Prog Rises Again!

Well according to this article, it does. And who am I to argue with the Guardian?

I do like a bit of prog now and again, especially the unfashionable ELP who did get a bit tedious towards the end and who the punks regarded as boring old-farts before they themselves then disappeared up their own fundaments instead of just concentrating on the music.

Dutch rockers Focus - known for their strange yodelling and slightly avant-garde albums, have recently re-entered the charts after Hocus Pocus was selected for their Nike World Cup ad.

And of the new breed, my pick of the bunch is the mighty Mastodon whose last album, Crack the Skye, was a breathe of fresh air to my old ears - just check this out.

However the main reason for linking to this article is for the wonderful caption by Jiro Bevis that accompanies it:

As you can see it features a bevvy of stereotypical prog fans (some of them doubling up as CAMRA stereotypes too it would appear).

Can you spot me, dear reader?

London Millers Treasure Hunt 2010

It's the middle of July and absolutely roasting hot so it must be about time for the London Millers Treasure Hunt.

Liz and I worked on this last year and this time around we enlisted the help of one of the other LMs, Chris, as he has an abundance of pub knowledge.

The task mainly involved wandering round north-east London to find pubs which had good beer but which also had items of interest that we could turn into questions.

Pickings were quite surprisingly slim - quite a few pubs with decent beer but too few had much of interest on the walls.

And some that did were just a bit too up their own arse - The Scolt Head in De Beauvior town being one example. They were not keen to let us sit drinking in their dining area - "it's for diners only" - but apparently it was OK for diners to sit and eat their food at the bar - wankers.

The Treasure Hunt started at the Wenlock Arms once the LM AGM in the upstairs function room has finished. Teams of two set out with maps, questions, a list of bus routes and a spring in their step.

Liz was happy to stay behind with the entry money and go get some prizes from the Pound shop in nearby Hoxton and then just sit in the pub reading her book. So easily pleased...

The first pub was in Hackney - the Globe in Morning Lane - which had Youngs beers. The landlord of the pub has a connection to Rotherham comedian, Sandy "Can You Hear Me Mother?" Powell, which is very appropriate.

(left) The Pembury Tavern

I never actually made it there as Argyle chum, Geoff, and I headed straight for the second pub, the Pembury Tavern.

We know this place very well and it always has an excellent range, especially from Milton Brewery.

It was here that the front runners caught up with us, found the answers to the clues and then wandered onto pub number 3. Very professional.

Meanwhile we just had another beer and waited for the stragglers to arrive and do their bit before we all followed Jenny & co. to the wilds of Stoke Newington via the 276 bus.

The pub here is the Daniel Defoe - quite a nice pub but with an average choice of beers, St Austell Tribute being the pick of the bunch.
(right) The Uncivil Civil Servant in the Jolly Butchers
Whilst the front-runners did their stuff and then headed off to the Angel for the remaining pubs, a number of us took a detour to the Jolly Butchers on the High Street.
This has recently been done up and whilst it has a good range of beers and ciders - Dark Star American IPA and Thornbridge Hopton the pick of the beers - it was bereft of clues which is why we couldn't include it in the treasure hunt.
The pub itself has a decidedly yummy mummy feel to it, quite reminiscent of the Greenwich Union which often resembled a creche.
It also serves pints in those heavy old dimple glasses which I regard as affectation (much like the Southampton Arms and we wonder if they are indeed connected).
It is at this point that some of those teams that are lagging behind - the usual suspects from south of the river - realise that they don't stand a hope of winning.
Wisely they decide to call it a day and simply enjoy the booze. So we savour a few more beers and then we take the 73 back to the Wenlock.
Those teams that nobly carried on with the quiz had the luxury of three pubs in a short stretch just south of the Angel.
Two of these pubs were on Arlington Street - the Shakespeare's Head and the Harlequin.
The Shakespeare's Head is a modern estate-style pub just a few yards from Sadlers Well theatre - in fact it is close to the stage door and s a result the walls are covered in posters and autographed photos. The beer is Courage Best and Directors which is no more than OK.
There are two Darlington connections as part of the questions - an autographed picture of Wendy Craig on the wall plus a newspaper mock-up to celebrate one of the regulars being a great grandad. His name? George Reynolds...
(left) The Harlequin

The Harlequin is just a short walk away - a small pretty pub which is also full of acting memorabilia but this is all much older, much of it concerned with Joseph Grimaldi who trod the boards in the 19th century.
The beer is again OK but nothing fantastic - Landlord and Black Sheep.
The Old Red Lion is the last port of call on the treasure hunt -a pub has been on this site for 595 years and the current incarnation incorporates a small theatre upstairs. Photos of many of the up-and-coming stars who started out here - such as local actress Kathy Burke - festoon the walls and made perfect clues.
It's quite a nice pub - five beers on offer usually with regulars including Harvey's Best, Landlord and London Pride and the odd guest. Chris Turner and I were here a year ago on one of our close-season rambles and the Landlord was about the best we'd had in London but in more recent visits though the beer hasn't been brilliant.
As well as answering questions, there were initiative and bonus rounds to sort out the winners from the losers.
These included finding the best mis-shapen vegetable or fruit during the crawl (a huge misshapen cassava) and coming up with the best celebrity story (which involved John Inman on the Edgware Road - you don't need to know anymore).
By 7:30pm or so, everyone was back at the Wenlock Arms - Liz totted up the scores and declared the winners to be Alice and Tess - champagne for them - with Jenny and Jim close behind in second place.

Katie and Robert, Liz's niece and brother respectively, were unable to take part fully as Rob took Katie off for a ride on the tube. They still got a classy prize though...

(right) Liz presents a prize to Robert and Katie

There were cheap runner-up prizes for all the other teams - piggy banks, gardening gloves and scented candles - so everyone was a winner on the day!

It goes without saying that the Wenlock Arms provided the best beer choice of the day so it is slightly worrying that the place is up for sale and there is talk of redeveloping this area.
Some beer folk regard the place as dirty and run-down and to a degree they're right but it is a pub where everyone is welcome and left alone to enjoy their beer or have a chat. Long may it continue to be so...

(above) Alice and Tess - winners of the 2010 London Millers Treasure Hunt thingy

Underneath the Arches

The beauty of the close season is being able to do all all those little things that you can't normally do on a Saturday when travelling to the football - wander round the shops at leisure, do a few household chores, visit some pubs and generally chill out.

And since there was no engineering on the Jubilee line for the first time in ages, Liz and I took the opportunity to wander down to Borough Market, close to London Bridge.

Before doing so though we took a wee deviation - exiting the tube at Bermondsey we wandered along to some railway arches close to Druid Road. One of these arches now being home to one of the newest breweries in London, the Kernel Brewery.

(left) Evin and bottles of his various brews

I first heard about this new brewery when I saw some of their bottles at the Sourced Market at St Pancras station - which has a surprisingly decent range of bottled beers - and some subsequent googling provided a bit more information than their minimalist labels had.

The brewery was more or less set-up at the start of this year and most of their produce is bottled though some has been casked and may be appear at the Brew Wharf.

The brewer, Evin O'Riordan, and his partner were happy to offer tastings of their porter and extra stout - the latter a little young according to Evin but both were very tasty - they also do a pale ale and an IPA which I will be trying soon.

Sharing the arch with the Kernel Brewery is the Ham and Cheese Company who find the conditions there perfect for storing cheese.

There was also a cheese maker, William (Bill) Oglethorpe, handing out some samples of some lightly fried cheese - I've never been much of a cheese fan (I prefer it cooked rather than raw) but this was beautiful and certainly complemented the beer.

Bill also has a stall at Borough Market - Kappacasein - where he sells toasted cheese goodies. You can see how he makes the cheese in the arches here.

After buying a few bottles of Kernel beer, Liz and I walked to nearby Bermondsey Street where we had breakfast at the Bermondsey Kitchen.

Liz had eggs Benedict whilst I had their set breakfast - Gloucester Old Spot bacon and sausages, black pudding, poached egg, fried new potatoes, roast tomatoes, wilted spinach and roast field mushrooms.

Of course this is all a bit more up-market than I'm used to - wilted spinach in a fry-up for goodness sake - and at just under a tenner much more than I'm used to paying at the greasy spoons around Kings Cross and Euston. But it was good.

We wandered past London Bridge where the tallest building in the UK - the Shard - is currently being built. Once complete in 2012, it will dominate the London skyline. It's pretty huge as it is.

(right) The core of the Shard being constructed

We arrive at Borough Market and pop into Brew Wharf for a couple of beers but they were only just getting their tills sorted as it was only just noon.

I'm not been here for a few years as the place is rather soulless and the beer was utterly mediocre but recent reports suggested it has much improved so time to give it another try.

In ticker mode, I have a half of each of the two beers on offer - a 4.4% Hopster and a 3.5% Caulfield Rye of which the latter was the pick of the bunch despite being the weaker of the two. At £3.90 a pint though it is not a place to have too many beers.

From here it was a short walk to the Rake where I tried a half each of the Otley O-Mai and Burton Bridge Walker's Way - the latter commemorating the New York mayor who organised a beer parade in 1932 which helped to bring an end to prohibition. Well done that man!

The final port of call for the day was our old favourite, the New Forest Cider stall, which is a great place to stop and drink cider whilst watching the hordes of tourists and shoppers wander round the market.

Today owner Barry has put on a few perries on in addition to his own wares - a bit of a mini-festival in fact - so I start on a couple of those whilst Liz has the champagne-style cider.

You tend to see a few regulars here, mainly locals, including the old guy who despite coming from Deptford has a Geordie accent from when he was evacuated to Hebburn in the war. Most peculiar!

(left) Into the cellar with you my lovelies...

The general view amongst the cider-drinking cognescenti present today, including barman Paul who is never shy of expressing an opinion or two, is that the Kingston Black is not up to it's usual standard so I move on to the dry cider. Good value at £2.50 a pint.

Barry takes a few minutes out to have a sit and a chat, telling us of how he came to be in the cider game.

You can tell he is a man who enjoys his work - pressing cider as well as sourcing other cider and perry from around the south-west. And now he's got a bittern just round the back of his orchards - a lucky chap indeed.

The Boys Are Back In Town

I normally hate going out on Sunday nights but this is the bank holiday weekend and so I convince myself that it's more of a virtual Saturday.

Liz has gone off with her chums to see Rotherham battle it out with Dagenham at Wembley for the right to play in League One. I've had a few texts asking if I was going and wishing Liz luck but for me the season is well and truly over and I'll not be there. Besides, I have other plans.

They started with a visit to the Southampton Arms in Gospel Oak, an area of north London stuck between Kentish Town and Hampstead which I'm not very familiar with.

The pub has recently popped up on the beer radar recently as having a great choice of beers and ciders - so Steve Duffy and I popped in earlier last week when he was in town and we were impressed. I decided to make another visit with Geoff, our Argyle chum, who was also keen to try it.

Five ciders were available including the lovely Yarlington Mill from favourite Gwynt y Ddraig plus about six beers from various microwbrewers including Whistable Oyster Stout, Otley 01 and Runner, a beer from the Truman Brewery.

Truman's was a major brewer based in Brick Lane but after over 200 years of brewing it closed down in 1989. Now a couple of East End beer enthusiasts have resurrected the name and their recipes and are brewing at the Nethergate brewery (though they aim to return to London). Runner is their first production run - a darkish session beer which was very nice. Watch this space.

For me, there are a couple of minor niggles with the Southampton Arms - unless you ask for a straight glass you'll be served in a jug and they also seem to encourage piano players to come in and tinkle away annoyingly.

From here it was a short walk to the Junction Tavern which was having their 13th beer festival over the course of the long weekend. The place was packed when we got there and all but one barrel on their stillage had been drunk with just five beers on draught.

After a couple of pints I leave Geoff and head on down to Camden for the main event of the day - the mighty Punishment of Luxury are playing the Underworld.

My sister and niece have come down to stay with me for the weekend so that they can go to the gig but they preferred shopping and a tapas bar to drinking with me so we all meet up outside.

This is the band's third London gig in less than a year and I still can't believe that they're back together. They're busy setting up as we enter - no roadies to help them out, they've got to do their own humping.

(left) Jimi Giro and Nevilluxury

I have a quick chat with bassist Jimi Giro who tells me he hadn't got home to Newcastle until 4am that morning after playing in Southport with another band. That's rock and roll, I tell him sympathetically.

The set-list is much the same as for the other gigs though they've clearly been rehearsing as they've tinkered around with the arrangement of a few songs.

There didn't look to be much of a crowd at first but people soon started to move down to the front of the stage and towards the end the crowd were really jumping.

Someone threw an empty plastic glass that bounced off singer Brian Bond's head but he barely flinched and carried on like a true pro. I'm sure he's had much worse thrown at him 20-odd years ago.

The band encored with two of their singles - Jellyfish and what the band described as their one ballad, Brainbomb, which was anything but. The only way to finish their set.

During the gig Brian announced that their album, Laughing Academy, is to be re-released later this year which is great news.

They have another gig in December this year - this will be in Stockton and has been arranged by Mission Impossible editor, Steve Harland, who is also a huge fan of the band. I only hope it coincides with a home game or something will have to give...

Macc Fest

I manage to arrive at Macclesfield Rugby Club just as the finishing touches are being made to the marquee in the club's car park. For the next few days this will be home to the Macclesfield beer festival.

The major task once the marquee was erected was the construction of the stillage and then putting the barrels onto it - with over 150 barrels of beer and 35 pins of cider that is one tough job - I'm not sorry I missed out on that.

All the barrels were in place so there was very little for me to do but chat to Trev about the beers.

(left) Saturday lunchtime session

Keef, my host for the weekend, then arrived and we chatted further about the beer before making our way to nearby Bollington. Keef and Jill live just a hundred yards from the local CAMRA PotY 2010, the Poachers Inn, so we popped in there for a few pints and something to eat.

On Friday morning, it was time to give the barrels one final watering - the weather was quite cool but we wanted to be sure they didn't get too warm - before popping down to the Waters Green Tavern for a spot of lunch.

I'd not had any of Brian's tasty grub before the match last weekend but his steak pie was spot on (even if it isn't a proper pie). We'll have to find an excuse to come back here next season regardless that we're in the wrong division - if only so that they get their regulation dose of Lance.

Back at the festival, it was time to start checking the beers - quite an operation when you've got a fussy git like Trev as bar manager who wants to add his own tasting notes - and so we were still checking the final few beers when the festival opened.

Some interesting beers along the way included the Beartown Paddington Bear with it's strong chocolate orange overtones; Saltaire Blackberry Cascade; Townhouse GSA Extra which was a strong ale fortifed further with four bottles of port; TSA Ginger Explosion - a bit of a marmite beer; Whim Kaskade which was the pick of the pale ales, beautifully conditioned; Williams Ceilidh - a real lager and Yeovil Star Gazer.

Of the ciders and perries, the Two Trees perry from Gwynt y Ddraig was my favourite - and no doubt that of others too as this was all gone by the end of Friday night.

Less interesting were the six fruit beers from Coach House - Banoffee, Blueberry, Cherry, Pineapple, Pink Grapefruit and Strawberry - all at 5% and seemingly designed for the ladies visiting the festival. Not surprising none of them were especially subtle but they did sell surprisingly well.

One of the major considerations when running a festival is to ensure you have enough staff - and this is one area which has improved at the Macc fest - we now have enough to ensure the staff are not worked off their feet (they are volunteers after all) and the punters are not having to queue three-deep at the bar - which can happen when you have 1500 people in each night.

I was working on the stretch of bar with beers from breweries P to Y - next to the wine and cider bars - and we seem to be the first stretch of bar that people come to.

The Ceilidh took quite a hammering so after a while Trev takes it off. The Whim Kaskade then became the beer to have and so this is taken off too so as to preserve some stock for tomorrow.

After about three hours, the pace slackened off as most people started to drink a little slower and the rest of the session was quite relaxed. The bar closed at midnight and the security team ushered the punters out into the cold night air and we had time for a quick break.

Still work to be done though for the beer team - Trev, his wife Margaret, Keef and I then had to dip all the barrels to see how much beer was drunk. Using old traditional dipsticks this could be very awkward within the tight confines of the stillage but Trev has designed a measure that uses gravity to indicate how full the barrel is - surprisingly accurate and quite quick so that by 1:30am we were all finished and we're taxied home to our beds.

By the time Keef and I got back to the festival on Sat morning, the tent was all spick and span and Trev the perfectionist was busy checking the beers.

The Saturday lunchtime session has been getting more popular over recent years - not just with tickers (with rumours that Mick the Tick is in attendance) but also friends and families who come along for the chilled-out atmosphere.

John Bell has come over from Chester to see for himself - and it's not long before he has got chatting to one of the more avid beer hounds in attendance - or beer terrorist as John describes him. John used to think Colin was odd with his bottling - not any more.

(left) Former MP Nick Winterton and his successor David Rutley talk to a local voter


Also on parade is the new MP for Macclesfield - David Rutley - a Tory who has been recently parachuted into the constituency. He's been dragged along by outgoing MP Nicholas Winterton who has been a regular at these Sat sessions ever since the festival started.

Rutley is a Mormon and so is drinking water and feeling rather conspicuous as I take a few shots of him and Winterton. Let's hope he's as supportive of real ale as old Nick has been.

Once the lunchtime session is over and everyone has left, we wander out to pick up a chinese and manage to relax for a half-hour meal break before its time to dip the beers again. Trev is nothing if not thorough.

A familiar face joins us - Brian, landlord of the Waters Green, is one of the sponsors and has come up with his brother Matt and ex-ticker mate Jonesy for a pre-opening tasting.

(right) Brian, Matt and Jonesy

Brian fills me in on his plans for the pub now that he and Tracey have bought it and says they're looking forward to seeing DAFTS dropping in next season.

The evening session starts off quite busily but again we've got plenty of staff so we're not rushed off our feet. My feet are starting to ache though as apart from our meal break, I've been on them all day.

By the time we approach closing time everyone seems to have had enough to drink - and once the place is a bit quieter we make the final dipping of the barrels which is a bit quicker this time now that quite a few barrels are empty.

The once everything has been dipped, the remaining beer is tipped away. It seems sacrilege but the barrels will be taken away in the next day or so and the tent taken down within 24 hours so we get as much done as we can. Not the most glamorous of jobs.

It's 3am by the time I get to bed for just a few hours before I'm up again just after 8am for my early train back to London. I'm well and truly knackered but it has been fun.

Deja Macc

I hate farewells so I'll not be attending our final league game - all being well it won't be a case of Goodbye but Au Revoir instead and we'll be back in the League in the not too distant future.

So instead of trekking up to Darlo with Martin and Chris, I'll be taking my second trip to Macclesfield in less than a week as I make my annual pilgrimage to their beer festival - the 16th since it all started.

The backbone on the beer side of the event has been the same since that first festival - my mates Trevor and Keith handling the bar manager duties, ably supported by local CAMRA members and other volunteers.

There will be about 130 cask ales from many new micros plus the odd one-off special beer for the festival. And after they went so quickly last year, there will be at least 35 ciders and perries available.

The Friday and Saturday night sessions are ticket only - Friday usually sells out and Saturday will be close - with a lot of live music on both nights which generally means a quite mixed crowd.

It's a fun festival and all money made is donated to local charities.

For me, the best time to come is the free Saturday lunchtime session which is more family-oriented as well as being extremely popular with the ticker fraternity who travel from far and wide to check out Trev's beer selections.

See you at the bar...

Macc Attack

After what has seemed like an absolute eternity, the season has finally come to the end - certainly as far as I'm concerned as I'll not be there for the last rites against Dagenham & Redbridge.

And it's kind of appropriate that our final away league game will be at Moss Rose - hardly one of the most salubrious grounds in the league, more reminiscent of what we'll have a lot of next season - but they've still got a standing terrace so that will do me fine (so long as it doesn't rain of course).

I've aways enjoyed our trips to Macclesfield which is why, after a hearty breakfast at the nearby Double Six, I'm on the 7:55am train out of Euston leaving Martin to take the train an hour later.

The Virgin service these days is much improved and to date, all our journeys have been in stark contrast to previous seasons when delays, bus replacements and extended run times were the norm. Such a shame their carriages are so small and cramped.

After a quick wander round the shops in the centre of Macc I waited patiently outside the Waters Green Tavern just before 11am.

Landlady Tracey must have been keeping an eye out as she opened the door and told me that even though they now open at midday, I could come in.

(left) Steve tucks in at the Waters Green Tavern

Since our last visit to Macclesfield back in Sep 2008, landlord Brian and Tracey have now bought the pub and started work on various improvements. The toilets have had a welcome makeover and the roof is in the process of being renovated.

One thing that remains the same is the choice of beers which is up to its usual standard, mainly golden ales as preferred by the management, with Roosters Yankee, Bradfield Blonde, Dark Star American Pale Ale and Bradfield Stout on tap.

I settle down to my pint and it isn't long before I see some murky figures through the window - no doubt confused by the pub looking closed. On closer inspection I see that it's Trevor, John Gray and Rich Parker and some other Darlo lads so I ask Brian to let them in.

I hear from Martin who has just arrived in Macc but he has a bad attack of gout - too much good living probably - and so he is going straight to the ground via taxi as he reckons he'll just be bad company if he comes to the pub.

Subsequently the remainder of the DAFTS hardcore arrived - including Steve and Brummy Tony and then Lance and the Waters family who are staying over in Manchester for the weekend.

It had been rumoured that Lance would actually go to this final away fixture but in the end both Ray and he decided they'd stay in the pub instead.

The beer was going down very well today - the pick of the bunch was the Dark Star which has always been superb wherever I've had it. The others liked it too.

Steve, BT and myself left the pub quite late and caught a taxi from the nearby station to the ground but we were still there in plenty of time for the kick off.

The stewards are a friendly lot here and were quite happy for me to use my camera to capture some shots of this last away league match.

Inside the ground we took up position just behind the goal and it wasn't long before the away terrace was jumping with delight. Captain Ian Miller headed in a cross from Mark Convery after less than ten minutes. Was this a case of PTE (Peaking Too Early)?

(right) BT, Tony and Trev celebrate the opening goal

Any signs that Macclesfield were going to make a commited attempt to get back on terms were not forthcoming - in fact it all looked quite comfortable for us and it was the home fans who were starting to moan at their team.

Meanwhile on the away terrace there was a bit of a party atmosphere - a relatively decent turnout though to be fair I'd expected it to be a bit fuller for this last away game.

At one stage in the first half, a group of knuckle-dragging types arrived and were generally acting like wannabe football hooligans but they didn't seem to know what they were doing. After a bit of posturing and gurning at the stewards they did the decent thing and fucked off.

For the remainder of the first half Darlo continued to dominate although Macc had the odd chance - Liversedge dealt with all that he needed to which was very surprising given his recent lack of form. I begin to wonder whether we should also be questioning the quality of the goalkeeping coach this season.

In the second half Darlo were kicking towards the away end and continued to dominate. The defence coped well whilst youngsters McReady and Michael Smith impressed with hard-working displays.

It looked as if Darlo would double their lead after sub Mulligan was judged to have been fouled and Darlo were awarded a penalty. Convery took it but it was a tame effort and the keeper saved easily.

My Northallerton neighbour, Geoff, went apoplectic with the effort - probably getting too overexcited as he did so - but Con was soon to make amends when he crossed a great little ball for Smith to head home past Macc keeper Brain.

(left) Michael Smith scores the second goal for Darlo

It was a thoroughly deserved victory as Macc were hardly at the races and there were good performances throughout - just the sort of positive performance to finish the season on after so much of it has been totally forgettable.

After applauding the players off, we wandered off down to the Railway View to have a few beers. I can't remember what we had - the pump clip was rather spartan in the information stakes - but it was very bland so we supped up and wandered back to the station.

Tony, Lesley and BT decided to catch their trains whilst I wandered over to the Old Millstone to meet Martin. This pub used to do a few different beers but all it had to offer was Ruddles Bitter. It wasn't a particularly nice pint so I left half of it and we popped over to the station to await our train.

Not quite a perfect journey back - the locomotive was not running at full power so we were about 20 mins late back into Euston. I rushed off to St Pancras - leaving Martin to limp slowly back to his car - where I met Liz, Jenny and Chris at the Betjeman Arms.

They're certain of a play-off spot but are not yet certain of the opposition. For me though, the season is now over and I can enjoy a few free weekends and maybe do some of those jobs that I've been putting off all season. Don't hold your breath though...

(above) Happy Campers