This is not what Tony calls me, but for the international of you, it’s a kind of mug that’s–depressingly–less common in British pubs these days. Whilst I love the way they look, they are a little ungainly and really don’t look right unless you’re smoking a pipe. Quite a few pubs keep them behind the bar and will only serve you in them on request. So if you fancy a retro look whilst supping a pint of Best, go for it.

Essential equipment for drinking at home. Ales just don’t taste right out of anything but a pint glass (or mug). Personally, I really don’t like the metallic taste of pewter tankards either.

For my 40th birthday Brad and I considered getting a barrel of ale from a local Free House. Brad had salvaged a proper Ale pump from a local skip and we reckoned it would be cool to rig one up.

After much faffing about we decided against it – mainly due to the short life of the stuff – and the effort involved.

Browsing the Internet we came across the Nethergate Brewery. They supply their own ales in Polypins (plastic containers much like a wine box) in 18 pint and 36 pint sizes.

Being a bit over zealous, I bought 4 barrels for the party, Old Growler, Umbel Magna, Essex Border and Augustinian.

This stuff keeps for up to a month (a barrel keeps for a few days)  – just as well really as less than half of the 90+ pints were consumed. It is hard to say which was the best – in my eyes it was the Umbel Magna, but others thought differently.

The 3 weeks after the party saw Brad, myself, Brad’s parents, my wife, and anyone who wanted any, necking the stuff before it went off. You don’t waste good ale.

Why am I telling you all this. Well – I don’t drink wine anymore. Think about it. £20 for a box of wine, or £27.50 for 18 pints of really good ale. You can’t lose really – it’s a no brainer. And they even deliver it to you.

My Italian friend Enrico fancied a pint of Guinness in the Irish Pub in Lyon – called ‘The Antidote’. There are a number of Irish/English/Scottish bars in Vieux Lyon – and this was our first port of call.

After a swift pint here, the barmaid – a very nice Scottish lass – suggested we try ‘The Wallace’ near Saint Paul. We wandered down and what did we find? Bombardier on tap. What a find! And no Guinness either – even better!

The Wallace is a Scottish pub that has only been there for 9 months. Previously it was a Mexican restaurant. It is pretty impressive. Enormous projector screens for the football, SKY TV, good food, English barmaids, and ale !

We had three pints of Bombardier here and some nice pub grub too. I had a home made burger and Enrico had Fish and Chips.

In the bottle chillers behind the bar they also had bottles of Abbott, ESB, Old Speckled Hen, Spitfire – and a few others that I cannot remember.

I warn you in advance, ale in France is expensive. 5 Euros 50 per pint. Or £3.85 English money. But it was worth every penny.

If you are ever in Lyon, try this place. And if you want someone to drink with – give me a call. I shall certainly be frequenting this place.

According to the bottle this stuff should be amazing. It has been twice voted ‘World Champion Bitter’, three times voted ‘Champion Beer of Britain’ and the winner of many other awards around the globe. In their own words “…ESB is acknowledged as one of the World’s Greatest Beers.

This ale comes in at 5.9% – that’s 3.0 UK units per bottle.

Fuller’s say ESB is “…smooth, full bodied and bursting with flavour, with marmalade fruitiness throughout. ESBs rich malty notes are balanced by a unique blend of Northdown, Target, Challenger and Goldings hops, to give a long satisfying finish”.

So – what is it like? Very nice indeed. I can’t pick up the marmalade fruitiness but it certainly does taste very good. Similar to XB I’d say – but not quite as good… ah – here comes the marmalade. Interesting.

I can see why this ale wins awards. It probably satisfies the majority of ale drinkers out there. Not too strong – not too weak. A good flavour. Quite hoppy and malty but not too much. This ale wins award because they must shift bucket loads of the stuff.

Although it is good, it isn’t going to affect my top 5 – or 6th spot currently held by Adman’s Broadside. But it is a good ale. I wouldn’t be upset if I was given this to drink. Another good ale from Fuller’s.

Brad and I tried this offering a couple of months ago – and at the time we weren’t convinced that this as a ‘proper ale’ at all. Given where if comes from – California USA (no singing the OC theme tune please!) – it has all the signs of being an American beer and not ale at all. I seem to recall we weren’t that keen on it either.
Brad insists it is an American microbrew – so I will bow to his superior knowledge.

Sierra Nevada is the only ‘ale’ of the 30+ varieties I bought that is smaller than 500ml. This bottle is only 350ml.

There isn’t a lot of chat on the bottle about this ale – mind you there isn’t much room to write anything given the size of the bottle. On the bottle collar they say that Sierra Nevada “..is a completely natural ale. There are no additives, only the finest malted barley, whole hops, brewer’s yeast and crystal clear water.”

When I poured this in the glass there were lots of bits at the bottom. I wasn’t overly confident in the health of the bottle but Sierra Nevada also say “.. the fine layer of yeast in each bottle is the result of the traditional bottle-conditioning process that produces carbonation naturally!”. That’s as may be but I prefer my ale not to have bits in it – especially when it looks like anew strain of bacteria stuck to the bottom of the glass.

This ‘microbrew ale’ was just far too gassy straight from the bottle but – after some clever glass to glass decanting – I managed to knock all the gass out of it. Now it tastes like a nice light pale ale rather than a nasty American lager (sorry guys). I actually quite like this. It has the feel of a nice refreshing Summer Ale and it is hard to believe that it is 5.6% volume. Shame the bottle isn’t bigger – 2 gulps and it was gone.

Not a bad ‘microbrew ale’ at all. Well done to someone non British for making something drinkable! – and yes Brad – I know it isn’t ale. It still tastes quite nice though!