The White Swan in Charlton Village

Good news for Charlton fans who enjoy a decent pint before (and after) the game.

  The White Swan in Charlton Village has re-opened under new management and if my sources are correct I understand that its run by the same people that own the Pelton Arms in Greenwich which is a smashing pub with a great beer selection.  If it's anything like the Pelton then the Charlton Village locals are very fortunate.

I popped in on Saturday before the Rotherham match with the former landlord of the Old Loyal Britons and a friend who flies down from Scotland to see the Addicks and we weren't disappointed.

The bar had a good selection with beers from the local Hopstuff Brewery, Caveman Brewery in Kent, Windsor & Eaton and Magic Bus cider.

Of course a pub only survives if we make the effort to visit so if you're in the area do pay it a visit.







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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.

Anguish for a Breton but better news about a Briton

I was pleased to see that our annual Football for a Fiver day at the valley was a virtual sellout.  I did my bit by bringing along a friend and her daughter who thoroughly enjoyed the day. They're Arsenal fans but I'm slowly winning them around to Charlton on the basis that you can actually get a ticket to watch the Addicks and for prices as low as £6 rather than with a few extra noughts on the end.

We missed the first ten minutes as all the buses in Greenwich decided that they were going to hide for 45 minutes and then turned up rammed to the hilt.  Thankful that the weather held up for an exciting although goalless match.  It was good to see Jackson and Kermorgant back on the team sheet, we sorely missed them, although it looks like our favourite Breton may be out for a little longer as his ankle injury played up again just before half time.

Revival of an Old Name

A 0-0 draw was seen by most Charlton fans as a fair result against Wigan who are no slouches and showed no signs of tiredness from their European campaign on Thursday night. We played well and dominated large portions of the game despite the inevitable last ten minute onslaught at our goal mouth (but it wouldn't be Charlton without that would it?). However, we are 12 games into the season and stuck on 11 points and really need to start turning on the goals to ensure safety, but I have faith in my team provided we can keep the injuries down as this is severely hampering our efforts.



The post match debrief was held in a new watering hole. I thought that I had found all the quality pubs in Greenwich but have to thank the excellent blog cafcandnothingelsematters.blogspot.co.uk
for pointing out a newly reopened pub in Greenwich.  Its called RLA’s at the Old Loyal Britons (the original pub on the site) and previously was the SE10 bistro (the signage hasn’t been changed yet).  It’s a couple of hundred yards down the residential side street next to Marks & Spencer, you can’t miss it.

The web link is http://ewbrewery.com/beers.html


I like what they are trying to do there and can see this becoming a regular post match haunt.  The offering is strictly beers from London breweries.  With around 80 of them there is plenty to choose from, and they've made the most of it.  At the weekend they had four ales and two lagers from the likes of By the Horns, Late Knights and Windsor & Eaton Brewery, all kept in top notch condition with some very modern kit tucked away in the cellar, as well as a small but excellent range of bottled boutique beers.  I understand that they will begin brewing their own beer on site once the cellar has been modernised and will look forward to that.

Excellent choice of ales

I had to walk out of a pub over the weekend as the sound system was so pumped up I couldn't hear a word my friend was saying so it was good to hear that RLA will not have music or TVs in the building, so we can keep up the fine art of conversation over a pint.  Its also run by Charlton fans so you’re assured a warm welcome and at £3 a pint its an awful lot cheaper than the offerings from nearby places serving their own locally produced beer.

It deserves a write up on its own but I’ll wait until they are fully up and running before I do. Meanwhile, if you're in the area why not forego your usual pint of mass produced lager and pop in to try some real beer, you never know, you just might like it !

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.

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.

Beer of the Week: Hackney Hopster

In a change from my usual after work Mayfair venue, I wondered over to the Coach & Horses in Bruton Street (not to be confused with the nearby Coach &Horses in Hill Street which is a superb Shepherd Neame pub).  This was an old haunt but we hadn't frequented it for a while and fancied a change.  (www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/coach-and-horses-mayfair/s5155)



Coach & Horses*


Being just off Bond Street, it can sometimes be a bit of a tourist trap, especially in the summer but this Taylor Walker pub do look after their beers and have never failed to have something new on tap each time I have walked in.  They usually have four beers on the go and as you can see from the pictures they have had a wide variety over time. 

Amongst other things I was delighted to find a beer from London Fields Brewery which has been on my list of places to try, so no time like the present!   

The first surprise was that it was a beautiful copper coloured ale, more akin to a Yorkshire bitter rather than a straw coloured golden ale that one tends to associate with hoppy pale ales (see my previous blogs on the IPAs and Pale Ales from the Kernal Brewery).  The full bodied flavour really hits your palate and then follows down to the back of the throat to leave a pleasing after taste.  The brewery themselves describe it as follows:-

London Fields Hackney Hopster

"The Hackney Hopster is a debonair young chap of a pacific pale ale. Dressed in hops from New Zealand & West Coast USA, the Hopster shows off flavours of grapefruit, lemon zest and gooseberry."

(www.londonfieldsbrewery.co.uk/shop/hackney-hopster/)

I'm afraid I don't know what a pacific pale ale is (for once the Internet let me down so if anyone can enlighten my I would be grateful, but I suspect its something to do with the origin of the hops) but whatever it is I want more!  I could definitely feel the pleasing sour note of the hops in my mouth.  The beer is 4.2% and was definitely tempting as a session beer but I can see myself getting into a lot of trouble if I tried (my frailty rather than anything to do with the beer)!  I can imagine it going well with spicy food as the hoppiness of the beer will cut through the strong flavour.  The brewery will also be the venue for London's Brewing (www.londonbrewers.org/londons-brewing-festival/), a three day festival in May to celebrate the best of London's breweries and if the standard is as good as this it should be a blast.





This Week's selection at the Coach & Horses



Previous Beers at the Coach & Horses



 

 

 

Acknowledgements
*Coach & Horses picture from Square Meal www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaurants/london/view/99735/Coach_and_Horses

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!).

Hops in a Box....Its all about the flavour

Those nice chaps at Meantime Brewing are an inventive lot and their latest initiative is a winner in my books.  They are distributing free boxes of hop seeds with everything you need to grow your own hops and to remind drinkers what's in their beer and how it got its flavour.

Britain has a thriving community of artisan food producers and specialist brewers who are passionate about their products. Yet I am amazed at the number of people I know who opt for the bland and tasteless without a thought as to how their produce has got to them.  From intensively reared and cellophane wrapped chicken breast, mild rubbery cheddar and those mass produced so called lagers which will remain nameless that dominate the supermarket shelves.  So its good to see someone going a step further and taking the time to explain what it takes to put the flavour into the end product.

Hops in a Box from Meantime Brewing

You can pick up a box from Waitrose or a number of other outlets that serve Meantime beer.  For more information on the initiative and to so where you can pick up your own Hops in a Box go to their website

meantimebrewing.com/news-events/news/hops-in-a-box/

 or search the hashtag #hopsinabox on twitter. 

There should be a local near you where you can pick one up.  I picked up my box from the Clarence in Dover Street which is a Nicholson pub that always has a decent and ever changing selection of beers to choose from. You can see from the pictures that they are currently serving a number of good hoppy ales on sale including Jaipur which is a classic example of an Indian Pale Ale and VPA from Vale Brewery which is a golden ale.



The Clarence: Plenty of choice

I have a twelve foot wall in my garden which is currently covered in ivy and the idea of replacing that with a crop of hops is appealing.  The aim for the hops themselves is to end up in my home brew but as a novice brewer I'll need to get a bit of advice first.

On another note its good to see that the Chancellor has taken heed of the damage the beer escalator has been doing to the pub trade and scrapped it.  I know that some drinkers are still moaning about the minimal impact it will have on their pockets but it is an important concession and will stop adding to the future costs of a pint.

Even if the reduction is not passed on to us as consumers it does give the trade a bit of breathing room to cope with other costs, such as fuel for transport, that have also gone up and impact of bulk beer production will mean a greater benefit to them.