Our local pub, The Sportsman in Reading, is having a bit of a beer festival at the moment – half a dozen cask ales – so we popped along yesterday evening for a couple of pre-dinner “sharpeners”. Most of the beers are from the Greene King stable – some familiar ones like IPA, Abbot Ale and Old Speckled Hen, but a couple I hadn’t seen before – Hare Raiser and Olde Trip – plus a guest beer – Hyde’s Jekyll’s Gold (according to a number of items I found on t’internet, this is quite a regular guest beer in Greene King pubs).
Hare Raiser is a new seasonal beer brewed specially for cask ale week at the start of April, and only available until the end of April – a pity it was off last night – must have sold well over the weekend! Olde Trip is a Hardy & Hanson’s brand (now part of Greene King I believe, like so many other small breweries) and is named after the famous Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem pub in Nottingham, which claims to be the oldest pub in England.
I decided to try a pint of the Jekyll’s Gold (4.3%). It’s a very pale golden colour, dry and refreshing without being particularly bitter. At first I thought it tasted a bit “thin”, but it grew on me as I progressed down the pint. Meanwhile, Sarah was trying the Olde Trip (4.3%) (probably a sentimental choice as she was born and spent her early years in Nottingham). An exchange of slurps showed that we both preferred the Olde Trip, so I decided to have a pint of it. Certainly more body than the Jekyll’s Gold, darker, more bitter, and a bit more flavour. I enjoyed the Jekyll’s Gold, but I think I preferred the Olde Trip. Sarah went for the Greene King IPA, and enjoyed it.
From there, home to a couple of bottles of Fuller’s London Pride and a pizza. Thinking of going back up to The Sportsman this evening to see what they’ve got left – not least because they have an offer that if you buy 5 drinks from the festival beers you get a 6th one free, and I’ve got 4 stamps on my card!