Today we started our journey from London to Leeds for the European Beer Bloggers Conference 2012.

Day 1 was a relatively easy 55 miles to Milton Keynes but tomorrow will be trickier; 100 miles to Youlgreave in the Peak District, just a stones throw from Thornbridge Brewery. We’ll definitely have built up a thirst by the time we reach Leeds!

Cracked open a bottle of Fullers Vintage (2000) for my first ever Open It!  It was aquired during the Fullers Brewery tour during the Sunday tasting seeion at the Brewery as part of the European Beer Bloggers Conference last May and has been siting under my bed ever since.

Today was a perfect occasion for opening the Beer having just run the Tunbridge Wells half marathon.  The 8.5% ale went straight to my head after running that and gave that lovely euphoric feeling that is so relaxing.

I remember drinking this beer at the Beer Bloggers Conference and comparing it against the later years versions.  The 2000 ediation is certainly one of the best.  It gives off a rich fruity aroma with hints of alcohol.  Sipping this beer is heavenly and so many rich  flavours come through such as malty, rich fruits and smooth toffee.  Its a lovely full bodied beer with a sweet mouthfeel.

A good celebration beer for a well run half marathon!

Another excuse for why I haven’t been blogging recently is that I took a 8 week trip to NZ. Its an absolutely amazing country…..and the beer aint bad either!

Some beer highlights:

- Epic Pale Ale (awesome flavours, majorly hoppy….what you would expect from Epic. Ive seen some Epic beers for sale in the UK – buy them).

- Epic Lager(one od the best, if not the best lager I have ever had! Hoppy flavour and perfect for just grabbing out the fridge and swigging, wish you could get this in the UK….Especially now that 77 lager is discontinued)

- Macs Brew Bars(cool bars with a great selection of class beers all brewed by Macs….Cool like Brewdog….but the chilled out version without the ridiculous beer).

- Ease of getting locally micro-brewed beers in the supermarket.

- Wanaka Beer Works(some award winning beers here…and Wanaka is so beautiful!).

- Boundary Bouncing Czech(Nice Pilsner from just outside Wellington).

- Plenty of hoppy pilsners available (Montieths Pilsner, Macs Hop Rocker, Bouncing Czech….the list could go on).

And thats just a taster!  Here is some pictures of some lovely NZ beers.

Its good to see pump clips of past ales a pub has had.  This is a very busy bar at the Harp in Covent Garden…

Tried out a new steak marinade using Hardcore IPA, very successful, you get the nice powerful full flavours of Hardcore IPA along with the steak. Goes well with a nice glass of it too.

Based on a couple other beer marinades I found on the internet, used:

Half cup Harcore IPA, 1 tsp dark brown suger,  2 cloves garlic,  little bit of pepper,  fresh rosemary

Left for 12 hours. Tasty!

Stumbled across the Coolest Beer World Records the other day, even though I appreciate the taste of beer im always impressed by people downing a pint, espeically in 0.45 sescs!  Ive updated and checked them as some were out of date:

1. World Record for Downing a Beer – 0.45 secs for a pint (held by Peter Dowdswell- he also holds several other beer drinking records, including drinking 5 pints of beer updside down in 29 seconds!!)

2. World Record for Beer Glasses Carrying – 20 glasses (I Gernam woman did have a go for 21 in 2008, but failed)

3. World’s Bitterest Beer -  Pitstop Brewery created the eight per cent beer The Hop with 323 International Bittering Units (Mikeller X Hop Juice does have a Theoretical IBU of 2007 though!)

4. World’s Strongest Beer – 55% alcohol (Most know what this is, as Brewdog love to talk about it, but if you dont its Brewdog End of History)

5. World’s Biggest House made of Beer Mats – 300,000 beer coasters….stupid!

7. World Record for Most Beer Pints Balanced on the Head – 237 pints….stupid!

8. World’s Most expensive Bottle of Beer - I thought this might be Brewdog End of History but actually its seems to be a 12-litre bottle of Vieille Bon Secours ale which has been stored for the last 10 years and has an alcoholic volume of 8 per cent!  £700 a bottle.

9. World’s Largest Glass of Beer – 8 ft pint of Guinness

10. World’s longest-serving bartender – 77 years.  Angelo Cammarata retired in 2009 though. The 95-year-old bartender has been serving customers at Cammarata’s in Pittsburgh.

If you know better let us know!

Sat at my desk drinking Kernal Black IPA, lovely hoppy flavour, nice and smooth.  8.4/10..

Had this one as part of our work Friday ‘Beer Club’.  ‘A club for beer lovers’.  Each Friday we hit Utobeer and buy bottles (depending upon members preferences) of quality beers.  Memberships £5, with your first beer free, subsequent beers are charged at cost. 

Brilliant idea, a morale raiser!

We shall be attending  Brewdog Burns Night at the White Horse next week.

We will let you know how it goes!

 p.s. we won’t be cycling there.

We will be re-vamping the website in the next couple of weeks, stay tuned for the new and improved pedallingforpints.com.

 The revamp will include beer and pub reviews as well as our everyday shenanigans involving the London beer scene.

 Be sure to keep a look out for us, on and off the bike.

 Join the Rev-Ale-ution!