Got one of these ready to open;

The smell of a spicy tomato chutney is wafting from the kitchen (using up the last of the tomato crop for the year) and it’s making me thirsty.

So, what do we think – Is it too early to crack open the IPA?

Never too early mate 😆

it’s a soft drink made in London, so why not 😉

Certainly *hic*

why does it have a cork in it?
is is it a ladies’ beer?
are you going to put it in a cocktail?
does it make your bum look big?

I think you’ll find that the sun is well over the yard arm my good fellow.

Chin chin.

7.5%, so hardly “soft” or for the ladies, but it is brewed in that London’s famous Greenwhich!

Currently supping some homebrew so definitely not too late. And Meantime IPA is a great beer!

Go fer it Capn.

it’s a soft drink made in London, so why not

You’ve tried it then? 🙄

Good choice Mr Flashheart. Why, only the other day, I myself enjoyed [cough] a few [/cough] in the Greenwich Union. Took a mate down there; he was well impressed. We did our best to sample all of what was on offer… 😳 It’s also ‘WorldClassAccident Approved’; a guarantee of quality itself!

Meantime now have another place; it’s actually in the grounds of the old Naval College, with it’s own microbrwery. Only heard about it last week; passed it today- no money on me. Doh!

Lovely beer, Meantime. Had a Helles t’other day; what a fantastic pint. My personal fave is their unique raspberry wheat beer, sadly it’s seasonal nature means it’s not currently available on draught. 🙁

If you fancy a pint in Greenwich sometime, Flashy, I’ll be well up for it. 😀

A fantastic beer as are quite a few beers brewed below Watford Gap. I live in Stoke and while I think “southerners” are soft shandy drinkers there are as many good beers brewed down south as up north.

But then I’m not really a northerner (unless you live below Watford Gap).

its 4pm…are you man or mouse?

get it down yer!!!

Just remember it’s always 12 o’clock somewhere…

After a liquid lunch of 3 Guinnesseseses earlier today i have these 3 to see off this afternoon

You’ve tried it then?

what London? yep, it’s shite

they do sell meantime outside of London you know (other areas do exist)

anyway 7.5% IPA? hardly what the original IPA was meant to be

Houn’s HPA is a great brew though and they always have it on Tap at the Queens Head in stoke Prior Bromsgrove
Purity Brewery is just down the road from me

and this opens 2 mins walk from my door on the 23 Oct

new pub! by rOcKeTdOgUk, on Flickr

what London? yep, it’s shite

Ok, so you won’t ever be coming here then. That’s good.

Original IPA’s will have been brewed stronger than what’s commonly available now, as IPA’s were for export; higher alcohol content = more stability on long voyages.

http://www.india-pale-ale.com/

Invented in my neck of the woods, too. I’m not the only good thing to ever come from east London you know. 🙂

If you’re awake its not too early…

That looks like a nice pub, where is it?

I love the Meantime IPA too.

IPA’s were for export; higher alcohol content = more stability on long voyages.

Not really, Fred. That’s a latter day myth. They were, however, very heavily hopped, as the Meantime is.

Purity is ace stuff, especially the Ubu. Wye make some lovely beer too, had a few too many in the Forest of Dean a while ago, hic!

Meantime’s going down a treat, by the way!

I thought the Meantime IPA was exactly what the original IPAs were all about (as per Fred’s post).

RD it’s about time we had a gentle jaunt out on the bikes to enjoy a beer or 3, couple of colleagues (one from B98 and the other from Bromsgrove) would be up for it too

IPA’s were for export; higher alcohol content = more stability on long voyages.

Highly hopped really rather than alcohol

sounds good Houns

Not really, Fred.

Yes, really, Flashy:

London Porter was exported in considerable quantities in the eighteenth century. IPA was, however, the first beer designed for export, and in that respect it shared some of the characteristics of Porter. It was high in alcohol and it was heavily hopped.

Both these attributes were necessary to give the beer some protection against spoilage on the long sea journey to India, which, in the days before the Suez Canal, meant sailing the length of both sides of Africa and traversing the Cape of Good Hope. This journey took the beer from England’s temperate shores and into the tropics and across the equator not once, but twice, and it wasn’t exactly going to be chilly in India when it arrived either. The beer had to survive, arrive and survive some more if it was to be worth the trouble to put aboard ship at all. This called for a beer of considerable robusteness. Robustness was achieved by means of the combined preservative and antiseptic qualities of alcohol and hops.

A beer of 3.8% ABV would have about as much chance of surviving to India as a snowman. Consequently no beer of 3.8% or thereabouts should designate itself an IPA.

They know more than most of us do, I’d reckon! 😀

Moving on…

Ah, a fine move, sir.

Anyone care to join me?

At a robust 7.5%; it also travels well…

Self on the left, ElfinFred on the right;

😆

It’s funny because it’s true….

I ventured out with Mrstubing for the 1st time in months on saturday night to a new boozer called the Gypsy Tea Room in a trendy suburb of my fair city. and to my delight found South australia’s finest, ‘Coopers Sparkling Ale’ on tap, best part was it was free as we were guests at a very well catered for 30th birthday. all round a splendid evening.

I ventured out with Mrstubing for the 1st time in months on saturday night

I read that as:

I ventured out Masturbating for the 1st time in months on saturday night

4pm is a tad early for me, I try not to touch the stuff before 9pm. Got a glass of red in front of me and a bottle of Old Hooky chilling now though