Wild Card Brewery

Leyton Orient 1 v Sheffield United 1

Saturday 25 April 2015

Twitter @ball_sup

A great first visit to Wild Card Brewery over in Walthamstow. I lived in London for 12 years. I've been to football in London countless times. That was even my first visit to Walthamstow itself. Lovely up in the village there. Surprised me a bit. Who knew?

Wild Card was great. An industrial unit. Loads of trestle tables outside. Cobbled together furnishings inside. Four of their own on cask & a wide and intriguing set of bottles in the fridge.

Pale Ale on cask at 3.4%

Perfectly clear. Inviting. Lovely tight head. Great upfront hop hit (particularly for a low abv). Some sweetness in the smell. Tropical fruits in the mouth. Quickly gives way to a constant bitter finish. That is a superb beer.

Unite Red Ale on cask at 4.6%

That's ordinary. Fella tells me it was brewed for International Women's Day. Salute to that. Slight sourness. Nagging, I wouldn't have bothered, sweetness. It is tasty. And it has stuff going on. But, all a bit mixed up. Red berries, smoke, bitter. It's getting there...

Brentwood Unite Pale Ale, bottle at 4%.

Sticking with the Sisterhood. Bottle Conditioned. Brewed last year for International Women's Day..  Orange in the mouth. Marmalade. Clean & crisp on the nose. Tastes great. Nice, back of the mouth, but gentle bittering.

I also did the King William IV on Leyton High Road. (Home of Brodie's beers). And the still superb Leyton Orient Supporters Club. And some place for a burger in Islington.

Brodie's Dalston Black IPA on keg at 7%.

Brentwood BBC2 on cask at 2.5%. (Superb Small Beer).

My Generation Beer Co. My Generation on cask at 4.2%.

The Wild Card Pale was the Standout Beer of the Day.

To whom it may concern. I'm not a grass. But, the only #NoPyroNoParty smoke bomb I saw today was on Leyton High Rd down from the William IV. About a mile from the ground, maybe 40 minutes before kick off. Quite dense red smoke. Dropped on the pavement by some SUFC fancy dressers. I assume potential smoke bombers are getting increasingly jumpy about smuggling devices into grounds.

So, United finally get over the Play Off line. With a somewhat unconvincing performance. Broadly competent. Lacking urgency. Often the middle 4 concentrate more on their positions than the ball. Making it look like they're standing off teams.

Who have got what points has made this home leg first Play Off scenario likely for what seems like months. So, sorry, little sense of excitement & celebration getting over that line.

But, lets have it right. A fantastic beer day. Three superb locations. Some great beers. And in the Play Offs.

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