The 21st Battersea Beer Festival

I had a day in lieu and what better way to spend it than to go to a beer festival!  The ideal day, had a lie in, had a run around the park (to make myself feel like I’m not too unhealthy), went for a huge fry up then went to Battersea.  I was going with my brother and a work mate, who was with his housemate.  

To the festival!

Held in the Grand Hall up on Lavender Hill, it's a good venue with all the barrels down the middle of the hall and a big ‘U’ shaped bar.  The cider was downstairs.  My first beer festival since my two visits to the GBBF last year.  

Beer festivals are usually pretty good fun.  The nice thing is how they all have their own personalities.  The big festivals like the GBBF certainly are a good day out with such a huge beer selection and entertainment, but it’s the small ones that can be the real winners.  Festivals like the Hook Norton Beer Festival or just pub festivals like the Imperial Beer fest in Exeter often have the most charm and character.  

I knew from experience that due to its popularity the Battersea Beer Festival sells out of ale towards the end of Friday night.  So getting there early was the key to having the best choice.  Sam (my brother) and I arrived at 2pm and my work mate Beno and his housemate Tim were already there getting stuck in.  They’d got us a table which was a good find.  I started on half pints as I always do at a festival as you usually get a bit more than a half and its a good way of trying more of the beers.  I saw a bloke at the GBBF last year with his own pint carrying basket with 4 halves in there.  I thought that was a great idea!  He was making notes on each one.  

I usually like to try as many beers that I’ve not had before at festivals.  My favourites of the day were the Box Steam Brewery, Derail Ale a good strong bitter (5.2%).  The Beowulf Brewery, Finn's Hall Porter was my favourite porter of the day.  I couldn’t go there without having a beer by the glass sponsor Hop Back Brewery, their Crop Circle was really refreshing and easy to drink.  I did sink many many, if not too many more beers and even a cider.  One issue with beer festivals is sometimes you do get one that is truly wrong, the worst I think I ever had was a pint of porter from India that must have been made with water straight from the Ganges!  This years shocker was Acer from the Bristol Beer Factory, the first sip realised I wasn’t going to like it, the citrus blast they advertise is really way too strong!  I struggled through it and was pleased to have a quality pint of Copper Dragon, Best Bitter afterwards.  

The first beers.

I liked the way the demographic of the festival changed over the day.  When we arrived there were lots of middle aged bearded men with bellies, the typical ale drinking sterotypes.  Later though the average age dropped dramatically and many more younger beer drinkers came along to see what was on offer.  It was good fun and a good crowd.  I had always wondered how young men when from being healthy young types to the bearded bellied drinkers you often see at bars and at what age.  Tim, Beno’s house mate gave me that answer.  Sporting a fine beard with a bit of a belly going on and clearly into his ale, it looks like 27 is the age in question!  

Tim and Beno

Even the Stoat made an appearance

The food was good with a wide selection of dishes.  Much better than last year as I recall.  I had some very good wurst and chips.  I think I should have had more food to soak up some of the ale!  

Wurst and Chips

Finally the beer ran out as we knew it would and it was time to move on.  I think we were all fairly obliterated by this point, from what I’ve noted in the guide I’d had 9.5 pints by then so one more at the Falcon near Clapham Junction station.  I really can not for the life of me remember much about what happened there or what beer I had but I can say from previous experience that it’s a good pub, worth a visit,  especially when they have their own beer festival.  

Time for home and the hang over was particularly bad the next day!  This did make me question if going to a beer festival for so long is a good idea...Well the answer is always yes, but in terms of beer tasting maybe not so much.  My notes became a scrawl and towards the end I kept forgetting what I’d bought my brother by the time I got back to the table, which he wasn’t pleased about.  

As a festival the Battersea is a good medium sized fest and I’m looking forward to 2012! 

The rest of the Notting Hill Stumble

Having been to two truly great and interesting pubs with outstanding attributes in many areas it was tough to move on.  Suffice to say the next pub was going to struggle to keep up that level of class.  The Uxbridge Arms is a pretty local looking pub.  We got some beers in and were feeling pretty merry by this point already.  The rest of the pub walk did become more of a stumble.  We thought the Uxbridge was alright and if I was looking for a quiet pint it would be a good place to go.  They did have Harveys on tap which is always a good beer.  

Next pub was the Cock and Bottle.  I make no excuses for being drunk by this point as I had been to the two pubs on my list that I was interested in seeing so things in my note book get a bit confusing! The notes I had under this pub simply say ‘mood buzzing’ which I would take as it being a busy pub with a good atmosphere.  It was pretty busy in there when were there.  I also noted that they had ‘usual beers’, they did have at least three ales on tap.  Then my notes say ‘tiny stools’ and ‘shut up Jeremy’?  I really hope the stools were not stool and I think the ‘shut up Jeremy’ related to a framed piece of paper with those words on above the bar.    Apparently the landlord was friendly, probably because we were hammered and spending loads of money there.  We tried all the pig snacks and crisps they had.  As such we gave it the highest rating for pub snacks on the day.  This is despite the fact we didn’t try snacks at the others!  Having previously noted there were no children allowed, it’s a bit confusing that I note in capitals that SMALL PEOPLE ALLOWED.  

Pints and Snacks in the Cock and Bottle

The Prince of Wales is hazy in the memory.  I do remember a huge obese man being there and sitting at the bar discussing how I disliked seeing huge coffee machines behind the bar.  My only note of any real value sates that the pub is a bit generic.  

Getting a bit hazy now!

The last pub the Kings Head, is a total write off in my memory.  I think Woody had also had enough beer by that point and was starting to move towards becoming Lord Chunder.  Frosty was still going strong somehow!  I have a vague memory of it being quite big with a few decent beers but that is all.  

A short break en route to the pub

Last pint for Woody.

We went to another pub I think??  Then to a Turkish restaurant which was crap and my last note for the evening states quite simply, San Miguel = SHIT.  Which I would state at any time sober or as I was the other day not so sober.  

It was a good day out and going to a pub as good as the Windsor Castle is always a treat!  The walk was a good route and I’m looking forward to seeing Woody and Frosty again soon I hope. 

The Windsor Castle

I was thinking that this next pub might be a bit of a disappointment after the Churchill Arms had been so good.  How wrong I was!  The Windsor Castle is a really fantastic pub.  Again on entry the mood and atmosphere of the pub hits you and you feel immediately at home.  The dark wooden tables, bar and wpartitions give it genuine traditional pub feel.  No wonder it is in the national heritage pub inventory.  I’ve not got into the historic pub thing too much yet but I totally appreciate what they are doing as this type of pub is amazing to visit and could never be replaced by a horrible soulless air port lounge style Slug and Lettuce pub.  I’d always rather drink in a pub like the Windsor Castle than any other.  We got a seat by the door to the garden.  We didn’t see the garden on the day though as it was dark and cold.  

Pic off their website

My picture

Pub sign

The pub had a good range of ales and lager.  The lagers were all decent looking and they had the likes of Leffe and Aspalls Cider on tap which is a nice touch of class.  On tap they had White Horse Porter, which I had and it was a very good beer and I hope the brewery grows in size and is successful.  Also on tap was Sambrooks Wandle and Liberation Ale, which seems to be doing the rounds at the moment.  I’d not seen it till a few weeks ago.  

We sat in the pub for a few beers and enjoyed every moment.  Again this is well deserved of being in the good pub guide.   I will be going back to this pub in the summer to see the garden.  I thought it was such a fantastic pub.  I’d travel a long way to have a pint here.  As it turned out it was an easy winner for our favourite pub of the day!

The Churchill Arms

I met the lads, Woody and Frosty at Charring Cross.  Woody and I nipped down to the Princess of Wales for a pint while we waited for Frosty.  I had a great pint of Hook Norton Jackpot a beer I’d not had before.  Just a quick note on the Princess of Wales...  First impressions are of any other city pub with its fairly modern design but upon closer inspection you’ll find that they have a really good range of ales on tap.  Its actually a really good pub with good beer and knowledgeable staff.  I go there regularly and it never lets me down.  When I was there they had six ales on, Hook Norton Jackpot, Lancaster Red, Red Dragon, Brains SA, Pride and Doom Bar.  I’d recommend going there anytime.  

Frosty arrived and we headed over to the Churchill Arms the first pub on our walk.  We were pretty excited about getting there and seeing if it was as good as the book made out.  We were not let down.  Upon entering the put we could tell straight away it was good.  There was a warm bustling atmosphere and it was nicely full in there.  We got served so quickly Woody couldn’t even decide what to have that fast.  I didn’t blame him, the choice was good.  Being a Fullers pub they had their full range on tap, fresh up from Chiswick.  I had two pints of very nice ESB, Woody and Frosty were savouring the other Fullers selections such as Chiswick and Discovery.  

ESB

The pub is pretty big with a long curved bar.  We got a seat after 10 minutes or so.  Once sitting we could look up and really take a moment to observe some of items decorating the pub walls and ceiling.  The pub is full of different interesting, pub and Churchill related items.  There is so much it would not be possible to take them all in on one visit.  The outside is known as well for being decorated with flowers.  They had a few TVs too showing the rugby.  They are well set out though so if you did want a TV free pint you could sit on the other side of the bar.  This pub is definitely deserving of being in the GPG!  We were sad to be moving on but also excited to be on the way to another good pub guide pub.  I will be going back to the Churchill Arms.  

Churchill

“Always remember that I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.” Winston Churchill

The Next Step

I had to take this adventure beyond the South East of London.  It was already Febuary and I still hadn’t been to anywhere North of the river.  My good mate Woody said he was around for a pub crawl.  It was with Woody that my original interest in pubs began.  Before then my interest in pubs was based only seeing them as a place to drink.  I was more interested in different types of beer and trying as many different beers as I could over time.  I still love trying new beers, going to beer festivals, going to Belgium (Bruge) or just to good pubs to try new beers but it was always just about the beer.  If I could get a good pint of beer that I had never had before that would be great but I didn’t really care where we were.  

Maybe it was because I was starting to have to go further afield to find new beers or if it was just age and looking for a more rounded drinking experience but I started to notice how interesting pubs can be.  I had drunk so many different types of beer (I recently was given a book called 1001 beers to drink before you die, I’d had a large proportion of them).  The reason why Woody played such a big part of this was because he suggested one day that we meet in London for a beer.  We met up at 4pm and went on an epic pub crawl during which I was introduced to some great pubs like The Salisbury pub, the Princess of Wales down by Charring Cross and De Hems in Soho.  This day out was the spark that set my interest in pubs going.  After that pub crawls around London became a semi regular event which has continued to this day.   Most of the pubs we visited were in the West End and Westminster.  Cheers Woody and long my it continue!

I love a guide, as you can probably tell from this blog which its self is based on a guide.  I don’t really follow the view that guides just take you to where all the other tourists go, usually guides like the good pub guide for example, do a very good job.  As such I went to waterstones and bought the CAMRA London Pub Walks book.  I had a look at this and planned to do walk number 21 in Notting Hill and Bayswater as my next pub visit.  This would include two pubs on my list the Churchill Arms and the Windsor Castle.  Importantly as well they were the first two pubs on the walk so I would not be too drunk to give them a good view.  

Greenwich Pub Crawl

Having been a bit unhappy with the Cutty Sark we thought it would be rude not to have another pint.  The Stoat had to make his way back to the market for some cake so we took the river path back to the The Yacht.  The pub is owned by Youngs and has been given the usual Youngs pub make over.  But even Youngs can’t spoil the view and The Yacht has made really good use of having such a good view with big windows all along the river side.  The tables up by the window were full so we sat by the fire like old men warming our cockles.  The usual beers were on tap like Old Speckled hen, Doom Bar and Youngs Gold.  Just the one pint of Youngs Gold was had before we moved on.  

There was not even time to put the gloves and scarf on before we arrived at the next pub, the Trafalgar.  The Trafalgar has really improved in the last few years and it was great on the day we visited.  The atmosphere was just what you would look for in a pub, warm and friendly with the enthusiastic buzz of punters having a good time and a good pint.  The beers available on the day were the best we found on the day Adnams Old Ale which was very nice, Adnams Bitter, Doom Bar and Sharp's Own and Slaters Queen Bee. 

The Trafalgar is a good pub in the heart of Greenwich, I’d recommend it.  It’s also got the best views of any pub in Greenwich. 

Starting to feel the ale now we were keen to hit more pubs.  

The Gipsy Moth was the next venue.  The pub has been designed to attract the young and beautiful of Greenwich so is more of a bar style.  It’s a good place for a night out and some drinks.  The have some good beers like Sambrooks Wandle, Doom Bar, London Pride and Liberation Ale.  When we were there though it was a bit like a crèche, children were everywhere screaming and shouting!  The Stoat needed his cake so we saw the back of our pints and went to the market.  

After cake we made one last stop off at the Coach and Horses in the market.  It’s quite a small pub with an ‘L’ shape design.  There are some good beers on tap like Adnams Old Ale, and Doom Bar and Sharp's Own.  Looks like Adnams and Sharps have got some good sales people in Greenwich.  We got a seat by the door and looked over at the people sitting by the fire in the deep comfortable looking leather sofas, sipping herbal tea.  Hold up, yes that is right herbal tea!  I can moan about the huge coffee machines taking over good bar space till the cows come home but I can at least understand the need to meet demand.  People like to have coffee after a meal but herbal tea!?  The Stoat and I were not happy about that.  Pubs don’t need to serve herbal tea.  If tourists want to come to pubs they can have a pint or a soft drink or even at the worst and I say it through clenched teeth a coffee but if they want a herbal tea they should go to a sodding tea shop.  This led to all sorts of chat and Le Stoat even made the controversial comment questioning the place of wine in a pub.  I think that may have been due to the seven previous pints.  

After this session several points about this journey have been made clear.  The question of strategy of reviewing pubs and when to visit them is interesting.  Pubs will often change greatly in character throughout the day and this could have a major impact on my view.  Also is a pub crawl an effective method of pub review.  I think that this crawl showed it is not because we got drunk and lost focus unsurprisingly.  It was really good fun though! So if a pub crawl is used I’ll go to the important pubs first, by that I mean the GPG pubs.  

All in all Greenwich has some good pubs that are well worth a visit and with so many in such a small space they make a really good pub crawl route.  

The Stoat

The Cutty Sark

Still not been to adventurous, this pub tour is looking a bit stuck in the South East.  But what am I supposed to do if a friend (Ed Stott) who, for the purpose of this blog shall remain nameless or go via the pseudonym of ‘the Stoat’ wants to meet up for a pint in Greenwich?  

The Stoat and I decide to take lunch at the Cutty Sark.  We arrived at 1.30 and the place was almost empty.  No problem finding a table then.  The place seemed a bit drab and bare.  Two of the ales were off but there were three still left the regulars of Pride, Seafarers and Butcombe. We covered all three ales on tap and they were all well kept so I won’t quibble over the quality of the beer.  The Stoat went up to peruse the selection of English Tapas (bar snacks) and came back empty handed.  I was just about to berate him for this major oversight in pub etiquette when he raised a hand and gave me a knowing look and told me to "just wait".  A few minutes later a big plate of white bait arrived!  Good call that man.  The food was good and we followed up that snack with a proper lunch.  I had fish and chips that was well worth the money.  The fish was succulent, the peas were just right and the batter was crispy and golden.  

So the Cutty Sark has good food a few well kept ales and a decent view if you get a table upstairs in the window.   But I do have to wonder how that pub got in the Good Pub Guide!  Where has it fallen short?  There is no real character to the place, the bar looked under stocked and cheaply built at the back. It may have been built in Georgian times but it certainly is not all that old.  The piped music is what initially put us off the place.  Sitting in a half empty pub, you would like to be able to hear your mate easily enough but the music was right above us pumping out the Black Eyed Peas song about Lady Lumps.  My biggest issue with the Cutty Sark is that being from Greenwich and having been to this pub before I know there is nothing about it to give it that certain je ne sais quoi that most Good Pub Guide Pubs have.  I had raised my expectations this year seeing it make it into the GPG and was looking forward to this visit.  So after the long walk along the river I was bitterly disappointed to find not much had changed.  The outside sign looked weathered and unassuming and that would sum up the visit really, unassuming.  So if you are in Greenwich I wouldn’t bother wandering down past the powerstation just for this pub there are better pubs in Greenwich its self.