The Jerusalem Tavern, Farringdon 27th July 2007

I always love coming to this pub and walking past on my lunchbreak I couldn't resist a quick half.

St Peter's Mild (3.7%): Tasty unusual mild with a solid bitter flavour rather than the more usual sweet taste.
St Peter's Lemon and Ginger Spiced Ale (4.7%): Funnily enough this has an incredibly strong spell of... lemon and ginger. The taste isn't quite as magical as the smell, leaning towards the medicinal. An interesting unusual beer but I'm not sure I could manage a whole pint.

Mid afternoon it is possible not only to fit inside this tiny pub, but also to get served. Fantastic.

The White Horse, Maplehurst, Horsham 24th July 2007

Went down to the White Horse to watch some dancing, sample some beers and play some tunes.

Welton's Pride'n'Joy (2.8%): Had my doubts about this due to the strength but I was very impressed. Lots of flavour and a good beer from this local brewer.
Dark Star Sunburst (4.8%): Even lager drinkers might like this! Delicious fruity light coloured beer.
Harvey's Sussex Best Bitter (4.0%): Heaven in a pint glass. Mmm.
Hogs Back HBB (3.7%): Tasty session bitter.

Four superb yet very different beers. Just shows what an asset an excellent landlord is. Those lucky people of Maplehurst!

The Dog and Bacon, Horsham 12th July 2007

Once again I followed the local morris men and had a great evening out. This was the first time I felt truly well since my recent head injury and I was able to really enjoy a drink or three.

Badger King & Barnes' Sussex Bitter (3.5%): This was tasteless and therefore not especially bad or good, although not what I’m looking for in a beer to drink all night.
Badger Original Bitter (3.8%): Quite tasty, fruity, mellow bitter but there seems to be a gap in the flavour where the bitter sharpness of the hops doesn’t quite meet with the roundedness of the malt.
Badger Tanglefoot (4.9%): Tasty strong bitter, in fact slightly stronger than the flavour of the beer can handle. Definitely my pick of these three beers.

The Brunswick Inn, Derby 7th July 2007

Had to go to Derby for a CAMRA meeting, which naturally was in a pub. I felt obliged to sample a few of the in-house brews and I wasn't disappointed.

Brunswick Mild (3.6%): Good smooth classic mild.
Brunswick Pilsner (5.5%): Very smooth light beer with a bitter taste.
Brunswick Triple Hop (4.0%): I think my expectations of this were a little high as I was hoping for a hoppy, IPA taste. Instead I got a mellow bitter golden coloured beer.
Brunswick The Usual (4.2%): Tangy malty beer.

The beer was good (and so cheap to a southerner), the food was good, the staff were very pleasant and I enjoyed the meeting. It was a long round trip for a day but a fairly hassle-free train route.

The Queens Head, Barns Green 5th July 2007

Popped out to see some dancing which this week included step dancing as well as morris.

Ringwood Best Bitter (3.8%): A bit bland and uninspiring although not unpleasant.

The weather did its usual ‘summer in England’ thing and poured with rain so everyone piled inside which therefore felt very cramped, particularly as there were still people eating meals in the pub while we were trying to sit around and play tunes.

The Bowler, Clerkenwell 3rd July 2007

The staff were friendly and although the pub was catering for the lunch trade, the beer was good and weak enough to sample at lunchtime.

Brakspear Bitter (3.4%): Very tasty and well kept, with a good rounded malty flavour.

The most unusually decorated pub I’ve ever been in, this has to be seen to be believed. My pictures just don’t do it justice and I suggest the décor alone makes this place worth a visit if you’re in the area.

CAMRA Beer Tent at Crawley Folk Festival 30th June and 1st July 2007

Now officially well again, I was determined to enjoy the CAMRA beer tent at this festival as fully as possible. Which meant tasting as many of the beers on offer as possible, over the two days.

1648 Ginger Nol (4.7%): Not great on first tasting but with a pleasant, subtle aftertaste. 3
Crouch Vale Brewers Gold (4.0%): Tasty, hoppy light beer. Good. 3
Dark Star Original (5.0%): Gorgeous, malty warming dark beer. 4
Dark Star Hophead (3.8%): Very sweet light beer with strong hints of grapefruit. 4
Dark Star Sunburst (4.8%): Interesting and zesty; very light in colour and strong. 4
Hopdaemon Incubus (4.0%): Excellent well balanced bitter with a rounded finish. 4
Mighty Oak Burntwood Bitter (4.0%): Very smoky, bitter, and as the name suggests, burnt-tasting. 2
Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde (3.7%): Sweet yet bitter dry mild. 3
Oakham J.H.B. (3.8%): Very light coloured, slightly hoppy, fruity and not too strong. 3
Oakham White Dwarf (4.3%): Very light hoppy beer with a zesty, fruity flavour. 3
Oakleaf I Can't Believe It's Not Bitter (4.9%): Hmm, I can actually. Ordinary lager. 3
Ramsgate Dogbolter (5.6%): Malty porter with caramel tones. 3
Ramsgate Gadd's No. 3 (5.0%): Interesting hoppy and bitter pale ale. 4
Rebellion Mutiny (4.5%): Excellent bitter with a hint of fruit and hops. 5
Ringwood Boondoggle (4.0%): Good ordinary bitter without being excessively hoppy or bitter. 3
Triple FFF Stairway (4.6%): Not quite ready for drinking this was very bitter and otherwise bland. 3
Vale Black Beauty Porter (4.3%): Well rounded and mellow creamy porter. 4
White Fagged Off (3.8%): Really interesting - hint of ashtray yet not unpleasant! 3
Whitstable Oyster Stout (4.5%): Heavenly, smooth, dry warming stout. 5
Wolf Wolf In Sheep's Clothing (3.7%): Fruity well balanced mild. 3

I was very pleased to see that the selection included two milds, two porters, a stout and a couple of speciality beers. The only downfall seemed to be that while there were about five golden beers, there were only three standard bitters, one of which wasn’t great. Overall a good selection, and certainly one which ensured bitter drinkers tried other beer styles.

My beer of the festival was Rebellion Mutiny. Mmm.

I also managed to see some of the performances and although it rained for what seemed like the whole weekend, I had a great time. The highlight was The Copper Family on the Sunday evening.

NB All breweries and beer names taken directly from the beer list supplied by beer tent staff. Marks out of 5 as per CAMRA marking system.