Ritual pints

An early afternoon train out of Connolly meant a couple of pre-boarding pints at The Silver Penny. There were two new ticks for me, with a broadly supernatural theme between them.

I was surprised that Moorhouse's Blonde Witch has never featured here before as it's far from a rare beer, but this appears to be my first time drinking it. It's a dark sort of blonde -- more amber I would say -- and very slightly hazy, even after settling. This is slightly worrying as the sort of beer they serve at the 'Penny, and the way they serve them, tends to be fully bright. I don't think there was anything wrong with it, however. It's a brightly fruity number, full of teenage body spray and chewy candy. Lemon is, I guess, the most naturalistic descriptor, but it's in the sense of lemonade and sherbet. A brief sticky smack of floral honey rounds out the finish, alongside a token but welcome pithy bitterness. It's all rather jolly and, while sweet, imbued with plentiful complexity. It's only 4.4% ABV and would make for an excellent summer sessioner.

Representing the patriarchal side of religion we have Bishop Nick's Divine. It's a brown bitter, more or less, though at 5.1% ABV might be leaning more towards a strong ale. There's a strong blast of hard toffee in the aroma, plus an odd green-apple acidity. It's not a jarring combination, which is just as well because that's all you get in the flavour. The caramel isn't quite as severe as it smelled, and doesn't gum up the palate: the cask format's innate ability to make beers easy to drink is hard at work here. I'm guessing the acidic fruit bite which follows is down to the hops: Fuggles and Goldings mixed with Slovenian varieties Aurora and Celeia. I wouldn't say that hop complexity is a main feature of the beer, but what it does works well. Related, presumably, is a mild sandalwood or cedar spicing which adds an extra touch of class to proceedings. I wouldn't call it sessionable, and I'm sure it's not meant to be, but I recommend finding room for a pint of this in your order of drinking, if you see it.

I'm far from the first to observe that the rotating beers at Wetherspoon can be hit or miss. Some days, however, the gods are smiling.