Friday 6th March 2009 - Off for a beer to Burton

Following the failure as described in a previous posting , hopped on the train for the short trip to Burton accompanied by RG.

The plan this time was to visit four well known pubs either side of the station and so off to the first port of call at The Alfred. We both opted for Burton Bridge Porter but could have chosen the others as well.

Golden Delicious
Bridge Bitter
Bramble Stout
Festival
Stairway to Heaven

or the guest beer - Granny Wouldn't Like It (Wolf Brewery).

RG mentioned it was the first time in some 9 years he had sampled a porter - for me it is becoming the style of choice (but that's another story). As we sampled it we got to talking about what else we had missed during the last decade or so, specifically that you don't see many Yugos, FSOs, Austin Montegos these days and what ever happen to Simca? They don't make cars like they used to (thank goodness some would say!).

Moving on and we find ourselves in the Old Cottage. My involvement with Tamworth Beer Festival means I have occasonally been called on to judge beers and some stand out as good memories. Well the Stout from Old Cottage is one of those and so is always my choice at this venue (but is it a stout or is it really a porter - there's a debate that could run and run). Other options that could have been sampled were

• Oak Ale (which RG supped)
• Halcyon Daze
• Elsie Mo (from Castle Rock)
• Brunswick Triple Hop
• Top Cat ale from Fat Cat.

The TV was showing teletext , specifically the test cricket between England and West Indies which we predicted looked like England were scoring so many runs they would no doubt draw the game (the final session a few days later must be one of the classic encounters).


Onwards and to the Coopers for Falstaff Aquarius for me (and Castle Rock Harvest Pale for RG) with the alternatives being Howard Town Brewery's Dark Peak, Bass and Thornbridge Jaipur (almost a regular guest this one).

Time weas pressing so back toward the station for a quick pint of Burton Bridge Golden Delicious in the Devonshire (or we could have had Bridge Bitter, Porter, Stairway to Heaven or the guest (Hope and Glory from Brentwood Brewing Co.

Time for the train back but we extended the journey the short distance to Wilnecote for a visit to the Bulls Head for a pint of Marstons Pedigree only later noticing their Sweet Chariot brew.

Finally visit to the chippie for some more Donner kebab research - amazingly similar to last time!

Friday January 30th - Night out in Burton...

... goes for a Burton.

Had night out planned with Richard with a view to visit Burton upon Trent.

Well, all was going to plan albeit I feared I'd be late for the train.

The reality turned out to be the complete opposite due to trains being cancelled due to "fatality on the line".

So what to do (Derby and Birmingham both non starters due to the above, Lichfield was feasable but only a couple of hours till last train back so not really worth it, so back into town we trudged for a crawl round Tamworth.

En route we passed our normal meeting point, The Albert, but this appears to have been permanently closed, so onwards to our first stop, The Sir Robert Peel. I have "fond" recollections of this place from the time it used to be Hamletts wine bar but that was some 20 years ago. Anyway, two ales on taps Atlas Latitude (see http://www.atlasbrewery.com/latitude.htm) a cask pilsner of scottish origin. Whilst not being a great lager fan (but see comment later), I must say this was a nice beer and only 3.6%. Staying for another, Richard opted for a can of Red Stripe whilst for me it was Nethergate Suffolk County. Whether it was the pilsner's taste or not I don't know but this beer tasted slightly sweeter than one might expect from a best bitter.

Over and up the road to The Globe. Their guest beer this time was Black Sheep which joined their normal range of Bass, Worthington Bitter and the beer I opted for, Holden's Mild.

Onward to the White Lion. Church End Willie Brew'd sampled (as opposed to their standard offering Banks's Bitter) whilst beeting Richard 2-0 at pool.

Final port of call was The Bole Bridge (a Wetherspoons). I'd heard roumours that Green King beers were now the norm in these places but not here where we could have opted for Pedigree, Abbott, plus a range of beers from smaller breweries which alas I can't recall other than one had something to do with Titus Salt and another that was due on soon was Palm , a Belgium amber ale). We however opted to put the world to rights over a couple of bottles of 99p San Miguel before venturing our separate ways and for me a further chance or research the project from a few weeks ago around what difference beer does make to the taste of a donner kebab.