The Lemon Fool

Is AleisterCrowley's

Siren Liquid Mistress

a drink or is something totally different he enjoyed? If the latter, it would explain why "Today I feel somewhat fatigued.."

Very nice she was too, although I prefer Soundwave

stewamax wrote:Is AleisterCrowley's

Siren Liquid Mistress

a drink or is something totally different he enjoyed? If the latter, it would explain why "Today I feel somewhat fatigued.."

ITYM "revitalised".
I've recently been enjoying a lovely mermaid[1]. She's definitely something of a siren. Love her bed of coral.

[1] Specifically, setting to music a poem called "the mermaid's song". What did you think?

Went to a local cricket club beer fest on Friday.

Aylesbury Brew House "Wolf" (3.8%) - made with Slovenian Styrian Wolf Hops - light citrus and bitterness and not too bad
Pheasantry Brewery "NZPA" (4.6%) - as you'd expect brewed using NZ hops - gooseberry, really loved this one
Great Oakley "Abbey Stout" (5%) - dark and rich, roast barley and German hops - cracking beer even on a hot day. Beer of the day for me.
Loddon "Forbury Lion" (5.5%) - decent strength and complex IPA
East London Brewing "Cow Catcher" (4.8%) - odd name, nice APA
Crackle Rock Brew Co "Crackerjack" (3.8%) - Galaxy, Dana and Perle hops - decent.

There were ~35 beers and would have liked to have tried more but I had limited time and I'm trying to drink sensibly! Some new breweries for me here and all the beers were worth drinking with the NZPA and Stout standing out. There wasn't anything too challenging but they do a decent job for the sort of festival it is.

Yesterday I was in Norfolk and had a couple of pints of Lacons Encore beer. Lacons is a revived name brewery in Great Yarmouth. Founded in 1760 by a Mr Laycon (later dropped the y!) they reached a peak of 80,000 barrels pa and 350 tied houses. In 1965 they were taken over by Whitbread and closed 3 years later, a familiar tale. They reopened in 2013. Encore is a very pale beer. Smooth, slight citrus, certainly well balanced. This multi-award winning beer is a great session beer. Would definely like to try more of their beers.

Thread is so long. Not planning to read it all for repeats. I'm drinking Hophead from Dark Star brewery - my favourite beer since Terry (fellow Fool) recommended it. I've since found that Naked Ladies from Twickenham brewery is very similar. Just love these beers.

Chris
(No affiliation)

csearle wrote:Thread is so long. Not planning to read it all for repeats. I'm drinking Hophead from Dark Star brewery - my favourite beer since Terry (fellow Fool) recommended it. I've since found that Naked Ladies from Twickenham brewery is very similar. Just love these beers.

Chris
(No affiliation)

Jarl is more similar than Naked Ladies.

JMN2 wrote:

csearle wrote:Thread is so long. Not planning to read it all for repeats. I'm drinking Hophead from Dark Star brewery - my favourite beer since Terry (fellow Fool) recommended it. I've since found that Naked Ladies from Twickenham brewery is very similar. Just love these beers.

Chris
(No affiliation)

Jarl is more similar than Naked Ladies.

Thank you for the tip! C.

I see from Dark Star’s website that their Imperial Stout is 10.5% ABV...

Tucked into a few pints of Siren White Tips during my Tuesday night poker game. Very thirst quenching and surprisingly sesssionable at 4.7%...although the head was a little fuzzy Weds morning!

They do make some good ales those Siren people!

We use a traditional Belgian wit yeast to work in harmony with the vibrant citrus zest of Orange, Lime and Grapefruit, before a healthy hop dosing of Centennial, Cascade, Motueka and Simcoe.

http://www.sirencraftbrew.com/white-tip ... mmer-2018/

John

Got a bottle of that in the fridge!

I may pop over to Reading tonight and see what's around - the refurb'ed -and expensive*- Fuller's pub at the station (Three Guineas)often has good stuff on and it's time to revisit the Alehouse(formerly Hobgoblin)

Good Health

AC

*contactless payment makes paying London prices less painful - until the statement arrives

Unfortunately I have to continue my negative view of the world and say that cask ale quality in Edinburgh is poor compared to any major or largish city/town in England. The variety is there but beer often is warmish and past its peak, a bit lacklustre and tired. Jarl is often the best bet being a regular and turnover is fast.

Thumbs up for Wetherspoons though. Better and neater decorated than in England and the clientele smarter and "normal" looking.

Worst brewery in the UK. Badger's. Had some of them in the late 90's early 00's, elderflower! Bought two today, Blandford fly or something, ginger! They're not able to brew a regular normal beer, what is this ponce beer malarkey about? I had to walk to the local co-op and buy 1x TT Landlord and 2x Black sheep bitter in order to wash away the poncy taste. I like ginger, but in my thai curry, not in my beer.

Other pet hates in beer: NEIPA non-bitter fruit juices and coriander.

Beer is supposed to be bitter, crisp, dry, thirst-quenching, refreshing, cool - opposite of cloying.

Badger= Hall & Woodhouse, a very old brewery in Blandford
A former colleague of mine was based near there in the 70s -he hated their beers! I don't mind the elderflowery one to be honest.
They used to make Panda Pops too - an essential part of 70s childhood ...
Didn't realize they took over King & Barnes in 2000, perhaps they're on the way to becoming the next Greene King (bleurrgh)

cask ale quality in Edinburgh is poor compared to any major or largish city/town in England.

When I lives in Stirling and in Linlithgow in the 1970s, traditional Scottish 'heavy' (e.g. McEwans) was not to my taste - too cloying and sickly. There was one excellent exception - Belhaven - whose beers were very close to English bitter, whether session or strong IPA.
What do Belhaven's offerings taste like now?

I think many of the Badger beers are excellent in cask. The bottled versions don't inspire so much. If anything their range is quite traditional and narrow tbh. I don't have a problem with Ginger, Heather, Elderflower or anything else being added to beers, if they produce something nice to drink. Although the Americans tend to overdo it I find. Had a couple of Box Steam beers in bottles this weekend. They continue to impress. Would love to try some in cask.

JMN2 wrote:Beer is supposed to be bitter, crisp, dry, thirst-quenching, refreshing, cool - opposite of cloying.

The range of beers styles and taste is massive. Far greater than wine. Which is why it's actually a far better accompaniment for food. You need to open your mind - and your tastebuds - a bit!

GrandOiseau wrote:The range of beers styles and taste is massive. Far greater than wine. Which is why it's actually a far better accompaniment for food. You need to open your mind - and your tastebuds - a bit!

Indeed it is, and I'm off out to dinner tonight to a place where they sell an excellent range including some German Helles beers, a relatively new style coming out of Germany and Austria, but alas, they don't sell this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/[expletive deleted], named of course after the Austrian town of the same name.

That reminds me.

When I lived and worked in Germany (near Nurnberg), we had a very nice local Chinese Restaurant. My fellow-half-Brit reckoned it fortunate that the proprietors had opened shop in Germany rather than Blighty, as they were from Fu King.

Really enjoyed a few pints of "ABK Hell, Das Blaue" on draft last night: http://www.abkbeer.com/?page_id=15

It is the perfect drink for a hot summers day imho. For anyone not yet familiar with pale lager, this may interest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helles