To the Black Country
Paul's Beer & Travel Blog
by Paul Bailey
1d ago
Last Friday's visit to the Black Country was something of a first for me although, spoiler alert, I had been to the region once before. That was only briefly when, as a student I visited the Lamp Tavern in Dudley, with a friend from university, who lived in nearby Staffordshire. My friend had been enthusing about the local Batham’s beer, which like nowadays, was only available in a handful of pubs, and so on a weekend visit to his parent’s house in Rugeley, drove the pair of us down to the Black Country for an evening at the Lamp Tavern. We put away a fair few pints that evening, or at least ..read more
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In eager anticipation.........
Paul's Beer & Travel Blog
by Paul Bailey
3d ago
It’s strange, although possibly just a fact of life, but in the space of just a couple of days I’ve gone from having nothing to write about, to having a real abundance. As anticipated, Friday’s visit to the Black Country, postponed from last August due to me contracting COVID, has provided a wealth of material, ranging from some truly classic and unspoilt pubs that offered beers from a number of small, family-owned breweries, which have managed to survive from a time that predates the birth of CAMRA. Three of the five pubs visited had been on my bucket list for many years, so it was doubly s ..read more
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The Ides of March
Paul's Beer & Travel Blog
by Paul Bailey
1w ago
As I gazed out over the rain-soaked landscape, last Tuesday, I was left wondering whether it’ would ever stop raining. As we move from winter into early spring, it’s hard to recall a wetter period of weather, even though prolonged spells of wet weather probably aren’t that unusual at this time of year. What’s perhaps more disconcerting, has been the almost total absence of frosts this winter, and whilst some might welcome the relatively mild conditions, give me any day a bright, crisp, and dry morning, even if it does mean having to scrape the car, before leaving for work. Fruit trees, so I ..read more
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Braybrooke Lager Club - Traditional Bavarian beers, brewed in the heart of the English countryside
Paul's Beer & Travel Blog
by Paul Bailey
2w ago
It's a rarity for me to sign up to any subscription service, even one that is promoting beer, but last summer, a certain one really caught my eye. Before revealing which one, it’s worth noting that there has been a dramatic decline in the number of beer subscription services, with one outfit in particular dominating the scene. Since the demise of Flavourly, in October of last year, Beer 52 now seems to have the monopoly in this field, apart from the growing number of breweries who supply their own products, by mail order. A much smaller number of breweries will ship out a changing section of ..read more
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Another good start to the day!
Paul's Beer & Travel Blog
by Paul Bailey
3w ago
A few weeks ago, the lad and I enjoyed a first class cooked breakfast, at the Little Brown Jug at Chiddingstone Causeway. The food was so good that I took to my keyboard and started bashing out a piece about our experience. I hadn’t written much before deciding to check out what I’d written before about going out for breakfast, and I looked for guidance at a piece I had written 10 months ago. That post resulted from a good experience we had at the Chaser Inn atShipbourne, the latter settlement being an attractive and well-spaced-out village to the north of Tonbridge, at the base of the Greens ..read more
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There's an old mill by the stream
Paul's Beer & Travel Blog
by Paul Bailey
3w ago
Friday was the first day of March and also the first day of spring, but the weather was anything but spring like with heavy torrential rain, driven by a strong and very biting north westerly wind. March can often be a very changeable month, and an old saying claims that March comes roaring in like a lion, and goes out meekly like a lamb, or the other way around. In my experience, it is pretty rare for the third month of the year to come creeping in softly, lamb-like or not, and I’m not sure either, about going out with the noise of a fierce, roaring lion! So, with Friday’s weather, doing its ..read more
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Dark Beer Weekend at the Dovecote
Paul's Beer & Travel Blog
by Paul Bailey
1M ago
Last Friday, in the company of a half dozen or so members of West Kent CAMRA branch, plus one small dog, I visited the Dovecote Inn, situated in the tiny hamlet of Capel. Travelling by bus, we took the 205 Autocar service from Tonbridge, and then alighted at Five Oak Green – a small, but rapidly expanding village, close to Paddock Wood. From there, it was a 25-minute walk, along the lanes to the Dovecote, which along with the adjacent row of Victorian houses, forms part of a rather isolated settlement. This was a repeat of the journey a smaller group of us made a the end of October last year ..read more
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A couple more books at bedtime
Paul's Beer & Travel Blog
by Paul Bailey
1M ago
Despite claiming that I would finish reading the 18th Century, classic novel, The History of Tom Jones on last autumn's Mediterranean cruise, I never managed to complete the book. My excuses were, there were too many other distractions, alongside complaints from Mrs PBT’s, that having my face stuck in a book, was being antisocial. I didn't actually finish the 800 or so page novel until the Christmas-New Year break, but instead of getting stuck into the next rather lengthy volume on my reading list, Cask, the Real Story of Britain’s Unique Beer Culture, by Des de Moor, I decided to leave Des’s ..read more
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Mortlake, Brentford and memories of Watney's
Paul's Beer & Travel Blog
by Paul Bailey
1M ago
I’ve written elsewhere about the funeral I attended at Mortlake Crematorium last Friday, and I had it in my mind that Mortlake represented a stretch of the River Thames in London that I hadn’t been to before. I’d visited Kew, Richmond, Hammersmith, and Twickenham, but had no recollection of Mortlake - or so I thought. It wasn't until I’d walked the short distance from Mortlake station towards the Thames, that I developed a distinct feeling of déjà vu. Heading off initially, in the wrong direction after leaving the station didn’t help – shades of Macclesfield there, but without a street name o ..read more
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Bryan Betts - Beer Viking 1962 - 2024
Paul's Beer & Travel Blog
by Paul Bailey
1M ago
They say that only the good die young, and this was definitely the case with the recent sad passing of Bryan Betts aka Beer Viking. Bryan left this world, unexpectedly, and far too soon, following a brief, but particularly virulent illness on 2nd February. He was just a few months short of his 62nd birthday. He leaves behind a loving wife, two children, various other family members, colleagues plus his many friends from both the world of brewing, as well as Viking re-enactment. I first met Bryan back in 2014, whilst attending my first European Beer Writers Conference, which took place in Dubl ..read more
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