From Monday to Friday each week, a handful of interchanging food trucks congregate around the corner from Kings Cross Station and offer up some amazing, tarted up street food.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to enjoy them as much as Nix and Matt after a few too many Guinness and games of pool the night before. I hit that magical sweet spot between sober and past it and was a man possessed on the pool table. I was in the sort of form that used to allow me to carry Rick, Tik or Matt in competitions at Miss Q's back in my hey day.
UPDATE* - we've since returned for a salted beef bagel, Indian style lamb rump wrap and doughnut balls drowned in hot salted caramel. This line of trucks would never disappoint.
Brewdog Camden
Our first beers of London could've been at no other place than Brewdog.
Say what you will, they brew bloody good beer and it was easy to lose a night there after our sixteen hour bus ride from Amsterdam.
We worked or way through the tap list which included the wonderfully tart Blitz Apricot (the poor man's Fou' Foune), their hoppiest beer yet, Jack Hammer, and Dead Metaphor pulled through the Hopinator that held plums and Columbian coffee beans. All very "drinkable".
We also tucked into a Tex Mex sort of spicy pizza and a meat and cheese sharing board before joining the weekly, Monday night beer tasting. Merry is a word that sums up our night well.
And this is the moment where Matt agreed not to shave his "moustache" before mid 2015. Whether he's upheld that deal 'til now even I'm not sure.
Craft Beer Co - Clerkenwell
Whilst offering a fairly good tap last (that was maybe a bit too heavy on low percentage pale ales and IPAs) our general experience at one of London's top rating beer bars was pretty disappointing. The setting is nice, the service pretty average and as mentioned the tap list is OK. We have no reason to return.
Cask
Cask is owned by the same people as Craft Beer Co and whilst a slight improvement on CBC Clerkenwell, it's more of the same really. A better tap and bottle list but once again let down by poor service and a fairly average atmosphere.
However, they did have bacon dusted chips!
I think at this point we were still suffering a bit of a Belgian hangover where even an average bar there is comparatively great elsewhere.
Euston Tap and The Cider Tap
Located on opposite sides of the road from each other are two old Victorian Gatehouses where one is Euston Tap itself, which has a fairly solid beer tap list, and the other houses The Cider Tap which, you wouldn't believe, serves cider. And what a tap last it has.
Euston Tap is OK but is more of the same really however The Cider Tap is where it's at. It has a much grungier feel and is a lot more homely and after so much beer over the preceding couple of months, the change to cider was a welcome one.
We had a few rounds at Euston Tap, that didn't really include anything of note, and then headed across the road and had a couple more. Most interesting were Razberry, a slightly sweet apple cider with raspberry juice added to it, and West Milton, a 7% almost dessert style cider that was absolutely delicious. Maybe a full pint was a slight bit of overkill though.
UPDATE* - we've also returned to The Cider Tap for more good cider and a quick couple of Calvados before running out the door.
The Queen's Head
The Queen's Head proved again that the most well renowned and highest rating things, whether you're talking about a bar, restaurant, cup of coffee, whatever, a lot of the time aren't the best or most interesting. It's quite often the places that you stumble upon when heading somewhere else that prove to be the most enjoyable.
We settled in on a couple of old couches and proceeded to work our way through some exceptionally good English craft beer that included stuff from Kernel and Weird Beard. The pale ales, IPAs etc. that English craft brewers offer up pretty much deliver what they say on the label but they really hit their straps when it comes to stout. Give me an English stout by an English brewer any day over any stout that the Americans produce. Boom.
Sigur Ros
For the second time within a year we were privileged enough to see the world's current greatest band. Our UK plans were turned on their head when Sigur Ros announced a London gig, hence the updates.
We lost our sh*t and annoyed everyone around us who was only there to hear their most recent album. It was a great night.
Thanks Matty Brim!
The Beers
Brewdog Punk IPA, Blitz Apricot, Libertine, Jack Hammer, Dead Metaphor, Dead Metaphor with additional plums and coffee beans, Hello, My Name Is Mette Marrit, Matt's Girly "Beer"
Dieu du Ciel Rescousse Alt
Partizan Strong Golden Belgian Ale, Smoked Blonde Ale
Firestone Walker Reserve Porter
The Lost Abbey 10 Commandments
Green Flash Barley Wine
Thornbridge Black Harry, Jaipur, Wild Raven, Otters Tears
Magic Rock Dark Arts
Kernel Citra Galaxy, Export Stout, Pale Ale, Amarillo
Beavertown Black Betty, Smog Rocket
Kuhnhenn Double Nut Brown
Amager Bryghus Sloth
Lervig Rye IPA
Weird Beard Milk Stout, Amarillo
Brooklyn Winter Ale
Cromarty Brewing Co Brewed Awakening
Bristol Beer Factory Milk Stout
Buxton Saison, Black Rock
Redemption Fellowship Porter
Arbor Goo Goo G'joop
Lagunitas IPA
Harbour DIPA
Sierra Nevada Belgian Blonde IPA
Thornbridge/Odells RIPA
Camden Gentleman's Wit
Evil Twin Assisten IPA
Siren Big Inflatable Cowboy Hat
Dugges Celebration Ale
Evil Twin/Siren Even More Jesus XIII
Against the Grain Save Ferrous
Tempest Saison du Pomme
Flying Dog Belgian Devil
The Cider
MillWhites Rioja Cask Cider
Sheppys Rasberry
Hogans Dry, Somerset
Somerset Draught
Sandford Bumbleberry
West Milton
Gwatkin Farmhouse Stoke Red
Orchard Pig Cider
