The Dun Horse, Mannings Heath, Horsham 26th November 2006

Walked round to the local from where I was staying. This was a large friendly pub in the village offering food, real ale, live music and an open fire. The beers were on gravity which is pretty unusual in a village local.

Timothy Taylor Landlord (4.3%): Slightly flat but I guess this is to be expected from a gravity pint. Otherwise tastes like Landlord, perfectly acceptable bitter.
Fuller's London Pride (4.1%): A little sharper than the Landlord and distinctly colder too. Strange as the two barrels were sitting next to each other. Either due to the temperature or maybe the beer itself, this seemed to have much less flavour than the Landlord. Still a good pint.

It became obvious during the second round that the Landlord had reached the end of its useful life. The barman was extremely quick to change the pint by tapping the new cask, and sure enough, the beer quality significantly improved. Shame it wasn't so obvious the first time round or I'd probably have beer even more complimentary.

During the afternoon, the staff introduced us to the dog (Barney) and we were made to feel very welcome. A cozy and pleasant pub.

The Beer Essentials, Horsham 25th November 2006

Popped into the beer shop in Horsham to pick up some take-away ale.

Of the choices available, I managed to shortlist four. We decided to buy two bottles of four pints each, so the choice had to be narrowed from four to two. Naturally, tasting was the only way.

Cottage Frosty Wippet (4.2%): Incredibly delicious beer. This one's made the top two.
Cottage Deltic Diesel (4.7%): The initial taste wasn't so good but it definitely got better with drinking. In the end glad it ran out before we had to choose whether or not to buy any.
Essential Beers Festival (5.0%): A local classic. One of my favourite beers of all time. But as I know it well, am going to give something else a try this time.
Arundel Gold (4.2%): As it is likely there will be some around at Christmastime, thought I should give it a try just to make sure it passes the test. And damn fine beer it was.

So the Wippet and the Gold were bought and sampled in greater quantities. Both were excellent bitters and very drinkable. What an excellent shop!

The White Horse, Maplehurst, Horsham 25th November 2006

Couldn't resist a trip to this old haunt of my parents as I was in the area.

On a Saturday lunchtime there were lots of cars in the car park outside but only nine people in the pub! I forget what rural pubs are like. I have only ever used this pub as a meeting place prior to going on elsewhere, but this time the visit was purely to inspect the beer.

Harvey's Old Ale (4.3%): Very mellow, smooth, soft beer. Not a strong flavour but good nonetheless.
Harvey's Sussex Bitter (4.0%): Excellent bitter. What can I say? Tastes exactly like I would expect a good beer to taste.
Hammerpot Red Hunter (4.3%): Very interesting and unusual bitter with a hoppy taste I haven't come across before. The hops cut through a mellow bitter flavour.

Simon, the knowledgeable and enthusiastic landlord, insisted I had a taster of the Hammerpot beer from Arundel. He explained it is a new brewery, a year old, so only appears in the most recent Good Beer Guide. Which reminds me I need to got hold of a copy.

I didn't try the fourth beer (Weltons Pridenjoy) although this seemed to be what most of the clientele were drinking. As it's from Horsham, I'm sure I'll get the chance again. All in all an interesting visit to a friendly pub.

The Moon Under Water, Balham 21st November 2006

Again, the post evening class drink took place at the local Wetherspoon’s. After last week’s delightful beer I was hopeful of a good pint.

Oakleaf Piston Porter (4.6%): Being a bit of a porter fan I thought I’d give it a go. It was a pleasing tasty pint although opinions differed as to whether the liquorice the pump clip advertised could be tasted.
Marston’s Pedigree (4.5%): Served cloudy, obviously the dregs of the barrel. Why the bar staff sold it I have no idea. Was sent back and exchanged for Greene King Abbot which I didn’t feel the need to taste.

Once again the beers suffered from being kept too cold. This pub’s beer quality seems to vary widely and unfortunately this wasn’t one of its better days. Strange choice of month for Christmas decorations, in my opinion.

Holland Tringham, Streatham 19th November 2006

Popped into my local for a swift half and a gossip and tried a few beers of the interesting range available at this Wetherspoon’s.

Itchen Valley Fagins (4.1%): Peppery light beer, pleasant but not as good as other Itchen Valley beers I’ve tasted recently. Good hoppy aftertaste.
Stonehenge Ales Old Smokey (5.0%): Pleasant, mellow stout with an interesting but sweet flavour.
Greene King LBW (4.4%): I wasn’t going to have any more beer, and GK’s not my favourite, but never having seen it before I felt it my duty to sample this. A sharp initial taste led to a rounded, hoppy flavour. Although unmistakably Greene King, this unusual dark bitter was better than IPA or Abbot. Possibly the best pint of Greene King I’ve tasted.

Overall, the beers were good, and, other than my usual Wetherspoon’s complaint of the low beer temperature, I was impressed with both the range and quality of the beers. It’s a shame the company policy of no TV sport has changed, as this detracted from the beer.

The Moon Under Water, Balham 14th November 2006

Back to this Wetherspoon's for a few drinks after an evening class in Balham. Luckily my companions allowed me to sample their beers, as my first pint was so good I had to have more of the same.

Titanic Iceberg (4.1%): Beautiful, tasty, refreshing, light-coloured beer. Lovely! The best beer I've tasted in this pub. Possibly the best beer I've ever had at a Wetherspoon's. The only complaint was that it was served too cold.
Wychwood Dog's Bollocks (5.2%): Standard bitter with an overbearing and unnecessary level of alcohol. Otherwise very pleasant although again too cold.
Shepherd Neame Spitfire (4.5%): Good tasting bitter with a caramel flavour. A decent pint but not good enough to stop me drinking the Iceberg.

A brief word with the barman on leaving about the temperature of the beers resulted in him agreeing with us and saying that they were planning on "turning the temperature up". As this is the chain which advertises "the coldest beer in town" on its pint glasses, I'm not holding my breath.

Ruskin House, Croydon 12th November 2006

Was invited to the Sunday night folk and blues club at Ruskin House, the Trade Union and Labour Movement Centre on Coombe Road in Croydon.

Never having been there before, my first concern was, naturally, the availability of a decent pint.

Not only was the barman not able to supply us with any beer, he had neither sparkling water nor lemon which was my second choice. However, after a small glass of soda water, I was promised some real ale within the half hour.

Sure enough, both Courage Best (4.0%) and Flower's IPA (3.6%) appeared within the timeframe. Not being a Courage fan I opted for the the IPA. It was drinkable but not great.

This agrees with my experience with private members' clubs to date, so I'm looking forward to breaking the stereotype at some point.

The club was good though and I can't fault the friendliness of the guy behind the bar.

The Crown and Greyhound, Dulwich Village 11th November 2006

I was working in the area and was persuaded to stop for a beer or three at this rather pleasant pub. I've been there before, but only in the summer when the beer garden is open.

Of several real ales available, I was able to try just two. I also sampled some Leffe.

Young's Winter Warmer (5.0%): a very tasty pint although kept too cold for my liking.
InBev Leffe Blonde (6.6%): tastes like Leffe, really, what can I say? Maybe I shouldn't have included it! Great if you like this sort of thing.
Caledonian Deuchars IPA (3.6%): Tasted a bit weak and watery after the stronger beers but nevertheless fruity and pleasant. Good but not special.

A good atmosphere, and although it wouldn't be to everyone's taste with a large part of the pub set out as a restaurant, there are different areas all with direct access to the bar.

The Malt Shovel, Horsham 9th November 2006

Went down to Horsham again as I had been persuaded to play in the monthly session.

This had the benefit that I was entitled to some of the beer provided for participants. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find out what all of it was.

However, a few beers were ordered from the bar and so I knew what these were!

Crouch Vale Essex Boys bitter (3.5%): reasonable tasting light-coloured beer but I wouldn't particularly want to drink it all night
Hog's Back Hair of the Hog (3.5%): tasty darker beer
Acorn Barnsley Gold (4.3%): another lightish beer, perfectly pleasant

I will make more of an effort next time to work out what I'm drinking.

The Pied Bull, Streatham Vale 1st November 2006

Having had two not so successful visits to the Five Bells in Streatham, I decided to make it my mission to find some good beer in the area.

First port of call was my out of date (2005) Good Beer Guide. This lists three pubs in Streatham: the Hogshead (now the Five Bells), the Crown and Sceptre (the Wetherspoon’s near Streatham Hill which I know can serve good beer) and the Pied Bull. Never having been to the latter I decided to give it a go.

The good news was that it wasn’t as far away from where I live as I originally thought, on the High Road pretty much opposite the common.

This is a big barn of a pub (Young’s) and although the Sky TV was on showing football, it didn’t intrude too much into the rest of the space.

The Young’s Bitter (3.7%) was very tasty. I’m quite a fan of ‘mixed’ so I didn’t taste the Special on its own. I also left the other beer (was it Wells Bombardier?). The ‘mixed’ (half Bitter, half Special) was excellent too.

Actually, having thought about it, these beers might actually be Wells & Youngs now. Which would certainly explain the presence of the Bombardier.

The food was perfectly acceptable so this was a good find.