For those that are interested in the cycle route from London to Leeds for the European Beer Bloggers Conference, here it is:

London to Milton Keynes: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/180639623

Milton Keynes to Youlgrave: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/180639646

Youlgrave to Leeds: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/180639660

Great ride without many hills.  Total distance of 210 miles.

On Friday night we cycled from London to Paris….here is a little summary.

Left London at 4.30.  Cycled the 60 miles to Newhaven.  Got the 11pm ferry.  Got no sleep on the ferry.  Got to Dieppe at 4am (French time).  Cycled the 120 miles to Paris.  Got to Eiffel Tower at 3.30 French time.   Went to hostel. Went out along Canal St Martin.  Drank lots of beer!  Got 11am eurostar back… went to Euston tap to round off the edges.

We didn’t really get to try any good French beers but we did have Demory Paris Pilsner.  It was ok, a bit watery though, not quite crisp enough either.  Refreshing though.  Mostly drank 1664.

Did at one point also get a ‘pint’ of Leffe, even though we never asked for a pint!

All in all, I would say English pubs definitely beat the French tabac.

On Wednesday we shall be cycling all the way up to Leeds for the European Beer Bloggers Conference…cant wait!

On Saturday we went to London Fields first brewery open day of 2012.  We had been to a fair few last year and were exited to see what had changed!

The brewery day seems a lot more organised now.  The location has changed to one of the larger areas under the railway arches at London Fields giving a larger bar area with more seating and more space for drinking, no more portaloos now either.  The stage for the music is now better located so everyone can see whats going on.  They have some really entertaining acts.  Before I got so drunk to remember who was playing I particularly liked  Lionie Evans.

In terms of the beer…still good.  the unfiltered lager was particular good, so was the Landlord.  The Pilsner however, not so good.  Had a very nasty chemically smell and taste was nasty.  Apparently there has been trouble sourcing the hops, which is a shame as this was a standout beer last year.

These events are awesome fun.  Everyone there seems to be having a great time.  By the end of the night it has a real party atmosphere.  Some lads were dancing away on the table (before one fell off).  A very fun and entertaining evening.  Cant wait for the next one (hopefully with some better weather).

We have heard that Camden Brewery are getting this sort of thing happening too every Friday.  Will have to check it out!

P.S.  Less than two weeks till European Beer Bloggers Conference!

Last night we went to the London Fields Brewery Event…and we loved it.  The event was held at the Brewery, just under the railway arch off London Fields and attracted a massive crowd (mostly 20-35 year olds) , had live music, BBQ and was basically a very very cool party.  We tried all the beers and were massively impressed!  Ians Landlord, the Lager and Love not War stood out.  The next event is set for 8th October.  Definately think that more brewerys should organise events like this if they can!

London Fields Brewery is hot on the heels of Camden Brewery in being the coolest Brewery in London.

As London Fields say on their website ‘All Set to Become East London Leading Brewery’

We are looking forward to having a laugh at this with the other 70 beer bloggers attending and drinking plenty of good beer!

2 beer events in London announced today, one day after the other! The first is the re-scheduled Japanese Craft Beer tasting at the White Horse in Putney. It’s free to attend but they will be asking for a donation on the night to the Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal…

A Celebration of Beers from the Land of the Rising Sun, Wednesday the 25th of May. Pouring commences at 7.30pm

White Horse, Parsons Green

And the day after is Euston Tap’s ‘big IPA festival’ on Thursday…

26th of may confirmed as our big IPA festival. Along with the launch of BrewDog AB06. Miss this night and you’ll regret it!!

Euston Tap, Twitter

Not much information on this but hopefully they’ll extend the festival to the weekend as I’m not sure how many beers we’ll get through on a school night.

Another bank holiday beer festival! This time at The Charles Lamb in Angel on the 28th and 29th May. Focusing on London breweries, it will feature Kernel, Redemption Meantime and more to be announced.

The beautiful letterpress poster looks like it’s done by A Two Pipe Problem. We recently bought a couple of beer-related prints from them which we’ll post soon.

No, this wasn’t matching Hip Hop with Beer (Brakspear Triple listening to Beastie Boys Triple Trouble). This was Mason and Taylor’s first festival celebrating single hop beers over the Easter weekend.

They had 34 different beers from across the UK showcasing 14 varieties of hops from around the world: Simcoe, Citra, Amarillo, Cascade, Nelson Sauvin, Bramling Cross, Columbus, Brewers Gold, Centennial, Green Bullet, Northdown, Sorachi Ace, Warrior and Bobek.

Unfortunately, it was a flying a visit and we only had time to try a couple of beers. M&T had done a great job setting up the festival in the basement bar with about 10 beers on at once, straight from the keg. There was a good turnout as well, despite it being blazing hot outside.

With this and Brewdog’s IPA Is Dead series, I think single hop beers are going to be popular this year.