Has Real Ale entered the branded goods arena?

Had an amazing night at the Royal Oak in Rusper (Just outside Horsham if you're interested). I attended a blind tasting and was surprised by the results, though the landlady / owner / rule-maker, Sara, wasn't.

So, we blind tasted a variety of beers, some from Dark Star (obviously), others from local heroes such as Surrey Hills and great new start-ups like Kissing Gate, feathered in with a few bigger national brewers who, it would appear, are often knocked with gay abandon (a phrase we should all use more). What did we learn? Well, I have to be honest and say we probably rely too much upon our pumpclips for our information. Whilst the quiz didn't ask for our fondness of each beer, looking at the results it was easy to see people pour scorn on beers they believed belonged to the big brewers, when in fact, they came from local craft brewers. All in all, I'd say it was an education and a lesson that we should look beyond the brand, big or small and take the beer on merit - what's the shame in liking a popular beer that is served nationwide if you like it, equally, what's the harm in dedicating your drinking life to a delicious drop like Ranmore from Surrey Hills?  Just don't judge others for their choices as when it's a blind choice, you may end up looking more of a mule, than an expert.

Signing the night off with a Classic Golden Ale from a Sussex Micro Brewery with the Grapefruit aroma of Kentish Hops...or is it?

Trying to remember what it felt like to be hungry

It's true of Christmas that all you really do is travel from relative to relative, try to look grateful for presents that you wish came with a receipt and accept food and drink when you're neither hungry or thirsty. On the present front, this year's gem has to be a golf ball stamp so that you can emboss your initials on your ball - not only do I rarely keep them long enough to worry about continual identification, but it came from St Michael - now I'm not being funny, but that puppy has been kicking around a while - no thank you card required!

With an office based out of the Dark Star Brewery in Sussex (I handle their PR, which must be the easiest job of all), I know the sales guys were busy as were the delivery drivers this Christmas - plenty of Critical Mass left the building - a beer we describe as being a 'pint of two halves'. I managed to wrestle a poly pin of American Pale Ale out of the brewery, so Christmas was full of cheer on the beer front.

Beer consumption continues this evening with a trip to the Royal Oak in Rusper (Friday St), which for those that don't know it, is an amazing pub a few miles outside of Horsham - I could go on for ages about how good this is and probably will do in future blogs...and pub that has a Cheese Monster Club will do for me! So tonight's activities will see teams of four trying to recognise beers in a blind tasting. This is about getting people to focus on taste and characteristics, though secretly, I think it's about Sara getting here customers not to drink with a closed mind and drink outside the box.

Well that wasn't so painful

J