Looks right up my strasse that @IdleHans. Some pretty decent beers coming out of that part of the world these days. One on my favourite brewers over the last few years has been the Garden Brewery out of Zagreb. Don't think I've had a bad beer from them yet.
Feher Nyul means White Rabbit. I looked this beer up online and it's HUF 3800 a tin (roughly £7.50). The choice in Budapest is getting better all the time and on my last visit we found an outdoor bar that had a huge range of craft beers. Pricier than standard Soproni, Dreher etc, but a big jump in variety and flavour
Looks right up my strasse that @IdleHans. Some pretty decent beers coming out of that part of the world these days. One on my favourite brewers over the last few years has been the Garden Brewery out of Zagreb. Don't think I've had a bad beer from them yet.
Feher Nyul means White Rabbit. I looked this beer up online and it's HUF 3800 a tin (roughly £7.50). The choice in Budapest is getting better all the time and on my last visit we found an outdoor bar that had a huge range of craft beers. Pricier than standard Soproni, Dreher etc, but a big jump in variety and flavour
Ooh, those Mad Scientist beers look just like my sort of nonsense to try. Checked online and don't yet seem available in the UK though. One to watch out for though.
A bit closer to home I discovered this little Christmas cracker recently. Like an old fashioned brown ale but with much more body and punch.
Good find. This was legendary when I was still in London. I think it was brewed exclusively for Belgium, although a few bottles leaked into the Netherlands. It was a really small batch as well. The only place I found it was a small bar in Amsterdam. The owner had driven down to Belgium to get a couple of cases. At the time, it was one of the best dark beers I’d had.
One of my favourite US breweries is Sweet Water from Atlanta, but you hardly ever find their stuff over here. There’s a new site that’s importing a limited number of US beers including Sweet Water so I’m happy!
Other Half from Brooklyn have unfortunately started delivering to Massachusetts. Just got my two 11th anniversary boxes - 6 4-packs of the Amped beers (triple dry hopped and the like) and 6 4-packs of their anniversary collaborations with other brewers. This should keep me busy while it’s snowing.
If you had to guess what flavours this stout is, you'd fail miserably but once you know, you can pick them out. Sort of. Anyway, 9.7% so I'm going slowly with it this evening. It's very good for gentle sipping and will likely last me an hour.
Other Half from Brooklyn have unfortunately started delivering to Massachusetts. Just got my two 11th anniversary boxes - 6 4-packs of the Amped beers (triple dry hopped and the like) and 6 4-packs of their anniversary collaborations with other brewers. This should keep me busy while it’s snowing.
And all safely in their new home
my ideal fridge...and unfortunately none of them are available in the UK....
Rowleys Farmhouse Ales Grimace - 7% Belgian dubbel, aged on sour plums. Can definitely taste the plums, and moderately sour. There’s definitely something else going on there, it’s tastes a bit spicy, but I can’t figure out what it is. Very pleasant - drinking at the brewery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Anyone tried Sentia? I drink like a fish, this could be a good alternative...
Chinese medicine.” “That weird Hungarian liqueur.” “Something my grandad would drink.” The taste test is not going well. Dry January is over and we’re hitting the bottle, but this is not alcohol we’re drinking. It’s theoretically the next best thing: Sentia Black, “a unique blend of functional botanicals, designed for focus and conviviality,” reads the blurb
We’ve been trying it neat, but once you mix it with tonic water it becomes much more palatable – “festive and grownup”, as one of my test subjects puts it. Taste aside, though, does it work? The conversation is certainly free-flowing, but whether it is more “focused and convivial” than it would have been without the Sentia is hard to say. None of us end up dancing on the table or spoiling for a fight, at least. Nor does anyone wake up with a hangover the next morning, so there’s that. Mind you, it is £32 a bottle.
The active ingredients in the drink have been chosen because they “stimulate the release of Gaba” – a neurotransmitter that slows down the brain – gently mimicking what alcohol can do to extreme levels. Gaba is short for gamma-aminobutyric acid and it’s being talked of in terms of not just alcohol substitution but a whole range of health applications. It is often associated with sleep, relaxation and anxiety, but it also has a role to play in epilepsy, Parkinson’s, blood pressure, seizures, memory and much more. As such, Gaba has become something of a buzzword in health and wellness circles, which inevitably means there is a lot of confusion and misinformation.
Comments
Anyway, 9.7% so I'm going slowly with it this evening. It's very good for gentle sipping and will likely last me an hour.
https://www.standard.co.uk/going-out/bars/wetherspoons-spoons-pub-london-a3936136.html
my ideal fridge...and unfortunately none of them are available in the UK....
Get yourself over to Portland or Seattle, find a nice beer garden and enjoy.
Coming in at 10% it's thick and treacly, so it's one for sipping.
50p per can goes to humanitarian aid trips to Ukraine, so that goes some way to alleviate the guilt at paying £10 for can of beer.
Chinese medicine.” “That weird Hungarian liqueur.” “Something my grandad would drink.” The taste test is not going well. Dry January is over and we’re hitting the bottle, but this is not alcohol we’re drinking. It’s theoretically the next best thing: Sentia Black, “a unique blend of functional botanicals, designed for focus and conviviality,” reads the blurb
We’ve been trying it neat, but once you mix it with tonic water it becomes much more palatable – “festive and grownup”, as one of my test subjects puts it. Taste aside, though, does it work? The conversation is certainly free-flowing, but whether it is more “focused and convivial” than it would have been without the Sentia is hard to say. None of us end up dancing on the table or spoiling for a fight, at least. Nor does anyone wake up with a hangover the next morning, so there’s that. Mind you, it is £32 a bottle.
The active ingredients in the drink have been chosen because they “stimulate the release of Gaba” – a neurotransmitter that slows down the brain – gently mimicking what alcohol can do to extreme levels. Gaba is short for gamma-aminobutyric acid and it’s being talked of in terms of not just alcohol substitution but a whole range of health applications. It is often associated with sleep, relaxation and anxiety, but it also has a role to play in epilepsy, Parkinson’s, blood pressure, seizures, memory and much more. As such, Gaba has become something of a buzzword in health and wellness circles, which inevitably means there is a lot of confusion and misinformation.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/feb/19/gaba-is-the-off-switch-of-the-brain-is-it-also-the-answer-to-better-sleep-sobriety-and-less-anxiety
tonight have had
hook Norton old hooky
timothy Taylors landlord
badger golden champion
badger fusty ferret
all v pleasant and since switching to ale instead of lager find it a lot more enjoyable and less gassy
Get a Punk IPA down you next time you are in the Wetherspoons.
Lightweight
However, on a hot summer’s day, a cider/larger is my choice of refreshment