Love Good Beer

The Duke of Cambridge Organic Pub

Monday, August 30th, 2010 | Beer, Pubs | 1 Comment

The Duke of Cambridge is quickly becoming my favorite pub in our new neighbourhood of Angel Islington.  It’s a bit off the beaten path, but it came highly recommended by both Yelp and Lonely Planet, so we had to check it out.  I’m glad we did because I really enjoy it’s cozy atmosphere and tasty treats.  It’s a completely organic pub, as in every ingredient in all the food and every drink they serve is 100% organic.  I don’t particularly care about the organicness, but I do appreciate the care and attention that goes into their menu.  You can taste the love and it is delicious.  I’ve noticed that the majority of London pubs will have five generic European Lagers on tap and then three casks of similar not terribly exciting British ales.  The Duke of Cambridge breaks the mold by serving interesting beers on tap, cask, and in bottles, with no generic macro brews to speak of.  It’s rare to find stout, porter, and even English lager available in pubs here, and so I especially enjoy the Freedom Dark Lager and both the stout and porter from Pitfields.  While I respect the organic stance the pub takes, what I really like is the overall quality of the food and drink.  Combined with the quieter, relatively hipster free locale and the comfortable and inviting interior, the Duke is my new favorite.

Pitfields Porter at the Duke of Cambridge

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: duke of cambridge, freedom dark lager, islington, london, organic, pitfields, Pub

The Pub

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 | Beer, Pubs | 2 Comments

Samz Neighbourhood Pub

Pubs in concept are great – providing a warm friendly environment with good beer and affordable hearty fare.  But I think I like the idea of a pub more than I actually like being at a pub – this is a problem.  To be honest I have never felt very at home in a pub, unless I am accompanied by a large group of friends.   I wish I could say I was that guy who  pulls up a bar stool and becomes instant friends with his fellow beer drinkers , but I’m not that guy.  I am more of the quite guy in the corner swirling and sniffing his beer, slowly savoring it’s flavour as if it were wine.

Please note, I consider brewpubs and pubs significantly different from each other.  I love Brewpubs, but consider them to me more of a restaurant with  a focus on beer than a pub.  This is not a criticism of either pubs or brewpubs, it is merely an observation.

In an attempt to change my attitude, my wife and I made a point of  visiting the different pubs in the Langley/Surrey area.  I have a tendency to bite off more than I can chew, this new pub challenge is a classic example of that and we only made it out to two different pubs; The Fox and Hound and the Murrayville  Town Pub.  But after sitting idle for over a year this challenge has  been revived and with more passion and vigor then ever.  Last Sunday my wife and I were far to lazy to make lunch – after deciding that generic chain restaurants were not going to satisfy our hunger  we ended up at Samz Neighbourhood Pub just outside of Lanlgey’s downtown core.  I cannot say that Samz was anything special nor was it terrible, it was just a pleasantly simple pub.

I truly believe that I am missing out on what could be a great pub culture in Langley.  Sure the beer at most of Langley’s pubs may be bland and the food is often boring, but I don’t think that is the point.  A pub is at its best when  filled with friends – I hate to say this, but beer and food are not the focal point of a good pub – its the people.  A pub filled with cask’s of rare hand pumped ale and platters of slowly barbecued pulled pork is nothing without good friends.  This is not excusing pubs that serve low quality food and drink – who wants to spend an evening with friends over bad tasting food and bland beer.  Good people deserve good food, it is as simple as that.

I am going to be making a point of grabbing lunch, dinner or just an afternoon beer at Pubs in the Langley/Surrey area.  But unlike my previous failed attempt, I am going to do my best to get a whole group of people to join me, or at least try to.  I am hoping to find some hidden gems in the Fraser Valley and will try to plan a pub night within the next two weeks.  I am hoping that If we get enough people out on a semi regular basis we may be able to encourage local pub owners to slowly replace the some of their standard macro brew with a growing number of micro brewed beer.  Expect an invite shortly.  If anyone has any pubs they would like to recommend please post the name and location in the comments section.

Erik

Tags: Brewpub, Fox and Hound, Murrayville Town Pub, Pub, Samz Neighbourhood Pub