Welcome Haven

Here we are again, and a long time since my last post. I'm currently writing a fairly long piece that I will put up soon, but in the meantime I stumbled across an unexpected Haven. The Haven Arms, Ealing.

After the misses left me breakfast-less I went for a fry up...and while I was out, why not grab a quick pint!

A small amount of beer-app research later and I headed to the Haven Arms. What a little gem. Hidden down a small lane 5 mins from Ealing Broadway this classic boozer welcomed me on a chilly day with a roaring fire and friendly staff.

The beer selection wasn't amazing - Caledonian Deuchars and 80. I chose the 80 to start and paid £3.50 for it. It's ruby red, packed with crystal malt and quite big in the mouth. Not a mind blowing beer, but served very well.

There is Sky Sports News on without volume as well as a fruit machine and a pool table. These things often get the backs up of certain CAMRA types, but if the revenue of a fruit machine in the corner keeps a pub from shutting then arguing against is so subjective it's painful.

The decor is traditional with some nice quirks, it's very warm, clean and comfortable. This extends to the toilets which are clean and well maintained.

I'm the only person in at 1pm, but not for long. Regulars soon start coming in for food and drink. The food looks and smells great, and the menu is brilliant. Lobster, steak, poker and quiz nights are all on offer. I over heard the Landlord saying the only thing they buy in is the ice cream, and it certainly looks that way.

The landlord, who is running his first pub, takes time to talk to punters. The fact he bothers to do this (and in his socks) is brilliant and quite refreshing. His advice to book for their famous 100+ cover Sunday lunches was useful, I shall be booking my place!

Next up is Deuchars IPA. Served perfectly and tasting as it should.

The Haven Arms is, to me, what a pub should be. Local, friendly, inviting and with switched on owners who strive for a good atmosphere and offer good, well priced and locally sourced food. Without making it seem like they're doing you a favour somehow.

Despite the limited beer selection, this is a great pub well worth a visit. Besides, I'm not sure how they are tied, so perhaps they are stuck with Caledonian...but it's served well and very drinkable irrespectively.

If you're thinking of opening a pub, go to the Haven Arms and take note - this is where you want to be.

Their website is

http://www.thehavenarms.co.uk/

It's well worth a look, and offers some interesting info on the history of the pub...and to book your Sunday lunch!

Cheers,

Josh Walker

Well a while since my last post, and a lot of change! I'm no longer head brewer at London Fields! I'm now self employed and doing brewery consultancy stuff.

So, what does this mean for you? Well for one, I'll be moving back to my home town of Oxford..I'm sure a season ticket to the beloved yellows will now be a given! So the blogs I write will be about a different region of the country and with that, a different beer culture. But seeing as I'm still in London I'll write with the big smoke in mind...


So here I am, yet again, in my soon to be non-local - The Magpie.

First beer of today, Otley brewery's 04 Columbo. Well what can I say...It has great taste, despite being Welsh!

Lovely light straw coloured and invitingly aromatic. Perhaps nothing to write home, or to the Internet about, but still pleasant.

Now for the tasting, a brief nothingness due to the tall tight creamy head, but as soon as the beautifully conditioned craft ale hits your tongue, you're forced into a world of surprise. Bitterness, then dry malt, then fruity hop characters, followed by more bitterness, then biscuity malt, more hop fruit then finally a lasting bitterness. Some might argue the final bitterness could be more stable and delicate - but for a guy that drinks grapefruit juice for breakfast, this is lovely.

I was hoping to make this pint last a while so that I could focus on this blog a bit - but no chance! Another one down the hatch and I made a decision to move from a Stephen Fry beer- smart, complex and keen to get down my neck, to more of a Brian Blessed beer - loud, deservedly imposing and ultimately less popular...and thankfully, slower! (Just!)

Binghams Hot Dog chilli Stout.

It's dark. Smells of toffee apples, chocolate and with a slight burnt toast notch. It's well carbonated, silky smooth and great at hiding its 5% tag.

The initial flavour pushed the burnt toast flavour, leaving a great space for the fantastic chocolate flavour to assume brief control - you don't need to ask the chilli twice to have a distinctive and lasting impression. Don't get me wrong, it's not spicy. It serves beautifully well, much as adding chocolate to a chilli con carne does. It leaves a warm, but light flavour in your mouth. Perhaps this helps tho hide the alcohol. Either way, it works. Beautifully balanced, with an unpredictable but not nasty edge. A few more pints of Brian blessed please landlord!


Why have I still not learnt to avoid my local when trying to write my blog??

Cheers,

Josh Walker

5's

Just a quick entry this time... There might be a few of these when I drink down my local - The Magpie and Crown, Brentford. I feel my review of my local boozer wouldn't be very objective, so I'll just drop reviews of the beers I get to try here. It should be a fair few as the Maggie has 6 hand pumps, 5 of which serving very frequently changing offerings from micro breweries near and far, and a nice English, Belgian and German bottled beer selection to boot.

So the first for today is Darkstar's Festival, 5.0%. Visually this brightly polished darker brown ale is is mouth watering. The aroma alludes to this with its clean sweet roasted malts. The head is tight, creamy and off white.

Initially the carbonation and taste are good, but gentle and with a light mouthfeel - very clean. But this beer soon opens up and flows with a tsunami of complexity - marzipan, almonds, hazelnuts. Then a wave, this time dark soft fruits, finally a lingering swell of well balanced hoppy and dark malt bitterness. It's only at this stage that you might question the abv as the fruity alcohol flavour parries with the hop bitterness. Certainly recommended, perhaps more suited in colder months though.

Next on the bar is Binghams Space Hoppy IPA, 5.0%.

Very bright and an inviting light amber colour, with a loose white head. The strong and pleasant aroma is of light floral and citrus hops (perhaps some astringency, but it doesn't actually seem out of place..) and with a decent biscuit backing.

The superb carbonation and silky mouthfeel open up to a powerful and surprisingly grassy flavour that makes way for a strong rolling apricot punch - the bow of the hop wave that soon washes through, leaving your mouth dry and satisfied. An incredibly drinkable beer for a 5.0%er! Very impressed with this beer...and the two more that I had!

I've had a few beers from Binghams, but for some reason I was apprehensive to have this beer. Perhaps a bad experience with one before...or just a loose connection in my brain. Either way I'll certainly be on the lookout for more Binghams beers.

The brewery itself is a 10bbl plant in Berkshire, setup in November 2010. In that time they have netted a host of awards, including Gold for this very beer at SIBA South East Competition in the Strong Bitters Category.

If you would like to buy some of their beers, you can find the online shop here:

http://shop.binghams.co.uk/

Cheers,

Josh Walker

'Off Days'

After stopping at Kew Green to watch the end of what looked like an exciting game of cricket, I wondered down to The Botanist with the intention of writing my first blog...

The Botanist is quite a high end spot serving gastro pub food...but they have recently installed a micro brewery that sits openly in the window.

Despite my photo, it looks great, and some of the brewery/beer touches they have added around the place are really smart. The entire place is sharp and welcoming, unfortunately the same cannot be said for the bar staff. After waiting 5 minutes, a girl shuffled over and seemed surprised that I wanted a drink. 

Having had a long time to look at the offerings from the bar, which itself seemed disorganised, contradicting and not very beer oriented, (they did however give the option of straight, dimpled or stem glasses) I knew exactly what I was going to order -  a pint of Humulus Lupulus in a 'Josh Glass' - a dimpled mug, naturally. 

I was rather disappointed to have to pay £3.40 for a pint of 3.8% beer that had been brewed 5 feet away from me - and that was hazy. 

However, taste is what I'm here for, and fortunately it delivered quite well. The powerful aroma gave a nice citrusy hop, followed by a dry biscuity end. 

The first sip of this straw coloured ale awoke my tongue with great carbonation levels and a light citrus flavour that mellowed to a sweeter summer fruit taste with a long bitter finish. It wasn't as dry as I was expecting (or hoping), and there was what seemed like a slightly oxidised flavour near the end. I think most people would describe it more as a honey or nectar flavour and link it to the sweetness...

Overall I rate this beer quite well, but for the abv it has a lot going on. I'm not convinced it would be all too satisfying on a hot day, or be a good candidate for a session beer. The aroma and initial citrusy taste is however, very pleasing. The head lacing was pretty good and that nice aroma stayed fresh until the end of the pint! 

Next up, Q gold. A 4.5% beer that was delivered much quicker! £3.50 a pint, again in my view - over priced...and hazy! The head seemed to disappear rather quickly. It was at which point I questioned my judgement ordering a Jubilee beer 2 weeks after the Jubilee! 

The aroma was unpleasant. Very medicinal, and heavily oxidised...perhaps my earlier comments on oxidisation weren't unfounded! 

It didn't do much better in the drinking. Quite sharp and with little condition. The sharpness moves to an ok wheaty/straw taste. But this rapidly dissipates to a heavily oxidised flavour - metallic, wet and like smoked bacon. 

I sent it back, no apology or even any interest was offered, and I was asked to pay for my next beer. 

Next up was the OK Bitter, 4.2%, £3.50 a pint and also hazy...I see a trend forming here! The glass wasn't full either and when I asked to have it topped up I was meet with such a response that I checked my trousers, as the only explanation was that my junk was on display. Strangely enough - it wasn't. 

As the sun was taking the same path as my opinions of the botanist - downwards, I ramped on with the OK bitter. As I drank it I thought they have actually been ambitious with the name! Not very interesting, slightly oxidised, and lacking condition. 

The aroma shouts crystal malt, but with a dettol finish. The taste is a lot smoother and more pleasant, but nothing to shout home about. It tastes like a 4 day old doom bar. Not impressed. 

Time for the 65, a 3.4% mild. Now, I'm quite a big fan of milds so this could go either way! Once again conforming to their trend - £3.50 a pint and hazy, and the 65 had lost it's head by the time I had received my change. 

The initial aroma was inviting, chocolate hazelnut and with a hint of dark fruit, but this finished up smelling strongly of alcohol and somewhat acidic. I could tell before I had tasted any that it had suffered the same way as the other beers - it was old. The taste confirmed this. 

I had to leave anyway, and so told the woman behind the bar. She was much more interested, apologised and offered me another beer. Unfortunately I had to go. As I left I noticed the Q Gold pump clip had been turned round! 

So it seems the botanist can produce good beer, but like a lot of beers - they are getting let down by poor dispense. For other brewers this can be hard to keep a handle on...but not if you're selling it in your own pub! What seemed more alarming was that the fact that one of the people now behind the bar was working on the brewery earlier! Perhaps this gets them off the hook RE the slow service as obviously they were short staffed. 

It still begs the question though - why are they allowing beer of such a substandard quality to be sold? This place has huge potential, they attract a varied and pleasant clientèle, have a fantastic location and little competition for craft beer nearby. 

Perhaps I went in on a bad day, but for me, this is what separates good pubs from bad ones - good pubs simply do not have 'off days'. In the current climate we know and hear all too much regarding pubs, breweries and the recession, (new breweries opening constantly and pubs closing even faster), the market is getting very tight - great for the consumers, but something to really think about for pubs and breweries that have 'off days'.

Cheers,

Josh Walker

My intro

Hello and welcome to what I hope will be a source of entertainment for you and me both! A little about me; well my name is Josh Walker, I'm the head brewer at London Fields Brewery. I have also brewed at Twickenham Fine Ales and Purity Brewing Co. I have been brewing professionally since I was 18. I have loved every minute of it and really cant see myself doing anything else! My other hobbies include dirtbike riding, cricket, football (come on you yellows!!), food and a few more, but those are the main ones.

So the structure of my blog is still up in the air at the moment...I'll keep it open for the time being anyway! I'm still undecided as to whether I will focus simply on beer or on the pubs too! One thing that will be certain is that I write all blogs as I'm drinking the beers. I may edit the text when I'm home, but it will all be written in draft as I experience the beers/pubs. I think this really helps to capture the quality of what I'm experiencing.


I'm sure this will be a learning curve for you and me both, hopefully a fun one! 
Feel free to add me on twitter @Zythophillia


Cheers,


Josh Walker