GBBF 2006









I've be waiting for it all year since I attended last year and finally it came around again. For a beer nut like myself, it is like going to heaven. For those of you I haven't bored silly by describing it before, the Great British Beer Festival is an annual 6-day event organised by CAMRA. This year they had a record 66,000 visitors and over 450 real ales available to try (many of which I wouldn't normally get the chance to get).

Because of trips either side of the festival, I could only get to the festival two nights - Tuesday and Thursday. However, I was determined to make the most of those nights as well as pulling along as many GBBF novices as possible. Tuesday night was probably the pick of the two nights, being opening day it was a little quieter, so we managed to grab ourselves a table and didn't have to wait to be served all night. I managed to taste 8 new beers - half pints are the order of the day, allows you to taste more and also gives you the chance of getting poured too much (3/4 pints are not uncommon - the pick of the night being the Alcazar Mocha Stout. I managed to pull along a few more for the Thursday night, which was a lot busier. However, this didn't stop us getting to a few more tasty ales, 9 for me on this night, the pick being the gravity-fed Northern Two Tone Special.

A list of other ales tasted - Castle Rock Flying Ant, Arundel Sussex Gold, Ossett Yorkshire Glory, Naylors Sparkeys Monday Night Mild, Mallard Waddlers Mild, Sierra Nevada Porter, Why Not Chocolate Nutter, Triple fff Moondance, Beartown Ambeardextrous, Stewart Edinburgh #3, Glastonbury Mystery Tor, Bradfield Farmers Brown Cow, Brown Cow How Now, Buffys Mild, Burton Bridge Empire Ale.

Not a bad one among them and all a treat.

Fore













The weekend following the trip to Spain for Fiberfib, with Anna away in the south of France, Jabs and I got an invite from Andy P to head up to Gleneagles, where he has been working this summer, to join him for a round of golf and a cheap stay at the hotel. Well, it seemed stupid to refuse, so we organised a fleeting trip up North for a bit of sport and luxury.

Of course it wasn't all easy as we had to make the 14 hour round trip over two days. Started with an early 6am wake up Saturday morning and getting to Kings Cross to make our 8am train up to Stirling - where Andy was to pick us up. Armed with a Frappuccino (my new vice) and an arm full of papers, we settled in for the long trip - which went surprisingly quickly, though we had our afternoon round to look forward to and take our minds off it.

Driving into Gleneagles itself, it is quite impressive. It has 3 and a half golf courses (the half being a 9-hole par 3 course) and the hotel is an impressive site. After much deliberation and discussion, we had decided to play the PGA Championship course - which hosted the Johnny Walker Championship only a month earlier (so it was in top nick) and is the venue for the Ryder Cup in 2014. To play on such a course was too much of an opportunity to miss. The Kings Course is a more classic Scottish Links Course and looked pretty good too - there is always next time!

Having not played golf in something like 2 years I was not only rusty but also a little unprepared. Luckily, Andy was able to set us up with all the goodies - the hire clubs (gratis) were brand new top-of-the-line Callaways (they replace their hire clubs every year!), balls, tees, etc, and a couple of carts to boot. He even managed to rustle up a foursome - Stewart, a Londoner he meet on a golf trip and who plays at Gleneagles often. The only thing Andy couldn't sort out was the weather, but more about that later.
So standing on the 1st tee, despite the beautiful views, there was some trepidation about the golf that was to come. Not only that, there was pressure on a little wager between Jabs and myself for a dram on Scotland's finest later that evening in the hotel. And to be honest, it was pretty rough over the first 9 holes. Though not helped by some sabotage from Jabs on the 2nd tee, timing his camera click with the top of my back swing. So after the front 9, and too many 3-putts than I want to remember, I had the unfortunate total of 54, just proving my rustiness and also the difficult of the course (you do not want to find the rough!). However, fortunately for my wallet (more of that later), Jabs was finding it just as difficult and I had a comfortable lead in our little match.

But things were about to make a turn for the better. Putting my tee shot on the par-3 10th, I pulled off what was a pretty impressive sand-save (if I do say so myself) and notched up my first par of the day. And this was just the start, as I then managed to give myself sinkable putts on the next two holes for birdies. Unfortunately, though I was finding some form tee-to-green, my putting was still lacking somewhat, but I still managed to pick up another two pars, making that 3 on the trot and even par through the back-9 at that stage.

But this wasn't to be our day. Scotland, like the rest of Britain, having not seen any rain for about a month, decided to try and make up for it in one late afternoon. We were determined to not let it get the better of us, and though getting thoroughly soaked, we played through another couple of holes, though the quality of golf was definitely slipping. However, it was on our 14th hole we decided we needed to let the weather win. Jabs, playing an approach shot into the green, had the club slip in his hand and managed to somehow thread the ball between Andy's face and the windscreen on the cart parked just to right of where he was playing his shot. It was hear that we decided that a couple of beers in the warm clubhouse sounded pretty good. Making the most of the facilities, we showered up and headed up to the bar, where we watched the rain suddenly let up and the last bit of sun come out! Though there was no way we could have continued as the course was quite water-logged.

So we hatched some plans for a curry in the town before heading back to the hotel for the receipt of my prize dram. It was our drams that caused us some shock later that evening as we settled in at the Hotel bar. Having recently purchased a bottle of Dalwhinnie for £25, we were somewhat surprised to find out that our dram of the same whiskey at the Hotel was a whopping £11.50. After some quick (and unnecessary) calculations we worked out they were making some mark-up.

The Hotel itself was impressive and wasn't lacking of much. Of course, I had to scare my room with this scary man, but apart from that, it was interesting to think that just a year ago, Tony, George W and the rest of the boys were lolling around the same place. Getting our slightly foggy heads out of bed the next morning, we didn't know that the best was still to come - the breakfast. There wasn't anything that was bad - the juice, the coffee, the fruit, the eggs, the Scottish flat bread, the sausages - but what really stood out was the black and haggis pudding. I should have smuggled half-a-dozen of each as I have been remincising ever since.

After a sizeable breakie, we used our last hour or so to have a wander around the impressive ground of the Hotel (in beautiful sunshine of course) - which include a hedge maze and a falconry.

We then had to jump back on the train that morning and arrived back in London on that Sunday evening. So a heady trip for a round of golf, but well worth it despite the weather. Was great to catch up with Andy again, who is in fine form and enjoying is time up north. I got a little bit of the golf-bug back and may even contemplate a return trip to get 18 holes next time.

For some more pics, click here.

FiberFib 2006

FiberFib you ask? Stands for Festival Internacional de Benicassim, which is the music festival we recently went to in Spain. Benicassim is where it was held, which is on the coast about an hour north of Valencia.

First thing to comment on is - man it was hot! OK, it has also been pretty hot in London, but this was another step up again. The temperatures were consistently in the high 30s and the nights were incredibly warm. So we packed pretty light. Because of the heat, the music festival actually ran through the night, typically starting at about 7pm each day and going through to around 7am - with the big acts each night coming on at around 1.30am. This meant we also had plenty of time during the day to hang out by the pool and lay on the beach. But what it also meant was that there wasn't a lot of sleeping going on - I think I got the grand total of 10 hours sleep over the four days I was there!

The festival itself was very good. It didn't have some of the big names it has had in previous years and had quite a few old school acts (Madness, Depeche Mode, Morrissey). However, Franz Ferdinand were brilliant, as were The Kooks, who are my band of the summer. We also spent a lot of Friday night in the Silent Disco, which was classic. By way of explanation, the Silent Disco was a small marquee where you were given a pair of headphones as you entered. You had the choice of listening to two DJs as it was quite humourous looking around and seeing people dancing to completely different tracks. Even better was taking your headphones off when a popular song was played and listening to people singing to themselves. Here's a picture below of us in the Silent Disco along with a bit of festival action from Jabs and Fi.
Apart from the Festival, we also had a good time chilling out during the day. This usually took the form of laying by the pool at our camp ground (where we stayed in bungalows that in another country might be called a sauna - who builds with wood in Spain!); or heading down to the beach - where the Med was similar to bath water.

By the end of the 4 days the twelve of us were all looking the worse for wear and in need to a decent night's sleep and a good shower. We stopped off in Barcelona for a last top up of tapa's at a bar Anna and I found when we were last there in January, and eventually arrived back home at 1.30am. But it was all worth it as it was a fun trip.

For some more pics, click here.

It's a hot one!

Man is it hot over here, I've never experienced a summer like it. Sunny hot day after sunny hot day. More days than not are over 30 degrees and I could count the number of clouds I have seen in the past month on one hand (OK, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, maybe one hand and a thumb). Suppose to be the hottest day yet tomorrow, with the forecast of 36 degrees, but a 30% chance it could get to 39 degrees (which would be a record for Britain)!

Sunday Ramble

Well, with all this great weather, the crew decided to take off on the Sunday for a bit of a ramble down in the Surrey countryside. Shaz recently picked up a couple of books of country walks close to London and we are hoping to do a few while the good weather lasts.

Last Sunday it was the 15km walk from Gomshall to Guildford. Just an hour on train from London, we arrived in Gomshall full of energy and ready for a good day in the english countryside. With the sun on the backs, we rambled our way through gently sloping farmland and the quite impressive Blackheath Forest (being pine and fern, it was very reminiscent of NZ).

Of course, not country walk should be short of a couple of country pubs. First stop was about 4km in at the William IV, where I was able to have a couple of very good half pints from the Surrey Hills brewery, which was just down the road. Refreshed farm our liquid stop, we carried on to The Villages, on the far edge of the Forest, for a good little lunch out in the garden bar. Fuelled up, we headed out for the last half of the walk to Guildford. Arriving at Guildford close to 6pm, we were a bunch of very tired, but very happy ramblers. I'm looking forward to the next outing.

Fulhimbledon 2006



It is the one title Martina Navratilova hasn't won and the trophy Roger Federer covets the most - it is the annual Fulhimbledon mixed doubles tournament. Played on the same day as the final of another lesser known tournament (Wimbledon I think it is called), the weather was excellent and we all turned up in our best whites. With such famous past winners as Brad & Shaz and Mike & Iris, the 12 finely-tuned pairings tuned up ready to show their best tennis and take the title....

OK, OK, maybe most of us hadn't lifted the racket since the previous year and there were more Pims and beers being served than aces. But as always, it is damn good fun and superbly organised by The Tournament Master himself, Mr Thomas Flinn. The tennis was in fact all very sociable and many laughs were had. Special thanks goes out to my partner, Ms Anna, who played superbly and held up Team Posso throughout the competition.

Best dressed as always went Mr Simon Quirke, sporting a very english pink polo and a pink and navy vest that must have left him cooking. Here's a couple of picks of the crew as well.










At the end of the day everyone was very happy (which might have had more to do with the drinks than the tennis) and the coveted trophy was passed on to a new holder for another year. The big question is where will the tournament be held next year - Taupolimbledon maybe....

Canada's Most Wanted

This individual is consider unarmed and not very dangerous. He is known to have recently fled the city of London (UK), where he has been known to commit a series of transgressions, including the pilfering of matches, beer coasters, and pint glasses, not to mention late night ramblings around London and skulking in far off train stations. He is believed to be traveling across Canada in a van of a (as current) unknown description and is most likely to be seen in the vicinity of a KFC restaurant. Known alias: "Criggles".

If you have any information concerning this person, please feel free to add comments to this post.

Thank you for reading this public service announcement.

The GrandMaster's Putney Palace

I thought I would let those of you not over here to see the London pad. It's a loft conversion top flat (of 3) in the corner property of a typical London terrace house. Its a good little spot, just 100 metres or so from the Thames and though a little further away than the rest of our friends - only a 10 to 15 minute walk to either the overland station or the tube. Some good little shops around us: the local curry restaurant (which is good), a great italian place that makes real italian pizza, a restaurant/cafe in the NZ-style (rare over here), and even a little Polish delicatessen about 5 doors down.

So this is it, you can see the sky lights in the roof, which is our top level lounge and kitchen.
Love the sky lights, great for letting air in during the hot humid summer days, though with all that sun coming in during the day, if we are not in it is like coming home to a sauna some days. It's a recent conversion, so all nice and modern and minimalist (would you expect anything else).

Definitely smaller than we would have back home (just a 1 bedroom - which is down stairs to the left of the kitchen, along with the bathroom - both with sky lights as well). But you don't really want a whole lot of space over here - you are out so much and that way you don't collect too much stuff either. Though not handy for the bike!

No tour of the Palace would be complete without a picture of my beer bottle collection - which is the beer nerd me keeping interesting bottles I have purchased. At first I was just going to fill up the shelf and then throw them out, but now it has become a permanent feature (except for when I replace some when I come across more interesting bottles).

I thought I would leave you with the view out our lounge - it's not too bad. This was taken in spring and you can see the cherry blossoms the Putney was covered in for a few weeks. The river is in this direction as well (though you can't see it), but you can make out the flood lights from the Craven Cottage - Fulham's home ground in the premiership - which is just on the other side.

On Ya Bike - Richmond Park & Richmond Hill

Hopefully this will be the first of many posts about bike rides this summer, and where better to start than the old favourite....

Richmond Park is the largest open space in all of London with plenty of deer and great views back to the city and further out to the South West of London. It also has a great 12km ring road which is well paved and where bikes rule just as much as cars. Also fortunate is that Putney is only 3km from the Park, so has become our usual jaunt for a quick ride.

The ride typically starts with a pick up of my usual partner in crime in any ride - Jabs - though sometimes we manage to pull along a few others. Usually it is only for a lap or two, depending on whether we get waylaid by the decision to stop off for a pint (which obviously curtails the appetite for more laps). The Park really is a great place to ride, you don't have to bike miles to get the feeling of being outside of the city. The drivers are always (well, normally) respectful of riders, and there is always the roaming deer or the views to keep you occupied. Here is a montage of photos of the Park and some of the views.




I mentioned the pints and I think an explanation is required for this distraction.
This is because the distraction is none other than Richmond Hill, which is just outside one of the gates to Richmond Park. On top of the hill is this great little Terrace, where on the other side of the road is, of course, a great little pub - The Roebuck. The CAMRA-listed Roebuck always has a couple of well-kept guest ales on handpump, and where better to drink them with the World Heritage view of Petersham Meadows and the Thames. Is becoming one of my favourite spots.

Summertime

Well, summer has well and truly arrived here in London. We had thought so a month ago when we had a couple of days around 27/28 degrees, but then the weather went very average on us - cold and wet, probably the worst weather I have had over here. But since last weekend we have had fabulous weather, with consistent temperatures in the high 20s. Of course, I could do without the balmy nights - I don't think I have had more than 3 hours sleep in over a week.

We made the most it on Saturday though, when we went down to a local pub for Todd's birthday (the Red Lion in Barnes) and enjoyed the atmosphere of their garden bar. They had a magnificent spit roast with plenty of crackling and they do all right on the beer front too - with a well-kept Fullers range, the Discovery being the order of the day (a refreshing and light blonde beer, perfect for a hot summer day).









Of course, if you don't know it (and you can't not over here), there is something else kicking off at the moment. The Football World Cup. I think there are other sports and news going on in the world, but I probably won't know about for the next few weeks. The first England game (vs Paraguay) was also on that same Saturday afternoon, and while the others headed off into some dark smoky pub to watch it, I couldn't quite face leaving the sun and decided to follow the game retro-style - by listening to it on the radio in the beer garden. It worked a treat, I didn't miss out on much (the game was fairly average) and I was able to continue to soak up the rays while still catching the action (for the record, England managed a scratchy but all important 1-nil win).

Monday today, and the hottest day yet - I think it was suppose to get to 30 degrees. I took a leisurely lunch out in the sun and seemed to have a fair bit of company with me. They love their sun these Poms. Suited guys get their shirts off, and I've heard girls get out in their thongs (and not of the feet variety). The shots below are from what is called the Winter Gardens (hardly apt for a day like today), which actually sits right on top of the Canary Wharf tube station.










Hopefully I will have a few more stories of great summer days to post. Though, a warning to you all (especially you kids), sun and good beer is not always a good combination....

Pub Watch: The Fat Cat (Norwich, Norfolk)

A couple of weekends back it was Bank Holiday Monday over here and Anna and I decided to get a hire car and drive up to Norfolk for the weekend. First stop was Norwich, where surprise surprise, I had heard there were a number of very fine pubs. After we arrived late Saturday afternoon, we set off in search of a few of these pubs that sat out in the suburbs. Little did I know the great pub I was to come across - maybe the most impressive I have ever been to.

Of course, I had done some research and I did know The Fat Cat was going to be a good one. The CAMRA Good Beer Guide had said "a treasure trove of a pub and a real ale drinker's paradise". It has also twice won the CAMRA National Pub of the Year (1998 & 2004), so its credentials were there. After already having a couple of pints at our first pub (The Alexandra Tavern) it was only a gentle walk a couple of blocks to The Fat Cat.
From the outside it doesn't look anything too special, a standard red brick building (of which there were plenty in Norwich) with a few tables outside. But is was inside that the fun began....

Walking into the pub it was clear they weren't kidding when they said a real ale drinker's paradise. At the bar, there looked to be about 15 handpumps with many beers I hadn't seen before. And then I noticed that there was another room behind the bar where there were a number of casks lined up serving gravity fed ale (where the ale is served straight from a tap in the cask). It was then that I noticed the blackboard listing all the ales available and fell into a mix of astonishment and euphoria.
You can count them - no less than 27 real ales listed, and in fact there was another four on a specials board, so it was really 31. Add to that the keg beers they had on draught (which ranged from the usual Guinness and Stella Artois to Belgium beers like Liefmans and Leffe), and there was over 40 different beers to choose from. I didn't even bother looking at the bottled beers, but I am sure they would have had a fair range there too.

So without further adieu, I got cracking to sampling some new ales, including some from the their own Fat Cat stables. In all, four new ales tasted by myself, the best being the Fat Cat Pussy Galore, a cask pilsener - which is unusual - with a light citrus hop aroma and good peach and citrus flavours. Anna had a couple of half pints of the Fat Cat Meow Mild (after being recently converted to the joy of Mild Ales) - which had a strong chocolate flavour with a little cherry fruit and a tangy mouthfeel l that belied its 3.8%.

Apart from having an incredible selection of beer, the Fat Cat was also simply a great pub, with lots of rooms and nooks and crannies, and a good atmosphere inside. It was also very popular and locals obviously make the effort to go out to this beauty. And why not, I doubt there is a better pub for many a mile, if at all. It was difficult to pull myself away with so many beers not sampled, but the rest of Norwich (including a superb dinner) beckoned....

"A fine city" and Norfolk

As you drive into Norwich, the city slogan tells you that it is "a fine city". And a fine city it certainly is. After visiting some of the establishments the night before and having one of my best meals in recent memory - Anna and I woke up the next morning keen (well, admittedly there were a few cobwebs from the night before) to check out what else the "fine city" had on offer.

Using the trusty visitor guides picked up at the Information Centre the evening before, and fuelled with the obligatory B&B Full English Breakfast, we set off for a leisurely morning stroll around the city. First stop was the Riverside Walk around the outskirts of the central city. And very pleasant it was indeed - you could have just about forget you were in the city. A few canal boats and remnants of times past made the walk a perfect distraction from the small hangover I had somehow acquired. Norwich is certainly an attractive city, belying its population of nearly 400k, with plenty of little medieval streets and pedestrian streets. It has the standard castle and Cathedral - though even these are better than most - the former being a practical blueprint for Norman castles, and the grounds of the main Cathedral (Norwich actually has 2) are certainly worth the look.










After one last quick pint at a pub recommended to me by a work colleague (well, it would have been rude not to) - Anna and I left the fine city behind us and headed north into Norfolk. With plans to meet up with a couple of ramblers (aka Brad & Sharon) later that afternoon on the northern Norfolk Coast, I did what I do best and picked a rambling course of our own through various little country roads and lanes. After a stop for lunch - at a pub of course (I have become an appreciator of the Ploughman's Lunch, which was basically a block of cheese the size of your head, some pieces of bread, various pickles and salad) - we made it up to Wells where we had planned to meet up with the ramblers.

Having read that Wells-next-the-Sea was a delightful seaside town, we were looking forward to the visit - but we forgot about the English definition of "a delightful seaside town" = over-crowded, garish shops, amusement arcades, large caravan parks, etc. Prompting a quick getaway, we quickly put out the Code Red to Brad & Sharon for a change of plan and instead met them at another town a couple miles down the road - happily devoid of all the English "delights". After getting a low down on all their rambling tales of the last couple of days - comprising accounts of this leg is sore, my hip aches here, etc - we chased some deer around a nearby Manor's grounds and then headed off to find the campsite that Brad & Sharon were staying at.

Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately) finding that the campsite (more accurately just a paddock on some guy's farm) had room for Anna and I as well, we quickly set up the tents before heading out for the evening - and yes, before you hurt yourself with all that chortling, Anna and I have been known to camp it out from time to time. Anyway, enough of that! Managed to visit another couple of CAMRA Good Beer Guide entries out in the countryside (inclding this traditional flint-built gem - The Three Horseshoes) for dinner and a few pints, before heading back to our camp site and walking back into Wells - which we found to actually have some charm in its back streets away from the beach - for one last drink before heading back to our luxury accommodation.

Walking up a sunny day (well, it was more like 5-bloody-am with the days lengthening out here) and a horse that sounded like it had a severe gastro-intestinally problem, we scrubbed ourselves up into some kind of order and headed off in search of a decent breakfast (Brad & Sharon enthusiastic to skip their breakfast the earlier day of leftover citrus zest couscous). Back into Wells - which was now growing on us, minus the hoards - we found a nice hotel on the side of the village green and found that they could fit us in for breakfast. Finding that for £10-a-head we could order anything we wanted off the breakfast menu as many times as we wanted, we settled in to fill up the tanks. A bowl of fruit salad for all was followed by coffee, croissants and pain-au-chocolat, followed by Full English breakfasts and grilled banana and bacon on brioche. It was while we were waiting to be able to fit through the doors again that we saw some very favourable reviews the hotel had received, and especially its NZ chef (the grilled bacon and banana made sense now).

Eventually we left Wells behind us, but picked up some extra load for our little Vauxhall - after much deliberation and prodding of sore body parts, Brad & Sharon finally made the decision that coming back home with us in the car was much more appealing than trekking the rest of the Norfolk Coastal Path and getting the train back to London. Of course, this meant they were now part of Sam's Tours, involving much research of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide and getting lost down various country lanes. We had already decided that we would head south by going through the Norfolk Broads, which is the vast flat wetlands area east of Norwich, spider-webbed with waterways and canals. So we had a pleasant drive back down through Norfolk, stopping at a couple of pubs in the Broads, complete with (busy) moorings for canal boats and even used a car ferry that travelled a whopping 10 metres. The picture is of Locks Inn, an old 17th centruy smugglers haunt that is the most remote pub in Norfolk.

All in all, a good long weekend spent discovery another area of English countryside - which never fails to please.

For some more pics, click here.