Rabid About Beer

Stagger to the Olympics say Govt.

2012-01-31T09:44:00.001Z

I don't usually read the free handout papers in the morning or the evening only because I am simply opposed to them becoming litter later on, they make the already dirty tubes and trains look even more filthy.

One story caught my eye over someone's shoulder this morning though and I found myself intrigued to the point of picking up one of these nasty litter-bombs.

Peter Hendy

On page 20 of the Metro this morning there's a story by Richard Hookham. Get a beer to stagger trips during the olympics says London's transport commissioner, Peter Hendy. So The Govt are on our side all of a sudden! Well no actually, what this pencil pusher is saying is that if some of us go to the pub and stagger our trips on the already over-used ailing tube network that it will be able to cope better.

This toff is our Mayor, inspiring, isn't he?

Tory toff-twat BOJO also was also quoted in the same article as urging the Olympic Committee to get on the Jubilee line because 'they will love it!' Bollocks BOJO your over-used, aged tube system will not cope with the demands of the extra gazillions of commuters trying to wedge themselves into a steel vessel going at ridiculous speeds underground!

Also, is it only me who is cynical enough to believe that the unions will use the Olympics to hold the govt to ransom over their pay rate?

But back to the original story - the Govt are saying get to your Olympic events after you've had a skinful, after all, it'll be the only way to deal with the shit transport system of our fair capital. You wouldn't want to be sober on the Underground, would you?

Tap East anyone?

Brewdog Made Me Fatter!

2012-01-21T20:19:00.000Z

Instead of doing my drunk diary this year I am trying to be a bit more healthy without telling you lot too much about it and boring you all senseless.

So me and Mrs Rabidbarfly got ourselves an exercise bike and I've used it pretty much every day since then. This week I've been going round a few breweries and helping them brew beer, nothing ground breaking or new about that I hear you say, well no and that's fine because it's hard work and it counts as exercise. I have also been using the bike.

Fatties beware!

So imagine my surprise then when I do my daily morning weigh-in yesterday to find I had gone from 80.1kg(12st, 8.6lb) to 80.6kg(12st, 9.7lb)! Shocking weight gain, so shocking I had to look over my diet for the day and I found one anomaly, a bottle of Brewdog Hardcore IPA! Not the McDonalds, the Hardcore IPA!!

It can be the only reason for such horrible obeseness! James Watt - you should be utterly ashamed of yourself, but then you probably already are, after all everybody can see behind that skinny, uber cool veneer is a self loathing chubster just screaming to get out. Half a kilo Damn You! Not the double helping of homemade Jerk chicken, The Brewdog!

So this is how you are trying to remain uber cool, by making the rest of us fatties?! Despicable!

If you keep on making such drinkable cheap(at the supermarket) beers then my diet will go to hell and I may have to bill you for a new liver.

Annual Leave

2012-01-09T17:11:00.000Z

Now that you lot have had your holidays it's time for the less fortunate to have theirs. So with that in mind I have booked a week off work next week and I was wondering how to fill it. Here are some ideas I've had....

Bungee Jumping.

Bembom Bros in Margate.

Spending some more time with my twin baby God daughters - all together now, aaahhhhh.

Take the governments advice and not drink for two days of the week. All together now...hahahahahahahahahahaaha.....ha.

Join a gym. Ditto above.

Learn a language.

Plan my next holiday.

Watch some football.

Switch my phone off.

Read a few books.

You get the point, all lovely relaxing activites that normal people do on their hols. So what will I actually be doing during my annual leave I hear you ask.....?

Friday - Brodies Beer Fest at the Old Coffee House.

Saturday & Sunday - Not much, hangover probably, experimenting in the kitchen again....probably.

Monday - Visiting Camden Town Brewery for the first time.

Tuesday - Brewday at Lovibonds Brewery in Henley, I'm getting the 5.36am train out of paddington for this, it's an insane time to wake up on a week off but fuck it, it'll be fun!

Wednesday - Brewday at Kernel Brewery in Bermondsey.

Thursday - Brewday at Redemption Brewery in Tottenham.

Friday - Brewday at Brodies Brewery in Leyton - last time I was here Jamie and I got so pissed I can't remember what we brewed! Although I have a feeling it might have been the first batch of Hackney Red. I don't imagine this time will be much different in terms of drinking!

Saturday & Sunday - Not much, trying to recover my broken body from one of the breweries most likely!

So not much actual time off, but they say a change is as good as a holiday!

The Session #59 - What No Beer?

2012-01-06T14:18:00.000Z

So Mario over at Brewed for thought is hosting this month's session. He's exploring what you people drink when you're not drinking beer.

There will never be 'no beer' but if the zombie apocalypse happened tomorrow...who knows? Brains anyone?

not until the Apocalypse anyway...

Drunk Diary Dies.

2012-01-02T19:12:00.000Z

This time last year I was embarking on my second drunk diary, listing every alcoholic drink and the alcoholic unit intake I was err.....intaking.

This year I'm getting a life.

Life is too short to bore the hell out of everybody so I'm just going to blog when I feel like it about what I feel like, after all, that's why you people read this rubbish isn't it?

In 2012 I will not be blogging about Cask v Keg, Minimum pricing, the smoking ban or any of that dull bollocks that people get twisted knickers over.

What I will be blogging about is brewing, any good new breweries/beers, London pubs, running a brewpub, tickers and whatever else happens to takes my fancy!

See you round?

Can't Sleep....

2011-12-31T04:32:00.000Z

99 bottles of beer on a wall, 99 bottles of beer! One falls down me neck 98 bottles of beer on the wall!

98 bottles of beer on a wall, 98 bottles of beer! One falls down me neck 97 bottles of beer on the wall!

97 bottles of beer on a wall, 97 bottles of beer! One falls down me neck 96 bottles of beer on the wall!

96 bottles of beer on a wall, 96 bottles of beer! One falls down me neck 95 bottles of beer on the wall!....

Well, you get the point......

Stop counting them....saddos!

Rabid's 2011 Quiz - The Winners

2011-12-29T09:37:00.002Z

Morning folks!

Well with the deluge of answers that I had to choose from (2) the winners of the nice beer are Simon Johnson and Ian McCann.

Well done chaps. See folks, winners drink beer, losers don't.

Twitter DM or email me your addresses chaps and I'll forward on the beer!

Cheers!

Rabid's 2011 Quiz!

2011-12-24T15:38:00.001Z

In a shameless effort to get more hits on the site, here's a 10 question quiz all based on posts I have published this calendar year. Now, you can do one of three things....
Firstly, trawl through all the posts and find the correct answers. Secondly you could just make up any old bollocks or thirdly, not take part and be a Christmas grinch!

The winners will win prizes, I do after all, have a lot of beer at home! There are two prizes - First prize goes to correct answers(picked at random), and the runner up prize goes to the most creative load of old tosh(also picked at random) that you can be bothered to make up!
Answer in the comments box! All judgements are final as it's my blog, so nuurrr.

Question One.
What was the highest number in units of alcohol I consumed in January?
Question Two.
Who is the British Guild of Beer Writers, Writer of the Year?
Question Three.
On what date was International IPA day?
Question Four.
The session #52 was based on beery collectibles, what is beery stuff do I collect?
Question Five.
Which celebrity's name did I suggest Chunk use to help him get more hits on his blog?
Question Six.
How many hours were there until opening Tap East when I posted my 'still to do list' in September?
Question Seven.
What is the name of the brewery in Mexico that brewed a beer specifically aimed at the Gay community?
Question Eight.
What was my April fools joke?
Question Nine.
What were the 'Tramp Juice Trio?
Question Ten.
In my IPA a Day series, which beer was number nine?

Good luck if you choose to take part in this bit of silliness, and remember it is just a bit of silliness.....
Winner will be announced before the new year!

Have a fantastic Christmas folks!

I Can do Cheap Marketing Too.

2011-12-19T20:22:00.000Z

Oops they did it again. Just as I was starting to warm up to them again, James goes and pulls another stunt. Lets not for a minute be naive enough to think he thought it was a harmless bit of fun, he knows exactly what he's doing, after all, he's built his business doing these sorts of things.

Good luck with the latest one James. Here's my response.

Tap Easts Marketing Budget went further than expected.

I Can See the Future

2011-12-14T05:02:00.000Z

Can people really learn from their mistakes?

Back in the eighties and nineties there was the trendy wine bar phenomenon which saw a lot of old banks and pubs closed down and refurbed into aforementioned Trendy Wine Bars.

Tap East Craft Beer bar and Brewery

Now in the early part of this century, we have had an explosion of craft beer bars all over the UK, including the two I currently oversee.

A lot of those wine bars are now closed or became part of chains run by big drinks companies.

Are we in danger of becoming the next fad for the newly rich? After all craft beers, some of which are quite strong do tend to be sold at a premium because of the Govt's ridiculous duty rates on beers over 7.5% abv. Let's not forget all the tax we have to pay getting the beer into the country and the VAT rises that we're currently seeing.

I'd like to think that we can learn from our mistakes and that the current trend for Craft Beer isn't just a fad but who knows? Will people become bored with craft beer? Will it, in the words of Tap East brewer, Eddie Baines, become as 'passe as a three cornered hat?'

Will the Geek inherit the Earth?

Discuss.....

Young and Old

2011-12-14T04:11:00.000Z

Last Saturday night some friends of mine were playing a gig in a pub that we all used to drink in as teenagers. It brought back a lot of memories for me, some great and some pretty horrific imagery for me! As far as I remember I was never really one for the ladies, I was just an ordinary kid with ordinary problems (spots, bad dress sense, average all round) but I remember copping off with what I remember to be some of the most gorgeous girls that hung out in our group - how the fuck I managed this, I'll never know - indeed if I did know I'd probably be a Hugh Hefner style gazillionaire by now.
Every Friday night we would gather at The Rose and Crown in Tooting to go and get hammered, dance to the cheesy DJ that was on and hopefully pull a bird that you're mates would approve of. Young, dumb, full of well...you know.
Last night the DJ's crowd was all growed up and the DJ and the band were part of the crowd from 18/19 years ago.
In these perilous times customers come and go, as to breweries and pubs so it's nice to see my old local is still there, still open and still run by the same person!
Last time I saw Bernie was about the last time I was in his pub, so, 18/19 years ago. The softly spoken Irishman is a natural landlord, a true character in the pub trade. Someone the punters respect, someone the staff can count on and someone who can run a business!

But looking back at my 'yute' inspired me to compare two very different but very good breweries and their stouts.

Kernel Export Stout, 7.1% abv.
Aroma - roasted coffee and chocolate, there's also some hop aromas there too, well it is a beer by Evin after all! Over all it's a beautifully well rounded beer that I think the unusual amount of hops for a stout really make the beer taste fresher and at 7.1% abv is far too easy to drink!

Worthingtons P2 Imperial Stout, 8% abv.
Lovely looking stout, blacker than a black thing with a nice creamy laced head on the top! Thinner and less bitter than I expected. Have to say I'm a little* disappointed at the lack of body and viscocity of the beer, after all I've heard amazing things about this beer. I guess I was believing the hype!

I may well compare their IPA's next... White Shield vs Kernel IPA anyone?

*only a little though.

Images taken from Leighs blog because they were the nicest I could find, hope he doesn't mind too much!

Citizen Blogger? I think not!

2011-12-14T03:35:00.001Z

Morning all.

I've been reading about the European Beer Bloggers Conference next year in Leeds. Whilst I may well go this time I keep seeing a phrase that annoys me.

Citizen Blogger.

For some reason this really irks me. I couldn't really tell you why but it does and I'm going to try!

Movember started in 1984

Indeed for me the phrase 'Citizen Blogger' conjures images of 1984*, a booming, echo-y, God-like voice calling you 'citizen' instead of your name.

Now, I know I'm sounding a bit curmudgeonly and that but frankly this moan isn't much better than the 'calling craft beer, craft beer' argument but why not just say 'bloggers', where did the citizen come from? Is blogger not an amateur enough title for us?

Now before you all jump down my through for being thick, I realise that 'citizen blogger' is meant to tell us apart from the 'professionals' amongst us but why not brand the professionals instead. How about 'professional computer moaner'? 'paid moaner'? or 'Pete Brown Wannabe'?**

Don't brand me! I'm not one of the herd!

*I want to re-read this now
**before you say it, yes I'm well aware Pete does not get paid for his blog, I am merely using him as an example of a successful writer.

mooooooooo!!!!!!

Golden Pint Awards

2011-12-09T22:33:00.001Z

I wasn't going to do this but Ghostie made me(by making me a runner up in the blog category) - What I do of course mean is that Ghostie inspired me to stop feeling sorry for myself - cheers buddy.

Best UK draught :
Winner : Thornbridge - Chiron. - pretty much spot on for me.
Runner Up : Brodies - Black IPA(keg) - no matter what Queally says, I like this version.
Best UK bottled or canned:
Winner : Kernel - Imperial Brown Stout
Runner up : Brewdog - Chaos Theory - Oi Brewdog! - make more!
Best overseas draught:
Winner : Maui - Imperial Coconut Porter
Runner Up : Russian River - Pliny the Elder
Best Overseas Bottled or canned:
Winner : Firehouse - Hops on Rye
Runner Up : Epic - Hop Zombie
Best Overall Beer
Winner : Firehouse - Hops on Rye. - Steven Donohue is a legend, thanks for this beer, it's truly amazing.
Best pumpclip or Label :
Winner : Magic Rock Cannonball - The artwork is superb.
Runner Up : Kernel (anything) - The lack of artwork is superb.
Best UK Brewery:
Winner : Otley (Pontypridd) - Home from home.
Runner Up: Summer Wine Brewery (West Yorkshire) - For Northerners they really do making fucking great beer! ;)
Best Overseas Brewery :
Winner : Russian River - Sourz!
Runner Up : 21st Amendment. - Love these guys, and their beer!
Pub/bar or the Year
Winner : Southampton Arms - London
Runner Up : Falling Rock - Denver
Beer Festival of the Year
Winner : GABF
Runner Up : GBBF
Supermarket of the Year
Winner : Lidl - yeah, like I buy beer from supermarkets.
Runner Up : Aldi - Ditto above.
Independent Retailer of the Year
Winner : Beer Ritz - I'll never vote for a company I work for but really glad Zak and the team brought this business back from the brink!
Runner Up : Utobeer - My local, what can I say but 700 + beers can be pretty hard to chose from.
Online Retailer of the Year
Winner : BeerMerchants
Runner Up : Ales by Mail
Best Beer Book or Magazine
Winner : Pete Brown - Man Walks Into a Pub - laughing out load on holiday in Spain can be quite embarrassing.
Runner Up : ATJ - 1001 Beers to try before you Die - Awesome reference book.
Best Blog or Website - I have picked joint winners because these two cannot be separated and they rock equally.
Joint Winner : Ghost Drinker - he might be a northerner but he's cool and his writing is second to none.
Joint Winner : The Beer Monkey - Might be a spurs fan but he knows about beer.
Best Beer Twitterer
Winner : @SWBrewery - James, Andy, just keep doing what you're doing, never stop!
Runner Up : @Simonhjohnson - Merkin tastic my friend Simon is.
Best Online Brewery Presence
Winner : Summer Wine Brewery - Never short of an opinion or two, or a Kevin or 6.
Runner Up : Lovibonds - close run thing between these guys and Epic(NZ)
Best Food and Beer Pairing of the Year
Winner : My spicy chicken and any hoppy as fuck beer pairing.
Runner Up : Shit loads of beer and a kebab.
In 2012 I would Like to
Be taken seriously for a change. This does of course mean getting a complete personality transplant but who knows what medical marvels will happen in 2012.
Open Category
Best beer experience - Watching the guys behind the bar at Falling Rock strut their stuff during GABF. Legends all.

So there it is, we still have 21 days to go and my golden pints are in, cheers for the beers, opinions and general friendship guys, you have all made my year better!

Guild Dinner 2011

2011-12-02T21:11:00.001Z

I had quite a nice evening in the end last last. I was persuaded to attend the British Guild of Beer Writers annual dinner by a mate and beery fun was had all round.
There was the good, the better and the extraordinary of the beer world all stuck in one rather large room.

With me.

Ha!

Whilst I was 'interested' in most of the awards, I was most interested in the first one, partly because I think I was the first to suggest the recipient of the Brewer of the Year Award. Evin O'Riordan. As it happened Guild Chairman, Tim Hampson very graciously informed me that he used the couple of paragraphs I sent in the email recommending Evin, I'm proud as punch for Evin, I have helped brew at The Kernel Brewery twice now and it's a great day full of collaboration and hard work. Here is an article about the evening, see paragraphs 8 and 9(on brewer of the year) for my contribution, every word meant then and still mean as much today, I'm very grateful to Tim for using my words actually, it gives me a minuscule sense of achievement even though I didn't put anything forward for any of the categories.

Well done Evin, Ben, Marverine, Mark, Des, Glynn, ATJ, Gavin, Martyn, Pete, Chunk and Will (in no particular order in case you all start squabbling like the divas you are!).

Oh and the food weren't half bad either!.

Best beer of the evening - first one, something by Sharps, I forget what, some new IPA Stuart has concocted. Worst - sorry Thwaites - Lancaster Bomber, average in every way.

Good time had, now hopefully all these posh writers will start writing about Tap East! ;) You know you want to peeps.

Maybe next year i'll actually write something half decent and enter it.

Because Gingers Need Love Too

2011-11-25T09:22:00.001Z

This is turning into a bit of a birthday blog, last week it was 'less-young' Dredgie and this week it's the one who scoops reluctantly.
Yes you all know him, the Monty Python of Beer Blogging, donner of the ginger merkin and drinker of weird and wonderful beers!
Today is Simon Johnson's Birthday! Happy Birthday dear sir!
Now I'm fairly certain he's going to be drinking ~~special brew,~~ sorry some special brews, all day long but I thought that him being a ginge n'all, I'd recommend some decent ginger beers for him to try so here it is.

Beaumonts - Alcoholic Ginger Beer. 4% lovely refreshing hangover cure, just ask Moggy.

Marble Ginger, 4.5% - one word. Nom.

Williams Bros Ginger Beer, 3.8% apparently it's lovely, never had any myself.

Crabbies - If you must. Personally I think it's horrible.

Idris - Add a shot of Vodka.

I'm sure there are others but I'm supposed to be working and I don't really have the time to look them up.

What I will say is follow this man on twitter @simonhjohnson read his blog, it's pure gold(with a ginger tinge) and if you're really lucky, have a beer with him today, a better drinking buddy you could not have!

Happy Birthday Simon!

Happy Birthday Not-so-Young Dredge!

2011-11-16T21:08:00.001Z

So, it's Young Dredge's birthday, what's he doing, celebrating with beer of course! I don't know exactly what he's drinking this evening but I'm pretty sure it's going to be brown and dull....

After all, he's 27 now, not-so-young anymore methinks, time to start wearing sandals and investing in that beer belly, time to stop shaving and grow a 'Larkin-like' beard.

It's ok though Mark, you can wear socks with your sandals during the winter like Tandleman or that bloke that used to be Cooking Lager.

If you do manage to make it over to Tap East this week I've invested in a note book for your ticking so you can join your mates stumbling from one skanky boozer to another dribbling over barmaids and sexy pumpclips.

Just do the rest of us and most of all the lovely Lauren a favour, remember to bathe as you get older, I know, I know, it leaves less time for ticking but remember, no one likes the buzz of beer flies around a person!

Hoppy Beerday my friend. Enjoy.

Overrated? Pah!

2011-11-15T17:29:00.001Z

I'm drinking a bottle of Bear Republic Racer 5.

It's Lush.

You might not like it.

I might tell you to get a tastebud readjustment.

It's Lush.

That is all.

Beer School or Charm School

2011-11-15T11:46:00.001Z

Just had a short but thought provoking text chat with Tony Lennon, GM of craft beer bar, The Euston Tap regarding a visit from a sales rep(tile)* he's just had.
Tony's point was that this lady had a very good brand to work with and indeed very good beers that she was trying to sell but she knew fuck all about beer! Apparently she was trying to use her female charms and i'll quote Tony's text here so there's no confusion, 'she literally batted her eyelids at me. Like I'm some sort of sex starved Wetherspoons manager. Please....'

Please indeed. We all know he's gagging for it!** ;)

pic found at tiffanyandlupus.com - SuperTony

But getting back to my topic and Tony's point which is a very good one, a bit of beer knowledge goes a long way. If a brewery hires a person to cold call into pubs with their beers, surely they should take the time to teach the person about about the beer they are selling?

I have had a similar experience with a brewery which will remain unnamed. When the rep first walked through the door at The Rake(it was a couple of years ago) she was young, giggly, dappy and frankly I found her extremely irritating.

If a sales reptile has to use their charm as a sales technique then they have already lost the battle with me, especially if their product does not stand up to scrutiny, as it didn't in my experience.

In summary then...
Reptiles! Know your product! Because you do not know me! I don't care if the reptile is female or male, know your bloody product! I'm too busy for that sort of shit, stop wasting my time!
Breweries! Train your reptiles! Because I won't order from you if your reptiles do waste my time!

Flirt with Tony by all means because he's gagging for it but he's a very knowledgeable chap so don't treat him like a piece of meat, he'll just feel used and dirty, tell him about your beer, your brewery and the birds and the bees!

Going to go and wash my brain now.

*reptile is what I call them, because I'm mean.
**Just too easy.

Session #57 - Guilty Secrets.

2011-11-04T16:11:00.000Z

So I have a couple of minutes spare, although I don't know where from to be honest! Thought I'd try and get back in the swing of this blogging malarky! It's amazing how much time work takes up nowadays!
This months session is brought to us by Steve Lamond from Beers I've Known and the subject matter is once again a bit of fun - guilty pleasures or guilty secrets, call them what you may, we all have them and they do rear their ugly, unwanted head from time to time.

A couple of years ago I probably would have cited Guinness as my guilty secret but then I started doing the drunk diary in January and it quickly became apparent that I drank a lot of Guinness for want of any decent beer on the bar.

Nowadays my guilty secret and it's not really even that secret, is probably the fact that when I'm really thirsty, I don't go for a nice refreshing pint of lager, but rather a fruit beer, alcoholic ginger beer(sometimes for breakfast! Thank you Beaumonts for sorting me out on many a hungover occasion) or, shock horror, a cider!

However, I'm not one to really hold with the idea of guilty secrets, if you like a beer, then you like a beer, who cares what it is? I will say that if you have to hide the fact that you like a beer because your mates might not think it's cool means that you're not really giving the brewer of that beer the respect they deserve. Get over yourself and remember that somewhere, somebody will be thankful that you are drinking it!

Commissioning Day

2011-10-29T07:17:00.000+01:00

The sun is yet to rise.

The Brewer is on his way.

The Malt, Hops, Yeast and Water await,

Commissioning day is here.

The brewery sits shiny and bold,

Copper waits to be filled,

The world is waking up,

Commissioning day is here.

No turning back now,

The moment is here,

How long does it take to brew a beer?

Commissioning day is here.

Outside it is calm,

Before the inevitable storm of people that will come and point, stare and gawp,

I will sit in my sanctuary and make notes of the day,

Commissioning day is here.

Found : One Craft Beer Bar Manager

2011-10-19T11:06:00.000+01:00

Sorry, who are you, I've been away for a while, You're face is familiar but just can't place the name. Normally I would now make some unfunny quip like 'unless you've been living on Mars'.

So unless you've been living on Mars you'll know that I've been busy opening a sparkly new brew pub with Eddie, Mike and Rich from Utobeer.
We were initially approached by Westfield in the middle of July, they had come up with this idea for a market within a mall. Not just any market, a Great Eastern Market, somewhere you could get away from the throng, yes I said throng, somewhere you could enjoy the calm and tranquility of artisinal produce with a well made beer or two. Yes they wanted a micro-brewery/bar in a shopping mall! I wasn't at the initial meeting but the conversation went something like this(cue creative license...)

WF: We want to put a bar and micro-brewery in a shopping mall.

Utobeer: Bit revolutionary.

WF: We think so, what do you think?

Utobeer: Ok then, how long have we got?

WF: We open on September 13th.

Utobeer: *Laugh collective arses off* Oh, you're not joking....

WF: No, what do you think?

Utobeer: Let's ask Glyn and see what he says.....*picks up phone and asks Glyn*

Me:(phone voice) Fuck off! it can't be done! *puts phone down*

Utobeer: Ok then, we'll do it.

WF: Great! You open in 8 weeks with a temporary bar.

Utobeer: Great, see you in 8 weeks.

And so it began, the race to open a bar in 8 weeks. I have to say Westfield have been extremely helpful with the whole project, they want it to work as much as we do.
Tap East was settled on for a name, something that I think Melissa Cole came up with via various email conversations. We liked it because it does what it says on the tin, it's a brewery tap in the east and it's an awful play on words if put together TapEast(Trappist)...*throws up a little in mouth*.
Because of the time scale involved we had no choice but to open with a temporary bar which we really have to thank Nick Otley for, without Otley Brewing Co's temporary festival bar it would have been a lot more stressful!
We managed to open with 6 hanpulls, 2 keg taps(two more were added later) and two bottle fridges that are slightly smaller than The Rake's.
So we traded for three weeks and closed for four days whilst the the finishing touches were applied (brewery, cold store, permanent bar, toilet, bi-folding doors and brewery glazing).
We now have six very smart copper handpulls, ten very smart copper keg pumps and a shiny copper brewery for Ed to play on....sorry brew on. The first beer should be ready around the 9th November when we'll have a tapping party for it, you are ALL invited. If that date changes for whatever reason i'll post the info as soon as I get it.
So where are we? Westfield, obviously , Great Eastern Market, obviously but the easiest way to get there is to get off the DLR at Stratford International as we are right across International Square as you exit the station! So If like me, you hate shopping and shopping malls you don't even need to go into Westfield!! How cool is that?!
If God forbid, you actually like shopping you can get off at Stratford station and wander through the mall at Zombie pace shopping to your hearts delight until you get to Tap East where you can sit down and enjoy a well made beer or two. What could be better than that? Something for everyone!
PS : do not use google maps to get there because you'll end up in Putney since the google car ain't made it through the security yet! ;) Joking of course, because it's a brand new build they haven't found us yet.
I would post some photos of the finished article but I can't currently find the cable that downloads them from my blackberry so I'll leave you to visit for yourself and take pics of your own!
Hope to see you there soon!

More Pics...

2011-09-24T20:36:00.000+01:00

I promised more, here they are...

Furniture still to be unpacked

Half finished snug

Daylight dawns Tuesday 13/9/11

Not a bad first night crowd

Vinyl snug pics from outside

Joe puts Perry and 'brother of Boak'' through their paces

Steve from our design team, The Yard Creative

Ed replies to whether or not he'll be brewing a lager

So, we're open but we're far from finished! Still to come in are...

Cold store. Installation begins 6th October.

Permanent bar. Installation begins 10th October and we'll be closed for 3 days so this can be installed.

Brewery. Hopefully going in at the same time as the bar and the permanent front and interior windows.

I can't wait until we're finished, I'm going to be even more proud of what we've achieved in such a short space of time. From the moment I walked into 21st Amendment on my honeymoon, I've wanted to run a brewpub, in a few short weeks, I will be.

Some Tap East Pics 1

2011-09-23T05:36:00.003+01:00

Thought I'd share some of my recent pics with you.

Ed Inspects the roof

Still a building site

There's going to be a bar there, honest!

There's going to be a brewery in there, no really!

Ed lets one off in what will become the cold store

Back corridor?

This was a week before opening

Starting to take shape

from outside

Mike really does work

Seven Down

Hours 'til opening

More to follow...

27hrs to go. Still to do.

2011-09-12T03:26:00.001+01:00

Make sure windows are in.

Hoarding art work in place.

Blackboard painted.

Tills programmed.

Fridges into place.

Glasswasher plumbed in.

Keys for unit.

Keys cut for my duty managers.

Beer menus.

Furniture into place.

Picture frames up.

Pictures into frames.

Order more stock.

Stock put away.

Light for stock room.

Get beer lines.

Clean beer lines.

Shelving up.

Put crap on shelves.

Train staff on tills.

Unit clean.

Find time to sleep.

There must be more but I'm too tired to remember it right now...

Apologies

2011-09-08T19:06:00.002+01:00

Just a quick note really just to apologise for the lack of blogging recently. I am insanely busy at the moment opening a new brewpub in the new Westfield at Stratford City.
It's all happened in the last 7/8 weeks or so so I hope to see you there, I'll blog a bit more about what we want to do with the site(aside from make money) when I get time.
Until then, we open Tuesday with a temporary bar(that's how last minute this is) and I hope to see you at Tap East when we're up and running.
Until then, be careful what you wish for...

The Miracle of Beer.

2011-08-15T10:38:00.000+01:00

I got sent this by email and really had to share.

Also if you drink enough beer you'll be able to have sex with girls like her because beer makes you all really attractive. No really!

GBBF Week.

2011-08-07T19:33:00.001+01:00

It came, it saw, it fucked me up.
Sunday - The Rake was supposed to be hosting the bar managers from GBBF but they finished so late that they found somewhere local instead of coming to The Rake - These guys work hard and I for one want to thank them for what a great job they did with the festival.
Monday - It was the British Guild of Beer Writers event at Brew Wharf for me but obviously I was working during the day and by the time I actually got to the event, most of the food was gone and most of the beer was gone too, I did manage a Redemption though which are always worth it!
Tuesday - Trade Day at GBBF, the one day of the year where I get to catch up with lots of people that I haven't seen for ages and talk beer all day long. For me and I remember saying this to a couple of people, the event ends up being about catching up with friends rather than drinking beer. That's my excuse for drinking only 7 beers in 7 hours and I sticking to it!

The beer I had were a pint and a half of Thornbridge Chiron (Kai-ron) which was pale, light totally drinkable and a only 5% abv - heaven in a glass boys, keep up the great work! Then I went off to Des de Moor's tasting which was celebrting the release of his latest book, London's Best Beer Pubs and Bars of which The Rake is in the top 25 and Des tells me was the original pitch for the book! I went for a bottle of the Camden Helles, beautiful, just what I needed as the festival was starting to heat up. Then I had Lagunitas something or other, I don't remember which though, I do remember thinking, this isn't hoppy enough. After the Lagunitas I stumbled across the bottled real ale bar and went for a bottle of Kernel Pale Ale, this is a beer that does the trick over and over again, it's one that the geeks don't rave about anymore because Evin and his team have pushed so many beer frontiers in the last 19 months that in order to be raved about they are going to have to brew a 2000 IBU bitter chocolate, strawberry tarte, lambic frosted, whisky freeze distilled in a chipmonks arse brown and dull bitter!Oh and it'll have to be named 'Dryer than a nuns chuff, to get into the Pumpclip parade n'all! Pale Ale does for me, it's cold, it's hoppy, and thirst quenching, perfect! My last beer of the day was De Molen Hout & Hop, this is only 4.6% and a beautiful, lambic, cloudy as hell(it looked like I might have to chew it) Luckily for me I don't drink with my eyes(a lot) and as I took the first waft up the nostrils I was smelling just what I wanted. Nom. By the time I finished that I was ready to move on. It is and always will be a painful experience for my feet because I don't like to site down, I prefer to mingle and meet the people. Somewhere in the middle I went back for a third Chiron and it had run out so I plumped for Kipling instead. Another great Thornbridge beer.
At some point I remember hearing that a Mild had won champion beer and this of course got the predicted reaction from me....boring!
Don't get me wrong I like Mild's and I do like the Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde, it's a good beer, I just happen to think that there were better, more interesting beers that should be winning in these competitions. After all it is called the GREAT British Beer Festival! So anyway, it was time to have a sit down and get a good meal so off to the White Horse in Parsons Green I went. Now for the really poor part of the day, shit floor service by the girls who were running the floor down stairs, very unhelpful and thoroughly up their own arses. So I went and sulked upstairs, now for the really great part of the visit - The service I got upstairs was amazing, there was one girl up there running the floor by herself, she was friendly, polite and efficient. The food was, as always stunning and the Orval topped it off nicely. Finished off with a Gin and Tonic, grabbed a cab and got my sorry arse home.
Wednesday - We were hosting the Brewers Association at The Rake in the evening and we had the pleasure of Dave from Smuttynose and Doug Odell turning up for the event, but I was flagging quite badly, my feet are starting to feel the week of schmoozing and boozing and I ducked off early(9pm). Great people though.

By the time the first international IPA day came along I was so sick of beer that all I wanted was a glass of orange squash and a lie down, hey! I'm not as young and pretty as I once was alright? I tried the St Austells Proper black and their Cornish Bock I like the Proper Black, it's their (black) version of Proper Job and it works well, although it does finish a little too roasty for my liking. I went for Lovibonds 69 IPA too, this is another stunning beer, Lovibonds are a great brewery, they only produce Keg and bottled beer and they make no bones about the fact that there's no cask available. If brewers believe their beers are served better by keg than cask, who am I to argue? It's their beer and their choice. But As I said, I was all 'beered out' by thursday and all I wanted was my bed.

SWAndy, Me and SWBrewery James

Friday was different, because I'd had a couple of early nights I was ready to party on friday night! Once Simon Johnson turned up the working day was pretty much a write-off and when we were joined by the likes of Andy and James from Summer Wine Brewery, Mrs Rabidbarfly, Leo aka @caskcrusade, Recently Drunk Bob and his mate...whose name I shamefully still can't remember it was game on! It was one of those nights that I'll remember for a long time, it was excellent, there was laughter, ranting, more laughter, signatures on the wall and more laughter. Lucille and I ducked off at about 10...I think as I had to get up early for the football but a good night was had by all.
Saturday was all about football - I was enjoying the Castle Rock Harvest Pale that was on when I got to Kingsmeadow - incidentally another Champion beer of Britain(2010) that whilst I've enjoyed on numerous occasions, just don't think it's champion beer stuff. When the Harvest Pale finished it was onto Caledonian Flying Scotsman, not a beer I'd had before but I actaully enjoyed the sweetness of the pint, it was just dry enough to hit the spot as the weather turned a bit grey and cold.
So, that was GBBF week for me, caught up with old friends, made new friends, drank good beer and generally had a good time.
I am however, raising a glass to everyone who was working a bar in London last week, I thank you for your hard work and dedication, be you a CAMRA volunteer, a kid earning minimum wage behind a bar or a bar manager, Cheers!

An IPA a Day #28

2011-08-04T09:05:00.000+01:00

It's here! International IPA Day is upon us!
My last beer in this series is again one I helped brew. The first time I went to Pontypridd I was hoping to brew a hop monster. We didn't fail either with a slight haze, deep tawny colour and a Pacific Gem aroma to die for this was my first proper religious experience.
As I've said before I had to go and sit down on my own and absorb it. After that I got the enjoyment of watching other people enjoying something that you worked so hard to create, it really is a very gratifying experience.
Over the next 18 months - 2 years I've gone back to Pontypridd a lot and the Otley guys and I have worked on the recipe of the Motley Brew, we've got to the point where we're finally really happy with the recipe and there will be no more tinkering.

Motley Mark 1

I'm not going to give you any tasting notes, I'm going to say get your arse down to The Rake and taste it for yourself.

Happy IPA day everybody - Don't forget the Hashtag #IPADay today!

An IPA a Day #27

2011-08-03T21:10:00.000+01:00

Penultimate day and we'll I'm doing some self congratulation here. I've been lucky enough to brew with Kernel Brewery twice now and we've managed to create a beer that won't stop selling.
The original recipe was based on 21st Amendment's Back in Black IPA, and was shared with Phil Lowry, then of Saints & Sinners brewery who produced, Military Intelligence, the oxymoronic IPA.

Evin and I got the recipe from Phil and the rest as they say, is history!
I've written about it a couple of dozen times and it's a beer that Evin and the rest of the Kernel gang can't brew fast enough.
Kernel India Pale Ale Black is it's name and hops is it's game, it's an IPA that we used Carafa malt with to give it its colour and I happen to think it's a fantastic beer.

International IPA day tomorrow, bet you can't guess what I'm going to end on.....Night.

An IPA a Day #26

2011-08-02T10:56:00.000+01:00

Quick one today as I'm off to GBBF trade session in a minute. Back to Russian River and Pliny The Elder's nephew, Pliny The Younger!
It's a triple/imperial IPA and usually gets beer geeks cumming in their pants. It's a once a year, small batch release beer that I have only been lucky enough to try once.
What a great beer.
I own a Pliny the Younger shirt, which I now wish I was wearing and it kinda says it all on the back really.

Wonderful things, hops.

Oh, and if you're wondering, it's released in the spring, now form an orderly queue.

An IPA a Day #25

2011-08-01T16:26:00.000+01:00

This beer really brings back some of the best memories of my life and it's the beer that brought me onto IPA's and spicy food matching with a chicken dish to die for and an IPA that I'd happily kill for.
The dish was a spicy, jerk style chicken dish at the 21st Amendment brew pub in San Francisco which I'm sure you're all bored of hearing me bang on about and the beer was Brew Free or Die IPA.

The Brew Free or Die was my beer of choice when I happily wandered into 21st Amendment on honeymoon lats year.
It's one of those beers which at around 7% abv is dangerously drinkable, especially if you're sitting at the bar and don't notice your legs going numb!

My blog about this is on this link and as it's GBBF week and I'm too busy to go through them again.

All I can really say is if you ever get over there go and order the beer and the chicken and enjoy.

Trade day tomorrow so don't expect me to be compus. Have fun everyone!

An IPA a Day #24

2011-07-31T10:09:00.001+01:00

Viven Imperial IPA is not something I drink a lot of, but I'd like to. I've only been lucky enough to have had this beer a couple of times but it's a beer that has class in a glass written all over it.
The packaging might not be cool by recent standards but when a beer is this good, who cares?

Pic from Beermerchants.wordpress.com

Indeed when I look at the label it's one that just looks 'classic' and it immediately makes me think of sitting outside a Belgian beer cafe in the sun, even though I've never done that.

So what is this masterpiece like?

Well, when you pour it into the glass you get a lovely copper coloured beer and the aroma gives you complex flashes of pine, orange, grapefruit and peach!

It's as complex in the mouth as it is on the nose with the some sweet citrus at the front giving way to the piney resinous bitterness that makes the best IPA's as good as they are! For all the complex flavours and aroma's going on in this beer along with the 8% abv it's still a totally drinkable and very balanced beer. You can get it from beermerchants.com and I recommend that you try this one.

An IPA a Day #23

2011-07-30T21:57:00.002+01:00

5 days to go and we're off back up to Fraserbrough and the gruesome twosome at BrewDog. I've gone over Punk IPA already in this series and Hardcore IPA won't be making an appearance so what beer is in between the two?

Chaos Theory.
Here's a brief run down of the beer

Look : Deep orange almost copper with a slight haze to it.

Aroma : there's Orange, there's also a really nice earthiness and a sweetness, a bit like a bag of Skittles.

Taste profile : The Nelson Sauvin hop is the most prevalent of this balanced beer and so there's gooseberry, a bit of spicy pepper and grass. All in all a top beer and one that Brewdog should make ALL the time.

An IPA a Day #22

2011-07-29T07:29:00.000+01:00

Six days to go until International IPA day and we're getting into the big hitters now. Sooner or later it would have come to this one, I have lost count of the amount of bottles I have consumed in the last three years. Lots anyway.
Regular readers of R.A.B will probably have guessed what it is.
At a not inconsiderable 5.9% abv this beer is very nicely balanced. At the point of writing this it has 1191 ratings and a score of 96 on Ratebeer.
It goes really well with Chicken, Pork, curries, Gouda & blue cheese - well everything really.
It won gold medals at the World Beer Cup and The Great American Beer Festival - 10 years apart those awards...
The Brewmaster at the brewery recently left, and is now pursuing other interests(cider), good on him too, he's done an amazing job in the last 23 years or so. Thank you sir...Oh and he's also one of the nicest blokes on the planet.
Have you guessed what the beer is yet? Well if you haven't let me give you some tasting notes...

Colour : Light copper or Bourbon coloured.

Nose : Lots of fruit mainly citrus fruit like lime & orange and floral although not being a florist I couldn't tell you which.

Taste : Lots of citrus, lime, lemon, orange or mandarin, and a biscuity dryness which just makes the beer all the more..er moreish.

Ladies and Gentlemen, if you haven't already guessed, I give you Goose Island I.P.A. (cue applause)

Speaks for itself.

An IPA a Day #21

2011-07-28T09:28:00.000+01:00

Next in my lead up to International IPA day on August 4th(1 week to go folks!) is another Belgian beer and I have to say.....Wow!

Back in the sands of time, at the turn of this century a four newly qualified brewery technicians straight out of KaHo St. Lieven, the best known brewing school in Gent, were finding it increasingly obvious that they'd have a hard time getting brewmaster jobs in the Belgian beer world and decided that they should use their own enthusiasm and efforts to create the Muskateers Brewing Co.

After that they needed a name for the beers they were creating and eventually the agreed on Troubador. You can read more about the history of the brewery here.

The Troubador Magma is a great Belgian IPA because it has the body of a triple but what gives it the big IPA style is of course the hops! The massive fruity aroma come from the dry hopping process with American hops which are so popular today! It's a beer of incredible balance and flavour and I'm trying to get more for The Rake! Love it!

An IPA a Day #20

2011-07-27T20:49:00.000+01:00

To Chico we go now and the extremely popular Sierra Nevada Brewing Co and probably my favourite of their beers, Torpedo Extra IPA.
I've written about this on more than one occasion, but I'm not sure that multiple drunk diary entries really count.
For me the greatness of this beer all starts with the colour of the label, it's a darker, more mysterious than the boring old Pale Ale label that everyone knows so well and orders without even thinking. Don't get me wrong I think the Pale Ale is still a great beer but the Torpedo is phenomenal!

It's 7.2% and as you can see it's a beautiful light tawny red and when you stick your nose in the glass you get a mental blast of hoppy Pineapple, Mandarin and Pine, when you taste it there's so much bitterness up front that it almost drowns everything else out. After the second or third sip though your taste buds are working overtime and really getting the citrus and a slight malty sweetness in the middle and the citrus bitterness hits you on the arse at the end!
Such a great beer! I can't recommend this enough, get some down ya!!

Beer and Bieber

2011-07-26T13:24:00.002+01:00

A couple of tweets this morning have got me thinking. Viral marketing has been around for a while now. The boys at Brewdog do it quite well as their fan-boys will attest to but they've become a bit mainstream and dull so I think it's time that the rest of the beer industry and it's commentators joined in!

Here are some tips from a rank amatuer...

Bloggers! Get more hits on your sites by putting words like Sex, Bieber & X-Factor in your titles and posting them on twitter! When they click on the links they will find the world of craft beer waiting for them! (who cares if Bieber fans have an average age of 6, you'll get hits and that's what matters!)

Imagine if you will, how many more hits not-so-young Dredge's blog would have got this week if it was called 'Pencil and Winehouse's crack Spoon'? Simples.

Other examples of people who really need to get their blogs more exposure would be Pete Brown - Imagine how much better it would be if his blog was called Pete Brown's Bieber Blog?

My own blog would jump considerably up the wikio rankings if the name were change to X-Factor Sex Bieber! Of course, unlike those examples I'm nowhere near talented enough to keep peoples attention so I might ACTUALLY do this!

Tweeters : Get more followers by including a superstars name in your twitter handle, one such example might be Chunk who's twitter handle should be BeerBirraBieber.

Who needs a #ff when you could have twitter handle such as @#changewordinnameofsongtocraftbeer? stroke of genius if you ask me....

Craft Brewers : change your brewery name to something sexual for Brewdog see Brewdogging, well easy, this malarky, for Summer Wine Brewery see Sexy Wine Brewery, does what it says on the tin, innit!

So I leave you to make up your minds people, this craft beer revolution will not be won by playing the big boys fairly, use every edge you can find....or make shit up!

Until next time,

love,

Bono. ;-)

An IPA a Day #19

2011-07-26T09:03:00.001+01:00

21st Amendment is a brewpub in San Fransico which is doing some spectacular beers. Founded in 2000 by Shaun O'Sullivan and Nico Freccia in the shadow of the San Francisco Giants stadium, it has eight rotating taps of top quality craft brews and a restuarant that serves fantastic food! This is the place where I discovered the spicy food and IPA pairing which I enjoy so much.

We're down to my top ten IPA's in the lead up to International IPA Day and the inspiration for two London beers, Kernel Black IPA and Military Intelligence, Back in Black IPA.

I'm lucky enough to have amazing friends who bring me amazing beers from across the pond every now and then and this was one such beer. I've had it twice now, first brought back by my friends Matt and Karen and another can by Mark Dredge. I blogged about the beer and at the risk of being a repetative bore I'll give you the aromas and flavours I got from this.

Aroma and taste : Liquorice, Orange and Mango were the most prevalent in both the taste and aroma and had a dark chocolate bitterness to it aswell.
What more can I say? The branding is some of the coolest I have ever seen and the people who run the brewpub in San Francisco are great, what's not to like?

An IPA a Day #18

2011-07-25T16:55:00.000+01:00

Off to Maryland for the last IPA before my top 10 in my lead up to International IPA Day and Flying Dog Brewery, based in Frederick.

You'll recognise the Flying Dog bottles on the shelves or in the fridges of your shops and bars by the distinctive label designs. Designed by Ralph Steadman the art work is that of a demented genius(Flying Dog's words, not mine) and it has really brought the flying dog brand to life so that not only do you get a fantastic beer, you also get a work of art on the bottle to take home should you so wish.
The Snake Dog IPA is the hop monster from Flying Dog, at 15 Plato (7.1% abv) it's 60 IBU's give it the perfect amount of bitterness for a beer that strength. Brewed with Warrior and Columbus hops there's a big Grapefruity kind of character to this beer which also is nicely balanced with a caramel maltiness.
Flying Dog also share my opinion that big hoppy IPA's deserve a wonderfully spicy meal to pair them with and this beer will go really well with a spicy Thai or Mexican dish or something with lots of Wasabi. Who am I to argue, I just say, get it down ya!
Flying Dog Brewmaster Matt Brophy was also one of the first to sign The Rake's wall too, one Sunday before we started opening on them!
The Brewery's motto is "Good people drink good beer" Indeed they do.

Parliament does something right

2011-07-24T13:57:00.000+01:00

Got sent this link by a friend on twitter. It's one of those pieces that you want to see in our newspapers every week rather than the ridiculous 'lady beers' or the stories about how Britains booze culture is ruining civilisation as we know it.

In a nutshell UK based Michelin starred chef Sriram Ayulur has been named 'Britains Beer Drinker of the Year' by the All Party Parliamentary Beer Group.
Ayulur heads up Taj Groups Quilon restaurant in London which is well known for having their South west coastal cuisine paired with beer!
He also did a fantastic job for the British Guild of Beer Writers at our annual awards dinner last year, it's very easy to see just why he has that Michelin star.

I love these sorts of stories.

An IPA a Day #17

2011-07-24T13:31:00.000+01:00

From Santa Rosa to Escondido for the second time and Stone IPA. It's no Ruination but it's still a damn fine beer and one that I'm always happy to see whether it's on draught or in bottle.

It's 6.9% and as is usual for a west coast IPA it's highly hopped and bloody drinkable!

Stone describe the beer like this...

Light medium malt character with a heavy dose of over the top hops! Two full weeks of dry hopping give this beer its abundant hop aroma and crisp hop flavour.

Personally I would describe it like this : Lovely dark golden colour, and has a massive fruity nose with orange, pineapple and a bit of caramel malt too.
It's hop character that is nice and prominent is all about the clean citrus flavours which made it moreish to the extreme.

Is is any wonder why Greg Koch wears t-shirts with his face on them? The beers rock as much as Brewmaster Mitch Steele's band!

An IPA a Day #16

2011-07-23T16:56:00.000+01:00

Day sixteen and we're onto one of my favourite all time beers. Shared a spoog bottle with Boggle on Thursday and have had a bottle sitting in the fridge for a few days now. Time to crack it open.

Pic courtesy of beerreviews.co.uk

Pliny the Elder(actual name Gaius Plinius Secundus) was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher who died on August 25th AD 79. Now thankfully the beer I have in front of me isn't anywhere near that old, in fact it was only bottled at Russian River on 7th July 2011, not bad is it, from brewery to glass in 16 days, it's not what you know folks, it's who you know!

The Beer
It pours a delicious orange marmalade colour and has plenty of carbonation. The aroma is full of pine, some nectarine and a bit of malty Neapolitan ice cream on the finish.
On the palate you get some chocolatey maltiness and piney bitterness of the hops and that lovely piney resinous slickness that coats the mouth and throat.
I love this beer, I love Double IPA's and especially this multi award winning 8% classic!

An IPA a Day #15

2011-07-22T13:52:00.000+01:00

Going oop north to West Yorkshire for todays offering to the IPA gods and these guys are the only British brewery to be sponsoring the International IPA Day.
Summer Wine Brewery have produced 4 IPA's which will be available over GBBF week at The Rake and this is the best known of them. Diablo is a 6% IPA and it's devilishly good (see wot I did there?).

The Beer
It's a golden beer, which I suppose is quite rare for an IPA, it's got a really lemony nose to it and the citrus really comes through in the mouth too along with some passionfruit and it has a lingering resinous finish.
These guys are making some of the most exciting beers in the country at the moment and if you come across them I heartily recommend you give them a try.

An IPA a Day #14

2011-07-21T16:30:00.001+01:00

My next IPA is Great Divide's Titan IPA and the name is in the title for this one as it's as big as it's name!

Their website blurb is as follows :

Titan IPA is a big, aggressively hopped India Pale Ale brewed for hop disciples. It starts out with piney hop aromas and citrus hop flavors, and finishes with a nice rich, malty sweetness that is balanced with crisp hop bitterness. 7.1% ABV

There's barely any need for me to continue, it's a great beer made by great people and they clearly know what they're talking about when they go for their food pairings too, they suggest, grilled Halibut, Thai curry or Cheeses. I've always said that IPA's and big flavoured food goes together, clearly I'm right! ;-)

Anyway, this beer was one of the first big IPA's I'd ever tasted and it's one that I revisit regularly. Great Beer!

An IPA a Day #13

2011-07-20T17:10:00.000+01:00

Off to California (I wish) for my next IPA in the series. This one is a top ~~bear~~, sorry beer and is a favourite of Mark Dredge.

Bear Republic Racer 5 is a fantastic beer and I was lucky enough to have it on draught at The Rake a year or so ago, very good it was too!
Made with four of the 'C' Hops, Chinook, Cascade, Columbus & Centennial there's a massive pine and tropical fruit character to the beer.
Pouring a deep, hazy amber, it looks amazing, and tastes it too, it's easy to understand why this beer is so popular everywhere it's found.
With the amount of tropical fruit on the nose and on the palate, even at 7% abv it could still almost be a so called 'breakthrough' or 'gateway' beer, much more so than any of the so-called girlie beers that the big boys want to push on unsuspecting prospective drinkers!
The branding is as excellent as the beers and if you find them over here, grab with both hands and don't let go until the bottle is empty!

An IPA a Day #12

2011-07-19T14:18:00.000+01:00

Of to Derbyshire today in the lead up to International IPA day. Thonrbridge Brewery have had names such as Martin Dickie(now of Brewdog infamy) and Kelly Ryan(previously mentioned secretive Kiwi) working at the brewery. They've both moved on to spread the craft beer love and Thornbridge now have Dom Driscoll(formerly Marble), Matthew Clarke and current Beer Writers Brewer of the Year, Stefano Cossi creating some of the most exciting beers in the country.
Thornbridge Jaipur was one of the first, if not the first beer that was brewed and it's still going strong today! With the iconic statuesque Thornbridge lady on the pumpclips and the bottles they are quite easily recognisable.
Tasting notes are all about the citrus, ain't that a surprise! It starts really quite mellow and light but as it works on the palate it ends up being a bit of a bitter explosion with a bit of lingering honey and will give any big IPA a run for it's money.
Really like this beer, so glad it's back at The Rake!

Girlie Beer Anyone? Part Deux!

2011-07-18T19:20:00.000+01:00

So Molson Coors are producing a girlie beer. They clearly didn't read what I had to say here. Seriously if you want to patronise your potential customers there must be cheaper ways of doing it rather than produce a shit, tasteless C**ling wannabe.
Apparently the beers, named Eve and Animee are lighter, less carbonated and wait for it....bloat resistent! Bloat resistent!!! hahahahahaha......what a pile of steaming dung! At this point that's all I'm going to say about the beers because they won't be worth writing about.
The Blogospheres(and Molson Coors) own Kristy McCready told the Fail on Sunday 'The Perception is that beer is a laddish drink, Animee will be more sophisticated and playful'. Sorry Kristie but that's just bullshit. Gigantic piles of it at that.
So you're telling me that a ordering a glass of Pliny the Elder when I went to Russian River last year wasn't sophisticated? It was laddish? You're telling me that my wife joining me in having a glass of RR Supplication wasn't sophisticated enough?

Pic taken from BeerDudeUk.Com

Should I even start on the 'playful' aspect of that sentence? I know plenty of women who drink good craft beer because they like the taste and I'm pretty sure I know how annoyed they're going to be about this. Women are already drinking beer, in fact, I recently held a beer tasting for a hen-do! The stand out beers for them were Orval and Deus! Tell me women don't like beer! What I will say is that women won't like 'light-struck' beer because it's coming in CLEAR BOTTLES!!!! You folks are supposed to be professionals! Bloody Act like them! Everyone knows that clear bottles will fuck the beer up when it sits on the shelves for months due to not being able to sell it! They also look like a revolting kind of alco-pop.
MC have got their marketing so far wide of the mark that they will alienate everyone if they're not careful. After all you're already patronising the women and then start calling the blokes that drink the fizzy piss that pays the bills 'laddish', well, that's just plain rude.
This all sounds a bit personal and it really isn't but this sort of bollocks really winds me up, who do you think they're going to sell this to? Supermarkets? Massive pub chains? Certainly not to any women I know, they all have much better palates.
Bit of Barfly advice here peeps, stop trying so hard to conquer the world, you just end up looking ridiculous.

An IPA a Day #11

2011-07-18T16:40:00.000+01:00

We jump the pond again with the next beer in my lead up to International IPA day on 4th August. This time we get as far as Fort Collins, Colorado and the Odell Brewery. Doug, Wynne and Corkie Odell set up the brewery in 1989 and instantly set about educating their customers about craft beer. In those days there was only one other craft brewery in Colorado and so they had pretty much the whole market to win over.
Win they did though and today they brew 45,000 brewers barrels a year in a space that's 45,000 square feet, imagine that, a barrel per square foot!
I've been fortunate enough to have met Doug on a couple of occasions now and he's as passionate about making great craft beer as I am about drinking it!
Odells IPA, whilst not my absolute favourite of Dougs beers is one of the best around, at 7% and 60 IBU's they've taken the traditional English style IPA and made it more flavourful and a lot bolder. They've used new varieties of aromatic American hops to give the beer more character and that excellent hop profile you get from the nose and the taste.

An IPA a day #10

2011-07-17T06:57:00.000+01:00

Day 10 and it's back stateside and I have a biggie for ya! He'Brew Lenny's Bittersweet RIPA is next on the build up to International IPA day.

This 10% Monster was created to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the death of Lenny Bruce. This is a rye based double IPA and when we were lucky enough to get some at The Rake 18 months ago, I think I drank most of it! In fact I remember getting Oz Clarke absolutely blotto on it too before a press release of Oz and James big Wine Adventure. Ooops.
Anyway this is made with nine different malts and seven different hops! He'Brew claim this is the most radical Jewish tribute beer ever created and who could argue? Not me.
Tasting notes are in the name of this monster, bittersweet, for a 10% beer this is remarkably (un)balanced. It's massive hops(surprise!) over massive malts and both fight your tastebuds for dominance with the hops just winning out.
It pours a deep orange colour and there are aroma of Citrus fruits, Caramel and Rye malt. Mouthfeel is like a boozy oil slick. Its sweet caramel is replaced by the Grapefruity, piney bitterness of all the hops and a boozy warmth as it goes down. All in all a top beer.
Dear Schmaltz Brewing, please send more beer.

Thornbridge Return

2011-07-16T13:00:00.000+01:00

Ok, the brewery didn't really go away, but due to some er...'creative differences' we haven't stocked any at The Rake or Utobeer for a while.

Got the pic from BeerReviews

One of my favourites is their white golden pale ale, Wild Swan. The beers are back! I love Thornbridge beers, Dom Driscoll and the rest of the Thornbridge brewing team have picked up the baton from Kelly and made it their own, it's still a great brewery and they're still producing stunning beers.
It pours really pale golden and the aroma is Lemon and Limes.
Taste-wise it's a citrussy feast with some orange thrown in for good measure, bitterness at the end is replaced by a mild warmth, considering it's only 3.8% abv, it gives you a lemony wake-up slap around the chops. It's extremely thirst quenching and is one of those session ales that really puts quality right up there with quantity.
Top drop. More please.

An IPA a Day #9

2011-07-16T10:12:00.000+01:00

Day nine and it's over to New Zealand to continue my lead up to the first International IPA day. I want this beer in the UK but I doubt I'll ever see it. Luke Nicholas started the Epic Brewery in 2006 and is almost single handedly bringing the craft beer to the masses in New Zealand. I say almost single handed because he recently 'stole' Kelly Ryan back from us(we will never forgive you Luke).

Together they are making some fantastic beers, I know this because I am lucky enough to have tasted some of them even though they don't export to the UK.
Hop Zombie is their latest double IPA and I want it over here! It uses four different hops, two US and two NZ when I asked Kelly Ryan which ones he replied "really yummy ones!" Bloody secretive Kiwis!
This is one beer that I really want to try now, and I'm having to take my tasting notes from the Epic Beer Website.
Tasting notes:
The Hop Zombie has huge tropical fruit characters on the nose, mango, guava, and a hint of ripe raspberry, which continue in the mouth, with a rich sweetness and mouth-coating hop character and bitterness.
At a hefty 8.5% it's one to enjoy with meals as well as drink on it's own. According to Epic it could easily replace a dessert wine and compliments strong cheeses really well.
So here's the question for Luke and Kelly....When do we get to have some?

An IPA a Day #8

2011-07-15T14:39:00.000+01:00

Day eight of my lead up to International IPA day takes us to Henley-on-Thames just outside London.
Chief Zymurgist Jeff Rosenmeier and his business partner? (what is it you actually do?) Jason Stevenson have been brewing up a storm for a few years now and last year they re-branded and re-launched their IPA. Now called 69 IPA it's a fine example of it's style.
You may remember I blogged about it a while back because big bully drinks company Diageo had decided that their customers were too stupid to know the difference between their Whisky and the beer that Lovibonds were brewing. Unsurprisingly Lovibonds came out on top in that argument.

The beer? Well, here's what Lovibonds themselves say about it on Ratebeer...
Lovibonds 69 IPA is not a boring, middle of the road IPA. We’re not quite sure how British IPAs have evolved into such low gravity pints of hop-lessness. 69 IPA is part of a new generation of IPAs, one that fuses the great history of IPA with modern hops and techniques. You may not be aware, but craft brewers in the States are now producing some of the most remarkable, flavoursome and diverse beers in the world. IPA is a style that they have embraced with vigour and 69 IPA is a nod to our brothers and sisters across the pond, who serve as a guide and inspiration for this beer. At 6.9% avb, our IPA has the strength of an original IPA, but is infused with the modern aromas and flavours of the USA’s finest Centennial and Columbus hops. Lovibonds is the first in the UK to employ a new dry hopping device called a ’Hopinator’. This technique is key to giving 69 IPA its awesome aroma and flavour.
I'm a big fan of this beer, the launch night at The Rake was one of those nights that just rocked. Such good people making such good beer. I recommend you drink this as 'responsibly as you like' and don't blame me the next morning!

An IPA a Day #7

2011-07-14T13:16:00.000+01:00

Right then End of week one and since we had a Brewdog launch at the bar last night, which by the way, I hope you all enjoyed, it's time we went to Scotland as part of our lead up to International IPA day.
This is Punk IPA, it's an agressive beer.....well not so much any more.

A Nano Keg

You might say that the old recipe Punk was better, I'd have to disagree. Personally, I think the old recipe had got a bit flabby, had one too many drug cocktails, was writing the same old stuff, it seemed to me that Punk IPA was yesterdays news.
Shortly after the launch of the new recipe came the launch of the Punk Nano kegs...sorry cans for those of you old enough to remember them.
Nano Kegs is for all you 21st century blogger geeks.
The new recipe may be less aggressive but it's also far more drinkable. At 5.6% abv is slightly less alcoholic. There are hints of tropical fruits such as Pineapple and Mango on the nose and the palate but still enough bitterness(45 IBUs) at the finish so as not to make it a big girls blouse of a beer.

An IPA a Day #6

2011-07-13T09:07:00.000+01:00

Day 6 of 28 leading up to International IPA takes us back to the dark ages of probihition. During prohibition illegal bars were called Speakeasys. Whilst they were illegal they were tacitly allowed to continue trading because a lot of their customers were police, judges and government officials who didn't agree with prohibition.
One city in the states that had a particular reputation for speakeasies was San Francisco and it was there that the Speakeasy Ales and Lagers opened.

They seem to a healthy sense of humour when naming their beers too with names such as Prohibition Ale, Untouchable Pale Ale, Rum Runner Rye and Old Godfather. The IPA I am going for today is Speakeasy's Big Daddy IPA and it was named after Dave Keene, the owner of one of my favourite San Francisco bars, Toronado. He is the unofficial "Godfather" of the San Francisco beer community. As one of *"The Mob" I love the names and the beers!
Big Daddy IPA is a golden or blonde beer with a fluffy white head. Again and this seems to be a theme in IPAs, Citrussy hops are dominant but the nose also has floral and grassy type aromas too. The taste is big, of course, hops are dominant, of course and the mouthfeel is beautifully rich.
Gotta love the art work n'all.

*"The Mob" are apparently Speakeasy beer fans - I just learnt that today - love it.

An IPA a Day #5

2011-07-12T11:27:00.000+01:00

As I said yesterday, I'm continuing the lead up to International IPA day with a Belgian IPA. Todays offering in Chouffe Houblon Tripel IPA. This Belgian beastie weighs in at a mere 9% abv.
This is a Golden beer which does almost exactly what Chouffe were aiming for. This was to marry up the English tradition of IPA's with the new wave(or now not-so new wave) US style IPA's as well as give the beer a distinctively Belgian style.
Aromas include Citrus, Lemon is the most prominent of them but there's maybe some Orange or Mandarin in there too. The flavours are quite complex, the moderate toffee sweetness belies the character of the beer which is quite full bodied almost oily and after the sweetness there's the piney, resinous bitterness of the hops which power past it and leave you with a very dry finish. There's also the the Belgian yeast which comes through very well and gives the beer even more character as if it needed it!
It is interesting to note that this is only 59 IBU's, it seems like more to me.

An IPA a Day #4

2011-07-11T10:38:00.000+01:00

My lead up to Inernational IPA day continues today with Stone Ruination I have recently written about this beer when I paired it with the Formula One and you can read the blog post on it here.

Tomorrow's beer? Something from Belgium I think...

An IPA a day #3

2011-07-10T07:31:00.000+01:00

IPA number three in my lead up to International IPA Day is Great Divide Hercules Double IPA.
Great Divide are based in Denver, Colorado (Yep, I'm going there!!!) and their Double IPA comes in at a hefty 10% abv.
What you get from the bottle is a deep orange, classically tawny coloured beer which leaves a good head lacing your glass.
Bringing the glass to your face you get the aroma of piney hops along with a hit of citrus and surprisingly a hint of the malt sweetness on the back of that aroma too.
The Centennial, Columbus and Simcoe hops balance out with bitterness what would be an over the top sweetness made by the amount of malt that has to go into this bad-boy. For your mighty 85 IBU's(International Bittering Units) You get a resinous piney taste along with hints of Orange peel and the toffee malt character sweetness coats your mouth with a lovely boozy warmth to finish off the taste experience.
With such a weighty ABV, this is a beer that should be enjoyed with some sort of food, a hard, strong cheese or some sort of spicy dish that the beer can go head to head with!
First brewed in 2004 the recipe has not been tweaked once since it's inception and I put my hand on heart and thank the brewers at Great Divide for that!

An IPA a Day #2

2011-07-09T07:07:00.000+01:00

Day two of my IPA list leading up to the first international IPA day.

Todays offering is Marstons Old Empire. It may be brewed by one of the bigger boys of the UK brewing scene but it was one of those beers that helped shaped my love of beer. I think it was the first really hoppy beer I ever drank and I couldn't get enough of it. Of course I ended up off my tits when ever it was available, the stupidity of youth getting the better of me most of the time back in the day. The reason for this? Well aside from youthful exuberance it is rarely seen in London that you have to make the most of it whenever you can!
Tasting notes for this seminal(snigger) ale include the skunk-like whiff of the famous Burton Snatch which gives way to the nose which comes from the American hop, Cascade. On the palate it's got the richness of the malt coming through and then gets a really bitter and dry hop finish. Very moreish which I suspect was also part of the problem in my youth!

An IPA a Day #1

2011-07-08T07:30:00.000+01:00

So in celebration the first Annual IPA Day I'm doing one a day for your pleasure with the final ten days being my top ten IPA's.
Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin....

About 18 months ago a local homebrewer who used to sell cheese in Borough Market decided that it was time to go proffessional and so a legend was created.
Evin O'Riordan, Brewer/Owner of Kernel Brewery has one of the most recognisable brands in London now with the plain brown labels merely stating what style of beer is in the bottle and which hops were used in that batch.
So which batch have I enjoyed the most? Well I'm the first to hold my hand up and say I've not had all of them but I've had enough to know that my favourite so far is the IPA made with S.C.C.A.NS. to the uninitiated that's the Simcoe, Citra, Columbus, Apollo and Nelson Sauvin hops that were used in the making of this mmasterpiece.
Tasting notes for this wonderful creation are as follows. On the nose there's definite citrus, hard to be more specific, maybe Grapefruit and Lemon, there's also Mango in there too. To taste is to rise into a temporary Nirvana and forget the world below you, it's more tropical fruit, Mango, Peach and Oranges are there but there's a nice dryness to it which quenches the thirst and leaves you wanting another sip. At 6.8% abv it's a nicely balanced treat for your tastebuds!

An IPA a Day....

2011-07-07T22:49:00.001+01:00

Yep, my latest awesome-est idea is to do an IPA a day up to and including the International #IPAday that will be on August 4th. Four weeks today.
Starting tomorrow, you'll be able to read about all the IPA's I've ever drunk...nearly. The Last 10 days will include my top 10 India Pale Ales.
What would yours be?

Announcing International IPA Day!

2011-07-07T18:00:00.001+01:00

On August 4th the World, this planet in this universe will have it's very first day dedicated only to India Pale Ales.
What took mother nature so long I hear you ask? Well she doesn't want to give away all her secrets at once does she?
So what's it all about? well here is the press release I was sent this afternoon

Announcing International #IPADay: A Social Celebration of Craft Beer

San Diego, CA – July 7th, 2011 – Attention all craft beer evangelists, brewers, bloggers, and suds-savvy citizens! On Thursday, August 4th 2011, you are cordially invited to participate in the largest international craft beer celebration and virtual conversation the world has ever seen.

International #IPADay is a grassroots movement to unite the voices of craft beer enthusiasts, bloggers, and brewers worldwide through social media. On Thursday August 4th, craft beer drinkers across the social sphere and across the globe will raise pints in a collective toast to one of craft beer’s most iconic styles: the India Pale Ale. This celebrated style represents the pinnacle of brewing innovation with its broad spectrum of diverse brands, subcategories, and regional flavor variations – making it the perfect style to galvanize craft beer’s social voice.

#IPADay is not the brainchild of a corporate marketing machine, nor is it meant to serve any particular beer brand. #IPADay is opportunity for breweries, bloggers, businesses and consumers to connect and share their love of craft beer. Getting involved is easy; the only requirements are an appreciation for great beer and the will to spread the word. Anyone can participate by enjoying IPA with friends, making some noise online with the #IPADay hashtag, and showing the world that craft beer is more than a trend!
Tips on How to Take Part:
1. Organize an #IPADay event at your brewery, brewpub, restaurant, bar, home, or office (Ex: An IPA dinner/cheese pairing/comparative or educational tasting/cask night/tap takeover…). Share your events on the official #IPADay forum at http://www.ratebeer.com.
2. On August 4th, share your photos, videos, blog posts, tasting notes, recipes, and thoughts with the world. Be sure to include the #IPADay hashtag in your posts Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WordPress, RateBeer, Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp, Untappd or any other social media site.
3. See what other people are saying by searching “#IPADay” on Google, search.twitter.com, et cetera…
4. Track down your favorite IPA’s, ones you’ve been meaning to try, and ones you’ve never heard of; share them with friends and share your thoughts with the world.
5. Have a good time and know that by sharing your experiences online, you’re strengthening the craft beer community at large.

About International #IPADAY
Founded in 2011 by beer evangelists and social media personalities Ashley V Routson and Ryan A Ross, International #IPADay is the largest grassroots social media-based celebration of craft beer. The goal of #IPADay is to use social media to strengthen the collective voice of craft beer through the simple celebration of beer itself. The success of #IPADay hinges on the passionate voices of beer enthusiasts worldwide and their willingness to share that passion across the social sphere.

For more information on events or how you can support #IPADay, visit http://ipaday.eventbrite.com or contact (insert regional host brewery) at (http://www.breweryname.com/, facebook, twitter, *Change out with relevant brewery/blog info*

So basically there's tonnes of scope to what could cover IPA day, you could do anything! I will say now that The Rake WILL be doing some sort of event but this will be confirmed next week on The Rake's blog.
Other British bars that will be hosting events are The Port Street Bar in Manchester and the Free Trade Inn, in Newcastle, I'm also sure that as soon as word spreads other London bars will be joining in!

Summer Wine Brewery have gotten well and truly involved in helping sponsor this event too and will have the following beers available for those that are interested in getting involved...
Diablo, 6% - Cask and Keg.
Kahuna, 6% - Cask.
7 C's of Rye, 7% - Cask.
Nerotype - Herkules 6% - Cask.

Hope you get involved! These sorts of events are what help put beer on the map in a big way and IPA's is the bestest beer style ever!!

The Session #53 Finding Redemption

2011-07-02T10:03:00.001+01:00

So this months session is all about Redemption. Coming from London I could write about finding a brewery called Redemption but instead I'll tell you about my own beery redemption.

It started back in 1992 when I was a skinny(yes I used to be skinny) kid, finally old enough to work behind a bar. I had this ridiculous romantic notion about drawing a pint of cask ale from a handpump and how good it would feel.

Now, back in the early nineties all I really wanted to be was an actor and working behind a bar was helping me save up for drama school.

From behind the bar I saw all sorts of things, served all kinds of people, got all sorts of abuse from assholes as they got more drunk through the evening, from the person waving that £20 note in my face as I served someone else, thinking that might get them served quicker to the person at the end of the night trying to have a fight with you because you weren't serving them any more of the bland fizzy piss they'd been drinking all night.

Starting off as that naive, shy kid behind the bar I soon learnt that only the strong survive behind a bar and I had to be able to give as good as I got and take care of myself. Even though I was now over eighteen years old you could basically say that I grew up behind the bar.

Working behind the bar also taught me what I really wanted to be so when I had to leave drama school due to lack of funding, although I was devastated because a part of my dream was dying before my eyes, working behind a bar had shown me that there was a different kind of performance to do every night. The pub was my theatre, the bar was my stage and on it I would never be 'resting'.

Over the next few years I would have many jobs in various businesses but I'd always go back to pub work, I just had a natural affinity to these places. They kept drawing me back for another hit, like a druggie with a habit.

In 2000 I started working for a mate in a Firkin pub in Wandsworth Common, my local pub, I was working in an off-license a few doors down and Dan came in one afternoon for a pack of cigarettes, we'd gotten to know each other reasonably well and he offered me a job. My first shift for Mitchells & Butlers(Allied Domecq I think they were called then) was behind the bar with Dan Fox (Now GM at the legendary White Horse Pub, in Parsons Green just the two of us, thousands of thirsty customers and a few regulars collecting glasses for us on a hot Sunday night in late May, it was proper backs to the wall, no stopping for fags, no time to stop and an Adrenalin hit that told me that I'd found what I was looking for. Now of course we didn't want to be getting shafted like that every night so we went about hiring a team that was to this day was one of the best I had the pleasure to work with. I met my wife there, that's just how good it was!

Fast forward eight years and a jaded, cynical and overweight 34 year old me was sick of working for a multi million pound company and getting nowhere. Pub after pub I was applying for and getting nowhere. I ended my Mitchells and Butlers career as I had started it, working for Dan Fox, this time at the aforementioned legendary White Horse, this time as a duty manager.

Now one of the suppliers of the White Horse's beer range is Utobeer and I met Mike Hill and Richard Dinwoodie, the owners of Utobeer once before Dan called me into the office and told me that the two of them were looking for a bar manager for their bar The Rake, only two years old at that point, The Rake had already won a couple of awards when I started there in September 2008 and stepped into the brave new world of 'specialty beer' as it was known then. I had found my personal redemption, craft beer was calling and the rest as they say, is history....

Saturday Kitchen Complaint

2011-06-28T19:57:00.000+01:00

I submitted my complaint of OfCom this evening regarding Saturday Kitchen. I wrote it as a member of The British Guild of Beer Writers and I urge other guild members and indeed non-members, to do the same. Thanks to Dave Bailey for leading the fight!

I am complaining about the above program(Saturday Kitchen, BBC1, 10am, 25th June 2011), one that I happen to enjoy from time to time. I have become increasingly frustrated though with the lack of representation of our national indigenous drink, Beer!
Although wine has it's merits it is almost always imported into this country and beer is our national drink and it has had no representation at all on Saturday kitchen. I find this insulting to the programs viewers who should be informed that beer can be paired more easily than wine with any meal.
The BBC, our national broadcasting authority, which is paid for by a tax on television ownership, is deliberately and recklessly damaging the UK economy by its unreasonable and deliberate rejection of beer as a beverage to drink with food. The vast majority of beer consumed in the UK is brewed in the UK using British grown ingredients.
Promoting brands of wine in named supermarkets without also giving air time to quality British beer brands is unacceptable bias for a public funded organisation.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we started celebrating our national beverage instead of ignoring it!
I complain as one member of The British Guild of Beer Writers, not for them.

Yes I did copy and paste some of Dave's words but frankly he wrote them so eloquently I couldn't do any better!

You can put your complaint on the OfCom website here. Please join in!

Unhelpful or Not Working?

2011-06-26T20:01:00.000+01:00

Ranty Mc-Fucking-Rant is back.

Why is it people contact me when they're in my bar and clearly I'm not, then ask me what's good?

Then they get a sulk on and call me unhelpful when I'm on my day off and don't bother racking my brains to figure out what may or may not be in the fridge when they're probably standing in front of the bloody thing!

It's one of the few things I really hate about my job. Surely it would be easier and quicker to ask the member of staff who is standing right in front of them?

Seriously, would you like it if you got called unhelpful on your day off?!

*got the pic from sourceblogger.com

Pizza Dood!

2011-06-25T10:52:00.000+01:00

The pepperoni is strong with this one

The lack bacon in our abode this morning meant that my hangover had to be fought off with pizza this morning. Not the one pictured(I just love that pic).
This is however, why I am such a fat bastard.
Pizza for brekkie? It Works. Now all I need is a beer.

Isn't 40 a bit Old to Start Playing Games?

2011-06-25T09:44:00.000+01:00

After booking my flights and room for the Great American Beer Festival I've been thinking. Never a good thing, me thinking. Always seems to create some sort of hoo ha, thinking. People take beer so seriously nowadays!
With The Rake turning 5 years old this year over GBBF I've been wanting to find a different kind of festival. I've had aspirations to organise a 'craft beer festival' myself but there's just no way I'll ever have enough time, anyway, Shock, horror, splutter, craft, keg! Aye keg dispense, and you know what, I don't apologise for liking keg dispense, why should I? After all, some of the best beers on the planet are served from kegs(what's the matter beardies? afraid you're going to taste something?).
I personally think that the UK is screaming for this sort of festival, i.e, one that celebrates all forms of dispense and gives you a greater range of beers to choose from(oh yes he did!).
What the USA does really well is give all forms of dispense, yes keg. bottle, can and cask a great forum to show off their beers. We really don't do that very well at all. What I mean is that if you want to find a great festival you have to go to a small scale festival which doesn't have anywhere near enough budget to throw at advertising.
After all, with CAMRA doing things like this from The Morning Advertiser, what do the rest of the craft beer world have to do to get noticed. Maybe something like GBBF? (Just a suggestion), without the shite, crap, marketing gimmicks like Mascots. After all, if you need a mascot to sell your beer, is it really good enough? And considering how seriously these people supposedly take 'real ale', are you kidding me?

Would you buy a beer from this Penguin?

Tony Jerome as you can see from the piece was quoted as saying 'In CAMRA's 40th year, we are all about raising a toast to the brewing industrys most celebrated figureheads'. Really? By getting them to bring along a mascot? Surley the industry's most celebrated figureheads are worth more than a used Penguin suit? No? Ok then.

Seriously, after 40 years, isn't it time to shake off the jokey, stereotyped image of 'What's the Matter Lagerboy' T-Shirts, socks, sandals and long scruffy beards?

Isn't life supposed to begin at 40?

RIP Big Man

2011-06-19T10:28:00.000+01:00

I need a beer. I'm not sure I can do this. I'm not sure I can do the 'Big Man' justice, but I need to try.
Just read the news that Clarence Clemons died yesterday, the man was an absolute legend and he's going to be sorely missed by all that knew him and all that felt they knew him through listening to his music.
Without that Saxophone sound, I'm not sure I would have been such a passionate fan of the E Street Band. Clarence was a vital part of that sound and helped create a different kind of rock. A rock sound that had never been heard before.
One of my all time favourite tunes is Jungleland of the Born to Run album because of that sax solo.

Pic courtesy of Backstreets.com

This link is Jungleland at Hyde Park in 2009, I have enjoyed this tune for 25-odd years now and I hope you do too.

RIP Big Man, I'm gonna miss you.

Beer and F1

2011-06-12T18:34:00.001+01:00

So I'm watching the Canadian Grand Prix this evening whilst I wait for our roast chicken to cook. So what beer to have whilst watching a full on sport?

Stone Ruination is my beer of choice for this one, it might have been something by Brewdog but I've only got the 32% Tactical Nuclear Penguin at home and I'm ageing that as an experiment. It's a beer that is as full on as an F1 race and has on many occasions lived up to it's name!

As Murray would say 'and we're GO GO GO!'

Ok bit of a let down in as much as the race started behind the safety car but the beer is fucking awesome!

Nose : Orange, tiny bit of aniseed, quite a lot of sweet candy too.
Look : Bright orange, cloudy, the look of an IPA that needs to be drunk!
Taste : Bitter, with some malty sweetness at the end. More balanced than I was expecting to be honest, maybe it's because it's not as fresh as it should be but I still absolutely love this beer. It reminds me of San Francisco, somewhere I need to go back to soon! Not before Denver though!

Which beer for which sport people? Ideas?

Beer Circus Coming to London

2011-06-12T08:18:00.001+01:00

Brewdog and CAMRA?

Oooooh, Brewdog are going to have a bar at CAMRA's Great British Beer Festival this year. I'm looking forward to it. There's something about these two organisations that seems to get peoples creative juices flowing. It's because one stands for tradition and one stands for progression in whatever form. They are the polar opposites, night and day, Laurel and Hardy, Jay and Silent Bob.
I'm no different, CAMRA can infuriate me like a grumpy old git complaining about the price of beer* and Brewdog can annoy me like a screaming child on the bus to work when I have a bastard behind the eyes.
There's an irony that both of them feed off each other so easily, controversy it seems does create odd bedfellows.

Both have been in our insular beery headlines recently with their respective antics/quotes, not for the first time and certainly not for the last time. Brewdog with their cask ale is boring blah blah blah and CAMRAs Chairman Shirley Valentine getting all upetty about bloggers and our perpetual need to drink only the next beer**. Brewdogs stance is interesting this time though because they have publicly slammed CAMRA and cask conditioned ale whilst at the same time getting a stall at GBBF. The posturing and grandstanding is all getting a bit blurred now with both parties accusing each other of our popular sport of naval gazing. It's all about the beer in the end though, isn't it?

Brewdog will serving kegged beer at GBBF, I believe it's going to be Keykegged which I think suits CAMRAs 'no extraneous CO2 rule as no gas touches the beer. I was half expecting Brewdog to do something stupid like sneak a keg in but now they have clarified the Keykeg issue I'm just expecting Penguin suits and a shit load of Ratebeer fan boys dribbling over the Brewdog bar. We shall see, I'm too old to be a fan-boy and too young to be a beardy so you'll be able to find me watching from the sidelines with interest seeing how this one plays out.
The Beer Monkey has covered this too, you can read his blog here.

*That's a whole other argument though.
** If that was actually true we'd either 1) never drink any beer, or 2) be dead from liver failure.

Fire at Camden

2011-06-10T21:42:00.000+01:00

Evening all,

just a quickie this evening. Heard the news an hour or so ago that Camden Town Brewery has had a fire in site.
Apparently everyone is ok and the worst is a delay in production.

My thoughts are with Jasper and his team at the moment, the sooner they get brewing again, the better!

All the best folks!

RBF

The Session #52 Collectibles & Breweriana

2011-06-05T19:26:00.006+01:00

I would say I've been inspired by The Beer Monkey's confession on his *ahem* collection of beer mat but since there's only one of them, it doesn't really count. Fear not though, I have many for the venerable Mr Monkey that I get given without solicitation.

You all know about my fetish for baseball caps? Well my collection grew a bit more this week with the purchase of my new Lovibonds 69 IPA baseball cap(see below).

Great new cap, shame about the model

So here's what I got so far :

Russian River Brewing Co.(Green)

Russian River - Pliny the Elder.(Blue)
Lovibonds - 69 IPA (Black)
Dark Star Brewing - DRK STR (Khaki)

The Pike Brewing Co - I like Pike (Grey)

21st Amendment - 21A (Black)

Left Hand Brewing Co. (Dark Green)
Brooklyn - Lager (Black)

Deschutes - Black Butte Porter (Black and Yellow)

Odells - 90 Shilling (Blue)

Anchor - Steam Beer (Red)

Moosehead Lager (White)

Toronado Bar (Black)

Rogue Brewing (Blue and White)

Marin Brewing Co. (Red)

Moonlight Brewing Co. (Dark Blue)

Brewdog - Beer for Punks (Black and White)

Rogue Brewing Co. (Khaki)

GABF 2009 (White)

GABF 2010 (Black)

Brodies - Fabulous Beers (Navy Blue)

That makes 21 by my count - and there are another eleven that aren't beer, bar or brewery related.

I'm really sad, I know by it's my session confession.

This months session is being hosted by... All over beer.

If you feel like donating a baseball cap to my collection you'll get a mention on the blog, a beer if you go into The Rake and my sincere thanks!

Happy collecting, Geeks!

Take Outs

2011-06-05T15:47:00.001+01:00

So those crafty keg upstarts at Brewdog are going the way of Russian River and Lovibonds and have started producing ~~Thermos flasks~~...sorry, Growlers!
I've always been one for take aways (Kebabs mainly) so I think they're an excellent idea and if I had the space at The Rake I'd probably stock ~~Thermos's~~ sorry....Growlers too!
Have a look.

very sleek looking ~~thermos~~..sorry Growler!

They look not unlike the fonts that Brewdog have in their bars so the branding is at least consistent. I quite like these ~~thermos flasks~~...sorry, growlers and might get myself one! I have to say that I do prefer the look of the Russian River and Lovibonds growlers though, I think they have a more classical look.

Call me old fashioned by this is my kind of growler!

Now the Brewdog Fan-Boys can take their favourite Brewdog tipples home for ageing/freeze distilling/worshipping!

Good on Brewdog though, finally they have their fingers on the pulse! ~~Thermos~~...sorry, Growler of Tokyo anyone?

Sorry tickers but it beats a Panda Pop bottle hands down!

AWESOME!!!

2011-05-30T10:59:00.001+01:00

Morning all,

can't get to the computer at work right now so decided to rattle off a few tired old phrases, just for shits and giggles.

CAMRA are old and sucky and wear sandles and have beards and beer bellies.

Brewdog are new and sucky and have less beer beliies but more fan-boys.

Long live craft beer it's AWESOME!!!!

All Cask is Brown and dull and women will never enjoy it.

All Lager is fizzy piss and only louts drink 10 pints of it before kicking the shit out of someone at the footy.

All new beer is AWESOME!!!

All bloggers are noisesome.

All beer blogs are introspective, self indulgent dribblings of spotty geeks who can't get girlfriends/boyfriends.

Discuss....

Kinda bored now, RBF.

He Ain't My Valentine

2011-05-29T12:00:00.000+01:00

This video(courtesy of Alcofrolichap) of the CAMRA AGM has really shown it's chairman Colin Valentine(from now to be called Shirley on this blog) in his true light, a small minded member of the old guard who, instead of championing cask conditioned ale, which CAMRA have been doing well for 40 years now, slags off the so called 'bloggerati'(his words) for only liking 'the next beer'.

Does Shirley realise that beer bloggers help promote cask conditioned ale?
This speech has already spawned tonnes of debate on Martyn's blog and there's a new blogger in town here who has kicked off his blog with his opinion, they are both CAMRA members and both now part of the bloggerati.
My main beef with this rant from Shirley is that he uses the phrase bloggerati in a demeaning way, now I myself have used this phrase as just a name for a group of bloggers together(it's as good as any other description). The other beef with Shirley is that he's practically labelled us all as beer fashionista's who only chase 'the next beer'! What a pile of absolute tosh! Does anyone else think that Shirley is just slagging off that which he doesn't understand?

Does he include the Tandlemans, Zytophiles, Real Ale Girls and Reluctant Scoopers of this world in his childish rant? I name these few because I know they are CAMRA members and bloggers and they are all very eloquent at shouting about the good points of cask conditioned beer too, unlike Shirley it seems.
I'm NOT a member of CAMRA, I won't be as long as people like Shirley are in charge.
I'm not calling for CAMRA to change it's focus, I'm not calling for CAMRA to champion keg beer, I'm calling for CAMRA to elect a less small minded leadership and embrace the future because surely leadership like this is a thing of the past?
Call me bloggerati, call me adventurous, call me a wind-up merchant, just don't call me Shirley.

Can It Already!

2011-05-25T13:39:00.001+01:00

So have brewers stateside finally lost the plot? Is it a reaction to Goose Island being bought out and not exporting any more kegs this year ? That bit of news certainly sent me bonkers, but this is on a whole other level of crazy.

Plain old can or all-new super-dooper Nano Keg??

I noticed at the start of the week that craft brewery, Six Point, from Brooklyn in New Yoik is canning their beer 'Sweet Action' but instead of calling a can a can, a spade a spade and wot-not, they have called their cans 'Nano Kegs'. Crazy talk.
But hey, I can see what Six Point are doing, there is a sense of irony here that you don't usually get stateside and me being a right cynical bastard, kind of like it, as well as thinking it's tosh at the same time.
HOWEVER!

If Brewdog start calling cans Nano-Kegs, I think I'm going to hurt someone.

Beer and Football

2011-05-23T22:45:00.000+01:00

Well we did it, IT ONLY TOOK 9 YEARS! we all bellowed at the end of the penalty shoot out. I planned to do a sort of diary style thing for the day, keeping up with what I had imbibed but that idea fell over straight after leaving the house at 6.30am when I realised I'd left me note pad at home! Epic Fail, right there!
I did however, remember to pack some beer for the train up to Manchester! Epic Win, right there!

So about halfway into our journey(9am) I took out the first of our beers. A gift from Mark Dredge, it was a can of 21st Amendment's Back in Black, the beer that inspired Evin(O'Riordan, Kernel Brewery Owner) and I to do a Black IPA.
There's a couple of reasons why I like this beer. Firstly, before you even taste the beer the packaging in superb, great art work on the can and only 330mls to boot. Secondly of course, there's the beer itself, now although this can tasted just a wee bit sour, it was still really drinkable and I necked mine just fine.
Even if it was a little sour it still beat the slops Virgin trains were serving in a can.

Next up we had the third version of the Kernel Black IPA, just goes to show this beer and it's style are so popular that Evin keeps on having to produce it! God I fucking love this beer and I've found out that it's great for calming the nerves on the way to play-off finals!

Third up was another bottle of Black IPA from Kernel, only without a label as it was so new when Evin gave it to me that it hadn't reached labelling stage. The hops were different and forgive me but I can't remember which hops were used in this one, Summit and something else (Mt Hood?). Still a great beer and I'm looking forward to getting it in The Rake soon!

So with the decent beer finished it was time to get off the train and find a pub that was open at 10am! It was highly unlikely but we eventually stumbled upon the Old Devonshire for a couple before heading to the Marble Arch. I went for a pint of Kelham Island Best to start with, very good nick it was in too, I like Kelham Island, they brew good beer. When I went up for another pint, the Kelham Island was gone so I went for a Thwaites Original(I think), not quite on the same level as the Kelham Island but still a decent beer in good nick.

Then it was off to the Marble Arch pub to meet up with Tandleman for a couple of beers before he went off to his CAMRA meeting(Am I the only one imagining silly handshakes and stand up confessions?).
The Marble Arch has good points and bad points, there are more good points than bad but the really niggling point was the service. One of the main things that I had to sort out at The Rake was service, and it always will be, it's one of the things you can't take for granted, so when I get bad service, I try and give people a second chance but was informed that it was standard practice at the Marble Arch to keep their backs to the customers. It's a pity because in my two experiences of the Marble Arch are ones that speak volumes about the quality of the brewery and the beer it produces.
Then it was time to get to Eastlands.

I can't remember if I drank anything at the actual stadium (maybe a lager, definitley a coke), I think I was concentrating too much on the game at the time to remember little things like pints of beer!
So we won on penalties, got promoted to the league and off we went to find a pub in Manchester to celebrate in. We spotted Mr Thomas Chop House, which has a good reputation for beer and food. So off we trotted towards that. By the time we got there, I was so thirsty only apples would do and so I opted for a pint of some refreshing fizzy cider and out into the beer garden we went. Pint of something else I don't remember afterwards(what? you want me to remember everything??) and it was time to find alcoholic supplies for the trip home.
Champagne and G&T's all round then! And I was nicely blotto by the time we got back to Euston 45-odd minutes later due to some incident or other(probably due to the fact that the police had de-classified the whole train, so even if you booked a first class ticket, you we're fucked if someone was sitting in your seat). It didn't ruin my day though, we got into the league and justice is almost done. Now if only Milton Keynes had been destroyed in our Rapture!

Beer and Football Plan

2011-05-19T07:31:00.000+01:00

Morning all,

I'm off to Manchester on Saturday morning for the Blue Square Premier Play-off final between AFC Wimbledon and Luton Town. I'm going to try and keep a diary of events / beer consumed on the day. Let's see if Eastlands is better than Kingsmeadow for beer!

I trust all of you that like football will be following Wimbledon on the day, I'll try and post it Sunday morning before I start celebrating my wedding anniversary.
Watch this space!

Come on the Dons!

The Tramp Juice Trio

2011-05-18T01:00:00.000+01:00

Been wanting to do this since we launched Brewdog's Avery, Brown, Dredge at The Rake. I'm going to be comparing the ABD with Tennants Super and Carslberg Special Brew!
The things I do to my liver.
I spot the blurb on the side of the can of Special Brew 'best shared well chilled' - Shared? When was the last time you saw a tramp sharing a can of Spesh? I can just see it now, one tramp pours into another tramps fluted tasting glass, tramp 2 swills it around, takes a sniff, and sips it back gently, savouring every intricate flavour profile in the glass! The substitution of the word served with shared is just cynical marketing bullshit, not fooling anyone methinks!

Avery celebrates buying Beer Ritz.

It must be noted that I'm not the first person to write about these beers, on Ratebeer both the Spesh and the Super T of these beers have over a hundred ratings even with someone rating the Spesh 3.1! Wtf!!!
We're going to start with the Brewdog because I'm fairly certain that my tastebuds may never recover from the shock of the trampagne!
Named after the three bigwigs that brewed this monster, Avery, Brown, Dredge is a 7.5% 'Imperious Pilsner' which is an homage to everything that inspires these three flowery wordsmiths!
On the nose there's caramel, slightly floral but hard to pin down, maybe rose? The look is a slightly darker than most lagers as you might expect for an 'Imperious' style.

Dredge working, we think he might have broken a nail,
if you find it in your bottle you win a prize!

Now when we launched it at The Rake I felt it was slightly too sweet and I have to say, for me it still is although there's a lovely boozy after-glow going on in the throat after you swallow.
Not sure about the guff on the bottle though - aren't these guys supposed to be writers? If you like strong pilsners you'll love this stuff - I'm dubbing it Special Brew(Dog).
Which brings us nicely onto the next beer in this little tramp juice trio is Carlsberg's Special Brew....
For this part I go and get a bucket, I may vomit, I was thinking about videoing this post but I don't think you lot want to see me chunder!

We knew that Brown would get sick of IPA's
one day.

Well, it's 9% abv and pours clear, same colour as the ABD, on the nose there's a bit of sulphur, this stuff is going to hurt me but at least I didn't need a bottle opener to get it open, hehe. Nowhere near any of the subtle aromas that the ABD has, getting scared. It's sickly sweet, all malt and no hops to speak of and I can feel my mouth being stripped away layer by layer with every sip. Foul. Nothing nice here, I have no idea how the tramps drink this stuff and it's time to move on to the final can of the evening, Tennent's Super.
This is such fine stuff that Tennent's advise that you serve it 'ice cold', probably to take away any taste you might be unfortunate enough to experience. Now before we start there's something I have to just have a chuckle at....'Please drink responsibly' on the can! Nice to see the people at Tennent's doing such stirling work with their customer profiling! For all you pedants out there yes I know it's a legal requirement but is anyone naive enough to believe this will ever happen?
To the notes! Same as the Special Brew on colour and aroma, sickly, eggy sulphur (same stuff in a blue can, anyone?). Bit sweeter than the SB and there's more booze on the mouth feel, I'm about to be arrested for crimes against tastebuds so I'll leave it there. Go for the Special Brew(Dog) folks, it's craft, innit!

Fear

2011-05-15T18:27:00.000+01:00

It's an odd thing, I was complaining in my last post that I hadn't written anything in a while due to being too busy to get any inspiration. Luckily I just read another post that riled me enough to get the creative juices flowing again!

maaaaaaaahhhhh

Apparently the old guard haven't died off yet. Apparently if it's new it must be shit. Apparently if you think smoking in pubs is a bad thing then there must be something wrong with you.
To be honest I'm so sick of these 'in my day' spouting old gits that I may have to just punch myself in the face over and over until they go away.
Let's be clear for a second, change is not always a bad thing, change can sometimes be an incredibly good thing. Just because you can't smoke in a pub anymore doesn't mean the atmosphere has been lost. Just because you can't drink and drive anymore doesn't mean the governments are being asshole killjoys(even if they are most of the time).
Seriously! What is the resistance to change that rears it's butt-ugly head every time something someone doesn't like happens. Pubs close every day, and they also open every day too, personally I think the resistance is all about fear, fear that maybe people think they're going to be left behind, fear that they might be right. Fear of the unknown.
It's a shame really because some of the beers on offer in these shit new pubs and bars are really quite exceptional. Wake up crumblies!
*Punches self in face repeatedly*

Have a read.

2011-05-12T20:06:00.000+01:00

All's been very quiet on the beery blog front recently, as some of you will be aware I've been busy(beer festivals to plan, holidays to take) and I try not to blog about work on here*.
This has meant that I've not had a hell of a lot to bang on about recently as you've probably noticed.
What I have been doing though is a lot of reading as there has been a lot of great blogs being written recently.
Here are a few of them...

Reluctant Scooper : What I did on my Holidays I just love his writing. Top bloke too!

Cooking Lager : Choice Cookies Back with a bang!

Tombstoned Paladin : Negativity and Not Much Else Great first post from one of my staff. Puts me to shame.

Ghost Drinker : Story Telling - Continue!

The Beer Monkey : Should CAMRA Promote All 'Craft' Beer? Good healthy debate? In the beer world?

Tandleman : Some Bottle - Clearly Peter knows what he's talking about! ;-)

Hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I did! It proves that there are great people writing great stuff#.

*too often
#I'm just not one of them.

Beer is Fun 2!

2011-05-07T15:01:00.000+01:00

You've probably all seen this as it's had over 18,000 hits on YouTube and that's about the whole of the worlds craft brewing community but I wanted to share it on here anyway.
Why do some people take their beer far too seriously?

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This is work of evil genius, love it.

FUCKING CORN!!!

Beer is Fun!

2011-05-07T11:35:00.002+01:00

Some cheeky bastard (actually a top bloke) just posted this one Facebook saying he thought of me when he saw it. So I thought I'd share it with you!
It's actually a musical celebration of the wonder of beer, written by comedy duo ElbowSkin for The Crafty Pint in honour of Australia's first ever Good Beer Week.

Beer Song by ElbowSkin from Alister Robbie on Vimeo.

Fucking love it!

Let Me Ask You a Question.

2011-04-30T22:38:00.000+01:00

I apparently now have over 100 followers on this blog, and whilst I love that fact, I rarely get any real insight into you lot. So I'd like to ask you a simple question....

What is your favourite beer and why? It could be for any reason, any time, any place, the perfect beer moment, I'd love to hear from you...

Let me get the ball rolling and say probably my perfect beer moment was the first beer after I helped brew the Motley Brew with the Otley guys a couple of years ago. The beer was Otley O1 and it was the biggest thirst quencher I have ever had after a really hard days graft, it was in the great surroundings of the Bunch of Grapes pub in Pontypridd. No better pint have I had, ever.

Looking forward to some good stories folks!

In My Manor : Take 2

2011-04-20T09:02:00.000+01:00

Chilled music greet me as I wander into the Manor Arms in Streatham, the newly refurbed pub is open and I'm after a cold beer on a hot day!

There's no-one else in the pub but then it is only 12.30pm, perfection for me anyway, I like having the place to myself!
The barman was busy cleaning when I walked up to the bar and the snapping closed of my sunnies are all he needs to alert him to my presence(told ya it was quiet).
I ordered an Anchor Liberty, I knew this would become my go-to drink whenever I come in here, it reminds me of being back in San Francisco, especially with weather like this! It's the most consistent of the Anchor range and it's damn fine beer!

The garden patio is decked out with lots of antique cream furniture which is more comfortable than it looks! I imagine when we get lots of hot, steamy evening, this patio will be one of the busiest places in Streatham and quite right too, there are some houses just across the road though, so not sure what time it'll have to close in the evenings.
With the smell of the very nice food being prepped in the large open kitchen, this place is really inviting and I for one will definately be back. Love it.

Others Like Me

2011-04-19T13:24:00.001+01:00

I have only known you for a couple of years but in that time I have grown to enjoy your company, appreciate your sense of humour, your beery palate and I'm not the only one. Others like me feel the same.
So it gives me no pleasure whatsoever to take you to one side and talk to you, it's not a conversation I ever want to have again either but others like me feel the same.
I love that you love craft beers and craft beer bars, I like the fact that you always have nice things to say about the staff and that you have a passion for craft beers, the same as I have. Others like me feel the same.
I want you to look in the mirror, I want you to like what you see, we do, you see others like me feel the same.
I want you to take a week off the booze, I want you to get your head straight. Others like me feel the same.
I know you have a lot to give, I know you don't feel it right now, I want that second statement to change. Others like me feel the same.
I want you to get a job you like, I want you to enjoy your life, I want you to wake up in the morning and not have to apologise to everyone you might have seen the previous evening. Others like me feel the same.
Like I said, it's a conversation I never want to have again but if you need to talk then I'm here for you, as are the others like me who feel the same.

FABPOW!

2011-04-18T20:54:00.000+01:00

I hate that I have resorted to desperate FABPOW's for this blog. I've been trying to write something a lot more hard hitting but this'll have to do so here it is....

Pork Kebabs w/Home made BBQ sauce and Home Made Coleslaw (Beer Kernel Black IPA, 1st edition).

The Pork kebabs were bought from Sainsburys (4 in a box) get 2 boxes for £5. They came with a horrible looking BBQ sauce that I wasn't ever going to use so I decided to make my own.

left, home made BBQ, right, nasty sainsburys rubbish

The BBQ Sauce was made with Ketchup, Reggae Reggae Sauce, Olive Oil with Cajun, BBQ and Jamaican Jerk spices.

I cooked the pork as per the instructions, 25 mins at 190, after 20 mins I put my BBQ sauce on.

My home made coleslaw is made from grated apple & carrot, chopped up celery and spring onion and mayonnaise.

The Beer? Kernel Black IPA of course, you all know about it and you all know about my new passion for IPA's with spicy food!

This was tasty, a true FABPOW! (I hate myself for using this phrase).

Now maybe I can get on with actually writing something people will want to read!

Beer, More than just a Christmas Drink!

2011-04-09T21:20:00.000+01:00

A beer is not just for Christmas

Ok so it is really, you drink a beer and it's gone. Seriously though, if you feel like you've had enough, don't drink any more. Don't buy another pint and waste it like the couple that had this beer did. It's wasteful.

That beer could have gone to a good home.

That beer could have gone to someone that loved it.

Certainly don't leave it in the middle of Borough Market on it's lonesome!

Look how lonely it is!

Brings a tear to the eye.

10 Things I Love About Beer

2011-04-03T16:45:00.002+01:00

I want one of these for my collection

1) That I sell great beer.

2) Great beer is on the increase.

3) There is a growing 'craft beer' community in London.

4) There are so many different styles of beer.

5) I regularly get to help brew great beer.

6) Anyone can make beer.

7) I get to write about beer through this 'noisesome' blog.

8) It's only made from 4 ingredients.

9) One of the ingredients is Hops.

10) I have made lifelong friends because of beer.

Pic by another mate, Sid Boggle.

What do you love about Beer?

10 Things I Hate About Beer!

2011-04-03T16:44:00.001+01:00

1) It's not free.

2) It's ticked.

3) Too many restaurants are still matching wine NOT beer with their menus.

4) It spawns 'noisesome' drivel like this.

5) There are such things as 'beer snobs'

6) I am a 'beer snob'

7) It gives you a hangover if you drink too much.

8) There are still arguments over methods of dispense.

9) I still partake in said arguments over method of dispense.

10) It's given me a beer belly and I'm too lazy to get rid of it.

This is NOT me....Yet.

What do you hate about beer?

My name is Glyn

2011-04-01T10:00:00.000+01:00

Well, that's it folks, I've just resigned. For the last couple of years I've been have a great time, apparently too much of a great time. In recent weeks I have been increasingly aware that I am drinking far too heavily and it has to stop. I am an alcoholic and my last drink (I hope) was at 10pm last night.

It's all well and good drinking all this great 'craft' beer but frankly it's just another alcoholic drink that has helped cause all my problems.

I have just handed over the keys to The Rake to Rich who has been very understanding about the whole thing and has given me sick leave effective immeadiately.

Thanks for reading the blog over the last 18 months, obviously without beer in my life anymore there will be no more Rabid About Beer. My name is Glyn, wish me luck.

The C-Word

2011-03-30T20:48:00.000+01:00

No, I'm not being rude again. When I did a run down on last year and a wants list for this year I picked collaboration as one of the things that I wanted to do more of.

So far I've done lots of it and it's all quite exciting really. From holding events and launches at The Rake that other people have made together to going and brewing with various breweries and making friends along the way.
So? I hear you ask. What the heck do I care if you've been whoring yourself out to breweries?
Well you should. So there.
Collaboration is the buzz of 2011 just as 2010 was all about Black IPA's.
Why is it buzzing though?
Could the answer be as simple as together we are stronger? I think it just might be you know. After all, the old way was to either slag competitors off or just mostly ignore their presence and hope that you were doing enough to keep your customers coming back.
Here's a few recent examples of successful nights(certainly in The Rake) :
1) M&M Porter Launch - Melissa Cole and 'Markstar' Tranter of Dark Star do a four pub crawl, comprising of The Rake, Cask Pub and Kitchen, The Euston Tap and The White Horse.
2) Motley Brew Launch - as I'm sure you're aware by now I've been down to Pontypridd to brew with the Otley boys a few times now and when we launched the first one, one Monday night, we started something that has become a big of a monster.
3) Otley again - this time Adrian Tierney-Jones Saison Obscura is launched with another crawl. This time between beery meccas The White Horse, Cask, The Rake and The Southampton Arms in Euston.
There are two launches at The Rake in the next six days both results of collaboration. Firstly the Brewdog Avery, Brown, Dredge Imperial Pilsner gets simultaneously launched at North Bar in Leeds, The Jolly Butchers in Stoke Newington and at The Rake. Then on Monday the ladies get involved with the Venus Jade launch which is getting a lot of twitter chat at the moment.

4) Did I even forget to mention the London Brewers Alliance, I did didn't I! Brewers from breweries as big as Fullers to as small as Kernel all working together and doing amazing work in the process!
Is it just about the launches and the breweries though? Nope, there have been examples of sharing things like coupler heads between us beery types, people are more and more willing to help each other with things like this. Partly because we all drink in each others establishments (when time allows) and we all know each other. London is becoming the new San Francisco and that's exciting, in fact, I will go so far as to say IT ROCKS!

It's great to be part of the scene as London becomes one of the most exciting beer cities in the world and remember...Together we are stronger.

GREAT NEWS!

2011-03-26T12:55:00.000Z

A few days ago now, the news filtered through that Beer Ritz had been re-opened!

TOP STUFF!!

This is what you were missing!

I don't know the details about what happened but I love posting stuff like this, it's great news for Zak and his team and also for the people of Leeds who once again have a shop to buy great beer from!

Congratulations to Zak and everyone involved in Beer Ritz!

In My Manor

2011-03-17T20:53:00.000Z

So, in the year we've been living in Streatham, I've been looking fore somewhere to have some decent beer. Finally I think I have found somewhere! Result!
The Manor Arms
In it's previous incarnation it was a pub I wouldn't have walked into in a million years but it's been purchased by Pubco Who Cares Wins Ltd and they've spent about 300 grand on the refurb and I have to say they have done a really nice job. It's a tied lease, who its tied to is not overly apparent but it's gone from shit-hole boozer to wannabe gastro-pub and even that step is welcome in the barren beer wastelands of Streatham.
They have incorporated an open kitchen into the pub which I like when it's done properly. Usually the open kitchen is a side thought, that always looks like it's been added on afterwards and is usually way too small to be productive.

Anyway, I've been in once and looking at the hand pulls I was disheartened almost immediately, there's a choice of Adnams Broadside, Sambrooks Wandle, Sharps Doombar and Purity Gold, not exactly stand out exciting stuff.
The Keg beer is unfortunately the usual suspects Guinness, Heineken, Amstel, Birra Moretti, Hogans Cider although the website say there are more available, hard to see where they might go unless they are planning to rotate them like I do, incidentally the prices are incorrect on the website.
There is still a depressing leaning towards wine with the printed lists in the bar, you get the range of bottled and draught beers(under which the cider comes) but the wine list is enormous in comparison.
All about the beer now boys and girls!

Service? Well when I went in it was about 5pm and there was one member of bar staff behind the bar and it has to be said that she was very welcoming, chatty and nice. With the draught line up being er...uninspiring I went for one of the American bottles in the fridge. Liberty Ale from Anchor, nice, a good beer and I feel this might become my go-to on visits there. They also had Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Duvel, Brooklyn Lager and more, so plenty to play with when I go in!
When I did order though, it took them a few minutes to find a bottle opener, as in 5-odd minutes! Really folks that's a basic. When they finally located on it was a bar blade, glad I wasn't ordering wine then!

Food? Didn't try it this time, I knew there was home cooked Lasagne waiting for me at home. Menu looks appetising though and I'll definitely be going in to eat sooner or later.

So, not wanting to slag off a new pub in Streatham with semi decent beer and nice staff I'm going to leave it there! As someone with a lot of experience with these styles of pubs though, I want to take them under my wing and say 'you're doing a great job, now if you did this you'd be perfect'. Little things is all it's going to take, change a handpull to a guest and get something 'ground breaking' or rotate a guest pump, anything interesting really. Those beers are literally all over London and certainly all over Streatham, I want to see something different.
Still, I'm trying to reserve judgement until next time.

Sad News

2011-03-15T08:17:00.001Z

I've just woken up to the sad news that the Beer Ritz shop in Leeds has ceased trading.
I never got the opportunity to visit the shop myself but I know plenty of people that have and I know a shop just like it and it was one of these places that you could probably stare at the shelves for hours trying to decide which great beers you wanted to buy.

There are a couple of reasons I wanted to post about this.

Firstly there's the human element, Both Zak and Ghost Drinker have their blogs, they have both visited The Rake at various times and although I missed Ghostie when he came in I consider him and Zak 'mates'. The world of craft beer is very small you see and this news almost comes like the news of a death in the family.
I wish every one involved in Beer Ritz all the best for the future, having worked in a pub years ago that closed down, I know how gutted they will all be. I really hope this current cloud over the British beer scene has its own silver lining.

Secondly if the 'beer world' or 'craft beer scene' is to turn into a proper 'craft beer revolution' then these British Isles need places like Beer Ritz and Utobeer and other places like them to thrive and it's tragic that we seem to have lost another venue that was close to so many peoples hearts.

Good luck and best wishes.

We're all in this together, Really?

2011-03-10T21:57:00.000Z

Good posts from Pete Brown and Tandleman have engaged the cynic in me.
You know me dear reader, never one to tow the line, I feel the need to vent on this issue. As far as the airy fairy we should all work together notion goes I agree with it, however, big drinks companies are not ever going to do this, they are purely driven by profit not passion. I accept the argument that every brewery is looking for profit otherwise they would cease to trade and beer would die but some companies need castrating at the board level it seems.
Secondly as far as the CAMRA bashing that Tandleman comments on quite often is concerned, if some CAMRA members actually looked in the mirror before leaving the house it might not be such a huge issue for you. Cheap shot and I'm sorry.
However!
Thirdly I'll just state an actual occurrence at The Rake during our Welsh Beer Festival last week.....

Customer : that Tomos Watkins Lager, do you know if it happens to be filtered and pasteurised? - (At this point I hope you're all thinking that this guy means 'is it real ale?')
Me: Not being an expert on every single beer that comes through the doors here, I'm gonna guess yes, although I may be wrong.
Customer : So it's not 'real' then? (I shit you not fearless reader, those words were spoken). Now I'm sorry for this because I have lots of time for CAMRA members, tickers, scoopers, beer hounds call them what you like but after a long week this question just wound me up and I answered.
'Well it's not a figment of my fucking imagination is it?'

This sort of question is exactly why Kevin and co are seen as extremophiles and why they will always be more of a cause of factionalism than a voice for good beer!

Why? because they care, sometimes too much? It's a good thing and a bad thing, it's a good thing because they are on the front lines of the fight for good beer and they want people to drink it.
It has it's bad points too because they are cutting themselves off from some of the best beer in the industry.

I don't want to turn this into an anti CAMRA rant though. This isn't about one organisation. This is about the whole industry.

It's a very polarised industry and it always will be, this has it's ups and it's downs too. The upside is that the amount of people that are appreciating craft beer is increasing, is this because the amount of great beer available is increasing? Yes, and it's awesome! There's more access than ever before to micro brewery beers and the more available the more people will enjoy them. CAMRA's newly crowned pub of the year is an excellent example of this, there are traditional beers alongside more contemporary ones, all of them kept extremely well.
Cellarman/womanship is a massive deal too, what's the point of getting great beer in if you can't keep it correctly?
But as I said before it's a very polarised industry, driven by a polarised public. As much as we as craft beer appreciators are shouting about great beer, there are the nay-sayers. There ARE still customers out there that drink alcohol to get pissed. I came across this just last week at the BrewDog dinner at the Dean Swift and I mentioned it in the blog.
Thankfully though, the amount of people who want to enjoy the beer in front of them seems on the surface to be increasing and people like Pete, Tandleman, Cooking Lager, Melissa and the rest of the high-brow beer writer folks are helping that with their various books, blogs etc.....
People like me will just have to keep getting incensed and driven on by the ignorance, we need to be strong, hold true to our values and shout about the beer that can unite people of all 'factions' and educate the public one person at a time if necessary.
I said at the top of this piece that Pete and Tandleman had engaged my inner-cynic, and they had, but after saying my piece(sense or nonsense) I feel hope again.
There is a lot of ground to make up but there are a lot of good, nay great, people out there who work hard every day to bring the best beer to the paying public.
I raise a glass of Kernel Black IPA to each and every one of you, keep it up, we'll all be fine.

Now all we need is for the government to stop hiking the duty on beer and give our national drink and the people that produce and serve it a chance to thrive!

Thanks!

2011-03-05T09:21:00.000Z

Usually I would leave a work based blog on The Rake's page but I feel like I need to be a bit more personal than that today.

I need to say a few words of thanks to some very cool people so forgive me if this starts sounding like an awards ceremony speech, it kinda feels like one.

This week as you probably know, The Rake has been running it's Welsh Beer Festival, a concept that my boss, Richard Dinwoodie and I came up with about two and a half years ago initially to annoy my other boss, Mike Hill. Just a bit of fun. Now we're on the third year of this one now and London shows no signs of letting up in it's thirst for Welsh beer! I started the first year by ordering 22 firkins(9 gallon casks if you didn't know), 25 the second year and 35 this year. By the close of play today I expect that we will have sold 40 firkins in one week! Some of them not Welsh, as we will have run out of the Welsh stuff! Not bad for a bar the size of an office in-tray.
This is down to a few hard working people that I'd like to thank now...
Nick Otley and his team for their support in getting the beers to London, this monster keeps getting bigger and it would be much more difficult without their help.
The Welsh brewers, for their time and their 'craft'.
My bosses Mike and Rich, for their continued patience and understanding about the way I'm trying to run their bar!
MY STAFF! These guys are awesome, they are some of the coolest people I know and they have worked their arses off this week, I hope they are as proud of themselves as I am of them!
The Punters, without you lot, frankly, what's the point? you seem to enjoy the beers we get in, so much so that we'll be doing a 4th one next year! so keep up the hard work necking those beers!

I don't want to bore you lot but I really felt like I had to get this off my chest. Thanks.

The Harp, Finally!

2011-03-03T19:45:00.000Z

I have been remiss, I was meaning to do a write up of The Harp in Chandos Place. Now aside from the fact I've not really had the time, I'm really only writing this today to shut Professor Pie Tin up! Seriously though here it is.

This place is lovely, it's small, downstairs and upstairs. It really doesn't matter though it's got bags of charm and more to spare!

The staff are great, Binny and Sarah run a very tight ship and if you can't cut the mustard you won't be there very long. They see everybody that's waiting and they let you know you'll be served. It's a basic of customer service but I'm always blown away by how much it means when it actually happens. Just one of the reasons I think, why it got CAMRA's overall pub of the year.

The beers are all in top notch condition and there's both recognisable and the totally unknown on the nine hand pumps.

On this visit I chose to stick with the Dark Star, for me it does pale thirst-quenching beers very well and that's exactly what I was looking for yesterday, I'd been walking for hours and just wanted a place to sit down with a pint, so when we wandered into this bustling busy little boozer and saw a free table with a couple of chairs it was one of the most welcome sights I have ever seen.

We had one drink before Mrs Rabidbarfly had to go to a meeting. Having been on the Hophead I opted for another and went back to my seat. I had another couple of beers including the new Hophead Citra which whilst it was in good condition was not a patch on the original Hophead, there's a saying about not fixing unbroken things that springs to mind.

The bar was busy and the ambient noise was kind of soothing, it gave a feeling that all was right with the world, if you closed your eyes you could have been in one of those documentaries about pubs and life in the early part of the last century where there's added background noise with sepia pictures of people in suits and hats all smiling, holding pints and having a great time. You know that if those images and that busy murmur were to ever disappear you'd be losing part of your heritage and a tragedy would have occurred. I do wonder what took CAMRA so long to give a London venue pub of the year when there are lots of places like this around, any thoughts?

Dean Swift : BrewDog IPA is Dead Dinner.

2011-03-03T15:12:00.000Z

So, after spending the afternoon in The Harp(blog to follow, I promise!) I went off to the Dean Swift Local Beer House. After turning up too early I went to a couple of other bars to wait around and I have to say the Dean Swift is by far the best pub in the vicinity!

When I did finally get in, I went to the bar and got myself a pint of Dark Star Espresso, one of my current favourites, found my table and my table mates and waited for the usual BrewDog carnage to unfold....

What I got instead was a six course meal matched with some superbly tasty beers, here's how they came out and my impressions of the matchings...

Course One. Punk IPA (canned) with Seared Scallops and Cauliflower Veloute and a Madras Dressing.
Well, by the time the food got to me it was a tad to cold, it was still very tasty and the madras dressing went very nicely with the aromatic hops of the Punk IPA, a very nicely balanced starter to the evening.
BALANCED? BREWDOG?

Course Two. IPA is Dead (Citra) with Chicken & Wild Boar Roulade with an Apple, Pistachio & Marsala Wine Jus.
Citra is a 'new world' hop from Washington State that has recently become the 'hop de jour' and frankly the way some brewers have used it has been a little bit...shall we say uninspiring? Well, at BrewDog they're not like that, every beer has to be a poke in the eye, every beer has to stand up and shout and they generally do!
At a recent IPA is Dead tasting at the Euston Tap bar, the Citra was I think the last of the beers to be tried and it suffered because of that(on my over-indulged taste buds anyway). This time round it's the first of the series to be tried and as it's the subtlest of the four it gets somewhat overpowered by the food pairing which was quite spicy. The beer was still in top notch form and the food was excellent, I'm just not sure the two went together.

Course Three. IPA is Dead (Bramling Cross) with Braised Wild English Rabbit & Caramelised Pear.
This is my second favourite of the four beer series. There was a fifteen or so minute wait so Tom 'the cad' Cadden otherwise known as 'Magic Dog' trawled out a couple of BrewDog stories for the crowd. Now BrewDog aficionados will know these stories from tastings and meet the brewer events around the world no doubt, but they still make me chuckle, especially the 'I'm not Fucking Mother Teresa' one which went down well with the crowd last night.
The food came out pretty much bang on the ending on the story, it looked gooood, it tasted great. I've never had Rabbit before and this was a great if not bony introduction to Bugs Bunny stew! A bit about the beer...well I would describe it like a beery equivalent to Neapolitan ice cream, there's chocolate and strawberry there with hints of blackberry and pepper.
The pairing was superb, makes me want to go kill a wabbit!

Course Four. IPA is Dead (Nelson Sauvin) with Spicy Lamb Tagine.
I remember thinking, this is going to be a cracking pairing. I wasn't wrong. This is big, spicy food with Harissa added, paired with big IPA full of gooseberry and grapefruit. This was the FABPOW of the evening and I'm in the corner as an official hater of that phrase. I'm just a sucker for spicy food and IPA's I guess. However! If it had been Hardcore IPA it would have been AWESOME!

Course Five. IPA is Dead (Sorachi Ace) with Kaffir Lime & Lemongrass Panna cotta and Ginger & Lemongrass Green Tea Jelly.
This, theoretically should be a great pairing. It was the brainchild of Max, manager of the Dean Swift and he knows his stuff. At this point I've got a bit of a moaner at the table and he's not getting the whole beer and food matching thing. The words 'I only drink beer or wine to get pissed' Save me.
The beer did thankfully. The Sorachi Ace hop is one of the most complex and interesting in the world, in some ways it's the Marmite of the beer world, people seem to either love it or hate it. I love it.
This single hopped IPA paired with the Lime and Lemongrass Panna cotta was superb, the Jelly, not so much, I just got nothing off it!

Course Six. Hardcore IPA with Neals Yard Dairy British Cheeses and Oat Crackers.
One was a nice big blue cheese and the other was nice strong cheddar, paired with Hardcore IPA it was good, personally I think it would have worked much better with Chaos Theory! Hear me BrewDog. Hear me!

So that was it, a good night, lots of excellent food and lots of excellent beer. I'd like to thank Max and his team at the Dean Swift and Tom and everyone at BrewDog for organising this event, I had a great time.
Now, I promised to do a write-up on the Harp...

Hear me BrewDog, Hear me....

Just for good measure though, I'll add this photo of Chaos Theory!

Tuesday - The Harp.

2011-02-21T13:04:00.000Z

I'm sure you'll all be pleased to know that I'm going to CAMRA's newly crowned Pub of the Year tomorrow. If you fancy it I'm meeting Sid Boggle in there at lunch time for a couple(if I can elbow my way through the beardies of course) ;-)

And No I will not be asking for a pint of Harp.

An Upset on an FA Cup day.

2011-02-20T12:39:00.000Z

A tweet yesterday informed us that massive drinks company had launched a formal objection about the branding of the Lovibonds 69 IPA.
Apparently Diageo think that Joe public might get it confused with one of their scotch whiskys called VAT 69.

The awesome beer.

The Offending Whisky

Clearly I, as Joe public am confused by these labels, after all one says whisky and another says it's IPA.

The tweet in question was a welcome one. Apparently Diageo filed formal opposition a day too late so it was therefore INVALID!

Ha! You'd have thought their legal teams would have known a bit better than that! Maybe their legal team are fans of the beer!

As the manager of the bar that the 69 IPA launch was at last year, I know I'm not the only person who thinks it's a superb beer with superb branding and that the branding is nothing like the VAT 69.

Round of applause anyone? I think so. Congrats to Jeff, Jason and everyone at Lovibonds, long may the 69 IPA continue.