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Opera at the pub isn't something I've encountered before, but I'm open minded. Opera at Wetherspoons is taking things a little too far. But that's where I was on Saturday. The theatre above The Gatehouse in Highgate (1 North Road, N6 4BD, Tel: 020 8340 8054, map) was hosting a run of Don Giovanni, and my mate Ben was playing the lead.
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 This neatly coincided with the ongoing Wetherspoon's Real Ale Festival. Our mutual friend Quirke's always mediating in arguments between Ben and myself. One old favourite is whether opera has contributed more to human culture than beer. As a theatre critic and a beer lover, Quirke sees both sides. Saturday was to be the day the two would come to together.
The Gatehouse is a rare beast in the 'Spoons estate: it's a proper pub, and doesn't look like a cross-channel ferry lounge. The mock-Tudor building once guarded the entrance to London from Middlesex, and today the building is split between the boroughs of Haringey and Camden. Upstairs was used as a courtroom before conversion into a theatre in 1895.
 We spent the afternoon in the beer garden before moving upstairs to get cultural. I devoted the session to Elgood's Black Dog, a fantastic 3.6% abv dark mild with a distinctive and moreish smoky flavour. Lovely as the beer and the weather was, five pints in the sun isn't perhaps the best preparation for three and a half hours of opera with one short interval.
Don Giovanni's easy to get along with, and the jokey English translation raised a laugh from this half-cut philistine. Ben clearly enjoyed being a philandering Spaniard. It was all fun and games until I began to shift uneasily in my seat, as the next stage of the beer's journey began. The performances were good all round, but in my state every high note and warble began to jar. Each time they finished singing, I prayed for the interval. It didn't come. There's only so long you can hold out, as Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe found out. In the end I had to make a move. I picked what passed for an opportune moment, and crashed from my seat and along the back row, down the stairs, through the pub and into those hallowed porcelain halls.
If you were disturbed by howls of relief emanating from North London on Saturday evening, I offer you my sincerest apologies.
Do opera and beer sit well together? No. Sadly they don't.
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Information:
- Upstairs at the Gatehouse, the highest London theatre above sea level, is online here.
- Elgood's & Sons are is a Cambridgeshire brewing company. The North Brink brewery opened in 1795, though the Elgoods only took over in 1878. You can read more here.
Back in January I wrote an article about Brewing in London. In the ensuing discussion, we flushed out every one of the five brewpubs then operating in the capital. Since then, I've visited them all. My review of ZeroDegrees in Blackheath is here, and a write-up of The Horseshoe in Hampstead will appear soon. Mash (Fitzrovia), Bunker (Covent Garden) and Brew Wharf (Borough) failed to impress.
 A brand new enterprise has just opened down in Fulham. The Cock & Hen at 360 North End Road, SW6 (tel: 020 7385 6021, map) doesn't seem to have attracted any attention yet, but it's got to be worth checking out. They brew the house beer (apparently it's called "Bonobo") on site.
The exterior photo doesn't look too promising, but if the beer's up to scratch this might be a welcome addition to the woeful pub scene around Fulham Broadway. If anyone has any further details - or better still, has paid The Cock & Hen a visit and sampled the beer - let me know.
Information:
The Cock & Hen is owned by the Capital Pub Company. The pub's own website is still in development at the time of writing. The company's 20-odd other pubs seem to be a mixed bag.
[CLICK HERE FOR AN UPDATE]
 Yesterday, I was off to see my pal Ben play Don Giovanni at The Gatehouse theatre pub (more on that later) when I trampled over a thick envelope by the door. I'm ashamed to admit I only got round to joining CAMRA at The London Drinker, and this was my membership pack turning up.
Alex Liberati, my pal from Rome and owner of Brasserie 4:20, has been named in the latest issue of CAMRA newsletter What's Brewing as the 85,000th member. Because I joined seconds before, that means I was number 84,999... curses. A mere heartbeat away from my fifteen minutes of fame.
Information:
CAMRA is the most successful single issue consumer campaign group in Britain. It was founded in the early 70s by a group of drinkers who saw that cask ale was fast disappearing from Britain, to be replaced by pasteurised and filtered keg beers. You can visit their website here. Membership is only £20 a year. If you're reading this site, you must care about good beer and pubs - join CAMRA today.
[Continued from here]
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 Five gallons of beer weighs a ton, even when it's in a cheap plastic keg. It took three of us running a relay to shift it from my flat to an undisclosed establishment that has agreed to cellar the first batch of Long Arm Brew. Dave was working, so I'd had to get help from elsewhere.
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 Before we made our journey, the volunteers were treated to a quick snifter. Alec (left) conceded that he was "buoyed" by the experience, and opined that it's probably going to be drinkable. Lets hope he feels the same way when he's got a full pint in front of him at The Launch Party. Clio Jon just threw it back like he does with any beer you put in his hand, and kept his dark thoughts to himself.
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We're just three weeks away from homebrew hog heaven. We're like kids waiting for Christmas, and a really good Christmas too - it's like Dave's getting the Millennium Falcon and my mum's got me Castle Grayskull.
To keep us busy, next Saturday's going to be another brew day - is the beer world ready for Stonch's Stout?
[Continued here]
 It's been just under two weeks since myself and Dave the Long Armed Goon dipped our toe in the retro world of homebrewing.
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You can read about our shoddy preparation here, you can share our joy as the yeast began to work here, and you can laugh at our our cack-handed attempts to transfer it to a keg here.
It's been sitting in that keg for almost a week now, happily fermenting away without a care in the world. For sure, it's got weeks to go until we'll be ready to unleash it on to the digestive systems of the lads.
I was half cut last night, and Dave wasn't here to stop me. So I turned the tap and poured myself a glass of our immature brew. What came out is pictured on the right.
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Is it rancid? Does it taste like vinegar with a generous dash of bile?
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No. It's alright, actually. Coming along nicely, in fact. There's a strong hit of decidedly green hop, and it's more than a little sweet. But in three weeks, who knows?
[Continued here]
Since posting Topdog Andy's review of The Champion in Fitzrovia, another regular reader has risen to the challenge and provided a list of all Samuel Smith pubs in Greater London. According to Magnus, there are 36 in total. That's an astonishingly high number for a relatively small, independent brewery up in Yorkshire.
 Ten are in Fitzrovia alone. I've got a soft spot for the area, which is just north of Soho and west of Bloomsbury. It manages to be quiet and relaxing despite being bang in the centre of London. Sam Smith's even own Dylan Thomas's favourite The Fitzroy Tavern (16 Charlotte Street, London, W1T 2NA, map), after which the area is named. The Welsh poet is pictured right drinking a pint in the pub.  Some of the premises they occupy are of great interest to those who believe traditional pub interiors should be cherished. The Princess Louise (208-209 High Holborn, London, WC1V 7BW, map), to give but one example, is an absolute gem - even the gents' toilets have listed status. The intricate mirror work inside the pub is pictured left. Sam Smith's a trusted custodian for some of these wonderful buildings, keeping them in use as pubs while refusing to compromise their historical character. .  The one major drawback is the brewery's lack of commitment to real ale in it's pubs. It's an unusual approach in London. Only 14 of the 36 offer even a single cask ale, the brewery's own Yorkshire Bitter. Having said that, there's plenty for the beer lover in the form of quality keg and bottled beers: Pure Brewed Lager is one of the UK's best homegrown lagers; the Imperial Stout is a tasty and accessible take on the style; the Wheat Beer is in the German style, and knocks the spots of the likes of Hoegaarden. Try Oatmeal Stout and Taddy Porter too - both are served in old-fashioned pint bottles. . The secret of the brewery's success in London may be simply this: everything you buy in a Sam Smith's house will be at least 50p cheaper than its equivalent in the next pub down the road. They're a great choice for students, or indeed anyone who likes the feel of a heavy wallet. Email me if you'd like a copy of Magnus' full listing of Sam Smith's pubs in London, annotated to show those that serve cask Yorkshire Bitter, and those that offer a refreshing pint of Wheat Beer. . Information:
. Samuel Smith's is based up in the Yorkshire town of Tadcaster. You can read more about its history here. The well at the appropriately named Old Brewery was sunk in 1758, although Sam himself only acquired it in the 1880s. The vendor was his uncle, another local brewer called John Smith. Today, Sam's people are still fiercely independent, the business in the hands of his descendants. Meanwhile, poor old John's name has become synomous with poor quality "creamflow" bitter, and his brewery is part of macrobrewer Scottish & Newcastle empire.
My pal Wee Ross returned last week from a short trip to New York. He found time to check out a couple of the city's better beer bars. Here's the gen:
"Two weeks ago, New York suffered its worst storm in years, while London basked in sunshine. Guess where I was? The relentless bad weather did mean I got to spend lots of time sheltering in bars without feeling guilty. " I was staying with a friend whose apartment was a stone's throw from David Copperfield's House of Beer (1394 York Avenue at 74th Street, Manhattan, map, website), one of the city's best pubs. It was a real find for someone who had encountered very little US craft beer, but was keen to see what was on offer. Copperfield's had about 25 American beers on draught while I was there (as well as some uninspiring imports) which gave plenty of scope for the uninitiated visitor to sample a decent range. From the looks of it they offer cask conditioned beer sometimes, but sadly not while I was there. Staff seemed to vary between reasonably knowledgeable fellas and a couple of cute young yank girls [I think the correct terminology is "horny co-ed" - Stonch]. "One thing that struck me was that, unlike a beer orientated pub in the UK which would be packed to the rafters with blokes (many sporting unkempt beards), there were definitely more women in attendance than men. At one point there were thirty odd people there and only me and the barman were blokes - single men
of Britain take note! " The two standouts of the beers I tried were Stone IPA and Stone Coast Black Bear Porter. The IPA was great - packed with American hops, thorwing up powerful flavours of citrus and pine. The Porter was complex right the way down the glass and into the aftertaste - starts chocolaty, with maybe even a touch of dried fruit and then finishes long and bitter. I could have easily just stuck on those two the whole time, but pressed on to try other things: Brooklyn Chocolate Stout (pictured right), Brooklyn Lager, Dogfish Head ApriHop, Harpoon Hibernian, Smuttynose Imperial Stout and Victory All Malt Lager. "The only truly ropey effort was Victory All Malt Lager. It seems to get a great press from beer lovers in the States, but on this evidence I can't imagine why. I genuinely think it was the worst lager I've ever had on draught (and that includes Carling). There was very little discernable body or flavour to it, and it was totally over-carbonated. I've had cava that's been less fizzy.
 "The only other quality beer bar I managed to visit while in NYC was The Blind Tiger Alehouse (281 Bleeker St. in the West Village, map, website). Apparently it only recently opened at its current location, having moved in from somewhere more far afield. Seemed a lovely place - very knowledgeable staff and a cosy interior. The open fire which was particularly welcome after another drenching out in the rain. I settled down with a pint of Pacific Rim IPA (pleasant but nothing special) hoping to settle in for a nice long session working through their range, but events overtook me unfortunately and I had to dash off. " Wee Ross I'd love to know what these mysterious "events" were that "overtook" Ross, dragging him away from an open fire and back into a raging storm. And why's there a ghostly face in his glass of Brooklyn Stout? What isn't he telling us?
There hasn't been a good old-fashioned London pub review on this site for many weeks. All this guff about homebrewing and fancy beers from abroad has crowded them out somewhat. It's time to put that right with a contribution from a guest writer.
The Champion (12-13, Wells St, London, W1T 3PA, Tel: 020 7323 1228, map) in Fitzrovia is tucked away just behind Oxford Street, and is notable for its stained glass windows of Victorian sportsmen and (incongruously) Florence Nightingale:
 " Oxford Street fills me with rage and despair for humankind, and there are few better places to de-stress and be anti-social than The Champion. Let's face it - the best pubs are the darkest pubs, and the windows at The Champion are all stained glass, thus preventing any natural light from entering and polluting the interior. Even on the sunniest of days, this pub is so dark that the staff probably have to alternate afternoon shifts to avoid developing rickets. This has the added benefit of driving away most level-headed people, so for the rest of us getting a seat is no problem.
" The pub is owned by Yorkshire brewer Samuel Smith, which means you can get a basic pint for less than £2 (a real pleasure after just spending over-the-odds on worthless tat), and there's no music playing. This allows you to clear your mind, and run through the usual post-Oxford Street questions in your head. What goes through the mind of someone holding a 'Golf Sale' sign for 10 hours a day?
" There's even a dart board, if your shopping experience was so infuriating that you need to throw sharp objects around. Sure, there are nicer Sam Smith pubs south of Oxford Street in Soho, but they've got people in them. This one is strictly for the miserable. "
Topdog Andy
 In terms of beers, sadly this is one of those Sam Smith's pubs that's keg and bottles only. While cask Yorkshire Bitter isn't available, the Pure Brewed Lager and Wheat Beer are. Both are good efforts at recreating continental styles. If you really need to dull the pain, ask for a bottle of the 7% abv Imperial Stout. Then have a few more. Then go back to Oxford Circus and compete with the street preachers for airtime. Try and drown out Philip Howard (pictured right). Remember - be a winner, not a sinner. ..
Information: - A profile on a distributor's website seems to be the closest Samuel Smith's have to a website. I have yet to find a full list of their London pubs, which are concentrated around Soho and Fitzrovia, with a few outliers elsewhere. Everyone seems to have their own favourites, but I'd recommend The Cittie of Yorke (22 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6BS, Tel: 020 7242 7670, map).
- Philip Howard is a London legend. Read about him here.
Yesterday I wrote about Wetherspoons. Last week I wrote about sparklers. I've been critical of both.
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After lunch today, we took a detour into The Crosse Keys (9 Gracechurch Street, London, EC3V 0DR, map), an impressive Wetherspoons bank conversion in the heart of the City. The good news - Nethergate Umbel Magna, the coriander porter I reviewed yesterday, was on. The bad news - after pouring half the pint, the barmaid tutted to herself, before rushing off and returning with a lurid green sparkler.
 Before she could start screwing the foul appendage onto the tap, I asked her to stop. I didn't want my beer aerated, with a "creamy head" like a pint of effing John Smith's Smooth. She tutted at me (her second tut in as many minutes), and said she'd been told she had to put it on, otherwise my pint would be flat. After a brief exchange of forthright views, she was willing to bend the rules just this time, but she definitely wasn't happy.
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So it seems there's a new rule at 'Spoons HQ - sparklers are to be used for certain beers, regardless of the customer's preference. That's almost as daft as the company's dictat about leaving pump clips facing forward, even if a cask is spent. I think I'll leave their pubs to the WKD Blue drinkers from now on.
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By the way - take a look at the photo of the unsparklerised pint, taken on my phone a few minutes after it was pulled. It doesn't look flat to me. What did I tell you about natural carbonation?
I'm not the biggest fan of Wetherspoon pubs. I don't like heavily branded chains in general, and the cheap spirits, alcopops and poor quality lagers seem to be a recipe for binge drink madness. When I do pay them a visit, surly staff and uncleared tables don't really do much for me either. I don't want to drink my pint amid the remnants of someone else's chicken and chips. On the plus side, the company has a commitment to real ale, and that extends to interesting microbreweries if you pick the right pub.
From Monday, 'Spoons are holding a two week Real Ale Festival, during which you can try a variety of unusual cask beers for £1.79 in Central London pubs. Doubtless prices will be a touch lower in other parts of the country. The number of beers on offer depends on the pub, but you'll be unlucky not to find something palatable. I dropped into The Masque Haunt (168-172 Old Street, London, EC1V 9BP, Tel: 020 7251 4195, map) for a preview. All the casks had just been tapped, and were in perfect condition.
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 First off, it's pretty exciting to see a cask-conditioned Belgian ale available. Gouden Carolus Ambrio, from Brouwerij Het Anker (8% abv) is a strong amber ale with a sweet, spicy flavour. Wetherspoon have made special arrangements with the brewery to produce this special live version of the beer, for which they're to be commended. Nonetheless, this isn't a beer you really want to knock back in a ropey British pub, least of all in a generic half pint glass. I'm not sure the experience really works.
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 My next scoop was a beer style I'd never tried before. If you'd asked me where I'd have my first authentic keller bier, I might have pictured a smoky tavern in deepest Bavaria. Needless to say, I was impressed to see St. Georgen Bräu Keller Bier (4.9% abv) on a pump clip. Keller biers are real lagers - they're unfiltered and unpasteurised, and this particular example has been cask conditioned for Wetherspoons. It was naturally carbonated and heavily hopped, while being wonderfully drinkable, with subtle flavours of succulent honey and caramel.
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 To round the night off, I tried a beer from closer to home. Nethergate Umbel Magna (5% abv) is a coriander infused porter. Yes, it sounds strange, but it really hits the spot. The coriander is far more evident in the aroma than on the palate, where it produces merely the gentlest hint of spice. The beer is dark and bitter, yet wonderfully smooth. A great discovery.
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One final word, for those that don't know the anecdote already. This vast chain of British boozers, the first of which opened in 1979, was named by founder Tim Martin after a former teacher of his - a Mr. Wetherspoon - who couldn't control an unruly classroom. Looking around the litter-strewn interior of most of the pubs, the name seems particularly apt.
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Information:
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You can read more about J.D. Wetherspoon Real Ale Festival on the company's website.
 In previous articles on this site, I've written about the boycott of a small community pub in Sussex by its own devoted regulars. The Lewes Arms crowd were protesting against owner Greene King's decision to remove local beers from the bar, in favour of their brews from Suffolk. ..
On Friday, Greene King issued a press release confirming that Harveys Sussex Best Bitter will be on sale at The Lewes Arms in a matter of days. Greene King's "local pubs managing director" Jonathan Lawson was at the pub in person to reassure staff and customers that the order for the beer had been placed. After cellaring, it should be ready to drink towards the end of next week.
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From the Greene King press release:
“We are passionate supporters of cask beer, are proud of our own brews and have recognised the intensity of feeling around Harveys at the Lewes Arms.” [Lawson] said that the history of the pub, including its role as former brewery tap, combined with activities ranging from dwyle flunking to pea throwing made this hostelry very special.
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“Now that Harveys is going back into the pub, my team and I are hoping that we can make a fresh start with our customers and are looking forward to helping the Lewes Arms once again play a full role in the local community.”
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To everyone at the pub, congratulations and enjoy the party.
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Information:
- The Lewes Arms is at Mount Place, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 1YH (Tel: 01273 473152, map).
- The Friends of The Lewes Arms have a website.
- You can read my previous posts on the boycott here and here.
[Continued from here]
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We've spent the week hard at work. Dave's been pulling pints at the the JT, while Stonch has toiled away in his new office. Meanwhile, back in my spare room, millions of little yeasties have been turning the contents of a dustbin into something that might, with a bit of luck, resemble beer soon. .  This week we decided to get (a little bit) serious and send off for some basic homebrew kit. HomeBrewUK did us a sweet deal, and were able to deliver within 24 hours. The keg and syphon tube were what we needed for stage two of this brew, although the fermentation vessel will come in handy once we put our dodgy dustbin out to pasture. . After almost a week in the bin, the brew had settled down as fermentation had slowed. The foamy head was gone, with only that nasty brown residue floating around on top. We figured primary fermentation was done, and it was time to syphon the suspicious liquid into our spanking new keg for a week of secondary at room temperature. We whacked in a bit of sugar solution to give our unicellular pals something to chow down on. We can't have the little fellas going hungry, can we? . Syphoning the beer off into the barrel took absolutely ages. Naturally Docile Dave managed to balls it up by slipping every so often. Each time we had to get it started again, which meant another suck of the tube for Stonch, followed in short order by another mouthful of partially fermented ale. It didn't taste vinegary or rancid, but it certainly isn't amber nectar yet (take a look at my face in the photo below, and draw your own conclusions). Hopefully the next few weeks will sort it out. The thick layer of sediment left behind in the bin was repulsive, but ... strangely compelling. . Next weekend we'll move it to a pub cellar to condition for two to four weeks, then it'll be time to roll out the barrel. We've got a while until the next GBBF to get our shit together, so we're feeling pretty confident the Champion Beer of Britain crown will be ours. Those old boys at CAMRA won't know what's hit them. Yeah. .     .
108 days ago I sat down and started writing this blog, in that short-lived, hangover-ridden lull that follows New Year. In my somewhat rambling first article, I profiled The Crown Tavern and reviewed Liefmans Goudenband, with a brief run-down on the histories of both the pub and the beer.
This afternoon the unique visitor counter ticked over the 10,000 mark. It's particularly good to see that roughly a third of traffic each day comes from returning visitors. Some gluttons for punishment come back on a daily basis to check for updates.
So far there have been 59 articles, bringing you news and opinions on beer and the places we drink it. Recently, I've even thrown a dash of sloppy homebrewing into the mix. The rate at which articles appear will continue to increase, and in the next week you'll see the first contributions from guest writers appearing.
Thanks for reading, and if you have any feedback, leave a comment below.
Cheers.
I've mentioned my beloved local many times on this blog. Anyone who has been to The Jerusalem Tavern will know it's a truly unique place, nestling in the heart of historic Clerkenwell. The pub is owned and tied to St Peter's, and the traditional English ales on offer come from that Suffolk brewer.
 The staff, including my homebrew partner Dave, are regularly asked to recommend beers to bewildered customers who haven't encountered the St Peter's range before. They might get asked for something light and hoppy, or perhaps for a strong stout. It's rarely difficult to find something that fits the bill.
It's not always so easy, though. Today, Dave was stumped after being asked by an American tourist:
"So, what have you got that tastes like Bud Light?"
Brilliant.
 For several years, CAMRA has been lobbying the government to enact legislation to ensure drinkers get a full imperial pint (or half pint) when they pay for it. It may surprise you to learn that currently the law only requires a publican to serve a pint which is 90% liquid. CAMRA have launched a new website, takeittothetop.co.uk, which hosts an online petition to be delivered to 10 Downing Street. I've signed up, and you should too.
Although I support the campaign, I have another concern. If there's one thing I hate more than a short pint, it's a flat pint - cask beer is supposed to be served with a head. Remember, real ale is alive, and the natural carbonation should deliver at least a small head with little or no agitation. However, if you want a pint that's 100% liquid, there's no room left for the foam in a standard glass.
There's a solution to this - oversized, lined glasses. Several real ale pubs such as The Pembury Tavern in Hackney use these, as do most beer festivals. Anywhere that uses lined glasses gets kudos from me. In other countries, such as Belgium, Germany and the Czech Republic, glasses used in pubs are larger than the actual measure served, with a line to show where the beer should end and the head should begin. We should be demanding the same here. Only then will we be guaranteed a full pint without having to settle for a flat pint.
 There's something else to look out for if you don't want to be short changed. Up North, a "creamy head" is sometimes achieved through the use of a "sparkler" (pictured left). This is a device that screws onto the end of tap, and forces the beer through tiny holes. You'll end up with a short pint, in which much of the bitterness has migrated to the head. Some Yorkshire brewers craft their beers with the intetion that sparklers should be used at the point of dispense, but brews from elsewhere shouldn't be served this way. If anyone tries it on, ask for the sparkler to be removed - it only takes a few seconds. When I worked in pubs on Tyneside, I was frequently asked by customers to take off or replace sparklers, and it was no problem at all. If bar staff grumble, they're just being awkward.
Information:
The law is currently unclear on whether a pint of draught beer or cider should be 100% liquid, or whether allowances should be made for the head. Enforcement by local Trading Standards Officers in licensed premises has been made more difficult by the reluctance of the courts to convict publicans where more than 90% of liquid is served. Local authority surveys have indicated that around 20% of pints are made up of less than 95% of liquid (source: UK Parliament website), although recent research carried out by CAMRA suggests the figure is in fact 26.6%.
 London's currently basking in unseasonal sunshine, thanks to a bizarre April heatwave. We may as well put concerns about global warming aside and enjoy it while we can. In case you missed it, here's an Evening Standard article listing places to eat and drink al fresco. As you'd expect, there's a bias toward poncy restaurants in West London, but nevertheless its worth a quick look.
A word of warning - don't get too excited about the photo accompanying the article of a charming waitress at Steins, Richmond. There's a real mood killer lurking on left hand side of the page - a mugshot of my old friend Kieron Quirke, glowering angrily at unsuspecting readers. . Stonch recommends bagging a table outside The Crown Tavern (43 Clerkenwell Green, EC1R 0EG, map), and knocking back a Goose Island IPA. Over in Islington, sitting on the canal towpath next to The Narrow Boat (119, St. Peters St, N1 8PZ, map) with a Harveys Best sounds like a plan, too. . Down in South-West London, regular readers will know that my favourite pubs are The White Horse (1-3 Parson's Green, SW6 4UL, map) and The Bricklayer's Arms (32 Waterman Street, Putney, SW15 1DD, map). Both have great outdoor areas as well as top-notch beers. . If you know any good spots for outdoor drinking in London, let us know in a comment and spread the joy.
[Continued from here]
 A quick update on the progress of our first home brew:
Returning late from a session at local pubs The Crown Tavern and The Pakenham Arms, I had a peek under the lid. As you can see, the yeast had begun to do it's job. A lovely, foaming head sat atop the rancid mixture. The spare room reeked of fermentation. Lovely. This was something of a relief - we'd worried that overzealous sterilisation followed by inadequate rinsing might have killed the yeast.
 The following day, it was time to check up on our precious baby again.
The foam was now a sickly tan colour, crowned with splashes of brown sludgy residue. According to the experts this is totally normal, and is a mixture of hop resins, dead yeast, wort proteins and hop leaves. The Germans call it "braun hefe". Apparently some brewers skim this away, while others let it settle back into the brew. We're going for the path of least resistance, and letting it be. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Everytime we open up the bin, we're exposing our beer-to-be to harmful bacteria, increasing the risk of an infected batch. Now that it's off to a good start, it's staying closed until the weekend, when we'll syphon it into strong plastic bottles, ready for the next stage - conditioning. There'll be another update on Saturday. [Continued here] Information: As mentioned in the last post, the people at Jim's Beer Kit have been helping us out. Thanks also go to the homebrew contingent at Realbeer.com and UK Homebrew.
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Stonch lives in London, where he runs a pub.
This neatly coincided with the ongoing Wetherspoon's Real Ale Festival. Our mutual friend Quirke's always mediating in arguments between Ben and myself. One old favourite is whether opera has contributed more to human culture than beer. As a theatre critic and a beer lover, Quirke sees both sides. Saturday was to be the day the two would come to together.
We spent the afternoon in the beer garden before moving upstairs to get cultural. I devoted the session to Elgood's Black Dog, a fantastic 3.6% abv dark mild with a distinctive and moreish smoky flavour. Lovely as the beer and the weather was, five pints in the sun isn't perhaps the best preparation for three and a half hours of opera with one short interval.
