Camra

[Ish]

Oh dear oh dear... it was clearly a good evening

[Ish]

Headed down the local last night with my book.

Was glad I did as they were serving one of my favourites: Edwyn Taylor's Extra Stout. Beautiful. Needless to say the planned two or three turned into a fair few more.

Also sampled a Cwmbran Pure Welsh which was nice and bitter.

A successful evening all round.

[prinnysquad]

Good stuff.

Traveller's Rest in Witton Gilbert (Prefab Sprout are from there, y'know) at lunchtime:

Adnams Explorer - lurverly. Washed that nosh down nicely.

Everards Sly Fox - nice and gingery, I was trying to place the taste for the whole pint then noticed the pump clip on the way out - 'cunning hint of ginger.'

[djjimbob]

Had another Brakspear Triple last night. It was my favourite beer and I have a few old ones in storage (3+ years). I don't think it tastes as good when it's new and they seem to have reduced the amount of yeast in the bottle. But still, a top top beer. 9/10

Duchy Originals - Select Brew. Wow! Wasn't expecting this to be so good. It's got a black label and it 6.2% compared with the normal Duchy 5%. Really really tasty beer. 9.5/10

[prinnysquad]

Tonight's boys:

Cains Raisin Beer - 9 - one of those unique beers that pays off rather than skanks up.
Morland Original - 8 - this and the next two are a bit of a blur...
Morland Tanner's Jack - 8
Nimbus Blonde - 8.5??
Otter Head - 8 - heavy (5.8&#37 yet very tasty and palatable to boot.
Joseph Holt 1849 - 8 - a tasty opener.

Kudos to VP for remembering 3 of these boys, he can correct any scores I've skanked up, though I think they're accurate. A good selection of heavy-to-light beers, the perfect accompaniment to Halo 3, PES 2008 and NHL 2K.

[prinnysquad]

djjimbob, did you get those boys in Sainsburys? If so, I'm sure I've had them before but quite a while ago, I'll have to get some more to test my ratings. I'm sure Brakspear and Duchys come under the Wychwood banner.

[^Katsu]

Sure you have found this site before Bletch Master P http://www.otterbox.com/ but I found it randomly @ work and had to share it with you! I literally fell of my chair with laughter
I'l leave you guys to yer ale's now eh

[prinnysquad]

Man, I can't believe you didn't recognise the logo! I had that as my avatar for months, before changing to otter ale, otter head, etc...

Poor show!

[^Katsu]

I was far too busy working & stopping myself crying with laughter, as it was I found it by pure chance (thru a series of links I was linked to that site)
Had I actively been looking for it i'm sure I wouldn't have noticed anyway

[dannywhac]

Well ,the Bury Beer Festivals up and running at the mo' - went there the other night and am off again tonight/tomorrow (?2 to get in after 6pm free beforehand, ?3 deposit on a pint glass).

Some fine stuff there for sampling - 73 types of ale and 10 ciders, the ones I've tried so far are:

'Rusty Bucket' - Brandon Brewery - 4.4%: Quite fruity and hoppy, not my favourite, but a nice pint.

'Gone Fishing' - Green Jack Brewery - 5.5%: Really nice golden ale, drinkable and not noticeable that its a high percentage brew. This was the one that finished me for the evening

'Ripper' - Green Jack Brewery - 8.5%: Very good barley wine, almost meady in taste and really hoppy. Corkin'.

'Black Adder' - Mauldons Brewery - 5.3%: Malty, nutty stout - loverley!

'Black Hole Porter' - Oakham Ales - 5.5%: Very nice, rich porter. Can't actually see through it it's that dark, really sweet but not so much that you can't quaff a load of it.

'Old Stoatwobbler' - Spectrum Brewery - 6.0%: Bought some just because of the Spectrum link Very good, tastes of chocolate and bananas, slips down nicely. Very rich.

'Grapefruit' - St Peter's Brewery - 4.7%: Tastes and smells of continental breakfast. I hate grapefruit but found this still drinkable, worth sampling alone for the fact that it might as well be alcoholic grapefruit juice

'Granny Wouldn't Like It' - Wolf Brewery - 4.8%: They obviously never met my granny - she'd have loved it! Very dark, very rich and fruity - recommended.


Will post up some more tipples when I've recovered from the next visit

[prinnysquad]

Good stats. I look forward to more reports!

St Peters Grapefruit is available in bottle form as St Peter's Fruit Beer, one of my faves!

[prinnysquad]

Just calculated tonight -

150 new bottled beers last year

88 bottled beers reviewed this year, of which at least 84 are new. Record pace! However, I have to admit that at least 50 of them this year were bought last year. I've yet to have a big haul this year

[Ish]

It's a little bit disturbing when you realise that your last 4 drinks were 7.5% x 2 and 5.6% x 2.

The first two were ciders (Thatchers Katy) but the second two are well worth recording here. William Brothers Midnight Sun. A porter. Beautifully flavoured, very quaffable for a porter and certainly for a 5.6% beer. A good 8/10.

[prinnysquad]

Williams Bros do Seven Giraffes don't they? It must have been porters all round last night, we had a couple too.

St Peter's Old Style Porter - 5.1% - Classic porter, robust and chewy.
Marston's Owd Rodger - 7.6% - A whup-thrasher of a beer, nearing the barley wine stakes in knock-out potency. If that doesn't put hairs on yer bollocks...
Sam Smith's Taddy Porter - 5% - Lighter than the other porter, almost fruity.
Wells Banana Bread Beer - 5.2% - A fave round these parts
Wadsworth 6X - 4.3% - Drink last, a nice breezy finisher to avoid end-of-night fatigue.
Thwaites Flying Shuttle - 4.9% - A heavy boy but well tasty.

I noticed last night that we're onto the 33rd page of the beer book, with an average of 15 beers per page. BUT

on 18/5/07 we were only on page 17, and I kicked started the great beer hunt, with all the accompanying pilgrimages. 9/5/08, onto page 33. Almost half the total recorded beers in the last year!!!! 237 beers altogether. Was well chuffed - the output of the Prinny Beer Crusade has been in overdrive!

[prinnysquad]

Few nice beers in the Queen's Head in Lanchester.

Bath Ales Gem - 4.1% - 8.5/10
Hyde's Eager Beaver - 4.4% - 8/10
Marston's Dragon's Tale - 4.5% - 8/10

Best thing about the pub, though, is that it must be a regular stocker of Wychwood beers. They had a big framed picture on the entrance wall with loads of beer pump plaques inside it, all Wychwood, with little descriptions underneath each one, and 'Wychwood 2008' written at the top. Then round the other side of the bar they had all the clips on the wall of the beers that they'd already had, including about 7 wychwood beers, stuff like Dirty Tackle and 'Owzat!. They were all brass and there was about 60 different clips.

That poster also had a load of beers on that I've never seen in the Wychwood range. Their names escape me, but one had a fat wifey on the clip.