This post is a part of the 2015 New Beer Every Day Beer Diary Challenge, #ottbeerdiary. Over the course of 2015, I will be trying a new beer every day. Please read the background in the link above, and enjoy reading about the most recently tasted beers below. If you’d like to join the challenge as well, let me know in the comments below, and be sure to check out Grown-up Travel Guide and his #grownupbeerdiary, where Andy Higgs came up with the diary format in use below. You can catch up on all of our posts as part of the challenge under the tag ottbeerdiary.
Day 183: July 2, 2015
Diary entry:
Done with travel for a while? I think not!
After three weeks in Spain, Andorra, Portugal and France, and then two weeks in Italy, it just makes sense that I’m off today to London, where I’m spending a few days with my sisters and niece, and finally peeling a 25-year-old monkey off my back.
Had a reservation for the Holiday Valet parking service at Schiphol, which I must say was very convenient. I booked it back in March already, so the price was definitely not bad, either! (and no, this endorsement was in no way sponsored!)
Flew KLM into Heathrow, an airport I have not been to since 1990, on my first ever trip to the UK, when that evil monkey jumped onto my back in the first place. But that monkey will remain until Saturday, so I’ll tell more about that then.
I decided against the Heathrow Express and took the Picadilly line into town instead. I was in no hurry, and had plenty of time to meet the owner of the apartment my sisters had rented so I could pick up the keys for the weekend. They selected a two-bedroom apartment in Notting Hill, which I must say, was pretty cool! It was located just off the Portabello Road, right at the Portabello Road Market. I made it to the apartment, met Jonathan, the owner who handed over the key and showed me around the place, and then I was off to start wandering for a few hours as my sisters and niece weren’t arriving until later that night.
First stop…food! And right outside of the apartment on Portabello Road was George’s Fish & Chips Portobello Road, which has quite a reputation and is a favorite of chefs like Jamie Oliver, so of course I had to give it a shot!
https://instagram.com/p/4pI-whEbaq/?taken-by=metsbwd
I spent the next few hours wandering the area, finding a couple of pubs that were supposed to have decent craft beer, and eventually wandered back to the apartment to wait for the arrival of the others before preparing for a day of sightseeing in the morning.
The Beer:
Name: Gentleman’s Wit
Style: Witbier
Producer: Camden Town Brewery
Alcohol content: 4.3%
Bottle size: 0.568l draft – Imperial Pint
Purchased from: The Metropolitan in Notting Hill, London
Stopped by The Castle on Portabello Road for a couple of Happy Hour pints, all of which were decent, but nothing all that outstanding.
I was wandering over towards The Union Tavern when I saw a sign that said free beer and free pork roast. Well, I missed the free 100 pints. But I did get in on the pork roast and some crackling. With a Camden Gentleman’s Wit. The beer was quite nice as well, with lemon citrus flavor. Drinking this out on the patio, it was a good evening!
Commercial Description:
A Belgian brew with an English accent; classic white beer spiked with lemon and fragrant with bergamot.
Fragrant lemon and bergamot, a smooth, full body and a spicy finish.
It started as a one-off brew: Imagine how good a wit would taste with slow-roasted lemons giving their caramelised pithy sweetness and sharp citrus juice, plus the floral freshness of bergamot. We loved it so we brewed it again. And again. And now it’s brewed all the time.
3 comments
It would be illegal for them to serve you 0.5L on draught. That’s an imperial pint you’ve got there: 0.568L, minus where the head used to be. Gentleman’s Wit normally presents better than that too.
Thanks, corrected the size. Was a little surprised how little head there was, this hadn’t been sitting more than a second or two before I took the photo…
It certainly looks different to the one I got, but hey, that’s craft right?