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While Shepherds watched

There’s been something of a Shepherd Neame theme to the past few days. We’ve been visiting Sarah’s parents in Bexhil, which is in East Sussex, but not far from the Kent border. One of the local pubs that we frequent, and that we visited for lunch on Monday, is The Bull Inn at St. Leonards-on-Sea, […]

Beer behaving badly

Don’t you just wish that some people would stick to their day job? Neil Morrissey, of “Men Behaving Badly” fame, has teamed up with Richard Fox (of no fame whatsoever as far as I’m aware), not only to buy a pub (Ye Olde Punch Bowl Inn in Marton cum Grafton, near York) but also to […]

The Yanks are coming

Those nice people at R&R Teamwork have sent me some more beer samples (thanks, Anna Jane) – this time of some American beers that are now being imported into this country and are available in mainstream beer outlets. One was from Brooklyn Brewery and the other two were from Flying Dog Brewery. I have to […]

It’s still Cricket season

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 […]

Good Old Uncle Sam

I can’t believe that a brewery as well-known as Samuel Smith’s doesn’t have its own website, but I couldn’t track it down, even using the combined might of Google and Wikipedia. I did manage to find some useful information on a Tadcaster local website, but the fact that the banner says “Happy New Year” makes […]

The Young’s Ones

Here are a couple of bottle-conditioned beers from Wells & Young’s that are worth trying.

Young’s Bitter (4.5%). The cask version of this beer is a very pleasant 3.7% session beer (see A bit of a pickle). The bottled version – a bit stronger – is also very pleasant. It has a slightly sweet smell […]

Black and Greene

On Monday evening we went out to the Black Boy at Shinfield. Sarah had acquired some vouchers for a special offer that meant we could get a 2-course meal for a tenner each. The Black Boy is only 2 or 3 miles from where we live, and has seen a number of managers come and […]

Five thousand year old beer?

5000 years in the making – that is the claim made of its beer by The Orkney Brewery. The claim is based on the fact that the Orkney Islands have been inhabited and cultivated for at least 5000 years – and that long history has culminated in the production of these beers. Sarah […]

Dreaming spires?

I’ll allow a bit of “poetic licence” here – I (or, to be more precise, Sarah) came across a bottle of Oxfordshire Ales Pride of Oxford. The label states “brewed in Marsh Gibbon within the shadows of the spires of the Oxford Universities”. Now Marsh Gibbon is just to the east of Bicester, which must […]

Enjoy your Trip

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 […]