Summer Drinking

Summer has arrived at last, and cask washing has become a very hot and arduous task! We’re not sure how long our Summer will last, so we’d all better make the most of it. In our view that means getting out to a nice pub (preferably the Belvoir Alehouse), one with a beer garden, and enjoying a pint or two.

But what to order when the Sun is shining? Some misguided folk go for an ice-cold lager, or a cider, looking for refreshment first, and flavour second.

We say that a cool cask-conditioned beer is the real deal. My Aussie relatives take the mickey out of me for making and drinking “warm” beer, but cask ale is not warm! A good pub cellar will be at around 10-12⁰C, plenty cool enough, and these days even some beer engines (hand pulls) are cooled.

When it’s 25⁰C plus outside, 10-12⁰C is definitely cool enough. And didn’t you listen to your Mum when she told you that colder drinks are ultimately more energy-sapping as your body has to work to warm them back up to body temperature after you’ve drunk them? Just don’t take that too far and start drinking tea!

Also, the “cut” of an ale with a good, balanced level of bitterness is refreshing in itself, not to mention the lift of a fresh hoppy aroma.

So, on a hot sunny day, go straight for a Whipling, a Star, a Gordon Bennett, or a Beaver (if these aren’t available in your local pub, then ask the landlord to get one of them in) or come down to the Alehouse in Old Dalby. You know it makes sense (as another Del-boy used to say).

Cheers!