England 2 v Estonia 0
Friday 9 October 2015
Twitter @ball_sup
Two superb new new beer gaffs.
Firstly, Howling Hops over in Hackney Wick. All the beer served directly from the tank. Beer is put in there unpasteurized and unfiltered. No finings are used. The sediment just falls to the bottom of the tank. CO2 is pumped into the tank to carbonate the beer. It is essentially cold, fizzy, keg beer. But it is fresh. It has not been left in a keg in a warehouse. And to repeat it is unpasteurised and unfiltered and unfined. 10 tanks in total. Beer styles across the range. It is all trestle tables and exposed electrical and pipe work. There is a little food Hatch. A corner coffee bar. And a long bar in front of the beer tanks. The working brewery is hidden behind the beer tanks.
When we were there, they were banging corks into beer casks. Not the quiet option. But hey it's a working Brewery. Slight initial hiccup. A group of people creating at the coffee bar. Can we have this. Can we have that. You know the drill. But once we were over that initial hurdle, the bar lady could not have been more helpful. The bottom line is that this is a fantastic place.
Howling Hops, IPA No. 1 on tank at 7.5%. Some kind of superb. Tan leather. Completely opaque. Does come up with some sweetness (see abv). Seville orange marmalade. Some hay/straw in the bitterness. Hops kick in early. Take the edge of the sweetness. There is nothing harsh in there at all. Gently balanced. Packed with flavour.
Howling Hops, Riding Pale on tank at 3%. I got a bit caught out by that one. I thought it might be more hoppy & intense. Very light in colour. Not much going on in the first swigs. It is refreshing. Got to say it. Reminds me of cloudy lemonade. A hint of salad leaf bitterness creeps in.
Howling Hops, Pale on tank at 5%. Got a nice peach, apricot thing going on. Tan, with some orange colour in the glass. Bursts in the mouth. Quite complex in the mix of tastes. Rather than the mix between sweet and bitter. Some bubble gum. But comes back to that peach fruit. The hoppiness develops & is keeping me interested. Nice beer.
Secondly, we more or less stumbled across a branch of the Craft Beer Co. in Covent Garden. A staggering 25 on keg. Double salute with knobs on. And 8 cask on. Long single bar room. And a downstairs cellar lounge (no bar down there).
Pressure Drop, Pale Fire 4.8%. Invitingly opaque orange in the glass. Orange tones on the nose as well. Some wine gum sweetness. Maybe just a hint of sour, leading into the bitterness. Not powerful but long. Some spiciness right at the end. Great beer.
Vocation, Bread and Butter on cask at 3.9%. Great condition. Some nice bitterness. Straight ahead session pale.
UEFA Qualifying in the evening. Things happening in the FIFA saga faster than you can keep up. What to do? The criminal investigations seem to be doing most of the toppling. The pressure from National Associations appears to have little impact. But, there is some impact from the statements from the big corporate, capitalist sponsors.
I'm throwing the towel in. How did we get here? We are relying on Coca-Cola, McDonalds and Adidas to remove corruption and find a future for world football. We're done here nothing to see. The only saving grace is that everything is unraveling. Surely some of these fat cat sponsors will have had their hand in the pot. Or more likely have filled the pot up. I'm into chaos. I can't wait for the next phase when corporate sponsors are caught up in all this shit.
Pessimistically, I do feel there is some inevitability in all this. You are either have democracy. One Association One vote. Lots of associations, many small ones, scattered across the globe. That is a recipe for cronyism and mutual back scratching. Or you move back to a big boy, Money Talks, neocolonialism ruling body. I'm a brain box. But I don't know how to solve this Nonsense. Good luck to all who sail in her. Will the last one out please switch the light off.
Another atmosphere free night at Wembley. In front of a largely non-football crowd. That ain't helped my mood any.
219/444
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