OldManAles

Does more sport equal more beer?

2007-10-22T19:58:00.000Z

Over the weekend i've noticed something. Most of the pubs i've been going in seem to have a better selection of real ales on at the moment. I think this is due in some part to all the sport thats been on over the last month or so (football euro qualifiers, Rugby world cup and F1)

Most people seem to want to drink more traditional ales while watching Englishmen come second!

Upcomming Features

2007-09-17T18:49:00.000Z

We have been working on the Oktoberfest feature here at old man ales. There is going to be a twitter feed so we can keep the site up-to-date while we are at the festival, a live picture feed using Flickr and (hopefully) a Google map containing pictures from the feed.

The feature will be fully live about a week before we go, so keep checking back for any further info.

Also in the pipeline is a version of the site that will work on mobile devices, so you can submit your ale reviews while still in the pub!

Brewrey Tours

2007-08-13T18:00:00.000Z

On Saturday I went Thwaites Brewery in Blackburn, you can normally go round during the day or pay to at night, but this was a special one as they were having an open day.

It was a lot more interesting than the Guinness tour in Dublin, that's more of a museum than a tour of the brewery surprised to learn that it takes 5 and a half weeks to brew larger, and the hops have to come from abroad as they cant be grown in the UK.

You can go on the tour at night as well, it cost a tenner but you get 4 pints and a hotpot supper. More info is on the website http://www.thwaites.co.uk

Oktoberfest Here We Come!

2007-08-03T18:47:00.000Z

The website (for the most part) is now up and running! We still have a few of the reviews to sort out, and we need a gallery section on each of the pub reviews pages, but other than that it all working, so feel free to have a browse around, and next time you have a new beer let us know what you think!

While you are on the site you can read our first ever feature, its on the history of pubs names and has some interesting stats about the most popular pubs, where names come from and other stuff. Its in the features section of the site, click on this link to take you there now http://www.oldmanales.co.uk/feat_PubNames.asp

In other news we have all booked to go to Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany! That's right, for 3 days at the beginning of October we will be sampling the best European beers and Lagers, and maybe (if we go to bed) spending 3 luxurious nights in a tent!
Naturally we will be updating the site everyday while we are there, with photos of the event and all the goings on. We might even have some special OldManAles t shirts made to wear while we are there. Keep checking the site and this blog for more news on the most special event!

Foreign (almost) beers and hidden pubs

2007-05-29T21:15:00.000Z

Last week I was on a work visit to the Isle of Man, Chris who works on the site had mentioned he'd seen somewhere about a brewery they had on the Island, and while I was there I had the pleasure of tasting an ale called 'Manx Bitter'

I cant remember to much about it, I think the brewery was called Bushys, and it was about 4%. It was quite bitter but had a very refreshing taste, it was a good amber colour but there wasn't to much to make it stand out. Saying that I did enjoy it.

We recently paid a visit to a pub in Rossendale called The Griffin. I drive past this pub almost everyday on my way to work, but none of us had ever visited it. We'll, we did the other week I were very impressed. A full review will be going onto the site soon, but two of its main points are the ales are brewed on the premises and cost only £1.60 a pint!

Wetherspoons Beer Festival

2007-04-29T18:25:00.000Z

The Wetherspoons pub chain is currently running a mini beer festival, up until the end of this week. I went in to the one in Blackburn over the weekend and they had a good selection of ales on, and it changed everyday.
They are also letting you get 3 (in smaller glasses unfortunately) different drinks for the same price as for a normal pint, witch means you can sample quite a few of what they have on offer.

Things like this are always good for finding new ales, and the prices are very reasonable at £1.40 a pint.

I also cam across a very interesting article on the bbc website, you can read it here.

Lovely Day for it

2007-04-15T11:01:00.000Z

Yesterday, here at the OldManAles headquarters we decided to make the most of the nice weather, and take a trip to one of our favorite pubs, the bridge in Burnley (check out there site at http://www.thebridgebierhuis.co.uk)

They always have a wide range of Real ales and continental bottled lager, and I would urge you to pay them a visit next time you are in the area. We had the following beers and reviews of them will be available once the website is up and running:

The Ale Foxes Knob
Erdinger Lager on tap
Vedett bottled Belgium larger
Leffe on Tap
Plus quite a few others I cant remember at the moment!

Easter Drinking

2007-04-10T20:34:00.000Z

Posted some more pictures onto www.Flickr.com of some more of the beers we will be reviewing when we finally go live

Liberation (one of my personal Favorites)
Lancaster Bomber
Daniels Hammer

These were all beers I was drinking over the easter weekend.
In other news the site is progressing nicely, with a bit of luck it should be live by the end of the month.

You cant beat a 4 day weekend

2007-04-05T13:50:00.000Z

They dont come round often, so why not take the 4 day weekend to enjoy some real ale! If you cant get to your local, why not go to one of the big supermarkets.
They always have a wide range of reals ales available and tend to be fairly cheap.

The launch of the website draws ever closer, we have now registered the site, you can visit it now at www.OldManAles.co.uk There is nothing on there at the minute though, just a link back to this website.

We have started to post some pictures of the beers we will be reviewing on launch of the website, you can look and comment on the now on www.Flickr.com just do a search on the tag 'oldmanales'

OldManAles.co.uk - Coming Soon

2007-04-01T11:28:00.000Z

Welcome to the OldManAles.co.uk blog. The site is not currently up and running but will be soon. Here is a taster (pun intended!) of what you can expect when we 'open'

Expert opinion on all the Real Ale we can get our hands on
A guide to all the best pubs serving Real Ale
A league table of (in our option) the best ales
Picture gallery
What to drink if your local doesn't serve any Real Ales, and a supermarket is your only option!
Drunk of the Week (as long as we don't get smacked by them)

Keep checking back on this blog for Further updates.