Instant Hit

A true Verdant classic, sampled three or four weeks ago. Bloom (along with Pulp) is one of the first Verdant beers I ever tried, probably around 2016 (brewery was founded in 2014). Back then they were operating out of a shipping container at the back of an industrial estate in Penryn nr. Falmouth, Cornwall, it was a revelation at the time as very few people in the UK were making this style of hazy hop-forward beer (aka New England IPA) They were an instant hit with me and I've been a big fan ever since. I'm going down to Falmouth later this Summer and hope to sample many more examples both old and new, long live Verdant!

Progress

Looks like HS2 is going the way of many of our large capital projects, i.e. down the toilet. I won't be be holding my breath at the prospect of getting to Birmingham 20 minutes quicker than I can right now...

Tech Trap

Competence can be a curse sometimes, especially in the technology field! The problem is that it's so pervasive and yet hopelessly under supported in schools, workplaces and generally among most people, i.e. most people don't have a clue how most stuff works anymore. I alway used to find it surprising how many people took great delight in professing their ignorance of technology, as if it were some kind of badge of honour, is it any wonder that there's an AI bubble in the stock markets and social media is slowly re-programming our youth?

Friday Smirk

The boys contemplating the fact that sometimes our criticisms of others fall a little too close to home..

Weekend Wines

While in London last weekend I treated my Daughter to a slap up meal at Noble Rot in Bloomsbury (Lambs Conduit St) we were kind of celebrating her completion of a Law conversion course that she's been doing over the last 9 months, her last exam was last Thursday so she was ready to let her hair down a bit! 

We had a really nice long chat and catch up (she has a new boyfriend she was keen to tell me about!) We also had some great food and wine too, classic French bistro style dishes and a bottle from the Maconnais region of Burgundy from one of my favourite producers Verget (more on them here) It was a great wine, crisp green fruits, buttery, nutty, smooth and a nice clean finish, it went down a treat with the splendid pork chop that I ordered. This wine was the old vine (vieilles vignes) version of the appellation, and at only a 2X markup was pretty good VFM for a London restaurant, well done Noble Rot!

Interestingly I noticed that Verget seems to be using screw tops on many of their wines these days, makes complete sense, these aren't wines that need to be aged hugely, a few years at the most and are intended to be drunk fresh and young (compared to other Burgundies) and so the screw cap is probably a superior closure. If this example was typical of the final product then I thoroughly approve!

Very Sensible

Had one of these a couple of weekends ago, it's a new beer from Elusive with some crazy new fangled hops from NZ, very tasty I must say and I like the way Elusive targets a lot of their ales these days between 4 and 5% ABV, all very sensible!

King Kernel

As I was in London last weekend I took the opportunity to pop into the Kernel Taproom in Bermondsey. I always enjoy going over there, it's a bit of a walk but well worth it for the choice on offer. I snapped a picture of the menu for that day (Friday), it's unlikely that you'd find more variety at such high quality levels anywhere else in the country, let alone London, even before you start poking around in their awesome bottle stash! I opted for 2/3rd's of the Simcoe Pale Ale and delicious it was, like so many of the Kernel beers totally balanced and with flavour oozing out of every sip, I could have stayed for several more but had a dinner date with my Daughter in town, maybe next time!

London Stories

I was in London this weekend and finding myself at a loose end I went for a little walk around Southwark. I came across this wall mural in Coin Street, it's a nice image of Anthony Bourdain, food writer and broadcaster (now dead) an interesting tribute to the man, not sure why it's where it is though (clearly some Googling required!), not exactly a prominent street..

Weekend Wink

Nice one from Matt in the Telegraph

Dream dinner parties..

Who are your dream dinner party guests? It's a question often asked at, you guessed it, dinner parties! The choices aren't normally restricted so you can choose anyone alive or dead, it's a bit of a cliche but interesting (in good company), it tells you quite a lot about the person answering and what interests them. For example if the people chosen are all sports heros or perhaps if they are authority figures (like HRH) , famous authors or even famous scientists, some people go broad and some go niche, its something that's hard to predict, hence the amusement I suppose. 

Personally I wouldn't choose anyone in the picture above, for me it would be more about the quality of the conversation and/or debate (and a decent plonk of course!) Maybe people like Bertrand Russell and Christopher Hitchens on philosophy, Newton and Maxwell on science, and for historical colour, Marcus Aurelius and Alexander TG, but of course this list changes on a regular basis, usually every time the question is raised! 

One of the best (modern) jokes on this subject that I've seen recently is someone being asked this question in an interview, and his reply was a gem, he said, "Nigel Farage" followed by a pause and then the word "dead", a sign of the time perhaps.

Friday Smirk

The lad's discussing how religions (particularly Islam) are divisive, that they certainly are, they wouldn't have any power over people if they weren't.

Can't argue with new life

I had a nice surprise today, on my daily walk I noticed a couple of fluffy little additions to the life of the pond that I stroll by most days. Two young Moorhens were running around in the grass at the edge of the water being closely monitored by a parent! A sign of new life, hopefully these little critters will do well. I did think that "my pond" was looking rather poorly this year, overgrown and slightly stinky, but I guess I was wrong, at least the Moorhens think so and I can't argue with them!

Chilly welcome

While out walking today I saw my first Swift of the year. These little birds migrate all the way from down in Africa, covering some 6,000 miles each way, an amazing feat of navigation and endurance. I bet the little bird I saw today was wishing he'd stayed in Africa, it feels very chilly here in the UK at the moment as we're in a pocket of arctic air that's sweeping down from the frozen north with gusty winds, rain and thunder, hopefully it'll warm up a bit for the little fella soon!

Forbidden excitement

A box of wine (bottles!) arrived yesterday morning, it's a case of 12 bottles of white wine from France (via a London merchant) and one of my favourite producers in the Maconnais called "Verget". This particular wine, one of many different types and regions that Verget work in, is called "Saint Veran Lieu (Inter)dit", in French the word "Interdit" means forbidden and this wine has that label because it comes from a place (or "Lieu" in French) called Cote Rotie (or "Roasted Slope" in English) in Saint Veran. 

Now Cote Rotie is also the name of a very famous area in the Northern Rhone (not Burgundy) famous for making brooding reds from the Syrah grape rather than floral and mineral whites from Chardonnay, and the producers in Saint Veran aren't allowed to use that name in case there's a mix up between the two regions, hence "forbidden". Anyway, it's a nice little story and the wine is probably one of the best examples from this appellation, mid-priced (around £20 a bottle) but boy is it good, it also disappears from the merchants pretty quickly whenever a batch is released, can't wait to try it! (I will report back)

Bearwood

We found ourselves driving around our locale on Saturday afternoon (after visiting a garden centre) and decided to pop into a brand new craft brewery/taproom on the outskirts of our home town. Called "Bearwood Brewing" it's named after an area to the West of the town called "Bear Wood" where there used to be a big old public school belonging to the Royal Merchant Navy that had lush grounds and even a large lake, but which closed down in 2014, there's a golf course on the site now. 

Anyway, the brewery and taproom is situated (as most of them are) in a light industrial estate on the outskirts of town, surrounded by tattoo establishments, pole dancing schools and car repair shops it felt a little out of place to be having a drink there but hey ho, in for a penny etc.. The venue itself was clean and nicely decked out and the range of taps on offer numerous, most of the beers available were their own but they also had a couple of guest beers and some zero alcohol options. I opted for a hazy pale ale (Accomplices) made with Citra and Nelson, it was well made, balanced and flavoursome but a little light on the body, I think it weighed in at around 5% but perhaps needed a little more umph! Not a bad effort though, I'm sure it takes a while for a brewery to bed-in and for the core range to emerge!

Unfortunately we only had time for a quick half, it would have been nice to stay a bit longer and try one of their tasting flights, another time..

Sunday Sermon

 

Luckily, these days, no one in their right mind would base their entire moral and ethical foundation on a primitive bronze age story book... oh, wait..

V. Citra

Had one of these last night, it's a NEIPA beer from Verdant made with 100% Citra hops called "All of this may be untrue". It's an absolute haze bomb, delightful tropical fruit flavours, dank and a solid bitter (ish) finish, a really nice beer and at 4.9% ABV not too head harming! Unfortunately I only had the one can, sourced from the "fridge of dreams" at Elusive, however I'm aiming to visit Verdant's Penryn taproom at some point this year so who knows, maybe I'll be able to try it on keg fresh from source (that would be awesome!) ...

Friday Smirk

The boys talking about the absurdity of the concept of "facing Mecca" on a planet that's a sphere! I wonder how many human beings in history have stressed about this, I bet it's quite a few, we're such silly sausages sometimes..

Vote

Voted today in our council elections, but TBH it was more a vote against who I didn't want rather than who I did...

Midweek Mirth

I've attended a few interviews like this over the years..

Thirst Quencher

Had a new beer from Elusive over the weekend, it's a pale ale made with NZ hops (Motueka) with added lime juice called "Zesty" (it's well named!). The overall effect is a bit like a lager and lime, pale and crisp with a very prominent citrus backbone. This one would be perfect for warmer weather and BBQs, really easy to drink and only 4.5% ABV a real thirst quencher!

Local Stories

An old photograph (50s?) taken in my home town showing the Tudor house at the end of Broad Street (the old market street), a really interesting building complete with wooden beams, warped floorboards and ceilings that struggle to reach 5ft tall! Amazingly in recent years this was the town's doctors surgery, there were at least a dozen GP's in there practicing medicine from tiny little dark paneled rooms. The upper floor window on the left was one of the waiting rooms, my infant son projectile vomited in there on one visit and I had to scoop it all up with paper towels from the toilet, ah the joys of parenting! These days the old place has been converted into apartments (like a lot of places in town) although we all remember the days when it had the faint whiff of disinfectant and the sounds of red-faced people sitting around in 16th century rooms, sniffing and sneezing..

Monday Walk

We're lucky to live in a town with decent shops, pubs and restaurants and also great rail connections into London and beyond but also we're not too far away from open countryside. We walked a 10k loop today that took us out into woods and fields (see above) where the scene was completely rural, quiet (apart from birdsong) cows in the fields and daisies everywhere, it was lush!

Low ABV crown

Had one of these over the weekend, it's a low alcohol table beer from Beak (Lewes, Sussex) called "Fjords". Now, I haven't had a Beak beer for a couple of years now, it's quite hard to get hold of and you don't see it much in beer fridges around the place. I managed to snag this one from the Elusive taproom in Finchampstead, they had a couple of Beak beers in their beer fridge this weekend, also known as, the "fridge of dreams"! The ale itself was good, smooth, creamy and full of hop flavour, in this case a mix of Citra, Mosaic and Galaxy a classic combo which puts this beer in direct competition with "People Money Space Time" from Verdant. It's a close run thing but for a low ABV table beer I think Verdant still takes the crown, keep trying though Beak!

Runny Hooters

Out on my daily walk yesterday and noticed these Horse Chestnut blossoms, such pretty things, never really noticed them before, apart from their pollen making my hooter run at this time of year!

Friday Smirk

The boys discussing the rather ludicrous rituals that pervade their respective religions, as we atheists often remark to our religious brothers and sisters. All those thousands of other religions are a bit daft, obviously fake and stupid, but yours, yours is the right one, no question.

Ted's dead baby..

Much sadness in our household as the news that Ted, the Patterdale Terrier on the program "Gone Fishing" has died was released today. Not often you see real character in an animal but this little chap was full of it, much like his two co-stars, so long Ted and don't forget your briefcase!

Sign o the times..

New (Banksy) statue in London, certainly a theme for our times, faux patriotism and (blind) nationalism on the rise (again!)

London Stories

A view of Battersea Power Station (are we allowed to call it that anymore?) looking up from the ground. 

We visited the recently renovated turbine halls and surrounding developments back in March of this year to visit an Egyptian exhibition going on in one of the warehouse-like buildings that are adjacent to the main power station building. Inside the station itself is an upscale (aka posh) shopping centre and various bars and restaurants, it's a nice space, very respectfully done, I believe you can also ascend one of the chimneys for what is probably a spectacular view from 100 metres up, we will return!

Midweek Mirth

Seems reasonable..

Memories

The recent warm weather in the UK reminded me of our trip earlier in the year to South Africa. Such a colourful and diverse place, we had a really great time there and ticked quite a few of our (retirement) bucket list items. I leave you with the view from our hotel room at our first stop Cape Town, it's the back of the famous Table Mountain which dominates the skyline of the city and provides a magnificent backdrop to the place. We vowed that we would return (kerosene availability permitting!) sometime in the next few years, being firmly in the Southern Hemisphere it's a great place to escape the grey, cold Northern Hemisphere months of January and February providing a welcome shot of Vitamin D and a boost to the old immune system when you need it most!!

New old beer

Soundwave is one of the original Siren beers (founded in 2013), I first came across it back in 2014 and at that time it tasted new and interesting as well as bloody delicious! Now Siren has reinvented the beer using bang up to date hop products and adjuncts, some of these include Columbus Cryo, Terpenes and various hop extracts. This translates into a light, dry, crisp and flavoursome beer, this one will be an absolute killer on a hot Summer day IMO, citrus fruits, dank, decent bitterness and a delicious grapefruit backbone running through it, I like it (still!)

Sunny Sharks

My second "garden beer" of the season and it's not even May yet! I must say this sunny spell we're having in the UK at the moment is most welcome, life seems to hold so many more possibilities when it isn't cold and chucking it down with rain. For those that are interested this is a beer from my favourite producer, Verdant down in Penryn, Cornwall. It's called "Even Sharks Need Water" and one that I've had a few times before over the years, never gets old, always tastes absolutely banging!

Friday Smirk

The lads pointing out that praying to a rock in a box is about as effective as praying to an imaginary deity, stuff seems to work roughly as frequently as you'd expect by pure chance..

Interesting

Thought this chart was interesting (if true), the more Trump bangs on about NATO the more I think he's either lying (normal) or simply ignorant (likely) or both (the possibility that he might have a point never really comes up). The US military budget applies to the whole globe and is allocated as such, the proportion dedicated  to the North Atlantic (or more accurately Europe) is probably completely commensurate with the fact that most of the population of the USA is living around the "North Atlantic" and expect a state defense strategy. Ah Americans, can't live with them, can't steal their resources and shoot them in the face..

Emergencies

I always used to find this work avoidance strategy worked particularly well with salesmen, especially on Friday afternoons when they were trying to position their total lack of planning and foresight as a great "opportunity" (aka "emergency") for you that weekend.

**Yay, 100 posts this year so far**

Midweek Analysis

When I was a young boy I thought we'd have flying cars and robot butlers by 2026, instead we have...

Blast from the past

A blast from the past, a collaboration beer by Verdant and Garage made for their Little Summer Beer Bash 2025 which my Son and I attended in Falmouth, Cornwall. We spent a glorious weekend down there just chilling out, eating great seafood, attending the festival and playing snooker it was lush! This beer, nearly a year on, tastes exactly the same, dank, citrus and so easy to drink a real Summer pleaser. It's a shame there's no festival in Cornwall this year, the organisers have decided to locate it in Bristol instead, ah well, we're quite partial to a bit of Briz too!

Monday Mirth

I always like a pub that's got a decent food menu..

Rock Gods?

 

The recent Artemis 2 rocket that passed around the dark side of the Moon took 42 minutes and 50 seconds to transition, during this time communication with Earth was cut (i.e. the Moon was in the way!) This fact is scary enough but not as spooky as the fact that the running time of the Pink Floyd album "Dark Side of the Moon" is exactly 42 minutes and 50 seconds. Gilmour = God? you heard it here first!

Leanings?

You pays your money and takes your choice, I know which side I lean towards..

Friday Smirk

I guess that's a fail then...

 

Lafite of the Languedoc

We had a bottle of this the other weekend, it's a wine from the South of France (Languedoc) called "Mas de Daumas Gassac" It's made from Cabernet Sauvignon (80% - a grape not usually used much in the far South) along with a mix of more indigenous varietals such as Grenache and Cinsault. I've been a big fan of this wine for many years, the concentration and depth of flavour is invariably superb and the tasting cues just a little left of centre giving it lasting appeal. It's often referred to as "the Lafite of the Languedoc" a nickname thoroughly well deserved IMO, good value for money, especially when compared to the real Lafite from Bordeaux!

Midweek Mirth

Whatever happened to the "Metaverse"? When are these "Tech-bros" going to realise that real reality is much more interesting than a crappy virtual reality created by people who exhibit minimal social skills..

Snow Like

Lot's of blossom around at the moment, taken last weekend, here's a particularly beautiful example next to our local church, almost snow like and a lovely blue sky to go with it! 

Up and Coming

We went to Windsor last weekend and had a mooch around the town, I dropped into the Two Flints taproom which is located under one of the railway arches in the town centre. While there I picked up a couple of cans, one of which is pictured above, it's a DIPA made with a ton of Nelson hops and delicious it was! White wine and citrus oozing out of every sip, I've had a few of this Brewery's brews over the last couple of years and they seem to be getting better and better, up and coming, you could say!

Benchmarks

So here's my Spring benchmark tree, picture taken on 10th April 2026, looks about the same as 8th April 2024 so hopefully Summer in on track to arrive, it would be nice to have a good one this year.

Champagne Socialism

You couldn't make this stuff up! Peter Mandelson, that Champagne Socialist Grifter supreme has been fined (or will be) for "urinating in the street", not any street mind you but one of the hallowed pavements of Notting Hill after a dinner at George Osborne's gaff, no doubt funded by the tax payer! 

It's rich isn't it, these parasites get to run around London living their best lives while most people in our country stress over how they're going to pay their next gas bill. Such is the nature of the left these days, it seems to corrupt its followers and promote a headspace devoid of any link to reality,! Mind you, the right aren't much better, what ever happened to a strong and rational centre in politics, I miss it dearly!

Friday Smirk

The boys talking to the barmaid about the biggest issue for our religious brothers and sisters, the problem of evil, first tackled before Christianity or Islam were even invented via the Euthyphro dilemma back in Plato's day. You could argue that God did create evil, and we call it religion, at least that would partially concur with the evidence of history.

Midweek Mirth

Just about every corporate sales and marketing meeting I've ever been to..