither Mystic Meg nor Professor Dumbledore were skulking outside Primark and Iceland on Lewisham High Street on Friday night wating for me to appear before running into 'Spoons and bewitching the mnager into putting my need-to-try beers on. I admit that deep down I know that they have a tactic of ridding their festival beers from the cellar to make way for the rather exciting looking Christmas brews. And also being able to charge 30p more for them post-fest.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">But I'm going to indulge myself in the fantasy that we were being rewarded for trudging from pub to pub, clutching our untickable tasting notes on bus, tube and train, only to find the same three beers on as in the pub before. The fantasy that if you look hard enough, work hard enough, wish hard enough, you may just find what your looking for, even if it is just a beer called Black Squirrel.</span>Real Ale Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12400563688096385701noreply@blogger.com2