The Vanishing British Pub

"The rocky global economy is hitting Britain where it really hurts. In the pub. Nearly 60 traditional pubs are closing every month."

I heard this today on The World and it's an interesting story.

Click here to listen to the mp3.

Click here to visit the website and read about it.

At the end of the story is a link to an interesting website, the Inn Sign Society which documents the stories behind Britain's pub signs.

Greetings from Estonia!

Hei to everyone. I just got back from a trip to Finland and Estonia and here's a report on a couple pubs I went to in Tallinn, Estonia. The first is called Hell Hunt and it labels itself as the first Estonian Pub. In Estonia and Finland the big drink is not beer, but cider. They spell it siider. As they say, when in Rome... so at Hell Hunt I had their home brewed cider. When they brought it out I thought they were bringing water and the cider would be coming soon. Much to my surprise the water was the cider. It's very clear, only a very small yellowish tint distinguishes it from water. The taste however, is certainly not like water. It is not really sweet and most of the ciders are made from pear which is apparent in the taste, but certainly not overwhelming. It's a very pleasant drink as it's crisp and clear, not too heavy. I wouldn't recommend it if you're looking for a beer, but for a nice alternative, I found it to be a nice drink that packs quite a punch.The decor in Hell Hunt was fantastic, it was a great pub in an old building but what I loved were the lamp shades made of barbed wire along with the doors that covered the ceiling. It was a great laid back place that would be pleasant to spend some time. However, make sure you have Estonian money because their internet was down when we were there and couldn't use our cards.

The second place we visited was not for the cider but for the theme. I bet you've never been in a Depeche Mode bar! In Tallinn they have an entire bar devoted to the Depeche Mode complete with back-lit images under the bar, autographed photos on the wall, a tv with constant Depeche Mode videos, tables with band member photos and articles under the glass and a very large mural with the rose and a giant DM.
They are also a proud member of the Estonian Depeche Mode fan club. I of course had more cider which was similar to the previous Hell Hunt. My friend had a beer called Rock from an Estonian brewery called Saku which happens to be the oldest surviving brewery in Estonia today. Here's the Wikipedia article on Saku beer which is very interesting. I only had a taste of the Rock beer, but I thought it was fantastic! I can't remember at this point, a week later why I liked it so much but it really struck a cord with me. Unfortunately it seems that Saku is not currently being imported to the US at this time. If I had known I certainly would have purchased some to bring home. I guess beer is as good as an excuse as any to revisit Estonia.

If curiosity strikes and you want to see more photos of Tallinn you can visit my Picasa photo album.

-Kelly aka Red Herbivore

One More Summer Brew

As the clock counts down on what has been a productive beer summer the PintHeads got together for one more brew. This time we decided to do a Belgian-Brown style beer (6lb light malt extract, 1lb 60L crystal malt, 2oz Fuggle hops for the boil, 1oz Willamette hops for the finish and 1 packet of Nottingham yeast). The last couple of times that I've made beer I boiled only 1 1/2 to 2 gallons of water and added that straight to 3-3 1/2 gallons of water, but that was yielding less than a full five gallons. This time we went back to boiling 3 1/2 gallons, chilling the wort and then adding cold water up to the full five gallons. I'm confident we'll get a full yield this time. All went off without a hitch and for the record our OG is 1.044. This beer should be ready sometime during the second week of the fall quarter just in time for mid-term prep.

Cheers,

Alex

Back in the Saddle

After a layoff of nearly 6 years, Mad Dog Brewing (aka The Beer Traveler) is back in business. Finally dug out the equipment from under all the remodelling rubble and spent a couple weekends cleaning and scrubbing. (I tossed the carboy that had a dead mouse in it). First batch back is a basic IPA. Theoretical O.G of 1.051, color at 12.9, IBU 46.4. Theoretical because I was a spaz and forgot to measure it before pitching. Oh well.

All went mostly according to plan although significant rust was evendent through out the process. There was/is some concern about the overall condition of the carboys, but after soaking in TSP, then a soak with amonia and a final soak with idodine, I am hoping that did the trick. Should know when racking into the secondaries in 5-6 days. I forgot how great is smells. The rest of the family indicated that it was a vomit inducing aroma, so they left me alone.

Woke this am to the wonderful site of yeasties at work happily converting sugur to CO2 and alcohol. I love that process.

Two weeks fermenting, 3 days force carbonation in the kegs and then . . . . .

Stay tuned.

The Day Arrives

After weeks of waiting, Saturday was finally the day to crack open the beer that we began brewing back at the end of July. Co-brewers Lucas and Debbi were there to taste their creation and Greg came down from Vancouver to join me and Kelly in the unveiling. The general consensus is that we produced a quality beer despite some of the earlier concerns (see previous posts). It has a nice crisp, light flavor, which is what we were seeking. We really wanted something that would hit the spot on a warm afternoon. The only complaint that I have is that it's a little bubbly. Because we're bottling we have to prime the beer with some corn sugar. Normally you use 3/4 cup for five gallons of beer, but I think this batch was just short of five gallons; so, when we used a full 3/4 cup for our batch the beer came out a little more carbonated. Let the calls begin to have us start kegging. Now that we have conquered this batch it's time to move on to the next batch. We're going to try and get it done before school starts on September 29th and it looks like we're going to with a Belgian-style beer. Stay tuned to PintHead for the goings on with the next batch.

Cheers,

Alex











Our Beer - Preferred by kick-ass Australian's the world over

Step 2: The Manual Labor

Last Monday was the time for our batch of homebrew to come out of the carboy and go into the bottles. Eventually I'd like to get into kegging the beer, but at this point that requires some additional gear that is not conducive to our current unsettled lifestyle. Anywho, back to our bottling. Lucas and Debbi came by to put in some time pouring and capping. The process is not all that exciting, but finishing means you're one step closer to drinking your beer. I'll let the pictures below document the process (plus they're more interesting than any words I could come up with to describe it).

Now that it's in the bottle the countdown clock starts to mean something. I am crossing my fingers a little bit on this batch only because of the ridiculously hot weather that we had last week and weekend. It was stored in a relatively safe part of our apartment, but you're never really sure until you take the cap off that first bottle.

Cheers,

Alex

A Little Domestic Beer Traveling

I wouldn't dare take the mantle of Beer Traveler away from our own foreign correspondent, but this last weekend I was in San Diego for a family reunion. While down there I found myself with several hours of free time and a perfect opportunity to hit the streets in search of beer. I took my brother, Barrett, along for the ride and we hitched a ride to the trolley station at Old Town San Diego. The trolley is an excellent way to get around San Diego, but Barrett and I managed to make it difficult in our own way. After barely missing the trolley when we got there we had to wait fifteen minutes for the next one. We sat patiently and watched as a trolley came from the direction of downtown and we watched as people got off and on completely secure in the knowledge that this trolley would be continuing on to the Mission Valley area of San Diego. It was until after the indecipherable "all aboard" call that I had one of those "hey wait a minute" moments and I turned to Barrett just in time to watch the trolley start on its way back downtown. Oh well, another fifteen minutes of lively conversation between Barrett and I.

We finally caught the third trolley and were off to the beer. We hopped off at the Civic Center stop and I got out my phone, complete with google maps, so that we didn't waste any time wandering around the streets of San Diego. I found the route to our intended destination, the Karl Strauss Brew Pub, and after we had been walking a while I thought to myself, "wow this seems like quite a ways". It wasn't until I saw the American Plaza trolley stop a half a block from our intended destination that I decided we had gotten off the trolley one stop to late (more time wasted).

Long story short, we did eventually make it to the beer. Needless to say the ambiance left a bit to be desired unless you like the idea of a brewery trying to look like a trendy night hotspot. But we weren't there for atmosphere, we were there for beer. I tried their typical Scottish Ale while Barrett had a seasonal Scottish. I've always thought that Karl Strauss made a serviceable beer and their Scottish confirmed my earlier beliefs. I've had better beers, but this was a nice way to start the afternoon. I finished the Karl Strauss experience with their Woodie Gold, which was very refreshing given how warm it was outside. But two beers was it and we were off to our second location.

Another, decidedly more successful, trolley ride put us right at the Princess Pub in the Little Italy section of San Diego. This is my favorite place to grab a beer in San Diego and any time I'm America's Finest City I try to make some time to head down there, it is by far the best British pub in the city. The decor on the inside is unmistakably English, almost to the level of kitsch, but they have an amazing selection of European beer. I began with a classic, Boddington's, and Barrett started off with a Stella. For the next round I went with something I hadn't tried before a Belhaven Scottish Ale, I thought it would be a nice comparison to the Scottish I had at Karl Strauss. Well it was no comparison; the Belhaven was much smoother and had a nice crisp finish.

All in all I would say it was a successful tour of a couple of San Diego's better beer establishments. If you made it to the end of this tale, I'm sure you could use a pint yourself, but I'd love to have everyone post a comment about their favorite place to get a drink (beer or otherwise) when they're out of town. Perhaps if we get enough submissions we can compile a little travel guide for when we're away from home.

Cheers,

Alex