The Lemon Fool

DiamondEcho wrote:

simoan wrote:Rory Magrath used to regularly drink in my then local, The Free Press, as it was about 50 yards from where he lived. The guy's a bit of an idiot to be honest, and I never liked him, but then he is a Gooner! All the best, Si

Where did you live (if I might ask)? Since I lived within 100-200M of the Free Press, early 80s, at both my place at 10 Emmanuel Road, and also my then GFs place closer, at 27 Clarendon Street. So the FP was a regular of ours back then. Went back earlier this year and was amazed it's hardly changed at all, same type of eclectic sparse crowd and gruff management etc.

I used to live down Auckland Road near Midsummer Common. You're right, The Free Press hasn't changed apart from the rowing paraphernalia that was on the walls when I used to drink there throughout the 90's. The landlord Chris moved to the Cambridge Blue and took the rowing stuff with him. I was last in there 6-9 months ago and the beer was still good; had a lovely couple of pints of Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted.

All the best, Si

I thought Friday would never come! Almost a week since my last beer, and been eating very lightly since then: salads, soup, eggs, mackerel, sardines.
Today homemade burgers, tomorrow chicken thai curry, some beers, then back to trying to lose a few lb's.

Apparently I have 1 in 25 chance of getting type 2 diabetes - I'll take those odds!

Few weeks ago I had a pint of Harviestoun bitter twisted for the first time (used to drink the bottled version), very nice, gravity dispensed though.

I've not had anything since New Year's Eve (well, early New Year's Day)
May well break the fast tonight, although GWR's new improved timetable makes getting to Reading more difficult
Back home for Christmas/New Year and delighted to note that most of the pubs are doing OK. One of my regular haunts had been shut since early 2017 but was bought and taken over by Holden's - who have done a great job on the refurb. Makes a change from flats/Tesco Local....
http://www.holdensbrewery.co.uk/
I spent many a happy hour drinking Golden Glow/Special in there at Christmas, and some (not enough) Old Ale - a rather lethal winter warmer at >7%
One for the cognoscenti , not listed on the website

Aaaahhhhhh.....I started gently with Pilsner Urquell, the only pils/lager/pilsner I drink. Dry, crisp, hoppy, not sweet or cardboardy or vegetablely (boiled cabbage). At £1.54 a 0.5L bottle one cannot go wrong. What a roborative!

JMN2 wrote:Aaaahhhhhh.....I started gently with Pilsner Urquell, the only pils/lager/pilsner I drink. Dry, crisp, hoppy, not sweet or cardboardy or vegetablely (boiled cabbage). At £1.54 a 0.5L bottle one cannot go wrong. What a roborative!

Prefer the Czech bud myself.

Had a bottle of Innis & Gunn bourbon barrel aged beer (6.5%) - that was very nice. Would buy it again.

Also a Hopdaemon Skrimshander IPA (4.5%) which I didn't really get on with.

GrandOiseau wrote:Prefer the Czech bud myself.

Yes I was going to make the same observation, but I can 'go on' about how much I like Czech Bud ('Probably my favourite lager in the world' ). I used to enjoy Pilsener Urquell but my tastes have evolved, I now find it very dry/hoppy, too much so for me.

DiamondEcho wrote:

GrandOiseau wrote:Prefer the Czech bud myself.

Yes I was going to make the same observation, but I can 'go on' about how much I like Czech Bud ('Probably my favourite lager in the world' ). I used to enjoy Pilsener Urquell but my tastes have evolved, I now find it very dry/hoppy, too much so for me.

I find budvar too malty soft. Still, nice but not dry and crisp enough. I want my beer to wash away the thirst.

""Beer makes you feel the way you ought to feel without beer."

Had a pint of St Georges Cherry Porter on Saturday. I was envisaging the delights of Titanic Plum Porter but whilst it wasn't bad (mellow cherries) it didn't quite hit the spot. Anybody else had beers by St Georges (googling tells me set up in 1998 in Worcester, changed ownership in 2006)?

GrandOiseau wrote:Had a pint of St Georges Cherry Porter on Saturday. I was envisaging the delights of Titanic Plum Porter but whilst it wasn't bad (mellow cherries) it didn't quite hit the spot. Anybody else had beers by St Georges (googling tells me set up in 1998 in Worcester, changed ownership in 2006)?

That Dreamweaver looks frightfully familiar, I've had it somewhere.

Not drinking, but stocking up - Asda are selling Bass, Marston's Pedigree and quite a few others at a quid for a 500ml bottle.

Scott.

Not 'right now' as in the OP, but last night at my local craft bar I had, all on draught, Siren Soundwave, Wildbeer Fresh PA, and Fourpure Juicebox.

All my kind of beers and all just right.

And followed up with a rather tasty Veggie Naga at the Indian next door (to the bar, not my house!).

I like Soundwave, although several recent bottles have had a lot of suspended sediment - the snow globe effect.
Yes, I know its not harmful...but I don't like the look of it

AleisterCrowley wrote:I like Soundwave, although several recent bottles have had a lot of suspended sediment - the snow globe effect.
Yes, I know its not harmful...but I don't like the look of it

I too like Soundwave in fact most Siren beers I can remember trying have been good and I'm very pleased that my local brewer learned his trade there.

Was the suspended sediment due to a bad pour or the bottle not stored upright for long enough before opening?

John

No, treated with respect as usual. Two or three in a row, so some issue with bottling process. Or I was unlucky

After years of drinking bottled beers at home, I rarely do now. The odd German Wheat Beer perhaps, but other than that it's draught when I'm out, and cans at home. Would never have imagined that in the dark days of cans being restricted to cheap fizzy rubbish.

And as I'm staying in tonight, it'll be some Northern Monk, probably New World IPA.

BrummieDave wrote:After years of drinking bottled beers at home, I rarely do now. The odd German Wheat Beer perhaps, but other than that it's draught when I'm out, and cans at home. Would never have imagined that in the dark days of cans being restricted to cheap fizzy rubbish.

And as I'm staying in tonight, it'll be some Northern Monk, probably New World IPA.

It's a long time since I last indulged in cans, though I think I recollect one or two beers being OK from them (Marstons Pedigree springs to mind).

Once upon a time, many canned beers came with those infernal "widgets", so one had to buy very carefully to avoid them. Are they still around, or have we seen them off?

UncleEbenezer wrote:Once upon a time, many canned beers came with those infernal "widgets", so one had to buy very carefully to avoid them. Are they still around, or have we seen them off?

Hehe - I'd almost forgotten about widgets. Perhaps they became popular during that era of Guinness ads which suggested lashings of artificial head was a desirable quality.
I last encountered a widget can perhaps a year ago, somewhere abroad likely in Europe or Asia. I remember it gave me a bit of a shock when it triggered as I wasn't expecting it ... 'Gawd, what's wrong with this beer!?' Then it dawned on me...

Had a Wells Bombardier last night - what a nice beer that is!

Oh yes the widget, invented by Guinness and then refined by Boddingtons so they could take their Strangeways' brew nationwide. Bodds used to be a rare find outside a 20 mile radius of Manchester but the dual assault of the widget based can and mega TV ad campaign, plus some new chemicals I think, allowed them to take it nationwide on draught, much to the detriment of its original quality.