“Have you got a nice stout?”
“Well, there’s the Dark Star, but that’s 10.5%. How about Anchor Porter?”
“Have you got anything south American?”
“Er…. Quilmes?”
“We want some sour beers. Have you got anything by Cantillon?”
“Yes, but it’s about £8 a bottle.”
“That’s fine. One bottle, two glasses, please!”
“Why are you having a lager again, mate?”
“Coz I want something cold and refreshing, with bubbles, that doesn’t make me feel like my Dad.”
“Goose Island IPA is cold and refreshing, and your dad wouldn’t like that.”
“Stop trying to make me drink your old man beers.”
“How long would you keep a barley wine for, in the cask?”
“Well, we keep ours for up to six years, but you could definitely keep it longer, if it was filled properly.”
“Oh, I know our filling techniques, and they introduce way too much oxygen.”
“What do you have that’s a normal strength and comes in a normal pint glass?”
Whilst eavesdropping, we also worked our way through a few beers, including Sierra Nevada Unrivaled, a rye beer with a hint of smoke that actually tasted how we’ve always imagined rye beer ought to. It’s a late contender for beer of the year — very complex and utterly delicious, with citrus hops and fruity, nutty, spicy flavours, too.
Doggie Style delivered an American style IPA (heavy body, lots of hops) at only 4.7%. It’s yer actual session beer, that.
Goose island Christmas Ale (7%) was a final treat. It was £9.50 for a large bottle. It was like malty golden syrup with a touch of orange. Nice, but not as nice as something like 1845. We wonder if some complexity got lost on the Atlantic crossing?
16 replies on “Overheard at the Rake”
Great post. Happy New Year to you both.
Thanks, Zak. And to you!
I love eavesdropping in pubs. It’s my favourite thing to do when solo drinking. Last time I was at The Rake I got involved in a conversation about the standards of toilets female travellers encounter. Happy New Year
Hello. Maeib! Don’t suppose your New Year’s Resolution is to start blogging again…?
The staff might sometimes be a bit grumpy (not always, just sometimes) but I find the cramped conditions do encourage conversation among the punters.
Once, I went to gents at the Rake to find a tramp clipping his toenails in the sink. Yuck.
nice post! I like the sound of that Rye, too. I’ve got a ry beer on the brewig schedule for 2010, but i’ve not had that many of them – so I need to do some Rye Research. I’ll keep an eye out.
Haha, great! “What do you have that’s a normal strength and comes in a normal pint glass?” – that’s classic!
The Rake is a great place for sitting and listening. You hear all kinds of crap (although, after I’ve been in there an hour or two I say all kinds of crap!). Happy New Year guys, we should meet for a beer sometime soon.
Leigh — the first Rye beer we tried was the Thuern and Taxis Roggen in Regensburg (try saying that quickly after a pint or two…) which Michael Jackson listed in his 500 beers. We thought it was really boring, sadly. This is the first time we’ve been convinced that rye beer can be as good as it sounds.
Mark — yes, definitely. When our livers have recovered from Christmas, we’ll sort something out.
I’m heading down to London on Thursday and The Rake is top of my list of Beery places to visit. I’ve had Unrivaled many times as it was partly brewed by Christian from North Bar. Very nice it is but I was hoping for Racer 5 or some other ultra rare American on draft.
Pretentious, moi?
Man! That Unrivaled rye beer really made my mouth water, but then, anything so well described might have after reading “Quilmes”….
Merry New Year! 🙂
I’ve been looking for that Regensburg Roggenbier, as I have yet to have a proper German Roggenbier. I made a beer with 20% rye last year and it went down well. Was more of a session beer really. That Unrivaled does sound good!
Eavesdropping is just great fun. Sometimes I want to poke my nose in say something, especially when someone has said something really stupid, but I never do.
Paul — we’ve seen people do exactly that, and it’s not pretty.
I even heard a bloke at work once banging on about how rauchbier is made by dropping hot stones in the fermenter and managed to bite my tongue…. no-one likes being corrected.
I had GI’s Christmas Ale on the west side of the pond, and wasn’t especially wowed this year.
Even though we’ve seen a retirement and a hiatus this week, I’m not planning on resurrecting my blog. Others do it so much better.
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