Sunday 31 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Thirty-One


10am : Last day of the diary today, will it be a biggun, well I guess we'll find out. So why did I do all this? Find out tomorrow.
3.55pm No beers yet and Andy Murray lost this morning so we won't be doing any celebratory scottish beer offers at The Rake. Going to watch the footie now.

4.30pm : first beer of the day.

Drink : Cristoffel Bier
abv : 6%
units : 1.98

8.20pm : Thinking about opening Williams Brothers Midnight Sun, need some water first though, very thirsty.

Drink : Williams Brothers Midnight Sun
abv : 5.6%
Units : 2.8

Total daily units : 4.78

That'll do it for the month, examination to come.

Saturday 30 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Thirty


Some stonking beers on at The Rake today, couldn't resist!

Drink : Bear Republic Racer X half pint x 2
abv : 9%
Units : 5.1

Drink : Bear Republic Racer X 3rd of a pint x 2
abv : 9%
Units : 3.4

Drink : Youngs Bitter half pint
abv : 3.8%
Units : 1.07

Drink : Goose Island IPA
abv : 5.9%
Units : 2.09

Total units today : 11.66 ooops...again ;)

Last day of the Drunks Diary tomorrow, may raise a beer to Andy Murray if he wins the Aussie Open. I'm sure that if I watch it he'll lose but watching a Brit in a slam final has to be done since it happens so bloody rarely.

Friday 29 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Twenty-Nine


OK, so it's my mum's birthday, not going to get to see her so guess I'll have to celebrate for her...hehe.

Drink : Youngs Special 3 x half pints
abv : 4.7%
Units : 3.99

Drink : Nogne IPA half pint
abv : 7.5%
Units : 2.13

Drink : Dark Star Hophead Amarillo Pint
abv : 3.8%
Units : 2.16

Drink : Goose Island IPA 3 x Bottles
abv : 5.9%
Units : 6.27

Drink : Great Divide Titan IPA
abv : 6.8%
Units : 2.41

Total units today : 16.96...ooops :)

Happy Birthday Ma! x

Thursday 28 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Twenty-Eight


Started at 5pm after a lovely afternoon snooze where I dreamt about work...urgh. Wedding invites now.

Drink : Odells St Lupulin Extra Pale Ale
abv : 6.5%
Units : 2.30

Drink : Sierra Nevada Extra IPA x 2 Bottles
abv : 7.2%
Units : 5.04

Drink : Gin & Tonic double x 2
abv : 40%
Units : 4

All invites done, and that's me for the day.

Total units today : 11.34

Wednesday 27 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Epsiode Twenty-Seven


Started at 2.30pm today, whilst at work after changing a keg.

Drink : Nogne IPA Half Pint
abv : 7.5%
Units : 2.13

Drink : RCH Hewish IPA Half pint
abv : 3.6%
Units : 1.02

Drink : Goose Island IPA Bottle
abv : 5.9%
Units : 2.09

Drink : Gin & Tonic (single)
abv : 40%
Units : 1.00

Last Drink at 2am after seeing late show at the cinema.

Total units today : 6.24

Tuesday 26 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Twenty-Six


Went to see a flat today, very nice it was too, so nice we put an offer in and are moving in March!
Anyway, went for lunch at GBK on Clink St and started there.

Drink : Steinlager Pure
abv : 5%
Units : 1.65

Drink : Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted (KEG) Half pint
abv : 4.2%
Units : 1.19

Drink : Speakeasy Prohibition bottle
abv : 6.1%
Units : 2.01

Total Units Today : 4.85

Monday 25 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Twenty-Five


Day twenty five, I have been up since 3.45am and I can barely think straight let alone yabber on about what beers I've had so here's what I had after work, it's highly unlikely that I will have any more today.

Drink : Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted (KEG) half pint.
abv : 4.2%
Units : 1.19

Drink : Harviestoun Olah Dubh 12 (CASK) 63.11mls
abv : 11%
Units : 0.69

Total Units Today : 1.88

Sunday 24 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Twenty-Four


started at 5pm today. No intention of going anywhere near the 21.85 units I had yesterday.

Drink : Crown Brewery's Wheetie Bits
abv : 4.4%
Units : 2.2

Drink : Martson's Old Empire
abv : 5.7%
Units : 2.85

and that was that, a couple of tasty treats for sunday!

Total units today : 5.05

Saturday 23 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Twenty Three(#twissup)


Slightly different format for today I think, I'm off to a tweeter/blogger pub crawl in Sheffield that's been dubbed #twissup, I think that the weekly amount of units might be in danger here, still. Lets see. Day starts at 6.20am.
Got into Sheffield station at 11.52am.

First drink was at 12.

Drink : Thornbridge Jaipur Pint
abv : 5.9%
Units : 3.35

Drink : Thornbridge Lord Marples Pint
abv : 4%
Units : 2.27

Drink : Swarm Half Pint
abv : 5%
Units : 1.42

Drink : Marble No.14 2 x Half Pint
abv : 4.3%
Units : 2.44

Drink : Sheffield Brewery Co. Paradise Pale Pint
abv : 4.1%
Units : 2.27

Drink : Hillsbrough Pale Ale 2 x Half Pints
abv : 3.9%
Units : 2.21

Drink : Marble No.14 2 x Half Pint
abv : 4.3%
Units : 2.44

Drink : Stone Brewing Ruination Half Pint
abv : 7.7%
Units : 2.18

Drink : Thornbridge Jaipur Half Pint
abv : 5.9%
Units : 1.68

Drink : John Smith Extra Smooth Can
abv : 3.8%
Units : 1.67

Yes I am deeply ashamed of the last one but this is candid total truth time folks.
I had a great time at #twissup, made some new friends, pickled my liver, visited some great pubs and a couple of great brewers.
I would personally like to thank the following : the staff from the following pubs, The Sheffield Tap, The Harlequin, The Fat Cat, The Kelham Island Tavern, The Hillsbrough Hotel and The Devonshire Cat. Those are the pubs I went to but a couple of others were visited, thanks have to go to the other pubs too but I don't know where they went.
Also like to thank the brewers at Kelham Island Sheffield Brewing and Hillsbrough (Stu, you are a legend!).
Thanks also have to go to Alex at All Beer & Mark Dredge for their cat herding skills, all the bloggers/tweeters that turned up and finally Tania & Dave for getting me back to the station in one piece!
These #twissups will be the stuff of legends one day and I'm glad I'm going to be involved!

Total #twissup Units : 21.85

Total weekly units : 95.44! No wonder my typing skills have gone to hell!

Friday 22 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Twenty-Two


Started at around 6pm today. Best mate turned up at The Rake, rude not to really...

Drink : Brewdog 77 Lager 2 bottles
abv : 4.9%
Units : 3.22

Drink : Sierra Nevada Pale Ale 2 Bottles
abv : 5.6%
Units : 3.92

th th th that's all folks!

total units today : 7.14

Horrible day at work, time to sleep! #twissup tomorrow!

Thursday 21 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Twenty-One


Day 21, after yesterdays 15-odd units, I decided to try and avoid that much again today, here goes and wish me luck.

Drink : Otley O6 half pint
abv : 6.6%
Units : 1.87

Drink : Beaumonts Ginger Beer (125mls)
abv : 3.7%
Units : 0.46

Drink : Goose Island Ipa
abv : 5.9%
Units : 2.09

Drink : Black Sheep Ale
abv : 4.4%
Units : 2.2

Total Units today : 6.62

Wednesday 20 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Twenty


Starting at 4pm today, technically I've finished work but I'm having a meeting with Tom Harding from Mootown and Glenn Payne of 'all-round-beer-fame'.

Drink : Otley Columb-O Half pint
abv : 4%
Units : 1.13

Drink : Tusker 500ml Bottle
abv : 4.2%
Units : 2.1

Drink : Proper Job 500ml bottle
abv : 5.5%
Units : 2.75

Drink : Victory Hop Devil
Abv : 6.7%
Units : 2.37

Drink : Otley 06 Half pint
abv : 6.6%
Units : 1.87

Drink : Flying Dog Old Scratch half pint
abv : 5.3%
Unit : 1.50

Drink : St Bernardus Abt 12
abv : 10%
Units : 3.3

That was it, many units today because I was hanging around for a meeting at 7.30pm.

Total units today : 15.02

WELSH BEER FESTIVAL 2010


It's that time of year again! No, not sodding Christmas! It's time to start banging on about The Rake's 2nd annual Welsh Beer Festival. Yes it went so well last year that I've decided to make it an annual event!
Last year, to my amazement we managed to sell 21 casks of beer! This year we're going for even more!
The event will kick off on Sunday 28th February with 18 firkins on the decking and 3 inside on the handpulls.
There will also be a couple of Meet the Brewer sessions with Nick Otley from Otley Brewing and 'Buster' Grant from Breaconshire Brewing Co.
Again food will be supplied by Andy Wright of Loaf supplies and Tom Harding will be supplying cheeses from Mootown.

Breweries will include : Otley, Breaconshire, Purple Moose, Brains, Celt Experience, Great Orme, Ffos y Ffin and a few new breweries that have never come to London before!
There will of course be a reappearance of the now infamous Motley Brew as well as last year's Beer of the Festival, Otley's 06 Porter.
If you're rugby union fans then there will probably be a couple of players from the London Welsh making an appearance.
You will of course have the opportunity to vote for your favourite beer again, last years winner won a mixed case of Welsh Beers to take home with him and in fine Camelot tradition...IT COULD BE YOU...
It'll be big, it'll be informative and, most importantly, it'll be FUN!
Join the Facebook group to let us know if you're coming, don't forget to re-tweet it if that's your bag, thanks for reading and I'll hopefully see you there.

Tuesday 19 January 2010

Marriage, the be-all and end-all


It's 2010..right? Anyway, if it is it means I'm getting married this year. I'm not going to tell you when because you'll all turn up wanting free grub and free booze and I'm a right tight bastard!
We, Lucille and I, took my mum out to lunch the other day at the place where we're having our reception and she asked an interesting question. Now If you didn't know, my mum is a vicar, she sees couples getting married all the time and she always asks this question.
Why, after living together for so long, do Lucille and I feel the need to get married? It was a question that one of Lucille's friends asked too, to my annoyance but why indeed? Was it a knee-jerk reaction on my/our part to getting back together, (we spent a few months apart a while back) Very possibly I thought to myself but why the hell not, I had been wanting to marry Lucille for ages, years even, I'd just never asked because I thought that she was opposed to marriage.
There's a quote from somewhere, and I don't remember where from, that goes like this, in response to girl saying she didn't want to get married...
Honey, every woman'll tell you she doesn't want to get married, until the right man asked her! Probably got that completely wrong but hey it sounds good and I like the notion that even the person most opposed to marriage will say yes if it's the right person asking.
Something happened when we got back together, we were talking about where we thought we went wrong the first time and I said that I felt we weren't going anywhere because she didn't want to get married. She (as far as I remember) completely stamped all over that thought by saying she'd been thinking about it for a while too. Well that got me thinking!
We had basically stopped communicating as a couple and that led to all sorts of shit. So after a couple of months being back together, I decided that during the up coming trip to Venezuela to visit Gilberto, Lucille's Dad and her half-brothers and sister, that I would pop the question, I'd read that The Grand Sabana was beautiful and had lots of romantic little waterfalls in secluded areas and so I started planning.
The Problem with all this planning was that we weren't really left alone long enough for me to pop the question as Gilberto was driving us around everywhere with Anabel(Lucille's half-sister). I was getting daily headaches due to the amount of Spanish that I was listening to and not understanding very much and the general mood at the end of each day was one of exasperation.
I, therefore, was quite glad when we talked about going up to Northern Venezuela to be by ourselves for the last few days of our trip and it actually happened! Alone at last! We found a lovely hotel, some lovely places to eat and I popped the question in my own lame way, no getting down on one knee, no bravado, just me, sitting opposite the love of my life, nervous as hell saying that I'd been think thinking that perhaps we should get married? LAME!! Anyway, Luce got a wee bit flustered and said OK then...then there were big grins, lots of kisses, a few tears(happy ones of course) and me saying, well you'll be wanting this then....producing a ring that was about two sizes too big. Damn! Anyway the deed had been done we packed the ring away to get it re-sized after getting home.
The ring of course was a last minute thing and not exactly Lucille's style but it was a symbol so when it was stolen by Venezuelan Security during the seven or eight times our bags were checked, Lucille was beside herself with anger(Oddly, at herself, although I don't know why). Gave us an excuse to go and buy one that really suited her though, these things have a way of working themselves out.

So we're engaged now, I can't wait to get married, to me the thought of sharing my life with the one person I have truly loved is an exciting prospect, apart we could have achieved anything, so imagine what we could achieve together...
The most stressful part of this is the organising of the wedding, now so far, I have had very little to do in this respect, I have paid for a few things, I have started on my speech, I have picked my best men(I have two because I couldn't choose between my two best friends, brothers I have known since Tim, the elder of the two, and myself were born in the same hospital ward four days apart) but most of the planning has been done by Lucille and I can honestly say that I don't know how she has done this, yes she's been out of work for long periods but seriously? Planning a wedding is massive, no matter how small the wedding.
I'm looking forward though, the wedding is one day in the rest of our lives, one day that I intend to enjoy, I hope the friends and family that come along enjoy it too but it's one day, the real work starts afterwards and I can't wait.
The Picture, I know, is complete cheese for this article but it was taken at my mate Nick's wedding to his lovely wife Louisa and I like it.
One small question, would it be a no-no to get the registrar to say the words live long and prosper?

Tattoos, body art or horrible scarring?


Before I start, I would just like to point out that I have 13 tattoo's and my sister is designing my 14th(and probably last).
I like tattoo's, for the most part, good tattoo's are art.
Bad tattoo's look REALLY bad, and my advice, right now, is that if you're going to get a tattoo for the first time then go to an artist that's been recommended, ask to see your friends tattoo and decide for yourself whether or not it's a good piece. Look at the work inside the studio, see if they have a website and have a look. Also let's not forget that tattoos(no matter how good the artist) are painful, you really don't want to be going through all that pain for a crap tattoo, do you?
Most importantly make sure they have all the right accreditation from their local council. If you don't you could be looking at a horrible, fading tacky-looking anchor on your forearm for the rest of your life.
Second bit of advice. make sure that you know what you want to get inked onto yourself. Don't go in on the spur of the moment because any tattooist worth their salt will only take bookings and not ink you there and then(especially if you're not sure what you want).
In the case of my first tattoo I did this but I got lucky, very lucky, it still looks good to this day and I'm still happy with it. When I went in for my first I was 22 and had been thinking about what I wanted for a couple of years so even though I didn't have an appointment I got what I wanted.
Also whilst the technology is getting better to remove tattoo's, it's still in it's infancy and you WILL wind up with a scar. The second option is of course, the 'cover-up' but that's not a guarantee and it's not something I would consider, so make sure you know what you're getting into.
So in summation :
If you want a tattoo, then make sure you know what you want.
Go to a reputable artist. If in doubt, ask to see their local councils accreditation.
Book an appointment, talk to the artist and make sure that both parties are happy with the design. All that's left to do is plug my sisters studio. She is goodand I'll always recommend her, sister or not, if she was shit I wouldn't have more than one!
Oh and by the way, that's MY left arm at the top there, if you can see the eye of RA, my niece did that, talk about running in the family!
www.transfixbodystudio.com

A Drunk Diary, Episode Nineteen


Having just had 3 non-alcoholic beers today two of which have unit counts, I'm dying for the 'real' beer I'm about to start with. Mmm...Hops!

Drink : Veltins Alkoholfrei
abv : 0.5%
Units : 0.16

Drink : Jupiler N/A
abv : 0.5%
Units : 0.12

Drink : Schneider Weisse Mein Alkoholfreies
abv : 0%
Units : None, Zero, Zip, Zilch. Sorry, 0.

Drink : Victory Hop Devil x 2 bottles.
abv : 6.7%
Units : 4.74

Drink : Great Divide Titan IPA x 2 bottles
abv : 6.8%
Units : 4.82

And that's it for today, stick a fork in me, as they say.

Total units today : 9.84

Monday 18 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Eighteen



Started at 4.30pm.

Drink : Watou Kapittel 3rd of a pint
abv : 6%
Units : 1.13

Drinks : Flying Dog, Doggie Style Pale Ale
abv : 4.7%
Units : 2.66

Drinks : 1/2 Nethergate IPA
abv : 3.5%
Units : 0.99

Drink : Guinness Pint
abv : 4.1%
Units : 2.32

Guinness!? I hear you collectively shout like a Greek Play's Chorus, hey it hit the spot as a great finisher I retort like the Greek play's narrator.

Total Units today : 7.1

Alcohol-Free? Really?


Howdy folks! Given that it's January and that a lot of you nutters actually try and give up alcohol for the month(No...of course you don't have a problem! for real problems see the Drunk Diary) I thought I'd do a piece on something you are drinking this month, Water. Not really, I'm not that boring! I have three non-alcoholic beers in The Rake's fridges so I thought I'd review them for you too. See if I couldn't get you thinking about some alternative beery goodness.
The current non-alcoholic range consists of :
Jupiler (Non-alcoholic lager) From Belgium. Very sweet but does has a mild bitter aftertaste that almost smacks of hops, quite drinkable. So drinkable in fact, that I finished the bottle.
Veltins Alkoholfrei (German N/A lager) from Germany. Smells like a lager, just about manages to carry it off too, this is a very passable beer and one I can recommend to the lager drinking people out there, although on reflection, it's a bit too bready and if I was going to go for one of the two lagers, I'd go for the Jupiler.
Schneider Alkoholfrei (N/A Wheat beer)also from Germany. Now it's a bit thinner than a regular wheat beer but I expected that. It's bloody drinkable though, I easily prefer this over the Maisels Alkoholfrei which just tastes like cold, liquid baked beans.

Now for the record this is just the range that I have at The Rake, Utobeer also has The Alcohol-Free Erdinger and Maisels Alkoholfrei. I'm not specifically trying to get people into The Rake but it does show you that you don't have to completely stop going to the pub just because you're 'off the sauce'. One example of this is my Dad who is suprised how much he enjoys the alcohol free Maisels and frankly I'm as stunned as he is on this.
Now having told you about the options, I will leave you to way them up and make an informed decision to get yourself down to the pub in January instead of sitting at home, eating dust and drinking soya water..or something.

Sunday 17 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Seventeen


Started at about 12pm...Meeting with my best men to go through duties for the wedding and the stag do. Shared a bottle of Port Brewing Hop 15, very challenging little number that's a double IPA. I was struggling to finish the glass but for the sake of the blog..(honest) I persevered and finished off with a bottle of Torpedo.

Drink : Sierra Nevada Pale Ale x 2 bottles
Abv : 5.6%
Units : 3.92

Drink : Flying Dog Doggie Style Pale Ale 3rd of a pint
Abv : 4.7
Units : 0.88

Drink : Sierra Nevada Anniversary 175mls
Abv : 5.9%
Units : 1.03

Drink : Port Brewing Hop 15 (Half a Pint Bottle)
abv : 10%
Units : 2.84

Drink : Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA
abv : 7.2%
Units : 2.52

Total units today : 11.19

Saturday 16 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Sixteen


OK, started at 2.45pm today, my friends Katy and Jason were in the bar and I wanted to be sociable, even with the horrible hangover from the Motley Brews and sweet FA to eat yesterday!

Drink : Watou Kapitel (One third and one half)
abv : 6%
Units : 2.83

Drink : Motley Brew (One Half pint)
abv : 7.5%
Units : 2.13

Drink : O'Hanlons Port Stout (two pints)
abv : 4.8%
Units : 5.45

Drink : Moor JJJ IPA
abv : 9.5%
Units : 6.27

Total Units today : 16.68

A Drunk Diary, Episode Fifteen


Two weeks since I started this drunks diary, and the units ain't slowing down, however the quantity seems to be.

I started at 5pm.

Drink : Motley Brew 5 x half pints
abv : 7.5
Units : 10.65

I think it's a case of making sure I make the most of my brew! But DAMN I like it!
Any way that was it for the day.
The Weekly Units are : 55.47 and that's with a day OFF the booze! Crikey.

Friday 15 January 2010

Any Requests?



Afternoon my fearless band of trusty followers.
Whilst I was behind the bar last night I had a customer come up to the bar and ask if I would try and get some beers from Suffolk in. Well The Rake is a bar that will try new things so I asked what he wanted to see in the bar.
He gave me a list of three different breweries from Suffolk. I'll look them up and we'll see what happens. It got me thinking though, I don't have space in the bar for a requests board but I'm still interested in what people think is...well, interesting.
It Doesn't have to be just beer either, it could be anything.
So, is there anything that YOU want to see in The Rake? we'll of course strive to get new and exciting things in the bar as we always do but what about you?

Thursday 14 January 2010

Motley...the Revenge...



OK, just a quickie here.
If you missed it the first time around it's back! The Motley Brew is available on cellar runs should you feel the urge, just come in and ask me for a half or a 3rd.
If you don't know what it's about, it's a beer I helped brew with the top blokes from the Otley Brewing Company in Pontypridd, South Wales. It's a 7.5% IPA and it's marvelous!
Hope to see you later!
RBF

A Drunk Diary, Episode Fourteen


Good evening my hardy band of loyal readers today I started at 5pm, well with a drink like my first, ya gotta really dontcha.

Drink : Motley Brew 3rd of a pint (Quality Control);)
abv : 7.5%
units : 1.41

Drink : Motley Brew Pint x 2
abv : 7.5
Units : 4.26

Drink : Motley Brew Half Pint
abv : 7.5%
Units : 2.13

Total units today : 7.8

Wednesday 13 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Thirteen


Day 13, thank the lard it ain't Friday.

Started at 3pm today. Not supposed to be at work but need to use the scanner, bugger had to start...

Drink : Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA
abv : 7.2%
Units : 2.52.

Drink : Anchor Christmas 2009
abv : 5.5%
Units : 1.95

Drink : Harviestoun Old Engine Oil
abv : 6%
Units : 1.98

Drink : Half Pint Bristol Brewing Company Bristletoe
abv : 4.3%
Units : 1.22

Drink : Half Pint Banks & Taylor Fruit Bat
abv : 4.5%
Units : 1.27

Drink : Port Brewing Wipeout IPA
abv : 7%
Units : 4.62

That it for today.

Total units today : 13.56

Super Botel


I want this, I dream of this, who's going to do this?

We've heard the ideas about super-casinos, we've read and watched superman, Super Girl and Super Ted, we've generally had a super time doing so too. So Super is the word of the day.
Which brings me to the idea I dream about, the Super Pub or Super Botel (see Botel instead of Motel). Anyone else had this dream, i'd be interested to know.
What would be in the 'Super-Pub'? What would be in yours?

Where do we begin? How about the outside, it should be shaped like a massive beer keg/cask/bottle or can (your dream, your preference).
Then you come to the door which you don't even notice because someone's opened it for you and you just breeze on in.
A host of some sort, lets for the sake of argument call them Beer Angels.
The Beer Angels would see you to your seat and give you the beer list which would have every beer you could drink up.....sorry think up. The beer list could take any form you like too, be it on old fashioned tome or as upto date as a palm reader for the techno-geeks, fuck it! the proper geeks could have it in good old comic form!
There would of course bee beer floors, they wold have their own breweries on each floor, each floor would be dedicated to a style of beer, the IPA/Pale Ale floor, for me, would have to be on the top floor(best beers, best views!) Again that's all dependant on your preference.

There would of course have to be an army of staff. You'd need loads behind the bars on each of the beer floors. You'd also need an army of chefs on each floor to cook all the beer and food matching.

Lets not forget the science bit...there would be a team of scientists on site making sure that no matter how much you drank you would have some sort of chemical formula on hand to imbibe to counter the effects of alcohol.

Ok so in case the scientists aren't doing their jobs and drinking and driving generally being a complete no-no there would have to be rooms for people to stay in, of course there would be a free mini-bar in the rooms!

Tickers would be welcome, we'd have a room for them so they didn't scar...sorry scare the customers away.
Politians would be barred - particularly any who are neo-prohibitionist half wits.
Of course it would be so 'super' that we wouldn't have to advertise the venue in any press related nonsense (Daily Fail be damned!!)

For the likes of Boggle there would be a spooge room if there was a beer that the 'spoogers' couldn't find in this enormous gothic-like stone & marble keg.
AND...AND....How about a fictional beer room for those people sad enough to want a pint of Romulan Ale or 'the usual' from the Queen Vic.

I'm running out of thoughts for the time being but I'm going to update this post if I think of anything to add to it.

Suffice to say this Super Botel would be 'the nuts'. If you want to add to any of these ideas then feel free to do so, never know what might happen...

Tuesday 12 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Twelve



Day twelve.

Started on the coffee at 7am, had another couple at work. Then Lucille and I went off to look at a couple of places, I went home, Luce went to her mates to give her her birthday present.
Got home, had a couple of pints of Orange Squash and fuck me sideways and call me betty, no alcohol today!
Nitey nite loyal readers(and occasional by-stoppers). At this rate, I'll have to find something else to write about!

Monday 11 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Eleven


Evening all, Started today at 5pm. Having a drink with two old members of staff and one current member of staff.

Drink : Goose Island IPA
abv : 5.9%
Unit : 2.09

Drink : Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA
abv : 7.2%
Unit : 2.52

Drink : La Trappe Dubbel
abv : 7%
Units : 2.31

The last one I served up with Lucilles lovely cottage pie, awesome, the dubbel probably overpowered the pie a little bit but it still worked a treat!

Total units today : 6.92

Night all.

Sunday 10 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Ten


Day 10, Stargate SG-1 on telly, about to do my weekly CSI Sunday marathon. Time for some beer!
Time : 19.17

Beer : Martsons Burton Bitter
abv : 3.8%
Units : 1.9

Beer : Brewdog Riptide Bottle
abv : 8%
Units : 2.64

That's that for the day.

Total units today : 4.54

Saturday 9 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Nine


Day Nine.

Time started : 5.15pm

Drink : Half pint Banks & Taylor's Fruit Bat.
abv : 4.5%
Units : 1.27

Drink : Brakspear 'Double Dropped' Bitter - Half a Bottle
abv : 3.4%
Units : 0.85

Now,Why did I only drink half the bottle? Well, I've had Brakspear before and I've enjoyed it on draught but this bottle? Well I have never had one so totally uninspiring and tasteless, and that was that for the day, too depressed to drink anymore.
Time finished drinking 6.30pm
Total units today .....wait for it......no, really! 2.12 units! what a booze fuelled saturday night, still, it was about time I had a night off.

Lovebeer? Love Harviestoun!


This is a post regarding the Lovebeer Sessions above The Rake.
On the 23rd January the Lovebeer Meet the Brewer Sessions will start up again with the much anticipated Stuart Cail from Harviestoun. I'm Gutted! I'm going up to the blogger tweet-up in Sheffield that day(Not that that's a bad thing, I'm really looking forward to that but still...).
Harviestoun are one of the most outstanding British breweries around today, their Schiehallion Pilsner is quite simply one of the finest beers I have ever had the privilege of drinking.
Here is the list of what will be tasted on the day...

Bitter & Twisted - Bottle
Haggis Hunter - Cask
Schiehallion - Cask and Bottle comparison
Ptarmigan - Cask
Old Engine Oil - Bottle
and finally....a vertical tasting of the Olah Dubh range!

This has to be one of the most exciting Meet the Brewer events in years and the ink is barely dry on the tickets before they get sold!
If you want a ticket for this event you can get one from The Rake or the Utobeer office(ask for the lovely Denise), tickets are £15 and believe me they are worth every penny!

Friday 8 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Eight


4pm : Day Eight, not sure I want to drink today. Also it now looks like I won't be going to Boston, Bollocks!
Trying to decide what to start on.
9.30pm, starting now.

Drink : Goose Isalnd IPA x 2 Bottles
abv : 5.9
Units : 4.18

Drink : Speakeasy Big Daddy IPA
abv : 6.5
Units : 2.9

Drink : Worthington White Shield
abv : 5.6
Units : 2.8

Totals units today : 9.88

52 pubs a week, are we surprised?


I hate this weather. It's bad enough that we have duty increases imposed on us without a seconds thought by a lame-duck government in the throws of dying an ugly, slow and painful death but now the weather 'chips-in' an completely cripples pub going.
This is the first week back at work after Christmas so I never expect the bar to be busy but whenever it snows the whole country comes to a standstill as the transport system slips up on the ice.
Yes it's pretty, but with approx 52 pubs closing a week this is not good news for the pub trade.
There's also the ill-advised, daily mail style scaremongering from the local and national media that is sending people scuttling back home quickly after work.
How about the annual get-fit January from people who try to shed their latent catholic guilt about drinking, eating and having too much fun? Dust-diets all round I guess.
Add into the mix the cheap booze being sold by supermarkets(of which I admit I partook on New Years Eve) and crippling rents being imposed on pub operators by greedy landlords and well, I could go on for hours about this but I know we've heard it all before.
My message to all customers, mine and others too is this : Get yourselves out to the pub tonight, lets see some of that famous British blitz spirit, it's only snow! The pub should be the heart of the community, lets make 2010 the year of the pub.

Thursday 7 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Seven


Day seven, going to tot up the Units I've had this week, scary.
Six days of drinking = 53.72 units which equals around 8.95 units a day which is more than double daily recommended intake. Yikes!
Of course I've pretty much convinced Mike and Rich that we can afford to go to Boston for the Extreme Beer Festival now, my liver is bad an must be punished!

Anyway, here's today's notes.

Drink : Mongozo Mango x 1 bottle (Before you say anything, I was just trying it!)
abv : 3.6%
Units : 1.18

Drink : Goose Island IPA 2 bottles
abv : 5.9
Units : 4.18

Total units today : 5.36
Total Units this week : 59.08

OK so in the first week we've seen me drink my way to nearly three times the recommended weekly intake!
See you all tomorrow.

Wednesday 6 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Six


First Drink 4pm.

Drink : half pint Brewsters Hop a doodle do
abv : 4.3%
Units : 1.22

Drink : Brooklyn Brown Ale
abv : 5.6%
Units : 1.98

Drink : Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA x 3 bottles
abv : 7.2%
Units : 7.56

Drink : Youngs Ordinary Bitter Half Pint
abv : 3.8%
Units : 1.08

Sierra Nevada Anniversary
abv : 5.9%
Units : 2.06

Total units today : 13.9

Liver taking a pasting again and it's only day six!

Tuesday 5 January 2010

Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA


If you read this blog on a regular basis you'll know I'm keeping a Drunk Diary this month, if you're paying attention to it you'll know that I drank 3 bottles of Sierra Nevada Torpedo yesterday.
To me, Sierra Nevada are a very interesting brewery, they produce a massive amount of beer every year and yet they still seem to be considered a 'micro'-brewery! I consider them a craft brewery rather than a micro because they make beer the right way and still manage to make large quantities of beer. Usually when a Brewery starts making bigger quantities the beer geeks/purists/snobs/raters, call them what you will, complain about a lack of consistency and loss of street cred. Apparently if you make large quantities then you aren't sticking to your values, not sticking it to the man, you become 'the man'. My Mate Sid Boggle wrote a great piece of this here Now Sid's piece was written about a trend toward so-called extreme beer and the fact that the beer snobs don't consider a brewer credible if they don't make at least one super strong beer. The beer snobs tend to forget facts like Sierra Nevada doing big beers like the Bigfoot, trying to move into 100% sustainable energy production, the fact that the brewery is still owned by one of its founders, hardly uninteresting sell-outs.
The Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA is not an extreme beer, it is however still interesting and well worthy of the title a craft brew. It has a big hop character but it also has balance bought to it by a perfect combination of Two Row Pale and Crystal malts bought together with the Magnum, Crystal and Citra hops, Magnificent! This could fast become one of my firm favourites.

A Drunk Diary, Episode Five


Day starts with a hangover, that'll be 3 bottles of Torpedo then!

Started drinking at about 1.30 today with lunch.

Drink : Wells/Youngs Double Chocolate Stout.
abv : 5.2%
Units : 2.6

I have to say it's now 5.25pm and I really feel liked I'm all 'beered-out' for today. This is my day off, perhaps I should just leave it at that.
That's definitely it for today, see you all tomorrow.

OK it's now 8.44pm and at last I feel like drinking so with our pork stir fry this evening I'll have some wine.

Drink : Montana Sauvignon Blanc 250ml
abv : 12.5%
Units : 3.12

Drink : Montana Sauvignon Blanc 175ml
abv : 12.5
Units : 2.18

Drink : Montana Sauvignon Blanc 100ml
abv : `12.5%
Units : 1.25

Not beer but great wine.

Anyhow, total units today : 9.15

Monday 4 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Four


So, I've reached day four of my drunks diary, I've started calling it my drunks diary because I seem to be averaging about twice the recommended daily intake. So Far it has raised a few interesting issues, like am I seeing how much I drink and not having that last drink.
I'm going to alter the diary slightly and try to remember the time I started drinking and the time I finished drinking because yesterday, for instance, I started drinking at about 3pm and finished at about 9.30pm so that was three beers in 6 and a half hours, hardly what I'D call binge drinking but I'm no doctor.

First Drink today at 1.50pm

Drink : Nethergate Priory Mild x 1/2 pint
ABV : 3.8%
Units : 1.07

Drink : Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA x 3 bottles
abv : 7.2%
Units : 7.56

Drink : St Peters Grapefruit Beer x 1 Pint
abv : 4.7%
Units : 2.66

Drink : Goose Island IPA x 1 Bottle
abv : 5.9%
Units : 2.09

Total Units Today : 13.38

Last drink at approx 8.30pm

OK this is essentially four times the recommended daily intake but I at least know how much I'm taking in.
Can I also just say it was great to see all Lucille and I's friends this evening, well worth the pickled liver.

Sunday 3 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Three


DATE : 03/01/10

Started the beer day whilst cooking lunch.

Beer : Goose Island IPA (again) x 2 bottles
ABV : 5.9%
Units : 4.18

Beer : Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA
ABV : 9%
Units : 3.19

Total Units Today : 7.38

As you can see I had more Goose Island IPA and discovered it goes well with pretty much anything when we had roast lamb for lunch.

Saturday 2 January 2010

A Drunk Diary, Episode Two


This is what I had today...
DATE : 02/01/10
Drink : RCH Pier Ale - half pint (284mls)
ABV : 5%
Units : 1.42

Drink : Dark Star Hophead (2 Pints, 568mls per pint)
ABV : 3.8%
Units: 4.31

Drink : Goose Island IPA 1 bottle 355mls
ABV : 5.9%
Units : 2.09

Total units today 7.82.

I must mention the fantastic Spaghetti Bolognese that Lucille made today as it went really nicely with the Goose IPA. But anyway, that's the beer for the day even though it's only 10pm, CSI and a couple of pints of water await. Night all.

A Drunk Diary, Episode One


I've decided that I'd quite like to know what I'm drinking when so I'll be keeping a drunk diary this month in order to try and know what I average a month volume, abv and unit wise.
If you don't know how to calculate the units in your beverage here's how you do it...
Multiply the mls alcoholic liquid by the abv then divide by 1000.
For Example : 1 pint Motley Brew(568mls) x 7.5%abv, divide by 1000 and you get 4.26 Units.
Wish me luck, I may well need it.
By Drunk Diary I do of course mean a diary of what I have drunk, not me drunkenly typing down my deepest darkest watered down thoughts.
Here goes nothing...
Date : 01.01.10
Drinks : Goose Island IPA, 1 bottle.
ABV : 5.9%
Units of Alcohol : 2.09

Friday 1 January 2010

2010, the year that was...


Happy New Year all! so, what does 2010 hold for us? lets do a bit of 'grist'al ball gazing....
2010, the year that will see the Daily Mail use the little known 'responsible reporting' technique regarding all things (beer or otherwise).
2010, the year that violent computer games will become required homework material for the under 8's.
2010, the year that the government will recommend to parents that they give their teenage sons porn to keep them from joining gangs and stabbing each other.
2010, the year that Brewdog will decide to become the biggest pub co in the world and start brewing dull, brown, 4.1% ale and 3.7% pissy lager - Now THAT's changing the world guys!
2010, the year that ex-presidents George Dubbya and Tony Blair come out and decide to create their own country on a deserted moon somewhere.
2010, the year that Osama Bin Laden will release the terrorists guide to knitting.
2010, the year that people will rise up against the 'Nanny State' and decide to actually start living their lives again unafraid they might catch a cold or enjoy eating food.
2010, the year that I will cease to be a lardy bastard and start my much awaited see-food diet ;)
2010, the year that classical music will be outlawed as subversive and blamed for the gang culture.
2010, the year that all channels putting out shit reality TV shows will start repaying the general public' TV license fees.

Well, normal service resumes tomorrow when The Rake reopens after our Christmas break, should be a good year ;)