Maidstone

Having visited Whitstable, Herne, Sevenoaks and Rochester, I was starting to struggle about where to visit next in Kent. Faversham, Gravesend and Margate just weren't that appealing to me in this chilly weather, and more importantly they didn't have many pubs listed in the Good Beer Guide. Just as all seemed lost and I was resigning myself to visiting Dartford The Lovely Jemma suggested I go to Maidstone as it's "quite nice." A quick look at the guide showed there were at least four pubs there worth visiting, so off to Maidstone it was!

My impression of Maidstone is that it is a rather generic market town, not as big or pleasant as Rochester but a step up in size from Sevenoaks. Like the other Medway shopping towns I'd visited Maidstone mainly consisted of one long street packed full of shops going through the centre of town. From what I saw there didn't appear to be much else to do in town apart from shop or go to the pub, so I imagine being a teenager here must be pretty boring as most don't have a huge amount of money to spend on shopping and they can't have a drink in the pub (legally.) I guess there's always huffing glue or bothering old ladies to keep them amused.

Luckily for those over 18 or with a decent fake ID and a old face the pubs are pretty good. The first pub I visited was The Swan, a Shepherd Neame hostelry near the train station. Walking in on a Tuesday lunchtime there was only one other customer in. I spotted an India Pale Ale from Neame on the bar and as I'd never tried it before I thought I'd give it a go. I was served by a young lad who didn't look old enough to drink the ales he was serving, but he poured a pretty good half. Shepherd Neame beers rarely rise above "average" in my book but the Pale Ale was actually "pretty good." Light and hoppy this went down a treat while I sat outside in the sunny but blustery weather. A good start to the day.

Next up was the Rifle Volunteers. Judging from the reviews on the internet this appeared to be a "love it or hate it" kinda place. Walking in I thought I'd walked through a time portal to the 70's. This small pub was the most old school venue I'd been to in a while. I doubt the decor and furniture had changed since the pub first opened, but it had a quaint charm. I was the only customer in and I struck up a friendly conversation with the landlord, Alan, who filled me in on the history of the place. It was originally a Neame pub until the brewery sold it over his head in the mid nineties. Just as it looked like the place would turn into houses and Alan would be out of the job, the Goachers brewery came along and bought the place. Alan certainly sounded grateful for the opportunity Goachers had provided him.

Three Goachers ales were on offer, and I started with the Fine Light Ale, which lived up to its name. A splendid, easy drinking tipple. I noticed Alan had the Extra Mild on, and I mentioned I had a below par half of this at the Man of Kent in Rochester. "Try mine" he said, and I took him up on the offer. Well it was like drinking a completely different ale to the average sup I'd had at the Man of Kent. The coffee and chocolate notes were coming through splendidly, it's amazing how much of a difference good conditioning and care can make to the taste of a beer. Sadly I didn't get the chance to try the Extra Stout, but I promised Alan that when I'm next back in Maidstone I'll pop in and give it a go. He only serves the same three ales plus one lager, and a couple of cans of cider are on standby in case a non real-ale drinker wanders in by mistake. I'm pretty sure the Stout will be on next time I visit.

My next pub was at the other end of town. The Pilot, a Harveys pub, had a blackboard outside claiming this was a "country pub in town." The traditional exterior and rustic interior went a little way to matching that claim, but the pub being right on a very busy main road destroyed the illusion. A decent selection of Harveys beers were on offer. The Mild was disappointing with not much flavour coming through, but maybe I'd been spoiled by the Goachers. The Old Ale was much better and its malty flavours went down a treat. Finally the Porter was an interesting tipple - very fruity and even a bit sickly at first but once it had settled down it was quite a pleasant pint.

A fifteen minute walk back to the other end of town brought me to The Flower Pot. Voted Pub of the Year and well regarded by CAMRA and seemingly every beer lover on the internet who has visited, I was looking forward to this place. It didn't disappoint. The last three pubs being tied houses meant I was limited in beer selection, even though all the drinks had been great. Walking into the Flower Pot I was delighted to see a Marble Pint was on offer and I immediately had a half. It was spot on, this gloriously hoppy, easy drinking session beer being in fine form. A Sausage and Chips and a pint of Oakham Jesters Ferret with its citrus notes ended the day on a good note. With the friendly, knowledgeable staff and cosy atmosphere alongside the decent beers I could see why this place has won many awards.

Overall I had a good time exploring Maidstone's fine pubs. It was nice to visit such a varied selection of boozers with different beers on offer. The only sad thing was how quiet all these pubs were on a Tuesday afternoon. The Swan, Rifle Volunteers and Pilot weren't serving food, so I could see why maybe these pubs weren't busy during the day. As Alan said to me in the Volunteers, people just don't go out for only a drink at lunchtime these days, and haven't for a long time now. Not even tradesmen or labourers go out for a lunchtime tipple much these days. But even the one pub that did serve food, The Flower Pot, only had two other customers in at 2pm when I popped in.

The restaurants and cafes in town were busy so people do want to go out for a lunchtime meal, but it seems nobody wants to visit the pub at lunch for just a drink these days. I hope the evening trade keeps the excellent traditional boozers such as the Rifle Volunteers going but I do worry they may not be around forever if they don't find a way to adapt to the fact that people are drinking less in pubs. I wouldn't want these places to start serving food as I think it would destroy some of the character - but I'm not sure what the alternatives are.

Birmingham Part Two and The Cronx Brewery

My main reason for going to Birmingham was to visit a friend who lives in Moseley to celebrate her birthday. Moseley is a suburb on a hill looking over Birmingham city centre. This way my first visit there and I wasn't sure what to expect. It's actually quite a well off little suburb, apparently popular with factory bosses back in the day because they could look down at their industrial paradise high up from their grand houses. These days it's more doctors and solicitors looking down at the city while counting their riches, and The Guardian did an article on the area claiming that the Russians might move in once High Speed 2 is up and running. Somehow I don't think the Oligarchs are going to schlep it out to Birmingham but stranger things have happened.

The party was excellent although I'm starting to feel my age as I was nodding off by 3a.m. I don't think the ales I had consumed before hand helped matters. The next morning I felt surprisingly chipper and me and The Lovely Jemma headed off into Moseley centre for that finest tradition of hangover cures - the Wetherspoons Breakfast. The Elizabeth of York is a modern two floor 'Spoons inside, with the downstairs a little dark and claustrophobic because of the  overhanging second floor. The breakfast was fine and although I didn't get to try the beer, the typical early morning elderly clientèle all seemed to be enjoying their morning pints of Fosters and Stella. I didn't see anybody supping a whisky chaser with their pint though - they're not as hardcore here as the Manchester Wetherspoons breakfast customers.

Suitably refuelled from breakfast we had a look down the high street. We counted five pubs in the area - clearly the citizens of Moseley enjoy a drink. We popped in to the Prince of Wales at the end of the high street as we had heard good things about the place. At 12p.m we were the only customers in there so we got to enjoy the well kept and impressive interior in peace. This is a fine looking pub with two very comfortable snugs, one with a small serving area. Follow the fine tiled corridor to the outside area and you'll find a hut selling cigars, and also one of these:

The snug that nearly killed me

Yes there's a tiki bar in the garden. It was amazing - a huge space with all the tacky tiki crap you'd expect - masks, washed up boats, and cocktails with terrible tiki theme puns in their name served from a beach hut. Me and TLJ made a vow to come back one evening in summer to try this place - I imagine it's a blast. Back inside I enjoyed a Oakham Bishops Farewall in one of the snugs. It was a relaxing, quiet pint until the fireplace started belching out smoke and the fire alarm went off. The staff sorted it out pretty quickly and we left shortly thereafter. You know a pub is good when I'm nearly asphyxiated there and I still look forward to coming back.

Returning to Birmingham city centre we went to The Old Contemptibles for a relaxing lunch before heading back to London. This Nicholson's pub follows the standard formula - dark oak furnishing, comfortable pub classics on the food menu, varied if boring selection of well kept ales. I tried a Vale Longitude, which was in good condition with a delicate fruity flavour. My fish and chips dinner was filling if uninspiring. In fact uninspiring describes this place pretty well. It did the job but I wouldn't be rushing back. Well fed and watered we headed back to London. I enjoyed my time in Birmingham and I didn't spot one "craft" pub while on my travels - the pubs we visited just seemed to concentrate on being welcoming and serving a good selection of beers rather than trying to impress with fifty different types of IPA.

Happy punters enjoying their beers

Just a quick mention of the Cronx Brewery open day last weekend. What a pleasure this was, and it actually gave the rather grim Croydon estate of New Addington a reason to exist. This young start up brewery organised an entertaining open day with good beer and great BBQ food. While munching on a delicious pulled pork sandwich I enjoyed a Cronx Single Hop Cascade which was a well hopped and very yummy tipple. Fellow Croydon brewery Clarence & Fredericks had a guest beer on and their Cascadian Black was superb, well hopped and a hint of sourness in the finish giving it an edge. The only disappointment was the Entire Chilli Porter which apart from the chilli tingle at the end didn't taste of much at all. Sadly I didn't get to see any of the live bands but overall it was a great day and with the warehouse setting, trendy BBQ, live music and craft beer I felt I was more in Hackney rather than the cultural void that is New Addington. Good to see Cronx can organise a piss up in their own brewery.

Where the magic happens

Lady Ottoline and The Shakespeares Head, London

As unbelievable as it sounds, my life doesn't only consist of complaining about pubs and being disappointed by the condition of beer. In my life away from the adrenaline rush of beer blogging, I am a IT manager at a law firm, which is about as exciting as it sounds. One downside of being a manager is that I feel obliged to take my team out for a Christmas dinner. This is a problem because although my team do work hard and they more than deserve a delicious dinner in lovely surroundings, I don't really like spending money. This is not good when living in London as nearly everything is twice as expensive as you'd expect it to be. Even the Evening Standard newspaper at the low price of free is too expensive, as they should be paying me to read that toss. So finding places to eat that serves really good food, has a lovely atmosphere but is also reasonable is a bit of a nightmare.

After much indecision searching through the SquareMeal website trying to find a restaurant where the prices didn't make me fall off my chair in shock and awe, and convincing myself that I probably wouldn't get away with treating the team to a KFC family bucket, I took my team to a gastropub in Farringdon called The Lady Ottoline. I'd been here previously with a vendor who treated me to a pretty decent lunch. I remembered the food being very good, but I wasn't paying and everything tastes better when it's free. Would I enjoy it as much when at the end of the meal I would have to pry apart my dusty wallet and hand over my Visa debit card while desperately resisting the urge to weep?

The short answer is yes. We had a lovely meal at the Ottoline. I'm going to avoid going into much detail about the food because I can barely talk about beer coherently let alone pretend I can string together sentences describing dinner. But all the dishes, in particular my pork belly main, were well prepared, looked great and tasted delicious. Best of all the bill didn't cause me to have a heart attack, just maybe a bit of mild angina.

"Gastro" wise the Ottoline is a success. But for the "pub" side, I think outside of the Christmas season this would be a nice place to pop in for just a drink, which is unusual for a gastro. Although food is the focus there is a area set for drinkers in the atmospheric ground floor room and it doesn't make you feel isolated. But during December, with all the Christmas parties piling in, this place is pretty much just a restaurant. It's a shame it's not really possible to stop in for just a drink at the moment as  they do have a nice selection of ales, and my Dark Star Winter Meltdown and Purity Mad Goose were both in good condition. I did find the Winter Meltdown to be a little bland, but it seemed to be kept OK. Maybe it's just the way the beer is.

One place that is definitely catering to drinkers this Christmas season is The Shakespeares Head in Holborn. I came in here for the first time in a long time on Friday. This massive Wetherspoons outlet was absolutely heaving. I was fearing the worse as past experience has proved that 'Spoons staff in their Central London pubs seem to have trouble coping with pressure (e.g more than three customers waiting at the bar.) However I have to give credit to the team here, they were absolutely spot on. Despite a busy bar they were keeping things going smoothly. They even managed to smile and be polite, I had to pinch myself that I was actually in a London 'Spoons on a busy Friday night.

The beer was also in very good form. Apache IPA from Portobello was a hoppy, boozy treat and it sold out deservedly quickly. A half of India Pale Ale by Devils Backbone, a US brewer, sadly wasn't as good with a watery, limp flavour. Greene King's Abbot Reserve was on, and as I'd never tried this I gave it a go. I found it quite good, and I enjoyed its warming, fruity richness. Santa's Darkside from Naylor's Brewery was a standard dark ale but pretty tasty, and JHB from Oakham Brewery was a solid brown bitter to finish with. It's a credit to the staff that I was able to enjoy these beers served quickly. Food wise this is light years away from the classy Ottoline but my Wethernachos were edible.

Sadly the general atmosphere was the usual 'Spoons, bland, joyless and overlit. The crowd seemed to be even louder and annoying than the usual Friday night 'Spoons punter, probably because the Christmas season is in full swing. It wasn't really a place I'd want to spend a long time in. But if you're nearby and looking for a place to kill time with a pint or two, you could do worse than pop in.