All Points East

Once again we have a cup game at home, in this case the FA Trophy game against Bath City, which meant there was not a lot of time to get reasonably-priced train tickets up to Darlo and so I decided to get my kicks drinking beer instead.

And not for the first time (nor the last I suspect), London Miller Chris Turner was more than happy to come out and play - but where to go?

We decided to make it a mixture of old and new and started out along the Central Line at Wanstead. As Chris and I arrived we passed one of the pubs on our list, the Cuckfield, but the beer choice looked unexciting and so we cut it out of our plans.

(left) Robin's Pie and Mash

Just a few yards further on was our first stop, Robin's Pie and Mash shop, a recent addition to the Robin's pie empire.

The pies were quite thin with soft pastry but a very tasty filling. They provide the corporate pie and mash at West Ham United so certainly the real deal - no prawns here (though they will do you poached salmon and mash at this branch).

From here it was a short walk to the Nightingale - a lovely pub tucked away from the bustle of the High Street, sat next to a small green which gives it a bit of a Essex village vibe. Great to see the pub opening before noon as well - very civilised.
A decent collection of beers on offer: Fullers ESB, Morland's Old Speckled Hen, Courage Best, Ringwood Boondoggle and Rudgate Ruby Mild. We looked to be the first drinkers in today and the beers we had - the Boondoggle and the mild - were both in excellent condition - too often you get a lukewarm "first of the day" pint. Pricey though at £3.45 a pint!

The pub has several rooms, all with a busy clutter of pictures and memorabilia, giving a real homely feel. There were boards everywhere advertising the food on offer which was very varied but which had an emphasis on fish dishes.
The Essex feel to the place was completed by a set of stereotypical Essex types, including one guy who resembled Smithy (from Gavin and Stacy) in both mannerisms and dress, completed when he orderd rogan josh and chips for a belated breakfast. Classy, Gavlar!
(right) The Nightingale, Wanstead
After a couple of pints we caught the W12 minibus - one of these buses that you can hail as it goes along it's route - and which took us along the edge of Epping Forest, past the towering frontage of Snaresbrook Crown Court, through Whipps Cross hospital to Walthamstow.

Here we popped into the Nags Head in the village part of Walthamstow which is markedly different from the surrounding areas of north-east London. Our Green Army chum, Geoff, was patiently waiting for us.

Chris and I had been here once before - it's a community pub with comfy chairs, books, magazine and various special-interest groups - it could be a bit precious but isn't, helped by a good selection of beers including Nethergate Best Bitter, Crouch Vale Brewers Gold, Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde Mild, Tim Taylor's Landlord and Fullers Pride.

Apart from the pubs, another reason we choose to come to this neck of the woods was to visit the East London Sausage Shop. The sausages are truly excellent and despite good intentions it has taken us over a year to come back and get some more.

From here we walk past the Village - we popped in here on our last visit and the the beer here was terrible so instead we head for the Castle which has had recent good reports and is another new pub for us.

(left) Geoff and Chris leave the East London Sausage Company

What was once an old east-end boozer had really had a major makeover and was now one of the (far too?) many pub eateries full of young couples who all seem to be glued to their netbooks and iPhones rather than actually talking to each other.

Nevertheless they had three handpumps with Black Sheep Ale, Youngs London Gold plus one other. The London Gold is what was Kew Gold which I used to like in bottles but this was fairly bland although in good condition.

The final stop of the day was the King William IV - otherwise known as the tap for Brodie's Beers who are probably the most prodigious brewers in London with a seemingly endless array of beers produced by siblings James and Lizzie, the White Stripes of brewing.

Not surprisingly there was a huge range of beers from the brewery - which sits behind the pub - on offer at the bar including Green Bullet, Brewer's Gold, El Dorado, Polska, Olde Ardour, Romanov Empress Stout (12.1%!), IPA, Kiwi, Citra, Amarilla, Californian and Seven Hop IPA (7.7%) plus a guest from North London, Camden Brewery's Pale Ale.

Some of the beers are excellent and the majority of the others are good to very good - you rarely get a duff beer from them. And all at the excellent price of £1.99, regardless of strength.

The big screen was tuned to Sky Sports so we were able to follow the fortunes of our respective teams - good news for me as Darlo beat Bath City 4-1 but not so great for Chris and Geoff as their teams lost.

The pub started to fill up once the final results came in - the match between West Ham and Arsenal was live on TV and this neck of the woods could be said to straddle both sets of supporters.

Not surprisingly it was the Arsenal fans who had most to cheer whilst the Hammers fans in the pub started up chants against the board - they want Grant out but at least they know he was probably a poor appointment in the first place.

But quite frankly I didn't care as our Wembley dream is still alive...

Capital Brews

As a city London was internationally famed for brewing but over the 25 years or so that I’ve been living down here, the great brewers have slowly disappeared, leaving just Fullers out of a long line of famous names still commercially brewing in the capital.

There then was was a period when brewpubs became the in-thing – the Firkin chain were the most successful for a while before owner David Bruce sold them and they were rebadged and gradually faded away.

There was even a French brewpub called Brasserie Les Sans Culottes in Covent Garden - with some continental-style beers and sparkling Normandy ciders - but as with many other such outlets it didn't stand the test of time.

In recent years however there has been a resurgence in the opening of new breweries and what has been heartening is that in the cut-throat industry they’re joining, they’ve come together in a spirit of enterprise and formed the London Brewers Alliance with the intention of self-help and putting London back on the brewing map.

As a keen drinker I’ve kept a close eye on these developments and so was happy to attend their first event – the London Brewers Alliance Showcase – which took place last week at Brew Wharf in London Bridge.

(left) Lizzie Brodie pours me a half of their porter

This event would essentially be a small festival where we could taste the wares and meet the brewers. The cost was £15 but for that you got seven halves of beer and one half of their collaboratively brewed London Porter. Not bad at London prices.

I was attending with London Miller Chris and his colleague/fellow drinker Roger – having first popped into the nearby Wheatsheaf for a couple of openers first – and the place was quite busy with a number of familiar faces from the London CAMRA scene.

In all there were almost a dozen breweries assembled – Camden Town, Brew Wharf, Kernel, Brodies, Zero Degrees, Fullers, Redemption, Meantime, Ha’Penny, Sambrooks and Windsor & Eton (the latter stretching the definition of London somewhat).

I managed to get round about half of the brewery stalls with Brodies and Kernel proving to have most of the better beers that I’d tried.

Brodies brew not far from Leyton Orient having taken over the old Sweet William brewery and pub and consist of a brother and sister team, James and Lizzie Brodie.

They had a marvellous 7% London porter on draught – which surpassed the collaborative porter that Chris kindly gave me a sip of – as well as a number of their bottled products, one of which was a very enjoyable dunkel. Given the number of beers they've produced, I don’t know where they find the time to brew such a diverse range.

Kernel Brewery is run by a fellow hairy chap called Evin who I’ve met a few times on my visits to the brewery and he produces a variety of wonderful beers, both dark and light. Recent highlights for me have been the Baltic Porter and the White Ale.

I recently suggested that he should call his new son Simcoe in reference to the hops he uses a lot but he and his partner have played safe and called the little chap Kai.

The draught IPA was on top form – very hoppy but not aggressively so - just a shame we don’t see it on cask more often.

Some Brew Wharf beers were also available and I was pleased to finally try their 6.8% black IPA, Military Intelligence.

This has received lots of praise amongst the beer cognoscenti in recent weeks and much deserved too – being dark, hoppy and drinkable is something that is difficult to pull off but this was excellent.

(right) My ticket to drink

With a early-ish trip to our game at Bath the next day I finally managed to drag myself away from the beer – I still had plenty of vouchers left as some of the brewers didn’t tick them off – but for once discretion was the better part of valour.

But it’s clear to see that London is entering a new bright age of brewing and catching up with other areas of the country - long may it continue.

E Numbers

I'd made the decision to not travel to Torquay more or less at the start of the season - a lot of my fellow fans like this trip for an away weekend but personally I don't think the pubs there warrant the travelling.

So instead I'm hooking up with my London Miller chum, Chris, to try out a few pubs in sunny east London.

The first point of call for the day is the King William IV in Leyton - a pub Steve Duffy and I tried out a few years ago before a midweek game against Orient.

(left) King William IV

In those days it was OK but nothing special.

These days though it's a high profile pub in the area as it's home to Brodie's Beers which is run by Jamie and Lizzie, the brother and sister brewing team that operate from the old Sweet William brewery at the rear of the pub (which coincidentally was run by John Wilson's chum Eddie).

It's a big old pub, quite dark inside with two big rooms - the rear having an enormous buffalo head on the wall (as you do).

There was a pretty impressive array of pumps on display, all serving a myriad of Brodie's beers along with a cider and perry on hand pump.

Also impressive is the cost of a pint - £1.99 for all their own beers which includes the Romanov Empress stout, a 12% monster of a beer. Perfect prices for these recessionary times (but don't tell the prohibitionist lobby).

The TVs in the front room are turned on for the Sky match - which turns out to be the less-than-exciting Stoke -v- Wigan - and it's noticeable that a few of the regulars slip away to the back room to escape it.

The beers we try are all on excellent form - English Best, Sunshine, Orient, IPA and Special - much as you'd expect given they've not had that far to travel.

Once the Sky game is over, we depart and wander along the High Road, across the Lea Bridge Road and head up towards Walthamstow village.

The village is a little area of tranquility and poshness in E17 and it's quite spooky. We're heading to the Nags Head but it turns out we taken a wrong turn.

Luckily for us this means that we come across the East London Sausage Company and we wander in to peruse their range of home-made sausages. Quite a large choice on offer - I go for the 1920's recipe bangers which look nice and plump.

They also put us right in our search and before too long we're arrived at the Nags Head.

(right) Children - know your place!

What strikes me on arrival is the number of signs geared towards parents, all telling them what to do with their children and their buggies.

A subsequent perusal of the pub's BITE entry suggests this isn't the most child-friendly pub - clearly they've had their fill of yummy mummies (and daddies) - and the little darlings are not allowed in the pub, only outside in the heated garden.

On entering the pub, it's apparent that they're expecting a big group - rows of champagne glasses all waiting to be filled up. It turns out a wedding party is expected to drop in for a few drinks.

The Nags Head is totally different place to the more earthy King William - light-coloured wooden walls, comfy chairs, posters advertising in-house activities such as life-drawing and Egyptian dancing.

(left) Nags Head, Walthamstow Village

I'd like to think this latter class resembles Wilson, Keppel and Betty at their finest but somehow I doubt it.

There's a respectable range of beers on offer - Taylors Landlord; St Austell Tribute; Nethergate Suffolk Bitter; Mighty Oak's Oscar Wilde and Maldon Gold and their house beer, Itinerant.

This last beer turns out to be produced by Nethergate and is brewed for the pub to celebrate the late pub cat, Tetley. In fact the pub recently had a feline-themed beer festival. They like cats and won't have kids in the bar - this should be my sort of pub.

As we settle into our pints, the expected wedding party arrives and the pub goes from a quiet, library-like calm to a chatty maelstrom of air-kissing and how-do-you-dos. We hang around to watch it all and have another pint - some of the other regulars find it all a bit much though and depart.

However there's only so much jollity and such like that we can take and we decide to wander back down Orford Road to the Village.

On offer were three from Adnams - Bitter, Broadside and Explorer - and GK IPA. Not very inspiring.

Chris and I both opt for the Explorer and settle down to watch the football scores come in. The beer is not up to much - it has minimal condition and looks extremely flat and listless - and frankly it's a struggle to drink.

Even more disappointing is the latest score from Plainmoor - Torquay 5, Darlington 0! Oh dear oh dear. Happier news though for Chris as the Millers have won with a couple of late goals at Valley Parade.

We decide that the beer isn't worth bothering with and leave it. We wander back to Lea Bridge Road where we pick up the 69 bus which takes us to Leyton tube. From here we travel a couple of stops to Mile End.

I drag Chris through the streets of Bow until we reach Roman Road market - unfortunately Kelly's pie and mash shop is shut so we head straight to the Eleanor Arms.

As well as the usual Shepherd Neame choices, there is a Sheps Xmas ale and the guest beer is Old Hooky so I settle for that. Very nice.

Landlord Frankie eventually shows his face - I last saw him rather worse for wear at the end of the Pig's Ear festival a couple of weeks ago.

Whilst we have a few further pints (bottles of Otley's O-Garden for me), a few musicians wander up and perform a few tunes - not many people in to appreciate them though. We're right in the firing line and whilst it's not really our cup of tea, we applaud politely before calling it a day and heading home.

The sausages were eaten the very next day and were absolutely fabulous. I'll be going back for more...

Down The Orient

Last night saw Liz and I wander over to Leyton for Piglet 9 - it's November so there has to be a Piglet at some point.

These are small festivals run by the Leyton Orient Supporters Club at their bar behind one of the main stands - initially started as a fill-in when the Pig's Ear festival had nowhere to go.

The supporters bar has always been good for beer even when it was by the (then) open away end. It still has a great reputation and has won numerous awards - it's currently the joint winner of CAMRA's National Club Of The Year.

When I pulled up at the bar for my opening pint, the bar staff- all volunteers and generally Orient fans - were all having a moan about their recent performances, the latest being knocked out of the cup at home a few days earlier by Tranmere - until I told them I was a Darlo fan and they should think themselves lucky.

This brought the usual questions - "Is George Reynolds still with you?" and "Is he still in jail?". They're a bit behind recent events at the <insert latest sponsor name here> Arena.

"Well you've got a lovely new stadium" one added. Hmmm, OK if you like that sort of thing. Which I don't really.

(left) Brodie's Orient - yummy

The festival had a special beer on - Orient from local brewery Brodie's - which is probably only a mile or so from the ground. You simply can't get more local.

I've been having quite a few of their beers recently and they've all been good. I don't know where they find the time to churn out some many brews.

The Orient was very good - a golden ale which at 4% is a more-ish quaffing beer with plenty of taste but which doesn't overpower your taste buds.

Liz was getting stuck into the ciders - well the Two Trees Perry from Gwynt Y Ddraig first which was slightly sweet but went down well.

Chris T joined us and managed to cadge a chair off somebody - the place was getting quite busy and it was standing room only. The crowd was very old-school London CAMRA with the usual crew from the Wenlock Arms in residence.

There was another local brewer present with three beers on offer from the Ha'Penny Brewery in Ilford. They had their Ha'Penny Bitter (3.5%), Sixteen String Jack IPA (3.8%) and Spring-Heeled Jack London Porter (3.9%).

The bitter was very clean and light - another session beer - and the porter was lovely - not a lot of body but full of dark flavours.

Unfortunately their IPA was a bit murky. It had been served to some people early on but later took it off.

(right) Ha'Penny Bitter

Brewer Gavin Happé (who co-brews with Chris Penny - hence the brewery name) told me that they'd used a huge quantity of hops and it had caused a haze (though it looked more than a bit hazey to me). All part of the learning curve I suppose.

One other good beer was Beer Monster from Oakham Ales - at 4.8%, it was a full-flavoured beer with a nice touch of maltiness, not too malty for me - I've never had a bad beer from them yet. I do miss our away trips to Peterborough!

And all beers and ciders were very competitively priced at £2.50 for a pint - beat that!

Liz and I finished off the night with Brown Snout Cider - yet another one from the chaps at Gwynt y Ddraig. At 6.0 it was quite a bitter single-variety cider, quite reminiscent to my cider novice tastes to the Kingston Black.

So well done to the LOSC team for yet another top festival. If only we had something like this at our place...

Dagenham Daze

A bright and early 6:30am start for Tony Waters leaving Darlo but a slight lie-in for me before we meet up at Kings Cross and head over to Liverpool Street. The first point of call today is one of Tony's favourites, Rossi Restauraunt, on Hanbury Street.

Previous visits here have been followed by wins so we feel duty bound to pop in.

The menu needs barely a glance as we opt for the mixed grill-style breakfast – it has all the usual suspects plus a lamb chop and liver. A true creme de la creme of breakfastery.

Despite the photographic evidence and Tony’s odd-expression we did enjoy it. He’s just not very good at showing emotion…

(left) Tony just can't be happy today

Next stop is nearby Brick Lane - once the place to go for some rough and ready curries when I was first a young lad in the big city.

Sadly today it's a bit on the touristy side with touts trying to drag you into their restaurants.

A very shabby practice and one which rarely works.

However at this time of day it's nice and quiet and we wander into one of the major Indian supermarkets.

I'm familiar with a lot of the wares on offer after 20-odd years living in the East End but we were taken aback by the sheer number and size of some of the fish in their freezers. The calves feet looked less enticing mind…

From Aldgate East we take the District Line a few stops to Plaistow and bump into Steve Duffy on the way to the Black Lion. Steve's not had his breakfast but he ignores his hunger and goes to the pub with us – that’s the DAFTS way.

Disappointingly the Black Lion has a bit of a mediocre choice of beers - Courage Best, Adnams Bitter & Explorer and Banks Original. We stick to the Banks as none of us are great fans of Adnams.

(right) DAFTS in the Black Lion

It's not long before we're joined by John and Bev plus Bev's Chelsea mate, Dave, who also has a soft spot for the Daggers. We allow him to sit with us – we’re good like that.

Last weekend we were wondering who the new manager would be and today we know who it is - "Stan" Staunton, and assistant Kevin Richardson. It's fair to say Staunton's appearance is a bit of a surprise to all of us but we're slightly reassured that he's joined by Richardson who seems to be well regarded as a coach.

Another surprise is the signing of Noel Whelan, a former team-mate of Stan’s, in an effort to bolster our Goals For column.

Tony tells us Whelan last played a professional game for Dunfermline Athletic in 2006 and who has recently left Harrogate Town as apparently he was deemed unfit. I'm afraid it seems a desperate move but hold back the cynicism and wait to be proved wrong. It wouldn't be the first time in matters relating to Darlo.

Iain and Paul join us for the last hour or so and the debate goes on. The Irish landlord joins in – like many of his countrymen he was underwhelmed with Staunton's tenure as Ireland boss but wishes him and us luck for the day. Maybe we all need to be kissing the Blarney Stone as well?

As we pass 2pm, Iain and Paul leave to drive to Dagenham and give a lift to John, Bev and Dave. We three slowly finish our drinks and wander up to Plaistow tube where we miss catching a Barking train by seconds.

The next train is a bit of a wait and we have more of a wait at Barking for the replacement bus service. We've already missed kick-off by the time we arrive at Dagenham East and it’s 3:25pm by the time we arrive at the ground. Steve and Tony get updates on the phone and we hear we're already 2-0 down.

At the away end we find all the turnstiles are shut. A steward helpfully tells us we can't come in and we have to go to turnstile 1.

We duly wander back there where we told we can pay there but have to go back to the away end for entry.

(left) The new away end - the closest we got to the game

And then a rare piece of common sense kicks in and we realise that the chances of a Darlo comeback are slim to none and we should beat a sensible retreat to the local pub.

This also meant we missed seeing Howard who was cycling to the game and thus we were spared the sight of an elderly man in cycling lycra...

The Eastbroook is a fairly decent pub full of your average east-ender types – it’s a Greene King pub which normally puts me off but they had a small beer festival on with some barrels behind the bar. We had a pint of something-or-other and it was very tasty.

(left) Tony and Steve outside the Eastbrook

Steve still hadn’t had any food other than pork scratchings so we opt to visit Brook Pie and Mash shop a few yards away. No joy – they’ve run out of pies! We couldn’t Adam and Eve it.

Obviously Dagenham has precious little to offer us today so we hightail it back to Barking – abd a quick stop at the local Wimpy for Steve to fuel up – before heading back into town.

We wander to our new find, the King Charles I, just a few minutes from Kings Cross. It’s very quiet but has some good beers from Brodies - today we have the choice of their English Best or the Californian.

And for Steve they have Brains SA – you can’t escape Cardiff totally!

We have a good chat with the landlord and catch up on the history of the pub. It’s got a decent jukebox so we play that for a while.

Tony and then Steve leave to catch their respective train and bus back home. I should really go too as I have to be up at 7am the next day for my flight to LA.

Instead I get chatting to Jamie Brodie, who brews the beers with his sister and who just happens to live round the corner, and discuss the merits of his California beer – the landlord and I like it but think it tastes a bit thin for a 5.3% beer. Not surprisingly Jamie disagrees.

I have a few pints of their bottled porters and then wander off to meet Liz at Kings Cross and finally head off home – a little worse for wear and apparently I kept repeating myself. Moi?