English Craft Beer

When recently in Londontown I wove my way through Borough Market on a mission: Find Utobeer. Utobeer is a craft beer shop offering over 600 rare/small batch beers from all over the world. They have a large collection of one-off UK beers that get no distribution outside of the UK, some not even outside of London. Naturally I had to buy some of these and squirrel them away in my suitcase.

With the help of the very nice man I chose three beers to take the journey across the ocean. I wanted more but stopped at three when the conversation in my head became "what clothes could I throw away to make room for more beer....."

A good friend of mine is the Brewmaster and Beer manager for Cypress Street in Atlanta, obviously I had to share them with him. So last night.... we had a tasting.

BEER ONE
Brewery: The Kernel, London, England
Beer We Tasted: IPA - Chinook, Amarillo, Nelson Sauvin hops

The Kernel is a brewery in the Bermondsey area of London (southeast). They opened their brewery in 2009 and have quite often been hailed as "the best brewery in London." I'm super jealous/sad/annoyed/happy (a range of emotions) that I just now learned about the actual brewery, but the next time I'm in London, I am on a Kernel mission. Kind of dying to try their Centennial Pale Ale and their Export India Porter.

The first thing you notice about the IPA we tried is the beautiful color on the beer- the golden hue looks inviting and well-crafted. And the taste? Delicious. Clean, precise, and crisp. You taste grapefruit from the Amarillo hops- not the fruity, tart part of the fruit, but the pith which aids in creating the lingering bitterness signature to their beers. The bitterness smooths out and leaves a lovely taste in your mouth. Sessionable. 5.8%.

BEER TWO

Brewery: Dark Star, West Sussex, England

Beer We Tasted: Green Hop

Dark Star is about an hour and half south of London, near Brighton. It began as a tiny brewing adventure in the basement of a pub in 1994. By 2001 their beers were so popular they set up a proper brewery in Ansty and eventually grew into the location they have now. Which may or may not have been decorated by Banksy.

We tasted their Green Hop. I LOVED this beer, however this is not for everyone. It is a big IPA brewed with Simcoe hops which have an earthy, piney flavor to them, but what makes this beer so amazing are the fresh green hops they put in the batch after fermentation.

When you open Green Hop the floral scent is almost overwhelming, in a fantastic way. It smells like a garden in the summer and the color is that perfect golden hue. The taste is actually quite different. It's IPA bitter then super smooth, with a quick floral hint on the front of your sip, but remarkably the only massive floral aspect to the beer is the nose. I could drink this all day. Loved. 6.5%

BEER THREE

Brewery: Oakham Ales

Beer We Tasted: Citra

Oakham Ales (forgive their bad website) is located in Peterborough, England about 2 hours north of London in the largest brewpub in England. Their beers have won award after award and they've grown from a small brewery to a large brewery and a beer distributor for European beers into the UK. 

The beer I brought home was the Citra, American Pale Ale (APA). Again, loved.

This beer is a single-hop brew with only Citra hops. Oakham were "the first UK Brewery to commercially the first brewery in the UK to brew with Citra back in 2009." Now the beer is a permanent fixture in their selection winning two Gold in the International Beer Challenge 2011 and 2012. It is clean and refreshing. The bottle says "A light refreshing beer with pungent grapefruit, lychee and gooseberry aromas leading to a dry, bitter finish" and I wholeheartedly agree. The lychee fruit taste is unusual for Americans, not a fruit we consume a lot of here, but it's refreshing. The beer is in no way sweet, it is definitely hop-driven, and I love the malty aftertaste. If I was in a pub and this was on draft.... watch out people.

I hope you have been inspired to travel to England for your own personal beer journey. If you do go, check out The Rake near London Bridge or The Cask Pub and Kitchen in Pimlico both of which have amazing selections of craft beer. It's not many places you can get craft beer in pubs in England as most of the pubs are owned by the massive breweries, so do some exploring and find a gem.

Happy Drinking!!

Summer Reading

It's here!!!! Summertime and the living is easy..... time to lay by the pool and read a good book.

What I really miss were those seven beautiful years when I waited not so patiently for the next Harry Potter release. Every July I would rush to the bookstore but not crack the cover until I was at the lake, the pool or the beach- to savor every JK Rowling second in the perfect setting. Oh how I miss Harry....

They're not HP, but here are a few recommendations for your pool adventures. Nothing too deep, nothing too challenging, just enjoyment- aka, perfect summer reading.


1. The Informationist by Taylor Stevens. Growing up in the Children of God cult, Stevens relied on daydreaming to escape life. When she finally escaped, her daydreams became stories, which have translated into books. And they are fantastic.

Stevens's has created the ultimate female protagonist, Vanessa Munro. Munro is fearsome and complex; a killer with great remorse. 

The Informationist is her first in the series, and in my opinion, the best. The story focuses around a kidnapped American girl Munro is contracted to rescue from Africa. The story is exciting and surprising, the dialogue mature,a and the character development beautifully crafted. I would follow Munro through any jungle as long as she promises to teach me all the crazy African dialects and some badass kung fu skills she has. 

2. Discovery of Witches by Diana Harkness. Remember: summer reading. This is a story about witches and vampires, I know, I know. BUT! This is actually interesting. Harkness is a History professor at USC, with a specialty in the history of science and alchemy in Elizabethan England. She approaches the story from a fascinating and historical angle. Yes, it's still completely unbelievable and as a teacher she tends to be slightly verbose in her writing, but it's interesting, the characters are lovable, and the dialogue witty and fun.

Matthew, a vampire but also a scientist of gene theory and evolution, meets Diana, witch and professor of history and science at the Bodelian Library in Oxford, England. Their story is one of love, witchcraft, and adventure driven by their desire to understand the origin of their species. It's romantic, it's fun, it's perfect beach reading. 



3. The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson. I love Homeland, it's one of my favorite shows on TV. But I was a little disappointed in Season 2 (Brody really left? A car bomb could really get that close to the CIA?) and I sought out others who shared my views, this is how I "met" Alex Berenson. Berenson did a weekly review of Homeland in "Esquire" magazine that was smart, beautifully written and exactly my reaction nearly every week. Obv we should be friends, or at least he could be my Homeland guru. When I found out he also writes books.... well.... there may have been a rush to the bookstore.

The Faithful Spy is the first of his collection and one of the best. It introduces us to John Wells, a CIA operative undercover with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. In this novel we follow Wells across the globe as tries to unravel a plot to blow up Times Square. Basically, it's reading a season of Homeland. And it's addictingly good.

4. Divergent buy Veronica Roth. If you are in desperate need of a Harry Potter/Hunger Games summer escape, this is the book for you. If you've already read this, forgive me as it's not new, so go get the second book Insurgent. The third comes out in October of 2013.

The Divergent series takes place in the future, in what we now call Chicago. The population is grouped into five factions, each one designed to represent a certain virtue of humanity-Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). When the children turn 16 they are tested to decide which faction they should join, but Beatrice Trior is an anomaly: she is Divergent, a secret that could cost her, and her family, their lives. 

An addicting read, it may infringe on your summer social time as you won't want to put it down, but a very fun read.




5. Rarely do books make me laugh out loud, the lone exception being Bridget Jones's Diary. This is the other. It's a preposterous storyline, total "chick lit", but I love it, a go-to for me when I need a life escape. 

Twenties Girl by British author Sophie Kinsella follows young, over-imaginative Lara, who has never been successful in love or work. Who knew the ghost of her great-aunt Sadie would be the driving force behind her .

Sadie and Lara have a hilarious relationship, sparring often and with witty dialogue. Their quest for Sadie's missing necklace upends a family history long thought forgotten and forces Lara to face truths about herself that only her aunt can see.

I promise you will be laughing, a lot, out loud, and probably snorting whatever beverage you may be drinking at the time. It's all worth it.

Ok, I'm off to the pool to read!!! What summer books do you enjoy?

London!! Part Two

Day Two began... later than planned. I blame jet-lag.

After a day of work meetings I met up with one of my favorite people, Louise, and off we went for dinner at Byron Burger. Everyone had said to me 'You have to try Byron burger, it's so good', or some variation on the theme. So I did. And it was (dramatic music here) not so good. I live in America, and if there's one thing we do well, it's burgers. Though the UK often matches our skill, it was not the case here. But we got beer- wae hae! And I got to try a very tasty Wit brewed in London and not available in the States. And that's always fun.

Then we pub crawled our way through Fulham, fancy pub crawled. We did have a destination... we just never made it there.

I woke the next morning and decided I need to drag my lazy bum out of bed and for a run. It was overcast, it was threatening sheets of rain, it was perfect. Along the Thames I went!

what a pretty house boat!

Then it was off to another meeting... and finally meeting Louise at Borough Market, one of my ultimate favorite places in London. If you've never been and you like food or wine or beer, you need to run there. Quickly.

Borough Market is the country's most renowned food market and has been synonymous with food since 1014, possibly earlier. It is settled in the shadow of London Bridge and is home to over 100 food and beverage vendors- all locally grown and made foods. The high standards of produce is controlled by a food quality panel that governs Borough Market. Farmers, cheese mongers, bakers... they come right from their farms to the market to your mouth to your belly. It's a delicious, and healthy, process.

We wandered through.... and salivated....

The entrance

chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate

See? You want to go now don't you?

We tubed it back to Soho to meet some friends for dinner (even though our bellies were quite full) and I said a very sad goodbye to Louise. I miss her so! But the rest of my time would be 100% wedding focused. 

I moved to a hotel closer to the wedding festivities, the Tune Hotel at Kings Cross. It's a new super cheap hotel with three locations in London: Kings Cross, Liverpool Street and Westminster and is fantastic value for your money. You can get a room for as little as $60/night in Central London! The chain is Asian and have hotels all over Asia, they've recently expanded into London and Edinburgh. 

The style is minimalist and clean, the rooms are smaller, but the bathrooms are large and pristine and it feels like a proper hotel, not some cheap crappy budget hotel. Let's face it, I'm a bit of a snob and I just can't do budget hotels. My friend made me stay with her in one in Earls Court 8 years ago... bunk beds... I still have nightmares.

All settled, I power napped then jumped on the tube and headed for Camden. Let the wedding festivities begin!