Deptford Pub Walkabout

You may remember many moons ago that I wrote a piece on a pub crawl from Charlton to Greenwich

(Link here wrongsideofthethames.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/charlton-to-greenwich-pub-crawl.html).

Since then I’ve done a few more of these and it was fellow Charlton blogger Hungry Ted who suggested that I should put pen to paper to share these with you.

The introduction of the pedestrian bridge over Deptford Creek means that there is now a pleasant walk west from the Greenwich foot tunnel along the Thames rather than walking along Creek Road.  The river side is all built up with modern high rise flats but the view down the Thames is still spectacular and you can take in the statue of Peter the Great (Glaisher Street) a one time resident of Deptford, on the way. 

As you follow the path away from the Thames around a huge tract of land that was once Convoys Wharf you come to the Dog & Bell on Prince Street.  This is a quiet unassuming pub untouched by the need to gentrify or attract the hipster crowd, tucked away down a quiet side street away from the hustle and bustle of Deptford High Street.

The bar billiard table in the corner is a rare sight in pubs these days as was the lack of music which encourages good conversation.  On our walk we noticed the tell tale signs of number of former pubs nearby and this is the last surviving pub in the area that served the dockers from the massive but now mostly derelict Convoys Wharf.

It survives as an independent real ale pub and the walls bear witness to this with certificates for pub of the year from the local CAMRA group amongst others.  They always have four or five guest real ales there and the few times I’ve been the beers have always been new to me.  We plumped for a pint of Gravesend Shrimper, a best bitter from Loddon Brewery.

It's then a short walk down  Deptford High Street to the Job Centre (jobcentredeptford.com)and the contrast could not be more different.  This is part of the Antic pub group and as appears to be the trend with Antic pubs the place looks like it is part way through a refit but to be honest I don’t really care as long as the beer and atmosphere is up to scratch.  The music is loud and the beard count in the double figures but they do serve a good pint.  There are approximately five ales on cask and many more on tap again with a nod to London beers.  The London Fields' Hackney Hopster was pouring particularly well that night served in the hipster's vessel of choice, the toby mug.

They currently have a kitchen hijack where every weekend the latest street food merchant runs the kitchen.  On our visit it was the turn of Prairie Fire BBQ (slow cooked meat smoked the Kansas City way), and jolly good it looked but we were there for the beer.

The trip back to Greenwich took us along Creek Road and past the Duke (www.thedukedeptford.com) a more modern pub run by the Inn Public group but still retaining that local bar feeling.  It has two cask ales which change frequently.  The offerings on the night were Sothwark Brewings LPA and Truman’s Zypher, both well kept and well served.  The Duke has music most nights but is spacious enough that you can still avoid the music and have a good conversation if you want a quieter evening.

Creek Road takes you back into Greenwich where the Lord Hood, a truly local pub, is often overlooked but serves a decent pint of Gypsy Hill Brewing's South Paw as its regular bitter.  There has been an ongoing development battle surrounding the Lord Hood and its not clear how long this local will last so you should visit while you have the chance.

In all, four decent pubs all offering something different and a reasonable three mile walk (including the trip through the foot tunnel back to the Isle of Dogs) which will burn of roughly a pint and a half of those beer filled calories.

Don't forget that SE London CAMRA hold the second Kidbrooke Beer Festival at the end of April.  More news on this event at the following link  wrongsideofthethames.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/a-few-local-beer-festivals.html

A Few Local Beer Festivals

 

The majority of Charlton fans I know also have good taste when it comes to their choice of libation so I thought it worth giving a short plug for two local beer & cider festivals taking place in and around London.

The first, which is currently taking place is the London Drinker festival.  Over half of the real ales on tap are from London breweries, although there is also a good selection of casks and bottles from overseas too.  Full details and a list of beers can be found here :-

www.northlondon.camra.org.uk/viewnode.php?id=772












The second is the Kidbrooke Beer and Cider Festival which takes place from 30 April to 2 May this year.  I went to last year's inaugural event with a group from the sadly now closed Old Loyal Britons pub in Greenwich.  It's too early for the beer line up to be announced but there were some cracking pints at last year's festival.
http://sel.camra.org.uk/diary/festivals/

It would be good to see some of you there to support this local event and secure its place on the beer festival calendar.

Will it be a Toast to Celebrate or Tears in the Beer?

Hopefully Charlton's season will be sorted out for the better on Tuesday night when we play our game in hand and final home game of the season against Watford. 

Our form has been such that the outcome is exceedingly unpredictable but as all Addicks know, we're not in the habit of making life easy and I'm preparing to accept that it might go down to the wire in our season finale away at Blackpool, where both teams could be fighting for Championship survival.  With Birmingham, Doncaster and Millwall also in the mix there are plenty of permutations to make it a nervy climax the the season.

So for those of you not making the trip to the seaside for our last game can I plug the following local event that South East London CAMRA are putting on this coming weekend.  Whichever way the results go you'll be in the right place to drown your sorrows or celebrate survival with some fine ales and ciders on tap.

The link for those interested is below
 
selcamra.org.uk/kidbrooke-beer-cider-festival/

I'm pleased to see that local brewer Hopstuff based in Woolwich is well represented with four of their ales on show and there are a number of other London and Kent breweries and cider makers on show.  Having met a few of the local CAMRA members at Old Loyal Britons in Greenwich I know they are discerning lot and we shouldn't be disappointed with their selection of casks which can be found on their website.



Notes
The picture is a poster produced by South East London CAMRA to promote the festival so please do share around.

Oktober Fest in Millwall Park

The weekend of 4-8 of October saw a Munich style beer festival pop up in Millwall park. There was a fair amount of local controversy about the event being staged in the first place. Tower Hamlet council appear to have recently introduced a policy of allowing commercial events to take place in public parks in an apparent move to raise some revenue much to the chagrin of local residents who believe that they should be exclusively for public events and usage.

Millwall rugby club were particularly aggrieved in that the tented area was only a couple of metres away from their pitches where four games were due to be played that weekend. Despite the council allowing the event to go ahead I believe it only received its licence in the week running up to the event.

Impressive Venue

Anyway, I thought it would be worth investigating and so I dug out my authentic Austrian walking hat complete with feather (there are photos but they will remain with me).  My lederhosen remained firmly in the cupboard as I was thirteen the last time I managed to squeeze into them. It was the first night and only got about a third full but plenty of those who turned up, including a lively German expat crowd, determined to get into the spirit of things, with plenty of costumes and festival regalia on show.


Alcohol prices on the face of it were not cheap at £8.50 for a pint and a half Krug of their own unique German beer (apparently they are not allowed to sell it by the litre!), but you have to remember that entry was free and all the entertainment was laid on.  The health & safety brigade had also paid a visit so all the tankards were made out of polycarbonate glassware and even the wine bottles were decanted out into plastic jugs.  There was also a good selection of German food available to soak up the beer.  You could help yourself at the bar or there was service at the tables.

Fest Beer

The tent had a capacity of 3,000 and was set out in long rows of benches just like a traditional beer hall. The staff were all dressed in traditional costumes to add to the authenticity, dirndls for the ladies and lederhosen for the gents, although a black mark goes to the chap serving us who insisted on keeping his trousers on underneath his lederhosen!

 Traditional Costume

The German band was excellent with the right sort of music to get everyone standing on the benches singing and dancing (think Robbie Williams, Joan Jet and a splash of AC/DC). I was just a bit disappointed that apart from the obligatory "Ein Prosit der Gemuetlichkeit" drinking song which cropped up throughout the evening there was no traditional Bavarian"oompah" music.  The nearest they got to German music was Nina's 99 red balloons and not a hint of Falco all night!

Rocking Entertainment

Just as everyone was getting into the swing of things, at 9.30 sharp the band finished and the music was immediately turned down for the last half hour as what looked like a council environmental officer turned up with his microphone to test the noise levels. It felt like a bit of a let down being turfed out at ten pm, just when it felt like things were warming up but it was perhaps understandable given the location of the tent near to residential housing and on a school night.

Tower Hamlets Noise Abatement?

I haven't seen many reviews and comments of the evening but I hope they are allowed to come back again for what I thought was a most enjoyable evening.




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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

Alt Bier, The hidden gem in Dusseldorf

Various events led me to end up in Dusseldorf last week.  Although I didn't have a lot of time for relaxing it would have been remiss of me if I did not take a little time out to explore a hidden gem in the German beer scene that is Alt bier. 

Brewery Fresh!

Most people are familiar with the many pilsner style lagers brewed in Germany.  Whilst lagers are generally cool bottom fermenting beers, Dusseldorf's Alt bier (which literally translates as "old beer"), like a real ale is top fermented in a warm environment.  You can buy the beer on tap or in bottles from other outlets but for the real deal you should make the visit to the breweries that make the beer itself.  There are five breweries in the city still plying this fine tradition and they are all within a short distance of each other. The frontage of each is just like a normal pub or Gasthaus while the brewing process takes place in the back.

If you've been to a food festival this summer you may have seen Meantime Breweries offering what they call Brewery Fresh Lager from their truck.  Well Alt bier is even more fresh.  A wooden barrel is filled directly from the brewery vat and literally rolled from the brewery in the back and propped up on the bar at the front and a brass tap banged in ready to dispense.  Its only served in 0.2 litre servings to ensure that your glass of beer remains fresh.  Don't worry about queueing up for another.  The waiters bring trays around regularly to top you up, just order an "Alt", they know its a beer!  They keep a tally of the number of beers dispensed by marking your beer mat and you pay once you've had enough.  How civilised can you get?

Brauerei zum Schlussel

While the real connoisseurs might disagree with me, I thought that they were all fairly similar in style and taste.  Its has a distinctive brown colour much like a Yorkshire bitter, perhaps a shade darker, but has the frothiness of a German lager which captures the malty aroma of the beer.  The alcohol content is around 4.8% and like a decent bitter the head does dissipate.  The taste is almost all on the front half of the tongue with no lingering after taste at the back of the throat.  All in all it’s a very pleasant beer.

Schlussel Alt Bier

 I know that in Britain we all have a habit of propping ourselves up at the bar.  Well in Dusseldorf they have bar benches, basically high tables to prop yourself up on.  No-one sits at the bar as that’s where the drinks are dispensed.  No need to go to the bar as the waiters will come to you, although at busy times some of the Gasthauses have an outdoor service area where you can get a beer rather than waiting for someone to come over to you.  Food at all these places is good.  Some have a full menu while others just have lots of bar food which in Germany means sausage dishes, or fresh bread rolls with pickles and a choice of cheese, cold meats, pate or even steak tartar – no crisps or pork scratchings here.

Brauerei Uerige

 
All the breweries are clearly marked on the local tourist maps so you’ll have no problem in finding them.   Three of them can be found right in the middle of the Alt Stadt or old town where all the night life can be found (just follow the noise).

We start with Brauerei Schlussel who have been brewing for over 150 years.  Although on the busiest street in the district there’s plenty of room for everyone outside and in, including a handy walled garden right opposite the pub and you should get a seat if you want one.  The food is excellent and I would highly recommend the whole grilled pork knuckles if you have a serious appetite.

Eurige Alt

Brauerei Uerige can be found further down near the Rhine on Rheinstrasse, you’ll probably go past it heading from the tourist office to catch a river cruise.  If you like your schnapps then don’t forget to check out the shop opposite selling Killepitsch which is the local version of Jaegermeister but more potent so I’m told.

 

One street away from Schlussel is Brauerei Kurzer which a much more recent brewery maintaining the tradition of Alt bier with a more contemporary environment and as such attracts a younger crowd.  The small brewery set up in the picture is modern and the traditional wooden barrel on the bar is replaced by a glass contraption into which the beer is poured.  The menu is also has an alternative appeal to the German food offering which is otherwise pretty much standard across all the other breweries.

Schumacher Alt Bier: No Relation

For a more quiet drink, I recommend Schumachers which is based about a kilometre away in Oststraße, although If you don’t fancy the walk or want to enjoy the buzz of the Alt Stadt then they have a nice gasthouse serving their produce almost next to Schlussel but its worth going to the original brewery.  Their website has a handy explanation of the brewing process for those of you interested.  I'm afraid its only in German but it gives you a good idea of what goes on. 
www.schumacher-alt.de/brauerei/brauprozess

Brauerei Fuchschen

 
If you're after a balance between atmosphere and civility then I would recommend Brauerei Fuchschen (Foxes brewery) which is on the outskirts of the Alt Stadt a couple of blocks away from the centre.  The service was more attentive, with patrons just having to stick their fingers in the air to indicate the number of beers they want (use your finger and thumb for two beers in Germany – see the film Inglorious B*stards for further information on this!).  If you think the Germans don’t have a sense of humour then check out the toilets where the cigarette machine has a fox dressed as death saying “I’ll see you soon” and the condom machine, well you’ll just have to visit to find out what that says!

Fuchschen Alt

Dusseldorf Humour

With the good weather and great availability of outside seating (or propping) its easy not to ever enter the bars themselves but you should, just to see how extensive they are.  They look deceptively small from the outside but open up like a Tardis inside (remember there is a brewery stuck in the back of these somewhere!)  Most are beautiful examples of old German style pubs with plenty of thick wooden beams on the ceilings and wood panelling adorned with scenes of old Düsseldorf and the Rhine or decked with historic brewing implements.

Kurzer:relatively new Brewery

For those that don’t find Alt bier to their taste remember, with the exception of one place that also brewed its own Weiss bier this is the only beer these breweries serve so go elsewhere for a pilsner.  The usual suspects such as Krombacher, Warsteiner and Bitburger can be readily found but I would recommend pubs serving Konig Pilsner or Jever (look for the signs outside).

Kurzer Alt

I did notice in one bar that they had a lager that was cheaper than all the others.  My German wasn't good enough to understand what it said but the translated menu described it as “self drafting”.  When I asked for a glass they politely told me it was cheaper because I had to go down to the cellar bar and pour it myself!

If anyone is asking, there are four Irish pubs in Dusseldorf, I'm told the Guinness is decent and ranges from four to six Euros a half litre and no I didn't go to one, but it seems that our younger German friends like a drop of stout just as much as we do.

Cask on the Bar at Kurzer

If you enjoyed this write up and want more in a similar vein can I recommend fellow Blogger Hungry Ted's excellent guide to beer in Copenhagen.  While I only had the chance of a whistle stop tour he specifically went there to sample the beers and has a great indepth blog on his trip here:-

hungryted.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/craft-beer-in-copenhagen.html
 
Saturday sees us play away at Watford and it will be my first away game of the season.  As always I'm waiting for Charlton's Ian Cartwright to publish his away day guide as he always includes a good selection of decent pubs, but if anyone has recommendations for a local serving decent ales please do let me know.

Acknowledgements

I have to thank the following website for pointing me in the right direction and making a few recommendations

www.europeanbeerguide.net/dusspubs.htm

I’m afraid all the brewery websites are in German but google translate gets you pretty idea of what’s going on if you want to check them out.

So Many Beers, So little time : Review of Great British Beer Festival 2013

Armed with beard, beer belly and drinking hat it was off to Olympia for the Great British Beer Festival 2013.  The evenings are usually rammed and the beers do tend to run out at an alarming rate so I always try and make a day of it when it’s more relaxed and the volunteers behind the stand have a chance to talk to you about the beers they have sampled.

Great summer beer

I had quite a few beers in mind already from various recommendations on Twitter and the Champion beer awards so it was good to see that the third of a pint offering is pretty much standard at all these festivals now.  I was also pleased to see that the festival is all on one floor now, with the organisers having  abandoned the upstairs part of the hall in favour of the second hall next door.  It meant more room to move around and no bottle necks on the stairway.

My first beer was Buntingford Brewery’s Twitchell which picked up the Silver in this year’s Champion Beer of Britain in judging the day before.  I’m glad I did as it had sold out within the hour.  It’s a nice unassuming delicate floral session beer with gentle undertones of hops playing on the back of the tongue.  One might expect the judges to overlook such an understated beer but it’s to their credit that they took notice and the award is richly justified.

Keeping it local

Next on to a couple of London beers at the Old Empire Bar.  I know they are supposed to be local but I haven’t come across them in cask form so this was a good opportunity to catch up with them and just for the day avoid the keg/craft beers that currently seem to be all the rage.  Moncado’s Notting Hill Summer was a light unfined blond and cloudy beer with slight acidic notes ideal for hot summer afternoons.  At 3.2% it was a good follow up to the Twitchell before moving on to the heavier ales.  East London Brewing’s Foundations Bitter was also served hazy.  I’d describe it as a classic bitter with extre emphasis on the bitterness.  This crisp beer and is definitely worth a follow up.

It was good to see a number of old favourites still popping up at the festival including Adnam’s Ghost Ship, Hook Norton’s Old Hooky and Hopback’s Summer Lightning but today was a day for sampling beers I hadn’t tried before.

 

From here on I was joined by a few friends so the choice of beers started to come down to whatever caught our eye.  I passed on the Lymestone Stone Cutter which was described as a sulphuric aroma leading to a caramel sweet start and pleasing hop and fruit balance and went for the Moor Revival which had won a Silver in the bitter category.  My drinking buddy was braver and confirmed the description with the aroma caught in the foam head thoroughly pleasing once it hit the mouth.

 

The Revival, like the Moncado and Foundation Bitter was hazy but went down extremely well – one to look out for in the future.  The bronze in this category was awarded to Glaslyn Ale from the Purple Moose Brewery in Wales so it only seemed fair to complete the medal table and we weren’t disappointed.  This brewery also does a lot to support the Ffestiniog Railway and had a great display of a working steam engine and beer cart in the main hall.

As it was getting close to the end of the day and I had got round to most of the beers I’d wanted to try it was time to stick the toe into the water and try a few different things.  This part of the session is always a hit or miss but that’s what beer festivals are all about.

The An Gof strong Cornish Ale from Lizard Ales caught my eye as it must be the only beer brewed in a former nuclear bunker and the beer itself lives up to its abode with a robust malty and smokey taste dominating.  The Blond Volupta from Oldeshaw beers had to be tried just for the name and at 5% was one of the stronger blond ales that I tried on the day.  It was rather complex and difficult to decipher what was going on and I probably would have enjoyed it more earlier on in the day. 

Next to the bottle stand where my drinking buddy and I each chose something to tickle the taste buds.  We decided to stick with the pale ales and my bottle of St Lupulin Extra Pale Ale (6.5%) and his Shipyard Monkey Fist IPA at 6.9% went down a treat.  The bottles were all cooled and made a refreshing change from the cask beer but the peachiness of the ale still punched through.

Mixing things up we then threw in a few dry ciders including a straw pressed one from Venton Cider of Devon.  I think we misjudged our palette and should have gone for slightly sweeter variations but it was good to see the strong demand at this bar for the real thing rather than the mass market muck thats being peddled these days.

Grapefruit surprise

The surprising success of the day was St Peters Brewery’s Grapefruit beer.  I thought I knew their selection of beer pretty well but had never seen this one before.  It was not overpowering or acidic but an amazing essence of grapefruit permeated the taste and aroma with amazing subtlety even after all the other beers I’d tried.  My friend would disagree with this choice and went with an excellent Kissingate Black Cherry mild brewed with real black cherries in Muscovado.

One I missed out on

The American Cask selection with names such as Tricerahops at 8.8% and Molotov Hoptail at 8.6% were inventive and strong but did not seem to put off the punters and the casks were emptying fast.  My last beer of the day was from this stand and I went with a St George Brewing English Style IPA which at 5.5% was one of the weakest but a good example without being outrageous.

Regrets of the day – I missed out on the Twickenham Daisy Cutter and Brains' Aporkalypse oatmeal bacon stout and I should have tried a few of the excellent stouts on offer including Tillingbourne’s Black Troll at a light 3.7% (described as initial roast notes giving way to citrus hops!) and the strong Wessex Russian Stoat at 9% described as dark strong and obvious! Oh well, there's always next year!!