Travels With Nate

Yes, I'm still working on a suitable hashtag as nobody can spell #Dawocalypse after a few pints. Only 2 days until my badass crazy craft wanker city of ale pub crawl in Norwich and I keep getting even more excited by the minute! I originally put up set times, but it is a matter of when people are arriving. The general gist is that people will arrive between 12 & 2pm, which is all good. I figure exact timings always mess up but you'll be able to text me (ask for my number) or follow the crawl on twitter but I thought I'd post the list of pubs again just as a reminder. Compleat Angler (Start ) - Think Ben said he's gonna try to have Punk on keg, but there are always plenty of local real ales if you're bored of Punk. Norwich Taphouse - 20 kegs. Usually 5 from Redwell. Recently we've also seen Anarchy, Beavertown, Celt Experience, Bruges Zot & Paulaner Munchen Dunkel. Rumsey Wells - Adnams and guests on cask, Lagunitas IPA on keg (potentially missing...

Last Thursday I was invited to attend the invite only launch party of City of Ale at Dragon Hall in Norwich, along with many of Norwich’s finest publicans and brewers. Arriving soon after opening at 6:30pm, I was greeted outside by Tim & Katie from The Jubliee with whom I shared a smoke and a chat before heading inside. Once inside I saw many recognisable faces, and got chatting to Moses from Fakir Brewery. Due to chatting, I had no beer at this point and heard Sadie summon me over saying “Nate, you can’t stand there without a beer!” and she had a point! Firstly I must note that all of the beers on the night were served bright, as they only had an hour set up so there was no time for secondary fermentation in the cask at the venue. Most were polypins (bag in a box) so it wasn’t too bad, although I do think that because it was bright beer, none of it was as good as it should have and could have been. My first beer of the evening was Woodfordes Craft Lager (4.1%) an...

In the USA, beer weeks are a big thing. From San Francisco, to Seattle, to Philadelphia; almost every major city, and even smaller towns, have a beer week. The idea is that bars and breweries come together to host events that promote the beer of that city, or rather the state within it. It’s a really cool idea, and something that was missing from the UK. Until 2011, that is, when Dawn Leeder and Phil Cutter launched the first City of Ale , a celebration of the fine ales and pubs of Norwich and its surrounding areas. City of Ale 2014 will be the fourth, and it runs from 22 nd May until 1 st June. It’s not like a conventional beer festival whereby it’s in one building; City of Ale is spread out across 44 pubs in Norwich which is absolutely staggering. Throughout the week that it’s on, you will find many different events such as beer tastings, food & beer pairings, meet the brewers, quizzes and we’re even hosting a special edition of Norwich Bottle Share fe...

William Sharvatt’s London Velvet is described as “a delicious blend of porter ale and cider”. I imagine that if most of my fellow beer bloggers or generic craft wankers were to read that in an email, they’d probably not even bother reading the rest. They’d rage at the fact that their beloved ale is getting ruined by apples. They’d cry out “HAHAHA THAT’S DISGUSTING” without even bothering to try the beverage whilst also maintaining how cool beer cocktails are. But not me. I read on for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it was nostalgia. When I was younger, a good friend and I used to mix Strongbow with Mackeson Stout as my dad told us that they used to mix cider and Guinnness when they were younger, it’s like a poor man’s black velvet (a black velvet being champagne and stout). I remember enjoying it, although I figured that could have been the stupidity of youth and/or undeveloped tastebuds. Secondly, y’all know me; I’m not scared to tackle the review of a slightly odd (an...

I make it no secret that I'm a bit of a beer geek so whenever I tell someone that I don't brew my own beer, they're always surprised. This isn't just the rest of my fellow geeks but just friends and family who have no interest in beer. They ask me why not, and I've made so many pathetic excuses. I've said I don't have the space, when I know full well that all you need is a kitchen. I've said I don't have the time, which is bullshit of course as I have a fair bit of time. I guess the most realistic excuse I've used is that I can't be bothered, because I couldn't. Towards the end of 2012, I started seriously thinking about it and then forgot because I got pissed. Several times. I then started thinking about it again, and gave up again. This time, however, I am going to do it. I'm going to homebrew, and here's why: 1) I like beer - It's a simply enough reason. That's the main reason anyway. I like beer so why shouldn...

Ha, a book review. Something I never thought I’d do, mostly because I don’t read. I’m very good at reading (although not as good as I am at writing), but I don’t have the time due to binge watching basically everything on Netflix. So I got a press release about James Steen ’s new book about food, drink and everything in between; The Kitchen Magpie , and thought it’d be rude not to read the attached sample. I was hooked. I needed more. It was as if the words contained crack. Y’know, I particularly don’t read books about food because I mostly find them lifeless and lacking personality, as well as a bit poncey but James Steen has got it right. From the opening line of “Please do not eat this book” to the final line of “If you are a pica sufferer, you can now eat this book” the pages are filled with amusing anecdotes and captivating content, as well as contributions from some of the world’s best renowned chefs and industry experts and even a few historical recipes thrown in f...