Regular readers will perhaps not be surprised to read that my drinking buddy at the Union earlier was my close personal associate ‘The Kid’ Peter, we wanted an unpretentious lunch and some top beer. Our sandwiches were perfectly edible, whereas the beer was of the very highest quality.

We started off with a pint of Meantime London Pale Ale. When we were served our pints we were both surprised by the colour of the beer. It was very pale, the colour of lager, we are used to it being darker than this. Any doubts we had about the beer were instantly dismissed as soon as we tasted our pints: these were the best examples of the London Pale Ale we had ever tasted. The beer was bursting with vivid life with brilliant floral hoppy flavours and an extremely pleasing bitterness. This was totally invigorating and refreshing, our pints just begged us to keep drinking them. Timothy Taylor’s Landlord, if it has been well kept, is probably a better pale ale, but this was a serious contender.

Next up were some fruit beers. Peter had a bottle of Boon Kriek; Belgian lambic beer with cherry juice added. It had a strong cherry character, so strong some might think it over-whelmed any beer characters. I like Boon lambics because they are usually pretty dry and have great acidity, properties this example also had.

I think I did rather better with my fruit beer, a Meantime Raspberry Grand Cru. This is an old favourite of mine, a beer with flavours as livid as its red colour. It bursts with fruity vivacity and yet is totally dry with plenty of refreshing acidity. This clocks in at 6.5% but it doesn’t seem in the slightest bit heavy or thick which some beers of this strength can. I tell you, this is a really serious drink. Fruit beers are not just for people who don’t really like beer, this had what it needed where it needed it.

Our final drink was the quite mind-shatteringly fantastic Meantime India Pale Ale. This scores highly in the heroism stakes being 7.5%, and this alcohol level gives the beer some richness. However, it also has an array of dense, layered, hoppy bitter qualities which give this real complexity. These flavours give the palate a slightly savoury character which I find extremely pleasing. This was a truly brilliant beer for bold people who are not afraid of powerful tastes and getting a bit drunk.

If you want some extremely compelling beers and Greenwich is within easy reach then amble up Royal Hill and install yourself in the Union for a couple of hours of quality beer imbibing. Oh yes, the sandwiches are quite large, come with decent chips and are made from high-grade ingredients.

I’ve mentioned that I am trying to shed some lard from my frame. As usual, today I have been crazily hungry and desperate to have a substantial lunch. Yet lunchtime has passed and I haven’t touched any food. This deserves a reward.

A small bottle of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale seems like an excellent reward. It is bottle-conditioned, which gives it more life and complexity. It also results in there being a small amount of dead yeast in the bottle, which some people think is a bad thing, not a bit of it! Good to see this beer was once alive. I like its floral, hoppy flavours and its pronounced bitterness is very refreshing. A very satisfying bottle of Pale Ale.

Pale Ale is one of my favourite styles of beer, and there are some good ones out there. My preferred variety is the much-loved Timothy Taylor’s Landlord, particularly when cask-conditioned although the bottled version is quite acceptable. When you see this beer in a boozer you should order it in a second, it is so excitingly livid and invigorating. For a pale ale the alcohol level is slightly on the low side at 4.3%. A cask of this was on offer at the wedding reception of two friends of mine; I found it so hard to choose between the Pol Roger Champagne, Arlaud Burgundy and the Landlord that I just had to keep cycling between the three.

There are two other good Pale Ales available from micro-breweries in my area of London.  The Union in Greenwich is the tap boozer for the Meantime Brewery, their London Pale Ale is quite delicious. Again, not so high in alcohol and a bright, refreshing drink. Zero Degrees in Blackheath is quite a fun micro-brewery cum bar and restaurant. You can sit gazing at the brewery equipment behind the glass walls in bar as you drink their excellent Pale Ale and eat one of their (sometimes good, sometimes woeful) pizzas. Some of the beers at Zero Degrees can be a bit hit and miss, but I’ve never had a less than excellent pint of their Pale Ale (the Black Lager is reliable, too).

I’ve been impressed by some Pale Ales from micro-breweries in the US. The first one I tried was Full Sail Pale Ale picked up when I was working in Alaska back in 1995. My chum Keithy and I purchased loads of this as it was such an enjoyable beer, really hoppy and refreshing (and preferable to the dreary Alaska Amber which seemed to be the beer on sale in most places). Sadly I have rarely seen this in the UK so have not had it for a few years. Bums.

The other US Pale Ale which has really done it for me is Burning River Pale Ale from the Great Lakes Brewing Company. Its slightly higher alcohol level (6%) gives a richness and weight which balances the hoppy bitterness very well.

My final suggestion for good Pale Ale is a Western Australian brew: Little Creatures Pale Ale. This is well-flavoured with American hops and they also chuck some Tasmanian-grown flowers in it to add to its aromatics.  This is also bottle conditioned, good! The ‘priced like Harrod’s’ corner shop in my housing development sells this and it is one of the few things in there that I do not resent paying their inflated prices for. Its good stuff.

Pale Ales can refresh and invigorate, one of my very favourite styles of beer. If you want more alcohol and more hoppy bitterness you should be going for India Pale Ale, and, as I have recently suggested, the IPA of choice comes from the Meantime Brewery. That is my favourite beer of all time.

Not an entirely successful trip, I admit. I didn’t sleep last night and I felt so tired I didn’t get the maximum pleasure from the experience.

However, the trip merits a mention, not for the excellent Smoked Bock (my first beer), nor the characterful, fruity and refreshing Boon Kriek (my second beer, it really was damned good example of cherry-infused lambic), but for their ‘special’ beer which will only be on draught for a limited period of time. It is Meantime Brewery India Pale Ale. Long time followers of this spume of drivel may recall that when I reviewed it I said it is my favourite beer ever. I still stick by that assertion; indeed I’ll go as far saying that the draught version is better than the bottled variety. Consequently, this was the most compelling beer experience I’ve had. It is a powerful, personality-filled, complex beer for the noble drinker who is strong of mind and driven by the quest for quality experiences. I bloody loved it and you will too. Get down The Union in Greenwich and order a pint as soon as you can manage it.

On the subject of ‘managing it’ I will point something out before Peter or the partner start mocking me for being a lightweight. I was so spent and generally shagged out that after half of my pint of IPA, and I will claim as a partial defence that two beers followed by half a pint of 7.5% beer added to the feeling of being rather knackered*, that I had to pass the rest of the beer to the partner to finish off. When he’d finished that I was permitted to stagger home and have a five hour nap. I feel a much improved after my afternoon kip.

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*Three beers at lunchtime? One of them 7.5% (albeit only a half of that)? I suppose this means that, according to the Health Select Committee report on alcohol, I am drinking at a hazardous or harmful level. This is laughable rubbish, of course. Like the vast majority of people I have a very healthy relationship with alcohol; one trip to the boozer a week is going to do me more good than harm. If the control-freak, self-appointed, self-serving moral booze police of this country read my blogs I suppose they would think I needed locking up for my own protection… Gits.

This time I am starting off with something a bit powerful to refresh me. It'll be the booze doing the refreshing with this beer as we are told it has low hoppy bitterness.

Meantime Smoked Bock, 6.5%
Dark amber colour which is appraching nutty brown. Yum, a rich malty nose which has powerful bready characters. Yes, this smells like partially cooked brown bread dough. Shall we say that is not a bad thing? Yes, let's. As big gulp reveals little in the way of bitterness, and no floral flavours. It is malty and bready again, but this is a nice piece of bread with seeds and raisins and other such stuff that can make bread so good. Some complexity, some length too. What I like about drinking this is that it feels like a big mouthful of hearty food. Yes, this is good.

The Union really delivers the goods, so many high-quality beers. It is close to where Captain Peter lives too. The quality of food here has increased no end in recent months. I'll report on lunch later. For now, it is a pint of an old favourite.

London Pale Ale 4.6%, Meantime Brewery
A hoppy, fresh nose. Very lively. And after a rather large glup I am impressed by its bitterness. This keeps it really lively and refreshing. There are some good fruity, floral hop flavours as well. This is really quite long with its fresh bitterness persisting. I am enjoying this very much, it is just the sharpener I need.

I reported on this beer last time I was at The Union, it is just as good this time. The barman's legs are less good than the barmaid's legs last time.

Meantime Brewery Raspberry Grand Cru, 6.5%
A slightly muddy, but very fruity nose. It has a good, weighty power to the nose. The palate has real density, but is kept lively by the fruit and acidity. The palate has some vivacious tension and is quite long. I am enjoying this very much.

The Union is the tap pub for The Meantime Brewery here in Greenwich (the boozer is on Royal Hill), and they are so keen for people to tell others about their beer they have free WiFi. The Union have a broad range of fresh and exciting beers on offer. When visiting here it is always worth asking if they have any specials as they are often top bunny. I'm drinking one of the seasonal beers to start with.

Meantime Brewery Oktoberfest-style beer, 5.3%
This is quite dark for a lager-style beer. There is quite a lot of character on the nose, malt and hops with some fresh yeasty life. There is a hint of sweet fruitiness to it. Now that is a characterful palate for lager. There is a malty richness, and complex, fresh flavours as well. It has hints of fruit on the palate. There is a reasonable degree of length to it, which I rarely find with beer. This is great for fizzy lager, it tastes of things!

It seems that real ale is the only type of beer in British boozers to be increasing its sales. Apparently this is due to increased consumption amongst ladies. So well done girls! Keep drinking that excellent, lively beverage. You can read the full story here.

This is a Belgian-style summer beer. We are told it is not so strong as to lose its refreshing character.

Meantime High Saison, 5%
The nose has the sweet richness which I associate with Belgian beers; it is like a particularly characterful version of Leffe. I like its hoppy aromas. It does have a refreshing palate, really hoppy and delicious. It is very long, with good, complex flavours persisting. This is what I like. Oh yes.

I have to say, nice as the beers we had at The Union were, the barmaid’s legs were even better.

I'm at The Union, the tap boozer of the quite wonderful Meantime Brewery. I'm meeting that top geezer Peter 'The Kid' Palmer for a few academic halves* and I shall report on them thanks to the brilliance of my mobile phone, a bluetooth keyboard and The Union's free WiFi.

Meantime Raspberry Grand Cru, 6.5%
The colour is a slightly un-nerving shade of dark pink. It has a powerfully fruity nose which is quite the charmer. Now that is a refreshing, lovely palate: lots of fruit an a good streak of acidity running right through it. Yum, this will do very well to start the afternoon. Complex and accessible, with a pleasing booze-quotient; yeah!

*An academic half is half a quart (ie. a pint, for those who don’t know obscure old units).

Long-time readers will know how I hate the government meddling in things that have nothing to bloody well do with them, so this story in the Daily Telegraph made me chortle. The headline says it all:

A brewer criticised for making what it claimed is Britain's strongest beer has unveiled an ale with a 1.1 per cent alcohol content, which it has called Nanny State.

I’ve never tried this beer before. I’d rather that state of affairs had been maintained.

Anchor Steam Beer, 4.8%
One of the primary (of many) problems I have with this beer is that it smells of cat shit. Put the glass to your mouth and the horrible smell of cat egestion fills your nostrils. This makes it hard to enjoy. All the other characters make it hard to enjoy too. If we take it as given that by the time you taste this you already want to projectile vomit I’ll try and describe the vile filth flavours that assault your palate. It is very fat and soupy, with perilously little in the way of refreshing characters; it is not very bitter or acidic. There is something really dirty about the palate which just makes me think of the cat shit aroma. If I’d gone to the effort of tasting cat shit I am sure it’d taste like this. It is a flabby, dirty, shitty, generally horrible beer. Avoid. In fact, if you see any on a shop shelf do the world a favour and smash the bottles.

My little drinkie I am treating myself to with lunch today is tequila flavoured beer from France. ‘Oh dear’, you may be thinking; I think that would be an overly generous assessment.

Desperados beer flavoured with tequila, 5.9%
I’m smelling this and the civilised parts of my mind are screaming, “Why did you buy this, you moronic, rancid fool?” It actually smells a bit like Gueuze, only with all of the weird but nice aromas replaced with totally repulsive filth. Ah OK, I know exactly what this smells like: shandy. And the taste? Oh deary, deary me. Look, will you excuse me from writing about the taste? I’m trying not to think about it and I don’t want another mouthful to remind myself of the sweet, dirty and generally vile characteristics that dominate the palate. Oh bugger, now I’ve thought about it again and I feel utterly consumed with horror that I actually swallowed such nauseating crap. You’ve got to hate this and curse the name of its inventor.

It is half-past midnight and I am having a beer. Wehay! I admit this is not an uncommon occurrence, but I am drinking this rather tasty Sierra Nevada Pale Ale because I have no cocktail ingredients in the flat. Why do I need cocktail ingredients? I was hoping to raise an appreciative toast to the fellows at Embury Cocktails. Not only did they have this to say about me and the site, but also they link to me with the frighteningly accurate text “Bonkers Englishman, gonzo drinking”. Hooray! Life is great and it is fantastic that there are other people out there who know that. So, the beer:

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, 5.6%
A hoppy, aromatic nose with good freshness. The bitterness on the palate is really refreshing and makes you want to drink more. I think the flavour is really carried well by the high-ish alcohol. There is a depth of character here which makes this a very satisfying drink. A properly good Pale Ale, bottle-conditioning so often seems the way forward.

Today’s little bottle of beer with lunch I know to be much nicer than yesterday’s. Originating from Freemantle in Western Australia this is a quality Pale Ale which will go well with my cheese and onion sandwich.

Little Creatures Pale Ale, 5.2%
Good golden colour. Smells lively and hoppy, there is something slightly floral about it which I always hope to find in Pale Ale. It is robust and full-bodied on the palate, with refreshing bitterness and a bright acidity. Really quite tasty and thoroughly drinkable.

And the cheese and onion sandwich was lovely.

This summer we are burning through Alsace and Burgundy. Alsace is considered to be the place in France where the best beers are brewed. I’ve got one here to test that.

Meteor, 4.6%
Bloody hell, I’ve just looked at the label and it contains caramel as a colourant and ascorbic acid as an anti-oxidant. That worries me a bit. So, it is quite dark for lager, that caramel works. Oh dear, what a boring, totally boring, utterly boring palate. Trying to determine any character in this is a fruitless search, it is just piss boring. Boring, get my message? Bit fizzy, bit bitter, and… erm… that is it, I’m afraid. Wow, this is staggeringly dull, world-class tedium.

I’m buggered if I’m drinking this turgid brew when I am in Alsace, or anywhere else for that matter. I do know there is better beer there. There is better beer in a boozer’s drip tray.

… But I do love it. Most Belgian lambic beers are slightly odd at best, some are downright nasty with their aggressive acidity. This, however, slips down a treat. It is a lambic Gueuze-type beer re-fermented with some candy sugar added. This is not the best example, which comes from Cantillon, but it will put a smile on my face this afternoon.

Lindemans Faro Lambic, 4.2%
It is quite dark for a lambic beer. It has an aroma of sweet, ripe fruit: apples and berries, I think. It certainly smells rich and characterful. The palate is not overly fizzy. It has lots of weight and richness, but is not really that sweet. There is very good refreshing acidity here. The apple/berry character is also there, in a slightly rotten, but not unattractive, manner. This is really quite refreshing and is not going to get you monster-newscasted like some of the booze-tastic Belgian beers. Cantillon may make more lively, interesting and weird Faro*, but this is a quite charming drink.

*Should you visit Cantillon in Brussels and buy a bottle of Faro I suggest you keep in the fridge for a few weeks to allow it to re-ferment the added sugar. This will make it drier and give it a fine fizziness.

The Dog and Bell in Deptford is CAMRA’s South-East London pub of the year. Deptford, the New York Times tells us, is the place to go to experience London’s multicultural life. The police are predicting an increase in stabbings. Indeed, as we got on the train from Woolwich the London newspaper headline was “Teenager stabbed in Deptford”. I was worried.

Fortunately, the Dog and Bell is an oasis of calm in a deeply un-nerving area. Stepping inside transports you to a veritable idyll of quality beer and peaceful conversation. There is also a bar billiards table should you need some exercise after a few pints.

We stopped for a couple of pints. Firstly we had London Pale Ale from the Meantime brewery. Even at their tap boozer in Greenwich this is normally a keg beer, albeit one of very high quality. Somehow the Dog and Bell had managed to score a real cask-conditioned version. What a delight it was! Bursting with life and freshness, pleasingly complex and properly bitter. We loved it.

We also had a pint of Fuller’s ESB. Those of you reading this from London might think this was a boring choice, it is not that difficult to get this beer in London. However, once again this was in super-top condition; quite easily the best pint of ESB I had ever had and I have been to a lot of Fuller’s boozers. They even had the correct ESB glasses. A quality pint.

The journey to the Dog and Bell might be rather scary, but for top bunny beer you cannot go far wrong. Well worth a trip, but just don’t make eye contact with any of London’s multicultural life should you be leaving there at closing time.

The Dog and Bell, 116 Prince Street, London SE8 3JD

The National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML) is proposing to introduce a two-thirds of a pint measure which would "increase the flexibility of the pub and brewing industries to innovate in the presentation of beer to consumers".

The Consultation on Specified Food Quantities also wonders if "specified quantities for unwrapped bread should be deregulated to allow unwrapped bread to be sold in any size".

As I am sure you can understand, these must be seriously pressing issues for the government. At this time of financial uncertainly I often find myself wondering if I should be drinking slightly less beer and buying unwrapped bread in many different sizes.

Everybody should be able to enjoy beer in a decent boozer, so it is a shame Peggy is now barred from her local.

I am currently drinking Meantime Brewery IPA, it remains my favourite beer of all time. Earlier I had a bottle of Meantime Oktoberfest-style beer, and it is to that which I wish to draw your attention. Sainsburys are currently flogging it for £2.20 a four-pack, which for beer of that quality is a real bargain. The 'Taste the Difference' range of Meantime beers are normally good value at £4.39 a four-pack so this is an incredible bargain. Get yourselves to Sainsburys now!

Lawks, this is 9%, just what I need on a boring afternoon.

Chimay Bleu 2007, 9% abv
A rich, malty nose, bursting with goodness. This doesn't smell that alcoholic, even with its butch strength. It tastes very rich and malty, with good length and a reasonable degree of complexity. Again, it tastes surprisingly dry despite its alcohol-level. I wouldn't say this is a refreshing beer, it is a tad too weighty, but it is a great drink. Their Grande Reserve is also really good; some people suggest it ages really well, but don't listen to those nutters.

My trip to France has been a tale of woe so far, beyond picking up some Pibarnon 2001 for a knock-down price. Dinner was, perhaps, even more depressing than what approximated for lunch.

We had a recommendation to go to a microbrewery in Lille called Les 3 Brasseurs. Going to a microbrewery is usually an interesting experience, and one can generally expect beer of passable quality. It was piss-quality at Les 3 Brasseurs.

We tried all of their beers. The Blonde, Blanche and Brune all tasted pretty similar, which was bad enough. Worse was they tasted disgusting. They had a strange flavour of that shameful concoction known as 'mixed herbs', and mixed herbs that had been left lying around for too long. There was no life, freshness or style. They were simply dirty with a freaking awful flavour. The only differentiation between them, beyond the colour, was that the Brune had a vague hint of bitterness. The Ambree beer was not so utterly vile, instead it was totally bland and characterless. I'd rather be offended than bored and this was piss boring. I hated all the beers with a passion and found the drinking experience there to be completely depressing.

It did not cheer me up that the food was also total crap, the dried-out tarte-flambees were notably awful. The final nail in the coffin of this dire dive was that the service was hopeless from our complete twat of a waiter. He might have been less mortifyingly awful if he was less drunk.

I cannot recommend highly enough that you avoid Les 3 Brasseurs if you should find yourself in Lille; I bet the Buffalo Grill opposite is less of a misery-inducing dump.

My last Estonian beer, drank half an hour before getting a taxi to the airport. I won't miss them.

A. Le Coq Special 1807 Jubilee Edition, 5.2%
Smells like standard lager, nothing thrilling here. Apart from the fact that it is slightly sweet and a bit chemical, this could be any standard European lager. It is like Grolsch with added sugar. This doesn't make it particularly nice. No, I will not miss Estonian beer.

I've been in Estonia for the past couple of days. I've tried one local brewery, Saku, and I have to say the beer is foul. It seems to be a pretty generic lager, but it has a nasty chemical taste which is really off-putting. This is especially true of the Saku Dark. It is 6.7% and additional alcohol really carries the most unpleasant flavours very well. I found two glasses of the stuff to be quite nauseating.

I am off to Finland for the weekend where I know there is a decent pub that serves real ale. It'll be nice to have a good drink that doesn't make me want to hurl. Sadly it is then back to Tallinn for two days. I must find a better bar....

I just love it. The Meantime Brewey hit the spot once again.

India Pale Ale 7.5%, Meantime Brewery
A delightful, golden hue. Smells richly hopped, full of flowers and sweet richness. The alcohol does not stand out in the slightest. Delicious! Really bitter, full of complex flavours, and a great, long finish to it. It has a really pleasing savoury character to it. This is top stuff. I bet it'd age as well as any beer of this style; but ageing beer is pointless, especially when it is so utterly lovely as this is now. This is seriously good stuff for those who like their beers, indeed their lives, to have character.

This is the special bottling of Kriek beer from the excellent Cantillon brewery. They use two year old lambic, to which is added 300g of cherries per litre of lambic. This was bottled in September 2006, so hasn't really had much bottle age. We are told these beers can last forever, but I've never seen the point.

Cantillon Kriek 'Lou Pepe', 5%
This is a very deep red colour, looks like fresh cherry juice. The nose has a pleasing cherry character, and the slightly off flavours of lambic are there too. A taste... hell's bells! Am I drinking vomit? No, no, the entry is really aggressive and very acidic, but once you get over the absolute horror of that there is some nice cherry fruit on the finish. OK, there is no real charm here, and perilously little that is nice, but it is really interesting and rather complex. No I don't like it, but this is by no means 'sub-interest' and I will drink some more.

Again, purchased from Waitrose (they do have some really good beers) this is made by the Goose Island brewery of Chicago. It is a very good IPA, but not a patch on the really great Meantime Brewery IPA that comes from just down the road from me.

Goose Island India Pale Ale, 5.9%
The nose bursts with hoppy aromas. It is full of life and smells most inviting. The palate has good richness from the alcohol, but is wonderfully bitter. This tastes very refreshing for a beer so strong. Really most enjoyable.

This is an award-winning, bottle conditioned beer from Hogs Back Brewery in Surrey. I've been wanting to try it for a while so was very pleased to see some sitting in Waitrose.

Traditional English Ale (T.E.A.), 4.2%
A very rounded, full-favoured nose. Plenty of maltiness there, so much so that there are hints of Ovaltine about it. This is not unattractive, though, this smells like quite a lively, complex ale. The palate is very full flavoured, round and malty again, but perhaps lacks a tiny bit of bitterness to cut through this and make it refreshing. It is nice and characterful, but just a bit ponderous.

This is another purchase from Sainsburys. I first tried it in Antwerp and must confess to drinking quite a lot of it during the short holiday. Made from wheat, oats and barley.

Tripel Karmeliet, 8%
A bright, golden colour. It smells of honey and lemon. And alcohol too. The palate is very rich and heady, almost sweet from the alcohol. There is a fruitiness to it, though. Not bad, but somehow not as charming as I remembered.

This is another beer from the excellent Meantime Brewery just down the road from me in Greenwich. It is sold in larger branches of the supermarket Sainsburys under their 'Taste the difference' label.

Franconian style dark lager, 5%
This is the colour of porter. It has a malty nose with hints of caramel. It does not smell heavy or thick, though, it seems fresh and full of life. The palate is really rather crisp and refreshing, very nice. There are some rich malt and caramel flavours there, but the overall impression is of a fresh, lively drink that is both refreshing and flavoursome.

This beer is brewed for Sainsburys by the excellent Oxfordshire brewery Wychwood. Sadly it is not bottle-conditioned, but is a completely drinkable brew, nonetheless.

Goldwing English Blonde Beer, 5.5%
A lovely nose of lemon fruit and a good hoppy character. It smells quite rich, presumably because of the high-ish alcohol for a blonde beer. There is good weight to the palate, and the lemon fruit tastes very ripe, but it is pleasingly bitter and has a refreshing acidity that makes it extremely quaffable. A pint or two of this would slip down a treat.

I saw this for the first time in my local Sainsburys. I've never tried it before so thought I'd give it a whirl. Harviestoun are based in Alva, Scotland. It is not a real ale, alas.

Harviestoun Bitter and Twisted Blond Beer, 4.2%
An attractive golden colour. It has a fresh, yeasty nose with plenty of aromatic hop character. The hoppiness is quite fruity. The palate is not terribly gassy, which is nice. It also has a fruitiness to the hop character, slightly lemony. It is not amazingly bitter, but what bitterness it has combines well with its acidity and low gas level to make a very refreshing drink. This is really quite nice for a non-bottle-conditioned beer.

I am just enjoying a bottle of Fuller's 1845. On a cold and windy winter's day this is the ideal beer to drink. It might be a bit soupy, but it is very rich and warming. Poured straight from the fridge (much too cold, I realise) it is even moderately refreshing and what would an afternoon be without refreshment? This is one of my favourite bottle-conditioned beers. A couple of these could even begin to ease the pain of England's woeful performance in the cricket this winter.

After my rants about the all-round goodness of low-alcohol wines you may think I'd hate this beast of a beer. I think this is quite balanced, although not really a light, refreshing drink. It is a Trappist monk beer. No wonder they don't talk, they must be too drunk.

The large lumps of dead yeast in the bottom of the bottle demonstrate that this is bottle-conditioned. Good. The white and red Chimay beers are good, but blue is my favourite. Indeed, Chimay Bleu is the only beer that has ever got me barred from a pub. The boozer was in Florence so I don't feel I am missing out by being barred. Chimay Bleu is also bottled in a 75cl bottle with a cork seal; this is known as Chimay Grande Reserve and it is intended for ageing. My advice is don't age it, it tastes bloody awful when it is old.

Chimay Bleu, 9%
Very dark brown colour. The nose is richly malty with alcohol sweetness definitely present. There is some bitterness to the palate, but it is really quite round and malty. The finish shows alcohol sweetness, but with the rich maltiness of the beer this doesn't seem out of balance.

This is not a real ale in a bottle, it is not bottle-conditioned. It is quite refreshing to drink whilst watching the cricket, though.

Timothy Taylor's Landlord Pale Ale, 4.1%
A darkish golden colour. This has a really hoppy nose, it smells really quite lively. The palate is refreshingly bitter with good malty flavours. It may not have the freshness and life of a bottle-conditioned beer, but it is a refreshing and pleasing drink.

I do like my beers to be quite bitter, and that certainly true of this. The draught version is really a significant step up in terms of liveliness and pleasure.

Yesterday I went on a booze cruise to Calais. In one of the large supermarkets we picked up some beer; this is one of the things we got.

Gueuze is an aged lambic beer from Brussels. Lambic is a beer that is fermented using the natural yeasts present in the place the beer is brewed. This is termed spontaneous fermentation. When fresh lambic is very acidic and lively, serious ageing is often required to make it palatable. This version has been aged in cask for two years before bottling. It is far from the most traditional Gueuze one could have; for that one needs to look for the producers Cantillon or Boon. This offering comes from the producer Lindemans.

Gueuze Foudroyante, 4%
Dark amber colour. A sweet nose of candied lemon peel, it is also quite orange-y. It is not especially complex. It tastes quite sweet and there is not the frightening acidity one generally seeks in lambic beers. The taste is very short and simple, it is almost bland. Perhaps I like my Gueuze to be far too scary in terms of intensity, but I find this to be quite dull. Not up to standard.

Purchased direct from the Meantime Brewery pub, the Union. A white-beer style.

Meantime Brewery White, 5%
Cloudy amber colour. Very fruity nose, banana and spiced peach. It has a refreshing sparkle. The palate is also fruity. This is fruity, refreshing and fun. Very nice.

This was the refreshment on offer at an incredibly dull Korean restaurant I visited tonight. A Korean lager that claimed to be made with 'fresh, natural water'. Better than that stale, artificial water, I'll wager....

Hite, 4.5%
Very pale yellow. Doesn't smell of anything. It tastes very slightly sweet and there is a hint of maltiness, but this is basically fizzy water. I think the name has an 's' missing from the start of it.

*also known as 'fucking close to water'.

A beer from a different local microbrewery, Zero Degrees of Blackheath. They sell five litre kegs of beer to carry out. This is slipping down a treat with the rugby today.

Zero Degrees Pale Ale, 4.6%
Dark amber colour. The nose is very hoppy and floral. The palate is pleasingly bitter, with floral hoppiness strongly present. The after-taste persists a long time with the hoppy bitterness. It is a very refreshing, quite complex drink, which is balanced in its degree of alcohol. Really rather nice.

I am getting to the end of the beers I purchased on my visit to Sainsbury's. It is really good that they sell Meantime brewery beers, they are excellent quality and reasonably priced. I'll get some direct when I next pop into their boozer, the Union. This is apparently brewed using an authentic Oktoberfest recipe and is not pasteurised. Nice that it is available in months other than October.

Sainsbury's 'Taste the difference' Munich style Oktoberfest bier, 5.4%
Amber colour. A malty nose that smells almost sweet with its richness. The palate is quite round and weighty, with the alcohol giving it a sweetness. It is not all that bitter, but is quite refreshing nonetheless. The fresh, malty after-taste persists for a long time. This is what lager should be like, strong and characterful.

Again this is made by the Meantime Brewery and is bottled without pasteurisation. It is made with Vienna malt and Bavarian hops.

Sainsbury's 'Taste the difference' Vienna style amber lager, 5%
Dark amber colour. A malty, hoppy nose. The palate is rich with a good hoppy bitterness to it. Even though this has quite a lot of malty richness the bitterness keeps it lively and stops it from becoming soupy. The taste persists with nice floral and malty flavours. A good beer.

England just whipped Wales in the Six Nations; a celebration is called for! This Californian ale was brewed 'to celebrate the winter season' and is made in the tradition of 'old world' ales brewed for that purpose.

Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, 6.8%
Dark amber colour. This smells very floral, hoppy and quite alcoholic. The taste is very bitter. Good. It has malty richness and floral, apricot-y hoppiness on the palate. The finish is long and refreshingly bitter. Whilst this is rich and alcoholic, it seems a bit less soupy than the 1845 I had yesterday; it is very well balanced. This is really rather good. An excellent beer to celebrate an excellent result in the rugby (oh and the winter season too).

This was another purchase from my trip to a large branch of Sainbury's.

The first matches of the Six Nations rugby championship are today. I need to start off with something light and refreshing. This comes from the Meantime brewery (via a large branch of Sainsbury's). This is one of my local microbreweries and it makes excellent beers, generally lager styles. This states it was made with Kentish hops, malted Lincolnshire barley and was bottled without pasteurisation.

Sainsbury's 'Taste the difference' late hopped blonde ale, 4.5%
Pale yellow/amber colour. It smells very malty and flowery, quite hoppy. The nose is aromatic. It tastes light and refreshing, with a really good bitter hope finish. There is almost something parma violet-y about the flowery, fruity, hoppiness on the finish. It is a balanced, lively drink and fulfils my requirement for a light drink to start the afternoon's entertainment. A very good beer.

This is a real ale in a bottle, a bottle-conditioned beer, from a good London brewery who make some excellent stuff and run some good pubs. These real ales should be served only slightly chilled, not at fridge temperature; making them too cold dulls the flavour.

Fuller's 1845, 6.3%
Dark amber colour. This is rich and malty, with obvious high alcohol. The taste is very persistent and the alcohol makes the finish taste very round and rich. It is quite weighty, but is obviously lively and refreshing. Not the kind of thing you'd sit down and drink bottle after bottle of, it is too powerful and alcoholic, but as a pick-me-up on a cold winter's day it works just fine. I think this is a lot better balanced than their other bottle-conditioned beer, Vintage Ale, which is just too sweet, heavy and ponderous. A very good beer, and a personal favourite.

This is stocked by Waitrose (and Ocado, their online persona) and larger branches of Sainsbury's have it too.