Drinking around Covent Garden, London.

OK, this blog records a wee wander we had between Charing Cross Station and Oxford Street/Tottenham Court Road recently, with 5 pubs we visited in-between, although we could have visited many more on another day, this is a good selection for the few hours we had available. To reach The Harp, 47 Chandos Place WC2N 4HS (website), our first port of call, we walked straight out of Charing Cross Station and across The Strand to a short pedestrianised area up to Adelaide Street with The Harp directly in front of you a couple of minutes walk away.

It is known that this pub has been around since 1805 and was originally called the 'Welsh Harp' - it changed its name when Irish woman Binnie Walsh took it over in 1995, later selling it to Fuller's in 2014, after turning it into an excellent freehouse (my older blog), and good for them for keeping it a virtual freehouse still; London Pride is now available regularly. Indeed, Dark Star APA and Hophead are still available (perhaps an influence in Fuller's buying the pub) as is Harvey's Sussex Best Bitter, and a few other guest ales too! The building is from the 18th century, but most probably a pub was on the site for many years previous. As far as I can find out, the building itself isn't 'Listed' although next door is, as are the lampposts in Chandos Place!

Excellent choice of ales available here; although all these pubs appear to be charging £7 plus a pint! {I will be sharing information soon on pubs up int' North where you can buy your ales for at least £2 a pint less in places!} Anyway, my favourite ale of the day was imbibed here, unsurprisingly from one of my favourite breweries, the excellent Oakham Ales (website), their 4.6% Bishops Farewell, brewed with Cascade hops from the USA (hopslist) and English Challenger hops (hopslist). This is a pale golden 'premium' ale full of flavour, decent strength yet light and so easy to knock back, fruity, indeed zesty citrus, but hoppy too, pretty damn good!

We turned left out of The Harp, then left again up Bedfordbury, walked to the end and turned right where immediately on your right is The White Swan, 14 New Row WC2N 4LF (website), a Nicholson's Hostelry. This is a Grade II Listed 17th century building, tastefully refurbished by Nicholson's after they bought it, reopening in 2012. And that's it for my being able to take photographs of the exteriors on this day without members of the public included, busy busy! 😒

I have become increasingly frustrated with Nicholson's who have been reducing the ales available in their pubs, notably cask ales from small local breweries. But I was very happy to have a pint of this ale from Titanic Brewery of Stoke-on-Trent (website), okay, not local, but another decent brewery indeed, who's brewery tap, The Bulls Head in Burslem, I have written about on my older blog. Anyway, their 4.9% Plum Porter is pretty special as ever, brewed with a "delicate blend of classic hops" which is really teasing us, although I do believe this includes East Kent Golding hops (hopslist), and the beer does what it says on the label basically, dark and fruity, nice one... Oh yes, and it annoys me when staff can't be arsed to put a pumpclip on straight, many seen on this day were crooked! Glad I got that off my chest... 😉

From here, we turned right out of the pub, virtually opposite turned left on to Garrick Street, and right again at the first turning into Floral Street, we walked along and on the corner opposite at the junction with James Street, is The Nag's Head, 10 James Street WC2E 8BT (website). The Nag's Head is a Grade II Listed pub, which was erected in 1900, with a pub called that name at the address since "at least the 1670s." This is my second McMullen's pub ever, after visiting another White Swan recently (blog), despite the Nag's Head being a McMullen's pub since 1927! What have I been doing all these years?!? 😕

I drank their own 4.3% Nag's Head Bitter, brewed by McMullen's of Hertfordshire, of course (website), an educated guess says this is their Country Best Bitter, as it's the only beer they regularly brew at that strength. 😉 Brewed with Fuggle (hopslist), Progress (hopslist) and Bramling Cross (hopslist) hops, producing a very decent traditional best bitter indeed. 👍

To reach our penultimate pub, we turned right out of the Nag's Head, walked along James Street, turned right at the end onto Long Acre, and followed this down to Endell Street where we turned left up to the end and reached the corner pub at High Holborn, Craft Beer Company, 168 High Holborn WC1V 7AA (website). This is a modern built pub (1961), bought by the company in 2014, and here we were met with a pretty decent choice of cask ales and crafty keg beers!

Here we drank, from East Sussex, Lakedown Brewing Company (website) Sussex Pale (4.2%), and their beers seem to improve every time I taste them, an improving brewery indeed. Brewed with English hops Cascade (British Hops) and Ernest (British Hops), this ale brings an English twist to traditional APAs. Notable mandarin citrus in aroma, but gentle fruitiness to taste, easy bitterness to finish and really quite refreshing, will be a great summer ale methinks. 😎

Image thanks to Wikipedia

Finally, we crossed the road, and down Dyott Street opposite to New Oxford Street, where we turned left up to the junction with Tottenham Court Road. Where, just after on the right hand side, and opposite the Tottenham Court Road Tube station entrance is the last surviving pub, apparently, in Oxford Street, The Flying Horse, 6 Oxford Street W1D 1AN (website). Another Grade II Listed public house, built in 1892/93 in a Flemish Renaissance style on the site of an older pub with a history dating from at least 1790, and it does have quite a grand interior! 

It is another Nicholson's pub, so a wee bit uninteresting ale-wise, but I did drink their own Nicholson's Pale Ale (4.0%), brewed for them by Cornish brewery St Austell (website), which ain't too bad! Brewed with English hops Fuggle (hopslist) and East Kent Golding (hopslist), and Australian Galaxy hops (hopslist), so citrus and tropical fruits in the taste, pale, dry and bitter, could do with being a bit more bitterness for me, but very easy to drink, not bad at all.

I have quite a lot to write up to come, please be patient with me... Cheers m'dears! 😁

Summer's Coming... However, 4 Darker Beers!

I thought I should get in a few darker beers before I became completely fixated with the paler light summer beers. 😉 2 of these I sampled as crafty keg ales at The Jolly Fisherman in Hastings (blog), and 2 in bottle; you'll be able to work out which is which. The first (above), from Scottish brewery Harviestoun (website), their 10.5% Ola Dubh (which means 'black oil' in Gaelic), which has been matured for at least 6 months in 12 year-old Highland Park whisky barrels, and is significantly stronger than their bottled version. This was the most complex of this blog's beers, brewed with East Kent Goldings, Fuggles and Galena hops, with a hint of coffee in the aroma, and chocolate in the taste, and the whisky comes through in the flavour too, pretty good!

My first bottled beer is from St Peter's Brewery (website), their 5.0% Plum Porter, with 'natural plum flavouring' added. A big fresh plummy/blackcurrant aroma and taste, slightly sweet, but surprisingly 'light' to drink. It's a very deep dark red colour, and not bad at all.

I had been quite upset when I heard, not too long ago that their London-based pub, the historic Jerusalem Tavern, had closed down. However, I'm pleased to report that I more recently discovered that the pub has reopened under new licencees as The Holy Tavern, 55 Britton Street, London EC1M 5UQ, and with longer opening hours than previous, but still selling St Peter's ales in addition to others (website). Opens: Mondays-Saturdays 12.00 noon to 23.00, and 12.00 noon to 21.30 on Sundays.

The other dark ale I had at the Jolly Fisherman was from Siren Craft Brew (website) and their 7.4% Caribbean Chocolate Cake (above), the chocolate flavour coming from adding 'hand-roasted' cacao nibs to the brew, consequently a big chocolate aroma and taste, with a hint of coffee in the aroma, and hints of orange and coconut to the taste. I thought it was 'pretty good' which is what I wrote in my notes unsurprisingly! 😉

My second bottle beer, and last for this blog, was from Guinness and their 6.0% West Indies Porter (website), not quite as impressive as the stronger Guinness brewed in Nigeria, but tasty all the same. A very deep opaque red colour, with a slight bitterness and chocolate in the taste, and a hint of coffee in the aroma. Another dark beer that was not bad at all, cheers!

Paler ales to come soon... 😁

And beers in a bottle...

3 very decent bottled beers enjoyed by myself very recently, bought in a local off licence, 3 for £5.25 and I've had all 3 cask-conditioned in the past too... But where to start? It has to be the 2 Oakham Ales (website) first, paler, and actually the order in which I did drink them. 😉

So, and straight from the notes I took, with a wee bit added here and there because of my knowledge base, of course, Oakham Inferno (4.4% but usually 4.0% cask conditioned), labelled a 'Blonde Ale' but I wrote "pale golden" which is what I shall retain in my memory; blonde, golden, what's the difference really, just trendiness I suppose! Quality too, Amarillo, Cascade, Centennial, Chinook and Sterling are the U.S. hops used. I wrote "very pale golden, citrus in the aroma with a hint of citrus in the taste, but quite subtle (amazingly subtle, considering the hops used! - me added just now) with a lovely dry bitterness, very nice!!" Excellent session ale.

Oakham Citra (4.6% but usually 4.2% cask conditioned) pretty much does what is says on the label, zesty hoppy citrus, a single hopped ale using Citra hops, and I believe it to be the first single hopped Citra ale brewed in Britain. Notes: "Not quite as pale as Inferno, but pale golden with a fruity citrus aroma, bitter orange and grapefruit in the taste, a drier pale golden bitter!!"

Says it all, both great ales indeed, but...

And now for something completely different! That is, Titanic Brewery (website) and their 4.9% Plum Porter! Straight to the notes: "Deep dark red colour, with a big fruity plum aroma, plum flavour and a hint of vanilla, bitter sweet really, with a dry bitter finish. Very good!"

So, hardly surprising that I liked the 2 Oakham ales, a brewery that I love, I can't say I've ever not liked any of their ales, and they brew excellent pale dry bitters, just what friends and regular readers will know that I like. However, I had forgotten just how good the Plum Porter is, the only shame is that I can't drink these 3 beers cask conditioned these days... 😢

Congratulations to the Tower PotY 2019!

Congratulations again to The Tower for being chosen as CAMRA South East Sussex Pub of the Year 2019! The Tower is situated on the corner of London Road and Tower Road, Bohemia, Hastings & St Leonards TN37 6NB, and I revisited on Tuesday, during which I congratulated Louisa the landlady, and had a few pints, of course! 

6 ales, including 2 regulars (Dark Star 4.7% APA and 3.8% Hophead), and a similar number of real ciders, and usually a perry too, are available. I concentrated on the 2 guest ales in the photograph above, Manchester-based Bootleg (website) Cheeky Monkey (4.2%), and I could only ask for it using my standard 'Northern' accent, sadly not appropriate here as it is basically South Yorkshire, sorry peeps in other parts of the North! I've seen Cheeky Monkey described as a dark ale, but to me it appeared more like an old-fashioned best bitter with a nice deep colour, and quite a good bitter too. But I mostly drank yet another an old favourite, Oakham Citra (4.2% - website), regular readers will realise I love the Citra hop, and Peterborough-based Oakham Ales is an excellent brewer too, pale, grapefruit, dry and bitter, quality as ever!

The other 2 guest ales were both darker beers, the Staffordshire-based Titanic (website) Plum Porter (4.9%) is excellent, and North Yorkshire-based Great Heck (website) Voodoo Mild (4.3%) is pretty good too, though I didn't drink either on the day, but have tried them both before!

Full Pints!

The two regular ales are from local brewer Dark Star (website), though now owned by Fuller's of West London, whose brewing business is to be taken over by Japanese group Asahi (blog), so who knows what is going to happen to the Dark Star ales! At the moment, their Hophead (3.8%) is being brewed in London and all other Dark Star beers, including their American Pale Ale (APA - 4.7%) are still being brewed in Sussex; these cost a good value £3.10 and £3.20 a pint at the Tower; the other ales cost £3.20 a pint (Cheeky Monkey and Citra), £3.30 a pint for Voodoo Mild, and £3.50 a pint for the Plum Porter. Also, a you can see in the photograph immediately above, lined oversize glasses are used, so you always get at least a full pint, great value!

Once again, congratulations to Lou and The Tower, and cheers m'dear! 

International Stout Day 2017

Well, I thought it was today, but it appears it was yesterday, so apologies for being a wee bit late, but I did drink a 'Porter' yesterday, so I sort of got there... anyway, celebrate dark ales! Louise, the barmaid and youngest daughter of the publicans at the Dolphin Inn (website), asked me what the difference was between Porters and Stouts, and I sort of knew, but thought I'd better do a bit of research before publication. 

Dolphin Inn

Stouts appear to have developed from Porters, a dark ale favoured by London market porters 300 years ago, though a blend of ales originally, before brewers started brewing Porters themselves. Whereas 'Stout' tended to be a term to describe stronger beers. Stout, as in Stout Porter, was a strong, dark brew that London's brewers developed, and the dark beer that we think of today as a typical Stout style.

Technically, nowadays, Porters are brewed using dark malts, and are usually a very deep, very dark, red in colour if you put your glass up to the light, whereas Stouts are brewed using Roasted Barley and are black or very dark brown, notably in the colour of the head. Of course, I've drunk different brewers' Stouts, Porters and even strong dark Milds that taste as you would expect one of the other styles to taste, but, for me, I would define the Stout from the roasted barley taste, though no doubt many would argue with me there!

Anyway, back to the Dolphin, and yesterday I drank the 5.2% Plum Porter from Nottinghamshire brewer, Milestone (website), which does what it says on the label. This was a very deep dark red in colour with a definite sour plum fruitiness in the aroma. There was plenty of body, quite rich, smooth and sweet at first taste, with hints of sour plum, and I even got chocolate when well down the glass, also that hint of a 'stout' with a slight roasted barley flavour; see what I said about telling the difference between the styles, not so easy! The finish though was quite dry and bitter, not bad, which is good coming from a 'hophead' like me, cheers!