Archive for November, 2009
Party at the Dispensary, Aldgate
Nov 29th, 2009 |
I’ve written about the Dispensary in Aldgate before in my Aldgate lunchtime series. But on Friday 20th November I left my last job and had my leaving party there. The turnout was very good as you can see from this picture.
Annie, who runs the Dispensary, always keeps the beer well and I was sustained for the evening by pints of Dark Star Hophead and Harvey’s Best. I didn’t try the Itchen Valley Gold or the Dark Star Porter but I’m told they were good too.
If you are ever in the Aldgate area I do recommend the Dispensary for a fine pint – it’s a bit cheaper than some pubs around as well. They put out complimentary nibbles on a Friday evening too.
The Sovereigns in Woking
Nov 19th, 2009 |
The Sovereigns in Woking is part of the Ember Inns chain but is definitely a cut above the normal Ember Inns pub.
Some two to three years ago it suddenly reinvented itself as a real ale heaven. No more aggro – no more burining downs – just somewhere adults can go to have some safe fun and get some good beers. I sometimes visit on my way home from London as the atmosphere is so welcoming. They do quizzes twice a week and other special events.
It’s a large pub inside with many different areas. There’s also a canopy out the front for the smokers, and a small balcony out the back with a fine view of the car park.
The Sovereigns has in the recent past been the local CAMRA group’s pub of the year. There are 6 handpumps and the beer choice changes constantly although Deuchars IPA seems to be fairly constant.
At the moment they are doing ‘Tasting Racks’ for £1.99. Basically you can choose 3 of the real ales available and they give you a third of a pint of each. So effectively £1.99 for an eclectic pint – not bad eh? As I write this I’m drinking the Stonehenge Danish Dynamite – a gorgeously light and slightly fruity beer. I’ve also gone for the Mordue Coffee Porter and the Hop Back Red Ember – I’ll be enjoying those in a few minutes. Put with the pint of Arundel Autumn Old I had earlier which is a fine malty dark beer, this is shaping up to be a lovely session when it’s just supposed to be a pint on the way home…
Apparently these tasting racks are now a permanent feature and other Ember Inns are doing them too. It works here in the Sovs (Woking vernacular) as they have a good real ale turnover – less so in other Ember Inns I’m told.
Have you got a like minded Ember Inn near you?
It’s Movember
Nov 18th, 2009 |
The Beeralist is growing a ‘tache in support of Movember – a not-for-profit charity which draws attention to men’s health issues.
Please consider making a donation at: http://uk.movember.com/mospace/457833
If you want to read more about Movember you can visit http://uk.movemberfoundation.com/.
Thanks for listening. Normal beer related stuff resuming soon – I’ve been busy working on setting up a company. Must get out more…
A Tale of Two Wetherspoons
Nov 7th, 2009 |
I recently visited two Wetherspoons pubs in the Tower Hill area in London – both on the same day. The two pubs are actually quite close to each other and the experience showed the contrast between good and not-so-good in the same chain.
The Liberty Bounds
The first pub was the Liberty Bounds in Trinity Square and given it’s location close to where I currently work it’s surprising that I hadn’t visited for a while.
The large windows at the front make the pub a light and airy place – even with the dark red paint on the walls. The windows also let you enjoy the striking view of Tower Bridge and the Tower of London – especially good from the balcony.
The bar and furniture are more traditional in feel than some other ‘Spoons, and the Liberty Bounds has a much more homely feel than some.
The beer selection is pretty good although not in the league of the Crosse Keys in Gracechurch Street. The Itchen Valley Pure Gold I had on this visit was delicious.
The food menu is standard Wetherspoons and I’ve never eaten here so can’t comment on the quality.
My only slight gripe was that it took ages to get served as only one person was serving. This echoes some of the comments on the Beer in the Evening website.
The Goodmans Field
Shortly after leaving the Liberty Bounds I found myself in the Goodmans Field in Mansell St. I have been here a few times recently for leaving parties and it never seems to get any better.
Usually getting served is fairly quick which is good, but you wouldn’t come to the Goodmans Field for atmosphere – it feels so cold and impersonal. The interior is very modern unlike the Liberty Bounds and I think that contributes to the lack of atmosphere.
Beer quality varies and the choice is quite narrow, although I have to say the Otter Amber I was drinking on my last visit was superb.
It’s probably obvious that I couldn’t recommend this pub and I wouldn’t be sad if I never went there again. As I write this though I’m discovering that I’ll be meeting friends there at lunch time…
Salisbury Pub Crawl – Part 2
Nov 4th, 2009 |
This is the second part of my write up of a recent pub crawl round Salisbury on a grey Saturday afternoon in October. This post covers our time at the Wyndham Arms and return trip to the Village. Part 1 covered the Village, the New Inn and the Market Inn as well as a couple of others that were shut.
The Wyndham Arms
Having left the Market Inn we walked up the hill towards the bypass and the Wyndham Arms.
Much has been written about the Wyndham Arms (Estcourt Road) and it’s not everybody’s cup of tea. However it’s a favourite of mine and Jon’s, and Richard liked it too.
The Wyndham Arms is a Hop Back pub – in fact the brewery used to be here before they moved out of Salisbury to Downton. The interior is quite plain but the main reason to come here is to drink the excellent Hop Back beers. There were 6 real ales on during our visit:
- Crop Circle
- GFB
- Summer Lightning
- Taiphoon
- Spring Zing
- Mixed Hops?
(Apologies for the vagueness at the end of the list, my notes are illegible.)
Entire Stout was also available in keg form – ironic since the bottled version is bottle conditioned. Unusually there was no guest beer from the Downton Brewery.
I lost count of the number of drinks we had here but I can tell you that 1) the Summer Lightning was just as you’d expect, 2) the Mixed Hops had a distinctive flavour which I was still not sure about when I got to the end of the pint, and 3) the Taiphoon was noticeably spicey but not over the top – I’d not had it this good before.
We’d seemingly only been there for ten minutes when it was time to start our journey back to the station. Of course we’d probably been there for over two hours.
The Village – Again
Having abandoned plans to get the original scheduled train we headed to Deacons on Fisherton Street for a final round. But the beer selection did not inspire so we actually went back to the Village for the last one.
One of us even suggested taking advantage of the carry-out containers and he bought some dark beer that we can’t remember the name of to accompany us on the train. Two of us were still carrying pint glasses when we boarded the train so many thanks to the Village for their selfless provision of glasses when they were obviously not going to see them again.
Summary
All in all the trip was fantastic, and one day I’ll visit the numerous good pubs that Jon and I never got to. In Salisbury there are so many good pubs that we omitted a couple (Wig & Quill, Deacons) that you would dearly love to have as your local.