shaun mc

Walked past there 2 weeks ago on my way to the Moorbrook Inn who had a cracking set of beers (cask and keg) that day. Saw it was re-opening before Christmas. Used to go in when having a few in Preston (1st time maybe 35+years ago), but others offered a better selection

I'm in CAMRA, but not active Don't use the 50p vouchers that much. Rarely carry my card to get a discount - last time was 2024 at The Pineapple in London before the cup final I do broadly agree with CAMRAs aims, but think they are stuck with diehards who will only support cask ale and not keg

Telling stat : Aussie bowler Starc has scored 143 runs from 3 innings England's top order runs from 5 innings - Crawley 129 Duckett 93 Pope 106

One of my sources is a brewery owner I quantified in another post that not all Wetherspoons beer was on the 'near the end of the shelf life basis', and if they are going to be offering beers like Jaipur and Titanic Plum Porter (just looked at what my local has been serving) then it has to be decent quality and well kept.

I wasn't implying that Wetherspoons are selling low quality beer. They are selling beer that has been in the cask a while, getting close to it's best before date, and are doing the breweries a favour by taking it to sell in their pubs, at a much lower price, of course. Beer close to it's sell by date won't be tip top quality, but it'll taste fine. Not saying that all Wetherspoons beer is on this basis as well. Out of interest what was the beer at £1.29 a pint?

The 3 beers were - 6.5%, 6.5%, 6.0%. I've no interest in supping 12 pints of 3.5%/4% any more. I'd rather go home and snore after 4 or 5 beers. And it helps going to the bathroom less at my age

GJ - Wetherspoons have a good model for the beer industry whereby they know that beer has a shelf life and they screw the breweries down to the bottom price knowing it could go down the drain otherwise. As much as I dislike TM he's on the ball with this. Price - I paid c.£14 for 3 top quality beers, and only 2/3rds due to their strength. Quality over quantity when you get older.

Having a couple of beers at Lakes Brew brewery tap in Kendal They've recently opened a bar in Ambleside. Been talking to one of the owners. The bar opened 7 months late (should've been Easter), and they've spent £35k on planning, legal fees and everything else they've had to do to get it open. £35k excludes the conversion of the building. That's a lot of beer to be supped to get that £35k back.

Last night was the start of the 4th Stout Wars in Kendal. Timed to coincide with International Stout Day yesterday. Around 10 pubs in the town have stouts and dark beers on over the weekend - the beer lists are easily the best they've had, Had to be at the doctors at 5.30pm last night after work which, very conveniently, is 5 minutes walk from the New Union, so I had to pop in when I saw the beers they were offering. Sampled.... Banandy Warhol 8.4% Banana Milk Stout from Tempest Brewing - excellent beer, very smooth & drinkable. I love bananas, but didn't want this beer to be too bananary and sweet. it wasn't. Midnight Walker 11% Imperial Stout Overtone Brewing. This definitely provided a warming alcohol kick, but very good flavours. Contains coconut, brown sugar & honey. Occasionally, the higher strength stouts are too alcoholic in taste to enjoy the flavours of the malts and other ingredients. This one had the kick, but not too over-powering 2/3rds of each - had to cook when I got home! Catching up with a couple of mates this afternoon, so will have to include visits to some of the other pubs.

There are still some decent resources on Twitter around European rail travel and sleeper services. Man in Seat 61 is the go to.

Euston to St Pancras is easy to walk with wheeled kuggage if dry weather as it's all slightly downhill, so there's a bit more effort the other way. If travelling any further than Paris, or close to the departure date, then I'd look at an Interrail pass. They can be cheaper than individual tickets. The cheapest pass is about £246 for 4 days travel. There are supplements on certain trains including Eurostar. Over 60's get 15%off and watch out for special offers as the pass can be activated up to 11 months after purchase. My last 7 trips have been this way, with a pass cheaper than individual tickets. I've done 2 overnight trains. Innsbruck to Cologne last year, and Augsburg to Budapest this year. On both trips, the 2 berth cabin with an Interrail pass was cheaper than a hotel room, and breakfast is included. You can however, if booking in advance, buy a bed in a 6 berth for as little as £45 without a pass, if you don't mind sharing with 5 others you don't know.

You can travel well into Europe from stations in the north with an early start. I've done OXN to Munich in a day, and this year I travelled to Luxembourg and was having a beer in the city by 8pm, and that was with a 55 min delay on Eurostar and missing a connection in Brussels. Allow 1h45 to 2 hours between Euston and St Pancras or a little less if arriving via Kings Cross, the connection and check in will be fine. Check in and throughput have improved at St Pancras over the past 2-3 years, but Eurostar still isn't running at full capacity yet.

Just back from 2 weeks in the Brecon Beacons and East Sussex. I'd recommend a visit to Lewes if in Sussex - 4 breweries and some good pubs, with a bit of a music scene as well. Visited Beak Brewery (open Fri, Sat & Sun) for 3 outstanding beers - 2 x IPA and a DIPA The town is dominated by Harveys Brewery. Their beers are widespread in the town. At the moment, they have on sale Ouse Booze - a 6.5% Bitter, made originally in Oct 2000 when the town flooded and they had 2 tanks of half completed brews, which they combined to produce the bitter, just before the site flooded, which they bottled and sold to raise funds for the Flood Appeal. 25years later Harveys have replicated the brew using the same techniques, recipe & suppliers. I found it on draught in a couple of places (some pubs only got their hands on 1 cask) and its a fantastic beer. I bought some cans of it as well from their high street shop. 2/3 miles from Lewes is Middle Farm Shop. If you like cider, they have over 100 to taste - small sampling cup provided - samples free of charge. Pour the ones you like into 1, 2 or 4 pint milk cartons to take home. About £2.50 to £4.00 per pint to takeaway.

There are a lot of citrus beers about. Not as keen on the really pale ones, but something with some maltiness and a bit piney. Lakes Brew West Coast IPA is about perfect. American hops such as Citrus have had a massive influence.

The Lap completed at 1:30am this morning A tough course in normal conditions. Yesterday was extremely muddy and treacherous. How the winner ran the 47 miles in 6hrs 40 is beyond me