Round 6 and our 4 halves are:

1. Oldershaw Old Boy
2. Potton Village Bike
3. Potton Shannon IPA
4. Thornbridge Kipling

Not been excited by the 20 so far. Are these 4 going to swing the balance?

Next up we have

1. Belvoir Beaver Bitter
2. Bartrams Butchers Hooks
3. Cotleigh Honey Buzzard
4. Hopshackle Special Bitter

5 rounds in and no typos so far !

Tweets to follow

So we have a method. 4 halves between the two of us. So a pint a time. When Alan gets here we’ll have to modify our strategy.

Our next 4 ales are as follows:

1. B & T Shefford Old Dark
2. Dark Star Over the Moon
3. Milestone Raspberry Wheat Berry
4. Oakham Black Hole Porter

Just been approached by some weirdo. Fortunately he left before a glass became empty.

16 ales now. Let’s see how these 4 go.

8 beers in and nothing is really impressing us. The CAMRA anoraks alongside us think otherwise. Mind you – they are probably better informed than we are.

The next 4 ales for tasting are:

1. Woodfordes Norfolk Nog
2. Vale Best
3. TSA Ginger Explosion
4. Tring Ridgeway Bitter

The packed lunches are coming out !

The next 4 halves are:

1. Potbelly Aisling
2. Cambridge Moonshine CB1
3. Son Of Sid Dr Buskers Bitter Black
4. Milton Sparta

A much bigger turnout here than last year at this time. It took until round 4pm when all the office workers arrived for the venue to fill.

It isn’t even 1pm and the place is half full. Maybe the participants couldn’t find the British Legion.

Worth noting: the only thing you ever want to pull in this place is a pint.

Here we are at Booze on the Ouse in St Neots.

We arrived at 12 noon on the button and already it is pretty busy – albeit we could be the grandchilden of every other person here.

We have a scoring system of 1 – 5 stars with the rating as follows

• 1 Star – Never Again
• 2 Stars – Maybe Again but Maybe Not
• 3 Stars – Probably Again
• 4 Stars – Definitely Again
• 5 Stars – Outstanding

We’ve bought 6 glasses – and our first 4 halves are

1. Elland 1872 Porter
2. Digfield March Hare
3. Digfield Merry Muck
4. Grain Blackwood Stout

Reviews to follow!

Booze on the Ouse happens every year in St Neots. The 2009 event was attended by Alefinder on both the Friday and the Saturday.

The event runs from Thursday evening til Sunday — but the best day to go is definitely the Friday. There were over 40 ales, 10 ciders and other drinks for the drivers.

We will be there on 19th March 2010 – come along.

This Saturday Alefinder are performing a Wetherspoon’s Pub Crawl in London. The plan is to visit 12 pubs between 12 noon and 10pm. We start at the Lord Moon of the Mall (Whitehall) at noon – and end at Hamilton Hall (Liverpool St.) at 10pm. Here is a run down of the pubs:

1. noon – Lord Moon of the Mall
2. 1pm – Moon Under Water
3. 2pm – Montague Pyke
4. 3pm – Shakespeares Head
5. 3:30pm – Penderels Oak
6. 4pm – Knights Templar
7. 5pm – Sir John Oldcastle
8. 6pm – Green Man
9. 7pm – Crosse Keys
10. 8pm – Liberty Bounds
11. 9pm – Goodmans Yard
12. 10pm – Hamilton Hall

So if you’re late – be at any pub at the time specified and you’ll find us.

Please come along. It’ll be fun – and not too heavy.

So. The trAle is going to be on 20th June for one day. The ‘whole weekend’ idea has been canned as the Sunday is Fathers Day!

There will be 10 to 12 pubs. The route is still under discussion but the definite start is Lord Moon of the Mall in Whitehall.  If you are coming, please say so.

We plan to have a nice, sensible, day on the ale, leaving the monopoly board to those who love lager.

See you soon

Alefinder are planning an ale trail in London over the weekend of 20th and 21st June 2009.

It is yet to be decided on the format but currently the choice seems to be between the traditional and well known monopoly board challenge and an alternative idea of visiting all the central London Wetherspoon’s pubs (currently over 20 are ear-marked).

The first could present ale issues as many London pubs don’t have good ale. The second would allow us to explore the range of ales in many Wetherspoons on one given day.

The logistics of the event are to be finalised but the date is set.

By the way, if ever there was a time to go to a Wetherspoons it is now. The have an ale festival on at the moment and Brad is very impressed with the standard so far. I’ll be there at the weekend.

See ya.