This story on the BBC Website talks about suggestions that Parents who give alcohol to children under 15 could be prosecuted. The suggestion seems to be that this would be in a bid to 'reduce' binge drinking in children.
No-one seems to have noticed however that it would be completley counter-productive - a lot of my friends (and myself) enjoy a drink, but appreciate the taste of proper real ale (or whatever) rather than the feeling of getting completely 'off your face'. For most of us, we were taught and brought up with alcohol in the home.
I distinctly remember having sips of my fathers real ale as young as 10 when we went to the country pub as a family, which graduated to him pouring some into my lemonade to make a bitter shandy, to having my own bought for me at about 14/15. It meant that I learnt to enjoy alcoholic drinks for the taste, and learnt to respect the effect that it could have on you. (OK, so the respect aspect was perhaps helped by cycling to the pub, and having to cycle home again... ;-) )
I just don't understand the logic behind this suggestion - just a look at Continental drinking habits should be enough to convinve anyone that tackling the binge drinking culture in this country starts in the home at a young age. But no - authoritarian answers of prosecuting parents seems to be the suggestion - Daft.
Showing posts with label Real Ale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Real Ale. Show all posts
Friday, 27 April 2007
Thursday, 12 April 2007
Easter Weekend - A Review - Beer
OK, so Beer. Bath is renowned as a Real Ale City and I was wanting to take the opportunity to sample a couple.
First up on the Saturday was lunch in a country pub somewhere in the wilds of rural Somerset (We were on the way to Montacute House, and apologies for not knowing the name of the pub or its location). I took the opportunity to sample a pint of the 'Gem' by a Bath based local Brewery. Delicious, nice and heavy (perhaps a touch too much for a normal lunchtime pint but hey) with a chocolatey, caramely overtone and a perfect bitter finish. I will most definately keep an eye out for this in future.
Next was a bottle of Nepalese Lager (we were eating at Yak Yeti Yak, a Nepalese restaurant) which was, as far as lagers go, perfectly pleasant and a reasonable accompaniment to the food. It was quite similar to Tusker lager from Kenya in my opinion, I suspect due to the levels of barley.
Moving on from dinner we went into town to the The Old Green Tree. Great little pub tucked away down a side street with 3 different rooms and always a good range of real ale on tap. I went for the Pubs own Bitter 'Old Green Tree Brewery Bitter' which was pleasant but a bit of a disappointment - not nearly enough flavour for my liking - I even managed to persuade a lager drinker 'what should I order, they don't have any Stella?' to go for it on the basis that it was a bit like lager without any fizz. Given he then agreed I think that tells you all you need to know!
After that I went for the Pitchfork - a much more complex beer which was overflowing, perhaps a touch too much, with hops but with a good overall structure and taste.
First up on the Saturday was lunch in a country pub somewhere in the wilds of rural Somerset (We were on the way to Montacute House, and apologies for not knowing the name of the pub or its location). I took the opportunity to sample a pint of the 'Gem' by a Bath based local Brewery. Delicious, nice and heavy (perhaps a touch too much for a normal lunchtime pint but hey) with a chocolatey, caramely overtone and a perfect bitter finish. I will most definately keep an eye out for this in future.
Next was a bottle of Nepalese Lager (we were eating at Yak Yeti Yak, a Nepalese restaurant) which was, as far as lagers go, perfectly pleasant and a reasonable accompaniment to the food. It was quite similar to Tusker lager from Kenya in my opinion, I suspect due to the levels of barley.
Moving on from dinner we went into town to the The Old Green Tree. Great little pub tucked away down a side street with 3 different rooms and always a good range of real ale on tap. I went for the Pubs own Bitter 'Old Green Tree Brewery Bitter' which was pleasant but a bit of a disappointment - not nearly enough flavour for my liking - I even managed to persuade a lager drinker 'what should I order, they don't have any Stella?' to go for it on the basis that it was a bit like lager without any fizz. Given he then agreed I think that tells you all you need to know!
After that I went for the Pitchfork - a much more complex beer which was overflowing, perhaps a touch too much, with hops but with a good overall structure and taste.
Monday, 2 April 2007
The London Drinker Beer Festival
A group of us found our way to the Camden Centre on Friday evening - not a particularly enticing venue you might think, but for the fact that North London CAMRA were hosting the London Drinker Beer Festival.
So... recommendations... will not be forthcoming; whilst I had quite few halfs that were very comfortable 'session' bitters and a couple of milds that also were not unappealing for what they were, I didn't drink anything that struck me as 'Wow this is great'. Partly that's the problem with going on the final day - anything really good will have been drunk off already. Still - it was good to see a host of new brewerys that have started recently and seem to be doing well, as well as the busyness of the hall to indicate people keen on real ale enjoying a wide variety. Next up as far as real ale goes will almost certainly be the Cambridge Festival in May - unless I manage to escape the in-laws briefly over Easter to nip down to the Old Green Tree (Bath). If you have other suggestions in Bath that are worth trying - much appreciated!
So... recommendations... will not be forthcoming; whilst I had quite few halfs that were very comfortable 'session' bitters and a couple of milds that also were not unappealing for what they were, I didn't drink anything that struck me as 'Wow this is great'. Partly that's the problem with going on the final day - anything really good will have been drunk off already. Still - it was good to see a host of new brewerys that have started recently and seem to be doing well, as well as the busyness of the hall to indicate people keen on real ale enjoying a wide variety. Next up as far as real ale goes will almost certainly be the Cambridge Festival in May - unless I manage to escape the in-laws briefly over Easter to nip down to the Old Green Tree (Bath). If you have other suggestions in Bath that are worth trying - much appreciated!
Monday, 5 March 2007
An enjoyable afternoon and evening...
...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. ;-)
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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