I’m sad to say that one of our favourite pubs (locally, and probably anywhere) has just closed down. The Leopold Tavern on Albert Road in Portsmouth shut down at the weekend after failing to agree rent with the pubco Enterprise Inns (or EI as they now prefer to be known). Enterprise have shut a lot… Continue reading Enterprise Inns
With more and more breweries popping up it could seem like the industry is going from strength to strength, but the increased competition can put more and more pressure on existing companies. Last year one of our bigger local breweries in Hampshire, Oakleaf, went into administration. Without them, we would definitely miss beers like Hole… Continue reading Fallen Acorn
Happy New Year everyone! This year, as a treat, our first beers for the new year were the latest Double IPAs from Cloudwater (versions 9 and 10). For anyone unfamiliar, Cloudwater (a brewery from Manchester) has been producing a fantastic series of strong IPAs with different recipes and ingredients. To make this even better, they… Continue reading Cloudwater DIPA
Hopefully you all had a good Christmas. I managed to get through a number of Christmas seasonal beers this year, and so I thought I would comment on the best (and the worst of them). Southwold Christmas Ale by Adnams/Marks & Spencers One of the two Christmas beers from M&S this year (the other is… Continue reading Christmas Beers 2016
Brewdog recently brought back Cocoa Psycho! Their strong, smooth imperial coffee stout is one of Claire’s favourite beers. I’m not sure we actually noticed it had gone away, but received an email on 21st November telling us of the return in a very limited batch. By a lucky coincidence, we had just bottled our second… Continue reading Cocoa Depression
Lidl can be an exciting place. You can pop in for your groceries and come out with a new shower, 6.5kg of serrano ham or a box of exciting beer. We recently picked up a selection of French abbey beers from . These seem to be the latest exclusive monastery beers for Lidl/Aldi, brewed in… Continue reading Abbaye de Vauclair
As a moving in/wedding/everything present, we bought ourselves a Grain Father to enjoy in our new house. (Or more correctly, to make beer to enjoy in our new house) Finally unleashed from our compact rented kitchens, we were looking forward to the opportunity to work with all grain brews. With most of our brewing books… Continue reading We have a Grain Father
After doing a bit of writing for a local CAMRA magazine, we decided it might be fun to keep a blog of our own. Somewhere where we could go off script, and write about what we are drinking and what is happening locally. What’s the best way to breathe life into a new blog? By… Continue reading First post / Born To Die
Claire and Philip write about beer! 