Don't Go Down The Junction

England 288-5
v India
close on Day 1

Thursday 8 December 2016

Played at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Twitter @ball_sup

18 Indian Beer Ticks

The Cricket

Oh well. Knocking on for 300. Five down. Stokes & Buttler still there. Woakes & Rash to come. Under normal circumstances, that wouldn't sound too bad. But, at 230-2, it looked like it might be a whole lot better. They're just able to get out. Moeen skied one. Cook ran past one & was stumped. Root prodded away from his body.

Buttler & Stokes need to mount a counter attack. MeThinks.

Local Colour

Right. Deal with it head on. Indian trains. What the fuck happens there? The timetable is a work of pure fiction.

We've been up in Bandhavgarh National Park looking at nature, etc. Three nights & six jeep safaris. Five of those safaris were UANT. Usual Array of Non Tiger. Spotted deer. Barking deer. The larger & striking Sambar Deer. Even the antelope, Nilgai, Bison, Wild Boar. Crested Serpent Eagle & White Eyed Buzzard. You know. Usual Array of Non Tiger.

And on the remaining safari, we had a superb Tiger close encounter. Big bastard an’ all.

We decided, wrongly, that the best logistics to the park were a Delhi to Umaria train in & a Katni to Mumbai train out. Timetabled at 17hrs 20mins & 19hrs 5mins respectively. No danger. I can do trains. Milk train back to the Smoke from BDTBL in the London Blades days. Sleeper to Plymouth away. Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh. West Highland Line. We even did seven nights, Moscow to Khabarovsk on the Trans Siberian. The Carrier Bag Firm & Train Spotters are natural bedfellows.

So, the actual time on the train is irrelevant to me. Head up, enjoy it. We were 1AC to Mumbai. Our own two bunk cabin. Chai & food wallahs helping us out with drinks & snap. To Umaria, we were Two Tier AC. A bit more basic, full of two tier bunks with curtains, not doors. But, both very copeable.

The issue is you have no fucking idea when it's gonna turn up. Nominal 1620 at Katni, platform announced at 1940, rocked up at 2000. Don't get me wrong. It was quite entertaining at Katni Station. The main way to pass the time is to play Spot The Mammal On The Tracks. We got Human, Dog, Cow, Goat & Boar. No need to have gone to Bandhavgarh Park!

To cap it all, it was running so late that they terminated it early. Before it has even reached Mumbai.

Anyway. Waiting for it to turn up is what'll kill you in the end.

The Beer

The first stop was The Woodside Inn. I think it's possibly a small chain. We were at the one in Colaba. Pleasant enough. Bar perching & hanging area at ground level. More of a seated restaurant area upstairs. Some of the clientele a bit up themselves. But it is Mumbai.

The Indian list was essentially Gateway Brewing & Independence Brewing. I'd recall say 8 listed. Turned out not all on. But, the waiter was helpful & explained the subs bench.

Gateway Brewing Co. IPA on keg. Damn. A fairly ordinary effort I'm  afraid. Very malt driven. Maybe a little too sweet. Some nondescript bitter just about gets there & lingers.

Independence Brewing, Method To Madness IPA on keg. Better ‘cos bitter. The chewy mouthfeel, pleasant sweetness & abv kick put me in mind of a Double/Imperial IPA. But, the hops didn't deliver the bitterness I was hoping for. It felt not far off though…

Then, up to The Barking Deer up in Lower Parel. We went CSTM to Currey Road (5 Rupes) & Lower Parel to Churchgate (5 Rupes). We needed Google Maps to find it. And, I couldn't help noticing there was a (what looked like a pristine, newly opened) Woodside Inn a few doors down. Not many in on a Wednesday Afts. Lovely, just how I like it. Very shiny brewkit behind glass behind the bar. Five on. One off.

Bark IPA. Keg. On the blackboard at 7%.  Great beer that. Although to be fair it was better on the first mouthfuls than later on. Orange & marmalade. Rich & thick. Develops then gives way to a pucker up bitterness. Which stays with you. Fills your gob with a tingling bitterness.

Flying Pig, Belgian Wit on keg at 4.6%. Very pleasant. Some complexity. I got vanilla, bananas & a drop of mango. All set against just the right amount of apple tartness.

Fallen Angel Chocolate Stout on keg at 4.6%. Great, great balance. Just so chocolate sweetness into just so toasted bitter. Maybe some red berry tones up front would have helped. But, I'm nitpicking. Nice beer.

Honey Bee Braggot on keg at 4.5%. Essentially fucked about with Wit. OK, if you've got honey, whack it in a Gold. But, not a Wit. I spy Brewer's Choice, gone wrong, whack summat else in, might save it, might not. Didn't.

Big, big thumbs up for The Barking Deer & their beers.

412/849