Oh, Oh - It's Otley Tour Time

Thaibo is Back Baby! And this time it's got company!

Yep, you heard right, on June 30 we'll be kicking arse and being berry naughty as me and the Otley boys bounce around town showcasing our new collab brew, Hedgro (thank you Katie Hunt at CAMRA HQ for the name!) which is made with gooseberries and elderflower and, as mentioned a little bit enthusiastically earlier, Thaibo is back!

If you haven't tried this truly bonkers brew before it's a clear wheat beer made with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf, lime skins and galangal - it's really delicious, I promise you : )

As I said, I'll have Nick and Matthew Otley with me, to talk about the beers and generally being charmingly Welsh!

So join us as it will be, as they say in Wales, TIDY!

Feeling Moved

Moving house, one of the three most stressful things you can do in life apparently so I'm currently panicking that I'm doing something wrong! Apart from the truly terrifying amounts of money fleeing from the bank account I'm relatively calm... which is actually now beginning to worry me - this could be a vicious circle!

Anyway, as the packing has commenced I have not only discovered beers I forgot I had, I've discovered some real doozies - a bottle of Thomas Hardy's and a presentation glass and bottle of Chimay Grand Reserve 2005, which I got when I was in Belgium.

I think perhaps this should be savoured as the moving in drink - and I suppose I'll have to share!

Anyway, the domestic abuse of my long suffering better half aside, the reason for this post is that I've heard a few comments floating around the place recently about the White Horse in Parson's Green, some of them negative.

Now for those of you who aren't aware of this beer mecca in the middle of sloane country it's been the benchmark for all things beer for a number of years, undoubtedly because former manager Mark Dorber carved out an impressive niche in a big pub company and ran the place like a freehouse - offering amazing beers and being incredibly knowledgeable about them all.

Now the new manager Dan, I'll admit, is a mate of mine BUT he is always quick to criticise my work so I'd be equally quick to criticise him if he wasn't doing a good job - but he is! He's doing an outstanding job.

The beers are all immaculately kept, the range has been maintained and his staff are just as well trained. For example, he put every single champion beer he could get his hands on during the week of the GBBF and not one of them that I sampled was in anything less than great condition (and I tried a few!).

What bugs me is that these people seem happy to damage the reputation of a great pub - yet if their bad-mouthing became financially damaging they'd be the first to scream if mainstream brands were put on the bar to make up the losses!