A Festival of IPAs at the Gun, Docklands

The International break has given me a little time to catch up on blogging about non-Charlton activities which seem to revolve around real ale.

I'd missed out on the Gun's previous ale festival in June and so when I heard about their latest event in September there was no way I wanted to miss this one even though it was raining cats and dogs.  With over 30 IPAs in Cask, keg and bottle format this was a truly unique occasion.

www.thegundocklands.com/index.php/calendar/ale-festival-sept/

Now the Gun is a Gastro pub with a good reputation so while there was no entry charge, the prices were somewhat commensurate with its status but I don't mind paying a bit over the odds for a one off and to sample many beers in one place that I would be unlikely to find in a regular pub.


However, it was good to see that they had prepared a handy booklet on the various beers on offer to give you an idea of what you could expect from each one.  Like any good festival there was also an option to buy just a third of a pint to allow you to sample more and they are to be commended for this sound practice. A separate sheet also showed the alcohol content and which beers were on that evening.

Beers well looked after

I started off with a middle of the road Hand Drawn Monkey IPA which I'd have been happy to drink all evening, but of course that would be rather against the point.  It was only after that I found the 2.8% 1/2 Mast from Siren Craft Brew.  As a rule the taste of the higher alcoholic beers tends to dull the taste buds of more subtle beers and so it is usually not worth going back to a lower gravity beer.  However, in this case I have to take my hat off to Siren as the hops still sang through.

It had been heavily pouring all day and there was no sign of a let up that evening.  However, the Gun was well prepared with a large canopy and decent outdoor heaters, so even though it was teaming with rain all concerned had a good time.

I had my first black IPA that evening, Hop Studio's Obsidian.  There was nothing wrong with the beer but like Porters and Milds it was just not to my taste. This was followed by Franklin's Citra IPA which cleared the palate nicely.

A sample of the evening's ales

We finished off with some of the heavyweights.  No IPA session is complete without a sample from the Kernel Brewery in Bermondsey and their Galaxy HBC291 did not disappoint, although with a name like that I think their creative branding department needs revitalising. I'd previously tried Weird Beard's Hit the Lights (a strong tasting IPA) and so was keen to sample the rest of their range and so a sample of their Holy Hoppin' Hell #2 seemed to be in order, but at 9.7% it was definitely going to be the last beer of the evening!

Friendly & Knowledgeable Staff

Rather a soggy evening in E14

Charlton: Pizza the action or pie’ning for a change ?

First many thanks to Charlton Casualty and fellow Charlton fans that read my Charlton to Greenwich pub crawl article and gave me a few more places to visit on my trek back from the Valley.  I’ve been sworn to secrecy on the actual venues but can confirm that the ones I have visited so far have been excellent and look forward to visiting the others over the next few weeks.

Well for once I can’t moan about the quality of the play on the field against Huddersfield in the Capital One Cup.  Chris Powell took the plunge and switched to his 5-3-2 formation with marauding wing backs that worked so well in pre-season and it looks like we were unlucky not to come away with something.  From various accounts Joe Pigott again played in an unselfish manner and set up Marvin Sordell to allow him to get off the mark.  I hope the game has provided the manager with some food for thought for Saturday's tough encounter against Leicester.  While I expect to see Kermorgant and Church return up front, I wouldn't be surprised to see some changes further back in the field.  However today  I have a different gripe to raise.

I see that Charlton fans have the chance to vote on how we get a half price pizza from the League’s official pizza sponsor.  Personally I’m more concerned about the pies at the Valley.  Rumours abound that our very own Breton, Yann Kermorgant has been tucking in and carrying a bit more weight around him than he should but if it’s true I don’t think the pies are to blame.  I’m not sure what the fayre is like at the John Smith's stadium (I suspect the names says it all and Al Gordon's excellent blog piece on the match sums it up perfectly for me algordoncafc.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/the-capital-one-at-john-smiths.html) but the Valley appears to actually be abandoning our pies in favour of what I understand is called a slice!  Sorry guys but we want a pie with proper walls of pastry and a deep filling.  I’m assuming that this is one of those ploys where the price stays the same and the contents shrink.

There’s nothing wrong with the food and drink at Charlton.  It’s just that with the advent of real street food and the explosion of news London breweries offering craft beer, the staple offering of slices together with Fosters and John Smith's Smooth really doesn’t cut the mustard any more.  Having seen the fast food offerings at Truck Stop London and the Real Street Food Festival, London has a lot to offer by way of quality local food and drink and I think we should be taking advantage of it.

To make matters worse, Crystal Palace have jumped on the band wagon and revamped their range of pies and now get to enjoy our local Goddard’s Pies in with steak and ale pie using beer from the first commercial brewery in Croydon, The Cronx.  For once I am extremely jealous of the Nigels.  Many of us enjoy a decent pie and mash from Goddards in Greenwich (www.pieshop.co.uk), and when combined with locally produced real ale this must be heaven in a pastry shell!

Leyton Orient have had their skin in the game for even longer with a fantastic bar in the Matchroom Stadium that has won numerous CAMRA awards for their fine real ale offering.  Their latest line up includes local ales from East London Brewery and Hackney Brewery.

So what can we at Charlton do to up the game and provide some decent locally produced food to its fans?

On the beer front, many of you will know that I have written about various local breweries including the Kernel in Bermondsey and Meantime Brewery in the Greenwich area.  As mainly kegged craft beers these should keep longer than some of the real ale offerings.  There is also the Brick Brewery a new micro brewery in Peckham Rye, which I have to admit I have only recently discovered and know very little about.

However, the Kernel is too near our other South London rivals and appear to be targeting a premium market, although Bromley football club appear to be well stocked up on a good selection from their range according to an article on their website*

Meantime would be a good commercial partner for Charlton.  The brand is well known over London and they have a good range so there is something for everyone.  Without getting too esoteric, I’d personally recommend their London Lager and Pale Ale as standard replacements for the current big brewery offerings at the Valley.

However, there is a new player in town in the form of Woolwich’s first and only brewery.  James at Hop Stuff Brewery has been extremely busy over the last few months promoting the company and recently raised £58,000 on crowd funding site Crowdcube.  He’s also appeared in the Greenwich Visitor and made a presentation to South East London CAMRA on his efforts (hopstuffbrewery.wordpress.com)

Full scale production is a little way off with full scale production kicking off in the autumn but they have ambitious plans and having this local producer at the Valley would be a coup and there would be plenty of scope for a special Charlton own label (thinking caps on please chaps but keep it clean and positive).

In terms of food one is pushed to find a more authentic product than Goddard's pies but if I was to compile a wish list of goodies I would like to see Heaps in Greenwich produce a decent sausage roll for match days with one of their award winning recipes.

Of course, I am writing this as a foodie that likes his real ale and I have no concept of the commercial realities of catering at a major sporting event but it would be good to see a nod to local produce with a bit of thought into the ingredients.  Now, does anyone in South East London produce an alternative to Mars Bars?

Article reference

*http://www.bromleyfc.tv/season1011/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1880:bromley-v-cray-wanderers&catid=42:news&Itemid=309

Bar Review - Oaka in Kennington

You may remember my review of the Brewery Tap in Peterborough back in March (see the following link wrongsideofthethames.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/pints-in-peterborough.html).  This is the main retail outlet for Oakham Ales, but thanks to a retweet from South East London CAMRA on twitter I am pleased see that they have now expanded into London.  Incidentally @selcamra is an excellent resource for London real ale drinkers and it saves you having to sign up to lots of different pubs and venues.

Good location - Excellent Food

Oakham have now opened up a new venue called Oaka which is but a stone's throw away from Kennington tube station.

www.oakalondon.com

My apologies to Oaka for the lousy pictures as they really don't do the place justice but I was concentrating more on the beer than my photography skills on the night.  However,  its in a great spot just minutes away from Central London. 

I started off with Citra which is and Oakham regular and one of my all time favourites.  Its a bit extreme for some palates as it just screams hops at you but was the perfect drink on a beautiful summer's day.

Says it all

 They had all the familiar favourites regularly on the bar but I hadn't seen the Bishop's Farewell before.  I was reliably told by the bar staff that this was the beer of choice of the Brewers once they had finished their shift so what's good for the brewers is good enough for me.  After all they must know something, and what could be a better recommendation!

At 4.6% it was slightly stronger than the Citra but much less intense on the hop front.  Unfortunately I think having had the Citra first dampened my taste buds, but it was an extremely pleasant ale that could easily go into the dangerous session beer category.  They must be pretty proud of it as it has won tons of awards (www.oakhamales.com/beers/bishopsfarewell.html)





 The staff were all very friendly and knowledgeable about their product. They tell me that as well as the regular stable of beers you can see in the picture they introduce a few guest beers from their range at the weekend.

Note the Cider Kegs in the background

While they do concentrate on their own selection I did see that the menu had a few bottles from other breweries including the Kernel in nearby Bermondsey.

Like their other places the food menu concentrates on pan Asian flavours.  Its a good choice as the chilli's and herbs compliment the flavours of the beers.  I really liked their Gap Glam menu which had lots of tasty Asian tapas style dishes to graze at. 

With benches outside it was the perfect place to relax and watch the world go by.

Lightning Bolt.on Saturday required to brighten home form

With apologies for the poor pun in the title.....

I hope you enjoyed the beer related blogs in over the International break but now we must return back to Charlton and our game against Bolton at the Valley this weekend.  Everyone is aware of the poor form we have suffered at home this season despite some good play.  For those of you still sore at the loss to Millwall take another look at the Football league show highlights where I think you will find that, apart from the final ball we played a reasonable game.

I saw Bolton earlier in the season, at their 5-4 loss to Peterborough.  From what I remember they were pretty much a one trick pony, playing the long ball to Kevin Davies each time who insisted on grabbing hold of his opposition players rather than concentrating on the ball (maybe he just wanted to swap shirts a little earlier?).  As fans we need to be extremely vocal each time he does this as many referees will let him get away with it.  We also need someone fairly stout to stand up against him.  The introduction of the Bulgarian, Martin Petrov, as a late sub added further danger to the Wanderer's attacking line up but thankfully he has gone to Espanyol for the rest of the season so we don't need to worry about him.

At the time Dougie Freeman must have been wondering why he left Crystal Palace as they struggled in a competitive Championship but has now pulled them to within spitting distance of the playoffs, having not lost eight games in a row, prior Ipswich beating them 1-0 in their last game.

In terms of team formation I believe that if we are going to play him, we have to start out with Fuller and see what sort of game he has, rather than introducing him later in the hope that he will be a game changer.  I'd also like to see Danny Green get a bit of a run out.  He has his critics but it might just add something to the mix that has been missing in recent games and I believe we have little to lose.

Given the rain and the cold I don't expect the pitch to be in any better state than a fortnight ago but there should be no advantage to either side as the Bolton pitch appears to be just as bad.

One thing we must not do is turn on the team.  Although it's all very tight in the Championship a few more points will see us safely over the line (the consensus is 54/55 points for absolute safety) and not backing the team is not going to help them win and could end up in us watching league one football next season.   We've not had a decent crowd rally behind the team since our epic comeback over Cardiff and I see that @cafcreddivision have not tweeted a rallying call for over a month now.

Regardless of the result I have a nice selection of beers from the Kernal Brewery in Bermondsey to look forward to after the game.

COYR.....!!

A trip to the Kernal Brewery in Bermondsey

After coming across the London Brewers' Alliance website ( www.londonbrewers.org) I thought it only right to follow up and visit some of the breweries listed in there.  There is nothing better than doing things first hand so a trip to the the nearby Kernel Brewery in Bermondsey was in order.  The Brewery have managed to place its beers in some very smart restaurants throughout London including Hibiscus and the highly rated Hawksmoor so they must be doing something right.


Today's selection

They are open to sell directly to the public on Saturdays and I thought it would be a good excuse to stock up on a few libations for the coming Easter period.
thekernelbrewery.com/

Its easy to find, just look for the railway arches on the right just after going through the tunnel.  The brewery lies within two arches with a counter (as seen in the picture below) at the front of one and a seating area in the other for those wishing to sample the draft beer on site. Wrap up warm if you are going to stay for a drink  and don't expect any home comforts, as everything (as it should be) is focused on the beer.

I opted for a mixed case of bottle conditioned beers and went for a selection of pale ales and IPAs.  I'll leave the porters and stouts for another visit.

I like the understated branding on the brown bottles and the lack of fancy names.  The labels have a particularly nice touch of explaining which hops were used.  Like the grape varieties on wine bottles this allows you to understand what's contributing to the flavour and allows you to select styles of beer you like rather than just taking pot luck, and I would like to see more breweries taking this up.


Subtle Branding Focuses on the Beer

 Well Easter is not until next weekend and I just couldn't wait until then to sample the goods so later that day after the bottled conditioned beer had a chance to settle down I popped open a couple.

The first to try was the Table Beer.  Don't be fooled by the name, I found this 3.3% beer a decent quaffable pale ale.  The sharper Citra hops were balanced out nicely by another more fruity hop called Mosaic (which appears to be a fairly new variety).  I can imagine spending a summer afternoon in the garden on this stuff.

Later, I popped open the second beer as a night cap.  It was a stronger 5.6% pale ale (they have a number of different styles on offer), with four different hops again including Citra.  While it naturally tasted sharper than the Table Beer it was not overpowering and was a decent palate cleanser.

If the other beers are as impressive as these two then I am very much looking forward to trying them out next week (if they last that long!).