Category Archives: Beer

Decorating

Well, I’ve spent my Friday evening and my weekend decorating my mother’s front room. It was warm and, with a hangover this morning, I thought I was going to die today. 

I’m now listening to birds in the garden. With my good friend, Mr Beck. 

Takeaway

After a visit to the vegan festival in town, we’re now in Lady Grey’s. Where the barman laughed at Suzy’s No, Gary, not Jakehead. 

I’ve just re-noticed the takeaway place across the road. The middle part of the sign is missing, but the older one underneath fills the gap almost perfectly. 

Sharks

My second in command has a fear of sharks; not that we come across many in Gateshead. 

So watching a film involving people trapped in a cage at the bottom of the sea possibly wasn’t a great idea. 

And the inevitable happened. When a girl was suddenly attacked by one rather huge beast, my second in command shrieked, leaping into the air, knocking a can of beer from my hand. 

Everything is wet. I am wet. 

Mill Dam

Today, we went to South Shields. For a food and drink festival. Where we had decent veggie food and beer and cocktails. 

Afterwards, after putting a drunk teenager in a cab, we had a couple of beers at Mill Dam. In the Steamboat.

And, later, the magical effects of beer made my hair grow. 

I might need to have a haircut tomorrow. 

Gyles Brandreth

When I was around 14 years old, I developed a dislike of Gyles Brandreth. 

He appeared in a childrens’ TV series called puzzle party. Mr Brandreth actually sang the (terrible) theme tune for the series.

The series was awful, with children having to do silly things for … Well, points. 

Anyway, Mr Brandreth, the host, simply annoyed the fuck out of me. 

Years later, he appeared as  a Tory MP, then as an occasional guest on BBC 1`s the One Show. 

Little has changed since my teenage years. His Tory-ness compounds my dislike of him. 

Is it true a Gnu only comes from Peru? 


Pouring

While in Germany recently, I observed the intense pouring of Erdinger into a (plastic -well, it was a gig).

Basically, the glass goes ovet the top of the bottle and it’s turned over 180 degrees. 

It works in Germany, but made a bit of a (volcano-like) mess in Washington. I’d try again myself, but the last time I attemoted such a feat in our kitchen ended badly.

Today was a good day

Today didn’t start very well. I’d planned an early finish, but messy deadlines at work meant that wasn’t possible. My second in command had a similar problem, finishing even later than me. 

We did, however, meet our goal of attending the annual Gateshead beer festival. 

I’ll return to the beer festival in a moment; while on my way home from work, the internet informed me that, after a prolonged wait, Guinness is now vegan. Ok, so I can’t buy a can or bottle yet; that’s still work in progress. But keg is now good (I’d never buy cans anyway). 

With a half hour to spare before meeting my second in command, I ventured to my local. Where I enjoyed my first pint of Guinness in a very long time. 

Here’s the press release, by the way. 

You might need to zoom in a bit. After enjoying my Guinness, we walked down the road to the Gateshead beer festival. Where I was surprised that I enjoyed a sour beer (Great Heck – fishless beer). And some other stuff. We also had veggie chilli. 

Afterwards, we called at our local again for a nightcap. I decided on Guinness. I also had a very nice vegan pie. Well, it’s also the annual Gateshead international pie festival (in my local, the Three Tuns).

Where I enjoyed a very nice vegan pie. With peas and gravy. There was mashed potato, but that was consumed by my second in command. 

I’d already eaten, but the pie was free. I’d have bought one anyway. Tomorrow, I may buy two. They have six vegan pies. 

I recall the first pie festival; there were a few vegetarian pies. Now there are many. 

We live in Gateshead. It’s not exactly the vegetarian/vegan capital of the north. But my local always has (generous) veggie alternatives at all of their events. 

Home

Whiensthephan. In the Head of Steam, after a pretty strange train journey from Peterborough. 

It was good to return home to have a traditional British beer.