Although I thoroughly enjoyed our holiday in Cyprus (see Island Life), it has been great to get back to some “proper” beer! On Friday Sarah popped down to Morrisons for essential supplies (not just beer) and in the evening I went a bit over the top and worked my way through a few bottles of different beers:
Brakspears Oxford Gold Organic (4.0%) – one of my favourite beers from one of my favourite brewers (OK, it’s now brewed by Wychwood, which is part of the Marston’s empire, but it still tastes like Brakspears, and that’s good enough for me).
Thwaites Wainwright (4.1%) – named after Alfred Wainwright, author of the famous walkers’ guides to the Lake District. I can’t remember whether I’ve written about this beer before – if not, I probably should have, because I’ve had it several times, and it’s a nice drop. When I was a student at Lancaster University in the early 1970s I used to drink a lot of Thwaites Bitter (it’s brewed in Blackburn), and it’s a name I keep an eye out for.
Greene King St. Edmunds (4.2%) – I first tried this at the Great British Beer Festival (see Spoilt for choice) – the cask version – and got hold of some of the bottled version not long afterwards, and since then it has become something of a regular in the beer cupboard.
Joseph Holt 1849 (4.5%) – another occasional visitor to the beer cupboard (I’m sure I have some notes on this waiting to be written up – must drink less and write more – no hang on, that doesn’t sound right).
Sarah had finished off a bottle of Thwaites Liberation (4.5%) which she had used some of in a beef and ale stew (very tasty) and we then shared a bottle of Batemans Victory Ale (6.0%). A bit on the sweet side for me, but Sarah enjoyed it. We were certainly making up for a couple of weeks of drinking lager!
On Sunday we decided to go to The Jekyll And Hyde at Turgis Green for something to eat – it’s a Hall & Woodhouse pub, and I love Badger beers. I thought they might have the autumn/winter seasonal Pickled Partridge (4.6%), but in fact they were still selling the summer seasonal Lemony Cricket (4.4%). A couple of pints of that went down very well with the very good bangers and mash, and lubricated the pub quiz very nicely (all I can say is that we didn’t come last!). Shame it’s only available through the summer, as it’s a very drinkable beer. I was intrigued by the name – reminded me of “Lemony Snicket” a character in children’s books – apparently the name was chosen by members of the Badger Sett Ale Club (of which I’m a member, but I don’t remember being asked!) – and reflects the fact that lemon grass is used in the brewing process – it doesn’t taste particularly lemony, but it is very refreshing.