GBBF 2009....

...is now over for another year.

As it traditional at this time of year, I've spent three afternoons at the Great British Beer Festival at Earls Court - apparently the biggest pub in the world if you believe the adverts.

The first session was Tuesday afternoon - the trade session, fewer members of the public but more of the brewing trade and the beer press/bloggerage fraternity - and I had fully intended to just spend a couple of hours wandering round, trying the odd beer and taking it easy.

However it transpired I spent most of the afternoon leaning against the foreign beer bar, chatting to other enthusiasts and barstaff as well as trying a variety of great beers, my favourites including :

- Heintje from the De Prael brewery - a steady wheat beer from the Amsterdam brewery and a great first beer of the day - a shame they didn't bring their Johnny as well though

- Foederbier from Bockor (Belgium) - a lambic beer not normally available in this form as it is used as a base for Bockor's other brews such as the Jacobins fruit beers - very tart but quite soft

- Bloed, Zweet & Tranen (Blood, Sweat & Tears) from the De Molen brewery in Holland - a smokey, stout-like beer - at 8% it's a good sipping beer

(left) Takeaway beers

- Woodwork Series beers from Revelation Cat (Italy) - this is a combination of New Zealand hops, Munich malts, and champagne yeast - there are four versions based on the barrel used (French Bordeaux, US, acacia or local wood).

These and a few more decent brews meant I left an hour or two later than planned - I woke up at Barking tube station, a few stops further on from home than I would have liked and had to double back. Still, that's a good day in my book.

On Wednesday I meet up with Richard, my old chum from Northallerton, plus occasional DAFTS compatriot and fellow football/beer enthusiast, Geoff Luke and his mates.

During the day I bought a wonderful book which was being launched at the GBBF - Played At The Pub is produced by the Played In Britain team who aim to document the sporting heritage of this country and who have produced some wonderful books on football stadia, lidos and specific books on sporting venues in places such as Manchester and Birmingham.

From a brief skim though it, it looks to be a cracking read and includes a few pages on Darlington Quoits club. The author, Arthur Taylor, was there to sign it too.

Also in attendance was Simon Inglis, perhaps best know to football fans for his seminal book, The Football Grounds of Britain, but who is the series editor for Played In Britain. Simon and his partner Jackie once visited Feethams, one of his favourite grounds, where Simon gave a talk and it was good to catch up with them both.

Later in the day we were joined by Liz - spoilt for choice at the massive cider stall - and then a horde of London Millers descended upon us, keen for beer.

(left) Richard and Liz

As we were sat near the North East bar I spent most of my time drinking beers from there - most of them I've tried in the Quaker House before but all worth drinking again. No chance of a dodgy beer here!

Quite predictably, London Miller Paul Martin rushed off to what he called the CAMRA Crap shop - one of those stalls selling glasses, beer towels and the like - so that he could add to his never-ending collection of pewter tankards (assuming he can sneak it past the memsahib).

(right) Paul Martin can't resist the lure of pewter

The Thursday afternoon session was a slightly more sedate affair - I met up as usual with Trevor, my mate from the Macc festival, and the usual posse of folks who all meet up on this day.

Also in attendance was Robert, Liz's younger bro and one of the western London Millers, who comes along as part of the Gloucester CAMRA mob.

Later on, I bumped into a couple of folk from Darlington CAMRA, Nick and Brendan, by Bar Nouveau. Brendan was able to give me the good news that the Quaker House is no longer for sale and is in safe hands. Excellent!

A pleasant afternoon's drinking and chatting but I must be getting old as by 4:30pm I was looking forward to getting home and having the remnants of Tuesday night's curry.

Still, it was an enjoyable three days and I'm sure I'll be back next year (not difficult when I work in Hammersmith though). After all, it is the perfect way to prepare for the opening day of the season.

Played At the Pub cover image used with permission

Aby Days Are Here Again

Following our trip down to Gillingham last month (and subsequent wander along to Rochester for some beer), Liz and I are finally in receipt of the latest additions to our household.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the brother and sister Abyssinian act, Devin and Perry...

Aren't they scrummy?

Devin - on the left and named after the Strapping Young Lad guitarist Devin Townsend - is the able-bodied member of the duo - and being the only male cat in the household, he's making early moves to be the boss and is starting to annoy longstanding cat-in-residence Emma.

However in a month or so he'll be off to the vets for you-know-what and we'll see if he's quite so cocky after that!

Perry - not named after anyone (but with a nod to Kathy Burke's character) is more a reaction against the current annoying use of "pear cider" - was born without her left front leg.

No one is sure exactly why this happened but it's proving to be just a minor handicap in her life as she hurtles around the house.

Choosing names is always a problem and early on we decided against any names involving anything to do with Darlo or Rotherham as that would have been too cruel - Quaker and Miller are not good names for animals and would seem to predispose them to a lifetime of misery.

Apologies in advance to those that know us and who we'll probably bore rigid over the coming months as we describe their latest antics. Normal service will be resumed eventually.

DAFTS Go Dutch

As we have done for several years now, Liz and I went for our summer break to Amsterdam recently and on this trip we were joined by DAFTSmiester, Steve Duffy, and his other half Cath.

A nice early start from London City - a great little no-nonsense airport and just ten minutes from home - meant we were on our houseboat in the east of Amsterdam shortly after midday. Steve and Cath weren't too far behind us and without losing too much time unpacking, we headed out to our first port of call.

The Ij brewery (or Brouwerij 't Ij to give it it's proper name) is basically a brewery with a tasting room (or Proeflokaal) attached - both housed within one of Amsterdam's few remaining windmills.

(left) Ij brewery

Liz and I have been coming here since the mid-1990s after first reading about it in Hugh Shipman's Serious Drinkers Guide to Amsterdam and it remains my favourite bar in Amsterdam.

It's such a simple set-up - just their range of beers plus wine (red or white house only), soft drinks and a few basic snacks - which all means there is minimal fuss and bother.

The brewery tap is extremely basic in decor although the bar has been extended in recent years and there is now an extensive outside terrace - for those that like such things - but we're content to sit indoors and enjoy a few beers, some pindas (peanuts) and the occasional hard-boiled egg.

The beers are fairly varied from the lighter, refreshing taste of the Pilzen and Ijwit at 5% each through to the heavier, sipping flavours of the Columbus and Struis, both hitting the scales at 9%.

(above) Steve and Cath enjoy the Pilzen

Although this bar is outside the immediate city centre, it has the advantage of keeping prices an euro or so cheaper than more central bars, especially for off-sales (12 bottles for 14 euros - a bargain!).

The opening hours are quite limited too - from 3pm to 8pm - but that serves to focus the mind so that you concentrate on the beers. If you can manage a five hour session here, you're doing very well.

Although we visit the Ij three times during our stay, we do find time to sneak in a couple of visits to another of Amsterdam's finest bars - the Arendsnest.

This is another bar we've been visiting for many years and we've seen it change from a good bar serving mainly Belgian brews to a great bar serving Dutch-only beers.

This latter manifestation took place under the guidance of Peter van der Arend who will be shortly opening Amsterdam's first American beer bar - should be interesting.

(right) Arendsnest

The Arendsnest can be found on the gentile banks of the Herengracht on the edge of the trendy and slightly bohemian Jordaan area - well away from the red-light area and those bars with pictures of Bob Marley (whatever that means!).

The bar has an impressive 30 beers on tap which along with a multitude of bottled beers means there is something for everyone here.

The third bar we frequented during our stay was the Engelbawarder - the Guardian Angel - an unassuming looking pub on the edge of the Red Light area but mercifully free of the usual stag-night numpties and dope tourists which dominate some nearby bars.

This place used to be a literary cafe about 30 years ago but now concentrates on beer and food.

What raises it above most other bars in the area for me is the draught Rodenbach - a beautiful sour red beer from Belgium. Very tart and surprisingly refreshing.

(left) Engelbawarder sign points to earlier orientation

There is an odd old bloke we keep seeing here - he always seems to sit in the same seat in the window each day, reading his papers and mumbling away incoherently to himself (or that could be just Dutch). Woe betide anyone sat in his seat.

He was here last year when we dropped in and he's here again on both of our visits this year.

I don't know whether that's a sad or wonderful life - depends on your point of view I suppose. I don't think I'd complain about visiting this place every day.

Steve loves the bars here and is now wanting to extend the DAFTS away guide to include Amsterdam and the rest of Europe. I'm not certain when Darlo will make it worth our while...

If you're considering a trip to Amsterdam, you can't do better than check out the Amsterdam Pub Guide produced by Ron Patterson. He'll keep you right.

Eastern Promise

What a glorious day for a pub crawl - warm weather but not as stupidly hot as earlier in the week. Liz and I had got to the Wenlock Arms a little before opening so we had a pleasant sit down in the small park next door.

Following the machinations of the AGM, it was time to sort out the teams for the Pub Crawl Treasure Hunt Quiz Thingy - only four teams in all to take on the course but all as keen as mustard to get started.

Our Plymouth-supporting chum, Geoff, accompanied me as we aimed to wander around behind the teams and check all the clues were still intact. Liz meanwhile went off to buy some prizes from the nearest Pound Shop.

(left) The Marksman


The first point of call for the teams was the Marksman on Hackney Road - a healthy little schlep from the Wenlock via Columbia Road Market - just enough of a hike to generate a thirst.

Geoff and I had wandered there via the nearby Royal Oak to try the cask-conditioned Meantime London Pale Ale but alas it was off.

The Marksman commemorates the death of Nelson and it sits of the corner of Horatio Road and Hackney Road and it currently offers just one cask beer, Landlord. The landlord reckons they can't really run to another handpump but they're doing their best and the menus look extremely tasty. They're also offering the chance to barter for a pint. I'm not sure that will catch on somehow.

When I first came to London this place was an Everards house, one of the few decent places in East London for real ale in those days.

From here it was a short walk to the second pub, the Albion, which is certainly a football pub. The place is a homage to West Bromich Albion and the walls are covered in pennants and photographs from their dim and distant past.

It's just such a shame then that the beer was so lousy. The Pitfield Organic was positively vinegrescent and the Landlord little better.

However it did allow most teams to check out the final quarter of the British Lions victory against SA on the big screen - and even the beer garden had it's own screen - but no one hung around after that once they got the required answers.

Another short-walk then took everyone to Broadway Market with two opportunities for point scoring by the teams.

The Dove a very popular pub - and is the sister pub to the Dovetail in Clerkenwell - and the place was overrun with trendy young things (which is generally everyone younger than me).

(left) Get yer eels here!


A fairly decent selection of 6-8 cask beers with the likes of Maldon Gold and Golden Duck from Crouch Vale, Speckled Hen, Landlord (again), Flowers IPA, Pedigree and Abbot.

There was also a variety of Belgian beers on draught - I opted for the Brugse Zot which is always drinkable - plus a good choice of bottles.

The other place for teams to score points was at Cooke's pie and mash shop just a few yards down the road. Most teams tried the pie and mash but only one team tried the jellied eels as well. Brave boys!

Liz and I had tried out their pie and mash a couple of weeks earlier when checking out the route and the current owner is a real friendly chap and was proud of what's probably the most verdant liquor I've yet seen. However his mash had too many eyes in it for my high exacting standards and the pies were only so-so.

From the bustle of the market, it was nice to get down to the relative calm of Regents Canal towpath and walk to the next pub. Well, it would be if it wasn't for 99% of cyclists bombing along the route as well. Bastards!

The towpath is a great route to take to miss out some of the more miserable roads around here but a pain as you have to have eyes in the back of your head to see these proto-Lance Armstrongs.

(right) Token arty shot

From the towpath Geoff and I had to scale the fence into neighbouring Victoria Park in order to get to the fourth pub, the Approach Tavern.

The Approach is another old haunt of mine from the mid 1980s - it has changed a little internally but offer a decent selection of beers, mainly Fullers but also an Adnams beer. Some decent foreign beers on draught too. Liz and I have been here a couple of other times recently and the place is always busy - the beer is kept well and the food is excellent. And most people sit outside on the terrace so it's nice and quiet indoors.

Whilt Robert, Clarkey and Peter went off to find more answers at the Crown, found at the corner of Grove Road and Old Ford Road, Geoff and I rejoined the towpath and wandered off to the final pub of the crawl, the Palm Tree.

Now the Palm Tree is very well known to Darlo and Rotherham fans as an after-venue for Dagenham and Redbridge games and quite a few on the crawl had been there before but probably not via this route.

The pub occupies an eco-park next to the canal and so can get quite busy with passing walkers and local students - that we have only one person serving a busy bar is not a surprise but which does mean the wait for a beer was longer than we'd want.

John and Bev had managed to join us at this point - unfortunately the lure of domestic duties had meant they couldn't start the crawl but they'd eventually tired of carpet shops and made it in time for the last leg of the crawl.

As ever two cask beers were on offer - the very drinkable Roy Rogers (3.8%) from the Brentwood Brewery and Jake the Snake (4.0%) from Mighty Oak - but by the time we'd got served the latter had all gone - we bagged the remnants of half a pint but found it to be a bit bland.

We eventually persuaded Rob, Clarkey and Peter to leave the Palm Tree a little after 7pm and headed to nearby Mile End tube, eventually arriving back at the Wenlock just after 8pm - in the end we weren't far behind the Three Gentlemen of Norbury who had stopped off for a fish supper.

Liz proceeded to give out the answers to her carefully crafted questions - most of the teams did quite well even if some googling was done for some answers (you know who you are!). And then time for the prizes - quite predictably Liz's brother and his teammates came last despite being the only team to take on jellied eels.

Once the prize giving was over it was time to relax and have some more beer. And listen to the jazz.

One pleasant surprise at the end of the night was bumping into Richard Stedman, or Stedders to his mates, who visiting the capital and who had decided to re-visit a few of his haunts.

DAFTS got to know Stedders very well when he first put together the Football and Real Ale Guides a few seasons ago when we were able to help out with pub recommendations in the lower divisions.

Since then, Richard has spent time running a cracking little pub in sunny Colne but he's now returned to his native Bristol where he can keep an eye on his beloved Rovers.

The Football and Real Ale Guide is now online where it is much easier to maintain and Stedders is always on the look-out for new pub recommendations as well as updates and reviews so that it can kept up-to-date and useful to fans. We'll certainly be doing our best to help out.

London Millers' Pub Crawl

This Saturday (4th July) I'll be crossing over to the dark side and attending the London Millers' AGM upstairs at the Wenlock Arms, just off the City Road.

The main reason for attending is to take part in their Pub Crawl Treasure Hunt Quiz Thingy (PCTHQT hereafter) which follows the completion of their AGM business.

Essentially the PCTHQT sees teams (generally of 2 to 4 people) following clues to find pubs and then using additional clues to find answers secreted somewhere within each establishment.

In the past, the London Millers' Eddie Rowles-alike, Tim, has been organising these events - and good fun they've been too, often visiting parts of the capital I'm not overly familiar with and finding interesting pubs.

(above) a reet motley crew and no mistake

I've tended to just go along in a team and just concentrate on the beer, content to leave the others to wander the pub, examining bric-a-brac and pictures for the answers to the clues.

There is a time-limit for getting round the course - nominally three and a half hours - but teams generally come in a little later than this. Scores are then totted up and prizes awarded. All very sporting.

This year however, Tim has taken a sabbatical and the PCTHQT has been organised by yours truly and her indoors; I've selected the pubs and Liz has come up with the questions (although I do know what they are). I suspect they're not quite as obtuse as some of Tim's questions have been over the years...we're just simple folk.

This strategy will still allow me to wander round the pubs and enjoy the beer whilst having a smug I-know-all-the-answers-nar-nar look on my face.

Hopefully the good weather will continue and a good time will be had by all.

If you fancy joining us, pop along to the Wenlock Arms between 1:30 and 2pm on Saturday...

For those that cannot join us, there'll be a full report next week.

Herts and Minds

Today was to see a long-overdue crawl around the pubs of St Albans with a couple of my London Miller chums, Paul and Chris, but beforehand I made a small detour to Harpenden.

(left) Cross Keys

I had originally intended to spend an hour or so at the inaugural Harpenden beer festival but in the end I just had a quick half - albeit an extremely nice half of Great Oakley Wagtail - before making a nostalgic journey to the Cross Keys pub in the middle of the town.

I used to regularly spend weekends in Harpenden in the mid- to late-80s and used to frequent the Cross Keys when it used to serve the likes of Flowers IPA, Wethereds, Tusker Ale and Fremlins.

On making my first visit in almost 20 years it was pleasing to see if hadn't changed a bit except for the choice of real ales on offer - Rebellion IPA, Landlord and London Pride - and the offer of tea and coffee.

(right) Inside the Cross Keys

It is a timeless place and very peaceful - stone flags, pewter bar and tankards hanging from the low ceiling, it's a place for quiet conversation and a game of dominoes - no muzak or TV here. And not many youngsters either.

After this wallow down memory lane, I meet up with Chris and Andy at St Albans station and we wandered off to find the first pub, the Lower Red Lion.

We were distracted on the way however by English Miscellany Morris dancers who were performing outside the cathedral - in fact the high street had been crawling with loads of different Morris troupes so that you could hardly hear yourself think but for the tinkle of ankle bells.

English Miscellany performed a few of their different dances before they were joined by Chez-nous en Nivernais, a folk dance group from the St. Albans twin town of Nevers.

(left) English Micellany outside St Albans cathedral

Paul was now in Morris heaven, especially after espying the hurdy gurdy and the jaunty moustache on one of the French dancers (male I hasten to add).

It really was quite nice, especially with the cathedral as a backdrop on such a beautiful day.

A shame that Morris may be endangered if you believe the papers - it's harmless and gives rise to a smile so long may it continue.

The need for beer soon told though and we finally entered the bar of the Lower Red Lion - which was virtually empty - but we were pleased to see it had a good selection - the ubiquitous Doombar, Fullers Chiswick, Oakham JHB, Springhead Goodrich Castle (which uses rosemary as a bittering agent) plus a couple of others.

From here we went to another one of my old haunts - the Goat in Sopwell Street which we used to frequent before Hawkwind gigs at the Civic Hall back in the 80s. In those days Lees Moonraker was the regular tipple there - today we made do with Crouch Vale Brewers Gold.

Again the pub was fairly quiet despite the Wimbledon tennis on the TV - a couple of young lads escaped the clutches of their parents and played bar billiards under our dubious tutelage.

(above) The Goat

Next stop was the White Lion further down the street - again spookily quiet - and here we had something quite new for us - the 4.2% GHA Pale from Batemans Brewey - which was very hoppy but still had that tell-tale Batemans taste. Very drinkable.

From here we moved to the next pub on the list - the White Hart Tap - which had three unassuming ales on offer, the least offensive of which was the St Edmunds from Greene King. This wasn't in great condition and we quickly moved onto our final pub.

This was the Farmers Boy which promised a lot but failed to deliver. The Clipper IPA went off before the second pint had been drawn - the first was not drinkable - and so we settled on the Farmers Joy which was not brilliant.

If it wasn't for the thunder, lightning and torrential downpour outside we'd have left this place sharpish too as it was more like a youth club than a pub. Or maybe we were just grumpy by that stage?

On arrival back at St Pancras we cleared out palates with a pint of Betjeman Ale - and noticed that the Betjeman Arms is having a cider festival in a week or so - see you down there.

Capital Quakerdom

The fixtures are out - it feels much earlier this time around but I suppose that's due to all the on-going hassle of administration since the end of the season. It's to be hoped that there are no more hiccups before we're officially out of administration.

The fact that we're in the fixtures is the first concrete sign that we look to be OK - and once they'd been released it was a mad rush onto the National Express website to get tickets to the first few games.

Nothing cheap though - tickets for August have been on sale for a while and the Edinburgh festival means the arty-farty types from London have got there first.

Still at least the opening fixture at the Recreation Ground will mean a relatively easy trip for us.

The day after the fixtures were released, the newly formed Capital Quakers - replacing the Kings Cross Crew which frankly made us sound like dodgy north-side rappers - met in the Royal Oak in Borough for a chat about the season ahead.

(right) Royal Oak

Howard seems to be spending far too long in Germany to fit in many fixtures though seems very keen to try out Crewe.

A possible Morecambe weekender is on the cards too - a ground that I've still yet to visit but this might well be the year to break the duck.


Boxing Day sees us play away at the Don Valley Stadium for our clash with the Millers but I'm not sure I'll be able to make it as I'll probably be in London. At least our home fixture with them is do-able.

The Royal Oak is a lovely old pub just a short walk from London Bridge - well-known to the CAMRA fraternity for the Harveys ales but also for it's exceptional home-cooking.

(left) Martin and Howard tuck in

On my recommendation Howard and Martin had the steak and kidney pudding, a veritable mountain of suet, whilst young Stockdale had the lamb shank with chips (you can take the boy out of Darlo..).

Wise to the size of the pudding and it's affect on the ability to drink anymore afterwards, John and I stuck to beer for a bit longer before eating - especially as the Harveys Sussex Best was in top form. I've not always been a huge fan of this beer as it's often been a bit ordinary elsewhere - at 4% it maybe loses it edge unless kept in tip-top condition.

Talking of beer, one early fixture of note for the DAFTS calendar is the home game with Bournemouth on Sept 19th. That weekend sees the annual Darlington Rhythm ‘N' Brews Beer Festival up at the Arts Centre - full details can be found here.

All being well, local DAFTSperson Tony Waters will have a word with his friend Karim and sort out one of our occasional Indian home-cooking events on the Friday night for those who travel up early. These are well-worth attending - no ordering, simply trying those off-menu dishes that Karim thinks we'll like. And other than the fish-egg curry from a few years ago, he's been spot on every time. I can't wait...