London Pubs

[Tim]

Rukh,
I don't really rate the porterhouse. There beers tend to be nitro-keg and whilst good for what they are, are hardly brilliant. The place is always crowded and packed with city types trying to look uber cool. I'd give it a miss, especially with the quality and variety of real ale which is around.
Also you can get a lot of the US beers from Waitrose supermarkets or Utobier at Borough Markets

 

[Plastic Man]

I've died and gone to heaven.

I'm in Lincoln, (about 140 miles NE of London), for the week doing some training for work. Every pub you go in to seem to have a couple of cask ales on tap -- so I've been sampling a few every day. BUT this evening we went out looking for a quiet Ale, took a wrong turn, and saw this small pub called the Tap and Spile. Bloody hell - I've hit the jackpot. They had a "Cask Marque" sticker on the door, two more stickers saying they were in the Best Beer 2007 and 2008 guides - so I though I was on to something promosing. A few games of darts later, and a pint each of Ruddles Country, Mowbrays Mash, Tom Woods Old Timber, an Old Speckled Hen, (on cask), and an Abbott Ale and I'm well satisfied. Why don't we have this in OZ ?? Great atmosphere and great beer.

Back to London on Fri arvo so will hunt out some of the recommendations. I did have a few pints in the Market Porter down near London Bridge last Saturday. What a great pub !!! My only whinge is there's no info on what your drinking and often the badge on the tap has zero hints - but thats part of the fun I suppose. Also had a few pints at a Fullers Pub near Kings Cross Station, (Euston Flyer I think), but the beer seemed over carbonated.

richard.

 

[KoNG]

Pint o ruddles County from the cask..... :wub: :icon_drool2:
please o please let work take me to the UK soon....

 

[kook]

I've died and gone to heaven.

I'm in Lincoln, (about 140 miles NE of London), for the week doing some training for work. Every pub you go in to seem to have a couple of cask ales on tap -- so I've been sampling a few every day. BUT this evening we went out looking for a quiet Ale, took a wrong turn, and saw this small pub called the Tap and Spile. Bloody hell - I've hit the jackpot. They had a "Cask Marque" sticker on the door, two more stickers saying they were in the Best Beer 2007 and 2008 guides - so I though I was on to something promosing. A few games of darts later, and a pint each of Ruddles Country, Mowbrays Mash, Tom Woods Old Timber, an Old Speckled Hen, (on cask), and an Abbott Ale and I'm well satisfied. Why don't we have this in OZ ?? Great atmosphere and great beer.

Back to London on Fri arvo so will hunt out some of the recommendations. I did have a few pints in the Market Porter down near London Bridge last Saturday. What a great pub !!! My only whinge is there's no info on what your drinking and often the badge on the tap has zero hints - but thats part of the fun I suppose. Also had a few pints at a Fullers Pub near Kings Cross Station, (Euston Flyer I think), but the beer seemed over carbonated.

richard.

Ahh i miss it. Looks like you've hit the jackpot. If you can find a nice local like that with a couple regularly rotating taps it's wonderful.

Tip - Cask Marque doesn't necessarily mean that much. It's unfortunate but I've had bad pint at Cask Marque pubs on many occasions. They really don't seem to be very strict about handing out the designation to pubs. Also, they don't seem to have anything against beers being served far too cold. Some Wetherspoons are Cask Marque but still serve their real ale through lager chillers. It's a bit dissapointing.

There used to be a brilliant pub at Euston called the Head of Steam. Had a good selection of regularly changing real ale. Was sold to Fullers in 2005 though and I believe the range has been reduced

 

[Plastic Man]

I made it home in one piece. Thanks all for the tips. I only had limited time in London, (2 days), so it certainly made things easier. Quick run down of what I sampled for anyone thats interested, (I feel like Im being self indulgent here but it maybe interesting to some):

- arrived early Sat morning in London totally knackered direct flight from OZ. Couldnt get in my room till 2pm so went up Camden Markets to try and buy my 8 year old a Gunners Jersey, (10 quid bargain), then headed to London Bridge to try and find the Market Porter. I didnt have a map or an address so followed my nose. I wandered through Borough Market what a place - and then saw UTOBEER. Bloody Hell. All these beers we just read about and hear on the podcasts all sitting there for sale. Unreal. I then looked across the road and there was the Market Porter. For beer lovers this is a pretty godo part of the world !! Had a few pints. Pub was fairly relaxed as I think it was still only about 12:30pm on sat. Went to hotel and had a kip then went up to the Euston Flyer for a couple of pints and watched the football.

- Next day jumped on the train to Lincoln. Nice town. Every pub seemed to have a few cask ales on hand pump. Found the Tap & Spile after a few days and ended up drinking there most days. A great pub, and the publican took his real ales seriously. Every day we walked in there was something new on tap. Great place.

- Got back to London the following weekend and hooked up with a mate living there on Friday night. Met at the London Porter. The week before I was drinking there with about 20 people. I rock up at 7pm on Friday and there are 300 people outside drinking beer !!! What a scene. Its the first week of day light savings, its still a very warm 19 degrees at 7:30pm at night and we join the throng to drink pints of ale on the side walk. Lifes good. Went over the road to a fish restaurant for dinner and they have Little Creatures Pale Ale on the beer menu which was interesting.

- Next day, (Saturday),had a couple of pints down at the White Horse Inn on Parsons Green. Good pub & beer but the patrons were pretty upper crust. I was waiting for a beer and one of the bar maids said Tar to a customer and then immediately apologised because Tar sounded too northerner. What a ****. Would be great sitting outside in summer though. Met my mate again after that for a bit of a pub crawl Had a few pints at the All Bar One at Leister Square with a couple of girls he knew, (bloody expensive - the beer not the girls), then jumped on the tube and found Cittie of York on High Holborne, then the Fox and Anchor up the road in Clerkenwell. What a great pub. We sat their drinking pints out of pewter mugs, eating pickled eggs. The only problem was they closed about 11pm. Went a few blocks to try the Jerusalem but it also was closed. Had a cheap Italian meal down the road and then headed home. Was on an early flight out to Barcelona in the morning.
- Final pint was back at Heathrow a few days later, transiting from Spain through to OZ. I had a surprisingly quick transit from T1 to T4 and so grabbed a pint at Weatherspoons before the flight home boarded. They had an International Real Ale Festival going, with three Ales on tap at the bar. One was Stones (USA) IPA. Tasted great. Right temp, served without a sparker, and tasted very fresh. It was actually doing good business. A great way to end the trip.
- Jumped on the plane and they offered me a VB. I couldnt do it so had a wine instead.

Attached is a list of some of the beers I sampled or at least the ones I remembered. I have linked most to their web site.

In summary best beers: Top three were Timothy Taylor Landlord, Ruddles County and the Crouch Vale Brewers Gold, though the Stones IPA went down a treat at the airport heading home

Best pubs. Loved the Market Porter but the Fox and Anchor was also great. The Tap & Spile in Lincoln was probably the favorite. Beer was good but so were the darts and the company- so it had the best memories.

Thanks again for the tips. Cant wait to go back. Sounds weird, but after sampling so many good cask ales you miss them when you get home. I cant work out why there isnt at least a niche market in Australia serving cask ale from hand pumps. I know a few pubs do it, and some have real ale nights, but there should be lots more. Strange.

PS quick note to Warren. Peter and the Test Tube Babies were doing a 30 year anniversary gig the Sat night we did the mini pub crawl somewhere down south of London. Both my mate and me are old punks at heart so were very tempted but took the easier option of just drinking beer. I regret it now though !!! Thats a gig youd be talking about for a long time !!!

View attachment UK_beers.doc

 

[glennheinzel]

Great review and welcome home.

I tried to visit UtoBeer last year, but it was closed on the day that I was there. My father-in-law bought some beers for me recently from there, but found that he couldn't post them to me. Needless to say he found a good home for them. I'll make it there next time.

 

[warrenlw63]

PS – quick note to Warren. Peter and the Test Tube Babies were doing a 30 year anniversary gig the Sat night we did the mini pub crawl – somewhere down south of London. Both my mate and me are old punks at heart so were very tempted but took the easier option of just drinking beer. I regret it now though !!! That’s a gig you’d be talking about for a long time !!!

Hey Plastic Man... Firstly welcome back...

Secondly to the beers :icon_drool2:

Thirdly fool! Missing Pete and the Tubes... Woulda been some fine Oi!

Sounds like you had a great trip.

Is it some kind of a joke? Is she really a bloke. :lol:

Edit: Gunners strip for the kid? Schweet! Your heart's in the right place.

Warren -

 

[Plastic Man]

Warren - yeah - stupid decision.

I used to play in a band many years ago that covered "banned from the pubs" and "blown out again". Would have been a blast to see it live. Plus Transvestite of course. Pissed and proud was 1982. Bloody hell time flies (but aeroplanes crash)....