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Beer styles london real ale

Half-and-half with the old man

pride

Fuller’s London Pride from a cask mixed with Fuller’s bottled London Porter makes a cracking half-and-half.

My Dad has developed a deep affection for Fuller’s beers and, when he’s in London, always finds an excuse to drop into one of their pubs. On his most recent trip, he’d only been off the train five minutes when he had us installed in the Mad Bishop and Bear at Paddington Station. (“Best wait for the rush hour crowds to pass.”)

Another of his favourite things is mixing his beers. At home in Bridgwater, it’s a necessity — every third pint of Butcombe Bitter down there is a bit stale and he relies on Mann’s Brown Ale to rescue them. On this occasion, he insisted on mixing Pride and London Porter, not because the Pride was bad, but because he really wanted a pint of mild and that, in his view, is the next best thing.

Usually, I find mixed beers are less than the sum of their parts, but this really was very drinkable, and offers yet another reason for more pubs to offer a good bottled stout or porter.

Bailey

12 replies on “Half-and-half with the old man”

Mixing beers is a closet habit of mine, which stems from growing up in a Robinsons pub in the days before guest beers – Bitter or Mild were (and still are in some of the pubs!) the options, so a pint of mixed livened things up a bit. Fullers London Pride and ESB, which are both fantastic in their own right, mix superbly into what used to be Mr Harry. And Ginger Marble mixed with one of their stouts works rather well, too.

What are peoples’ thoughts on mixing beers from different breweries, though?

Mm, I like the sound of that. Have you spotted London Porter on cask yet? Was hoping to see it up here in Wendover this weekend, but no sign as yet – we’ve got Gales Winter Brew in our two local Fuller’s pubs, and it’s pretty decent actually.

Incidentally, myself and a couple of pals did a mini Walthamstow crawl on Saturday inspired by your recent posts. Enjoyed a great pint of Umbel Magna in the Olde Rose & Crown, *loved* the Nag’s Head – in particular the Nethergate “Itinerant”, brewed in honour of Tetley the cat, who is quite the local celebrity, and then on to the William IV. The William IV had *10* Brodie’s ales on cask. All the ones we tried had good flavour, but were lacking in carbonation. The 7.8% Porter was the best of the bunch, unsurprisingly. If they can tackle the condition, these could be great beers. Perhaps a little more focus is required, though?

Ant – Was thinking the same thing. Have stuck my head into a number of Fuller’s pubs in London this month hoping to see Porter on draught with no luck. Did they decide not to brew a draught version this year? A real shame if they haven’t.

Chris — I’ll have to try a Mr Harry! Don’t they sell a beer by that name or something similar sometimes? It’s fine to mix beers from different breweries, I think.

Ant — we’ve not seen any London Porter about yet, although we’ve not been looking that hard. Shame, because it’s a corker. Glad you enjoyed Walthamstow and that the Nags didn’t let you down. I agree re: Brodie’s — they’ve got the potential to be our favourite brewery, but they could do to concentrate on getting a smaller range absolutely bang on. Did you happen to go the Spar in Walthamstow Village? They stock something like 10 different Brodie’s beers there, too!

Your Dad might like to try one of my favourites – Youngs Special with a bottle of Ramrod.
You may need to pour him back on the train though – it’s very effective but lethal !

Yes Bailey it is an occasional true brew now, but it used to be a brewery mix apparently.

I wish cask London Porter made it up to the North, it’s fabulous stuff.

No draught London Porter this year according to the last Fuller’s beer club magazine I got. Shame on them! 🙂

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