Ales by work

The Walrus & Carpenter, City of London, EC3R 8BU

This pub literally on the door step of my work seems to be frequented far too often by us simply because of its proximity. Saying that they do serve a reasonable number of house and guest ales on the pumps. First of all we tried a pint of Shepherd Neame Spitfire but didn't improve over the pint we had last week in the Jamaican Wine House, after that we had a lovely pint of The Caledonian Breweries Deuchars beer, so much smoother than the previous pint this slipped down easily. But it didn't stop us from trying something different so we went for the seasonal Ryedale Winter's Tale ale - slightly dark with bit more bitterness, it was nice but we returned to the Deuchars after this. It's not a bad pub to have right outside work but gonna try move further afield more often.

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Couple in the City

Jamaica Wine House, City of London, EC3V 9DS

Quite hidden and even though both of us had been before; we went down the wrong alleyway until we recognised a couple of corners. This really is a slightly historical place having been the first coffee shop in London and mentioned in Samuel Pepys diary. Obviously vastly different now it's a strangely laid out place with high wooden partitions making separate areas but so outdated now that the place seems far too cramped and busy everywhere. The service is pretty slow but at least they're owned by Shepherds Neame Brewery so their own beers were on tap.

We had a pint of Master Brew to start off, a light bitter rather than ale, it did go down well but poor head retention and unremarkable flavour didn't mean we'd stay on this. After that we tried the supermarket favourite Spitfire, this was very much better although head still sparse. What it did have was a fantastically fresh fruit and slightly citrus flavour which balanced perfectly with the forceful hops. Its not a pub I'll rush back to at this time of evening again.

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