Science and Booze with Key to the Scriptures

I added a scientific approach to my drinking researches this weekend. When ticking pubs in the good book I've now got a rigorous scientific system, thanks to my mate Jim (a Surrey compleatist).

It's a simple binary system where pubs are scored one or zero in the following categories:

1. Sign
2. Building/Decor
3. Beer range
4. Beer quality
5. Staff
6. Atmosphere
7. Beard or Weird
8. Special feature
9. Loos
10. Would you make it your local?

This gives pubs an objective scientific score and removes the subjectivity that might otherwise creep in when rating pubs.

As ofter happens when on a pub crawl we had some bright ideas so tried out some new categories too:

• Does it have a fireplace?
• Does it have a beer garden?
• Thurston's Law (i.e. is it close to a church for ease of finding)

We were down Brighton way and after a health walk on the downs had some refreshment at The Greyhound in Keymer. This was a great pub, only a couple of beers on though so I had a pint of Harvey's Best.

Then we got the train into town and called in at the Evening Star, the birthplace of Dark Star brewery. As ever from Dark Star the beer (Partridge and Old Chestnut) was good, but I suspect a tad too cold. After a couple we moved on the the Cask Brighton where I had a stout from the loin enders and the lovely Lisa had a Magic Rock Rapture (or was it the other way round?)

Having seen how much places like this charge for scotch eggs (five bloody quid each!) we'd taken the precaution of eating some from Sainsbury's (85p for two) before getting there. Burger and chips was at the more normal pub meal rate of a tenner so we stopped for food, which was good but irritating.

Yes, very pretty but could I have a plate please?

Next it was on to The Pump House. Beer quality was not so good, but they did have a proper weirdo at the bar so it scored there.

After that we headed back to where we were staying, The Jack and Jill in Clayton. Sadly I can't rate it as by 9.30 pm they'd stopped serving food and shut. An inevitable consequence of pubs turning into restaurants I fear. Well, either that or they're a bunch of inbreds.

Anyway, here's the scores:

Another craft beer conundrum

When I came in from work the lovely Lisa was creating one of her lavish curries. And she'd got beer to go with it. She asked me is Dark Star a craft brewery? Thinking I know a thing or two about beer I didn't hesitate to answer "yes". But when she flourished the bottle and said "does it still count if it costs a quid?".

Since then I've been beset by doubts and I fear my sleep will suffer so can anyone help me out here?

Research trip to North London

We were in North London for more research on Saturday. But first we had to go to Covent Garden to check out a gear shop, and whilst we were there it was a good opportunity to have some refreshment at The Harp.

Despite the fact this is CAMRA pub of the year we've never been before so I was looking forward to this one. The pub's small and it was packed but eventually we manoeuvred ourselves into seats. As you would expect there was a good beer range and I started on Draft No. 5 from Marble Brewery. Like everything else I've had from Marble it tasted like concentrated hop juice, which I'm not totally averse to but I soon turned to the dark side with a Dark Star Original.

Then it was on to Kentish Town. Normally the lovely Lisa is chief pub crawl researcher but I was involved in planning this one. London Heritage Pubs had to be cross referenced with London Pub Walks and the Good Beer Guide. Then there was the checking on beerintheevening.com and using google map to do searches for places to eat. It was lot more work than I thought so I may have to leave it to Lisa in future.

Our first stop was The Southampton Arms, another packed pub with another fine selection of ales. It was definitely dark delights again for us and we had plenty to choose from. Our favourites were Bristol Beer Factories' Milk Stout and Redemption Fellowship Porter.

Next we wandered on to The Bull and Gate. This was a nice looking pub but it was suspiciously empty. The beer had a limited selection and tasted sour so we didn't stay for long.

Then we went for some food at The Guanabana, a Caribbean restaurant that the lovely Lisa's careful cross referencing had found. It didn't have a booze licence so Oreo milkshake was the drink choice for those that chose to drink with their food. I didn't bother with such distractions from shoveling food down my throat. The food was great and hopefully we'll be back before too long.

After that we wandered on for some more refreshment and stopped at The Assembly House. This is a big historic pub that would have been higher on our list had it not been Greene King beers. It was a bit of a barn but I quite liked the pub, and the well kept Old Speckled Hen washed me dinner down well. As it was getting late we headed home after that and didn't even stop for a swifty once we'd got back to Woking.

The Craft Beer Co

As I'm seldom in the vanguard of the beeretariat it took me until yesterday to get to the Craft Beer Co. But never mind, if I'd wanted to be a vanguard I'd have got a job with Group 4.

We had had some concerns that our trip would have to be canceled, as earlier in the week the place had been closed due to rioting. Now I like a riot as much as the next man, but if bars are forced to close there are clearly anti-social elements at work.

As we trooped up to the pub there were plenty of drinkers standing outside so we thought the place was packed. There was plenty of space inside though, and we managed to get a seat upstairs. In the bar there's an impressive array of 16 hand pumps, but as the first two pints cost £7.10 it's not cheap. This was compounded by the fact the barman short changed me. I know these things can happen but I was especially peeved as he scurried off to bury his head in the glass washer whilst I was still counting. Still, it was a good and refreshing pint. I had Brodies Citra (3.1% ABV), made with extra pale or lager malt and, of course, Citra hops.

I followed this with a Twickenham Hornet (4.4%) which was also very pale and very hoppy. Feeling my light and dark ratio was getting imbalanced I tried finding something dark, but not entirely successfully. Darkstar Carafa Jade (5%) looked like it might be what I was after. Carafa is the name of various types of dark malt and sure enough it had a reddish brown colour, but I've since found out the "Jade" part of the name comes from the high alpha (i.e very bitter) New Zealand hop Pacific Jade, so once again I had a very hoppy beer.

Call me old fashioned but I don't like to drink very hoppy beers all the time. I enjoy malty beers too, and certainly find beers where the malt and hops are balanced much more drinkable over the course of a session. Despite the large number of hand pumps the only malty beer on offer was a mild, and it was a bit late in the day's drinking to switch to mild at this point. The lovely Lisa pointed out that the place is called the Craft Beer Co and "craft beer" seems to mean "made with loads of hops". My mate Dan had a keg stout but it was too cold and fizzy. A case of meet the new keg, the same as the old keg if you ask me.

There were a large number of bottled beers available but they were taking the piss with the prices (up £30 for a bottle of beer!) so I thought bollocks to that.

We were getting peckish at this point. Though innovative uses of pork were promised on the blackboard, with pork pies with black pudding advertised, all they had were scotch eggs. Despite them costing £3.50 we did scoff one each but it was really time to find some proper food. The first suitable place we found was a Fuller's pub called the Melton Mowbray.

To the uninitiated this might conjure images of pork pies but as a devotee I know the gray offerings of Melton Mowbray are not a patch on the pink pork products you get from butchers' shops in Yorkshire. So I had fish and chips. Despite looking like it's build into a shop unit the Melton Mowbray has the feel of a pub, not a bar, about it which is more to my taste. I washed my food down with a pint of ESB (5.5%) and followed that with a bottle of London Porter (5.4%). Contrary to the views of noted beer experts this beer is at its best when found on cask, but the bottle did restore my light/dark balance. And get me pissed, so it was time to go home next.

The Evening Star, Brighton

I got down to Brighton yesterday. It was a lovely sunny day, but the highlight was getting out of the sun and into a pub. I've long been a fan of the Dark Star brewery so a trip to the Evening Star was long overdue.

As well as Dark Star beers on draught there were guest cask beers and a wide range of bottled beers for those foolish enough to drink them. I stuck to the hand pumps of course, supping American Pale Ale (4.7% ABV), Crouch Vale Brewers Gold (4% ABV) and Thornbridge/Odell Colorado Red at the dangerously strong 5.9% ABV. I should have stuck to the weaker stuff though as I liked the Brewers Gold best.

It's a great pub and very handy for the station so further beer research in Brighton is definitely called for.

Beer festival at The Crown

After a hard day slaving over a hot mash tun (actually I wasn't brewing but slaving over a hot labelling machine doesn't sound as good) I made it to the beer festival at the Crown last night.

There were a dozen beers on. Best of the festival for us was Dark Horse Maypole, a balanced but refreshing beer, with Dark Star American Pale Ale, an unbalanced but refreshing beer coming second.

I'm off to Brighton today so am looking forward to more delights from Dark Star.

Pub crawl around Euston

Feeling the need of some excitement in the big smoke the lovely Lisa plotted our latest research trip starting at the new specialist beer bar in Euston.

The Euston Tap proudly calls itself a craft beer house, though the board outside went even further and said it served craft ales and beers.

I've wasted enough of my time waffling on about how 'craft beer' doesn't really mean anything so what they mean by 'craft ales and beers' I've really no idea but you'll be glad to hear I'm going to leave it there.
On entering the pub I was surprised to see how much space the bar takes up as it's only a small place and there isn't much room downstairs. Behind the bar is a copper panel with lots of taps coming out of it. I think it's meant to look like an old brewery underback but one of my friends was convinced it was modeled on a urinal.

The upper floor has some very small toilets but a surprisingly large amount of seating space. But enough about the pub I was here for the beer. They had eight cask beers on, their names displayed on a blackboard to the left. A few of them were from Brewdog but I've haven't been impressed by their beers when I've had them on cask. There was also Thornbridge Wild Swan but I'm not taken with that one either. I then spied Marble Pint so plumped for that. When it arrived I remembered I'd had it not so long ago and it wasn't really to my taste. A pale beer with a huge amount of hops I find it low in drinkability despite its modest strength. I moved on to stout next to even out my beer balance. I started on the Dark Star, which was a bit astringent and then went on to Adnam's which went down more smoothly. The lovely Lisa was quite taken with the other stout on offer which was we think from the Bristol Beer Factory.

Dan and Simon had arrived and had a pint by this point so we were ready for the short stroll to our next stop the Doric Arch. The beer range here was more to my taste: Fuller's Bengal Lances, Timmy Taylor's Landlord and Kelham Island Pale Rider were all clamoring for me to drink them. But the guy behind the bar recommended Springhead Sweet lips so after a taster I went for that one. It was good and hoppy but balanced enough to be drinkable.

The last time I'd been this pub, which is in what looks like an office block attached to the station, I'd though it had all the ambiance of a waiting room. This time we managed to sit in a little alcove and I was more than happy. I don't ask for much: a good beer, a good seat and good company will do me.

There was still more research to be done though so I couldn't sit back and enjoy myself, it was time for the Bree Louise. This was just round the other side of Euston so we were soon there.

Unfortunately for us the pub was packed with people watching rugby on two telly screens. There seemed to be loads of beers on, many on stillage behind the bar but if there was a list of the beers I didn't seen it.
They had a weird pricing structure, that at first looked like a discount for CAMRA members but when you examined the prices was more surcharge for non-CAMRA members.

The beers didn't seem in ideal condition, and some beer even had to be abandoned so I won't pass judgement on them.

We moved swiftly on to a Mexican restaurant Lisa had factored into the pub crawl for some much needed sustenance.

At this point the careful planning was put to one side and we used psychogeography to chose the next pub The Crown and Anchor. I'm not sure what Guy Debord would have thought but we liked it.

I got quite excited when I saw the handpumps as they had White Shield on draught. I'd never seen it on draught before and the gossip is that it actually tastes good again. Sadly it was cloudy so it got sent back. Further research is necessary.

I ended up having a pint of keg Sierra Nevada. Presumably this is 'craft keg'. It was pleasant enough but too cold.

And after that it was time to pour ourselves home.

The Cask pub and kitchen, Pimlico

For Easter we went to the Cask pub and kitchen in Pimlico. There's been a bit of a buzz on the internet about this pub so I was keen to check it out. Particularly as the lovely Lisa had already been there on a day off whilst I was slaving away over a hot mash tun. 

It's in the grottier end of Pimlico, being stuck on the corner of some 70s flats. Inside it has the look of a canteen about it, bright and airy but no cosy nooks and crannies here. Not the sort of pub I'll normally seek out to be honest.

There are what looks like a good range of keg and bottled beers on offer for those that care about such things. Personally I don't, so I'll move swiftly on. There were  a two each from Thornbridge and Darkstar on the hand pumps and well as couple from other breweries. Thornbrige are interesting but I've not always been taken with their beers so I started on a Darkstar Hophead and the lovely Lisa went for the American Pale Ale. 

Both beers were good but we reckon the Hophead had the edge as there was a hint of wet dog about the American Pale Ale. 

Moving on to Thornbridge next, they didn't disappoint this time and both the grapefruit flavoured Kipling and the sweet brown ale Ashford were on form. Sadly the Big bunny beer I had from Brentwood wasn't,  oh well you can't have everything. 

Our recently converted mate Dan had a few pints of a cask stout whose name now escapes me (sorry for the terrible beer nerd failure there) before having some German keg lager and wheat beers. The keg beers did make him feel a bit bloated though and he now fears there may be no going back! 

We had a Sunday roast, which was good, before working our way back to Waterloo. We had a couple of stops for refreshments along the way. Nothing of note though, as one of the pubs was a Fuller's pub that didn't have anything special on for cask ale week, so sadly no draught 1845 for me and the other was a Badger's pub and I've never really liked their beers as they're too flowery for my taste. 

The William Cobbett, Farnham

On Saturday it was time for a long overdue trip to Farnham.   
Farnham is a bit of a beer oasis, one of those towns that seems to have more than its fair share of pubs. 

Hops from Farnham used to be highly esteemed though it's probably better known for it's maltings now, an arts centre which hosts an excellent beer festival every April. 

The William Cobbett was my main target, a pub named after a local  radical and author of Rural Rides. He was a champion of the poor, a scourge of tea and a defended of beer. The pub has a lot of character with an impressive amount of clutter, a large juke box and more importantly several different areas to sit in so we could get away from the sport on the telly. 

There were five beers on but I only had eyes for the two from Dark Star. I started on the excellent Hop Head, which certainly had the hops but at only 3.8% ABV was perhaps a little thin. So I went on to Original, a strong dark beer which had more than enough body to it, and I stayed with that for some time. Dark Star are an excellent brewery and it's always a pleasure to find their beers.  

Next time I'll be back in Farnham will probably be for the beer festival but a proper research trip round the pubs is long overdue. 

Wandsworth common halloween beer festival

That looks suitably gothic for Halloween doesn't it?

On Saturday night I went to the Royal Victoria Patriotic Building. Patriotism is of course the last refuge of the scoundrel. Fortunately for us the scoundrels had seen fit to fill their refuge with casks of beer.

They has their first beer festival here back in March which was all good fun but a lot of the beers were in short supply. This time there were good stocks, though sadly no Sarah Hughes, despite the claim on the website they'd have three barrels of it.

I started on a Purity brewing's UBU as I've enjoyed it from the bottle I couldn't pass up the chance to try it on cask and very nice it was too.

Then I worked through some of the offering from brewery's I like, such as Hop Back, Dark Star, Twickenham and Timothy Taylor. The lovely Lisa was a bit under the weather so we didn't stay too long. This gave me an excuse to wander into the stronger end of things, after I'd had a suitable warm up of course. Some of my fellow beer bloggers seem to drink whatever takes their fancy, either down the pub or at home, but I tend to stay at less than 5% ABV when I'm out and about, saving the strong ones for when I'm at home.


This is beer of the less than 5%ABV variety

I had a feeling that Ballard's Wassail was in 300 beers to try before you die and it looked like some stronger stuff was called for so that went down next. You could taste it was strong (6% ABV) but not overpoweringly so. Then for what was the last of the night I had a Orkney Skull Splitter (8.5% ABV). This went down surprisingly easily, which perhaps shows that it was not just time for the lovely Lisa to be heading home.

The crowd at the festival was surprisingly young and mixed, and hardly a beard or beer gut to be seen. Though it wasn't a CAMRA festival it certainly followed the same format:




Perhaps cask beer really is becoming more fashionable.

Boozing in London

I went on another pub crawl in London yesterday. As some peoples memories were a little hazy from the last one we had to do some of the pubs previously covered again. The lovely Lisa had it all worked out on google map so we had the map and directions sorted: 



First stop was the Edgar Wallace, and an excellent pub with a fine beer selection. I started on the Edgar Pale Ale, or Nethergate IPA as it is normally known. This was good stuff for a 3.5% ABV beer, plenty of hops, if a bit lacking in body. Next I moved on to Ascot Gold Cup which had the smell of wet dog but tasted OK. I'm not entirely certain what I had next. I'd asked for Ottley's California, but I've a strong suspicion I ended up wit Ascot's Octoberfest. It definitely detected the vegetable flavours I associate with lager and I can't say cask lager does it for me. Or keg lager for that matter, not often anyway.



Then it was on to the Old Bank of England for a pint of pride and some food. We had the pie selection, the seafood selection and the vegetarian selection between us all. Plenty of variety but I think we'd have been better off with just plenty of pies. Who needs vegetables when you can have pies?

After that it was the Seven Stars where the always have something from the Dark Star brewery on. This time it was Dark Side of the Moon, a quality dark and hoppy beer. We also had a bowl of peanuts here which I fear was my undoing. The way I'm feeling this morning I'm sure one of them must have been mouldy. How many times have I told myself to watch out for mouldy peanuts and green crisps? Yet once again I've woken up after a session feeling really rough. Good job beer's good for you or I'd probably feel even worse. 

Next stop was the Bierodrome, a Belgian beer establishment. The lovely Lisa had De Koninck, the beer which Wetherspoons imported and casked. They shouldn't have bothered though - it's better on keg as the lower carbonation of cask beer makes it too sweet. I went for something from the holy fathers, having a bottle of Orval. I've gone off a lot of Trappist beers recently but Orval was still good stuff. It undergoes a secondary fermentation with a Brettanomyces yeast, the yeasts named after Britain as they were found in beer made by the old British system of maturing for months in large vats. That's pretty much gone by the wayside now so Brettanomyces is much more associated with Belgium. They give the beer a distinctive, and not entirely pleasant, smell but I do like the taste. And it has a cool glass. 

Time was getting away from us at this point so we scurried on to the Princess Louise in Holborn. It has a fantastic interior, and the world's most ornate bogs but serves Sam Smiths so the beer's not up to much. I had their keg stout which is better than Guinness anyway. 


 

Last stop before people had to head home was the Salisbury. Fantastic interior but the beers were a bit boring. We had a Doom Bar which at this stage of the evening didn't stand out. 

The ill effects of our dedicated beer research do mean that I've got to have my favourite beer and food pairing today: drink enough beer to get you wankered then have a big fry up the next day.



I hope the lardy goodness works as we've got a six hour drive to the lake district ahead of us today.

More tales of dedicated beer research and hills and stuff on our return ...

The White Horse, Parsons Green

I went up to London at the weekend, not to get to the GBBF, but to see a mate. The lovely Lisa had spotted many pubs were making an effort with their ales to coincide with the GBBF though, and we managed to take advantage of this.

The fact that this was the only weekend the Old Mitre is open tempted us, but as our friend lives in walking distance of the White Horse in Parsons Green that made more sense.

The pub was packed out when we got there but they had plenty of bar staff so it didn’t take long to get served. Popularly known as the Sloney Pony most of the clientele did look posher than what you find in your average boozer. Apart from the woman who’d dressed up as a Thai prostitute that is. Or so my friends who’ve been to Thailand tell me, my interest in Thailand only goes as far as the boxing of course. 

The pub has long had a reputation for serving good beer, even in the days when it was a Bass pub. Its particular claim to fame was that it employed a full time cellar man and I once had a trip with the Craft Brewing Association to visit the cellar. I can't say much more about that as we got to visit the bar too and they had a barley wine on draught. I've no doubt that I was briefly very knowledgeable about cellarmanship until my memory dissolved in alcohol though. 

There was a good range of beers on offer, tending towards the more unusual. Never having seen Fraoch heather ale on cask I had to give that a go and the lovely Lisa went for something herb flavoured from Thornbridge. Both tasted a bit funny, not 'funny ha ha' more 'that's funny this tastes a bit crap'. After that Lisa retreated to the safety of a pint of Harvey's bitter whilst I went to no hops to more than you could shake a stick at with a Dark Star Hophead Extra. 

The Hophead Extra was a cracker, very much in the American IPA style and not the sort of thing you often see on cask. It had huge taste of citrussy hops and more alcohol than it is sensible to drink by the pint.



I'm glad I had it as after that we moved on to a Spanish restaurant where the beer was nothing worth mentioning, so I won't.

 

Pub crawl in the city

Or should that be a pub walk in London as the CAMRA guidebook rather coyly puts it? Either way I got totally plastered last night. 

Me and the lovely Lisa met up with her siblings and partners at the Blackfriars. They had the excellent Timothy Taylors Landlord on and it was delicious. This was the start of my downfall as I'm pretty sure I necked four pints whilst waiting for people to arrive. I must try and remember in future that drinking four  pints in the first stop on a pub crawl is not a good idea. 


The Blackfriar's amazing interior

Next stop was Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. As it's a Sam Smith's pub I went for the keg wheat beer and very nice it was too. I've been to this pub a few times before but still keep discovering new rooms. This pub really is immense. They had a old poster on one wall telling you to 'Try A Smith'. 



The brewery it was advertising wasn't Sam Smith's or even John Smith's but WA Smith and Sons of Macclesfield. I've never heard of them and don't know when they closed. Perhaps it's time to crank up my beer nerdery and join the Brewery History Society?

Then it was on to one of my favourites: Ye Olde Mitre. It was recently bought by Fuller's. Wonderful brewery that they are I was a little worried that it now be only Fuller's beers on sale.



Happily guest beers were still available and I had a lovely pint of Deuchars IPA. I drank so much of this beer when I was living in Edinburgh that I'd actually got a bit bored of it. Having a decent range of cask beers in pubs is less common in Scotland than it is down South and if a pub did have cask beer on it was usually Deuchars or Caledonian 80/. I'm not a fan of heavy so it was Deuchars all the time for me. 

We managed to find a seat in the front bar, where I noticed there was a sign put up banning bicycles.



Is people taking bicycles into pubs a common problem? In all my years of boozing I don't think I've ever seen such a thing. Still, fair play to the pub for banning them, the pub was crowded enough as it was without the ever present menace of people bringing in bicycles. 

After that it was on to another Sam Smith's pub, the Cittie of Yorke. It's another pub with an amazing interior, though not as old as it looks as it was rebuilt in the 1920s. 



The beer was starting to catch up with me at this point so I just had a half of their boring Old Brewery Biter. 

We then staggered on to the Seven Stars. This is apparently a grade two listed building but I was past caring by this point.



They had five cask beers on, including three from the excellent Dark Star brewery. I had a pint of hop head as it's my mate Jim's favourite beer and very good it was too. 

Last pub of the evening was the Old Bank of England. A large Fuller's pub with another impressive interior. 



Not that you can really tell by this picture but I was three sheets to the wind by this point. I had a pint of pride here. ESB would have been more memorable but I really wasn't up to it at this point. We then went on to have an Indonesian curry, far too late for food really, and it means I'm now suffering from a ring stinger as well as a hangover.

By my calculations I got in eight and a half pints last night, drinking over a gallon, which I'm sure we're all agreed is the mark of a man.

I would like to thank the lovely Lisa for her excellent research, choice of pubs and map making that made this pub crawl possible. Particularly as there are 12 pubs on the map so we'll have to come back for another go!
 

Farnham Beerex

Saturday night was Farnham Beer Exhibition. It's my favourite beer festival. It's held at the old maltings, a venue that actually has some atmosphere.



There was a slight hitch at the start as I'd forgotten the poxing tickets and had to run back home for them before we got the train. I certainly earned my first pint. 

Over 80 beers were on offer, and a selection of scrumpy ciders for those who really wanted to dissolve some brain cells. No foreign beer bar though, so some of my friends who normally seek solace there were stuck with cask beer. 

I started off on Dark Star's Chestnut Ale, which was sadly a bit disappointing. I'm a fan of this brewery but the beer was brown and sweet and that's about it. 

Twickenham Fine Ales didn't let me down though, and both their Naked Ladies and Pale Beauty (a wheat beer) went down a treat. Good, hoppy beers I'd happily drink anytime. 

I was pleased to find Abbey Ales Bell Ringer on offer I'd heard good things about the brewery. It's an amber coloured beer nicely balanced with citrusy hops.

Several more beers followed, the exact details of which are now a little vague. A few had the whiff of wet dog about them, even beers that we've previously found to be great, like York Guzzler and Dr Hexter's Healer. Not sure what causes this, but off putting though it is it doesn't affect the taste. 

Beer of the festival for me was Oakham's Bishop's Farewell. I drink their JHB whenever I can find it so I couldn't resist trying something stronger from them. It's a cracking pale beer with the unmistakable taste of cascade hops. The lovely Lisa spotted this in an instant, which lead to her being accused of being a beer geek. An unfair accusation I think, I mean it's not like she's got a beer blog or anything.

At Farnham beer has to be paid for in tokens. An irritating system that can lead to even more over consumption than normal as you run round pissed at the end of the festival trying to use up the last of your tokens before they turn into worthless pieces of paper at 11 o'clock. This time I'd judged it about right, getting through a tenners worth and only needing to scrounge a couple off a mate to pay for my last half. Until Jimmy came running up with a fat wad of tokens and saying there was an emergency at 20 to 11 that is. It seems he'd lost track of the time and just bought another tenners worth. As no one wanted to see them go to waste we all trooped down to the bar and got guzzling. I managed a couple of Naylor's porter before the surplus token crisis was resolved. Nice beer it was too, but I don't think the final guzzling did me any good for the next day.

So I decided to have a day off the beer on Sunday, even though I was staying up to watch the boxing. Well done to Carl Froch, though he did cut it a bit fine.