Stout saved my life!

Invalid Stout. Now isn't that a beer you'd like to drink?

The lovely Lisa has got hold of a postcard of an old invalid stout advert from back in the days when beer was healthy. In fact not just healthy,  more like bleedin' miraculous. They don't make adverts, or sadly beers, like that anymore.

Habemus stoutam!

I've finally got my hands on the revived Courage Imperial Russian Stout. It was over eighteen months ago I heard it had been brewed again by Wells and Young's, but for most of that time it was black smoke pouring from the chimneys of British beer shops as the bastards from Bedford sent all of the first batch to the States. It was then sent to New Zealand, Ireland and for all I know the Isle of Man before it bloody well appeared in Britain. But in February I sighted the first plume of white smoke as it went on sale on Amazon.co.uk.

Not keen to pay pricey postage for a pricey beer I passed on the chance of a parcel delivery and decided to wait until it appeared the shops. The moment arrived today when Cobbetts Real Ales got hold of some and I could finally say "Habemus stoutam!" Thanks to their 10% discount on Tuesday it was £5.85 a bottle, so much better than Amazon but definitely sucker juice. Still, there are times when everyone's a sucker and I'm definitely a sucker for this beer. I can't remember how many years it is since I last drank it, and since then I've brewed beers based on its recipe a few times myself, so I'm think it's fair to say I'm looking forward to tasting this one.

Journal of the Institute of Brewing archive

At last, the entire archive of the Journal of the Institute of Brewing has gone online. Going back to 1890 they can be found here.

I don't generally find much of interest in the JIB, as it's all a bit academic, though the 125th Anniversary reviews have been excellent. But searching over a hundred years of back issues I've already found loads I want to read, but where to start? Maybe a Horace Brown lecture or two...

No war between nations, no peace between glasses?

Craft keg fans have been spluttering into their schooners of late. First there was the outrage about the entertaining rant against craft keg in a Wandsworth Common Beer Festival programme (behind away for Easter I didn't get to the latest festival but I did enjoy the author's previous effort).

Then the BBC went and said that craft beer is often pasteruised, which, as with the Wandsworth programme, lead to furious denunciations of CAMRA, despite the fact neither were written by CAMRA.

As I'm as likely as the next man to get offended by an ill informed rant about cask beer I do feel a bit bad about enjoying the spectacle of people getting so het up. But I guess, like preference for how beer is served, it all comes down to personal taste.

The Brew day of the Beast

"Woe to you, Oh Earth and Sea, for the Devil sends the hangover with wrath, because he knows the time is short...

 Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the gyle for it is a human number

its number is Six hundred and  sixty six."

Easter on ice

As the cold weather has dragged on and on we decided to see if we could actually get to enjoy it over Easter. So the muckle big boots were taken down from the loft where I thought they'd be staying until December, and the ice axes were taken out from under the bed where I thought they'd be staying until the zombie apocalypse.

The drive to Langdale was particularly grim so bottle caps were popped as soon as we got to the hut. We still needed to stretch our legs though so a hike to the Sticklebarn was in order. It's now run by the National Trust and the beer range seemed a bit duller than before. A couple of Molson Coor's cask beers were amongst those on offer, so I tried the Worthington's Winter Shield, which turned out to be an unexciting amber ale. Despite having blown a million quid on the brewhouse and hired a rock star brewer I still get the feeling that Molson Coors are a bit clueless about what to do with Worthington's. Still, there is a lot of potential so we can only hope.

The hills were hard work as both the snow, and myself, were mostly soft. One of these days I'll get back to regular training.

The lovely Lisa dicing with death on a cornice

After a day wandering over the Pikes a pint of Old Peculier in the ODG did wonders for easing the pain in my weary legs.

The beer of the weekend though was when we found Stringers No.2 Stout in the Wainwright after heading over Side Pike and Lingmoor Fell the next day.

You can't beat a good cask beer

Only 4% ABV but full bodied and full of flavour so we stayed for a couple.Then it was back to the hut to toast crumpets in front of the fire.

Drinking keg at the Kernel

I don't normally start drinking at 10 am, particularly when it involves dashing up to London to drink keg beer. But sometimes you have to make exceptions.

And when Stan Hieronymus asked if I'd like to meeting him for a beer whilst he's over I felt an exception was definitely in order. 

What with it being early I started on the table beer, a weak (3.2% ABV), pale and hoppy number with a distinct yeasty haze. It was served from a keykeg, though the carbonation levels seemed reasonable, but it was, like the whole building in fact, definitely on the cold side. After nursing this pint (actually 330ml so more like a half) I had the biere de table, which was a bit stronger (4.7% ABV), and made with saison yeast, something I'm rather fond of. 

I enjoyed the beers, but like me they could have done with being warmer. I didn't calculated the price per pint until after we'd left, but it was a bit of an eye opener (£4.30 and £5.16 respectively). I guess that's craft beer for you: keykegs and passion don't come cheap! It definitely has a market though. We left after a couple of beers as I was starting to fear for my extremities, but the place was really starting to get busy by then.

We battled our way though a biting wind to London Bridge station where Stan went to continue his busy cultural schedule and the lovely Lisa and I went into the nearest Fullers pub. Our bodies needed some food and warmth by then, and for the sake of my immortal soul I said a quick Ale Mary and got some ESBs in. When we'd defrosted we braved Borough Market but the Utobeer selection didn't really grab me. We had one for the road in the Market Porter and then headed home. Having got sustenance for my mind, body and soul I was really in need of nap by this point.