Yesterday I felt jaded. Five days at the GBBF had left me feeling washed out. We went up to Covent Garden as E wanted to get some sports wear - she is slim and gymmy - and in Covent Garden the sports wear shops are conveniently clustered together. This done a beer was suggested. I grimaced a little, then was inspired. We were just round the corner from Maiden Lane. In the gloomy Porterhouse, observing only marginally the dully gleaming copper pipes and the claustrophobic low ceilings, I made for the bar. I knew what would do the trick. "Pint of Wrasslers please" I gasped.
A few minutes later E was gently sipping Oyster Stout as I drank great gulps of the deliciously hoppy and bitter Wrasslers XXXX. The nose is just like poking your head into hop store. The body is full, with up front roast malt and more hop bitterness. The finish is long, lingering, roasty bitter and full of East Kent Goldings.
My second pint was taken more slowly and I took more note of my fellow imbibers. Next to me, two lads with Irish accents were supping Cooper's Sparkling Ale from the bottle! Other people were quaffing some Canadian muck, also from the bottle neck, as it was on offer at £3 a bottle. All around and in other parts of the pub - I had a look - there were only two people drinking stout. Me and E. They were missing a treat.
I left in pouring rain with a new spring in my step. The stout had done its job!
6 comments:
Speaking of beers smelling like a brewery hop store, the new Summer Marble 2008 is pretty remarkable in that respect, too.
Only Coopers?
It's standard practice at any Irish beer festival to have a group of lads standing round drinking Maredsous 10 by the neck.
We, er, don't have many festivals...
My own experience of the Porterhouse can be summed up thusly:
"'Oo's on Beck's?"
That's what one particularly lairy bloke once bellowed directly in my face in the direction of his chums, having just ordered a massive round of Beck's and Corona.
I was in the Porterhouse a couple of weeks back and it wasn't too bad. The smoking ban's done wonders, plus the fact that in the summer people don't want to sit in a cellar, so you can actually get through the door, at least if you get there before 4pm.
Once you get over the fact they only have 20% of the beer listed, it's fine...I drank them out of Liberty Ale, having enjoyed a pint of Oyster Stout first.
A common question voiced in Dublin's Porterhouses is 'Which one of your beers tastes most like Heineken'? Still, at least they drink what's given them.
Back in the day, the answer was usually "Temple Brau". These days it tends to be "Heineken: fiver a bottle, ta."
Boak, that hasn't been my experience. Last time I was there it was a hot sunny Sunday afternoon and the inside was packed. And loud. And disturbingly sticky.
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