Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Nostalgic Beer Photos
We first went to Williamsburg with my parents earlier this year, and we liked it immediately. We've been back a couple of times since, in order to go to the water park, but this weekend we'll be wandering around the town itself a bit more. Naturally there is a beer activity planned for the trip, well possibly two if you include maybe meeting up with fellow blogger and homebrewer E.S. Delia in Richmond on our way back. On our first trip down there I picked up a mixed case of beer from the Williamsburg Alewerks, including the brown ale I wrote about some time ago. At the recent River Bend Beer Festival, Williamsburg Alewerks had the best beer of the 13 I tried, an imperial stout with coffee - if I remember rightly it was called Coffeehouse Stout and bloody marvellous it was too! Hopefully then at the weekend I will pick up some more, and maybe fill a growler or two with it, we'll see.
Thinking about this trip got me in a slightly nostalgic mood, and I was looking back at some of the beer related pics Mrs Velkyal and I took on our various trips, and so here are some of them....
The bar in Dublin's Bull and Castle
The amber lager from Hotel Pegas in Brno
A lovely pair at Purkmistr near Plzeň.
The bottom of a glass of Fuller's 1845, drunk in Bicester.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Horses Flying Over Brno
We were in Brno as part of our overnight trip to Moravia to see the karst caves, one of Mrs Velkyal's long held ambitions before we leave. By the time the train pulled into the station we were hungry and ready to find a place I had heard much about. Hotel Pegas is in the centre of Brno and for years I have been hearing friends bang on about how good their beer is, so with this in mind and having been told that their beers come in 600ml glasses rather than the usual half litre (and then there is head on top of that!), it simply had to be winkled out.
The pub itself is classic central European, dark wood panelling, wooden furniture, the bar in the centre of the main room - which is the smoking area, there is a no-smoking area in one of the side rooms - hop bines drapped indiscriminately around the place and metal signs for various breweries around the place, more of which at some future point.
- Světly le?ák - dark gold, quite floral, hoppy bite
- P?eni?né (wheat) - cloudy amber, citrusy, refreshingly spicy
- Tmávé (dark) - dark ruby, cocoa, coffee
- Gold (polotmávé - amber lager) - light red, malty, syrupy
Of the four beers my favourite by a very wide margin was the dark lager, it was simply magnificent, full of smooth coffee and chocolate flavours that reminded me of stout, which is of course never a bad thing. On the beer front there were only a couple of bum notes as far as I was concerned. Firstly when I ordered their wheat beer it came with a slice of lemon floating in it - I have no objection to people adding lemon to their wheat beer but I prefer the option of not having it, so please put it on a side plate, or ask the customer before hand. Secondly the Pegas Gold is just too sickly sweet for my tastes, almost like drinking jelly cubes.
Of course, this being lunch, food was also ordered. In my case some lovely bratwurst which came with mustard and a salsa - such a traditional central European touch don't you think? I am starting to think that I am uniquely alone in this, but please would restaurants stop trying to make pretty pictures on my plate? If I order sausages and mustard, I want sausages and mustard, not sausages, mustard, salsa and frilly bits of salad, all of which is topped with a liberal sprinkling of parsley. My main course was these lovely ribs with potato pancakes, and a new found appreciation for horseradish.
If you are lucky enough to live in Brno then make this place your regular feeding and watering hole. Otherwise make a point to visit this delightful city and enjoy the food, beer and excellent service at Hotel Pegas.
Beyond January
Dry January is over, but my beer fast continues. Well, it continues until Friday. As a general rule I only drink at the weekend, thus my win...


-
This time last year I started what I hope to be an annual tradition, brewing a barleywine in late November or early December and letting it ...
-
Warning, those of you of a delicate disposition may wish to look away at the end of this post as the photo may be too much for you. The res...
-
As promised, one week after The Session - Quarantine Edition here is the round up. Straight off the bat, I want to thank everyone that ...
