No Car

Still no word on the car, it makes it hard to organised what we are doing tonight but whatever the outcome, I will be having some new beers.
If you do not know what I am on about, yesterday I got in the car, turned the ignition and the battery exploded.

Not going out again

Well the car is still missing, so no lift for our usual Friday night out, the garage haven't even let my know how long they are going to have the car. I say usual but since I started this blog I have not managed to get out one Friday night. At least I am not unwell this week and hopefully, next week we will be back to normal. So we have had an Indian for tea and I am having a couple of cans.

Fish Rock IV

Fish Rock IV

My battery just exploded

Got up to take Dot to work as usual, got in the car turned the ignition and the battery exploded, there are bits of battery and trim all over.  Bit of a shock to say the least and poor Dot has had to walk to work.  
The battery was in bits and the acid eating away at my drive but the car radio was still playing and the windows still wound down. 
It has now gone off the the garage on the back of a big truck, hope I get it back in time to go to the pub tonight.  

Oldie

As I am still cutting down on my alcohol consumption, tonight I am back to reviewing some of my old favourites.
McEwan's, Champion from Scotland?
7.3% dark brown colour with a good white head, sweet malt aroma, cameral malt strong slightly bitter taste, one of the best. One of the few beers that I drink on a regular basis and as far as I know, this Scottish beer is now only made in England.

Zhujiang

Well I had to have one of the beers from Ripon today, so I had the small one. 
Zhujiang, Gold Lager, from China, or Beer 12°.
4.3% (not 5.3% as on ratebeer although  Pearl River 12° is 4.3%) golden colour with a thin short lived head, sweet grain and malt aroma, sweet malt taste, not bad for a lager.



As this was my first beer of the week (I have not had a four day break in drinking for many years), it may not have been as pleasant as I thought it was and it may be, that if it is drunk with other beers, it could be very ordinary indeed.

Ripon

Had a day in Ripon, dropped the girls at school, day shopping and picked them back up on the way back. Breakfast from Greggs, a bacon bun, very nice, and found two good beer shops.  Drinkswell, has a very good selection of beers, a very good selection but it is a bit pricey and Rhythm and Booze, good selection with plenty of offers.  I bought four new beers from Rhythm and Booze, reviews will follow shortly, maybe one tonight, well I have to try one.

The Fish Beer Festival: First Beer Fest meeting

The Fish Beer Festival: First Beer Fest meeting: "Well I wasn't really planning to do a beer festival yet however my regional manager dropped a pack in so we thought why the hell not . After..."

Check out my friends blog.

The Home

Its time to get the motorhome (or just Home as we like to call it) ready for our first trip away this year. Unlike every year since 2002, this year we will not be taking the Home onto mainland Europe. Fuel cost have made it far too expensive for me to justify using the Home for trips down into France. I have been able to book a trip to France using the car at a fraction of the cost of using the Home. The disadvantage to using the car for foreign trips though is, I can not fit as much Belgian beer in it to bring back. We still plan to use the Home as much as we can but even then campsite costs are getting very expensive.



More about the Home later, or read more about the Home here

Tap7

I thought this beer was a new one (remember the quest is to collect photos of beers I haven't already had) but apparently it is one I have had before, with a slightly different name.
Schneider, Weisse TAP7 Unser Original from Germany, is the same as Schneider, Weisse Original.
5.4% cloudy brown colour (dark for a wheat beer, almost the colour of a dunkel weisse) with a thin head, nice banana aroma and taste. It may look a bit different from your usual German Hefeweizen (cloudy wheat beer) but the taste was as good as any I have tried.

Wolf, Battle Of Britain

The second new beer on Saturday night was, Wolf, Battle Of Britain, England.
3.9% deep amber colour with a poor head, citrus hop aroma, hops and toffee malt taste. Well it was a lot better than the first one we had, but nothing special.

Beer Glasses two

These next glasses are rearer than the first ones but I still have three, all slightly different.

Kasteel, Belgium



Van Honsebrouck, Kasteel Triple, 11% gold colour with a good head, the aroma is sweet alcohol and fruitcake, taste is sweet fruits, I like this beer very much but only drink it occasionally, a bit too strong for everyday use.  There is also the equally strong Bruin and the slightly weaker Rouge.

Beer Glasses one

I know how much some people love beer glasses so here are a couple of my favorites as it the beer they were made to hold.

Duvel retro glasses, some of a set produced for its 85th anniversary celebration.



8.5% bubbly gold with a good head, aroma is sweet and complicated, the taste is sweet malt with some citrus and bitter, very, very, good, it's a bit lively though, always have a glass ready.

Another Wensleydale

Saturday night would not be right without beer, especially with family and friends over for a meal.  So I had six bottles but shared them with Jonathan, so that makes it just  three pints.  
The first new beer was, Wensleydale, Semer Water, England.
4.1% hazy yellow colour with no head, citrus hop and sight caramel aroma, cirrus hop (orange) taste, not the 
best beer I have ever had.
Jonathan likes fishing and reckons Semer Water (the lake) could taste better.