...was most certainly had yesterday. Ostensibly to celebrate Baron Scarpia's (and Simon's) Birthday, but generally just a good excuse to get a bunch of Uni mates out together to catch up.
As far as the Beer and pubs went - we started in the White Lion, Covent Garden (generally an easy place to meet) which is a perfectly reasonable central London pub (one of Nicholson's) which was serving Timothy Taylor Landlord and Spitfire when I got there. I had a pint of both, and both were being perfectly reasonably kept although nothing special - personally I prefer the Landlord - a distinct hoppy edge that takes away from the initial bitterness.
After waiting for a variety of people to turn up, and after a deviation to PizzaExpress for some carbohydrate intake, we went to the Lowlander, somewhere I've trying to get to for a while. They eventually cleared enough space for the 10 of us and we sat down to start on some interesting continental beers. Personally, I went for the Bellevue Kriek, reasonably common, but served on draught here and absolutely beautiful. My missus went for the Frulli Strawberry (rather predictable, she's not really a beer drinker) which was as sickly sweet as always. One of us went for the Russian Imperial Stout, but I didn't notice which Breweries offering it was - very tasty though, and a type I'll keep an increasing eye out for. However, tempting though it was to stay for more than one, the presence of a couple of students amongst us, along with those keeping a close eye on there wallets meant I was encouraged to find 'a nice cheap local with decent real ale' instead.
Well, given a task like that, the only solution I knew of in reasonably close proximity was going to be one of Sam Smith's London pubs - so off we wandered down to the Lyceum Tavern at the corner of Aldwych and the Strand. Great little boozer this, typical Sam Smiths offerings - I had the Old Brewery Bitter on draught, a tasty but fairly straight-forward session bitter being all I was up for at that stage in the evening. The wife went for the white lager - far superior to Hoogaarden in my opinion - a great example of the art. Particularly useful at the (getting increasingly) inebriated stage of the evening - a free dart board and a pub not sufficiently crowded to render it unusable - so 6 of us started a game of 'Killer' with increasingly hilarious (and eventually predictable) consequences.
All in all - a great afternoon and evening, really good to catch up with friends I hadn't seen in ages, and a couple of good pubs to be reminded of in the West End. Happy Drinking. ;-)
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Hi Lennon. I believe the stout you had was from De Dolle Brouwers - good choice. Along with Hercule Stout, one of the two most interesting beers on the menu at Lowlander.
Your wife's tipple in the Sam Smith's pub was the wheat beer, yes? I agree it's superior to Hoegaarden. Although it's brewed in Tadcaster, they've sought to emulate a German-style weissbier as opposed to a Belgian style witbier. They tend to be cleaner tasting, without the very evident spice you get from the Belgian offerings. It's a very credible effort from an English brewer, and can't be beaten on price. Had a pint of it myself today, as it happens.
Cheers.
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