A Trip to Cardiff...

OK, this isn't solely my blog, indeed, I haven't been to Cardiff for quite a few years now, but I've written this following feedback given to me by the 'Two Golfers' aka the 'Two Davids', many thanks to them, and I've done a bit of research myself too...

They've pointed me to 3 'great' pubs/bars they visited recently, all in the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) Good Beer Guide currently (and there are many more Cardiff pubs in the Guide too of course). I'm starting with The City Arms, 10-12 Quay Street, CF10 1EA (tel: 02920 641913, website), built in the 1880s, as you can see from the website, this is a Brains owned pub, so regular cask ales include their Bitter (3.7%), SA (4.2%), and Rev James Original (4.5%). Plus they sell 7 guest ales from near and far. David, not Dave G, said he'd enjoyed drinking a London Porter (5.7%) from Old Soul Brewing (of Florida! website), travels well it seems. The pub is situated close to the Millennium Stadium and, in addition to 10 real ales, they also sell 10 crafty keg beers, 10 traditional ciders, and many more craft beers in bottle! 

Next is Zerodegrees, 27 Westgate Street, CF10 1DD (tel: 02920 229494, website), with its Grade II listed 1930s frontage, this former bus garage also sits close to the Millennium/Principality Stadium, and is described as a brewpub/microbrewery and restaurant. There are another 3 Zerodegrees establishments in the chain, one being at Blackheath in London, obviously where they get their name from! They sell 6 beers, 4 regulars of their own, Wheat Ale (4.2%), Pale Ale (4.6%), Pilsner (4.8%), and a 4.8% Czech-style Black Lager, which David extolled the virtues of, and 2 guests, usually locally sourced, and often brewed on the premises, eg their 4% Mango (flavoured wheat beer). Though other food is sold, they specialize in pizzas, which Dave G describes as "excellent", as he describes the ales as being too!

The final bar for this blog is the basement bar Hopbunker, 5-7 Queen Street, CF10 2AF (tel: 02920 398889, website), only established in the last couple of years, it has already been voted CAMRA Cardiff Pub of the Year, and Cider pub of the Year, for both 2016 and 2017! Though neither David  singled out any particular ale enjoyed here, the bar has up to 15 real ales from all over the UK (don't be surprised to see something from Hopcraft Brewing as this is their 'brewery tap' - website), at least 6 real ciders, and 20 crafty keg beers, so, plenty of choice indeed. Dave G described this as an "excellent place to visit, being spotlessly clean with very pleasant and helpful staff." Can't put it better than that, thanks again to Dave and David, 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...

Great Pale Bitters Recently Imbibed!

Since I last posted about good pale hoppy bitters, I've tasted quite a few more, and pretty excellent ones too, including this 'American Pale Ale' from Beat Ales of Bristol (website). Rockabilly is a 5.3% pale golden ale, as you'd expect from the label, with plenty of body and plenty of fruit in the aroma. It has a bitter dry finish, quite strong and I noted "pretty damn good!" which says it all really, much enjoyed by me.

Next, from Welsh brewers Bragdy Conwy (website) is their 4.4% California, a 'Citrus Blonde', a pale golden bitter, slightly sweet start with a fruity flavour and hints of grapefruit in the aroma and taste. Another ale with a dry bitter finish, a quality long-term readers will appreciate I value, though not to everyone's taste. Me? I loved it, why else write about it!

OK, Kent Brewery (website), you can guess where they're based, supplied a more refreshing ale than I expected from the writing on the pump clip, the 4.5% Simcoe. This is a single hopped ale, simcoe being the hop used, this really does say it all on the label! Although I didn't get 'earthy', and would never have guessed 'pine' from a blind taste, but I did get grapefruit in the aroma and taste, and a nice dry bitter finish, nice one. I'll have to write about a greater variety of ales next time, but this blog is about my personal favourites, there you go!

I've had two great ales from more local to me, East Sussex brewer Franklins (website), both of which I've written about before, hence just the one photograph. First, their 4.4% Resurrection is my favourite of the two, probably helped by the hops, amarillo, galaxy, centennial and citra all used! Grapefruit in the aroma and taste, a very pale golden colour, and very nice, thank you! 

The second is their stronger 5.5% pale amber bitter, North Shore IPA, which has a hint of caramel in the taste, plenty of body as you'd expect from the strength. The New Zealand hop rakau is used and delivers a fruity aroma and taste, hint of peach and a slight sweetness which dries out at the finish becoming a bitter aftertaste, another goody.

And from Derbyshire (I'm traversing the country here!) Shiny Brewing (website) came up with another stunner, the 5.3% Disco Balls, even the pump clip is very 70s! Obviously plenty of hops used for this golden bitter, which has a nice fruity aroma, fruity taste, mango and peach, with a hint of citrus, slightly sweet at first and dries out, but not overly bitter, and very more-ish!

From Scotland now, and please excuse the image, I have no idea how it went wrong, probably shook when I took it! Fallen Brewing (website) and their quiet excellent 5.4% Grapevine (subtitled New World Pale). Hops galore used in this: magnum, citra, wai-iti, hallertau blanc and ekuanot, from the 'new world' obviously, so plenty of everything really! A  golden amber colour with a big fruity aroma and good body. Citrus, mango, lychee and peach detected in the taste, very bitter and very dry, you'd either love it or hate it, me? Quote: "gorgeous!"

Finally, for today, from Sheffield brewer Kelham Island (website), where I worked part-time whilst undertaking my PhD research, their 4.3% Easy Rider, which just seems to get better and better! Pale golden bitter, hints of citrus, so very refreshing, an excellent quaffing bitter, cheers!

Women and Beer: 2. Brewsters and Witchcraft?

I have been investigating which pub is the oldest pub in Hastings, following the closure of the King's Head, the previously well-acknowledged oldest pub. I have my own thoughts on this; more of this in blogs at www.steveonhastings.blogspot.co.uk - However, when looking into the history of the Stag Inn in All Saints Street, I discovered some very interesting information concerning brewsters, and allegations of witchcraft!

The building of the Stag Inn is 17th century, when the practice of walling up a cat, with the animal often still alive, is known to have been a medieval precaution against evil spirits. The tradition survived into later centuries in remote areas such as the high Pennines. Marion Gibson, Professor of Literature at Exeter University, whose 'research investigates the relationships between writings about magic and the supernatural and those about identity, spanning the period c.1500-present', says that "Cats were often put into walls as some kind of good luck charm. It seems to have been quite a widespread practice across the European continent.” 

During the medieval era, as we know, hundreds of women were falsely accused of witchcraft (one presumes falsely) and executed. Many of those women were actually brewers or 'brewsters' as well as midwives etc. Indeed, the visual motifs we associate with female witches date from this time. The extraordinary thing is that all of them, the 'familiar' or cat, the bubbling cauldron, the broom, the pointed hat, are also symbols associated with brewing beer.  

Cats would be kept to keep vermin at bay that would otherwise eat the malted barley; the bubbling cauldron, or 'kettle', is the vessel in which the ingredients are boiled. Then, when the brew cools down, yeast is added and ferments the sugars, creating a dramatic froth. The broom was used for sweeping up but, also by law, anyone selling beer was required to display an 'ale stake' above their door as a sign that beer was on sale. An ale stake was a wooden pole with a bunch of twigs tied on the end, and doubled up as a broom. Hanging foliage above the door to proclaim that alcohol was available for purchase dates back to Roman Britain, and, in a society where most people were illiterate, visual signs rather than written signs were used. The pointy hat was also a practical way of being seen in a crowd. Women with surplus beer would go to the marketplace to sell it, or a middle woman known as a 'huckster' would act as an agent and sell the beer. They too wore pointed hats to make themselves prominent at market!

The Shepherd Neame website says "The Stag... dates from 1547... The front is in Georgian style, added by the Victorians... There are two bars. The front is the most commonly used and features the famous "mummified" cats... they were found in a chimney on the first floor during the 1940s... There is no historical evidence, but it is popularly believed they belonged to Hannah Clarke, a witch, who is said to have occupied the Stag in the earlier part of its existence. 

Whatever, intolerance of single women in particular has certainly seen many executed as witches over the centuries, notably in the 17th century, but we don't think like that nowadays, do we? Though ales from Brewster's Brewery certainly are pretty magical (website), cheers! 

Women and Beer: 1. The Beer Goddess

I am going to blog two, perhaps controversial, pieces about women and beers/brewing/pubs, and I got the idea of writing this first blog a few years ago, from reading Travels with Barley, written by the American journalist Ken Wells, within which he discusses the idea of the "Beer Goddess"; a book, incidentally, sent to me by a friend of my youth, Anne, who now lives in Florida. And I immediately thought of the Sumerian Goddess of Beer, Ninkasi, as one does...

But, no, Mr Wells was really looking at the influence of women on men drinking beer in the contemporary U.S. of A., we could be talking about poor lagers, of course, but we are also talking about the craft beer 'revolution' that has been going on over there for quite a few years now. Craft brewers in the USA have, in recent years, been instrumental in, not just the development of new strains of hops, but also the use of hops aplenty in the brewing process, most of their beers aren't 'real' ales as us Brits expect, but they can certainly pack a punch with flavour, and strength! Notably, hops from over the Pond are regularly used in ales here now too, particularly the new-ish style (fad?) of American Pale Ales (eg Dark Star APA).

Women have had an enormous influence on brewing over the years, indeed, over many many years! As far as the history books show, women have dominated brewing from the first beers brewed in Sumeria 4,000 years ago, and for most of the centuries since, and there are quite a good number of women brewing (brewsters) for micro breweries now (eg Brewsters!), thank the goddess of brewing!

But, Mr Wells also was referring to female bar tenders or bar stewards, what some people in the UK call "barmaids", which apparently, is too sexist a term for the Americans and their pressure groups, so, to him, a barmaid is a "beer goddess." However, although the Bavarian barmaid can carry many glasses of foaming beer without spills, as this photograph attests to, and which may show a propensity towards superhuman strength, they are well oversized glasses, so nowhere near full. Us ale swilling British males, not always the most beautiful aesthetically, do enjoy the company of barmaids, though, let alone goddesses. However, I have to admit I've only ever had one relationship with a barmaid in my life, when I was in my early 20s, though my ex-wife runs a pub in Sheffield with her new husband (a lucky, and lovely, couple!); maybe many barmaids are goddesses, whatever, they've certainly avoided lowly me...

More seriously though, in recent years in Britain the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has used the female image to help its cause too, eg with this more up to date image of the goddess, Ninkasi, which I imagine was partly a way to encourage more women to drink real ale, although I'd imagine it has encouraged many men to drink even more real ale! 

A few years ago, Jennifer Ellison was used as part of CAMRA's successful campaign to stop the Government's beer tax escalator; she may well be a caricature of how barmaids are supposed to look, maybe a 'beer goddess' even. However, barmaids and barmen (I can attest to this having been a bar steward in many hostelries in the past) are usually much like the rest of us, ordinary people, not gods or goddesses, carrying out a wonderful role serving up quality ales to us, and may they continue to do so, many thanks.

Mr Wells also mentions a beer writer in the USA who calls herself "The Beer Goddess", Lisa Morrison, whom I follow on Twitter and Facebook, and I do like reading her articles, but, whatever, more next time...

Hail Ninkasi, indeed, cheers!

International Beer Day Celebrated!

I celebrated International Beer Day 2017 in Hastings, first drinking the Sussex brewer Arundel (website) Maltravers Street: Session IPA at the Jenny Lind pub in the High Street, Hastings 'old town'. This 4.2% pale golden ale had a tremendously fruity aroma and citrus flavours, provided by Mosaic and Simcoe hops, with a very nice dry bitter finish, great stuff!

Down towards the fishermen's beach, Rock-a-Nore Road, and a visit to the Dolphin Inn opposite the net huts, and my second ale was from further afield Yorkshire brewers, Revolutions Brewing Co, whose ales names appear to have a musical influence (website). This was a slightly stronger extra pale ale, the 4.5% Switch #4, not quite as fruity in taste as the Maltravers Street, but still with a strong fruity aroma from the Cascade and Centennial hops used. It took a few days to settle and clear, but it was a lovely well-conditioned, and very refreshing, bitter ale with a slightly dry finish, not bad at all!

So, two great pale ales, with an influence from the USA, notably, from the hops used, a very happy International Beer Day was had, indeed, cheers!

International Beer Day!

It's the first Friday in August, so it must be International Beer Day 2017, so, I suppose I should go out for a pint or two later! See the website for more information, or just go to a pub!

Cheers! 😊