The Monkees meet the MC5 in a glass

That’s nice, Video of the Week (page 16 opposite Pete Brown’s column) in the Morning Advertiser for Nathan Nolan, an actor who parades drink reviews under the title of Mr Drink ’n’ Eat. I often taste beer with him and have been doing it for a couple  of years now and it’s thoroughly enjoyable — the MA has picked one I did with him recently. As you might guess from watching this I have no desire in going on TV, I’m a writer not a puppet as Lawrence Camley said to Alan Partridge when he was asked what the capital of Kenya was (it’s bloody Nairobi by the way), I just like talking about beer, tasting beer and seeing what it has to say to me. In this case we tasted Stone’s Cali-Belgique IPA — the Monkees meets the MC5 in a glass was my conclusion. But then I have always loved the Monkees, the MC5 and Stone. Oh and the beer really goes well with Nepalese curry.

San Devizes

I don’t really do news on this blog and I certainly don’t do exclusives, so apologies if you the reader (all three of you) have already seen this one: Mitch Steele from Stone has flown into the UK to brew a beer at Wadworth’s for the forthcoming Wetherspoon beer festival. Are these things collaborations or is it more of a case of an American brewer trying his hand at a cask beer at a traditional Brit brewery? Whatever the answer I like the idea of a hybrid love child of Arrogant Bastard meets Old Henry (or whatever emerges from San Devizes, as it is now to be called) and look forward to trying it in the autumn. You’ve got to hand it to Spoons, they do come up with the goods.