A Pineapple, a mug tree of beer and 5pm dancing. Easter!

Most folks spend Easter eating chocolate, but of course, for me, it is prime beer drinking time. A long weekend with beer festivals left, right and centre, with the odd sprinkling of sunshine to remind you that there is a use for beer gardens other than  freezing smokers' asses off.

We kicked off our festivities at the Pineapple in Kentish Town on Good Friday. With casks setup in the garden, and pie ploughmans' platters, I thought we'd stumbled our way to Kent itself. But the hip and groovy yoofs told us otherwise, even if only 1 in 5 of them were brave enough to move away from Stella.  After being shouted at by a punter becuase I was lucky enough to get money off using my CAMRA card, we proceeded to drink our way through all 24 beers available that day. Surprisingly for me, I went with a popular choice for my favourite of the festival- Derventio's Cleopatra- fruity (masses of apricot silkiness), pale and girly- all the things I usually avoid in an ale. But this one was something special, a perfect Easter treat. You could almost see the bunnies and chicks frolicking in it.

I also made a new celebrity pal, with Suggs being intrigued by my beer ticking antics - he'd clearly never met anyone who gets kicks out of trying new beers, and bombarded me with questions about festivals and ale, declaring to the barman "That girl has got it right! What a hobby!" He stuck to Hop Back Crop Circle for the afternoon, signing my beer list, rather than starting his own!

We finished off a perfectly good Friday wih another trip to the glorious Southampton Arms, where we made it through all the beers and most of the ciders. And still had room for some chocolate on the way home.

Saturday, and we are off to the airport, to Geneva, and the Alps. An Exmoor Gold in the Gatwick North Terminal Wetherspoons started off a trip of great beers- who knew the Swiss had so many beers around? The Austrian Gosser was a perfect accompaniment to fondue whilst Switzerland's own Feldschlossen Lager, whilst a bit bland and fizzy, was a treat after climbing 300 odd steps up the cathedral towers. We found two amazing brewpubs in Geneva, who mercifully both did tasting selections. At the brasserie du Molard, these tasters came on a mug tree for beer, and contained the intriguing Ambree, which was so good, even my mum had one.

 At Les Brasseurs, they had a special seasonal beer on, a bright, bright, bright red 'Spice beer' which was flavoured with what tasted like jalapenos and cinnamon. It was both delicious and hideous at the same time, I never quite decided whether I loved it or hated it.

From Geneva, we wound our way up and up and up into the Haute Alps and the land of ski, and more importantly, apres-ski. With a bit too much Grimbergen wiggling around inside, we made our way in a cable car from Brides les Bains to Meribel, the heart of  SkiBunnyVille.  Not wishing to take part in any activity involving voluntary breaking your own bones whilst hanging out up a mountain, the apres-ski is what I'm interested in. Especially when it invloves dancing to live music, drinking Mutzig Old Lager, at 6.9 % at 5pm. If it weren't for all the skiing, I could get into that lifestyle.

Its all about London beer!

Two London Breweries, two very different experiences!



On Thursday night, we finally managed to get to Meantime’s new joint, the Old Brewery at the Naval College (well, it had been open since Tuesday). At 8%, the specially brewed Hospital Porter was a major triumph, and went down nicely when supped whilst getting in the way of diners so we could read the amazingly comprehensive history of beer timeline. The manager thought I was joking when I suggested they reproduce this timeline on tiles so I could have one in my kitchen. I wasn’t. Maybe I’ll just have to make indents in some copper to make it look like beer bubbles and put that on the wall. Oh, they did that too.


Did I ever mention Brodies and the wedding beer? A couple of weeks ago the lovely James confirmed they would make us a beer for our reception, which led to many squeals from me, at work, where no one else understood what a phenomenal prospect this was. Heathens.


So, on Sunday, we went over to Brodies Bunny Basher Festival, and worryingly, drank about 12 different beers before we finally met with Jamie. Who gave us lots more. And free T-Shirts. Mint Chocolate Chip Stout led to many squeals- mint aero in a glass. Blue (a blueberry wheat beer)- cue more squeals. And then one beer got an accolade rarely awarded by Real Ale Girl. A Ten. Olde Ardour (was it brown ale, was it old ale?) was perfection in beer form. Get some somehow, people; those Brodies know what they are doing. And so, the wedding beer. After much deliberation and argument… well, I’m not going to give it away on here, am I?


Tonight, we are off for a schmooze at the White Horse for their Lager V Ale shindig- Pete Brown invited me after the writing comp. I just hope I don’t swoon over Roger Protz like I did last time I saw him. Oh, bugger, what if he remembers me, the mad girl who got giggly over him signing her Good Beer Guide? Well, at least I can feel more like an equal- I just got invited to join the Guild of Beer Writers… again, all down to that competition entry. You’ve got to be in it to win it.

Right there, under my nose.

I think of myself as quite adventurous, fairly quick on the uptake and keen to venture into new places. So, why was it only this weekend that I discovered the joys of Crystal Palace's Grape and Grain, and The Harp, near Charing Cross? I did consider making out that I'd been to both of these gems before, out of sheer embarassment, but then my excitement would give me away- nothing beats that fluttering buzz of finding a phenomenal real ale pub.
So imagine this. It's Friday night. I've come straight from work, having gotten changed in the coat cupboard and put lipstick on in the dark, as everyone else had left and I was concerned that turning the light on might trigger an alarm. I'm due to attend a special one off pub quiz put on by a friend's church, and I need somewhere to while away half a hour or so while I wait for fiance. I had heard about this place, the Grape and Grain, but I'd heard about it from CAMRA ticking friends, and was apprehensive about the presence of my short skirt in such an establishment. I've still got a CAMRA card, miniskirt or not, I thought, as I pushed on the heavy door, escaping the drizzly rain.
And there it was. Pub heaven. 8 real ales, Locale and microbreweries. Arm chairs. Discounts for CAMRA members. Wood panelling. Menus in LP covers. In SOUTH EAST LONDON! I have a feeling that miniskirt may become a regualr feature at the Grape and Grain.
Pity we had to leave to go the quiz, although we had a marvellously civilised time and busted all competition with our music round prowess and ended up winning. The quiz, by the way, was at The Rosendale, in West Dulwich. My pal's pals had hired out the upstairs. Meanwhile downstairs, in the main bar, I reluctantly ordered one of my least favourite ales (from a choice of one), Adnams Broadside. The serving was laughable, I flagged down the nearest barmaid for a top up (it was missing about 40p worth of beer, at these prices) and she topped it up with Murphys. It might be worth avoiding the Rosendale if you like your ale without an Irish stout top.
Saturday brought with it an early meeting at our wedding reception venue- quarter past eleven isn't too early for a half, is it? Cottage Ex Mayor or Itchen Valley Godfather? Ok, then. Both.
Meeting down, and fiance off to football, I had a good few hours to fill, and so took a stack of work to the Baker Street Wetherspoons. The barman serenaded me as I ordered Welton's Sweet Chariot- any guesses what he sang? And soon it was time for my Harp adventure. Bro took me round the houses (well, the side of the Colliseum, in truth) to find the back entrance- which was well worth it. The Narnia effect of pushing open the unmarked door and stumbling into the warm bustle of the tiny bar made me want to run aroundand say hello to everyone. Redemption's Urban Dusk just added to the glowing loveliness of this place, and after 4 ales, I vowed to come back again soon. I had'n' expected it to be the next day. A very dodgy play in Kentish Town put us fabulously close to the Southampton Arms, my previous pub heaven discovery. A local played rock and roll on the peiano, we shared a bench with Helen Mirren lookalikes and we made our way through all thier ales and a selection of their ciders, but let me say- a green beer should not taste of egg, Stonehenge Ales.
Sunday- and we paid a visit to our wedding chapel, followed by a tour of Wembley Stadium (we really do get up to all sorts, don't we?) We jumped off the tube at Finchley for a Wetherspoons Sunday lunch, and then hopped off again at Euston to pop into the Bree Louise. Hopback's Back row was the most exciting of an already outdated range of Six nations themed beers, but we had a lot of fun playing bankety blank with the menu. Who would ever guess garlic loaf?
And as if by magic, we were back at Charing Cross, and our legs led us subconciously back to The Harp. Some Dark Star wares and dry cider finished off my weekend of surprised discovery. Do you think I can stumble across two stunning new pubs every weekend? I'll give it a good shot.

(2nd) Prize winning beer writer, anyone...?

After an ale free night on Tuesday at the Brockley Jack, I was up for the South East London CAMRA branch crawl in Sydenham. The chat was good, the ale disappointing; we got a Young's Bitter in The Bricklayers, a dodgy Tribute in The Windmill and left The Woodman out entirley due to no real ale- how did that place end up on the itinerary? Lucky we started the night off in the Capital with B & T's sublime SOD- how can something with that name taste so good?
Having not be to the Brockley Jack for ages, we were back again on Thursday, this time en route to Justin Lee Collins at the Rivoli Ballroom. I still had no ale, though- I just can't bring myself to pay for a Greene King beer.
No matter, however, for Friday night was London Drinker night. Swinging my way into the weekend with the news of my second place in Pete Brown/ The Publican's new beer writer competition (check out petebrown.blogspot.com for the details) I was up for some classic beer fest fun. I got it, in the form of chats with lovely CAMRA friends, reunions with pals we had not seen for ages, Tombola fun, and of course some yummy ol' beers. But the organising dudes still need to learn to get more dark ones on; they all disappear so quickly! I even managed to kit Lorraine out in a pair of the highly desirable and hard to come by CAMRA earrings- all cool real ale girls should own a pair.

Dresses, beer, dresses, beer

What else could a girl have in hand when trying on wedding dresses than a botte of ale (this time, Maypole Mild from Oakleaf) which was the last of a fabulous Christmas present, a box of ales from realale.com. Winter really must be over- the box is now empty.
Friday, late afternoon, and I was squished inside the Market Porter, drinking something lovely, but I wasn't too sure what it was- it was too busy to get a view of the pumps, but it took me nicely into the weekend- a weekend that was quite lacking in ale opportunities. Until today, that is.
Hounslow. Trekking over there on a Bridesmaid dress quest, we popped into it's Wetherspoons; one of first, in true shop conversion/ local history on the walls style. Welton's Horsham Old, Cotleigh's Buzzard and Caledonian's Over the top gave us the strength to step out into the gale and find the bus to Isleworth- how could we be this close and not make a detour to the Red Lion? Now, its not everyday that avid London Drinker readers find a pub beer festival accidently, but it happened today, in the form of their Celtic fest, serving 25 Scottish and Welsh beers over the weekend. We managed 8 this afternoon- not bad for a Sunday, but very easy when there are tasty offerings from Abergavenny's Tudor brewery, and more Rhymney (mentioned last week.) This time is was their Dark. Dark indeed, and delicious. Beautiful beers, good live music, this is a truly fabulous pub- worth reserving bridesmaid dresses on the other side of London for.

All over the shop...

Wowzer, what a week! Sorry for the lack of post last week, but as I mentioned, I was in Amsterdam, drinking lots of (in the words of The Wenlock) Fizzy Piss in the form of Heineken. I did get to drink wort on their brewery tour though, now that's a sweet experience.
Back in London, we went for a whisky tasting this time, at Cadenhead's, where whilst not being an expert on the stuff, I fooled the proprietor with taste buds that have been honed into accuracy through real ale sampling!
From whisky in Marylebone to Porter in Tunbridge Wells, courtesy of the fabulous Royal Oak. The perfect spot for a cosy Wednesday night, we enjoyed their new pie and beer deal with the beautiful Larkin's Porter- its so nice to try something different by them. Lovely. And they serve Ramos Pinto Port- this place knows their stuff.
And then to Wales, Swansea in particular. Despite forgetting my Good Beer Guide (potential ale on tour disaster) a soon to be relative filled me in on the places to be. He led us to The Joiner's Arms in nearby Bishopston, which, as well as being a gorgeous homely pub full of friendly locals celebrating Friday afternoon, it's also the home of The Swansea Brewing Co. We made our way through their available range; the Bishopswood Bitter and Three Cliffs Gold (which admittedly, whilst tasty, were spookily similar to each other) and the stronger Original Wood, with a real lump of carved wood for a pump clip. We also popped into one of Swansea's Wetherspoons where, despite huge wine/ cider hangovers, we were able to sip down some more Welsh ale, this time from the Rhymney Brewery. I wish I could say it cured the hangover, but it stood no chance after I'd witnessed all those cockles in the market. I was feeling better, however by the time we headed to a Sizzling food pub, which was just as well, as they were serving Brains Bitter for £2 a pint.
Now, last time, I said the Southampton Arms was enough to make me want to move to Kentish town and I had a feeling it would'nt be long before we returned. Yesterday was the first opportunity we had, sneaking it onto the end of the Kentish Town Crawl recommended by those nice folks we met last time. The sublime Pineapple and the busy Junction served us well on the ale front, each place allowing the three of us to try a different ale. The Dartmouth Arms, whilst being a fun pub with an amazing board game selection, was a bit disappointing on the ale front, so we drank cider and Erdinger. And so to the super Southampton Arms- an amazing pale ale from the new Redemption Brewery, a rich Porter (or was it a stout) from Bath's Abbey Ales, and Fraoch's Heather Ale were the tastiest of a superb selection, and we nibbled on the world's best Scotch egg.
Oh, and between arriving back from Swansea mid afternoon and our evening crawl in Kentish Town, I managed to squeeze in a trip to The Old Coffee House in Soho for this week's Brodies fix- yummy stuff, the West End Best. Looking forward to the Easter Festival.
Indeed, what a week. Think I need an ale from the cupboard to help me recover.

Can we move to Kentish Town?

Despite possiby the craziest week at work, I how managed to sneak in a few ales- although, we all know that ale is the best therapy.
A sleepy trip to the Capital, Forest Hill's Wetherspoon's, left us full of a sense of what we were missing- three extremely exciting looking beers were all 'available soon'... if only we lived the sorts of lives that meant we could pop in everyday. We can dream. 
On Thursday, as the work madness was subsiding, we made a pilgrimage across London to Kentish Town and the glorious haven that is the new Southhamptpn arms. An alehouse by name, alehouse by nature- they serve only real ale and cider from small independent producers, with no fizzy piss to be seen! Sharing a pew and marvelling at the pork pies, we enjoyed to beers by the Earl of Soham Brewery and made our way through all eight ciders. We met some lovely locals and a surpirise workmate who gave us enough pub tip offs to merit a pretty good crawl in the near future. Yet another pub to make you want to move... anyone fancy opening an alehouse in Lewisham?
Today took us to the Mad Hatter, the Fuller's pub by Blackfriars bridge, which wasn't yet serving their new Bengal Lancer- we'll just have to wait until Tuesday when we are having a tutored tasting by Fuller's head brewer. Then over to Greenwich and the Admiral Hardy where we were pleasantly surprised as, despite only popping in for the football, we were greeted by Sharp's Winter Berry. Tasty stuff. Still not being willing to head home, we navigatec our way to the Dog and Bell for a gargantuan Bar Billiards Tournament, washed down with Moorhouses Black Cat Mild and Nethergate Umbel Ale- strange not to see something rarer in Deptford's beer paradise, but still certainly yummy. Also strange for me not to win the Bar Billiards tournament.
Next weekend takes us to Amsterdam, so, dear followers, there will be no blog on Sunday, but I'll try and make a new post on Saturday, if you are lucky.

its only mini- its my birthday!

It is my birthday today and was tempted to leave the blog, but I could'nt go back on my Every Sunday resolution. But it'll only be brief.
Friday took us, and 63 lovely pals to the Wheatsheaf near Borough Market (weird to go there without stopping in the old MP first!) for our engagemnet shindig. We chose it for the buzz and the beer, and well and truly enjoyed both, but sadly, due to the level of this enjoyment, I can only recall one beer by name, but that's because it was beautiful- Wayland Smith's Giant. The rest of the selection was undoubetdly consumed, but will have to remain sorrowfully unticked in my Good Beer Guide.
Speaking of the GBG, we were in Hastings today for a my birthday lunch when we stumbled upon a guide stalwart, the First In Last Out brewpub which we were all embarrased to admit we did'n't know anything about. Thier Cardinal Porter and Crofter's ale were tasty treats to try as we peered into the blue lit brewing space, and they were also serving a Cottage ale and Dark Star's Old Chestnut. Yummy stuff. Maybe we could try and find a new brewpub on every birthday.

An argument, some haggis and a tasty blonde

I started off this week's aleness with an awkward confrontation in the Clannanch, a Nicholson's near Carnaby Street. I asked if a particular beer was on. The barman, in the tone of a headmaster talking to a naughty 5year old, stated that if the pump clip is facing me, the beer is on. So I had to remind him of the last time I was in that exact spot, three pump clips were facing me and not a single one was actually available and we had left, and I'd emailed the head office (yes I am a grass). He didn't really reply.
Thursday saw the best deal Wetherspoons has done in ages, with their Burn's week special, Haggis, neeps and tatties with a pint of scottish ale for £3.99. Beautiful- at the risk of sounding a bit Oz Clarke, the Caledonian Auld Aquaintance brought out the oats and went perfectly with the turnip. Dark but light, I came over all och aye.
We just got back from  another London Bridge session- it seems to be coming a Sunday/ lazy day regular. A good selection in the Market Porter ( Loddon's Firsty the Snowman and Bradfield's Farmers were the best of the bunch) were accompanied by the permanent problem of insufficient seating and a debate over stealing the beer mats (we have a very good but very secret reason for wanting to do so). We then ambled round to the Wheatsheaf, which despite having a sign outside advertising Sunday night jazz, was shut. With a padlock. So yet again, the Horniman got our custom, and we got to try two Lancaster ales, their blonde and their amber. I never thought I'd say this, but just this once, blonde was better.

Sorry!

So it has been ages since my last post, but certainly not because there has been nothing to write about. A very busy real ale girl, but my 2010 pledge is a blog every Sunday, perhaps another on a Wednesday if you are lucky.
  So, the busy month. What could have possibly kept me away? Lets go through this chronologically, peeps, for the sake of thoroughness.
  After the pure joy that was Pig's Ear 2009, came the ale free Staff night out, painful being so so so close to  Market Porter and Wheatsheaf holy graildom without getting through the door to either. I had to drink vodka. Quite refreshing, actually.
  Christmas concert rehearsals saw me spending a lot of time at The Blackheath Halls, making my way though the Meantime range (the raspberry is very good for the vocal chords, I've discovered), and a lot of time in a selection of Wetherspoons, ticking off Christmas beers form their winter offering. Lovely stuff. I love Christmas beer.
  With that in mind, we made a pilgrimage to the temple that is the King William for the Brodies Christmas Beer Festival, and yummed our way though Ho Ho Ho and had a sneaky sample from Lizzie of the sacredly rare Pink Pride. Good ol' stuff ad nice T-shirts. Pink and Beer, what an amazing combo.
  Christmas itself brought with it an 18 pint box of Westerham's Godswallop, incredibly easy to drink all day by a roaring fire, under wooden beams (not a Christmas card, but my parents' place in Kent).
  In the post Christmas lull, we pepped ourselves up with a Good Beer Guide led trip to Salisbury, where, as well as getting engaged (yay!) we made our way round the historical streets and Cathedral, and all the pubs in the guide, as well as many that should be. The glorious Village Freehouse is the sort of pub that you want to move house (and city) to be near to; I have major pub envy of those locals. Lots of Hogsback beer drunk, we made our way back to London with the warm glow of love and the buzz of yet another storming Good Beer Guide trip. It was surely meant to be.
  The snow kept us indoors, but have no fear- a marvellous Christmas present of a selection box from realale.com meant we were suitably entertained and satisfied, with a flat full of polystyrene.
  So here we are, snow survived, back to the grind, but with a rather beer related wedding to plan. I'll try not to bore you with too much wedding chat. I'll try.
  

Beero at Pig's Ear

What larks this year's Pigs Ear Festival brought- all cushioned with an amazing selection of winter warming porters, stouts and strong ales and sponsored by the lovely Brodies.
Wednesday night saw me and bro go as punters- nice to get to a festival early on for the full selection, but a little tricky on the head the following morning. We spent the night cramming in as many of the Christmas beers and porters as we could, including the intriguingly wierd Christmas Wheat by Pitfield and Milestone's Harry Porter. Magic. Brodie's festival special, Piggy Winkle's Christmas Tinkle, was deceptively festive for the light hoppy flavour- I reckon there's some cloves in there somewhere. We had a lovely chat with James Brodie (who, according to Facebook, felt even more hungover than I did) and I got confused for Lizzie several times due to me T-shirt. We left feeling festive, more than merry and with some good tips about beer festivals in New York.
Friday took me behind the bar as a volunteer, something that every CAMRA member should do at least once, if for nothing else but  the random chats with very, very drunk people (and all the free beer). After 4 hours behind the bar, I'd been offered 5 pints, asked out by a 60 year old South African, had 8 conversations about why a girl like me hangs out with 'all these old men' and advised lots of very enthusiastic but decidedly clueless young beer drinkers. One guy declared me a 'beero' (which is apparently a beer hero) after introducing him to the joy of Saffron's heavenly Chestnut Grove. Brilliant fun, and we even got a lock in with the full range to choose from. Now there's why I like to hang out with all these old men. And the fact that they are (on the whole) rather lovely.

ale is cool- its official!

So the Wetherspoons fest finished with a flourish in the guise of the Crosse Keys Superfest. We made it down for the rather quiet but actually very relaxing Sunday, which despite being nothing on Saturday, apparently, still had a full cohort of beer beauties, including the yummily fund raising Armistice by 1648 and the crippling X- terminator by Oakham.We left that one for last. Enjoying a constant commentary from the fellow next to us and chats with some festival reguars, we made the most of a fine 24.
Last night, however, brought a rather different type of ale festival-  the week long ale fest at Spitalfields ultra cool Pure Groove records. Oh yes, in case you doubted, ale is officially cool, with three aes at a terms being served from casks on the counter in this record shop/cafe/bar/live music venue. So this trendster of a venue needs cool beer, so who do they go to? Brodies, of course! I enjoyed a couple of pints of Amarilla, despite it not being my normal choice of style- it just goes to show those Brodie siblings know what they are doing. The manager/DJ said the festival has been amazingly successful and they may well get an ale on permanently. Let it be a Brodies, being East London and all that!
This morning took to me to school football on Blackheath, and then to the Princess, which is another cool place that is recognising the grooviness of real ale, with Holden's spooky pump clipped Horn Dance (so yummy it made me exclaim with delight, even though I was alone)and Springhead's un-chocolate orangey Chocolate Orange Twist. I couldn't decide between the two so ended up having a half of both. Before 12.30. And I was on my own for the second one. Oh dear. Sometimes a girl just can't choose.
Probably because I'd virtually downed these halves, I then decided it would be a good idea to go to ZeroDegrees for a 5l minikeg. The special, Rauchbeer is beautiful and looks very nice chilling on my window sill. Problem was,  I bought it before I went shopping, and so fumbed around the boutiques of Blackheath knocking things over, with condensation dripping down my arm. Sometimes though, some beers are just worth the effort.

Megaspoons

So the weekend arrived with the rain pouring down, soaked through shoes, mud splashed tights and a stackfull of work left on my desk that I didn't finish. Only one thing for it; The Crosse Keys, mid fest. It was the first time I'd been able to get down to the Megaspoons during this festival and despite having tried a few of the 24 at other wetherspoons over the last couple of weeks, there was still a whole Powerpoint presentation's worth of ale to get through. Having munched our way through the de riguer bargain sausage, chips and beans, we settled in and I worked my way through 19 thirds. I love that you can drink 19 beers and still come out walking, its pure anti-binge genius. Sort Of.

Star of the night, and possibly the festival, although I am only just over half way through the programme, was Oakleaf's Old Navy Custom. Nutty, caramelly, yummy. Bring back Old Ale, I say.
I've got a couple more opportunities to find a rival though- the normal Wed night meet up on Lewisham Wetherspoons and then back to the Crosse Keys on Sunday for the Superfest. Bring on the ever changing Powerpoint.

1000 ales!

Welcome to Naughty November!
Having spent a few days in Swansea for a lovely wedding in a groovy, modern hotel (which sadly only served a rather warm and vinegary Reverend James), I was back in London on Saturday night and ready to wipe away the late night, all day wine drinking of the wedding with a good ale session.
Luckily, we heard about the Halloween festival at the amazing 'gothic' Patriotic Building in Wandsworth. Having never been to its normal freehouse Le Gothique, the sight of this eerie, intimidating pile was perfect for Halloween night, and the beers were gloriously as dark and spooky as the costumes. (My 'costume' was only my Brodies Special T-shirt, but it did lead to a weird conversation with a man who claimed to love Brodies and their pub, but didn't actually like any of the beer.)
Anyway, this wasn't just any old beer festival event for me- this fest would hold claim to my 1000th different real ale (since records began), and I celebrated it in style with Dark Star's Winter Meltdown, the multi -talented and bewitching Seasick Steve's music and a cheers with our long haired friend from The Pigs Ear Festival Games Division, who offered us some homemade pickled onions if we attend the next one.On that note, I am intending to volunteer on a couple of nights- will keep you posted.
My 1002nd beer Downton's Chocolate Orange Stout, however, was the business and had me making all sorts of inappropriate noises of appreciation, but then so, surprisingly, did the 10% Thomas Sykes from the fabulous Burton Bridge. Drinking any of their beers takes me back to our Easter Burton pilgrimage, but being 10%, I was expecting to find this too sweet and overbearing, but it was dangerously easy drinking. Seek it out, strong beer fans.
I finished the night having been made to jump 5 times by the same masked man but on a new score of 1011. How long until I reach 2000?

London Bridge- sorted!

What a week we are having- I love half term! Following our mammoth day on Saturday at the Wenlock and Hoopers, we followed it up on Sunday with a London Bridge area crawl with the main aim of trying each beer on in the Market Porter and the Wheatsheaf. Add the newly vamped up selction in the Horniman to the mix, and there is a permenant beer festival waiting at the end of a 10 min train journey.
We started off the day in Lewisham Wetherspoons to use the WIFI, but of course could'nt escape without a couple of halves; the obligatory Welton's on offer today was Old Cocky, and they also had Brewster's Decadence, a bit too bland to be that decadent, to be honest!
Hotfooting it up to the old LB, we went striaght to the tourist haven that is the Horniman at Hays to make the most of the riverside seats in the sunshine. No such luck, lots of South American teenagers had got there first. The bar was a little understaffed for the manicness of a Sunday Roast frenzy, but an American OAP came to rescue and asked the barman to 'serve this young honey next, sir!'. How chivalrous, but I had to stop thanking him when I saw he ordered Fosters. So much for 'Ye olde English ale' that American tourists usually hunt out. At least he asked the barman to top his pint up, but that didnt stop him dramatically underfilling my glasses too. The tragic thing is, there are so many people who just accept a poor measure. Don't let 'em get away with it folks!
We'd read about The Horseshoe in The London Drinker and after a Dickensian style romp through railway arches, we found it tucked away but heaving with people looking out for beach balls during the Liverpool v Man U match. We snuck upstairs to the roof terrace with Hogsback TEA and Robinson's Wags to Witches- yum yum yum. Even if it did make me think of Colleen Rooney while I was drinking it.
We headed further away from London Bridge into the surrounding residential area, and stumled upon three or four backstreet pubs, like one which had a seemlingly encylopaedic range of whiskey, but was sadly shut. if anyone knows anything about these pubs, I would love to hear about them. We did find one that was open though, the tiny fronted Whitesmiths Arms, that whilst only serving Courage Best, was charming witha lovely garden which had a TV mounted to the wall under a gazebo on which we watched the rest of the Liverpool match, whilst chatting with the Chelsea supporting locals.
From here, we made our way to the Southwark Tavern, were we tried Adnam's Kolsch from thier new Around the World range (which was really good, for Adnams!) and the Autumnly perfect Cameron's Fireside.
After bargainous gourmet cakes from a desperate end of the market day baker, we settled in for a session at the Market Porter. Despite the Lewisham knocking from the fellows we met at the bar, we had a good chinwag with a couple of fellow 'tickers' who never quite seemed to accept that I might know what I'm talkign about. Sadly, considereing the season, the beers on offer were all quite pale and golden, even the Halloween themed ones, and we left, after trying them all, hankering for something dark and rich (and an Autumnal beer would be nice too!).
On to the wonderful Wheatsheaf which has not left me disappointed yet, and Nethergate's Holy Smoke rescued me from the abyss of bland beer with its peaty, almost bacony flavour. It was Frazzles in a glass. Our second Fireside of the day, this time by Black Country, was as warming as the label suggests and ensured that todays contest finished as Wheatsheaf 1 Market Porter 0. I never thought I'd see a day when I preferred somewhere to the 'Porter. Goodness. Well done Wheatsheafers and big up to South of the River.

I'm back!

Woohoo! Am back on the ale, and what a way to start- pub festivals at the legendary Wenlock and the delightful Hoopers.

We made our way over to Old Street for the '7th CAMRA and Wenlock Arms Beer Festival' and setted upstairs in the strangest of rooms with their Scottish Beer Selection with a collection of folks I recognised from other fests, and the man who ate a whole cheese on the Meantime Brewery Tour a couple of years ago. Its weird how I remember these people. We enjoyed the most bargainous jumbo sausage in a roll (beautiful and only £2) which went perfectly with Broughton's Exciseman's 80 which I first had in Glasgow in 2007.  Five comments from strangers about my (admittedly stunning) Dark Star T-shirt later, we headed downstairs to the usual pub area and spotted the lovely lads from WOOFTA. I now know this stands for Wenlock 'Oxton Old Farts Association  who I first met in the Market Porter a couple of years ago, and recently ran into some of them at Brodies on the brilliant birthday festival weekend.  The boys certainly don't look as old as they must be and are big champions of my cause! Great Heck's Super Dave was the star of the show here, and am gutted to have missed Brodie's Deep Fried Mars Bar!

For our second festival of the day, we made our way back down south to Hoopers in East Dulwich for their Champions' Beer Festival. After the usual warm wecome from landlord Jamie (pictured, in a shot from a good while ago!), we were tackling a fine batch of award winning ales, think my festival favourite was Prospect's Nutty Slack (I do love a nutty one), closely followed by Cairngorm's Black Gold ( more Scottish ale!) An strange array of talented guitarists, chats with some fellow SE London CAMRA members, and ladies with green hair entertained us and kept us there until almost midnight.

Both fine festivals in lovely pubs, not bad for a first day back on ale, and following it up today with a London Bridge/ Borough crawl. Won't be having another break soon, if I can help it!

The Home Strait, brought to you by Kaliber.

My antibiotic driven abstinence has been tested and taunted this weekend, whilst galavanting around Kent during a visit to the parents'. Ambling around Hever was lovely, but would have been lovelier if followed up with a cute mini bottle from the Meantime range they had in the cafe!
This was then topped by a trip to worthy Good Beer Guide new entry The Royal Oak in Tunbridge Wells (no free jelly beans this time) where the boys had Dark Star's Over The Moon. I wish I hadn't sipped it, as going back to Soda and Lime instead was mighty tricky. Rich, dark, malty, a perfect Autumn ale from those amicable Ansty folk (We had an amazing day at Dark Star's brewery in the summer, by the way, I recommend it).
Sunday took us to an apple festival (Brogdale Farm) and 14 ciders that were out of bounds. According to the boys, the two by Double Vision were the best to go for, and bro got me a 2 pint take away for when the drugs are finished with (bring on Friday!) But, cider or not, the festival was well worth the visit, as, unbeknownst to us, playing away in the band tent, was the mighty talent of my long lost little brother Adrian Benn! What a dude, even if he did use me as his cider minder as he knew I wasn't able to sneak any sips. We aso ran into Mike and Lorraine from SE London CAMRA, and just as I thought I could'nt feel any more schmoozy, we spotted a moody looking Suggs well we did approach him when he had his mouth full)
Anyway, am on the home straight, have got bottled beers cooling ready for the weekend (may be tempted by one on Thursday, in fact- drugs permitting), and a mammoth ale weekender planned- pub festivals at the Wenlock Arms and Hoopers on Saturday, and perhaps a Borough/ London Bridge crawl on Sunday... will let you know. Until then, I'm drinking Kaliber.

Entering the wilderness

I never thought I'd see the day. Me, not drinking.

Thanks to an 'infected rupture' (you don't need the details) I am on a veritable cocktail of 3 types of antibiotics and mega strong painkillers. And 2 weeks of no alchohol (and indeed no dancing). I feel a little bit lost, to be honest. No alcohol means no Real Ale.

So some plans have needed changing.
I could'nt do the midweek Wetherspoons meet up, so instead of an  (almost certain) pint of Weltons, I was in, drinking costcutter Cherryade (thank you D) and Twinings Lemon and Ginger Tea (thank you bro). Both very nice, but would have preferred to be washing down the foul sulphur tasting pills with Bartram's Cherry Stout and Beartown's Ginger Bear.
On a quite slow and painful trip to Sainsburys for supplies, I found myself perusing the squash and cordial aisle, and went for an apple and mango high juice, in the hope it may have some similarity to real cider. It does'nt.
However, as disturbing as all this is, by far the biggest problem this rampant rupture has caused surrounds the quaint yet delightful Wallington Beer Festival. Due to be going tonight with a cool crew of beer drinking youths, and volunteering behind the bar tomorrow, I had to be very strong and realistic to admit that neither of these were gonna happen. Sorry Wallington- I'll do a double slot next year. And a little note of thanks to all those lovey folks whose plans are also having to change to accomodate me- I'm baking apple cake this afternoon and you are all welcome to some! x

St Albans 09 and a very starstruck real ale girl

Was nursing a slightly sore head this morning, but I think that has more to do with Saharas nightcub in Lewisham than the St Albans Beer Festival. Nothing sore about that place!

A swift, and surprisingly bargainous train journey from the stunning St Pancras took us to St Albans, home of CAMRA. Last years festival was great and I was ready for another good session.

Boots meal deals in hand, we made our way over to the Alban Arena and enjoyed a queueless entry (well, it was 1.30pm!) It was also free entry for CAMRA members- another excuse to try even more ales. The glasses were served by other young real ale girls which I was excited to see- we are growing in number, and it also meant they didnt try to force me into a half pint glass. One of the best things about this festival is the time of year it is held, as it means lots of Autumnul ruby beers, porters, stouts and really flavoursome milds- my favourite was Tring's Mansion Mild and Cropton's Honey Gold was pure caramel in a glass.

We found ourselves partcipating in the quiz, a raucous romp through the beer list in the form of a general knowledge challenge, and I soon ended up on a busmans holiday by marking lots of quiz papers on stage. We didn't win, but did jolly well for a team of 2 youths! We also got a free botte of Trings Death or Glory just for taking part. What a deal!

The rest of the afternoon passed in a warm swirl of addictive ale (except Alehouse's Robust Porter- DON'T try it!), lookalike spotting, getting mistaken for a volunteer, weird harmonica players, and old people stressing over spilt drinks that were coming nowhere near them.

Then ... Roger Protz arrived for Good Beer Guide signing. All ideas of meaningful ale discussion and seamless promotion of Real Ale Girl disappeared as soon as I tried to speak to him, having turned into a giggling teenager. I was behaving like I was meeting Take That. Justified really, though, he is the writer of the most useful book in the country and a moustached hero. He also happily posed for photos- a meeting of 2 groundbreaking real ale writers. Legend.

Somehow I managed to regain my strength enough for the walk back to the station (the chilli con carne helped too.) Can't help thinking the meeting didnt have as profound an effect on Roger...

Happy Weekend!

Well here it is. Well done for making it to Friday night! St Albans beer festival tomorrow, anyone else going?

Managed to fit in some surprising mid week drinkage this week, kicking off on Monday with The Museum Tavern, opposite the British Museum, where we had just enjoyed an exceedingly sophisticated and indulgent soiree at the Members' Evening. Now, I'd always thought the Tavern was an overly touristy place, catering for museum goers looking for something ye olde. But, coaxed in by a Brew Dog display, we were plesantly surprised with Brain's Merlins Oak (yum yum yum!) and Gales Seafarer. Sadly, nothing was actually on by crazy boys from Brew Dog, but thanks to Sainsburys Beer Competition, have been drinking loads of their bottles at home recently.

As I mentioned before, on Wednesday we headed to our local Wetherspoons (Lewisham) to use up as many of our CAMRA discount vouchers while we still could. Sausage,chips and beans, nicely washed down with Woodfordes Nog, which I'd forgotten was as good as it is. We also had something else from their endless supply of Welton's ales (they've had so many on recently that I can't remember what this one was even called.) Little tip- fancy a Welton's? Head on over to the 'joy' that is Lewisham Wetherspoons. We did'nt even see a fight this time!

Well, intending on a night in, but may well pop up to our local, The Holly Tree, later for a little something. Need to keep a clear head for St Albans fest though... x