Quite far, to be truthful. You know me - never one to do things by halves

During my sojourns to Barbados when I had a contract out there I grew accustomed to popping into the roadside run shacks that exist there, especially away from the west coast, or rather the chap who owned the hotel that I worked at got into the habit of taking his contractors out on sightseeing trips in his car which were really his excuse to visit as many rum shacks in an afternoon as was humanly possible.

When I say "rum shack" I really do mean something that looks like an old garden shed at the side of a dirt road with a Bajun asleep on a stool outside, one side of the shack hinged down into a counter affair - you just ask for rum, you get given a decent sized slug from a bottle that is unmarked and you haven't a clue what it is you're drinking other than the fact that its virtually guaranteed not to be Mount Gay Rum - I don't know how we got back some days but god bless the Bajun police who live up to the folklore that if you see a police car parked at the side of a road then the police officer will be in the rum shack around the corner.

You should pay a visit to "the Twice Brewed Inn" near Hexham. A selection of over 50 rums of varying prices plus some very nice real ale. I had several glasses of something very nice - I can't remember the name because I can't remember much of anything! I do know the barman said it should be drunk with half a lime squeezed into it which as far as I can remember worked very well.

I had a bottle of Ron Palma Mulata de Cuba Anejo Gran Reserva at Christmas - very nice. I'm a big fan of malt whiskey but from now on I'll sample some rum too.

[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-21614304Maybe they should consider using this type of "water"[/url

I've just discovered Fullers Black Cab stout. Not quite Marstons Oyster Stout, or even Titanic, but very nice indeed... Coffee with a hint of toffee.

Tonight though, I am drinking lager. A Czech Pilsner from the Flat Cap Brewery.
And rather nice it is too.

Good ale is a fast growing market in Aus, still miles behind Europe though.

If anyone's in sydney check The Lord Nelson out.

I forgot to give the story behind the Flatcap beer, but as I love companies that go above and beyond the call of duty...

On Monday (Tuesday afternoon? Whatever) FCB posted on Facebook that they'd won a contract to supply the Booths supermarket chain. Now, living in Shorpe, you may be surprised to hear we don't have this somewhat upmarket chain, but I'd been beer hunting in one in Clitheroe on the Friday and hadn't noticed their beers there.
I commented this and got an immediate question as to where I was living, followed by one for my precise address.

This morning a courier firm brought me the beer and a branded glass... Free and for nowt.

And it was comfortably one of the best two or three lagers I've ever had, if you see it - It's called 'Otto' - give it a go.

Very impressed with their beer, but even more with their customer service.

I've noticed that too, not a fan of them tbh.

Me and my mates would often go to a pub in St. Helens that's well known for real ale at the start of a night out a couple of years ago. Trouble is we'd be drinking various beers as if they were Tetleys and pretty much necking them. By the time we'd got out of there to hit the main bars we were p1ssed. Then we'd only be able to get your usual Greenalls/Tetleys/Boddies nitrokeg stuff so there didn't really seem much point in starting on the proper stuff in the first place.

One of the relatively large number of real ale pubs in Huddersfield has a festival every season and, naturally, winter sees a lot of the dark beers. I can't quite remember which breweries they were, but someone did a Black Forest stout (might have been Mallinson's, that, which is odd as I'm not generally a fan of their stuff) and someone else a blueberry porter. Both were utterly sensational.

You left to go "hit the main bars" ... that is where you went wrong.

In your early 20's, single, on a Saturday night you don't really want to be spending full night surrounded by beards and beer-bellies if you know what I mean.

I tried a blueberry porter recently, I presume it would be the same one, and TBH I wasn't over impressed. That said I'm not a fan of either porters or blueberries. That might be relevant,

Ah, you've met me then.

I know what you mean.
It's as though they are extra-hopping to make up for lack of body.
They're OK but you want something more rounded, more complex after you've had one.

The heavy hopping seems to have come from the US, pretty much every beer I've had from there has almost been chewy, they've had so many hops. I do like some of the more citrus flavoured ones, but some of them are so sour that they're awful.

Perks of Immigration Part 1

Lovely little international food store down my way which stocks a multitude of great European lagers.

I recommend Erdinger Dunkel to those who haven't tried it!

I listened to one of Michael Jackson's last radio broadcasts- he was a great rugby league fan incidentally. The programme was about the poor quality of English brewed lagers and he commented something in the line of:

"Bordeaux produces the best full flavoured wines, you wouldn't expect the locals to drink Liebfraumilch. Yet England produces the best full bodied, full flavoured beers and Carling is our best seller".

As has been previously said, people drink what is advertised. I have a colleague who was involved in the marketing of Magners cider. They were given a taste and had to come up with ideas to sell it. He said it was tasteless, but somebody in his group threw in a giveaway comment about showing it served over ice, and a campaign was born.

Remember when perry was renamed pear cider? I knew a couple of guys who drank it, until I pointed out we used to call it Babycham.

I live in Keighley and I have to admit I find it pretty frustrating when somebody orders a Carling instead of a pint of some of the fantastic locally brewed stuff we have around here.

I live in Keighley and I have to admit I find it pretty frustrating when somebody orders a Carling instead of a pint of some of the fantastic locally brewed stuff we have around here.

Heard you the first time.


I live 9 miles down the road from you and very popular round here are beers we import from your locale .
I refer, of course, to the tried and tested range of Taylor's beers.

TBF though the second-stage drinking journey to which the young-uns refer is very little to do at all with the question of enjoyment of drink, and very much to do with going to the place where a large proportion of the required gender will also be, with a view to intercourse therewith, and getting in a state as quickly and as cheaply as possible, method not important. And also taking into account that on the odd occasion, alcoholic beverages just might not be the only mood-altering substances in use.

The what might be described, in deer terms, as rutting pubs and clubs want to serve you in ten seconds, at as high a profit margin and low poor quality product as possible, and have equally as little interest in their bar staff fannying around taking the time to pull a decent pint, as you would have in savouring one.

Their customers are pretty oblivious to the prices, the products or anything else other than this is where everybody goes, so they have to go there too. I understand this, we all did it.

Having a decent real ale is fantastic, but it's not better than getting laid. The nearest pubs come to a demographic where both activities are catered for would probably be Wetherspoons, but only to a very limited extent.

Timothy Taylor's set the bar very high, proper "beer for men of the north" as their wagons proudly display.

Lots of good smaller breweries around like Goose Eye, Naylor's and Old Bear.

A little further afield, some of the stuff coming out of Saltaire is fantastic.

Was in Leeds on Friday evening and had a Naylors (Black & Tan) and a Saltaire (Hazelnut Coffee Porter), both excellent drinks.

Do you want me to tell the story about the Goose Eye pub again