Just like honey

Soft landing: a safety net of a beer that so
far seems to be working well

Some days things just fall into place, without any planning, and there's nothing you can do about it. Not that you'd want to, of course. It's nice when things work out well. 

Today has been one of those days, despite the inauspicous start waking up on the sofa with a badger's arse in your mouth. For badger's arse read 'red wine fur'. The loss of a few crucial wickets in the third test didn't help matters much either.

But it was uphill all the way since then. Couple of coffees kicked things off and all at once my needle hit the groove. Wandered to the tube station, whereupon the train arrived. Drove back from New Cross along clear streets. Found a parking space right outside the Kernel Brewery where I was doing my Christmas beer shopping. Picked up some great bottles there and at Brew By Numbers.

Drove home along eerily deserted streets, found a parking space right outside the door and have since lunched well. As I write this, I'm sipping on some Johnnie Walker Black Label freebies brought along by Andy, who is over from Canada bearing north American beer gifts and kicking the back doors of this weekend right in.

All this and I've managed to finally pay my outstanding VAT bill as well, so the bailiffs won't be calling round before Christmas. The only thing I haven't managed to do is get to the Caught By The River Christmas Market, but time slipped away too much. There will be others.

Tonight sees us head out to Siege Mentality at The Castle in Aldgate, a down-at-heel scruffy corner pub that allows the good DJs of Purple Radio to play records loudly till the very early hours. Tomorrow will be a struggle, but I'm not even thinking of that right now.

In fact, the only blot on the day's landscape is the beer I pulled out. A honey beer. Up there with Christmas beers on the list of 'stuff I could happily do without'. Fortunately I have a partner in crime with which to share it/on whom to palm most of it off should it be necessary.

As I said. It's all falling into place.

Beer: Honey beer
Strength: A piddling 4%
Smell: Like a Victorian urinal out of the bottle. Really. Much, much sweeter in the glass.
Tasting notes: My fears have not been realised. And it's lovely to have your expectations dashed for a change. Obviously thought this would be cloyingly sweet and barely drinkable, but some bright spark clearly decided they were going to make a mead crossed with pure hop extract, to the extent it's actually considerably better than the sum of its parts. Kind of reminds me of St Peters Pale Ale. It's a genuine pool ball in a velvet sock of a beer, weedling its way into your good books then coshing you round the back of your head while you're not looking. Then it's off, not outstaying its welcome and disappearing into the night.
Session factor: Higher than I imagined and at 4% it could easily be slugged back with fair abandon.
Gut reaction: For the first time ever, I really don't know. Not too gassy, light and hopefully unlikely to trouble the innards. Time will tell.

Actual beer: Skinner's Heligan Honey