Beers to note - June 2017

Sadly June seemed to be quite a lacking month for standout beers. There were quite a few beers that were memorable for the wrong reasons, but the below are the ones that made it into my Beers to Note for June 2017.


Elvis Juice (BrewDog) - 6.5% | Can 330ml
Wonderful citrus grapefruit beer that doesn't feel anywhere near the ABV quote. Refreshing and enjoyable.




12th of Never Ale (Lagunitas) - 5.5% | Can 330ml
Very pale straw color. Great aroma and good beer with some nice bitter notes.




Summer Legend Easy IPA (Harviestoun) - 3.5% | Can 330ml
Sometimes at these ABVs the flavour fails but this really hit the spot. A session IPA that tastes amazing with its fruity body, and was a pleasure to drink.




Midhurst Mild (Ballards) - 3.5% | Cask Pint
Another low ABV beer during this hot weather and again it hit the right spot. A lightly smoky roasted beer.

London Pub Tour 52 - Balgravia: Traveller's Tavern and Belgravia

There are pubs which I've been in before and their really not to my taste/style/suiting. Call it what you may but as part of the London Pub Tour I'm attempting to record visits to all pubs, so I have to return to those pubs I may not want to. So after work one day I decided to pay a visit to two nearby pubs which I generally don't go to. The first pub I visited was the Traveller's Tavern (SW1W 9RB) which is based right next to the arrivals terminal of Victoria coach station. The pub is a Greene King (Ex-Taylor Walker) and is of course popular with travellers before boarding a coach. There is a small outside seating area which is normally full of people smoking and drinking in the good weather. Entering through the front door the bar is towards the rear on the right left wall. The pub has lots of low tables aimed at dining, and the occasional large booth seating area and a few high tables on the outside. There is a wood floor that leads up to the bar area but the rest of the pub is carpet.

The bar had 4 hand pumps with three on offering up Sharp's Atlantic, GK IPA and Old Speckled Hen. On keg there was Camden Hells and Pale, Stella, Over Easy, Guinness, Hop House 13, Sharp's Pilsner, Fosters and Peroni. I went for old faithful, Stella, at £4.90. There were plenty of seats free so I sat down at a small table. Upon sitting down I noticed two more pumps selling beers from Curious Brew (Chapel Down) - Curious Brew Lager and Curious IPA, drat. The tables offer some space to sit down and have your luggage besides you without blocking up the pub. The walls have fake wood panel wall paper that I see so often in Taylor Walker pubs. An American couple sat down at the table opposite me and all credit to the bar staff member who came over and took their food order considering it's not a table service pub, but then again maybe they know American's tip, or is that me being cynical.

Now I have to explain why I don't like the Traveller's Tavern. For me this always feels a lonely and depressing pub. It's normally full of lone travellers taking up a whole table by themselves milking a soft drink whilst killing time. No conversation, no life, soulless. Add to this I seen the same old woman in here as I did when I last popped in here 8 months ago. Yes I recognised the elder lady. You honestly couldn't mistake her, and I guess this does prove they have at least one regular. Now as I seen they had Curious beer I had to stay and have one of them but the one I wanted to try, the IPA, was off, so instead I settled for a half of the Curious Brew Lager. I've had this beer in bottle before and it tasted much better then. This one tasted quite bland.

I left the Traveller's and walked to the top of the road, turning left at the Natwest and walking to the far corner of the coach station where the buses leave via. Opposite the petrol station here is my final stop the Belgravia (SW1W 9JL). The pub sits underneath a tower block, and is below street level. Walking down the steps leads you into the beer patio which has some benches, metal tables and an outside TV. Now the Belgravia was refurbished and rebranded a few years back as a Sports Bar. The pub doesn't quite meet the sports bar critieria apart from having this outside TV and a three TVs inside. Entering the pub through the cream doors and the bar is directly ahead. The bar itself is cornered in by support pillars so although it stretches slightly to the left and right, all the taps are contained within these support pillars.The pub had two hand pumps serving Landlord and Doombar. In keg there was Punk IPA, Thatchers Gold, Hop House, Guinness, Heineken, Peroni, Strongbow Cloudy, Orchard Pig Reveller, Estrella and Stella.

I bought a pint of Punk IPA which cost £5.80. The pub certainly does attempt to act up market and adding on Sports bar to its tagline, to charge people more for their drink, but it is just an estate pub near Victoria. The floor is wood and the bar is a pale green wood panel. There is a dart board area round to the right. Also on the right are some high tables with high stools. On the left are some larger tables with some cushioned seating running under the front window. There are some stools on the side of the bar which were in use by the regulars. If watching sports in this pub then truly the best place to watch it is outside as inside has too many pillars to disrupt most people's views. All this together leads onto why I don't like this pub. It's attempting to be something it isn't and hoping to charge a premium because of it. Alongside that one time I went in and they had run out of all bar one beer, which was at that time Carling, what a way to run a pub.

The Belgravia though unlike the Traveller's does have locals, so it at least can build up more of a community feel. When I was there an old Irish man was getting the barman to look up some long distance flight prices for him. Those are the little things that I like in pubs, but sadly its the marketing of this pub which I dislike.

Beers to note - January 2017

So there were less pub visits in January than a typical month, mainly due to friends being on Dry January or just not going out due to over expenditure in December. Alongside this I didn't drink too many beers outside of the pub. Just to put this into perspective I had a look through my Untappd stats and for last year my average number of drinks a month was 58 (which obviously doesn't take into account measure e.g. halves, 330ml or pints). For January 2017 my drink total was a lowly 39 which did include a few bottles. So below are my beers to note from January 2017.


Santa Paws (BrewDog) - 4.5% | Keg Pint
This was the beer I used to break my New Year duck and ensure I don't follow Dry January. A Christmas beer in January is normally to be avoided after a certain stage by 2nd January is acceptable. I had this beer previously in bottle format but the keg version was far superior as the flavours were more powerful and better aroma. I hope BrewDog have this one out again next year as its definitely one of the seasonable beers I will look for next year.






Organic Cherry Ale (Samuel Smith's) - 5.1% | Bottle 355ml
I didn't even realise this beer was 5% until checking it out for this list. I do like Sam Smith drinks and these fruit beers are no exception. The only problem with them is the high price they always charge, but the beers are always amazing. Cherry has to be one of my favourite as the smell and taste are so perfect, and what I expect from a fruit beer. It's actually quite refreshing to drink, though certainly not sessionable.






Cake Boy Hazelnut Ale (Meantime) - 5.0% | Keg Pint
This beer is from the Pilot Series that Meantime brew and was a special one for the winter period. They have done a fantastic job in capturing that amazing hazelnut taste when sipping the beer, along with some nice malt and chocolaty-ness. This is a beer I would recommend to try but again not something I would consider sessionable.







Hibernate (To øl) - 6.0% | Bottle 330ml
This was one of those beers that you pick up to try and once you open, you wish it was in a bigger bottle or you picked up more. This was a beautiful hoppy wheat beer and I'm not sure what else to say. If you can get your hands on this, do!






Sussex Best Bitter (Harveys) - 4.0% | Cask Pint
This beer is always a beautiful drink, and never disappoints. Harveys brew some wonderful beers but this as a flagship is flawless, and when served in perfect condition in cask cannot be beaten. Easily sessionable.





Old Ale (Harveys) - 4.3% | Cask Pint
Another Harveys beer, and again a great pint served in perfect condition. The beer is dark but light and easy to drink. I haven't tried the bottle version which is a lower ABV of 3.6%, which I'm concerned could impact the flavour, so would suggest sticking with the cask if found. Easily sessionable.







Coconut Porter (Old Hands) - 6.0% | Cask Half
The beer pours dark. There is no real aroma coming off the beer but the taste of the beer is distinctly coconut. The coconut came through and fitted perfectly with the beer. I wouldn't say this was a refreshing pint but I did enjoy the coconut taste which they perfected.

Ægir India Pale Ale (Ægir Bryggeri)  - 6.5%| Can 330ml

I firstly liked the design of the can, which was eye catching. Also the ring pull takes off the whole top half of the can like on a soup can. I admit I did pull a bit too hard and split a little of this precious liquid. It was a nice hoppy pale ale, and one I wouldn't mind trying again, maybe in keg format....a trip to Norway beckons I reckon.

London Pub Tour 16 - Fitzrovia: The Prince of Wales Feathers, The Carpenters Arms and Fitzroy Tavern

I don't believe in partaking in dry January so I always try to get out to the pub as soon as possible in January to prevent it becoming one by accident. This year I managed that task on 2nd January as part of my London Pub Tour. The place - The Prince of Wales Feathers (), the drink, a decidedly Christmas one - Santa Paws by Brew Dog.

I opted for the Santa Paws as I'd had it previously in December and enjoy it, but only in bottle. When I seen it on tap I thought I better give it a try, and the honestly tasted much better on keg than it did in the bottle. The flavours just came through better to make this beer so enjoyable, and a good choice for first beer of the year.

The Prince of Wales Feathers (which in itself is a decidedly strange name for a pub which seems to have just come about by chucking Prince of Wales in front of its original name The Feathers) is located just a few metres away from Warren Street tube station. The front of the pub looks very traditional until you get closer and notice the stained glass windows. The pub has a roof terrace and I believe a beer garden out back, but due to the weather I didn't try to seek out either of these, nor sure if they would be open. When walking into Feathers you will see straight ahead stairs going up and  just to your right are two tall 8 seater tables. The bar is against the side wall, and there is no seating around it, offering a very spacious bar area. Where the bar ends the walls come in slightly, and this is where the tables for the dinning start. There were about 20 people in the pub, with majority sat down eating in the rear. The beer choices available on my visit included Estrella, Heineken, Camden Pale, Camden Hells, Stigel and Numero Uno (which I've had before). On Cask only three of the 5 pumps were in action offering up Landlord, Doombar and Ticketybrew.

After my excellent pint of Santa Paws I took a short stroll, maybe about 5-10mins, down to The Carpenters Arms (W1T 4EY). This was a corner pub on a back street just off the main road. It's also owned by the same company as the feathers, Castle (Which is a M&B brand). This pub was a two part bar with the side I entered into a small bar area, with some seating on the edges, including a sofa and table in one corner, and a small bar. The other side was a large dinning area which had a larger bar and more people. I stayed in the smaller bar area where there were about 6 other people. There were two hand pumps offering Doombar and a Coming Soon Speckled Hen. I certainly wasn't going to wait around for that Hen to come on. On the keg side they had Stigel (which I'm beginning to realise is maybe now more common in London pubs that I originally thought), Peroni, Veltins, Chimay Gold and Pilsner Urquell.

I selected a pint of Pilsner Urquell as I thought the Chimay was going to be a high percentage, but was shocked to discover afterwards that is was only 4.8%, drat. There were craft cans available but nothing stood out too much. The Pilsner Urquell came in a branded jug and was okay. I used to like Urquell quite a bit but now think there are some far more enjoyable Pilsners. I guess the only way to change my mind is to pop into one of the pubs that have freshly brewed tank Pilsner Urquell.

I left the Carpenters Arms and walked again for another 10 minutes, by passing other pubs, to get to the one I wanted, Fitzroy Tavern (W1T 2LY) a Sam Smiths pub. I already knew what I wanted to drink in this pub, hence why I bypassed other pubs. I've not been to this pub before so was unaware that it was separated into 4 separate areas, with no connections between them. The first section I went into had nobody in there and I couldn't see anyone at the bar, so I walked out and into another section where there were about 4 people, but again I couldn't see anyone at the bar. Both these sections would be in what I would consider the rear of the pub. I then walked around to the front (main road entrance) and finally found bar staff, but had to decide which quarter I wanted to sit within. I selected the busier section as this meant bar staff were more likely to hang around on this side and I'd get served quicker.

I order a bottle of the Organic Cherry Ale, which doesn't come cheap compared to Sam Smiths prices, but when compared to fruit / craft beers elsewhere I think it's quite reasonable. The beer comes in a non-standard 335ml bottle (Might like their larger non-standard 550ml bottles which when poured into a glass and creating a bit of head looks exactly like the normal Sam Smiths beer pint measure). The beer has a tart cherry flavour that is delicious, and not sickly sweet. It is my favourite of the fruit beers offered by Sams but I do admire their other beers. Compared to the likes of some of the mainstream belgium fruit beers like Fruli or Timmermans, this beer is vastly superior.

The Fitzroy tavern itself is a wonder to behold. Sam Smith's have spared no expense in recreating an old sytle pub with the wood and glass and privacy screens. It is a pub worth visiting to look at any enjoy, though it's not the best example of what Sam's have done, but it does look stunning. Yes, this might be a modern instalment to a pub, but I like pubs that have character, which this does, compared to a pub that may strip out furniture to a minimum and floors down to boards. Obviously if all pubs looked like this it would be dull and uninspiring, and I that's what I like about pubs. You find so many unique or different styles, different eras and historical impacts. Pubs are ever changing and should adapt with the times, but we all dread when a large swath of pubs follow a new trend, as we all know trends change, and soon those pubs begin to look dated and undergo another change. In each of these changes it loses any original features or identity.

So that's the end of my pontification about pub design and where I ended this beer tour.