Moanin all,
The Basingstoke branch of the happy hour group recently showed extreme dedication to the cause, rising early on a Saturday morning to meet at the ungodly hour of 11am to conduct and investigative study of English brewing techniques.
We all met at the Hogs Back Brewery, paying our money to purchase our glass and the tour. This began by waiting for the others to arrive, and investigating the fine selection of beers and beer bottles (including such classics as The Old Fart, Cripple Dick [no doubt named after the Richard the Third], Coopers Stout and Sparkling Ale) that the brewery owned. After that tour turned into a brewery crawl, with a new beer in each of the rooms. We started with Hair of the Hog, which was accompanied by various different malts to taste, and then on to the rooms where the wort is boiled, and hence That's All Fawlkes, a once off for Bon Fire night (celebrating the gunpowder plot), and after that, a nice cup of TEA (Traditional English Ale) for which the brewery is famous. We then wandered in to the cellar to see all the kegs which were on their way to being delivered (by this time the question of what euphemism Effingham was for was most diverting), and then back to the beginning for another ale who's name has totally escaped my memory.
Then it was some food supplied by The Jolly Farmer, and a trip to the Shepherd and Flock to see Les Bleu's turn into Les Noir et Bleu, battered to a pulp by the Wallabies' tails or something like that. An interesting prospect as I had to go to France for a meeting the next day.
Long live the Queen,
Jonty
© Jonathan Main 1999