A Wee Pub Crawl South West/West London...

I had a walk westwards along the Thames Path from Clapham Junction station, nipped off a few hundred yards inland to The Crane, SW18 1EZ, which used to be a Youngs pub, sadly sold to Punch Pubco, who now want to sell it on too apparently. This was the oldest pub in Wandsworth (built in 1738), but has ceased trading for a little over 2 years now... I realise I hadn't visited for a while, but presume I'm not at fault for its closure...

So I wandered back by the River Wandle to the Thames and continued westwards to Putney, where I had a pint in The Rocket (website) at Putney Wharf Tower, virtually next door to the historic St Mary's Church, which hosted the Putney Debates in 1647 (website), where members of the New Model Army debated the form of 'democracy' that should replace the Kingdom.

This is a Wetherspoons in a modern building, with an excellent view of the river and Putney Bridge, and usually has at least one very good ale on sale, and they didn't let me down on this visit. The East London (website) Bow Creek, a 4.5% (5.5% in cans) West Coast IPA, brewed with Amarillo, Citra, Columbus and Ekuanot hops, right up my street! Pale golden colour, and they suggest 'marmalade and citrus, crisp and dry' which I cannot disagree with, my notes plainly state "very nice" and I'd recommend it if your taste is like mine in ale, pale, dry and bitter.

I then walked further west to Hammersmith Bridge (above, first opened in 1887), one of my favourite bridges, even more so now it's closed to traffic, basically the money isn't there to strengthen/repair it for heavier traffic, so just pedestrians and pushed cycles. Anyway, I crossed the Thames here to Hammersmith, didn't visit The Dove on the riverfront this time, but...

Carried on to The Salutation, 154 King Street W6 0QU (website), a Fullers pub with an excellent Thai kitchen attached, and where my brother and I ate on my last visit, very nice too!

The Salutation is a Grade II listed structure, built in 1910, and where better to drink a pint of Fullers ESB, their 5.5% Extra Special Bitter (5.9% in bottle)? This is a full reddish brown bitter, basically, it does what it says on the label, plenty of flavour, rich, malty with a bitter finish, I've had my moments after drinking too much, but not for many years, I've matured too! 😉

I then carried on east to Hammersmith Broadway, where I turned north and walked up to the Brook Green Hotel, 170 Shepherds Bush Road W6 7PB (website). Now I have a bit of history of Brook Green, in my teens I used to go to day release study at Brook Green College at the other end of the Green to the pub, this college no longer exists but is something owned by Virgin now, but I did have a few romantic episodes in my yoof, aaah... 💘

Oh yes, and the pub, well I have stayed there a few times when coming to London for evening football matches, but it looks pretty expensive now, although hasn't all accommodation shot up in price since the first Covid lockdown?!? On this occasion I only visited for a pint for old times sake before heading off for other business. There was only one ale on offer, although they do have pumps available for more, I was hoping for a nice local guest ale, like Naked Ladies from Twickenham, as most Youngs pubs have guest ales from microbreweries, but no...

What we used to call Youngs Ordinary, they now call Youngs London Original (3.7%), which isn't brewed in London anymore, but if you've never had this, it is what you'd expect, a session bitter that really needs a bottle of Ramrod added to a half, or Light & Bitter, as we used to ask for in my youth, and you always used to receive significantly more than a pint. Depending on the generosity of the publican and/or staff, you'd have somewhere between just over a half pint in a pint glass, to anything up to about three-quarters of a pint, and then add some of the half pint bottle (not usually Ramrod, but a Light Ale), and you topped up with the light ale, memories...

Cheers folks! 🍻

January Pale Bitters

Since the New Year I've had 6 very good pale bitters, 2 newer favourites, 2 older favourites, and 2 completely new (to me) excellent ales! First 'newer favourite' is Cowcatcher (4.8%) from the East London Brewing Company (ELB, website), an "American Pale Ale" (APA) that I continue to call "gorgeous!" I do like it... With a big fruity aroma and citrus fruits and passion fruit in the taste and a dry bitter finish, just as I like my ales... The second 'newer favourite' is another APA, Prohibition (also 4.8%) from Kent Brewery (website), and also a pale golden bitter, with plenty of citrus aroma and taste, another excellent bitter, indeed, both surpass the 'older favourites!"

The two 'older favourites' include Naked Ladies (4.4%) from Twickenham Fine Ales (website), named after statues in York House gardens, Twickenham, another pale bitter with less obvious citrus fruit in the taste provided by Herkules, Celeia and Chinook hops. Indeed, this is more like a straightforward pale bitter than the fruit extravaganzas of the earlier two APAs mentioned. The second is Jeffrey Hudson Bitter (JHB , 3.8%) from Oakham Ales (website), with Challenger and Mount Hood hops offering a light refreshing pale bitter with a more subtle fruit to the taste and a dry finish. OK, these come behind the 'newer favourites' probably because of the strengths, and also because, well, I do love the bigger citrus aromas and flavours!

To the newbies, for me that is... First Eye-Opener (4.5%) from Stonehenge Ales (website), a pale golden bitter with a BIG citrus orange fruit aroma, no hints from the brewers of the hops used, but I'm making an informed guess they're from the USA. Also, citrus in the flavour with a dry bitter finish, I've noted "refreshing and gorgeous" so there you have it, gorgeous!

My second newbie, and last reviewed for today, is Some Might Say (get it? Song title! Oh yes, and 4.4%) from the Manchester Brewing Company (website), subtitled a Session IPA. Plenty of Simcoe hops from the USA used here, consequently plenty of aroma and flavour, with a BIG fruity aroma of peach and exotic fruits and similar in the taste, pale golden colour with a dry bitter finish. Some might say it was pretty gorgeous too, in fact I shall say it, gorgeous, lucky me!

I'll soon be publishing a guest blog from the Isle of Wight, can't wait, cheers!