Juggler

Well having been away at my Mum's this week I have not been able to post some of the sampling that occurred so here's a quick catch up. Cheers. After a 240 mile drive home there's nothing like a Porter to revive the parts other ales just don't reach! Now we get into the darker side. One of the local breweries in East Anglia which produce some fine ales. The Organic, as seen here, is another light and pleasant ale. A very refreshing and extremely 'hoppy' ale.

Drove past it Monday morning heading south and there didn't seem to be much left to put up to be honest. Looking forward to putting this park on the visited list this year.

I need to get me one of them thar fridges with da beer in gizmos. (Wonder if I could make it work with my own barrels?)

Visited an old and very dear friend tonight. OMFG, I forgot just HOW nice this was. You can smell the chocolate from half a mile away and it just slides down like liquid Cadburys. It's alcoholic too, BONUS! My old friend the Chocolate Stout Time to go "Knocker Up" again. So here's the selection for this evening.

Well as is usual with a selection of Ales I worked my way up from the lowest ABV. The first one (above) was the Tacklers Tipple and then in order "Doff Cocker" "Knocker Up" and finally "Shuttle Ale." Not a bad pint amongst them and I'd happily drink them again. EMPTIES! Last of all the Shuttle Ale and I'm not heading off into space! Hmm, Knocker Up? (You bet I did!!!) Cocking a Doff

** Picks jaw off floor ** I LOVE Dragons and the effort and time that must go into something as amazingly beautiful as that red Dragon is just stunning. ** Shuffles feet and looks all humble **

Haven't managed to get them to do THAT yet. But my rich Sims do happen to own an Aston Martin!

Raided the local off licence in time for the Israel v England match on the telly and I was greeted by a shelf full of LOCAL ales. So I wasted no time in picking up four bottles and have started on the first. WOW. That is one very light coloured ale and full of flavour too! Three B's brewery based in my very own town. (Must arrange to go see the place.)

I like dragons.....

Fosters! We all know why Australian lager is like making love in a canoe...... Anyway, onto my first day in new job celebration selection. Rather good this stuff, what! Finally the 7.3% locally brewed, bottled and labelled Jubilee Tower Beer. A classic English Olde Ale with a slight liquorice bite to it. Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny!!!! Yup this is one HOPPY ale. Gorgeous! Now onto the 6.5% Bishops Tipple from Wadworths. Brewers of my first real ale the infamous 6X. Cheers! The lowest abv (6%) was first and a nice if not remarkable ale. Not over powering as some strong ales are and very quaffable. Having stopped at the off licence on the way home I found myself trying three new ales.

YAWN! Visit Europe. YAWN! Sort the damn theming out, get rid of the yobs, enforce the queue policy bring the magic BACK to Awful Towers, stop pushing the Woodie every year so you can sneak the original ride through the courts, Clean the place up, Pick up the litter....... There is just SO much wrong with the Tussauds parks that Merlin may have bitten off WAY more than they can chew.

Yes, I work in one everyday! Do you like a good Curry?

Oh and snacks too... Properdoms!

Still none the wiser with regards to the craft brewers but I polished off the rest of yesterdays purchases this evening. Tomorrow I shall be out celebrating the last day of my current job but I doubt I'll find any decent ale just the mass produce sh!t. As gorgeous as ever the BBB has the wonderful after taste of Bananas. Ahhhh, Bananas. With a mighty taste. The MIGHTY Ale.

I've been actively searching the net looking for any sort of distribution network for the US stuff but it's rarer than rocking horse poo! The Nevada I found was the ONLY proper US ale they had in the supermarket everything else was European. If anyone happens to know of any comapnies that do export some of the good stuff then let me know as I'd love to try something different. Of course the other option is a plane ticket......

Managed to save a couple for tomorrow (just) so here's this evenings sampling session. It's blacker than black this stuff and absolutely beautiful. and to end the evening the deliciously dark and tasty Oyster Stout. Next up the Wychcraft a gorgeous Blonde Ale. Cheers (Shame I can't get the GOOD stuff you guys keep talking about!) A nice refreshing ale I thought. Not bad at all (I've tasted lots worse.) The mighty Goliath keeps a close eye on the foreign invader.

Pictures to follow in a while but there's been an invasion from across the pond in tonights drinking selection.......

That does it. **Juggler starts looking at flight prices** So what event's happen later in the year and where do I stay?

Was that an Ego I just saw exploding? GRIN!

Well Camelot is very much on my must visit list this year and Blackpool is definately NOT on that list. Much happier giving my cash to a park that is prepared to help preserve a classic coaster rather than knock one down. Now if only they could relocate the Mistral to Camelot then I'd be buying a season pass!

Winamp's wonderful randomness now produces :- Kashmir - Page & Plant (Live)

Santiago (Live) - Loreena McKennitt

and to finish off here's the Woppa I promised you!!! Woppa going, going, going...... Nothing like a Woppa to get the taste buds tingling. A slightly caramel taste to this lovely golden ale makes for gorgeous pint.

Well the Buzzards have departed Sheffield control after another successful demolition job at the Oakwood Real Ale Festival. I've not done the final count up yet but it would seem that between the ten of us we cleared 113 different beverages (there were a few wines and a couple of ciders amongst all the ale) and after removing the double ups we tasted 103 different alcoholic drinks. We also drank our way through 1 barrel of "Smoke On, GO!" and 1 barrel of "S.O.S (617) Ale." So a brief TR with just a few pictures (as I don't want to flood the forum with pics) but if anyone wants to have look through all the photos then this link will do BEER. Mr Pete, Nodders and myself arrived at our hosts humble abode on the Thursday afternoon/evening with the rest of the group due to touch down at some point on Friday. Once the car was unloaded I made straight for a half pint glass and a drop of Nodder's home brew "Old Conkerwood" a very dark ale with a slight hint of fortified wine in the aftertaste. The nice gentlemen had decided to leave the barrels alone until I arrived so after the first half had gone I refilled with some "S.O.S" which was brewed from a Toohey's Dark Ale kit. A rather nice little number with just a subtle malty twang to it which made it a good session ale. Now the barrels had been cracked we all tucked in and I was soon onto my first half of the often brewed Yukon Smoked Ale or as we call it "Smoke On, GO!" A very smooth beer with a mouthful of smoky flavours that just slide down and bring you back for more. Friday ran pretty much the same with the rest of the arrivals parking car, unloading car, grabbing glass, filling glass, drinking from glass. The last two points were repeated frequently. Saturday was the big day and the minibus turned up just after 11.15 to whisk us off to the venue. We arrived in good time (just before opening) and flashed out CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) cards which gave us all reduced price entry and also purchased some drinking tokens. Now without going into too much detail as that would take ages we did our best to co-ordinate efforts and taste as many different ales as possible. In 6 1/2 hours of drinking time we pillaged the various bars scattered around the College with a great deal of success. I even got to try one of my favourite bottled beers (Theakstons Old Peculiar) from the cask and it was gorgeous. We departed at about 7.30pm and made our way back to base where we tucked into a few more halves from the barrels as well as watching Mr. Pete's DVD of the Camping & Coasters 2006 trip. (Excellent work there I must say and I believe the Intro will be put forward for the TPR competition.) We finished the evening watching Jim Davidsons "Sin-derella", a rather Adult pantomine, which left several of the people gathered in convulsions as they laughed so hard they literally DID end up on the floor. Sunday was a sad day as everyone slowly trundled off back to their respective homes. Fortunately for me I had the least distance of all so stayed long enough to watch the football (GET IN THERE TOTENHAM!) and sample some more of our hosts delicious food before making my own way home. So here I am typing this out with a nice glass of Woppa by my side and nice warm glow from spending a great weekend with some great friends. Ah yes, GROUP PHOTO. Although the question that everyone is asking is "What on earth is Mr. Pete doing!?" The large Marquee bar for the smokers to congregate in. Who brought Nodders along? At least he'll know how to find his beer... From the first bar comes the first half. Acorn Brewery's "Moonshine" Saturday afternoon and here's the first bar. The first beer on arrival

Just finished off the last of the Pendle Witches Brew and it's time to head for bed. Next post will hopefully include some pictures from Sheffield control as the Buzzards start demolishing the two barrels of Home Brewed Ale (Produced by my good self.) Nodders and Mr Pete (aka Muttley) will also be helping with the drinking of "Smoke On, GO!" and "S.O.S. (Six One Seven)" ales. If you want to see what we got up to last year then follow this link.