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As a matter of fact Thor, my beer drinking is ALWAYS about the social aspect as much as the actual consumption. My days of going out to get 'spiffed' are long gone thank goodness.
That's what prompted my Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular post. The fact that two main passions collided! The backdrop of a pub full of fellow fans, with real ale in hand, wife, friends, and even pretty barmaids asking about DW was too good a combination to not report!
Even my afternoons after work are about the social side. In both pubs there are regulars that are good to see and chat with. Much banter and nonsense is spoken on a wide range of subjects. These pubs are 'locals', places which changes in society are slowly eroding as pub closures continue, and we are making it our duty to retain a hugely enjoyable part of the British way of life! That's our excuse and we're stuck with it!
Events like the above and the Danny Elfman concert where we all met up for a meal before hand are the icing on the cake where these forums and our interests are concerned. It's one thing to sit on here and chat across the web, but it's even better when it facilitates the more outgoing side of our common interests.
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Social events, huh? Well, try these:
For beer lovers, an event is coming up in early August which I think must count as one of the biggest of its kind in all of Europe. Speaking as a member of CAMRA, I daresay it's an unmissable event. 
Unlike the Okotoberfest e.g., which is all about getting sloshed on the same kind of beer and ogling the waitress's cleavage, this is a real beer event, especially since it moved back from the rather impersonal Earl's Court Exhibition Centre to the more picturesque, Victorian-age Kensington Olympia. 55,000 people came last year. Advance booking is highly recommended!
There's also a London Craft Beer Festival taking place at the same time (God knows why!), in Bethnal Green. Info can be found here:
http://www.londoncraftbeerfestival.co.uk/home/
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Posted: |
Jun 3, 2015 - 4:47 AM
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By: |
Thor
(Member)
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Sounds excellent, limited, but is it only for British beers? A beer festival is not complete with a proper selection of international brands.
And paul, I agree with you. The social aspect is incredibly important. However, there are times when I have no plans a given Friday, I just stay in with me and myself, enjoying a good selection of beers (or occasionally, a few glasses of wine). It's OK to get a bit tipsy alone now and then, I think, without being labelled an alcoholic.
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Sounds excellent, limited, but is it only for British beers? A beer festival is not complete with a proper selection of international brands.
There are many international beers as well, some on tap, more from the bottle. American beers are often on tap.
Plus there's a couple of hundred ciders & perries. The British believe they're part of the beer family.
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Cider? Like it, but being a beer drinker, I choose not to usually. Drinking in the home is usually confined to wine on days when my wife has no work the next day. We share a bottle for the evening. Beer in the house is rare, except when at Christmas relatives always buy it for me as presents. So naturally there's only one thing to do with it! Hell, I even drink the whiskey and other spirits if it's been given. It would be rude not to!
Usually however, beer - and I only drink 'real' hand pulled beer - is nearly always enjoyed in the pub. The two are best enjoyed together for me. The best pubs to find international beers in the UK are the real ale pubs. They tend to stock the wider range of such things, and of course the Wetherspoons chain tries to keep up with this.
Usually I'm to be found supporting my two locals, but occasionally make a trip to my nearest city, Sheffield, for a trip or 'pub crawl' to the nicknamed 'Beer Valley', where a cluster of independent small real ale pubs is to be found. More expensively, but of excellent quality, is The Sheffield Tap - http://www.sheffieldtap.com/ - right on Platform 1 of the rail station. Very well stocked with bottled beers, and draught - from all over the world.
But yes. I too have been known to have a wee tipple at home. If I'm home alone, when I can ramp up the volume on my favourite soundtracks, or some genre viewing I must confess I have enjoyed one or two beverages of the alcoholic kind.
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Great, t_l_e2. Precisely the area we call Beer Valley. I was drinking at The Fat Cat in the 80s when Sheffield was almost a real ale desert. They were the ground breakers. And now there's a real cluster around it. Don't forget the Harlequin, The Wellington and The Riverside! http://www.riversidesheffield.co.uk/
It's been a while since I went to The Devonshire Cat. As you say, it's definitely the most family friendly. Nice food.
But I also notice on your photo of the bar at The Sheffield Tap, a pump clip from Chantry Brewery of Rotherham. http://www.chantrybrewery.co.uk/news.php?id=12
Rotherham is closer to me at about 7 miles away, and their range is pretty solid with me preferring their flagship beer New York Pale. Sean the head man (in the hat) was only in The Market, Elsecar yesterday afternoon. A few years ago he donated a barrel of the excellent Diamond Black Stout to my Laurel and Hardy charity evening. It sold well and all the proceeds went to the charity (think it was Weston Park cancer hospital that year).
We reward him by always calling in both their own Rotherham pubs, The New York Tavern and The Cutlers Arms on our way to our monthly Sons of the Desert meetings, 2nd Monday of each month. This is also the most likely evening of a semi regular visit to the Sheffield Tap. Well, you have to do something whilst waiting for the train home!
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I guess the prices on beer in Norway are through the roof, as pretty much everything in Norway is.
Most expensive pub beers I've seen so far were in the heart of Paris: Up to €10 for a 500ml glass.
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Posted: |
Jun 5, 2015 - 11:38 AM
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By: |
Jim Phelps
(Member)
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It's another sangria weekend here at chez Phelps. Chilean Cabernet that I've blended with Pomegranate, orange, and pineapple juice along with grenadine and sugar. It won't be as sweet-tasting as it sounds, as pomegranate juice isn't all that sweet. I've let the mixture sit overnight in the fridge and will be drinking it alongside the Cuban bistec de palomilla dinner we're preparing tonight.
Sounds delicious! I'm not TOO fond of sweet licor, but there are some exception -- I LOVE Mohitos, for example, as it's just bitter enough inbetween the sweetness to go down like juice.
I'm light on the sugar too, but if not enough is added in making the sangria--along with the other fruit juices--then one might as well be drinking wine instead of sangria. It's amazing how just by sitting overnight in the fridge the wine is transformed into the delight that is sangria. For these summer months sangria--and oh my yes, Mojitos--are ideal for the hotter days.
I tend not to like all the fruit chunk stuff floating around in it, so I usually forego that aspect other than a decorative garnish.
As for the social aspect of all this, it's just me and the missus tonight (we're dealing with her having to have another surgery next month but our [non-alcoholic] spirits are pretty high), so it will be great.
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What happened here? Some posts just disappeared.
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There's no whisky tasting thread on this board, or is there? First new bottle of Single Malt I've opened in many a month - they just take so much time to finish.
Anyway:
ND: Tyrconnell 10 Year Old Irish Single Malt, finished in Sherry casks, 700ml, 46% ABV.
10 years doesn't seem like such a long time, but for an Irish whisky, it is. Most Irish whiskies are either blends or column-still distilled, no-age single malt whiskies (which means: at least 3 years and a day old). Tyrconnell Distillery make such a whisky, too, which costs about half as much as this one. I've been a huge fan of the 10Y Port Cask finish of the same range, so I desperately wanted to try this one, too.
Nose: Lovely baked apple, cooling menthol, faintly sweet sherry (they don't say whether they used Pedro Ximinez or Oloroso casks, nor how long they finished the whisky in it after the customary first maturation in American oak). Some cinnamon. Only a week bit of oak noticeable, distillery character dominates.
Taste: Strong fino sherry at first, a bit of alcohol (after all, it's undiluted 46%). Vanilla. The baked apple surfaces a little while later, with oak now, too, but only a hint. Menthol cools the finish.
Quite lovely, though not up to the Port Cask bottling, which has a bit more depth both in fruit and cask notes.
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