Travels With Nate

Alright, I know, I'm starting to look like I'm sponsored by Harviestoun... I'm not, for the record but luckily they seem to like me and send me beers to try which is awesome! Yeah, I'm a massive Harviestoun fanboy but when I first read about their whisky barrel aged lager Orach Slie I wasn't convinced. I'd never had a BA lager before. I'd read about them but I've always thought the idea was a bit odd and gimmicky and didn't understand how it would work so I avoided them. Maybe out of fear. I don't know. Anyway, last night I got home to find 3 bottles of Orach Sile waiting for me and couldn't wait to crack one open. Can Harviestoun change my opinion of spirit barrel aged lagers? This is what Harviestoun say about the beer: "Our brewers specially selected a high abv (6%), lightly-hopped version of our craft lager, Schiehallion, to complement the classic, honeyed-sherry notes of Glenfarclas single malt whisky." So what do

Alright people, I’ve been slack lately and haven’t been providing you with general updates regarding the goals I set for myself in 2014. I had a bad period about a month ago when I fell off the wagon again. I was back to drinking every night of the week, and not just having a couple. I was drinking so much that I was drunk basically every night because I was fucking miserable but I soon kicked that after a couple of weeks and from there on out I was back to having a couple of nights off a week even though I had the money to drink. I mean, last week for instance, I didn’t drink from Tuesday until Friday night (and even then it was wine not beer) and this week I think I’m going to go through until the Oakham Ales Tap Takeover on Thursday without drinking too. I know that from hereon out, I can definitely stick to not drinking midweek unless there’s actually something going on, or if I’m reviewing a couple of beers. I’ve also set myself the target of actually reviewing a

A while ago on twitter I was shouting for guest reviews of terrible beverages and the first to shout was my buddy Matt Smail who decided to review a drink from his youth - MD (or MAD DOG) 20/20. I've not had the pleasure of imbibing this particular beverage as my teenage years were all about Frosty Jack's, so I was certainly interested in what he has to say! I think we both forgot about it for a while then last night I was listening to the new Freddie Gibbs & Madlib album and during the track "Knicks" he mentions MAD DOG 20/20 which reminded me to tweet Matt about his review. Anyway, what are his thoughts? "It’s been a reflective evening for me. The day was a haze of conference calls crammed between meetings at opposite ends of Yorkshire and then as soon as I arrived home, I was straight back out again to shop for this weekends festivities, which happen to centre around my 31st birthday! Just as I walked out of my local ASDA, weighed down with a ton of s

Something has happened over the last couple of months, and it’s rather odd. I’ve increasingly been drinking less and less compared to last year. What started off as a health kick has become normality and this makes me happy. I no longer have the desire to drink to the levels I did as it got boring.   It’s not just the drinking of it I’m bored of, though. Now don’t get me wrong, I love beer so it’s not like I’m about to quit drinking it. I just feel that I need to take a step back from this beer blogging thing as the concept of beer and talking about it is getting boring. The reason it’s getting boring is because I’m sick of only ever talking about beer with 80% of the people I know, and the other 20% I’m assuming refuse to talk to me because 90% of what I talk about is beer. That or they think I’m a dick, which is also correct.* I think it’s a sad state of affairs when you get so deeply into something that it’s constantly in your mind. Even when you’re not participa

Most of us do it occasionally, but some of us are addicted. We just can't stop ourselves. We get it out when we're at home, in pubs and wherever else. This is not a blog about wanking. Well, it's about Craft Wanking. Yes, I'm talking about Untappd, the social network for beer. Basically, it's an app that allows us to log and share what we're drinking with our friends. You even get badges which are like achievements, for various things, like "Drink 10 American beers" or "Drink in 5 different bars in a night". I first downloaded it in May 2012 and didn't use it much. The first ever beer I checked in was Beck's Vier, quite hilariously. I used it a few times after and didn't really see the point, but then in August 2012 on a drunken night out I convinced Alec to download it and it went downhill from there. From that point on, I started checking into every beer I had. Even ones I'd had before, and managed to rack up 114

Well oh dear, it looks like the argument of requiring a definition of ‘craft beer’ is back in full force. To be honest, I’m not going to argue about why it is/isn’t a good/bad idea. It’s boring to be honest. Just let ‘em get on with it. My focus is on the word ‘craft’ when attached to beer. See, I like beers from many breweries who call themselves ‘craft’ but it can get too much. You see, it’s one thing to say “We are brewing great craft beer” and another to be rubbing the fact that you are most definitely a craft brewery and nobody can say otherwise in my face. The latter, to me, is a massive turn off. Recently, Bateman’s Brewery has gone through a dramatic rebrand in line with the current ‘craft beer’ market trends. They’ve swapped their comfortable and traditional style ‘Good Honest Ales’ branding which gives you the image of sitting by the fire in a nice village pub, on a cold winter’s evening with what I believe to be a complete mess. Batemans old logo This reb

HOLY SHITBALLS, I've been writing this blog for TWO YEARS now. YES, two whole years. How have I done it? Well out of pure skill of course because I am ridiculously awesome. What have I learnt in the last two years? I don't write about food enough even though I keep promising I will. I'm still more awesome than you. Since February 2014 I've started to look really damn fine. Beer is still awesome. I'm even more picky when it comes to glassware. I'm really good at playing the air guitar. I'm really hungry right now. I'm currently stone cold sober, but instead in a state of "FUCK YEAH!" Thank you all for reading over the last couple of years. I hope you continue to read my blog (actually, I know you will as you've got nothing better to do except get drunk and you can do both at the same time). FUCK YEAH! Nate

I am a member of a Facebook group called CAMRA. Y'know, the Campaign for Real Ale? It's not an official group but a lot of the people who use it are official CAMRA types. Well, stereotypes anyway. See, some people are alright and they'll post photos of bottled beers which you'd expect in beer groups but then there's the rest of them. "Bottled beer? Why are you not in your local pub?"  they cry. Alright, we all love the pub and we know that pubs are closing every day but it shouldn't be a a problem that we drink at home too as it's supporting the industry all the same. See, CAMRA was never meant to be about pubs. It was meant to be about the beer. It's great that they're helping the fight in protecting out pubs but the issue is that a lot of members are missing the point. The point isn't that we're not drinking in pubs because I can assure you that we are. The point is that we're supporting the beer industry, and we're

Recently British pub chain JD Wetherspoons have been inviting an American brewery over to the UK every month to brew one of their beers at a British brewery, to be sold exclusively within the chain. Well Sixpoint Brewery from Brooklyn in New York have visited Adnams a couple of times now to brew Bengali Tiger IPA & Righteous Ale, both of which were delicious. Last week we got some brilliant news... Wetherspoons are going to import cans of 3 Sixpoint beers to be sold exclusively within their pubs, starting from Wednesday 5th of March. I was lucky enough to be sent a can of each to sample so I figured I'd give you all a sneak preview so you can get as excited as I am! Sixpoint are one of the revolutionary new breweries who choose to use cans to package their beer instead of bottles. Cans are the best way to package your beer, aside from cask and keg as unlike bottles, no light or oxygen can get into the beer to contaminate it. The trouble is, they have a stigma that'