And Black Tower, remember that?
People didn't understand wine back then, I remember my father drinking 3 bottles of white wine one night before a holiday and wondering why he had a hangover the next day, that was in 1985. My grandfather use to insist that you couldn't get drunk on wine.
Of course, as RobbieB reminds us, all of that was a long time ago now, and its easy to forget the 80s as being another country. And how far we have moved on, aged and become sophisticated.
Even dare I say it, world citizens....
Dare, dare! Always puts me in a wistful mood to think about it.
'On the bench'. No billable work. No unbillable work. But I still get paid. And the weather has turned nice in London. I love my job!
Fish and chips in the wonderful Alen's in Theobalds Road. Then collect shoe repairs from K&G in Mornington Crescent and new shoes from Strutton Ground.
Then a couple of pints of Windsor and Eton Gold in the Raynes Park Wetherspoon while waiting for a train. No chavs and not too busy when I was in, before rush hour.
^That sounds good Kingy!
Moved on to the red/rose German wine over dinner: a 2011 Furtstenfass Trollinger, who ever he is. Probably a mistake for me to stock up with German wines in the North of that nation the other day. Distinctively unimpressed, but then again it was dirt cheap.
I've a mate arriving for some Russian computer translation later, I will be drinking vodka martinis by then, inevitably I will be one or three drinks ahead of the crowd. So be it!
Oddbins used to do some good German Reislings a few years ago. They were not appreciated because of the Liebfraumilch backlash. Chardonnay was King.
Then people cottoned on and you did not see the Reisling bargains like you used to. In olden times Reisling was ranked alongside claret and burgundy.
Well, my Reisling was pretty ropey, but then again, sometimes with wine its the ambience, mood, temperature and food that will deliver.
Fortunately, my mucca arrived with several bottles of wine from his cellar and I am now getting stuck into a Cotes du Rhône Villages: Seguret, 2009.
Amongst the other wine gifts in lieu of translation payment which of course my missus would do for free: Chateau Thezane x 2, more Seguret and La Romaine Viogner which looks pretty nasty from the bottle. Still. a very fine early evening work considering all I've done is shown my jazz collection and spinned a few discs.
Closed pubs. A sobering record. Maybe more so for those no longer in the country who do not see it happening on a weekly basis.
http://www.closedpubs.co.uk/
I have dipped in to Fleet Street , SW8 and Southsea so far.
http://www.closedpubs.co.uk/cheshire/ellesmereport.html
Having checked out the above, with the exception of The Black Lion and The Strawberry (in its under age drinking fun pub ambience pride of 1987/88), those other pubs deserved to be closed as dens of low life inequity. Of course, that list is incomplete, a lot more pubs have closed down in the last 15 years.
^ You say that; but there need to be places for low lifes to drink too. It keeps them out of the decent pubs.
The Knot mentioned in closedpubs.co.uk, since at least the 1920s had been the pub of choice for the local hard knocks and players. I remember almost every week the local newspaper had an article on some drunken fist fight that ended in the police having to arrest some nutter. Back in my grandfathers day, he said the women who use to work in the steel mill use to drink in that and they use to keep razor blades in their cap hats. That was the women remember! That would have been in the 1920s.
The local RAFA club was very popular with the low lifes as I remember. A terrible shitty place, instead of saw dust on the floor, it had a barren decor and flourescent lighting. Lager was 24p a pint in 1988, the cheapest anywhere in my hometown.
The Black Lion mentioned is now a block of retirement flats. It use to be our pub of choice in the sixth-form, by the mid-90s it had pool tables - a sure sign of immiment decay - and the low lifes took over. But the original Black Lion was an old coaching house with lots of small rooms, it was demolished in the Sixties, but everyone use to say there was no way they would have been allowed to demolish it in later years as it was really fine 18th century building.
I sometimes visit Chesterfield and there seems to be a real ale revival keeping a lot of country pubs going, its not all doom and gloom.
Yes it is a record. Muslims have no use for pubs and lots of areas have become rundown.
The disappearance of a lunchtime trade and competition from cheaper drinking at home and in Wetherspoons does not help. Nor do pub companies looking to make profit from selling real estate.
It is worth remembering that if these Pubs were any good in the first place, people would use them and they wouldn't close.
Most are well past their sell by date, and deserve to close. The land can be used for better purposes.
Last edited by Sammy Ambrose (2013-05-04 05:41:12)
Talking about Laphroaig and peat...
Last night at the club had this gem of a cocktail made with Laphroaig. It's called hidden charms and here's the link to the recipe http://postprohibition.com/recipes/hidden-charms/
The bartender that makes it is a genius and his website is worth a trip to any of you who is a fan of bitters (he'll show you how to make your own).
Anyways, try it at home. I generally look down my nose at cocktails, and a cocktail made out of Laphroaig sounded positively sacrilegious (although my mother did teach me to enjoy it poured over bitter chocolate ice cream), but I trusted Josh and was not disappointed.
1 3/4 oz blended scotch whisky
1/2 oz Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth
1/2 oz Aperol
1/4 oz Nux Walnut Liqueur
1/4 oz of Laphroaig 10 yr
2 dashes of Amargo Chuncho Bitters
Garnish with a lemon twist
Derby Day. Not a mint julep guy, but thinking should whip up some old fashioneds.
You Bees ! Brentford go to Wembley on penalties !
Could not go to Griffin Park after Doncaster. Will go to Wembley even though Yeovil look more promising.
Glencoe Wild Out Stout from Traditional Scottish Ales of Stirling.
I am still on my Riesling 'kick' so today I bought a bottle of Pete's Shed 2011, Marlborough, New Zealand (Tesco, £9.79)
Quote:
'One for fans of incisive acidity, this makes the mouth shiver, with its sherbet-like, off-dry grapefruit and lime. A refreshing, tangy wine for simple white fish'.
A wine 'expert' wrote that German Riesling is good for early spring however in May/June the New Zealand wines come into their own. I will wait for Pete the fishmonger to come down from Lowestoft on Friday, before I try it.
Aberlour 12. It was a three finger per glass day too, put a good dent in the bottle.
I purchased a jigger to measure out my drink quota, the bottles last a lot longer these days, if my love of whisky has ended.
Glenfarclas 10, Glenfarclas 21, Glenfarclas 10 Whisky Shop exclusive, Glenfarclas 105 standard, Glenfarclas 105 twenty year old.
I was supposed to be playing golf at Hampton Court but got called in to work in Hemel Hempstead( Buncefield really - which is even worse). Then I got an invite to a free whisky tasting.
Afterwards we went to the Wetherspoons at The Bank until closing time. It was nice to go for an unplanned drink after work not done that for too long.
Lots of naval types around St. Pauls It seems there was a Battle of The Atlantic evensong in the cathedral.