Beer and Buble

London Bound

A mid-week break and a trip by me and the better half to London gave me the chance to try out a few more ales. I'll be honest up front, we went to see Michael Buble. Admittedly this is more the wife's thing than it is mine, but I have to say he put on a great show, his voice was quality live, and I’d recommend anyone to go see him. I was also impressed by how well organised the O2 was both pre and post concert!

Believe it or not we actually stayed in a pub in Waterloo. Cheap, but clean and very well located. Even better, cask ales just down stairs. I think we'd both be happy to stay in it again (I thought it might not pass my wife's quality check...).

I didn't get a chance to knock any more beers off the list but I did get to sample a few things worth mentioning here:

• Fuller's Summer Ale. Style: IPA, ABV: 3.9%.
  Description: Light and crisp English Pale Ale with a lowish alcohol content.
  Conclusion: It was warm and we had just battled through the underground. We couldn't check in yet so a perfect chance to have a beer and a bite to eat. The Summer Ale was light and refreshing. Not very hoppy (and more floral than bitter). It did the job perfectly. I tend to have a thing for “Big Beers” but the lowish ABV means that this was a perfect lunch time pint.
  Score: 6
• Dark Star Original. Style: IPA, ABV: 5%
  Description: Another light IPA in a nice pub on Whitehall.
  Conclusion: I'm slight confused but having just googled Dark Star Original I’m told its a malty old ale. That's not what I had – so I’m not sure if there is another version of this beer, the pub gave me the wrong thing, or what. Anyway, what I had was a light and slightly bitter IPA that quenched my thirst after a walk through sunny Trafalgar Square.
  Score: 6.5
• Kozel. Style: Lager, ABV: 5%
  Description: Czech Lager, light with a bit of bite.
  Conclusion: So we met up with a friend who kindly took us to Tattershall Castle (which is actually a boat the the Thames) for a drink. Choices were limited so I thought I'd go for a Czech Lager. It was fine (though the lovely location and company may have helped to improve the beer!). There are better Czech lagers out there but I could manage a pint again if no other options are forthcoming.
  Score: 6

Off we headed to the O2 for the gig. Running a bit late we headed straight in and grabbed a bit to eat. Then came the dilemma – is bad plastic “glassed” lager worse than no beer at all? The beer won – only just. I won't say what lager it was (though it was something I wouldn't normally drink) or what I though about because not much can win in those circumstances. The fact I only had 1 also says quite a bit!

I had hoped to tick a few off the list during the trip but it didn't quite happen. So I came back and headed to the Vineyard to see if they had anything new in... I came back with a bagful of treats that should lead to a very interesting next post!

Cheers