London Calling . . .

Last weekend we traveled to London to visit for a few days. We got to do the usual touristy things: See Buckingham palace, Parliament, 10 Downing, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, the National Gallery, etc. The kids rode the double-decker bus, which they loved. We took the Tube around, and walked.

It was a good time. I managed to squeeze in a few beers and some decent food, as well.

There were two food highlights. On Friday night we met my colleague Patti Minter at a place in called Belgo, in Covent Garden. Belgo is a Belgian place that at one point was pretty hip. They serve pretty standard Belgian fare. The big highlight for us was that they have a "Beat the Clock" deal whereby diners can choose to order from a special menu and at whatever time the diner orders—between 5:00pm and 6:30pm—that's the price of the item. So Ryan and I had mussels, while Lee and Brendan ordered chicken. By 5:20. The mussels were good, but Monk's in Philly makes much, much better.

Belgo had a very good beer menu. I had a Brugse Zot, which is a Belgian Blonde. It's truly a beautiful beer. The nose is light and airy with some hints of fruit. The color is golden straw, with sunlight edging. Very pretty. There wasn't much head to this beer, but this was a very full pour, so it's not easy to judge. What was there lasted, and had good lacing. The first flavors I got were fruit and malt. For being so light one might expect a simple beer, but this is a complex beer in the Belgian manner. There's a bit of a yeasty character to it, with some light grains and light apricot-y fruit. Despite the Belgian yeast, it was not overly citrusy. A subtle, complex beer. This would be a great beer on a hot day.

I then had an Affligem Dubbel. This was a full-bodied beer. Very little aroma after the pour and, again because of the full glass, no head. The amount of lacing indicated that it had been "poured high."   The color was a crystal-clear ruby red-brown. Very pretty. First flavors were a malty, caramel, bread-y mixture, with a full body and a bit of clove. There was also a toasty character to it, with some sweet candy background. This was a delicious beer as well, though far different from the Zot.

The next day we had had lunch at Wagamama, also in Covent Garden. I absolutely love Wagamama—it's one of my favorite places. Ryan had a great time, because he loves Ramen noodles and Wagamama does them well. I had the Yaki Soba, as usual. Yum.

Other meals were not as memorable, but I did manage to get in a few beers here and there.

A St. Austell Tribute was actually my first beer in town. This is a hand-pulled ale, which has an ABV of  4.2%.  Made in Cornwall, it pours with a subtle malt aroma with almost no hops to the nose. A very nice, creamy head deposited long-lasting lacing on the sides. It had a brownish-golden color and a very soft malty flavor. I got a sense of a bit of a bitter background to it. This came across as a typical British session beer, but more malty than most I've had. So it was a nice change in that regard.

I had this beer in a weirdly mixed pub called "The Marquis of Westminster" in the Victoria section of London. It was a small place, with maybe eight tables arranged along the front side of the curved bar. By "mixed" I mean that there were a lot of eastern European guys with broken noses and facial scars who were local laborers just off from a day of work. They were sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with well-dressed folks drinking wine. It looked like an odd mixture.

I also had a hand-pulled Sambrook's Wandle, 3.8% ABV. This is an interesting beer in that it is brewed in London, which not many beers (Chiswick, Fullers, others?) are any more. In fact the Wandle is a tributary of the Thames. This is a reddish brown beer with a  creamy head and no aroma except for a slightly stale malt. The staleness was so apparent that I ended up making a huge faux pas by asking the bartender if the beer could be off. He assured me that no, he had just tasted it a few minutes ago, and it was fine. So, ok, this beer wasn't all that good. It tastes stale as a matter of course.

At a place called the Coal Hole in Strand I had a hand-pulled Black Dog—my first beer from the Elgood Brewery. The Elgood is still a family-owned place and they make Real Ale, so it's nice to be able to support independent brewers and have some good beer. They call it a "traditional dark mild." But it has the character of a sweet stout. It's one hell of a good beer. The aroma was toasty and roasty, dark, earthy, and very thick. The color was all dark, black stout, with a hint of ruby edging, and a very nice foamy, creamy head. The flavor was rich, and I immediately thought "sweet stout." There's a bit of chocolate to it, especially in the aftertaste, and some smokiness. At something like 3.6% ABV, this is a beer asking to be consumed in quantity.Very tasty.

The other beer of note was a Brewdolph Holiday Ale by the Sole Bay brewery, which is part of Adnams. At 4% ABV this is "a traditional dark ruby ale" with little head and malty aroma. The color was a deep ruby red. I got a malty flavor, with a very refreshing quality to it. There was also some caramel aftertaste. It gets some rave reviews, but I thought this was "good."

In all, this was a fun London trip with some good beer and food. A bit troublesome to find things for the kids to do in the evening, but no matter. A good time was had by all. Off to Manchester tonight to go to the 2012 National Winter Ales Fest. I'll report back.