mighty meadow

I forgot about Jamiroquai. F*****g awful!!!

Foo Fighters U2 Oasis Red Hot Chilli Peppers Bloc Party + lots more which up to a year or two ago would have included the Beatles, probably at #1.

Bit of snow falling in Saltcoats right now :-)

Been working quite a lot over Christmas and New Year so not been drinking a lot. Still getting through my German wheat beer advent calendar that the mrs got me from Groupon. Not had a bad one yet from it.

Pint of Bah Humbug in Auld Brig. Lighter than I expected but nice n fruity.

Went to see Neon Waltz / Saints / Lional at the Harbour Arts Centre a couple of weeks ago. Cracking gig (well 2/3rds of it) in a great, wee venue. Lional were the surprise package. Opening the gig with a set of post-punk influenced songs. Would love to see them again, playing a longer set. Neon Waltz were even better than I expected. They just look like a bunch of mates who love playing music. Saints on the other hand were f******g abysmal. Everything about them seemed over thought and rehearsed and the guitarist was the most embarrassing musician I've seen since Spinal Tap. Great value all in for £6 though.

Found a bottle of this last night left over from Halloween.

lovely but very strong taste. Not a session beer.

Also had a pint of Cuillin Beast in the Counting House. Was going to have another until I realised it was 7%.

Had 3 pints of West GPA last night in the bar at George Square. Pretty decent.

definitely one of my favourite beers. I wasn't surw how the bottle would compare to keg but there's really not much difference. Will be nipping back to aldi for more.

nice wee selection. Personally I would chill the wheat beer. The plum porter is lovely. Had it in bottle form for first time last night and it's almost on a par with the keg version. Enjoy your night :-)

Found out last night that Lidl were stocking Titanic Plum Porter at £1.49. Had a very drunken night on this stuff last April in the Salt Cot but haven't saw it anywhere since. Anyway, nipped over to the Stevenson store today and got the last 6 bottles. First time in Lidl and was quite surprised at the offerings. Ended up with 17 beers, a big bag of tatties, 3 pack of Wrigley's Extra and 2 carrier bags for just over £24 :-)

Couple of pints yesterday in the Auld Brig. First up was Burton Porter from Burton Bridge Brewery. Porter is one of my favourite styles of beer and this one looked lovely in the glass. Not quite black with a nice foamy head. Unfortunately it tasted like it was just starting to turn with an initial, slight vinegary taste. It would probably have been a decent beer when fresh but not yesterday. Second beer was Inbetween, a collaboration between Everards (Leicester) and Sudwerk (Switzerland). A lovely smooth (dark) brown ale with prominent caramel and nut taste. Very smooth and well balanced. Much better than I expected. I also had a bottle of beer after dinner last night from Aldi's recent Scottish Beer Festival. Wolf is a lovely, dark and strong (6% ABV) Scottish Ale from Windswept Brewery in Lossiemouth. Lots of chocolate, liquorice and dark fruits and a heavy mouthfeel. One of the best I've had recently.

Going to see Culann at the Ship Inn, Irvine tomorrow night. Cracking wee venue, upstairs in Irvine's oldest pub. Read in the local paper last night that Neon Waltz are playing at the Harbour Arts Centre in December, stopping off on the way to their support slot for Noel Gallagher and Johnny Marr in Manchester the following night. While online looking for tickets for this I also noticed that James Yorkston, Withered Hand and the Pictish Trail are also playing in the HAC in January. Will be popping in to get tickets for both these gigs on way to the Ship tomorrow. There's a decent wee live music scene developing in irvine (and rest of Ayrshire to be fair) at the moment. Canadian band Fish & Bird are playing the HAC tonight so might even pop along to that if there are tickets left.

Just finished reading The Cartel by Don Winslow. I can't recommend this highly enough. Brutal at times but absolutely engrossing particularly so when you realise that some of the most gruesome parts of the book are based on real events. Before that I read The Power of the Dog which was the prequel to the above. Once again, highly recommended. Two of the best books I've read in a long time. This month I have also read Wind / Pinball by Haruki Murakami which is an omnibus edition of his first two novels, Hear The Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973. I don't know what it is about him but I love Murakami's style of writing although it's easy to see why some people just don't rate him. Finally, I read The Strange Library also by Murakami which I picked up in the library not realising it was an illustrated children's novella. Now reading another by Don Winslow, Savages which was made into a film in 2012. Just started this one and although it is another one based on the Mexican drug cartels it doesn't seem like it's going to be as in depth as the previous books I mentioned.

Instant coffee (black). On a diet :-(

Pint of Central Session Room IPA by Ernesto Mora Romero (brewed at Banks' s Brewery in Wolverhampton. These Wetherspoon collaboration beers are a bit hit and miss but this is a pretty decent IPA.

North Ayrshire tap water.

Pint of Belhaven Best in the Carrick.

Bottle of 10 Saints. Imported from Barbados. Lager aged in rum casks. Ok but nothing special.

Bottle of Merlin's Ale from Broughton. Freebie from the 'meet the brewer' event at the Auld Brig on Monday. Going down a treat.

Bottle of this ... fruity, spicy and yeasty.

I had a few pints of Strongbow Cloudy Apple last night. I don't drink much cider these days but I like this one. Far better than the original Strongbow.

Just noticed this last night in the Irvine store :-) Also went to a meet the brewer event with Broughton in the local Wetherspoons. Only had one ale that I hadn't tried before called 'the Ghillie'. Nice and summery but unfortunately it is being phased out. On the plus side the rep gave me a couple of bottles when he was packing up (Merlins and Blonde). A good evening was had :-)