International Stout Day II - Beer!

Well, the pubs weren't open yesterday, obviously, but I thought I'd better buy myself a stout/porter as I suggested yesterday (earlier blog talks about this), so I visited Marks & Spencer, for food too of course, and came home with their 5.5% London Porter, brewed for them in Greenwich by Meantime Brewing (website). OK, it's not called a stout, but as my older blog argues, whether a beer is called a stout or porter more often depends on the brewer's own interpretation...

So I sampled this 5.5% 'porter' which I considered as more of a 'stout' - but! It has elements of both when considering how I describe the styles, deep dark reddish brown colour and pale brown head, not as much body as you'd expect for the strength, and with hints of chocolate and coffee in the aroma. Taste-wise I got more chocolate than coffee with a hint of roasted malt/barley, a bit sweet to begin with and a dark fruity and dry aftertaste... Not bad at all, cheers!

International Stout Day and Covid-19 Lockdown!

Yes, today is, coincidentally, both International Stout Day (website) and the first day of Lockdown Mark 2 in England (BBC), not great! I have written about Stouts and Porters before, if you want a bit of history and details (blog), but I'd forgotten about today until I looked in my diary, so I shall have to go out shortly and buy something dark to drink for later, together with essential foodstuffs obviously, as the pubs aren't open sadly...

As expected, the numpties in charge kept offering different opinions about what was happening about alcohol sales, first saying that pubs and bars, and restaurants for that matter, couldn't deliver or sell alcohol as a takeaway. Well, surprise surprise, numerous Government spokespeople got that wrong, see the above regulations.

Anyway, 'lockdown' lasts until the 2nd of December, allegedly, but don't hold your breath, so enjoy the days until then as well as you can, enjoy International Stout Day, and be safe, cheers!