First of the Season

Had my first "Garden Beer" of the season on Monday, it was warm enough (only just!) here in the UK to sit in a sheltered part of my garden and ponder life while supping on a splendid West Coast IPA from Siren. This beer is an old friend and has been re-brewed several times over the years, it's always good and a perfect example of the style (which I like!) Resinous, grapefruit, bitter with a sweet finish, a delicious beer and ideal for our variable climate!

Tapas Trials

It was my Daughter's birthday in March and we treated her and a mate to a meal at an up and coming restaurant in Shoreditch called Legato. It's a Spanish restaurant and has one of those menus that's focused on providing plates that the whole table share, I'm less keen on this format, for me whenever I visit these "modern" kinds of places I leave feeling like I've paid for a full plate of food but haven't eaten one! Anyway, the kids love it and I suppose it makes for a more social experience as everyone tries everything. There's also hardly ever any waste as there's always someone on the table that's wants to finish off the less popular dishes, so I guess it has that going for it!

On the wine front the list was dominated by Spanish wines, now, I'm no expert on the wines of Spain and so I retreated to one of the regions of that country that I do know reasonably well, the Ribera Del Duero. I was glad I did and, after generously allowing me to try a few wines, the sommelier pointed me in the direction of this little number (see picture above) It was classic Ribera, dark red fruits, nicely integrated oak and a decent finish, not a producer I was familiar with but a good choice to match with the meat heavy menu! A nice evening and good food, the restaurant has recently won a Michelin star and it's well deserved.

RA @ O2

When up in town the other weekend we went to the O2 to see Richard Ashcroft in concert (see picture above) it was a good gig, the man was on good form and belted out many of his greatest hits including Bitter Sweet Symphony (his last song) which was a bit of an anthem for us back in 1997!

Something struck me, how many people were wandering around the place getting drinks, it seemed to be a never ending stream of folks going back and forth to the bar and then the toilet, constant movement which was a bit of a distraction from the show! I've not noticed this phenomenon before, mostly when we go to concerts we find our seat and stay put until the end! I guess this is "commercialization" in action, everything is a food and drink consumer opportunity these days, including music venues it seems..

Lucky #13

My local craft brewer Siren had their thirteenth birthday last week, unfortunately I couldn't make it to the party at the brewery as we were in London but I did buy the birthday beers. The picture above shows one of the three brews, called "Lucky Numbers" it's a haze bomb made with Idaho 7 hops it's thick, dank and sticky, tasty but at 7% one can is plenty, no point pushing your luck.

Kingdom

Spotted in Windsor today, Banksy? (probably not) I approve of the sentiment though..

Friday Smirk

The lads proving the point that a lot of the details about many religions do sound stupid when you say them out loud, jus sayin..

Midweek Mirth

Best of luck to the Astronauts headed for the moon, we watched the launch last night and it was magnificent! It's just a shame the American spirit of creativity, innovation and discovery isn't pervasive in the leadership of that once great nation.

Life Savers

One of my favourite albums of all time, released on this day in 1978, 48 years ago (OMG!!) We listened to this endlessly when I was at boarding school, music was probably the only thing that enabled us to be individuals, a life saver.