When the craft beer bubble pops

Things have gone a little crazy for the "craft beer" movement in the UK over the past few weeks. First The Guardian are claiming that the writing is on the wall for the popularity of craft beers and then the BBC chipped in to the scaremongering with a report on how the hops beloved by trendy bearded hipster brewers worldwide are running short. Could the craft beer movement in the UK be heading towards the end? Well probably not for a little while yet, but I'm under no illusion that craft will be going strong forever. Craft beer is a bubble and it inevitably has to pop.

Allow me to do some naval gazing on the craft beer scene - in the UK at least anyway. I can't even being to guess what's going to happen in the US. I believe there are two reasons which will lead to craft beers decline. First is that craft isn't really spreading out to the regions, and secondly London is getting over saturated with new brewers that are offering a similar product, usually tremendously hopped IPA's or mega boozy stouts and porters. When I was in Birmingham there was plenty of exciting, well made beer but I didn't see anything from the craft "heavyweights" such as The Kernel or Beavertown. The craft movement is still very strongly London based, with perhaps small pockets of activity in places such as Manchester. The issue is what happens when the London hipsters move on to the next latest trend, and they will move on eventually. Sadly nothing lasts forever especially in the fast moving capital.

When the bubble finally pops not everybody is going to survive, for varying reasons. Some craft breweries will have enjoyed the ride and naturally call it a day. Others will fight to keep going but with the customer base becoming smaller they will have trouble making an impact on the marketplace. Some may get bought out. But others may do quite well - but they may not be considered "craft". My opinion is that to survive they will have to leave behind the craft ethos and become more commercially minded. Below are two examples of breweries that I think are prepared and a sure bet to survive the bubble bursting.

First up is BrewDog. Love them or loathe them, they are a big operation and were lucky to start at the beginning of the craft beer revolution. Their greatest asset is that they have their own bars, which are a valuable shop front for their beers and invaluable for spreading the word about their product and building a solid customer base.They even have their own off licenses now with BottleDog, a canny business decision. The crucial thing about BrewDog which will make them succeed is that thanks to their bars they have a presence nationwide, and not just in London. In fact they are even spreading abroad with openings in Tokyo and Finland. What BrewDog are doing is no different then a tied house such as Fullers or Sam Smiths - they just have a different image. If things did start to go pear shaped for them I think one of the big brewers will buy them out and keep the brand going. I can only see BrewDog going kaphut if the owners refused to sell on.

Another interesting thing about BrewDog is that I would consider them a "lifestyle choice" brand. I think a lot of punters choose to visit a BrewDog bar or have a BrewDog beer because it projects an image, the same way people drink particular brands of champagne or drive a certain brand of car. The whole "punk" attitude, anti-corporate stance and crowd funding is a very clever and effective way of getting a very loyal customer base. Luckily their beers are pretty good but even if they weren't I think BrewDog would still do well.

The second example of a brewery that I think will survive is Thornbridge. This may be a controversial choice as some may not seem them as craft. But I think that's a good thing. Thornbridge have done a fair bit to open the eyes and taste buds of the casual drinker to the world of more adventurous beer, mainly through the quietly groundbreaking Jaipur which is widely sold thanks to the Nicholson's chain. Not only is it a great beer but it's an excellent gateway beer to the world of big hopped ales that craft is famous for. I consider their beers to be craft as they are clearly dedicated, they're happy to brew practically any type of beer, and nearly all of them succeed. But it's also perfectly valid to consider them to be a regular brewery and that's why I think they'll survive the bubble bursting. They have the edge by being commercially minded, and have cleverly embraced both the craft and mainstream market. Their beers sit quite comfortably in both Waitrose and BottleDog. Camden Town and Oakham breweries are similar to this and I think they will also continue to do well.

BrewDog and Thornbridge are two breweries I can confidentially predict carrying on after the dust has settled, and it's testament to the exciting but volatile world of craft that I can't put a safe bet on any others. The breweries I worry about are the London based ones that aren't making much impact outside the capital, such as Beavertown or Siren and others in the "Bermondsey Mile." It may be that they don't care if they're short lived - they're just enjoying being part of a popular scene. But it would be a shame to lose some talented breweries and tasty beers. Ultimately I feel that to survive the craft bubble breweries have to leave behind some of the craft ethos and be more commercially minded. BrewDog have clocked this - will the others be able to do the same?

Then and now - Farringdon and Covent Garden pubs

It's always fun revisiting a pub I haven't been to in a while because most pubs go through plenty of changes in their lifetime and at some places the experience can change every few months. This past Friday I had the pleasure of revisiting some pubs in London on a mini pub crawl with some good friends of mine. As I hadn't been to these pubs in a while I thought it would be fun to revisit my original thoughts and see if much has changed.

Craft Beer Co Leather Lane

Then: A well known mecca for ale lovers with a absolutely ridiculous price for pork pies.

Now: Every time I walk past the Craft on a Friday evening it's just so ridiculously busy. This is not just a mecca for ale lovers, it now appears to be a mecca for every office worker in the Farringdon area. This small pub gets uncomfortably busy as the large bar and bench seating down the side take up a fair amount of space, leaving not much room for customers. There is an upstairs but tables up there can be reserved so it's pretty much impossible to get a seat. Walking in the crowd were three or four deep waiting at the bar. It felt very claustrophobic.

But with such a fine selection of ales on offer I'll put up with the small space and risk of having a panic attack. Ales from stalwarts Dark Star, Thornbridge and Marble were on offer, and plenty other breweries were represented on cask and keg. A Thornbridge Christmas Ale was a solid take on the rather hoary Christmas Ale formula, a tasty red ale with a subtle spicy undertone. Marble Lagonda was a excellent example of a pale ale. The Marble guys know how to create a good brew. The pork pies remain stupidly expensive.

Verdict: Still awesome but visit during the week and eat food beforehand.

Ye Olde Mitre

Then: A charming little pub although the pint I had tasted a bit like coal. 

Now: I have been to this pub a couple of times since that blog post and I can't really say it's charming any more. Mainly because how much of a sausage fest this place is. Sure you get the occasional confused lady who has been dragged along by their beer loving partner, or the nervous looking secretary who has been forced to visit with their sweaty "hands on" boss, but mainly this place is filled with blokes. The beer was in good condition, my pint of Dark Star Original being a comforting, if workmanlike brown bitter. However with the pub over run with braying men the atmosphere is a little bland. We didn't stay long before moving on.

Verdict: Lovely beer but atmosphere is a bit sweaty

Holborn Whippet

Then: Beers are served from a wall that bleeds ale and a sterile atmosphere where I couldn't get comfortable.

Now: I wasn't too impressed by the Whippet last time but a revisit made me warm to the place. I still find the wall in the middle that bleeds beer a bit odd. I opted for a half of Arbor Oyster Stout which was in excellent form. My friends went for a Lagunitas IPA which sadly wasn't in the best of form and seemed to be end of the barrel. Maybe that's why it was a fiver a pint which is actually pretty cheap for a pint of this trendy American IPA. Like the Craft Beer Co the Whippet seems to be incredibly busy every time I walk past it and this Friday night was no exception. The staff were friendly and on the ball, and the atmosphere was jovial. A pleasant place for a drink and I'd be happy to go back.

Verdict: Liked it a whole lot more this time.

The Cross Keys

Then: Likeable, slightly sleazy pub with plenty of tat hanging from the ceiling. Boisterous atmosphere.

Now: This Brodies pub continues to amuse me. It just seems so jarringly out of place in trendy Covent Garden. It feels like a locals pub from the 80's with the copper pans and other assorted antique tat hanging from the ceiling and the deep red lighting. It's shabby and doesn't even pretend to be modern or relevant. The beer was good and I enjoyed a pint of Brodie's malty, comforting Mild. This place continues to attract a "boisterous" (e.g. pissed) crowd, and we eventually left after a group of gents clad in lederhosen got a bit too loud for their own good.

Verdict: Great beer, nice room, dodgy customers

The Harp

Then: "An ale oasis in a area filled with expensive, soulless bars packed to the rafters with confused tourists and twats"

The Harp remains a text book example of how to run an excellent boozer in Central London. Its location next to the very busy Charing Cross station means this pub is always packed but the superb staff make sure you get served as quickly as possible. I've got served here quicker when it's rammed than at other sleepy pubs where the staff are so dozy you end up waiting 10 minutes for a drink when there's only two patrons at the bar, and one of them is the pub dog.

This visit to The Harp didn't disappoint and I was supping a Dark Star American Pale Ale within seconds of arriving. The beer was a top notch hoppy treat. The Harp was a fine place to end this very pleasurable pub crawl.

The Charles Lamb, The Barnsbury

Another long delay between blog posts and again this is due to a holiday. This time I was in Sorrento, Italy, which was absolutely gorgeous. The scenery on the Amalfi coast is breathtaking, and the food and drink weren't bad either. Amusingly there was a "British pub" there (plus the ubiquitous "Irish bars") although I didn't venture in to try the John Smiths that was on offer. Being Italy there were countless mopeds whizzing about, and it was a gamble when crossing the street if you were actually going to make it across this time. Amusingly Italians just hop onto a moped no matter what they're wearing, from suit and tie to casual T-shirt and jeans. Of course being Italian they make it look effortlessly cool. Much better than the angry dreadlocked courier with the hand me down clothes you tend to see on bikes in London. On occasion whole families would be squeezed onto a moped, with the family dog tucked into the front. I was almost tempted to rent a moped but I knew full well I would die seconds after getting on the road thanks to the absolutely insane driving of Italian drivers.

If you look at this photo very closely you can hear an American saying "Isn't it just gorgeous?!"

A danger I wasn't prepared for in Sorrento was the countless Americans who were there. I don't mind Americans, but for some reason they irritate me when they're on holiday in a European country. They're kind of fun at first as they marvel at buildings that are "over 100 years old!" and ask if the waiter "really is from Italy?" but then I find the constant braying and getting drunk on two glasses of wine gets very irritating very quickly. In restaurants they inevitably start asking inane questions to anybody who has the misfortune to sit next to them, completely ignoring the answers and prattling on about how great New York or whichever little corner of America they're from is. I just want to enjoy my Spaghetti without having to hear Doris from Connecticut tell her entire life story.

The food in Sorrento was great although every restaurant seemed to serve the exact same menu of pasta, pizza, meat and fish. By the end of my brief trip there I was practically gagging for traditional British cuisine such as a curry or kebab. So on my return to England it was straight to the Charles Lamb on Sunday for a roast, accompanied by The Lovely Jemma and a flame haired Irish friend. The Charles Lamb is a cosy two room boozer down a quiet side street near Angel tube station. It can be easily missed, and one chap at the bar was berating his friend for picking a pub that was so difficult to find. I like to think that after a couple of well kept ales he would be thanking his friend for bringing him here.

This was my first visit to this quite fine pub. The Sunday roast was excellent, the beef a very pleasant shade of pink and the veg in good form. The ale was excellent too, although thankfully not pink. I enjoyed a couple of delicious pints of Thornbridge "Sequoia," a typically classy Thornbridge bitter with a warming hoppy taste. Staff were friendly and the pub didn't feel cliquey or stuffy the way some pubs in Islington can. Basically it was hipster free.

This photo in the window of a Sorrento
photography studio was
basically the highlight of my trip.

Afterwards we moved on to The Barnsbury, another first time pub for me and recommended in the Good Beer Guide 2013. I love going to a CAMRA recommended pub for the first time. First because visiting a new pub is always an adventure, and second because I get to tick off the pub from my mobile version of the Good Beer Guide. It's very satisfying to push the "Pub Visited" button. I recommend the Good Beer Guide app generally, it's a very useful tool to have especially when you're in a new town and you're not sure which pub you can go to where you most likely won't get stabbed by crazed locals, or drink an ale which tastes of soapy water poured from a tramps boot.

The beer in The Barnsbury did not taste like soapy tramp boot water, far from it, and I had a perfectly well kept pint of Dark Star Hophead, a classic pint with the excellent floral flavours coming through fabulously. The atmosphere was pleasant although I did hear a Coldplay song being played, thankfully it didn't last long and the rest of the music was fine. Again this pub is sort of in the middle of nowhere, but well worth making a visit if you find yourself in the area.

I've got no holidays planned for a while now, and now that I'm looking at buying a house it's most likely I'll never go on holiday again. Expect more frequent updates of this blog in the future. I know you can't wait!

Farringdon walkabout

Now that I'm working in the Farringdon area it would be rude not to visit the pubs nearby for research purposes. There are certainly worse areas to be in for an after work drink. Indeed there is a pub located practically across the road from our new offices, The Blue Lion. A former tied house this is now a indepenedent pub with a decent rotating selection of four ales. Sadly the frontage does not include a picture of a lion looking a bit depressed. Despite having a large bar there only ever seems to be two bored staff members pouring pints and glasses of Pinot Grigio for the ITN journos who work nearby. The beerintheevening review promises a goth barmaid with mammaries of appreciable size but sadly she must have left because I've never seen her - believe me I've kept a lookout. The place gets very busy on Thursdays and Fridays and frankly the staff can't cope but it's a nice enough place to pop into if it's not too manic. The ale is well kept and there's usually something pleasant to try.

Next up is The Gunmakers, a quaint little pub tucked in the arse end of nowhere. Nearby are grimy warehouses, some kind of grotty factory, and worst of all, the Ben Sherman headquarters. Inside however this is a welcoming little pub. I've only visited once so far and unfortunately it was during a Tyneside beer festival. I say unfortunately because every Geordie beer I tried had the taste of what I imagine water gathered from a freshly wet and muddy dog would taste like. The Geordie Pride from the Mordue Brewery was the best of a bad bunch and it still wasn't great, with a rather weak hoppy taste. The pub itself is a pleasure to drink in though, even if the beer was not great, with a conservatory in the back that had a friendly beer tent feel to it. I'm looking forward to returning when they aren't selling beer from our Geordie friends.

On Leather Lane is the Craft Beer Co, a well known mecca for ale lovers, with a tremendous selection of booze. Countless handpumps deliver well kept ale and a mind boggling selection of largers. On my last visit I was greeted with the pleasent sight of five Thornbridge ales on handpull, and a splendid pint of Crux went down very well indeed. Reminiscent of Kipling but with the tropical fruit juice flavours toned down a bit, I actually enjoyed this more than Kipling. A great pint. The only downside of Craft is that they choose to charge £5 for half a slice of pork pie. This is absolutely ridiculous. For that kind of money I would expect a pork pie made from REAL GOLD although I imagine that would be disgusting. The pork pie they do serve is inevitably delicious but the high cost does sour the taste.

Ye Olde Mitre is a charming little pub tucked down the most easy to miss side alley in London. A Fullers pub they usually have the full range on plus a couple of guests. I had a pint of Ilkley Black which sadly tasted a bit like coal but I don't think this was the fault of the pub. A taste of Fullers new Wild River went down well, a pleasently hopped summer ale, using American hops. It's a good attempt. The pub is small although you may be able to find a seat in the cosy upstairs room. The opening hours seem to be erratic, as being in Farringdon everybody leaves at around 9pm so don't be surprised if they've called last orders at 10pm. Pork pies are a much more reasonable £1.80 or so although they do appear to have been purchased from the nearby Sainsburys.

The One Tun is a strange beast. It feels like it should be a council estate pub but instead it's slap bag in the centre of London next to an incredibly busy train station.. It's got a lot of things I don't really like in pubs - TV's everywhere, sound deck and disco ball, Thai food and a snow machine(?!) But the ale selection is good and the beer well kept, and it has a weird feel of community spirit even though it's full of office workers. It was certainly a fun place to watch 22 men flail about on a grassy field for 90 minutes while desperately trying to kick a ball into the back of a net. I like the place but I can imagine it's a bit of an aquired taste.

I'm not going to say much about the Sir John Oldcastle except to say it's pretty much your bog standard 'Spoons and my lamb rogan josh was fine.

There are plenty of other places I need to visit in the area including the Jerusalem Tavern. A 10-15 minute walk away is the Holborn Whippet which I've been hearing great things about. There also seems to be a lot of places I need to avoid as well judging by the braying suits on their Blackberries standing outside. I shall no doubt keep you updated on any further pubs I visit!

A return to two old favourites

BrewDog Camden continues to impress.

Sadly I haven't been visiting too many new places recently. In fact I haven't really been visiting any boozers at all in the past couple of weeks. The pressures of work have meant that rather than going out for a nice pint I've been heading home to cry myself to sleep. I haven't written off pubs completely and have had the chance to visit a couple of pubs - one a old favourite and one that is rapidly becoming a new favourite of mine.

The Harp is a pereninal favourite in Covent Garden, an ale oasis in a area filled with expensive, soulless bars packed to the rafters with confused tourists and twats. The place is tiny which means it always seems full of happy punters, even when it's not actually that busy. A visit last weekend led me to have a tremendous pint of the Titanic "Nautical Mild." I love a good mild and this was one of the better examples I've had. A lovely, bitter coffee taste comes through with just the right amount of chocolate undertones. A fine effort. I also enjoyed a pint of Thornbridge "Lord Marple" a solid example of a traditional bitter. Very suppable. The problem I have with Thornbridge brews is that none of them match the mighty Kipling, which is probably the best ale I've ever sampled. Still the Lord Marple was excellent and well worth a pint or three.

The food at BrewDog. I highly recommend
the burgers.

I also paid a visit to the BrewDog Camden, which continues to impress. The wanky and pretentious scribblings are still on the walls but the friendly staff, great ambience and excellent beers make up for it. The food is still top notch and I enjoyed a great cheeseburger. This place is really settling in well and a pint of 5am Saint made for a great start to the evening. This red ale is a pleasure to drink with a pleasent bitter aftertaste. The Punk IPA was also in great form, a well hopped and fruity brew seems to taste better in draught form. The prices are expensive and penalise drinkers who don't fancy a lower strength beer as they all cost £3.95 upwards for a pint regardless of strength. This bar isn't the kind of place to have a session but it does make a great place for a few warm up drinks before moving on to the expensive shitholes that Camden has to offer.

Cameron != Churchill

One pub I've been visiting recently that I think that deserves a special mention is the Wetherspoons in Victoria Station. I usually end up here when I'm sending The Lovely Jemma back to leafy Bromley and I must admit that even though I'm dreadfully sad that TLJ has to head back, I do look forward to having a nice pint in there. This pub will never become a "favourite" as the ambience is pretty miserable and it's based in one of the more soulless London stations. However I've been impressed with the ale selection and quality over the past few weeks.  Well worth a visit if you happen to be in the station. Please rest assured I haven't sold out to Wetherspoons by the way. To prove this I'd like to say that I still think Wetherspoons founder Tim Martin is a loopy bastard although he has fabulous hair, and that Wetherspoons unique "Veto Ale" makes me feel slightly ill without me even tasting it thanks to the picture of David Cameron being compared to Winston Churchill on the clip. Terrifying.

Just look at those flowing locks. Amazing.

Bricklayers Arms Derbyshire Beer Festival

Last Saturday I paid a visit to the Bricklayers Arms in Putney to participate in their Derbyshire Ale Festival. It was my first visit to the Bricklayers after hearing very good things about it. My Putney friends are always raving about it and the pub has won several CAMRA awards. CAMRA usually recommend good pubs but they do sometimes favour establishments where I'm the only customer who doesn't clearly remember the Callaghan government. Luckily the Bricklayers turned out to be a real charmer,with a surprisingly roomy interior and a pleasant, albeit concrete, garden running down the side. The atmosphere was jolly with a friendly crowd in attendance, a nice mixture of young and old folk although marred slightly by some morris dancers (more on them later.) A dog was also spotted. Sadly there was a lack of a busty wench behind the bar but you can't have everything.

Considering the festival started on Thursday there was still a fair bit of choice available. Things got off to a fine start with a very pleasant half of Spire “Brassed Off.” Thankfully it wasn't made from the ashes of Pete Postlethwaite, and instead was a lovely hopped session ale with a light fruity taste. Perfect for the sunny weather that day. This was followed by Amber “EPA,” a low strength (4%) continental style brew that reminded me of the sort of beer you may get in Belgium, without blowing your head off from alcohol strength. A good taste with a rather fine finish.

While sipping the EPA I stepped outside to watch the morris dancers perform their strange pagan ritual. To be honest they scare me. The fact that they're quite happy to dress up and dance in their disturbing way is a triumph of brainwashing and I bow down to the alien overlords behind it all. These guys were good at what they do (using ritual dance to communicate the aliens mission status to the home planet) but I was annoyed by a young hipster morris dancer wearing oh so cool dorky glasses and smacking his stick in a ironic way. I was tempted to punch him in the face in a ironic fashion but instead I just sipped my pint of EPA while glaring at him. 

Watching them dance in their unnerving way I got to thinking that morris dancers would make a great villain, and that somebody needs to make a film where evil morris dancers hit innocents with their sticks before sucking their souls out, all with the incessant ringing of jangly bells in the background. Actually on second thoughts they best not do that or I'll never sleep again. Eventually I had to stop watching the spectacle before I too was drawn into the hive mind and became a morris dancer myself. 

Plenty of further half pints were drunk. Ales that stood out were Muirhouse “Magnum Mild” which wasn't part of the festival but was one of the ales on one of the twelve(!) handpumps This was a great example of a mild with a fine coffee flavour with chocolate undertones. Very suppable. The Thornbridge “Seaforth” stood out for the wrong reasons – sadly this was probably the most disappointing brew I've had from the usually excellent Thornbridge brewery. A 5.9% IPA it had a rather average, even boring flavour and aroma. Thornbridge have been on a good run recently so I felt a bit let down.

I foolishly turned my back on the dancers at one point, and when I turned back round they were IN THE BUILDING.

Thankfully the Thornbridge “Kipling” came on later in the day and was in fine form. A combination of the previous ales and the excitement of seeing Kipling did unfortunately make me run around the pub like a twat yelling at my mates “The Kipling is on! The Kipling is on! You must drink!” over and over again. Those who did try it agreed that this fantastic hoppy ale with a distinct grapefruit flavour was a fine pint. Although they may have been saying that out of fear of the crazed look in my eyes.

After that my afternoon at the pub came to an end. A fine time all round and I will certainly be returning to the Bricklayers in the future. Hopefully without the morris dancers this time. I can still hear the jingling of bells when I sleep. They're out there. Waiting for me.

Return to the Tap

I actually remembered to take photos! Hooray!

A welcome return to the Euston Tap last week. Plenty of ales were on offer as always, and as it wasn't raining there was plenty of punters as well. Euston Tap is a fabulous place but as it's located near the station it does tend to attract a varied crowd. Last weeks crazy was a sozzled elder Irishman who managed to grab my friend Tony's arm and started mumbling unintelligibly to him. Thankfully our ales were served just in time to make a hasty exit outside before the tales of the war or famine started. Sadly we managed to walk straight into the path of a couple of smackheads having an argument. I didn't catch what the argument was about but despite my hopes I doubt it was whether F. Murray Abraham provided an accurate representation of Salieri in the hit movie Amadeus. Luckily they departed fairly sharpish and we could enjoy our pints in the relative peace of Euston bus station.

I do love this place.

Things got off to a good start with the Thornbridge “Browne.” The blackboard inside the pub helpfully pointed out this is a dark brown ale. This is the newest beer from the exciting Thronbridge brewery, in fact it was only launched on the 8^th August. It was a delicious beer, with a good combination of light fruity flavours, a nice bitterness and a satisfying caramel finish. Sadly things went downhill with the second pint, the WJ King “Brighton Best.” This ale was bland, bland, bland. I can barely remember the taste except that it had a faint bitterness. There was no discernible flavours. A rare duffer from the Tap, I don't know if it was just a poor beer or in poor condition (I suspect the former.)

I still think it looks like a urinal (the bar, not the young lady.)

Thankfully things were quickly redeemed by the Thornbridge “Kipling.” This was the first time I've tried Kipling and what a spectacular ale it was. Superb grapefruit and citrus flavours come through with a tremendous crisp finish. Apparently the flavours come from a special hop from New Zealand which only Thornbridge use at the moment. Thornbridge market it as a South Pacific ale which probably explains why immediately after drinking I had the urge to wash a man out of my hair before singing a lament about dames and how there is nothing else like them. A pleasure to drink. Me and Tony both agreed it was one of the finest pints we have ever had and also that I should never sing again.

Sunday I paid a visit to another Wetherspoons. The Metropolitan is a functional boozer next door to Baker Street station. The rather grand main room apparently used to be a London Underground recruitment centre. Sadly after my photo frenzy at the Euston Tap I completely forgot to take photos of this pub. Instead I present to you an accurate representation of a Wetherspoons drinker courtesy of the awesome Wangleberry:

This will be me in 20 years time. Oh who am I kidding this will be me next week.

First up was the Otter “Amber” - a perfectly pleasant amber ale with a light bitter taste and a refreshing finish. The other ales on offer were mainly from Adnams. I always find Adnams a little disappointing. Their Bitter just isn't a very pleasant drink with a heavy flavour and a weird chemical after-taste. The Broadside is just plain disgusting. There were a couple of Adnams I hadn't tried before so I gave them a go. “Ghost Ship” was a pale ale which in true Adnams style didn't quite hit the mark. Despite the initial refreshing taste, a rather unpleasant chemical after-taste kicks in. This may have been due to the condition of the ale rather than the beer itself but I wasn't impressed.



I did remember to take one photo. Here's the Otter Amber
hand modelled by The Lovely Jemma.

However my world was turned upside down as I tried a pint of the Adnams “Explorer.” Amazingly this pint was actually very pleasant. The beer had a citrus and flowery nose, and this was followed with a refreshing citrus taste. There was even a nice crisp finish with no unpleasant after-taste. I was so surprised by how much I enjoyed this beer that I expected a cat to start tap dancing on the bar and the surly European bar staff to start smiling as the walls of reality came crushing down around me. Luckily it wasn't all a beautiful dream and Adnams had actually produced a decent pint. On that happy note I shall bid you goodbye. Have a great evening and love to the wife and kids.