Beer Moose

  May 20th, remember the date, is my birthday. On my actual birthday I’ll be stood in a big white tent on Jesus Green, so my birthday drinks had to be the closest weekend available. I decided that I wanted a relaxed walk around the beer mile, with some pubs thrown in if there was time. It was a really great day out filled with mates, beers, laughs and chats about rollercoaster spreadsheets. What more could one ask for?  Some of the group arrived early, we decided to have a beer in this box park thing.  Who doesn’t like paying £7.50 for an average London Guinness though!  We had an excellent lunch at Texas Joe’s and then headed to the mile! I always forget how close the mile is to Tower Bridge:  More on that later! I decided that we should start at my fave, Anspach and Hobday:  I went for a London Black, of course. What a delicious beer! I was surprised to find out that standing outside this taproom is no longer allowed.  We then headed to Moor, who had...

  Based in the Stour Valley region, which I now know is the divider between Suffolk and Essex, is Nethergate Brewery. Nethergate are a brewery that I feel like I’ve grown up with, during my near ten year (legal) drinking life. Their beers including Stout Valley Gold, Suffolk County and Umbel Ale have been favourites of mine for a long time. I’ve probably drank hundreds of pints of Nethergate beer, mostly in the Live:   But despite the brewery being sort of nearby I hadn’t been, until now. The brewery tour was a late birthday present for my dad, and finally we found a day to go and do it!  We were warmly welcomed into the taproom and given our first halves of beer, Suffolk County. A chestnut coloured malty and bitter beer, despite the heat it went down a treat. We then met the other people on the tour, total group size was five and headed for a chat about the history of Nethergate Brewery and brewing itself. Our guide, whose name I’ve forgotten already, was knowledgab...

  If you’re new here, I count and collect ‘creds’. One rollercoaster equals one cred. I hadn’t visited either of these family parks in well over a decade! A friend decided to have a birthday, so we decided to relive some childhood memories. As a child I was very lucky, I’d be at a theme park most weekends when Cambridge United played away. I had a Legoland annual pass and later upgraded to a Merlin Pass, as I got older. Anyway enough of a history lesson, let’s get to it.  There were three creds to get at Legoland!  557: Duplo Dino Coaster We ran to the kiddie cred. It was possibly the dullest coaster ever built. Plus one and done!  558&559: Mini Figure Speedway:  Two brand new Zierer family boomerangs! I think these are a solid addition to the park, good family level thrills. The backwards part of these rides does make me feel a bit meh, which is strange because full size boomerangs don’t. With that, we had obtained all of the creds we needed at Legoland!...