June Whisky of the Month

My whisky for June is from Scotland for a change, right up in the north east and near the coast, Glenmorangie Distilliary Co (website) and their 'signature single malt' The Original 12 Years Old (40.0%). This single malt whisky is aged in white oak ex-bourbon casks for 12 years, unsurprisingly, 😉helping it to develop its colour and flavours. I've had Glenmorangie before, quite a few times actually, and the first time I drank it has special meaning for me. 

I used to always buy my Scottish Grandad a bottle of whisky for his Christmas present, if I ever deviated thinking I'd buy something a wee bit different to make it special, he hated it, so I just 'deviated' by buying different whiskies each year, for example Chivas Regal, or Glenmorangie, which I bought for him in 1996. Sadly, he died in hospital on the 25th of December 1996 after suffering a stroke a few days before, so my mother gave back to me the unopened bottle of Glenmorangie, which became the first time I ever drank it, toasting Jimmy 'Jock' Reilly, ironically, saying cheers in Scot's Gaelic, slainte mhath, means good health 😒 R.I.P. Grandad.

So, Glenmorangie for me has a special place in my memories, although what was meant for Grandad would have been the 10 years old... The 12 years old has a bright golden colour (I remember the 10 years old being paler), with vanilla and butterscotch in the aroma, a hint of fruit, orange citrus and peaches, and I could definitely smell the spirit, but it pours out smooth and very easy to drink, with butterscotch and toffee predominant to my taste, and a hint of cinnamon, apricot and citrus, with a lovely warming finish. Slainte Mhath!👍

Ale and Cider in Rye

I hadn't written for a while now about the Rye Waterworks micropub (website). If you know nothing about Rye Waterworks and its 300 years history, please read this blog I wrote soon after it opened 7 years ago; the address is Tower Street (corner with Rope Walk), Rye, East Sussex TN31 7AT. As you can see from the image above, they do sell excellent locally made scotch eggs, and local ales too, of course.

I started off with the scotch egg and the Bexhill based Three Legs Brewing Co (website) 10 Years of Pale No 3 Simcoe and Citra Edition (3.7%), which is what it is, celebratory! Indeed, a pale bitter brewed with hops from the USA, Cascade (hopslist) and Columbus (hopslist), so essentially an APA style, and dry-hopped with Simcoe (hopslist) and Citra (hopslist). Thus providing a big citrus flavour, dry but not too bitter, a very drinkable session ale, very nice!

I don't just drink pale hoppy ales, but venture onto the darker side now and then 😉 so this, the pub's brewery (website) very own 4.9% Pissoir Porter; their beers are all named with toilet puns you will notice. Very dark with hints of chocolate, coffee and nuts, this is my favourite of their ales, rich with loadsa body, 'tis pretty good, and I had the last (nearly a) pint from the cask!

Oh yes, and I also drank, from Tonbridge Brewery (website), their 4.8% India Pale Ale, I have never had a duff Tonbridge ale, and this didn't let me down. More of a traditional style IPA, though a bit paler, and brewed with First Gold (hopslist), presumably from the USA Cascade (hopslist), Keyworth Midseason (hopslist) and Target from Kent (hopslist), hops mostly from Kent and therefore not as fruity as an APA, but very tasty, very drinkable, and very good!

And a couple of ciders before I left, for 2 or 3 of my 5 a day 😉 starting off with the crystal clear 6.9% Perryhill Orchards Double Vision Cider (website). This is quite a complex cider, with a dry bitter finish, and very good indeed, nice one; they also have a less dry version. 

I finished off with just a half pint (limited time to catch train home) of a cider from Biddenden Vineyards (website), their 8.4% Dry Cider, made from culinary and dessert apples. This is what a cider should taste like, apple flavoured 😁 and so smooth and so gorgeous!

I just had enough time to take this photograph, from my platform opposite the box, of the very cute and Grade II Listed Rye Signal Box, built by Saxby & Farmer in 1894 (Historic England).

CHEERS! 🍻

McMullen & Sons Brewery - Update...

The other week I visited a McMullen's pub for the first time, the White Swan in Pimlico, London (blog) and in that blog I suggested I'd never heard of McMullen & Sons before... Well, I was in my local, the Dolphin Inn in Hastings (website) a couple of days ago, a pub I have written about many times (eg blog) and was chatting to (landlord) Mark about drinking Mac's IPA at the White Swan, and he said, go and have a look round the other end of the pub, and what should appear?!? Yes, up on the wall is the above framed award to McMullen & Sons Ltd for 'bottled ale' at the Brewers' Exhibition in London in 1930, where 800 beers were entered in total!

And I remembered this Diploma so well, and no idea why the brewer's name had slipped my memory, indeed, they've had this up on a wall in the Dolphin since before I first visited the pub over 14 years ago, until a few years ago it was up on the wall around the other end of the pub where I mostly frequent, doh! 😕 So, maybe I should write about the Brewery...

Incidentally, McMullen's, or informally, Mac's, do post on social media (eg facebook), but what about their history, I hear you ask!?! Well, they've been brewing since 1827 when it all started with Peter McMullen, they have had a number of different breweries in Hertford since then, with the present modern brewery set up in 2006, but their water supply, or liquor, has been sourced from the same chalk aquifer since 1891 (website). The brewery is still in the McMullen family (6th generation), and I do like a real family run brewery! In 1827 they were one of a dozen breweries in Hertford, but, nearly 200 years later, they are the sole survivor, quality Mac's. 👍

If you would like to know more, go to their website, cheers folks! 🍻

London - Victoria - Pimlico.

I could have entitled this blog just Pimlico, or Vauxhall Bridge Road, which I may have done if we had included a fourth pub on the day (the Jugged Hare), but for some reason I forget we didn't go there; another time! Anyhow, first up and very close to Victoria Station, was the Victoria Taps, 27 Gillingham Street SW1V 1HP (website), a Stonegate pub that's open from 10.00 every day of the week (although due to the terms of its licence you can't buy alcohol before 12.00 on Sundays), anyhow our first stop as we were there before 11.00 on Saturdays; we've been back.😉

Each time we've gone for the Fuller's London Pride (4.1%) to drink, which I've mentioned many times in blogs, but never really reviewed, I just know that when it's in form it's pretty good, but it does need to be sold quickly as it doesn't last too long in opened casks (cellar experience there folks). Brewed with English hops Target (hopslist), Northdown (hopslist), Challenger (hopslist) and East Kent Golding (hopslist), and I'd describe it as a slightly malty and bitter traditional session bitter. CAMRA (website) describe it thus: "Aromas of malt and citrus. The malty sweetness is balanced by spicy bitter hops with orange, apricot, sultanas and toffee." Oh yes, and basic bacon sandwiches are available at just £4 each before noon!

We then walked towards Vauxhall Bridge and close to it, we stopped at a McMullen's pub (never visited or drank their ales before! McMullen's website) the White Swan, 14 Vauxhall Bridge Road SW1V 2SA (website), indeed, before my first visit to the Taps I'd never visited either of these first 2 pubs before, and I used to work very close by in my yoof! The White Swan has been trading as a pub since 1759, more recently Macs took it over from Punch Taverns in 2012, and it had previously been a Watney's pub since the 1970s, and then a Scottish & Newcastle pub.

Here, and please take note that I'd never even heard of this brewery from Hertford before, despite them being 200 years old, 😕 I drank their Mac's IPA, a 4.8% East India Pale Ale. The IPA has its origins back in 1840 and is now brewed with Progress (hopslist) and Brambling/Bramling Cross (hopslist) again, both English hops, meaning it is a more traditional English style IPA rather than an APA. Consequently, it's a darker amber/mahogany colour with a slightly sweet malty flavour and with a hint of citrus only, and was not bad at all, more please! 😁

Nearer to Pimlico tube station is the Cask Pub & Kitchen, 6 Charlwood Street SW1V 2EE, a pub I have visited and written about before on my old Beermeister blog, and which has been trading in a modern building since 2009, being "London's first craft beer focussed pub" (website). The building is Grade II Listed, I kid you not, and well, have a read of London Drinker for more!

A BIG choice from 12 handpumps, and the bar staff were very knowledgeable and friendly indeed, and we went for the Dorking Brewery (website) Siris Citrus Pale (4.2%), brewed to celebrate International Women's Day 2025. It is named after the Mesopotanium Goddess of beer Siris, the suggested sister of Ninkasi, the Sumerian Goddess of Beer, and who I have written about before (blog). The difference between Sumeria and Mesopotania is described in this YouTube Video, Sumerians were Mesopotaniums, and they were situated in what is now Iraq, these were old civilizations indeed, invented the wheel amongst many other things!

Back to the ale! Siris Citrus Pale is a pale golden bitter, apparently with added grapefruit and lime zest, consequently it is packed with citrus flavours. I'd love to say Citra hops were used, but I can't find details of the hops used anywhere, although the brewery does use a wide range of hops from the USA including Citra and Chinook. Whatever, this was a delightful refreshing ale!

I will visit the Jugged Hare sometime (website), maybe next season, cheers!🍻

May Whiskey of the Month

My May Whiskey of the Month, indeed my 10th Irish Whiskey of the Month in this series, is Green Spot, a 40.0% Single Pot Still Whiskey, meaning that both malted and unmalted barley is distilled in a pot still at just the one distillery. It is distilled at the Midleton Distillery near Cork (website), where many well known Irish Distillers (website) whiskeys come from, including Jameson, Redbreast and Tullamore D.E.W. Green Spot is distilled for the wine and spirit merchants Mitchell & Son of Dublin (website), who mature this whiskey for between 7 and 10 years in new and refill bourbon casks, and then in used sherry casks.

As expected for Irish whiskeys this was triple distilled, and is a deep golden colour, with hints of orchard fruits, vanilla, honey and cinnamon in the aroma. To taste, slightly spicy at first with the hints of vanilla still there, and a sherry fruitiness, finishing off with a slightly less smooth, but warm dryness, not my favourite Irish whiskey ever but still very nice, slainte! 👍💚

Comparative Analysis of an Imperial Stout and a Pilsner!

OK, I'm being unfair saying this is a 'comparative analysis' because the beers in question are so different in styles, and despite the fact that one of the collaborators in this Imperial Stout, Gravity Well, does mostly brew paler beers, and even dry hopped pilsners! But, it's because I'd been given the opportunity to try the pilsner below (in can and from the keg gratis, many thanks to Mark and Mo of the Dolphin Inn, Hastings), and last night I just had to try the seriously stronger stout at the Jolly Fisherman in Hastings, cheers Oliver! 👍

So, to this collaboration between Gravity Well Brewing (website) and the Low Key Barrel Project (facebook), the 10.2% You Are Here Imperial Stout, described as Chocolate, Coconut, Tonka and Vanilla Brownie! Before you ask, Tonka isn't a metal toy, but a bean/spice with a vanilla flavour and hints of almond, marzipan, cinnamon and cloves (Spice Mountain). I'd only recently looked this up relating to another beer, but it does what it says on the label, rich, smooth and luxurious, and dangerously strong, yummy! 😁

And the unfair comparison is with Harvey's Brewery (website) 4.0% Pilsner, see, I said it isn't fair. 😂 They describe this as 'Prussian hopped' with Lubelski hops grown in Poland; also known as Lubelska, this is a hop variety originally developed from Saaz hops (hopslist) in the Czech Republic, it is now a 'mainstay of Polish breweries' (hopslist). Again, quite a session beer, and I'm not really a lager drinker, but I did enjoy the stronger beers I drank during the Hastings Oktoberfest at the Prince Albert last year (blog), but I was surprised as it's quite drinkable, despite the lack of strength. 😉 Indeed, quite crisp, dry and slightly bitter, and refreshing with a hint of citrus and cinnamon in the aroma and taste, not bad, cheers! 🍺

3 Brothers Drinking Together in SW19 and 2 in TW10!

Well, the 3 of us hadn't met up together as a trio for some time, and we decided again to meet up on the edge of Wimbledon Village, by Wimbledon Common. There are quite a few decent pubs in the area, but we whittled the choice down to two, a few yards from each other. The Crooked Billet (website), 15 Crooked Billet SW19 4RQ, built in the early 18th century, became a pub in the 1850s, the name coming from the pub sign that was a crooked piece of wood broken from a tree apparently, but there are many theories! Anyway, the name of this small local part of Wimbledon Common, and the road, was taken from the name of the pub; so not a chicken or egg situation. It's a pub I have visited off and on for many years, but Rob arriving last let us choose...

So, we chose the very nearby Hand in Hand, 7 Crooked Billet SW19 4RQ (website), dating back to 1831 and originally a bakery, but was a family owned pub for a hundred years before Young's took it over in 1974. Indeed, a wee bit underage maybe 😉 I first drank Ruddles County there before Young's took it over, and Ruddles Brewery was still an independent brewery then. Nowadays, like The Crooked Billet, both pubs sell guest ales in addition to Young's.  

In addition to the ales in the photograph above, there were also Sambrook's Sidekick, a 3.4% session IPA and Adnams single hopped Mosaic Pale Ale (4.1%) on the other bar. However, from the 4 shown in the photograph above, I drank, from Wandsworth brewery Sambrook's (website), their Pumphouse, a 4.2% pale ale, named after the Pump House Gallery in Battersea Park. This is brewed with 3 British hops, Admiral, Goldings, and notably Ernest, which gives it a strong fruity American style pale ale aroma and taste; light, slightly spicy with apricot and citrus. It was pretty good actually, and despite giving the always excellent Proper Job consideration, I surprised myself and kept to the more locale Pumphouse throughout our visit, nice one.

The next day just Dan and I walked across Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park to the Roebuck, 130 Richmond Hill, Richmond TW10 6RN (website), arguably the pub with the best view in London; the view is protected by an Act of Parliament of 1902! The Roebuck was built in 1717, believed to be on the site of a much older pub, and was a regular drinking hole of Dan and I in the late 1970s and 1980s, and occasionally since. It was recently tastefully refurbished by new owners Greene King, and doesn't appear much altered, if at all, from our older visits.

I was pleased that it wasn't just Greene King ales on sale though, as we enjoyed an excellent couple of pints of the Oakham Ales (website) single-hopped 4.2% 'Session IPA' Citra. Their Citra is, as you would expect, zesty with a hint of citrus in the aroma and taste, very pale, and a great dry bitter finish. An ale I love, and have written about regularly (for example blog), and would include as a luxury item on a desert island discs theme, along with a cooling system. 😉 Oh yes, and we were very pleased with our choice of lunch here, their Sharing Platter, with a portion of chips that we didn't need as it was plenty enough, even for us 2 gluttons!

The view from outside the Roebuck is one that has been painted many times, for example by J.M.W. Turner, and, as I forgot to take a photograph on the day, I thought I would share a photograph of an oil painting of the view. However, this is by a less celebrated, though very local artist, James Isiah Lewis (1861-1934), and is at Orleans House Gallery (in a villa built in the 'Palladian' style in 1710), Orleans Road, Twickenham TW1 3BL (website).

And this view hasn't changed much at all either, cheers! 😁

Oh yes, afterwards we carried on walking eastwards along the Thames to The Ship at Mortlake, the ales were a bit boring sadly, not like on a previous visit (blog)!