A Weekend in London, and a Surprise or Two...

I visited my brother over the weekend, and, OK, this isn't just about ale, but ale does play an important part of the story, particularly noting the miles we walked between Friday afternoon and Sunday to get to pubs. Anyway, first to The Rocket (website) close by Putney Bridge and St Mary's Church, where the 'Putney Debates' were held during the English Civil War (website). Indeed, we think the pub could have a better choice of name, eg 'The Leveller' or something with 'Cromwell' in the title, and not just because of Oliver, but his great-grandfather Thomas Cromwell was born and lived locally. Anyway, The Rocket is the best pub for real ale in Putney, simples!

So, to Friday's ale, and Windsor & Eton's (website) Knight of the Garter, a 3.8% 'golden ale' as it says on the pumpclip, and pretty damn good too! This ale has a nice fruity grapefruit flavour, presumably from the Amarillo hops used in the brewing, with a slightly nutty bitter finish, Dan suggested 'slightly tart' and I couldn't disagree. We didn't drink anything else here but this ale, as I doubted we'd enjoy any other of their range as much, so we went back for more... And the price? Well, this is a 'spoons, so a mere £2.30 a pint, but for CAMRA members like me, another 50p knocked off the price, so £1.80 a pint, cheers muchly!

You'll have noticed by now that the miles of walking were between Putney and, well, it was to be Rotherhithe, and along the Thames Embankment. Consequently, we crossed Wandsworth Bridge from the Surrey side, then re-crossed Albert Bridge back, one of my favourite bridges!

We carried on past our later in the day visits on our way to Rotherhithe and  looking back up the Thames caught this view, with so many old and newer landmarks included.

Thence to the last boarding place in London from whence the pilgrims embarked in 1620 before heading for Southampton, then America! And why this pub's name was changed to The Mayflower (website), another old favourite pub, which I have been visiting since the 1970s.

Which glorious ale did we imbibe at the Mayflower in Rotherhithe? Well, it was very good indeed, though I can't rate Kent Brewery (website) highly enough, consistently good ales they brew! This was one of their 'single hopped' pale bitters called Citra, Citra being the hop used, in case they hadn't made it plain enough. You'll be aware I do love ales brewed with Citra, and this 4.5% offering didn't disappoint. With a lovely fruity aroma, this very pale golden ale had citrus, grapefruit and bitter orange, in the taste, and with a lovely dry bitter finish, Dan said 'tart' - extremely delicious and refreshing indeed, though a bit more pricey at £4.40 a pint!

We walked back to Borough Market, and I suggested we go into Southwark Cathedral (website), where our paternal great-grandparents were married when it was still a parish church, and Dan was very happy we did (so was I) as there was a rehearsal playing for a concert, and a favourite piece of music of his, ie Vaughan Williams 'Lark Ascending' (youtube example for your appreciation if, like me, you'd never heard it before).

We then walked the very short distance to The Rake by Borough Market (twitter page), a regular haunt when we are in the vicinity, and, despite the noisy young clientele (and Fagin!) at the time (they'd obviously been drinking too much during the afternoon!), and when we managed to find a seat inside, we thoroughly enjoyed the Fyne Ales Jarl (3.8% and £4.50 a pint).

Fyne Ales (website) are one of the breweries whose ales I have never been disappointed with, indeed, 4 years ago I placed their Jarl, which I first drank 6 years ago, as my 'champion' session  bitter (blog). OK, this wasn't the best I've ever tasted it, but still good... If you cannot be bothered to look back at the older blog here is how I describe it (if you can be bothered to carry on reading this 😉): "a crackin' dry, pale golden and hoppy ale, with plenty of citrus flavours, nice and bitter, and very refreshing" and brewed with Citra hops, what more can I say?!?

We then wandered another short distance to The Globe Theatre, a slightly smaller replica of the original Globe that Shakespeare used to produce his plays at in the late 16th/early 17th centuries, to see The Two Noble Kinsmen, written in collaboration with John Fletcher.

The Stage

I have to admit I'd never heard of this play, but Dan bought a ticket for me and, as groundlings (standing rather than sitting, but right in front of the stage, quality, and very much part of what goes on!), we enjoyed the play very much. There was so much humour, not to mention pathos, and with some fine performances, notably by the actors playing Arcite, Palamon, Emilia, and the Jailer's Daughter. I wrote my own review of this excellent play, but, unless it reappears, they don't seem to like what I said, which was very appreciative, oh well... Anyway, see their website.

We then caught 2 buses back to Dan's as it was late, cheers!

Walking Along/Close To the Thames...

With my brother, The 'Routemeister' Dan, we covered a fair number of miles in two days, certainly 20+ on the first day, probably just a dozen or so on the second day. Leaving Putney, we walked along the Thames eastwards and left the river at Vauxhall Bridge, heading towards Kennington, and a new favourite pub of mine, The Mansion House, 48 Kennington Park Road, London SE11 4RS (tel: 0207 582 5599, website).

The Mansion House is one of the few Oakham Ales (website), of Peterborough, hostelries in the country, in a new building opposite St Mary's Church, with 'Pan-Asian' cuisine served from the kitchen. 4 regular Oakham Ales on tap, all excellent of course, their 3.8% pale and hoppy session ale JHB, and three stronger pale hoppy bitters, Inferno (4%), CITRA (4.2%) and I think they alternate the 4th between Scarlet Macaw (4.4%) and Bishops Farewell (4.6%), as you can see from the photograph, the Bishops Farewell was on when we visited; prices above £4 a pint (20p off for CAMRA members) and a 'Happy Hour' of 2 hours between 5 and 7pm, when a pint of all cask conditioned ales costs just £3! A veritable delight for a lover of Oakham Ales like me, but...

They also have a fifth 'seasonal' ale at £3.50 a pint, which for October is the 4.4% 3 Witches, an excellent pale golden ale with hints of fruit in the taste and a dry bitter finish, very refreshing! The hops used in the brewing process are Amarillo, Cascade and Willamette, so you can see where the fruity flavours and aroma come from, Oakham setting the standard...

We then cut by the Elephant & Castle to get back to the river at Tower Bridge, and wandered westwards to Borough Market and The Rake, 14A Winchester Walk, London SE1 9AG (tel: 0207 407 0557, website). There are 4 ales on offer, though one finished whilst we were there, so 5 available... We only drank the one here, the other 4 being Ghost Mango Reaper (4.4%), Northern Whisper (3.8%), and Burton Bridge Mild (4%), which was replaced by my old employer's Kelham Island Porter (4%). The ale we did drink was Manning Brewers Sha Man (4.5%), a "pale passion fruit beer" which was slightly fruity, pale golden bitter with a hint of sourness in the finish, not bad at all.

The next day we wandered away from the river to begin with, up to Putney Heath, then crossed Wimbledon Common, then across Richmond Park to Sheen Gate, where we left to return to the river at Mortlake, and visited The Ship, 10 Thames Bank, London SW14 7QR (tel: 0208 876 1439, website). I do like this late 18th century pub, and, a surprise! Just after we entered, 3 gentlemen arrived, one of whom I know, Keith, who used to drink at the same pub as me in Hammersmith, and supports the same football team as me too, we hadn't seen each other since meeting up by chance at the CAMRA beer festival in Hove in 2011, great stuff! Keith owned up he had been chatting to another friend about me only recently at the Andover Arms, but I shan't tell you the event they were talking about...

So, great to see Keith again, and meeting his two mates was good too, pleasant chaps all, meanwhile my brother was drinking outside, communicating with his daughters and wife, no doubt, but we did have a drink here, of course. Now, I'm not the best fan of Greene King ales, but this was so good I had to go back for more! This was the 4.2% Starry Night, brewed with Australian Galaxy hops, a pale copper coloured ale, with a hint of biscuit in the aroma, and a hint of citrus in the taste, with a nice dry bitter finish, pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed drinking it. Oh yes, 4 ales on in total, and although I can't remember the price, CAMRA members do get 10% off the price of the cask conditioned ales, nice one!

Then we walked back to Putney along the river...