Beer Update 1

Since we last posted a significant amount of Ringwood brewery's winter seasonal beer "XXXX Porter" has come our way, free of charge! It was delicious, fresh with lovely roasted coffee and dark fruit notes. A deliciously smooth quaffer of a beer! There are still a good ten to fifteen pints of the 36 left we reckon, however it is not as fresh as it was.

Numerous trips to the vine have been made since our last post, and some of the new guests we tried will wrote about soon. We have newly discovered another watering hole of note in nearby Parkstone; the Bemuda triangle. It is a fantastic little pub tucked away in a back street near the church, with a fantastic atmosphere and beer selection to match! The pub has a small bar with four hand pumps all producing ever changing guest ales (Adnam's east green, Hopback's red ember, Young's winter warmer and Beartown Brewery's bearly literate were on offer when we arrived.) Of the four we tried the Hopback, Young's and Beartown. The Hopback carrying with it the brewery's distinct charistic yeasty hoppy notes, but having a warming feel just right for this time of year. The Young's also had a distinctly warm feeling but lacked the complexity expected of a beer of this gravity( around 5%.) The overall winner of the night was the bearly literate a floral and fruity beer. The selection did not stop at the guests, the pub states it specialises in imported German beer, these included: Warsteiner, Erdinger and Bitburger, all on draught, as well as the czech classic Budvar Dark!

Im sure we will update the blog in the near future, mainly to inform you about the recent guest ales at the vine aswell as all the astounding bottled beers we have purchased from Southampton beer shop, Bitter Virtue.

An Introduction

While Tom is getting his grease on at the chippy, I thought I would write a post. Yes Tom does work in a chip shop, however he also works with me part time at our local off licence (Wine Rack), which im sure you won't be startled to here has a mediocore selection of beer (but a few good wines.)

We are both really into our beer, Tom for longer than I, but I have always been more of a wine ponce. At the younger end of the age scale (19 and 18) we are hoping to write an ensightful blog showing that real ale isn't just something for the older generation of men.

We both have year off bumming around togather before i go off to uni, so i got Rory into beer big time the bug has bitten him and we are ,now both beer fanatics we hope to entertain you with a blog of beer and pub reviews and articles about the many brewery trips we intend to make!

The Best Pub In Town!

If you happen to stumble across the delightful Dorset town of Wimborne then you will find pubs a plenty (11 to be precise.) However the majority of these are owned by the Blandford brewing giant Hall and Woodhouse (which does not favour well with either of us) or do not stock a good selection of fine real ales. But hope is not lost, head just out of town, to a small village named Pamphill, and you will find one the best public houses in East Dorset. The Vine Inn has been voted Camra rural pub of the year a good few times (most recently in 2003.) The pub has a warm and friendly atmosphere with a tiny public bar, sometimes making it hard to order a drink as the room is packed with chatting locals! There is a slightly large lounge bar and an upstairs area with a dart board and an open fire.

This is not to say that the vine is the only place to drink, there are two more firm favourites of ours in the town. The White Hart is a Marston's tied house, tucked away in the corn market square. It offers the entire ringwood range and seasonals (best bitter, fortyniner, old thumper), and a rare outing for Bitburger Pils on tap. The Green Man, a Wadworth tied house is a cosy one bar pub with a roaring fire in the winter that has brass pots pans and other items adorning the walls. Serving Henry Wadworth's IPA, 6x and Bishops Tipple and Weston's Scrumpy via handpump. It is for our money the best pint of 6x around.

Anyway, back to the Vine! The best reason for visiting this pub is the exceptional beer. The Vine serves 1 ever changing guest ale, Fuller's London Pride (which is sometimes changed to a local micro), a selection of draught Weston's ciders and a fine selection of bottled beers. The London Pride, served via hand pump, is the best we've had, served pefectly every time and is a fresh as a daisy. All the guest beers are served by gravity, straight out of the cask, which is bloody fantastic. The guest changes at least once every 2 days,often quicker,leading to the situation when upon finishing one pint you return to the bar to discover the guest has changed!

We have written some ever expanding tasting notes for these guest beers (aswell as the regulars.) Here is a few we have done so far:

Fuller's london Pride (4.3%):

Appearence: Amber, copper, a good creamy thick head with good retention,good lacing of the glass.

Nose: sweet toffee, caramel, floral, sweet plums and honeyed tea quite complex.

Taste: a mouthnwatering explosion of sweet sappy malt and caramel, floral sultanas and dried fruit/orange peel, a long finish dominated by sweet malt and bitter hop resins, for its strength an extremly complex beer.

9.5/10

Budweiser Budvar (5%) (in bottle)

Appearence: golden lager/pilsner with slight orange tint, tight bubbled head dissapates slowly.

Nose: sweet malt, apple and slight lemon fruit,spice and full biscuity sazz hops.

Taste: sweet malt and apple fruit fill the mouth, spicy hops linger on the tounge and dominate the dry bitter finish with hints of alcoholic warmth.

8/10

Palmer's Dorset Gold (4.5%):

Appearance: Burnished copper, orange hue.

Nose: Rich caramel malt with a hint of vanilla, an appetising smell!

Taste: Sweet mouth filling malt, bordering on rich sappy bitter sweet hope resins. Complex subtleties of stone fruits and almonds. Smooth mouth feel, low carbonation, a semi dry mouth watering brew.

8/10

More to come!