Erdinger Weissbier

500ml brown bottle. Vintage 1990. Dark amber. Soft, watery texture. Iced tea and peach flavour. Quite mild. Hints of sweetness. Pleasant soft carbonation, like fresh spring water. This is a subtle, soft, refreshing and agreeable drink, but does lack character and impact.

Kenya Tusker (1991)

500ml brown botle. Vintage 1991. Clean, dry and refreshing lager. Age hasn't added much character. Easy drinking. Some biscuit notes. Soft. Very little residual biterness. OK.

The beer commemorates the memory of the owner of Kenya Brewery, George Hurst, who died in 1923, the year after he founded the company. It is called Tusker because he was killed by a charging elephant during a hunt.

Mythos (2004)

500ml green bottle. Vintage 2005. This has matured nicely. Good fat juicy malt. Creamy and wheaty. Pale malt flavour - sweet biscuit. Hops have diminished to a faint bitter dust in the finish. All round yummy. Much better than fresh Mythos.

Barre Brau Pilsener (1992)

330ml brown bottle. Vintage 1992. Bready lager with a malty sweetness. Hops have broken down to a little bitter dust in the finish. The malt is attractive with a very pleasing brown bread flavour. 

Brewed by  Ernst Barre of Lübbecke, Germany, who formed in 1842.

Courage Two Hundred Years 1987

1987 vintage. Like rusted tinned peaches in alcohol.
January 2010

Courage Brewery was founded in London by John Courage in 1787 - this beer was brewed in 1987 to commemorate two hundred years of brewing. The original Anchor Brewery near Tower Bridge was closed in 1981, so this beer would likely have been brewed at the company's Berkshire Brewery in Reading. In 1987 the company was owned by Elders Limited, the Australian company that owns Fosters, then in 1995 Scottish & Newcastle took it over. In 2007 the rights to the Courage brand were bought by Wells & Young's Brewery, and in 2010 the Berkshire Brewery was closed down.

The original Anchor Brewery has been converted into flats, though the brewery tap still exists as a Sam Smith's pub, as does the brewery tap for Courage's second London brewery, also called Anchor, the Anchor Bankside. A very worthwhile pub crawl can be conducted between these two pubs.

The beer has a good balance of fudge and dark berry fruits. It is soft and delicious.
September 2014

Ridley's Old Bob (1990)

The original Old Bob, brewed at Ridleys. Good toffee notes, but also a smattering of cardboard. So a mixed bag.

Lees The Labologists Society (Label of The Year Competition) 1989

The Label of The Year Competition is organised by The Labologists Society - people who have an interest in, and collect beer labels. In 1989 it was won by Lees who made this commemorative beer (and label). The competition is a means of having fun and raising money for charity. Each year a different brewery wins, and on average £2,000 is raised for charity.


The beer is a light, clean toffee accented pale ale. It's pleasant with nice fudge and licorice flavours, and a honey sweet finish.