Travels With Nate

So last week I posted a blog about the fact that I had a pint of Brewdog This. Is. Lager, a beer that I like, after having two pints of Pilsner Urquell thus rendering BD TIL pretty shit. See, Brewdog and I, we’ve had our differences in the past but they were pretty cool about it and offered to send me a few bottles which was awfully nice of them! A couple of days later, before the bottles arrived, I had a spare hour or so on my hands so I decided to pop into The Bell Hotel Wetherspoons in Norwich and have a pint on an untainted palate, and it was the beer I remember having pre-Urquell. It was great – it had that solid biscuity malt backbone, that hop bite and a crisp and clean refreshing finish. Somehow it was warming, even on a cold evening. I loved it! Then, last Thursday, three bottles arrived at my house. Sadly I was suffering from a really horrific cold so I couldn’t crack one open there and then, I shoved them in the fridge and decided to come back to them ...

Ben McFarland & Tom Sandham are known throughout these lands as the Thinking Drinkers. While Ben has been crowned British Beer Writer of the Year a triad of times, Tom is former editor of a cocktail magazine called CLASS. Together they do a variety of things including writing (as demonstrated in this book), tasting sessions for those who want to learn more about booze & performed in shows from Edinburgh to the London West End.   The whole point of this book is to encourage people to Drink Less but Drink Better, which is a bloody good mantra and one that many of us have fallen foul of in the past. Anyway, this brilliant book takes you through all of the main food drink groups… you’ve got beer, wine, whisk(e)y, gin, tequila, vodka… everything. Every chapter gives you insight into the history of each beverage, along with amusing segments on famous people who are renowned for drinking said drinks, cocktails, recommendations and general hilarity! The wh...

Yesterday Alec and I had a Christmas dinner in Wetherspoons and as part of the deal for £8.99 you can get a beer… luckily, these days, it’s not restricted to Carling or Ruddles. These days you can get any of the craft cans, any real ale or either of the craft beers on keg. I got Brewdog This. Is. Lager with mine, which I have had many pints of before but last night I realised I don’t like it as much as I thought I did. Last night, I just found it all wrong, so unbalanced. Too sweet yet too bitter, too carbonated yet too dry, when previously I had proclaimed that it’s everything I want in a Pilsner. And then I realised what the problem was. Pilsner Urquell. Yes, the problem was that earlier in the evening I’d had two pints of Pilsner Urquell, the classic, the original, the legendary Czech pilsner. So beautifully crisp, floral and creamy; a beer you can drink pint after pint of without getting bored. A pilsner that ruins all other pilsners because of its perf...

On Sunday some friends and I decided to travel down to Oval Space in Hackney for London Craft Beer Festival. As I mentioned in my preview blog, it’s a festival whereby all of the beer is included in admission price as well as the breweries serving their own beer (or at least someone who knows about beer. Probably). We got to the venue and collected our glass, bottle caps (third pint tokens) and program before heading up to the room of doom. The Venue: It was a small but comfortable venue with a decked area where food was, as well as a balcony area overlooking the old gas terminals. There were breweries all around the room and a stage in the middle for the performers. Across the road there was also another venue that they were using to promote holidays in Flanders. We sampled some delicious cheese and whitebait. The Food: I would have liked to see some more reasonably priced food. There was a stand selling hot dogs in burger baps for £6.50 which seemed like a ri...

The Georgian Townhouse is an iconic building, right at the top of Unthank Road in Norwich. It was previously a rather upmarket hotel, paired with RARE Steakhouse but closed maybe last year, I don’t know, I wasn’t really paying attention. Now it has been refurbished and reopened, not as a hotel but as a Restaurant/Craft Beer Bar, with private function rooms. I was first alerted to it on Twitter a couple of months ago, before it opened. They tweeted me a photo of Budvar Dark, saying they’ll have it on tap when they open and I remember thinking “oh, that’s nice”, not quite expecting the rest of the beer list, but more on that later! Walking into the car park, you get a real sense of scale when you look at the big, beautiful building. It really is a sight to behold. Although there are a few doors at the front, you have to walk to the furthest right to get in. You’re greeted by a host who asks if you’re dining, in which case they’ll show you to your seat, otherwise you’re ...

As I’m walking down pier plain in Gorleston, a couple of blocks over from the docks, on a warm Sunday evening that’s slowly getting dimmer I see the pub that I’ve been meaning to check out for a while. Emily was out cruising with her friends, like she does every Sunday night, so I thought it’d be my perfect opportunity. I see the pub on the corner and I stop for a moment. It doesn’t look like the kind of pub I’d want to go in. It’s on a street corner and it looks beaten up, and it looks like entering will get me beaten up. I slowly pluck up the courage to walk closer to the pub and circumvent the building to find the entrance. There is a sign pointing to the right side of the building, but there are about 5 doors. Of course, it had to be the last one. I push the door that feels like it’s going to fall off of its hinges and walk through the tiny corridor and walk in. It’s a weirdly narrow pub, very traditional looking, with seating around the edges, a massive mirror...

Alcoholic Ice Tea. Why the hell is this a new thing? I mean, when you think about it, alcoholic ice tea has always made sense but we never seemed to have thought about it before. I mean, when you look at summer beverages you think of Ice Tea when you're talking about alcohol free drinks, but drinks with alcohol are basically Pimm's and beer. I've always been a fan of ice tea, when I can get the good stuff. You can forget Lipton's. It needs to be properly brewed ice tea. So when I heard about Harry Brompton, I just needed to try it! Harry Brompton's London Ice Tea is the world's first premium alcoholic ice tea. It's 4% and made with ethically sourced Kenyan Black Tea as well as craft-distilled grain spirit and infused with citrus. It sounds perfect for the summer, right? Well it is. It's absolutely perfect the way the citrus flavours play with the delicious icy cold teas, without being able to taste the alcohol. You get some of the grain, which ...

These days I usually don’t bother with posts like this, but something is frustrating me. That something is people complaining about prices of beers they don’t drink. Complaining about prices of a beer you have no intention of drinking is like complaining that your cock has been chopped off when in fact it hasn’t. It makes absolutely no sense at all. It’s got me thinking though, because the same people who are complaining about the price of ‘craft’ (which they don't want to drink - i.e. really hoppy or strong beers) are the same people who are complaining about the price of mass produced beers (that they don't plan on drinking) and this all boils down to not understanding why some beers have a premium price. Why mass produced beer costs more: You can make a completely valid point in saying that in theory, mass produced beer should in fact be cheaper than ‘craft’ because it’s made on a massive scale and bulk buying cuts the costs of the already relatively chea...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Last Friday I managed to get down to the Craft Beer Rising trade session at the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane in London. I’m sure you read my shining review of last year’s event and as many other people have dictated, this year was even better so I’m not going to repeat what they’ve all said. I want to talk about Blue Moon, the Molson Coors owned ‘craft’ lookalike brand. OK so as many will argue, they’re not craft but fuck those guys. Blue Moon is a Belgian style Wit, and in my opinion is quite nice. It’s highly drinkable and mighty refreshing, giving you a nice whack of orange peel, lemon and a sprinkling of coriander. I’m not ashamed to admit that I am a fan, as long as it’s not served with slice of orange floating in it. Anyway, I’m sure you all know of it and have your own opinion which to be honest, you can keep to yourself as I’m sick of hearing everyone get all judgemental. The beer community is not meant to be like that so just stop it. Well, the Blue Mo...

I (vaguely) remember the first time I had Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted on cask years ago. I absolutely fucking loved it. I then had Schiehallion, and what a surprise... I loved it! They've both been go-to beers ever since I first had them. And then I had Old Engine Oil, and I'll be honest, I absolutely fucking hated it. I thought it was disgusting. This was at a point where I wasn't really a big stout fan. I have no idea why I thought it would be a good idea to buy a pint of it at Norwich Beer Festival. I couldn't finish it. This may be starting to sound like a sad story, but trust me, it's not because I've learned the way of the stout. Last summer I noticed Old Engine Oil on cask in a Wetherspoons and because I am now well versed in the land of stouts, I bought a pint and absolutely loved it which means, it's yet another beer I can't avoid drinking when I see it! Harviestoun have easily become one of my favourite breweries. So a few month...