Micropubs - The Door Hinge and The Broken Drum

The Micropub - a small licensed premises selling real ale and not much else, with no music or fruit machines to be seen or heard. They are basically a CAMRA members wet dream come to life. The micropub movement has been moving along quite happily now over the past few years. I've managed to visit a few of them. I have always enjoyed my time at them, even if the small rooms means they usually feel very busy, filled with men of a certain age (old.)

I recently had the pleasure of visiting two micropubs in Welling, a suburb in South East London where the most noticeable feature is that there is a Tesco's and a Morrisons directly across the road from each other, like two cowboys having a show down to see who's going to leave town first. A few minutes walk away from the superstores is The Door Hinge, the first micropub of my visit. It fit the micropub template to a tee - a very small room with cosy bench furnishings and plenty of random tat plastered all over the walls, with a well chosen selection of ales on offer. The clientele was older and it turned out a fair few of them were CAMRA members. Unsurprising as micropubs may as well have signs plastered on the front saying "CAMRA members come drink in here - it's all your pub dreams come to life!"

I realise I'm sounding a bit snarky about CAMRA but I do quite like them, and I'm even a member. They still seem to be struggling a bit with this whole craft beer thing though. Some want to dismiss it, some want to embrace, personally I don't mind if bearded hipsters are making the beer as long as it is tasty. The Door Hinge certainly serves a decent pint and the friendly landlord handed me a half of Iceberg from the Titanic brewery, a hoppy treat that I always enjoy. Perching on the end of a bench I had a chat with other punters about the (rather good) Wetherspoons up the road and what local real ale festivals were coming up. Soon it was time to move on to the next micro.

The Broken Drum hasn't been around as long as the Door Hinge, and it's in a rather awkward location off a main road and near to a very popular local pub (The George Staples.) With it also being a Tuesday afternoon it was very quiet when I walked in, with a young couple and child being the only other customer. The beer selection was tempting though and I settled on another bench with a tasty pint of Goachers Best Dark Ale which went down very well.

Despite the lack of customers it was nice having a drink in here, and I had a second drink, the excellent Blue Top from the Old Diary brewery, whose beers are well made and very enjoyable. I had a pleasant chat with the landlord about the do's and dont's of opening a micropub, as it's something I'd be interested in doing once I have the funds. He was more than happy to have a chat. I think that's what I like best about micros, it's nice just sitting down among strangers and having a chat. Beer is a social lubricant after all. It may not be for everyone, but I enjoy it.

Norfolk Part 2 - Norwich

I'd been looking forward to visiting Norwich ever since looking up the town on the handy Good Beer Guide mobile app, and was pleased and a little bewildered at the number of results returned. Arriving in the morning, The Lovely Jemma and  started the day by having a look around the market and a stroll around the shops in this charming little city, and soon it was time to get down to the serious business of enjoying a half in as many of the Good Beer Guide pubs as possible. We both started in The Murderers, handily located near the Primark. The interior was quite amusing with a smugglers cove look, and posters of infamous murderers dotted about. My half of Wolf Brewery Edith Cavell, named in tribute of the famous nurse was a floral, hoppy treat. I'm sure it's what she would have wanted her beer to taste like (maybe.)

After leaving TLJ to carry on her shopping and enjoy lunch with her mum at Zizzi, I headed on to the second pub. It nearly ruined my itinerary for the day as despite the GBG describing the pub as being on the "outskirts" of the city centre it was actually a good 20-30 minute walk before I arrived at The Fat Cat. Nestled on a suburban street corner this place is a CAMRA member wet dream of a pub come to life. Classic pub furnishings, plenty of real ales on handpump and gravity, and lots of little nooks and crannies to sit in. On a damp Tuesday afternoon there were a goodly amount of people in enjoying the ale and chat friendly atmosphere. The Fat Cat has their own brewery, although it's not based in this pub, and I tried a half of their Hell Cat. It was a hoppy, reliable sup, and I couldn't help but invest in one of their pork pies as well, which was very tasty and great value at £2.50, compared to the £4-5 I'd have to pay for a slice of decent pork pie in London. With the soggy weather outside I could have quite easily of camped in here for the rest of the day, but I had a helluva lot of other pubs to visit so I sadly moved on. I'd be happy to come back.

Next up was the The Alexandra Tavern, another street corner boozer nestled in a residential area a few minutes walk from The Fat Cat. An attractive pub inside, with a large horseshoe bar and comfortable seating areas on each side, there was also a nice selection of ales. Beers from the Chalk Hill Brewery seemed to be the house favourite and I tried the Tap, which sadly wasn't brilliant. It was lacking punch and tasted a tiny bit sour and tired. Settling down on a bench I noticed that there was a rather happy four legged fellow a few tables down catching forty winks. Judging from the size of him I thought he'd be more home at The Fat Cat. I gave him a little bit of fuss but he was too sleepy to notice. The pub was quiet and I enjoyed my half in peace, looking at the photos of the immense amount of charity work the landlord has done for the area. I could see this being a lively little local after work hours.

I started walking back to Norwich city centre, stopping in to the Earlham Arms as it was on the way. This large, imposing pub is tastefully decorated in greyish hues inside. Although there is a strong focus on food, I had missed the lunchtime rush and was able to enjoy a half in a quiet, relaxing pub. The half of Norfolk Kiwi from Jo C's Norfolk Ales was really rather good, and the food the punters on the table next to me were enjoying looked tasty as well. Service was friendly, and if this was the only pub in the nearby area it would be an excellent option, but with all the competition nearby this place was reliable if a little bit bland.

A ten minute walk later and I was back in Norfolk Town Centre, and on to a pub I was looking forward to visiting, The Plough. This boozer serves as the tap for the reliable Grain Brewery, and a full selection of their beers were available in this sparsely furnished, small two room pub. The serving area is awkwardly sprawled across the two serving areas, making it difficult to squeeze past even on this quiet Tuesday afternoon. I ended up having a half of the Best Bitter and it was an excellent example of the style, rich warm and comforting. With a pleasant beer garden and friendly service this was a more than capable pub despite the tight layout. Next up, down a side street near the market was The Vine, a small pub serving a nice selection of ales and a tasty looking Thai menu, although sadly I didn't get to try it. My half of Comet by Newby Wyke was a tasty, easy drinking ale, and generally this seemed to be a easy going pub, although I imagine it can get rather cosy during busy periods.

The last pub on my journey around Norwich was The Mash Tun, conveniently located near where I'd parked the car. Owned by trendy Norwich brewers Redwell, the place was done up in traditional craft bar style - exposed brick work, metallic surfaces, a BBQ menu and a absence of handpumps, but plenty of keg available. A wide range of Redwell beer was available, and the Pale Ale I enjoyed was a lovely hoppy treat, although it was delivered freezing cold which lessened the flavour initially. There didn't appear to be a lunchtime menu and the beer prices were high so I wasn't surprised to be the only punter in the pub. Sadly this meant the atmosphere was deathly dull, and the lady behind the bar looked like she wished she could be anywhere else. I couldn't blame her. I'd like to come back at a busier time as I didn't get an accurate feel for the place on my visit.

Norwich didn't let me down with the pubs, with an excellent and varied selection of boozers available catering to just about every taste, from old fashioned ale houses to trendy craft emporiums. I had a great time.

Carshalton

If there's one thing Boris Johnson should have sorted out in his tenure as London mayor, during which he appears to have done absolutely nothing except waste newspaper pages with his buffonish "antics," he should have spent millions of pounds joining up South East London (and even Croydon) with decent transport links. Carshalton is 12 miles away from my house in SE London, a 40 minute car journey. However to get there by public transport took 1 hour 30 minutes, as I had to go into London and out again which is ridiculous. After trundling through the cultural desert that is Mitcham, I arrived at Carshalton, a nice enough little town nestled on the main road between Sutton and Croydon which is blessed with three decent pubs.

First up was the Windsor Castle, a Shepherd Neame pub although you wouldn't know it from the outside as it doesn't appear to advertise itself as a Neame. This imposing street corner pub on a busy junction has an exterior clad in wonderful green tiling, and inside the traditional feel continues. It's a surprisingly large place with a central oval bar dishing out Neame ales, plus three guest ales. As I've drunk far too much Neame in my lifetime I tried out the guests, and went for a half of Legless Rambler from the Beachy Head microbrewery. This award winning ale was a little rough around the edges, but there was plenty of promise and it was a pleasant enough bitter sup. Only two other customers were in and Smooth FM was being played so the atmosphere wasn't exactly electric, but the pleasant decor made this a nice enough place for a lunchtime half and possibly a nap. Food was available as well with standard pub grub options.

Next up was The Sun. From the outside this was another imposing street corner boozer, but the inside was nearly the exact opposite of the Windsor Castle. Modern decor and furnishings gave it a boutique feel, and although the focus was mainly on good looking food, I felt comfortable just having a drink. There was a well chosen selection of ales on offer and my Off Beat Brewery Kooky Gold was a solid example of a British pale ale. There were slightly more customers in this one, so there was a bit of atmosphere going. The light and airy style of pub isn't usually my favourite, I prefer my boozers dark and dank so I'm not distracted from the serious business of drinking ale, but I did quite enjoy the look and atmosphere of this pub, even if the dramatic black patterned back bar wallpaper looked like it may be more at home in a hairdressers. Nice little pub and I'd like to return to try out the food.

The last pub was the main reason I made the trip out to Carshalton. The Hope is a CAMRA favourite, and was voted Pub of the Year 2013. This old school boozer was bought out by the locals, and a beer revolution is happening inside. Some well chosen ales were on offer and there was also a smattering of craft beer offerings on keg, such as the Pale Ale from Five Points brewery. I ended up going for the Arbor Triple Hop, which was a fruity, hoppy treat. A few regulars were in hogging the bar but they were friendly enough. Preparations were in place for a beer festival which, just my luck, was due to start the next day. There's no music, no fruit machines, and the decor and furnishing look like they haven't been changed in years. No wonder CAMRA love it so much. Luckily it's my kind of pub as well. A very simple food offering was available, and I was pleased to see a billiards table in the back. A classic and welcoming boozer, and the excellent beer on offer makes it even more worthy a visit.

I carried on to Croydon to meet up with The Lovely Jemma and try out a few new pubs, but I'll tell you all about those in my next blog post as I desperately need the content. Until next time!

SE London Pub of the Year nominees

Being a paid up CAMRA member I recently received an email from my local South East London branch about nominations for the branch Pub of the Year. Depressingly I had only been to one of the pubs on the shortlist, the excellent Park Tavern in Eltham. I had been meaning to visit the other pubs on the list and the email gave me the kick up the arse I needed to go out there and give them a go. Of course a single visit isn't enough to get a true feel for a pub and nominate it for the award, unless the place serves free pints of perfectly conditioned real ale served by dazzlingly beautiful bar staff in a opulent Grade II listed interior. But at least I could say I'd visited these pubs, and I get a blog post out of it as well.

First up was the Blythe Hill Tavern. I'd heard good things about this place but I'd never visited even though it's only a 30 minute bus ride from my house. This is probably because it involves going to Catford - an area that always seems to be on the brink of "gentrifying" but the hipsters and professionals just can't bring themselves to do it. The Blythe is a good looking traditional street corner boozer from the outside, and I gingerly went to one of the three entrances hoping I wouldn't have to face the locked door of shame. Luckily I chose wisely and walking in I was greeted by a small seating area and bar. Initial looks proved to be deceiving, as there was another room behind the bar and a further room around the corner, making the pub surprisingly spacious - and also explaining the numerous entrances.

Five ales were on offer including firm favourites Harveys Best and Dark Star Hophead. I went for Whitstable Centinneal, a single hop beer which was very pleasant. I took a seat next to a telly showing the (Irish) horse racing, and was amused by the posters advocating temperance dotted above the bar. The pub was very quiet with only three other punters in - but it was a Thursday lunchtime, or perhaps those temperance posters did have an effect. The beer was good, the pub was good and I imagine on a Friday evening quite an atmosphere gets going. A decent boozer.

Next up was a pub that wasn't up for nomination, but as it has received a lot of good buzz and was nearby I thought it rude not to drop in. The London Beer Dispensary is the tap for trendy brewery Late Knights. Even though I knew that this place didn't have a traditional "bar" I was still amused by the set up. In one corner of the pub there is a wall with some handpumps, a barrel with a keg dispensary stuck on top and a rack with some cask ales lined up. This is all out in the open, so you walk up, the friendly bar staff pours a beer for you - as this place is "on trend" only jugs are available - and you enjoy the beer. I went for a Late Knights Penge Porter which was really rather good, but unfortunately the keg delivery meant it was served far too cold. After a few minutes to settle the pleasant mocha and chocolate flavours starting coming through a treat. I also enjoyed a half of Crack of Dawn, also from Late Knights, which was on cask and was very good - an easy drinking, hoppy pale ale.

The place had the feel of a craft beer take on the micropub - with the focus on ale and the tables close to each other to encourage conversation it shared some of the same ethos. A food menu of burgers and, inevitably, pulled pork was available, plus some bar snacks. Sadly they were out of black pudding pork pies. A second room at the back of the bar was done up like a posh living room, complete with stately leather sofas, and an impressive fireplace with a stags head looming above. The cheery staff made me feel welcome, and overall I was impressed with the place, although I imagine it gets a bit cramped on a busy evening.

My final stop on this mini pub tour was the one I was looking forward to the most, a pub with a heart-warming history and a splendid interior. The Ivy House is a barn of a pub nestled in a residential area of Peckham. Walking in you're first greeted by a small room with cosy furnishing and a serving area in the corner. Walk through the doors at the back though and you enter a much larger, and very impressive, main room complete with a stage. The fit out is very plush, all deep dark woods, and the stage area is very ornate. It looks absolutely fantastic. Being a pub in a rapidly improving area of London it was due to be converted to flats but thankfully a local campaign managed to secure around a million quid in funding and it was bought by the residents of the area. It is now run as a co-operative. A wonderful story for a wonderful building.

The beer selection was top notch with a good collection of traditional ales and more crafty selections as well. I enjoyed half of Cottage Brewery Aphrodite, a straightforward pale ale. The pub does food as well, a small menu with pretty much every pub classic represented - pies, fish and chips and so on. I went for the bangers and mash and they were superb, three plump meaty sausages on a creamy mash bed. Great stuff.

A couple of days later I paid a visit to the final pub on the nomination list, The Fox on The Hill. This is a very large Wetherspoons in leafy Denmark Hill. The first thing that struck me was the impressive size of the garden, and it was packed with drinkers doing the traditional British thing when the sun comes out for the first time in months - sitting outside and enjoying a beer even if the weather is actually a bit chilly. Inside the pub is split into several large rooms, with a L-shaped bar dishing out drinks to thirsty punters.

I had a few beers here, for research purposes of course, and also because the beer is keenly priced thanks to it being a Spoons. Clarence and Fredericks Cascadian Black was a highlight, a "Black IPA" that maintained the malty goodness of a stout with the hoppy madness of an IPA, a very solid effort, and a steal at £1.75 a pint after using my CAMRA 50p off voucher. I also enjoyed Wettons Golden Taff, a crisp pale ale from Wales that had a very pleasurable dry finish. Spoons full "craftwork" offering was available, and I enjoyed a Sixpoint Bengali with my chicken burger. You can't really complain about getting a well made 6.5% IPA free with a meal. I gave the Devils Backbone IPA a try as well, a good interpretation of the classic American IPA by the Banks Brewery.

I enjoyed my time at all the nominated pubs, and to be honest it would be difficult to pick a winner. They're all cosy, welcoming boozers that are an asset to the community they serve. Definitely worth popping into them if you're nearby, and The Ivy House is worth a special trip for the amazing interior alone.

Great British Beer Festival 2014

Some quick thoughts about the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) which I visited yesterday. First of all I still can't believe how much better it is at Olympia rather then Earl Courts. The place is much airier and just doesn't feel as packed as Earl Courts did, even though there were plenty of thirsty punters enjoying some of the best ales on offer. I was amused to see Timothy Taylors scooped up the Champion Beer of Britain award. I sometimes think CAMRA are deliberately trying to rile the craft beer movement by giving awards to reliable if a bit boring brews. Still it was nice to see Oakham Citra and Saltaire Triple Chocoholic get noticed - exciting beers that are comfortably straddling the middle ground between craft and mainstream.

Joining me at the festival was a friend visiting from Canada, where he emigrated several years ago. He brought the entire family along including his ten month old son and five year old daughter, so this was the first time I got to visit the fabled GBBF "Family Room." We weren't expecting much to be honest, as hardly anybody brings their kids along, and the festival programme stresses heavily that "it's not a crèche." Visions of a pokey room staffed by a bored volunteer flashed before my eyes. However we were all pleasantly surprised - the kids are treated to a lovely space upstairs where there are plenty of toys, arts and live performers to keep them amused all the way until 9pm when it promptly shuts. It was a bit weird sipping a pint while surrounded by tens of kids but they all seemed to be having a very jolly time. A parent must stay with the child though so don't expect to drop the sprog off and then go have a merry time - one of you will have to keep an eye on your child!

I'd actually arrived at the festival a bit before my Canadian friend, so I spent thirty minutes having a look around. In this time I managed to neck a third of Castle Rock Black Gold and Moor Revival, both of which were excellent. I stopped by the American bar but even by 2pm on the second day of the festival most of the beers were gone, with only four or five left to choose from. They were all on the high end of the ABV scale and I didn't fancy getting blotto half an hour into the festivities so I plumped for a third of Smuttynose Bouncy House  (about 4.3% abv,) which was fine but I don't think it was at its best. All the US beers were cask only, and quite frankly I don't think the Yanks or the Brits know how to handle US beers in cask. There were many complaints that the US beers were a bit flat and lifeless this year. Who knows, maybe next year we'll see a few on keg - or even some being served in cans.

I didn't really get to see any of the entertainment, although I was a bit disappointed that the "carnival" theme wasn't carried out a bit more. There were some halfhearted "ringmasters" walking about but it needed more trapeze artists and perhaps a couple of fairground rides so queasy punters can empty their stomachs ready for the next round of ale and pie. The food was on good form this year although I only managed to scarf down a Pork and Black Pudding pie (excellent) from the Crusty Pie Company, and a steak and Stilton pasty from a venue I can't remember the name of - I may have been getting pretty tipsy by that point. My friends native Canadian wife tried her first pork scratching, and despite initial disgust an hour later she had bought four bags of the stuff to take home. One scratching and you're hooked.

As for the beers, well they were in good form this year. The Moor Revival was probably the highlight, but I did also enjoy the Otley O1 - not the "oi" which I incorrectly asked for. The Marble Dobber was a boozy treat from the ever reliable Marble boys (and girls) and the Bristol Beer Factory Nova was a hoppy treat to finish the evening on. If you haven't been to the festival head on down - it's well worth the price of admission if you're a beer lover. And it's still great even if you have to bring the family along with you.

Beer apps

I've been on this planet for 32 years and have had internet access for 17 of them, and I find it hard to remember the dark times before I got my first 28.8 modem. This could be because I was too busy doing social interaction with actual real life people, but more likely because I was playing video games all day. I honestly can't remember. What I do know is that the internet is slowly eroding social interaction and devolving us all to anti-social, goggle eyed goons. Where before I would have to make an effort when mingling with strangers, now I can just whip out my trusty smartphone and avoid all forms of social interaction while writing blog posts complaining about how nobody socially interacts anymore.

We may not be getting along as well as we did before the internet came along but one thing the net has bought us is countless amount of knowledge. How did the world function before the internet? It must have been a arduous, tedious time having to look through books, journals or talking to an expert. Now I can just do a quick Google search to find out how to do my job and get a full listing of every episode of "Fraiser." It's true that about 90% of content on the internet is misinformed bollocks but that useful 10% helps me do my job, learn new things and most importantly find out where all the exciting pubs are.

If you told me 20 years ago that in the future you would get the internet ON YOUR PHONE I would have laughed for a few minutes before actually thinking about it and agreeing it's probably likely. For beer geeks smartphones are an invaluable tool for finding out  about top pubs and top drinks. There are three apps I find very useful.  Untappd is probably one of the best known beery apps. It allows you to "check in" beers so you can keep a record of all the booze you're consuming like the big old lush you are. This blog wouldn't exist without Untappd as I have the memory of a forgetful goldfish. Untappd is meant to produce recommendations based on your list of beers but it's ropey at best. The missing link is that the beers it recommends aren't always readily available. It would be better if it gave you recommendations based on other local check ins, so you might stand a chance of buying a "Dave Beards Craft IPA Explosion" or whatever it recommends. Still the app is well worth downloading purely for logging beers.

Next up is Craft Beer London. This handy app tells you what local hipster beer hangouts are nearby just in case you've got a hankering to be surrounded by trendy beards sipping on mega hopped IPA's (otherwise known as craft beer.) It's a good app but for some bizarre reason it doesn't list opening hours, which has caught me out a few times when I've visited a bar for a cheeky lunchtime half only to find out it doesn't open until 4pm. It's a pay app but I think it's definitely worth a purchase for any beer loving Londoners. But following on from my gloomy "state of the craft beer scene" article a couple of weeks ago I wonder if this app will still be as relevant over the next few years.

The last app is the Good Beer Guide from CAMRA. It's amazing to think I can have a nationwide listing of decent boozers sitting on my phone. The app works fine, you can search for pubs or get the app to tell which ones are nearby. It gives plenty of info about each pub including opening times. The one flaw is not related to the app but inherent to the GBG itself. It's a very useful tome but you have to remember pubs are included based on beer quality rather than the pub itself. Thanks to the guide I've been to some amazing pubs but I've also been to some real shockers in terms of atmosphere, sipping my admittedly tasty pint in a room with crumbling architecture and terrifying "locals." Unlike Craft Beer London which is updated every few weeks the GBG is updated once a year, and a year is a long time in the pub trade, where formerly decent boozers can change management and become shoddy, or even just close down. The app is not cheap but it's more economical than buying the book - and it's much easier to lug around with you.

Soapbox time

It's been a quiet week for me on the beer and booze front the past week so I haven't got much to report on. I was hoping to pay a visit to the Eltham GPO, a new Antic pub which has opened in the eponymous area of South East London but unfortunately I didn't get the chance. However I did have a great meal at another Antic pub The Baring Hall Hotel on Friday. They have recently started offering food and the Oxtail and Smoked Paprika Mash was absolutely delicious. The Hastings Blonde was pretty good as well, a crisp and thirst quenching Blonde beer. Blue Monkey Guerilla made an excellent dessert beer, a lovely stout with charming coffee flavours. I look forward to returning for more meals - judging from Twitter their Sunday Lunch looks pretty good.

I've been catching up with other beer blogs over the past week and I enjoyed Paul Bailey's piece on CAMRA: Fit for purpose? This is an excellent piece on that old stalwart of the real ale scene, and whether the changing face of the ale scene with the emergence of craft beer has made CAMRA irrelevant. As a card carrying member myself I think CAMRA still has a purpose, but I think the focus should shift from "campaigning" for real ale to "celebrating" it, including "craft" beer.

Craft beer is a real conundrum for CAMRA because a lot of it is served on keg. Although it's before my time my understanding is that when CAMRA first started campaigning one of the goals was to educate the public on cask ale and how it was much better than the cheap and nasty keg beers that were popular at the time. Crappy keg lager still exists now but there is also plenty of beer that is made with care and attention, and served keg only.

My opinion is that quality beer is in rude health at the moment  whether on keg or cask, and it's getting increasingly muddled about what the purpose of CAMRA is. Most of their campaigns these days don't really revolve around real ale itself, it's more about pricing and saving pubs. Many beer bloggers such as Pub Curmudgeon have pointed out that CAMRA is suffering a bit of a crisis with membership as it's not attracting many young drinkers. As it stands at the moment I don't think many young drinkers can see the point of joining CAMRA. Those who like ale have got so many excellent beers to choose from what's the point of joining a campaign with what could be perceived as an older and out of touch member base? Those who prefer lager and have no interest in ale would probably never join CAMRA anyway. Even if they were to convert to real ale then I don't think they're going to have much to campaign about!  Personally I think it's time for a shift in focus and marketing for CAMRA if they want to attract younger members, and that is why I think it should move from a "campaign" to a more general celebrating and educating about the traditional and craft beer scene we're enjoying at the moment.

Elsewhere in the blogosphere Pete Brown's beer blog is always worth reading, and his post on anti-drink stories is an interesting view on how beer and drinking in general is unfairly villified in the press. Personally I think drinking is unfairly portrayed, but most newspapers are only interested in circulation figures and juicy moral stories always sell well. I'm not sure what effect these stories have on the average reader.The militant anti drink brigade will also be against alcohol no matter what you tell them. But is the average reader who enjoys a few pints a week really going to be swayed in to giving up drinking after reading anti drink articles? Personally I think not.

That's it for now. Next week I'll be hopefully reporting on pubs and beer in the Sevenoaks area. Hope you can join me!

Beer festivals a go go - CAMRA Great British Beer Festival 2013 and Woodies, New Malden

Last week was a good time for drinking copious amounts of ale. First up was a visit to the CAMRA Great British Beer Festival 2013. This is the second time I've visited the festival at Olympia, and it's a much more pleasant space than its former home at the dark, dank Earl Courts. The light airy building is very welcoming and the lay out this year was great, with the bars spaced out nicely and avoiding the cramped conditions that build up as the day goes on. The only downside is that there never seems to be enough seating, and as I get older and creakier this is getting more important for me. To be fair most of the patrons who did grab a seat were probably way past creaking territory and were approaching snapping and cracking, but it would have been nice to have more places to rest my tired feet and beery head.

The only picture I took at the festival and it's not even indoors. Useless.

The Championship beer of Britain, announced at the festival, was the 1872 Porter from the Elland brewery. I managed to grab a sample and although it's a very solid porter, with a great malt start and a fruity finish, it felt a bit of a safe bet for a championship beer. With so many exciting breweries and beers appearing over the past couple of years, it's surprising that CAMRA claim that the best ale of the year is something that feels decidedly old fashioned. Maybe CAMRA are rebelling against the craft ale scene with this choice or maybe there's no agenda at all. Who knows?! Certainly not me. Not going to stop me from blogging about it though.

As usual there was an excellent selection of ales on offer and I sampled a fair few of them. Highlights included the Chocolate and Vanilla Stout from Titanic which was an excellent ale, with a wonderful sweet aroma leading to a perfect balance of sweetness and burnt hops.The Triple Chocoholic from Saltaire was another winner, with wonderful, subtle chocolate flavours and a good, long dry finish. Fine stuff all round. The American section was very busy, as it has been at past festivals, and by the time I got there there wasn't a lot of choice left. I tried a half of the Snake Dog IPA from Flying Dog which was a very solid American pale with strong hoppy flavours, but like a lot of American beers it was very boozy (7.3%) - almost unnecessarily so.

There were a couple of duffers. Sharp's Own from Sharps was a rather insipid effort at a golden ale, with a rather limp and watery taste that all beers from InBev seem to suffer from these days. It was still passable, and nothing like the horror of A-pork-alypse from Brains. A porter with bacon flavour added, it tasted exactly like taking a sip of a sub standard porter and then shoving bacon fries into your gob while still swallowing your booze. It wasn't completely horrible and after one sip I didn't start vomiting all over the floor while CAMRA stewards desperately threw sand on the floor in an effort to soak up my technicolour stream, but it wasn't a very pleasurable ale. Much like casting Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs, it was a brave but ultimately stupid effort.

Despite a couple of iffy beers I had a great time at the festival and it's probably the best one I've been to in the last six years or so. The food on offer was tremendous and I managed to get through a pork pie, scotch egg, wild boar burger, pork scratchings and seafood medley. In case you're wondering I didn't eat it all at the same time, had I done so I think I would have tested the very limits of how much vomit one man can produce.

The crazy decor at Woodies.

On Saturday I paid a visit to another beer festival, this time at Woodies in New Malden in SW London. Woodies is a former sports hall turned into a pub. Walking in you're bombarded with sports memorabilia everywhere, plastered on the floor, walls and ceiling. There's also a lot of funeral programmes (presumably of patrons past) dotted about, which seemed a bit morbid. Overall though it's all very eclectic and there was a jolly atmosphere. There were plenty of tasty ales on offer. Park Life from Windsor and Eton was a good start, a light hoppy session beer that I would be quite happy to drink all day. 80 Shilling from Dark Star was a fine attempt at a dark Scottish ale, with a strong malty flavour and undertones of orange peel. Good stuff.

The American Pale Ale by Clarence & Fredericks is probably one of the best things to come out of Croydon, where the brewers are based. Good hoppy flavours and floral notes made this a solid attempt at a pale ale. Frankly I was amazed the beer made it to the festival at all and the delivery wasn't hijacked by a gang of Croydon's drug fuelled crazies, or some bored kids. Finally, Good Health from Goody Ales was a solid golden ale sporting a nice dry finish, and a slight hint of Tim Brooke-Taylor.

A petting zoo was there for the day so I got to laugh at some sheep, ducks and goats, the primary reason for the existence of any petting zoo. I gave a wide berth to the geese though as I didn't fancy running, screaming, beers in hand, being chased by the orange beaked, beady eyed, honking bastards as they try to nip my legs into pieces one peck at a time. The day was further sullied by the arrival of my least favourite amateur paganists, the hated and sinister Morris Dancers. Thankfully this troupe, although enthusiastic, weren't very good, so I was pretty sure their bizarre ritual wasn't going to resurrect any ancient Pagan Gods this time.

My camera spontaneously combusted shortly after this photo was taken.

I had a great time in Woodies despite the Morris Dancers and if it wasn't located in what appeared to be the Twilight Zone I'd make more regular visits there. If you happen to be in the New Malden area it's well worth stopping by the place for a drink or five.

Next update will be the conclusion of my jaunt around Preston. I've also made a recent visit to Bath which I'll no doubt be blabbering on about. See you soon!

CAMRA Great British Beer Festival 2012

The Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) has been and gone again. This yearly beerathon organised by CAMRA is always a great day out and this year was no exception. If anything it was better as the festival was in Olympia, a much more pleasant building than grotty Earls Court, where previous festivals have taken place. Sadly I was drinking to much beer and didn't stop to take any snaps, so this is another photoless update. I expect my blogging rights to be revoked by Google any day now. If you want to imagine what the GBBF looked like, just imagine a giant greenhouse full of people selling you beer.

The light, airy Olympia building was a great environment for the festival. I spent the Wednesday there, where the crowds remained manageable all day, even in the evening when I was pretty soused. The threat of Olympic crowds must have been keeping people away. There was also a lack of corporate guests who nearly overran the festival last year. I don't remember getting belligerent at all about the crowds, which I tend to do when I've got a few drinks inside me

The festival was in good form with some excellent ales on offer. A new "Champion Beers" area grouped Champion Ales of past and present together in one superstar stall. The ales on offer read like a Who's Who of top notch beers, and I enjoyed a half of the excellent Chocolate Cherry Mild from the Durnham brewery. This ale tastes exactly how it is described and is always a treat. I didn't try the Champion Beer of Britain 2012, Lucky Number 9 from the Coniston Brewery, as it was a barley wine and quite frankly barley wine terrifies me. I'm sure it was very good though.

Elsewhere in the festival I thought I'd try another fruity ale, this time the Chocolate Orange Delight from Downton. I was looking forward to this one as chocolate, orange and ale feature very highly on my favourite things list. In fact the only thing it needed to tick off all items on my favourite things list was a giant pair of tits. Sadly the actual ale didn't live up to expectation and was a little bit sickly. It didn't even have that much of an Orange taste. If it was to have breasts they would probably be saggy and maybe a little hairy. Not so much a delight as a disappointment.

Things got much, much better with the Boggart Rum Porter, an excellent pint which sadly wasn't on when I visited Boggarts only outlet, the MicroBar in Manchester, documentated in a earlier update. I'm not a huge fan of porter but this was very suppable, perfectly hopped and the shot of rum really adding to the flavour. I could have drank this all day if there wasn't literally hundreds of other beers to sample. Other decent ales sampled included Raven Ale from Orkney, a very good example of a golden ale with a pleasent hoppiness and particulary dry finish, and the Dawkins Brass Knocker, another refreshing golden ale with a fruity flavour that went down well.

As the day rolled on the ales kept coming. All were delicious but as usual at a beer festival my notes stopped after around the 5th half pint, which is why I really shouldn't be allowed to blog. I made the mistake of ordering a Belgium Lambic beer which certainly refreshed the tastebuds with its vingary flavour. Some tastebuds were so refreshed I could feel them trying to run the hell out of my mouth. I found it disgusting to be honest but some people seem to enjoy it.

The American section was doing a brisk trade which really shows how the American craft ale scene has picked up speed over the last few years. A lot had sold out on the Tuesday, when the festival didn't even open to the public until the evening! A promising sounding Lagunitas ale had long gone so I settled for the servers suggestion of Brown Ryed Girl from Willimantic in Connecticut, which was absolutely fantastic. I was prepared for the usual American ale experience where the beer is tremendously hopped and tastes ridiculously fruity. However I was greeted with a wonderful caramel taste with spicy undertones. It was probably the best beer I had at the festival. Well done to the Americans.

The GBBF really is a good day out and with the pub games, live entertainment and vast amount of food available the time just flies by. I had a great time as always and look forward to returning next year. Hopefully they'll stick to the Olympia venue from now on.