Bit of an interesting news item in the South gate news spotted other day concerning Sota.
Karl
1 Like
“You don’t need power when you have altitude”
No, but it certainly helps !
1 Like
And attitude as a chaser with only 10w and sill wet bit of string 
Karl
1 Like
Do you water it every morning Karl ?
No it is naturally wet in Cornwall Jonathan. It always rains when I visit my daughter in St Austell. Mind you, it makes decent ale… 
1 Like
I’ve never been a fan of Saint Awfulls, but give me a pint of HSD and I used to be happy whilst waiting for the granite crags to dry…
Brian
That’ll be that “brown stuff” that is served warmish and looks like a glass of pond water. I’m sure if you filtered it you’d find tadpoles and waterboatmen swimming in it. It’s only when you spend time in mainland Europe you realise how b. awful most beer sold in pub/bars is in the UK. Yes there are some fine brews but they’re more expensive and you have to seek them out. The normal stuff is barely adequate to clean a floor with. Hell we can’t even copy lager properly!
Then you come to Germany and revel in the breadth of different beers, all of which are simple and lovely. We’ll exclude that cloudy stuff that looks like homebrew gone wrong! Sadly I was driving so couldn’t sample any Czech or Polish Beers. Driving past cafe after bar after cafe with all the beer adverts was a challenge but the drink drive limits are strict in CZ and SP so best not to take the chance, especially drive an out of country registered car.
Bah, time to prep the syringe and shoot up ready for one last schnitzel and beer before flying home.
1 Like
Tis sad we can’t brew a decent pint any more over here.
This so called Stella in bottle god its like vinigar and these so called wonderful lagers.
Great thing about the Germans is there purity law, no one else brews way they do, let alone copy it up in Newcastle and pass it off as German beer.
Do like bottle of Becks and especially the blue labeled Lowenbrau. another comes to mind believe a Czech beer bloody nice in bottle and you can get the blonde version very very nice expense but lovely.
Wet bit string, have you never heard that expression before, basically means wire antenna and yes it does get very wet down here and windy at times
Ps, nowt wrong with tadpole in ya beer proves water is good 
karl
For information, this artical was used as part of the script on ARNewsline and WIA broadcasts this last weekend. And featured as aearly “headline” item on both. Unfortuntaely it got lost somewhere at the RSGB, so did not make it to GB2RS Broadcast although it had been promised by that editor.
Why do I know all this? Because it’s my article.
I’ll try to follow up with a report on the event if it all works out.
73 Ed DD5LP / VK2JI / G8GLM.
2 Likes
Oh! come on, Andy. The development of the regional brewery in much of the UK has made a major change in the quality of beers and even lagers. In the north of England we have an amazing number of quality brewers. My locals include the Big Lamp brewery and I would challenge you to drink a few pints of Blackout or even Old Genie. Besides that we have the Wylam Brewery, High House Brewery, Tyne Bank Brewery, Ouseburn Valley Brewery, Allendale Brewery, Jarrow Brewery, Mordue Brewery and this list could go on for a long time. The days of Watney’s Red Barrel (anyone remember that) are over. Oh! such rubbish as John Smiths and Black Label continue to be consumed by the plebeians (corrected tnx to MAJ) but there are good ales for the discerning drinker that are as good as you can get anywhere else in the world.
Galashiels Sunday?
Jim
Aha! That probably explains Brexit then.
Martyn
1 Like
Yes there are good beers now. But compare and contrast here in Germany, I can go in any cafe, imbiss, restaurant or bar and there will be excellent beer, everywhere! Back home I have to seek out the good stuff.
Galashiels time already? Should be there and bagging a local 1pointer on the way home.
You are battling against the mind set that says “any beer that I don’t like is rubbish!” You cannot win against that mindset for every man is a connoisseur in his own mind!
I have a vivid memory of the time when real ale suddenly appeared in Glencoe. One of the reasons that I took to drinking malt whisky was that I used to have two separate weeks in Glencoe every year, the climbing scene was at the Clachaig Hotel and they served either Younger’s Tartan or McEwens Extra, beers very much in the mould of Watney’s Red Barrel or Double Diamond (spit!) but they had hundreds of fine malts. One year in the mid 70’s we walked into the Climber’s Bar and there on the bar was a gleaming, polished wooden pump handle. “Real Ale?” we gasped. “Aye, laddie” said the barman, a gigantic kilted Scot, “but I must warn ye, it’s verra, verra strong so tak’ it easy!” (It was Eighty Shilling Heavy.) We had a pint each, it smelled like raw sewage but it was nectar on the palate. We downed it in one and immediately got another round - and the respect of the barman!
One of the problems, I think, is that there are more pubs selling craft ales than there are skilled cellar staff to tend them. Even the finest German bier becomes rather pedestrian if nobody has cleaned the pipes since last Michaelmas! You get to know the pubs to avoid and revel in the others. Another point to ponder on is that the restrictive German attitude to purity actually makes all German bier taste much of a muchness, compared with the huge range of styles available in the UK. Yes, I know a connoisseur will detect a wide range of flavours, I’m sure Andy does, but they struck me as variations on a simple theme!
Brian (Duck and covering!)
That’s in Scotland.
North of the border they only found out about REAL ale a decade ago! Down here, we’ve had it since the 70’s.
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
Life Member - CAMRA
You are too harsh!
My post above disproves that - there was real ale in Scotland forty years ago, but not everywhere. It spread fast, though.
In the early days I thought CAMRA was a great idea, but I gradually soured on it. The turning point was finding a pub in Shropshire with several awards but serving distinctly second-rate beer. After making enquiries I found that the landlords of a number of pubs had joined and worked their way into running the local group, voting for each other’s establishments. This, it turned out, was not uncommon, and as a result a CAMRA sign is no guarantee of quality. Sad!
Brian
Bosley Cloud Ale, brewed less than 2 miles from my home QTH is a superb beer. Much nearer than Central Europe and named after the World’s Favourite SOTA Summit as well!
Oh dear, discussions on beer rather than SOTA… it’s coming up to November again… the doldrums before the Winter Bonus Period. Roll on 1st December!
Never mind December Gerald, roll on Saturday. The wx here in Manchester is, well stereotypical Manchester wx right now, but the forecast looks optimistic for early Saturday. Let’s hope condx are kind as well - that will be something of a lottery on this part of the cycle for sure.
At least with the sheer numbers out there should be plenty of S2S action for everyone within their own continent/entity even if the sky isn’t playing. You having a go Gerald?
Well, my home town has the world’s best beer, so there! 
http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/10/the-worlds-best-ale-comes-from-yorkshire/
Actually I’d rather drink pond water with tadpoles in, but to eachave his own 
Only on the sidelines from home as I am heading up a local walking group at 09:45 local time Such is life. I’d rather be up in GM on a hill - need to keep fit in between times. 