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 185: July 4, 2015
Diary entry:
Today is Independence Day!
I’m in London, where the celebration of American Independence is not celebrated, per se, but that’s not even the independence I’m referring to.
Today, I am free from my self-imposed restriction on visiting Buckingham Palace during the Changing of the Guard!
For 25 years, over at least four subsequent trips to London, I have been unable to attend the ceremony at Buckingham Palace, due to a pact I made with my older sister back in 1990!
You see, back in 1990, we were on a school trip to London, and went to see the Changing of the Guard.
But missed it!
We had to meet the rest of our group, who were attending Easter Mass at Westminster Abbey, at the bus at noon. While waiting for the changing of the guard to begin, my sister looked at her watch, and said “Oh No, it’s 11:45, we have to go now!” So we did. And then waited for an hour at the bus stop, missing the changing of the guard, because she misread her watch and it was only 10:45 when we left.
We made a pact, then and there, that we would see the changing of the guard together the next time we were both in London together…an event that did not come together for 25 years!
So good-bye Changing of the Guard monkey! Get off my back!
Oh yeah, we also spent the whole evening at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making Of Harry Potter, which I must say, if you have a chance to go, Go! It’s pretty darned cool, especially if you liked the Harry Potter books, or especially the movies!
The Beer:
Name: Smog Rocket
Style: English Strong Ale
Producer: Beavertown
Alcohol content: 6.3%
Bottle size: 0.33l can
Purchased from: McColl’s near Notting Hill gate station.
I picked this one up at a shop along the street near the Notting Hill Gate tube station, along with the Notting Hill Summer by Moncada Brewery, which was also quite a nice beer! It was a hard choice which beer to choose as the beer of the night, as the Notting Hill Summer was really quite good for a summer drinker, with only 3.2% ABV.
The Smog Rocket was just more my style. A nice mix of smoky and bitter. Very good flavors. I really enjoyed this beer.
Commercial Description:
Smoked Porter. Inspired by smoke stacks and steam engines of Mordor/ The Black Country. A nod back to the smokey Porters and Stouts of the Industrial Revolution, invented in Shoreditch. One of the first recipes that made it from our 23 litre home brew kit.
Malt: Simpsons Best, Smoke, Caramalt, Crystal, Oats, Munich, Brown, Chocolate & Black.
Hops: Magnum & Chinook.
2 comments
What a delightful name for a beer… lol.
But at least it was a delightful beer. 🙂