Three beer summer evening
I wasn't at home when DPD called to deliver my bottle of BrewDog Zephyr, which meant that I had to go on a mission to an industrial estate to the north-east of Glasgow to retrieve it. Fortunately it was a lovely evening and there is a pretty pleasant wooded cycle path along the river most of the way there, so I could avoid the traffic. That's the first beer of the day, but I'm not drinking it, I'm going to keep it to celebrate getting my next job, whenever that is.
The second beer was Badger Harvesters' Ale. Having cycled 15km, it ws time for a stop and some refreshing beer. I pass a Tesco on this route. I don't like Tesco much but their beer range is streets ahead of most high street off licence chains. The most notable feature of this beer is that it's only 2.5% alcohol by volume. I am in favour of such beers in principle (I may yet launch a revival of the small-beer tradition). It's brown and slightly sweetish and has more character than many beers of twice the strength. It actually reminded me of what How To Disappear Completely might be like if they didn't put all the hops in the world into it. It's also cheap, but then all the Badger ales tend to be cheapies. And it's a perfect cyclist's refresher, drunk illegally (if your local authority is silly like mine) by the side of the river.
The third beer is the one I drank on returning to the city centre. St. Mungo vom Faß at West on Glasgow Green. It seems more bitter than it used to be (this is not a complaint). I'm going to enjoy coming here more often in the summer. I returned a couple of days later to find many people seem to have had the same idea, as they'd run out of several house beers. The people next to me at the bar were drinking Desperados anyway. Pearls before swine.
The second beer was Badger Harvesters' Ale. Having cycled 15km, it ws time for a stop and some refreshing beer. I pass a Tesco on this route. I don't like Tesco much but their beer range is streets ahead of most high street off licence chains. The most notable feature of this beer is that it's only 2.5% alcohol by volume. I am in favour of such beers in principle (I may yet launch a revival of the small-beer tradition). It's brown and slightly sweetish and has more character than many beers of twice the strength. It actually reminded me of what How To Disappear Completely might be like if they didn't put all the hops in the world into it. It's also cheap, but then all the Badger ales tend to be cheapies. And it's a perfect cyclist's refresher, drunk illegally (if your local authority is silly like mine) by the side of the river.
The third beer is the one I drank on returning to the city centre. St. Mungo vom Faß at West on Glasgow Green. It seems more bitter than it used to be (this is not a complaint). I'm going to enjoy coming here more often in the summer. I returned a couple of days later to find many people seem to have had the same idea, as they'd run out of several house beers. The people next to me at the bar were drinking Desperados anyway. Pearls before swine.
West is one place I really need to go to.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think of Brew Dog generally? I had STORM recently and it was one of the worst beers I've had in my lift. People say some of the others are better but at the prices in Japan, I don't think I'll be finding out until I get back to Glesgae.
ReplyDeleteHere's my Brew Dog Storm experience:
http://homebrewjapan.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/equipment-update-whisky-cask-aged-beers/
BrewDog make some awesome beers, but inevitably some of their experiments are not going to be to your taste or mine. I'm not keen on whisky-barrel beer either; I'd far rather have them separately (and I don't think stout is the best match for Islay malt anyway). Having said that, it's not bad just because I don't happen to like it.
ReplyDeleteLeigh, West is well worth a visit when you're in Glasgow. It's a lovely bar and the beer is as good as a lot of what I've drunk in Germany. I feel they still have potential to really stand out – I'd love to see them make a Rauchbier or a Kellerbier.
ReplyDelete