Drink beer and lose weight. It is possible!!

Location: Home

Moodmusic: Maybe beer is an excellent breakfast drink after all???!!!

Todays memories and soundbites
I'm happy to say that, contrary to many opinions, I have managed to loose nearly two stone WITHOUT having to give up beer.  Do you know what ... I am very surprised to say .... that it hasn't been that hard to achieve either.  I have changed my diet a little bit. I followed the principle that the metabolism needs to be stimulated to burn food rather than to lay it down to fat.  That means having breakfast and getting the system going in the morning (argh). The other principle is making sure that the balance of carbs over protein is thought about a bit, so that the carbs in the diet are reduced and the protein increased, and the carbs are eaten at a time of day that the energy they provide is likely to be used up.  The other change was exercising for 45 minutes, 3 times a week, and doing a little routine at home of simple squats, press ups and crunches or 10-15 minutes every other day.  I think the diet makes most difference to the weight loss, but the exercise speeds up the metabolism increasing the pace of change.  Exercise obviously tones so my beer belly has now disappeared and is nice and flat again!

Drinks

My rules of thumb for a BEER INCLUSIVE calorie aware weight loss diet

1. Understand the calories consumed, clock them up 
Don't consume beer without thinking about it. Be aware of the calories consumed, understand the higher the ABV the higher the calorie count.  An average:

• 500ml bottle of 4.5% beer = 130-150 calories
• pint of 4.5 % beer = 180-200 calories
• 330 ml bottle of 8% beer = 240-260 calories

2. Buy the more expensive quality beers
This is likely to hit your pocket and has helped me to reduce my overall consumption whilst increasing my level of enjoyment.

3. Share the beer and make it a special! 
I have tasted over 100 beers during my weight loss and fitness campaign, and had many of them more than once.  The thing is that not every bottle or pint was consumed by me alone.  The majority of these were tasted with friends, as a fun occasion when we sat round the fire and exchanged tasting notes and reactions  providing cheap but meaningful entertainment.  Consumption reduced, appreciation increased, beer savoured, drunkenness averted!

4. Use the walk to the pub or bottle shop as an opportunity for a calorie burning powerwalk
Power walking helps burn fat and calories.  Alternate the pace of the walk so that you walk at ordinary pace for 1-2 minutes then a medium pace for 2-3 minutes then really march for 5 minutes, keep the repetitions going through the walk.  Any walk over 20 minutes or 1 mile burns about 130 calories - brilliant - the same as a bottle of beer!!

5. Sort out alternate low carb/high carb food and drink days
Don't drink beer everyday.  Have 2 low carb days (no bread, beer, potatoes, pasta) followed by one higher carb day, as well as one "don't worry but don't go mad" day each week.  Have beer as a thought through accounted for component of the high carb or "don't worry" days.

MON    TUES    WED      THUR      FRI      SAT     SUN
low         low           higher         low          low        higher       free (either)

6. Think about WHEN you drink - daytime is better than night time
Consumption of carbs seems to work best, i.e. not pile on the pounds, if imbibed at a time of the day when the calories are going to be consumed.  And of course I had to think about not exceeding the total calorie count for the day at the end of the day either!  Eat, or indeed drink carbs, in the later evening then I really had to ask myself if I was going to be doing the exercise to burn off the energy?  Or did I do enough exercise in the afternoon to account for evening drinking?  Would I be walking home from the pub?  Not an easy one to juggle this, and perhaps the hardest principle of all.  Maybe beer is an excellent breakfast drink after all???!!!

Pondering peculiar British place names: Beer, Auchenshuggle, Curry Mallet, Kingston Bagpuize

Location: Oxfordshire, Kingston Bagpiuze

Moodmusic: It's a new day with a fresh direction just dawning

Today's soundbites and memories
This time in Oxfordshire, playing about in the woods again, has led me to another settlement with an interesting name.  I've been just outside Kingston Bagpuize.  What kind of name is that?  Well it seems a village name inherited from the family name of a Norman nobleman Ralph de Bachepuz.  Fine.  That set me musing on all the other places I have drunk beer in, or near to, this past year that have notable names.  There was of course Beer which I wrote about in my Jurassic coast blog, other places worth a mention because I think they are odd or just amazing words are:

• Ampney Crucis - Located near Ampney Brook and close to the church of the Holy Cross (Crucis)
• Chimney - Old English meaning "Island of a man named Ceomma"
• Curry Mallet - Cury and Malet families of the ruling manors
• Auchenshuggle - "the rye field" in Gaelic
• Gowkthrapple - ????? who knows .... I couldn't find out
• Turner's Puddle - from Tonerespydele meaning an "estate on the river Piddle held by the Toner family"
• Piddletrenthide - listed in Doomesday as meaning an "estate of thirty hides on the river Piddle"
• Felldownhead - a good one for a beer blog! Nobody has any idea otherwise
• Bovey Tracey - town on the river Bovey taking the Tracey from a Norman noble family
• Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant - meaning "Parish of the waterfall in the valley of the pigs"
• Wigwig - "Wyga's settlement" in Olde English
• Homer - squatter's settlement grown on "Honemor" common land
• Quat - ??

Then my thoughts diverted to something else, and led to wondering about the English civil war once again.  Last year in my beer drinking travels I kept on bumping into references and traces of Cromwell as he fought his way through England and Scotland.  This part of Oxfordshire was of course a Royalist stronghold. But  I still wondered if Cromwell had been active at all roundabouts. Hey .... guess what ..... there was some connection ..... Besselsleigh just a few miles up the road turns out to be the home of William Lenthall. He represented Woodstock in the Short Parliament (April 1640) and Long Parliament (November 1640), for which latter Parliament he was chosen by King Charles I to be Speaker. Later, on the outbreak of war, he remained a Parliamentarian and was supported by the new army, even though he remained biased towards the King. Well he was almost a round head then ...... 'ish.  Not quite Cromwell though.  I digress. What was the beer like in this part of the world?  Well it was a motley selection as follows:

Drinks

The Dog House, Frilford Heath, near Abingdon
1. ??, Dog House (4.6%),
Reactions
Emotional: right pint at the right time .... can't find any reference anywhere to the brewer ... not even the pump clip told me ... it just said specially brewed for the Dog House .... staff didn't know either
Critical: Nice meaty decent bitter with a good hoppy strength and medium bitter biscuit finish.

2. Moorland, Old Speckled Hen (4.6%)
Reactions
Emotional
Critical: It's ages since I had this, and even longer since I had it on draft. It tasted good! Great standard British bitter. Light hop and light bitterness. Very easy to drink and get into a session

3. Greene King, IPA (3.6%)
Reactions
Emotional
Critical: Lovely amber colour. Smooth and medium bodied. Quite a fresh flavour with some haylage and grassy notes to finish. Not bad.

The Red Lion, Aston, Bampton, Oxfordshire
4. Sharps, Doom Bar (4%)
Reactions
Emotional: nought more than .... quaffable
Critical: Not bad but not brilliant either. It’s a bit on the ordinary side. Easy introduction to bitter? Great golden colour. Some fruity citrus hop flavours and slight resin aftertaste.

The Trout at Tadpole Bridge, Faringdon, on the Thames
5. Robinsons, Tom and Berry (4.6%)
Reactions
Emotional: WOW! Like drinking a very, very upmarket chocolate bar. Luciousness
Critical: Nice and chocolatey with really strong delicious berry fruits.  I thought this was great but others may find the fruit too much.  Not sure this is a session beer, could end up being too cloying.  Great for the one pint.

6. Whitehorse, Wayland Smithy (4.4%)
Reactions
Emotional: Aaaaaaghhhh a standard bitter at last. Relief
Critical: Good quality bitter with a medium body and good balance of floral, fruity and bitter hop flavours. Far too easy to drink.

7. Steam Box Brewery, Funnel Blower (4.5%)
Reactions
Emotional: Fantastic!!
Critical: Pours to give a deep head, and a bit of treacley aroma. Carbonation medium to give an easy to drink pint. Flavors begin with toasted rye bread, and break into bourbon vanilla and smooth chocolate. Ends with clean bitterness.

 Oxfordshire view

Not too sure how Gandalf would feel about this?

I literally bumped into this walking up the road from the pubs to
the woods .... hard to see in sleet ... pic from Tollhouse Alan's photostream on Flickr 

Stouts, porters and dark seasonals. What's the difference? How do they taste?

Location: Snow bound and able at last to catch up with blog writing!

Moodmusic: Dressing an Orkney crab having tasted porters and seasonals aplenty

Todays memories and soundbites

Christmas came and went and thanks to friends, family and the seasonal beer trend in local pubs, there was a mighty haul of the darker ales which are my favourite style of all.  But, I tend to get confused about what the differences are between a stout, a porter and a dark winter ale.  I just know how to drink them and enjoy them! So what makes them different?  Well it seems that there is plenty of discussion about whether or not stouts and porters are actually any different from each other.  As Wikipedia puts it "their history is intertwined".  The difference between stouts and porters also seems to be one of the most often asked beer related questions typed into Google, and there are plenty of answers.  The most comprehensive and well researched accessible story probably comes from the beer writer Martyn Cornell's blog. Basically, back in brewing history, stout began life as a stronger variety of porter, with porter being considered of better quality and being the generic brew.  But, over the centuries, stout has became the most widely brewed and enduring recipe, particularly as it went on to be mass produced (e.g. Guinness), and changed to become sweeter and meet modern tastes.  So by the post war period, roles were reversed such that stout was considered to be the generic brew and porter now looked upon as a type of stout.  The Whitbread recipe books (some of these old formulas are still available) show that recipes were very similar at one point in time, with a divergence coming during the mid-nineteenth century.  The main difference between stout and porter, as the table below shows, relates to the amount of wort drawn off a given quantity of malt: less water was used for mashing stouts so they would be stronger.

Source: from Ron Pattison's blog - http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk 

So coming along to the position today, we see that the traditional distinctions between the brews which originated in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries are no longer in keeping with what is being produced by contemporary breweries   Porters and stouts today don't really differ in terms of ABV and both can be weaker or stronger. Perhaps there is a more general difference in the pattern of flavours and tastes.  By and large, and critics still argue of course about whether it is legitimate or relevant to characterise things this way, stouts are sweeter to taste, a bit more bitter/dry to finish, with porters being slightly more complex, and more roasted.  One thing is for certain though, and that is both stouts and porters are coming back by popular demand, and more are available now than have been for a long time.

So, how then, having bottomed out the mystery of stouts and porters, do winter dark ales fit into the picture .... if at all??  Sometimes, for me and my palate at least, there seems to be some overlap. Most winter ales are "ruby" in nature, but some are even darker and more porter-like in style.  Winter ales are also called 'old ales' and 'strong ales' because they too generally have a higher alcohol content as a stout might have.  As I explained in my Christmas beer blog, winter ales have a long tradition in Britain, some recipes going back a few hundred years, they are seasonal beers which are higher in alcohol (typically 6-10%), sweeter, and more strongly flavoured with perhaps more dark and black barleys above the base of pale and amber malts.  They are a traditional answer to manage the cold, wet short days of winter and revel in the various winter festivals of December.

Differences between stouts, porters and winter ales

I suppose the next topic to raise is the ever growing variety of stouts and porters, just as confusing! There are hybrid styles coming onto the market now too, with different brewing traditions in different countries using different approaches and ingredients for products being labelled with the same style.

Popular varieties of stout and porter

So here's my list of those stouts, porters and winter ales I've tried so far this winter. They range in flavour and ABV strength, and in ease of availability.  I can only comment that I didn't ever meet a darker ale I didn't like!

Drinks ....... it's a long list this one ....

STOUTS

1. Wye Valley, Dorothy Goodbody's Wholesome Stout (4.6%)
Reactions
Emotional: A straight yummy yummy mummy
Critical: Full bodied warming and rich stout with smokey chocolate and coffee flavours all rolled up together. Full texture too. Very enjoyable.

2. Brains, Jack Black, Oatmeal Stout (4.3%)
Reactions
Emotional:
Critical: Light and easy to drink. Lots of chocolate malt. Carbonation lifting everything. Nice warm toasted malt aftertaste.

3. Marstons, Oyster Stout (4.5%)
Reactions
Emotional: Not an oyster in sight!
Critical: A great easy drinking stout, fairly well carbonated, with a medium degree of flavour treacle hints. I like to drink this with lavabread, mackerel, or kippers! Nothing better in my world this beer and food combination.

4. Whittingtons, Stray Cat Stout (4.4%)
Reactions
Emotional: I liked this. Plain but good.
Critical: I’m not sure if I am allowed think it tastes very much like Guinness  There is a very strong toasted malt flavour that finishes in a bitter roundness. The texture is velvety when you allow the strong carbonation to settle and produce a thick head.

5. Yeovil, Stout Hearted (4.3%)
Reactions
Emotional:
Critical: Mild textures and flavours, although somehow makes me think Porter rather than Stout in overall character.  Rounded, small malt, vague taste of milky chocolate at the finish.  Pretty refined.

6. Desnoes and Geddes, Dragon Stout (7.5%)
Reactions
Emotional: Better than imagined ....
Critical: A light and carbonated stout which is a little bit on the sweet side for me. Easy drinking for a beginner of dark beers.

7. Whitstable, Oyster Stout (4.5%)
Reactions
Emotional: I'm a fan.  Give me more!
Critical: Smokey toasted mocha coffee flavours. Lovely texture smooth and satisfying. Medium bodied with just the right amount of carbonation. Made me crave some smokey seafood alongside.

8. Rhymney, Dark (4%)
Reactions
Emotional: Surprising!
Critical: This is really quaffable and very enjoyable. Medium bodied, light carbonation, very chocolate malt as the predominant flavour with hints of vanilla and coal smoke. Nice one!

9. Belhaven Black (4.2%)
Reactions
Emotional:
Critical: Thin off white head. Rounded flavour and medium body producing a mild stout which is easy to drink but perhaps a little low on complexity or strength of taste.

10. TSA, Glencoe Wild Oat Stout (4.5%)
Reactions
Emotional: Smoooooooth
Critical: It has a lovely smooth and velvety texture. A gentle flavour, slightly toasty and smokey, but a little more doughy, with slight vanilla.

11. Hunters, Black Jack (6%)
Reactions
Emotional: Crikey!!  and Good Grief!!
Critical: Goodness this stout has pineapple juice in it!  The juice makes it light and very drinkable with an elderflower flavour - no hint of pineapple to taste. Stout style malts and vague coffee build up with every mouthful.

12. Brains, Original Stout (4.1%)
Reactions
Emotional: Sturdy, steady stout. I know where I am with this.
Critical: Lots of chocolate and vanilla, with medium roast.  Light malts.  Easy drinking.

13. Williams Brothers, March of the Penguins (4.9%)
Reactions
Emotional: OK .... more of that thanks
Critical: Medium bodied, smooth texture, head thinnish. Tastes of toasted roasted malts, chocolate and liquorice. Interesting and worth getting again.

14. Cairngorm, Black Gold (4.4%)
Reactions
Emotional: Yummy ..... we love winter!

Critical: Sweet and comforting malts breaking into stronger molasses and then finishing with a hint of chocolate.

PORTERS

15. Samuel Smith, Taddy Porter (5%)
Reactions
Emotional: Not bad!
Critical: Dark and moody. Toast and roasted coffee. Thick liquorice, after hints of chocolate. Smokey dry bitter finish. Very interesting.

16. Wickwar, Station Porter (6.1%)
Reactions
Emotional: Nice one!
Critical: This was a light and airy porter, lively carbonation, with a host of flavours starting with slightly smoky chocolate vanilla malts and finishing with a dry shortbread biscuit.

17. Tomos Watkins, Cwrw Gaeaf (4.7%)
Reactions
Emotional: I think this is a Porter even though its not listed as such
Critical: Great colour, ruby red, nice head, and an immediate grainy, doughy, malty warmth and depth.

18. Box Steam Brewery, Funnel Blower (4.5%)
Reactions
Emotional: Fantastic!!
Critical: Pours to give a deep head, and a bit of treacley aroma. Carbonation medium to give an easy to drink pint. Flavors begin with toasted rye bread, and break into bourbon vanilla and smooth chocolate. Ends with clean bitterness.

19. Celtic Experience, Celtic Dark Age (4%)
Reactions

Emotional: Described as a mild in style I thought this more of a Porter which is why I place it here.

Critical: Not bad at all! Lots of velvet texture, loads and loads of chocolate malt (yumyum) which has hints of vanilla, and then toasty caramel and hints of strong coffee on the finish.

20. Williams Brothers, Midnight Sun (5.6%)
Reactions
Emotional: Fantastic!!
Critical: Great beer. I love this smooth texture, rich flavours including a hint of spice and gingerbread. Clean finish with a bit of roasted cereal to end.

WINTER, DARK and OLD ALES



21. Brains, Dark (3.5%)
Reactions
Emotional:I liked this.

Critical: Lovely dark colour with smooth cream head. Medium bodied, toasted malts with hints of chocolate and hazelnut. Short crisp finish.

22. Hunter's, Full Bore (8%)
Reactions
Emotional: NICE! VERY NICE!
Critical: High alcohol content, but neither too sweet nor too heavy. Had this with Christmas dinner, so went well with rich meat and heavy fruit pudding! Echoed the raisins, slight hints of treacle, but also a nice bitter edge and clean bitter finish.

23. Robinsons, Old Tom (8.5%)
Reactions
Emotional:
Critical: Hailed as a great ale, this is very enjoyable. Rich and mellow with hints of fudge and barley wine. Clean ending.

24. Robinsons, Tom and Berry (4.6%)
Reactions
Emotional: Like drinking a very upmarket chocolate bar
Critical: Nice and chocolatey with really strong delicious berry fruits.  I thought this was great but others may find the fruit too much.  Not sure this is a session beer, could end up being too cloying.

25. Old Diary, Snow Top (6%)
Reactions
Emotional: Bloody fantastic!!
Critical: Rich, complex flavours, very full bodied with deep plum fruitiness hidden below barley wine richness, finishes with bitter citrus hops, and the tiniest hint of chocolate.

26. Traquair, Bear Ale (5%)
Reactions

Emotional: Surprising!

Critical: The aroma is really inviting of warm kitchens and bread making. The flavour is rich and surprisingly dry and bitter to finish. A solid bitter ale. Likely to sneak up and thump if used as a session.

27. Otter, Otter Head (5.8%)

Reactions

Emotional: Close your eyes and hum mmmmmmmmm

Critical: It has to be the quality of the water filtered down through sandstone that gives this beer such a great crystal clean flavour. Chocolate bitter sweetness and barley wine warmth and depth. Quite a sharp green hop citrus ending that lingers on the palate. Quick to make you squiffy!

28. Orkney Brewery, Dark Island (4.6%)

Reactions

Emotional: Worthwhile

Critical: Lovely smooth texture, velvety and comforting. Lots of doughy yeast and malt with a feint flavour of Horlicks. Finishes with plumby fruit.

29. Whittingtons, A Winter's Tail (5.1%)

Reactions

Emotional:  I liked this.

Critical:It’s not the most amazing old ale style beer, but it can pack a punch because it is easy to drink as a session beer. A little bit hazelnutty, little bit of bitter chocolate.

Kentish pub crawl: Batts, balls and bowls

Location: Holidays in south, north and west Kent

Moodmusic:  ..................... 

Today's memories and soundbites
HooHum .... back to work after time away.  It's hard.  I'm dreaming of beers drunk. I'm not too sure why I noticed this really, but whilst away I seemed to have been surrounded by pubs that somehow had names related to cricket.  Sporting related pub names and signs have always been popular and obviously Kent has a famous county cricket team, firmly connected with Canterbury, so the Bat and Ball opposite the cricket ground there was expected, similarly the Cricketers in the center of the city, the Kent Cricketers in Hawkhurst, the Cricketers Inn at Meopham.  But what about the Timber Batts? What's that mean then .... lumps of lumber .... wooden insulation supports .... or cricket batts?  And what about the Bowl at Hastingleigh, punch bowl or bowl the ball?  The beer was good in any event and I managed to benefit from the upwelling of micro-breweries in Kent which has seen a revival of old breweries in the heart of the ancient hop belt and the old English beer producing landscapes.

Window of the Cricketers, Canterbury

Drinks

The Compasses, Crundale
1. Sunny Republic, Beach Blonde (3.7%)
Reactions
Emotional: Maybe I am drinking this at the wrong time of year?
Critical: A more and more popular style of light blonde/gold beer. Very gentle flavours.  Vague pineapple bubblegum?  Some wash of hops.  Will try this again in the sunshine.

2. Shepherd and Neame, Cobb Tree Old Ale (4%)
Reactions
Emotional: Already forgotten
Critical: I can't find any reference to this on the Shep's site or elsewhere, other than the YouTube video.  It was a non-controversial bitter, of medium body and flavour, that left little lasting impression.

The Rising Sun, Kingsdown
3. Youngs, London Gold (4%)
Reactions
Emotional: Easy 
Critical: This is a plain and easy to drink, very, very quaffable session brew.  There is a very light flavour of hops with a little bit of lemony lemonade citrus.  A beer for the new beer drinker or non-regular beer drinker, or somebody wishing to consume lots on a sunny day!

The Bowl, Hastingleigh
4. The Old Diary, Snowtop (6%)
Reactions
Emotional: Bloody fantastic!! 
Critical: A porter in waiting.  Rich, complex flavours, very full bodied with deep plum fruityness hidden below barley wine richness, finishes with bitter citrus hops, and the tiniest hint of chocolate.

5. Gadds Ramsgate Brewery, Little Cracker (5%)
Reactions
Emotional: Not bad.   
Critical: Great colour.  Medium bodied.  Easy to drink.  Light spice.  Small hint of fruit. Sour cherries at the end?  They sell this in bottles so I'll get some more.

6. Hop Deamon, Skrimshander IPA (4.5%)
Reactions
Emotional:  Yummy ... Kentish
Critical: Could be a session beer by taste which belies the medium strength, so a little bit on the dangerous side maybe?  Makes me think of Kent when I drink it, just like the brewers description, so I guess the flavours of traditional hop varieties are coming through in crisp profusion.  It has that sharp citrus clean hoppy aftertase on the finish.  Really really nice.

The Barn, Crundale
7. Whitstable, Oyster Stout (4.5%)
Reactions
Emotional: I'm a fan!
Critical: Somkey toasted mocha coffee flavours.  Lovely texture smooth and satisfying. Medium bodied with just the right amount of carbonation. Made me crave some smokey seafood alongside.

Kentish trip London view
quick diversion into town

The Shard.  Loving the old, with the new and the newest ....

Wierd and wonderful: Glow-worm wine cures drunkeness

Location:  A Dictionary of Sussex Folk Medicine

Drink: Glow-worm wine.
Although I know of many British folk remedies involving plants, those which involve animals are a suprise. Glow-worms, the little beetles that shine a faint greenish light in wet and marshy places, habitats where the larvae can find and feed on slugs and snails, feature as a key ingredient in a 16th and 17th Sussex cure for drunkenness and lust!  Brilliant! The green glow from the "firefly" or glow worm not only acts to attract mates, but also serves as a warning to predators that it tastes bitter and horrid.  What better ingredient to use to create a brew likely enough to dampen your ardour and put you off wine for life!

Recipe 1:
Gather your glow worms.  Macerate.  Add to wine.

Recipe 2:
Gather your glow worms.  Add to wine. Distill.

Supply to "those unclean lechers" to spare wife, widow and maid "from lust not fit to be mentioned".  Leonard Mascall 1627.