Winchester pints

I took the train down to Winchester last week to meet up with an old friend for a pint (see above), a gossip and some food at the Wykeham Arms. I hadn't seen this chap since we were 10 years old (over 50 years ago!), when our families used to live in Portsmouth and we were best buddies at junior school, we only knew each other for a couple of years as my family moved away and his remained and we never kept in touch. Anyway, he found me on Facebook a while back and we determined to meet up and chew the fat over old times, last Friday evening we did just that. 

It was great fun remembering our school days and the many times we got into trouble and it was interesting that I remembered events that he didn't and vice versa. It was also very spooky that, over the last 50 years, we'd lead very similar lives, he'd ended up in the technology industry much like me and we both travelled around the world with our work and ended up back in the UK with grown up families and lives in the leafy home counties. We ended the evening around 8pm as I had to catch a train back  to Reading but we agreed that we'd meet again soon for a "re-match", now that I'm retired it's great to be able to do such things at anytime...

Grown Ups

Congratulations to Mark Carney for a historic win in the parliamentary elections in Canada. It's a country I have a great fondness for and have visited many times, I used to work for a Canadian company based in Ottawa and it was the longest tenure I ever had with any company, nice place, nice people. I remember when Carney was the Governor of the Bank of England he seemed like the only grown up in a political landscape blighted by man-children like Boris, if he could have run for Prime Minister of this country at the time I suspect he'd have won easily. I'm hoping that Carney will continue his current resolute battle against that other great "man-child" of our age, Trump, the idea that Canada should become part of the USA is beyond the pale, a reason for Europeans to distrust America even more.

20 Watt Treat

So, having purchased the complete set of "n Watt" beers from Verdant I cracked one of these open this weekend to try. My, my, what a delicious beer, hazy, creamy, tropical and so smooth a real treat..!

Monday Mirth

Sounds about right..

 

Noticing

It was St. Georges day this week, I must say I didn't really notice...

Weekend Smile

Yeah, what ever happened to the "metaverse"?

Friday Smirk

A new J&M for a little end of the week smirk. This question is a real problem for moderate and tolerant Muslims, many try to swerve around it by claiming that this rule only applies in "Muslim countries" but we all know why the rule really exists, the Christians would have the same rule if they thought they could get away with it! Fortunately a thousand years of power erosion by secular society has eased them to the touchline when it comes to making laws for the rest of us.

100 today

This is a post about nothing really, it's just my 100th so far this year and deserves a shout out. To accompany it here's a wonderful drone shot of "The Tower" at dusk a top London landmark both to see and to visit.

Careful!

I noticed one of these signs the other day on my daily walk, apparently we have hedgehogs, I never knew! I will certainly take more care as I'm driving around, particularly at night, I wonder if the population of hedgehogs is increasing or decreasing, so many questions, I must do more research!

Love Hilux?

I love the way that the craft beer industry in the UK is so small and local that the names of the beers are completely baffling. This one is from Verdant and totally delicious, but what the heck does the name mean? Apparently, according to the owner of Verdant, this name relates to a chap (called Roy) who frequented the early taproom down in Penryn, Cornwall who was always preaching the merits of "Toyota, Hilux" vehicles. We can only hope that Roy liked this beer, I can honestly say that I love it but I'm not interested in a Hilux, does that count?

"Better"?

Two meals I had while in London the other week. Firstly (LHS) is a "greasy spoon" at the appropriately named "Breakfast Club" in London Bridge, and secondly (RHS) a rather fancy Lobster Tostada at the Michelin starred "Dorian" in Notting Hill, the interesting question was which one was better?

Firstly, of course, you have to define what you mean by "better", is it cheaper, or is it tastier or is it even which establishment had the better ambience? Of course, this is a highly subjective question which leads to an infinite regress of "betters". So, my definition (for that day) is which one did I enjoy the most and the answer (predictably) was neither, they were both equally enjoyable.

Some people seem to judge things (mainly) by price, I've lost count of the number of posts in beer forums where people from the North of the country are incredulous about the "price of beer in London", their logic is that a £4 pint is superior to a £7 pint, full stop. It doesn't matter to them that the beer they are drinking is some mass produced, accountant driven recipe from AB InBev, verses a hand crafted, no expense spared, one-off creation by a couple of blokes in a garage in Bermondsey, the key (I think) here is context.

So, the "context" of these two meal was as follows, firstly the Michelin starred one was my treat to my Daughter and her two flat-mates, celebrating happy co-existence and friendship and down to the fact that both her flat mates both work in starred hospitality in London and get a 50% lunch discount at said establishment! Secondly, after much delightful conversation and excellent food (and wine!) I was feeling a bit fuzzy the next morning and decided to treat myself to a slap up "English Breakfast" in the Borough!

Both meals were an experience, both were delicious (according to their context) and both memorable for different reasons, in my view it's impossible to say which was "better" without some qualification. I'd have either again, and, I'd probably enjoy them equally as much depending on the context. It's ultimately (in my view) not about the molecules, but about the human experience.

Decent Geezer

Back in May last year, one sunny afternoon, we ventured up to Ealing, West London and visited the Pitzhanger Manor and Gallery, it was a fascinating place and was the "country seat" of Sir John Soane an architect and designer of 18th century des-res for the rich and famous. While in London last week I had an hour to kill while waiting to take my Son to lunch and decided to pop into John Soane's house Museum. Sitting just behind High Holborn and adjacent to Lincoln's Inn Field the building was his London residence which he essentially turned into a huge collection of ancient artifacts. The house hasn't been materially changed since Soane died in 1815 and was preserved via a private act of Parliament (Soane was obviously well connected, and as well as totally minted!).

It's a fascinating place, so much "stuff" and the interior of the house is like a labyrinth of floors and passageways all full of items that Soane collected during his life. There's even an authentic Egyptian sarcophagus in the basement in perfect condition, you can even see the hieroglyphs that were etched onto the inside of the stone vessel, totally amazing. It's pretty unbelievable that one man could amasses such a collection but it's all the real McCoy and I'm sure there's even more pieces in a storage room somewhere, or on the upper floors which were closed off to the public.

The painting above shows Soames at the height of his powers, I can't help thinking that he looks like a friendly chap! Of lowly birth (his Father was a brick layer in Goring on Thames) he worked his way up the greasy pole of London society through architectural skill, innovation and networking to emerge a wealthy and talented man of his time, friends with the likes of J.M.W. Turner (the painter) and designer of prestigious buildings like the Bank of England.

It's a fascinating place, well worth a couple of hours on a sunny afternoon in town, it costs nothing to enter too, which is all thanks to the endowment that Soanes left for future generations, an all round decent geezer I reckon!

I mean what's not to like about an authentic 18th century dining and reception room, untouched for over 200 years!

Night at the Theatre

We went up to town and to the theatre last week and saw the play "The Unicorn" at the Garrick (see picture above) starring Nicola Walker, Stephen Mangan and Erin Doherty. It's a good show, challenging content designed to make any well established married folk feel decidedly uncomfortable! It's about a classically middle-class couple who embark on a voyage of discovery into having a threesome with a younger woman, heady stuff with lots of twists and turns, but brilliantly acted and with a delightful script full of humour and human experience, well worth a trip!

Complete Set

I picked up a few Verdant cans this week to consume with friends over the long weekend. In particular I grabbed a complete set of "Moons", the names of these beers is 10, 20 and 40 Watt Moon and each has the exact same recipe but increased ABV and hop doses. The 10 is 4.5%, 20 weighs in at 6.5% and the 40 is a whopping 8%, each has the same flavour profile which comes from Strata and Citra hops both hot and cold side, and they're all flippin delicious. Definite candidates for the big list this year and fascinating to try side-by-side..

Friday Smirk

J&M pointing out the obvious conflict between Science and Religion (or all wish-thinking based dogmas), much as the apologists would like to twist and contort their philosophies in an attempt to re-write reality.

Summer predictors

So, here's a picture of my "benchmark" springtime indicator tree, taken on the 15th of April. As can be seen it's pretty much fully out in terms of blossom, this compares quite favourably with previous years..

• April 18th 2019
• April 25th 2021
• April 14th 2022
• April 19th 2023
• April 10th 2024

I'm not sure that this necessary indicates a good Summer to come, last year full blossom was a week earlier but the rain was relentless the whole year, so...

5 Years Later

Had one of these at the weekend, it's a West Coast style IPA from Siren and Green Cheek (USA) that was first brewed in 2020 (i.e. five years ago) that version hit the dizzy heights of #2 in my beers of the year. This is the second re-brewing by Siren the first being in 2023 when the a tweaked recipe reached #14 on my list that year, the competition for Westys was fierce that year though. This version is more like the original, perhaps a tad more bitter but none the worse for it, classic West Coast flavours and utterly drinkable, it'll be interesting to see where it comes on the list this year, or will it even make it at all? It's been a stellar year for outstanding collaborations in the craft beer scene so far!

Midweek Mirth

 Who ever this receipt belongs to is having a lot more fun than me!

Tuesday Titter

How America see's the rest of the world ATM..

New Box

I noticed that we seem to have a brand new shiny post box at the end of our street, it's been updated to show the logo of the latest monarch (not shorthand for Carriage Return in the ASCII character set, in case you were confused..)

Tariff Tragedies

It's with great sadness that I have to announce the loss of a few UK and local businesses as a direct result of Trumps recent tariff frenzy. A local bra manufacturer has gone bust, a submarine company has gone under, a maker of food blenders has gone into liquidation, a dog kennel has had to call in the retrievers and a company supplying paper for origami ethusiasts has folded. Many of our most well known strip clubs have gone tits up, even Interflora is pruning it's staff and Dyno-rod has gone down the drain. The saddest of all though is the ice cream van man found dead covered in nuts and raspberry sauce, he just couldn't take it any more and topped himself...

Saturday Smirk

Sounds like American tariffs..

Friday Smirk

Yeah that's what most religions really are, observations of psychological behaviour pretending to be deep insights into the mind of a supposed "creator" and a huge dose of parochial self interest and desire to control others.

Brain Bruiser

Tried one of these last weekend, it's an imperial stout made by EvilTwin from NYC and Siren, it's not their first rodeo as this beer has been brewed several times before but this version is slightly tweaked and even more heady weighing in at a brain bruising 12%. Luckily my Son was home and we shared this can, it was delicious however, rich malted grains, chocolate, coffee and a banging licorice tinge, great stuff!

Old Banks

Went for a long walk through the woods in Crowthorne the other day and came across this section of banked track, it seemed totally weird that it would be in the middle of a forest but then I remembered that this area used to be part of the "TRL" or the transport research laboratory. This organisation was set up in 1933 to investigate all things roads, traffic and vehicle safety and their test tracks used to be spread all over this forest, which used to be closed to the public. Now all their test tracks are slowly being reclaimed by the forest critters but some, like this high speed section of track, still lurk in the woods waiting to be discovered.

Putty Friday

I had half an hour to kill last Friday while waiting for a train in Reading so I popped into the RG1 bar (Siren) to see if there was anything new. To my great surprise they had two Verdant beers on (as guests) Putty and Puttty the famous DIPA and TIPA that are released every January and are like hens teeth to get hold of. I missed them this year as we were doing dry January and by the time I visited their web site to buy a few cans they's all been sold out. 

Anyway, this year's Putty was certainly up to scratch, it tasted to me like there was more Nelson than usual, maybe they'd tweaked the recipe but I'm not complaining it's one of my favourite hops. Such a good idea to hold a keg or two back and a great stroke of luck to be trying Putty in April!

Monday Mirth

Sounds about right, I wonder what Americans are going to pay for their coffee or their bananas now, fuckwits...

Weekend Wink..

 Seems like the rational choice for Canada, and the USA (at least the "thinking" parts) ..

Miami Vice - Part 4

 

So, after a fairly uneventful 3 hour drive up from Naples we arrived in St. Pete's and checked into our Hotel. We'd booked in for five nights and were looking forward to some serious relaxation, St. Pete's is well known for it's craft beer scene and I was particularly interested to see what was around and how it might be different from say, the scene in London or New York etc. St. Pete's is a scruffy place, not like the shining glass and steel towers of Miami more like Shoreditch (but with Sunshine!) but what it lacks in modern sparkle it makes up for in authenticity and genuine, welcoming and slightly left of centre people.

The weather was cracking, around 28 degrees without the slightest hint of humidity, perfect for walking around popping into the odd museum, eating ice creams by the sea and, of course, visiting some really distinct and interesting taprooms. First on this list was St. Pete brewing, their brewery being only a ten minute walk from our hotel, most of the familiar styles were on offer, I opted for a nice hazy IPA to kick things off with (see above) but they also had a bunch of more esoteric options like sours and imperial stouts, we had all week so I only had the one, which was delicious, and we moved on.

Most of the tourist and restaurant action was happening along the sea-front, thats where most of the "TTD's" (things to do) were too. For our dinner we opted for steaks (and usual accompanyments) and I was pleased to pair it with a wine from Ridge (one of my favourite US producers) and doubly pleased to see that it was a lot cheaper than the same bottle in the UK (about 2/3 price!) I must say that we noticed a general trend for things, especially restaurants, being significantly more expensive that the last time we were in the USA (2022), maybe that was a Florida/Tourist thing but some of the prices were truely eye-watering and the quality of the food not great value for money compared to, say, London.

During our stay in St. Pete's we visited several museums and galleries, there were a couple of stand-outs, firstly the fine art museum in the centre of downtown. They had an exhibition of Ansel Adams photographs, I love his work and it was a real treat to see the originals! (see below)

I particularly liked this one of Half Dome in the snow, I seem to remember having a poster of this on my bedroom wall back in the 80's! Another place that took our fancy was the Salvador Dalí museum, an unlikely setting for such a place but apparently a couple of uber-rich people who lived in St. Pete's back in the day, had a long standing friendship with the artist and collected over 90 of his paintings, including some of the really well known ones! It was a really cool place, more melting clocks that you can shake a lobster at!

To finish off our stay in the area we visited perhaps the most well known of all the craft brewers from there, "Green Bench". For those in the know this producer has had a string of well regarded brews that have even made it as far as the wilds of Berkshire England, and I was keen to try a few from source!

Their tap room is a rather splendid space (above) with loads of outside seating, a really chilled place to sup a few beers. I opted for a couple of their hazy numbers (see below) all of them were excellent, fresh as you like and really distinct flavour profiles and in thirty degree heat they were just the job!

After a really pleasent afternoon in the sunshine at Green Bench we retired back to downtown and our last dinner in St. Pete's. 

The next morning we awoke early and loaded up the car to make the 4 hour drive back to MIA and our flight back to London that evening. Fortunately, our Airbus A380 was waiting and everything was on time, the jet stream was particularly strong over the North Atlantic and the night seemed to pass really quickly. Arriving into a misty Heathrow at around 6 in the morning I was very pleased to have kept a warm jacket in my backpack, it felt freezing! 

Anyway, a successful holiday, relaxed and interesting, I learnt a lot more about Florida and in particular the craft beer scene there, we both felt that maybe some day in the future (perhaps post Trump) we'll be back!

I wonder..

So, that talentless grifter Russell Brand has been formally charged with rape and sexual assault, I wonder if bears shit in the forest, the truth is out there somewhere...

Hey America..

Hey, Americans, guess what, the rest of the world will never trust your country or what your leaders say ever again, ever....  I spent a couple of weeks in the USA back in March and every American (yes, every single one!)  we spoke to in bars and restaurants etc. started the conversation with "we apologise for Trump". After the totally unecessary carnage on the markets today we're all looking forward to seeing all those garment sweat-shops opening in Ohio and New Hampshire! So, good luck, I hope you know what you're doing, we won't be back anytime soon...

Friday Smirk

Jesus and Mo illuminating the very real cognitive dissonance that our religious brothers and sisters suffer from when it comes to the subject of homosexuality (well, sexuality in general really) anyway, if their Gods didn't want it why'd he make them that way... still waiting...

Futuristic IPA

Tried one of these last weekend, it's one of the three celebration beers made by Siren for their 12th birthday (hence the logo on the can). Called "Persistence of time" it's an IPA made with some rather futuristic ingredients. Firstly the hops are all experimental varietals including Incognito®, Super Sauvin®, Cryo®, Dynaboost® and Hyperboost® it also contains "cannabis Terpenes" which are the chemical aroma and flavour elements (essential oils) of the cannabis plant. It was interesting to see if I could pick out the flavours but since hops are very closely related to cannabis anyway, and often very similar in flavour profile I couldn't honestly say that I detected anything particularly different. This beer is exceptionally "dank" (i.e. weedy) though, which people often say is typical of cannabis, anyway, certainly a futuristic IPA

Rainbow Boozer

Walking into town late last Sunday evening we noticed this rather odd rainbow effect on the side of a chimney stack on top of a local pub. It wasn't obvious what was casting the colours but the sun was very intense and there are a bunch of road signs (with reflective backgrounds) on the junction below, possibly the cause of this rather attractive lighting effect, either that or God is sending me a message telling me to drink more beer in this boozer, I think I should obey such a "sign", don't you?

Better than the original

Tried one of these at the weekend, one of Siren's 11th birthday celebration beers it's a spin on their house IPA "Lumina" except it's a lot hazier and also at 5.4% a bigger mouthfeel and a little richer and deeper in taste profile, I like it, better than the original IMO.