The rain has cancelled a few golf trips this season, including a recent "Midsummer" outing at Tarland, where a huge storm drove us off the course after 12 holes. Back to the Aberdeen Arms to dry out, with the village power having been cut off by the storm, Inveralmond's Duncan's IPA and Minstrel Ale were both pretty good. Cracking fire too - very useful this summer.
Tried to play again a few days later at Kemnay - a bit more successful this time. Their choice of ales was Cumberland and Landlord - both pretty fair.
Picked up a leaflet for an East Lancs Rail Ale trail:
Nice idea if you're in the area - 18 pubs on a relatively short route.
This past weekend, I've been down in the South East for my annual trip to Lord's, taking in a gig as well - plus a few ales in some old favourite pubs and some new (to me) ones.
A short walk from Lord's, bypassing St. John's Wood tube station, heading towards Edgware Road and Paddington, we tried the Lord Wargrave (http://www.youngs.co.uk/pub-detail.asp?PubID=347) - a strangely appropriate name for a financier and former associate of Lord Beaverbrook. Young's pub - usual selection - decent quality.
From there, we tried the Mad Bishop & Bear (http://madbishopandbear.co.uk/) upstairs at Paddington station - another brewery pub, this time Fuller's. I'd heard good reports of this pub, but was a little disappointed - it seemed soulless and the beer quality was pretty average.
We got the train back to Dave Williamson's flat in Reading and made a detour to take in one of our favourites - the Nag's Head (http://nagsheadreading.com/home.php), a now hugely successful pub that was saved by the local community a couple of years ago. Nice, simple website too - not only lists the beers (with prices), but also the latest music played. No trip to this part of Berkshire would be complete without at least one visit here.
Our Saturday afternoon visit to the new Craft Beer Co (http://thecraftbeerco.com/) was the highlight of our trip, ale-wise. It turned out to be their 1st Birthday Celebration Weekend and they produced a small programme advertising it:
Great place - the best I've been to for a long, long time. The choice and quality of beers on offer - cask, keg and bottled - was second to none. They had tiered pricing in place, starting at £3.40 per pint for abv's up to 3.9%, rising to £4.60 at up to 6.9% - but it is central London after all.
Their pub sign was simple but said it all:
Ignoring their spelling error, we couldn't help but feel that this was what Brewdog could - and perhaps, should - have been. A genuine choice, no matter what your preference was for method of dispense. It was a hot afternoon and the outside seating was somewhat restricted - an unused market stall - but Colin Kilgour and I didn't mind:
They serve the best pork pies I've ever had too! Highly recommended for any visitor to London.
From there, it was on to Hammersmith. We started at the Dove (http://dovehammersmith.co.uk/), a famous old Fuller's pub, which has a fine setting, right on the river. Their web site extols their history and also says:
"the small space to the right of our bar went into the Guinness Book of World Records as the smallest bar room in the world. Only the eagle-eyed will spot the entrance... "
They were featuring Wild River, which they advertised as "Double Hopped Pale Ale from the USA" - meaning that they used hops from West Coast USA - Liberty, Willamette, Cascade and Chinook - I'm led to believe. Not bad, but, at just 4.5% abv, it doesn't quite have the kick of the real thing.
Heading back along the river towards the Apollo, we re-visited the Blue Anchor (not related to the famous old brewpub of the same name in Helston, Cornwall) - http://blueanchorlondon.com/index.html. This pub was apparently established in 1722, but we were pleased to see that it's not a brewery-owned pub and the choice of ales was:
The house ale is brewed by Nelson Brewing, Chatham (http://www.nelsonbrewery.co.uk/). All good stuff.
So that was Saturday. Sunday was much quieter. We decided not to try what used to be a local favourite in Reading town centre - the Hobgoblin - it's now re-named the Ale House (http://www.hobgoblinreading.co.uk/) and has apparently gone downhill a bit since the change. Instead we took a drive out to nearby Henley, which was still full of Hoorays on the last day of the Regatta, making all the riverside pubs pretty busy.
We opted for the Catherine Wheel (http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pubs/the-catherine-wheel/), a Wetherspoon's Lloyd's No. 1 - sadly one day too late to use the CAMRA vouchers I had with me. We had assumed that at least the service there would be OK - but it wasn't. The beer choice wasn't bad, however. Apart from the standard LP and GK IPA, they had Loddon's Ferryman's Gold, Windsor & Eton's Knight of the Garter, and an Olympics-inspired Golden Flame from Burton Bridge.
Our last beers of the weekend were at Terminal 5's Wetherspoon's Crown Rivers.
Next weekend it's new drinking and golfing territory for me - Dumfries and Galloway.
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