The George Lite Zone

As hard rock bars go, Excalibur is the real deal. Owned by a group of local Hells Angels, it sits on the edge of the cities red light district, a heavy metal sword stuck in a classic rock. I met the couple pictured earlier, in the bowels of Chimera and it was their directions that brought me there. I also got talking to another group of Motorhead fans there who saw the Wolverhampton gig. They hailed from Chadsmore, Staffs, which is just up the road from my old stomping ground in the Midlands. Tis a small world. There followed a party of Geordies, all temporary Man Utd fans for the night (Sunderland's latest Premiership opponents). Howay the lads! Heineken was quaffed, refreshing the parts other beers cannot reach, and rock and roll was the order of the day (or order of the early evening at this point). On the music front, I was quite impressed with the Killswitch Engage that was played. According to the barman, it was from the bands self titled first album and sounded incredibly ti...

Returning to Amsterdam after 3 years away was like slipping on an old pair of slippers, a comfortable feeling that I was in one of the few places I could happily call home. After pottering around the Dam square area in the morning, we headed off towards Cafe Gollum for lunch, one of my old stomping grounds, where the heady mix of great Blues Music and great beer put it in my great bars of the world list. Unfortunately I forgot it doesn't open till 4 o'clock. Drat. This particular Dutch cloud did however have a silver lining. Casting my eyes over the road I chanced upon a fine looking beer emporium called the Cracked Kettle . Not only do they have a tremendous selection of beers, but they also do mail order, which is nice to know. The chap behind the counter,it transpired, was from Kirkcaldy in the Kingdom of Fife. It's a wee world. Moving on from the Cracked Kettle, clutching a couple of newly acquired bottles of my favorite Trappist beer, Westvleteren, we moved on to anot...

Der Bier-Esel (the Beer Donkey) dates back to 1297 and it over 700 years old is a good place to sample the local beer and food. The beer drunk was Kolsch, a beverage drunk by anyone and everyone in Cologne, men, women, children and even the odd donkey. Kolsch is a lite beer and slips down the throat like liquid velvet. The Donkey specialises in food of a piggish persuasion and neither the Pork Knuckle I had,or the Frankfurter munched by my son, disappointed. Thanks to Pete Wright, of Greasy Truckers , for the heads up on this fine beer emporium. Highly recommended. Addendum - Further visits to the Esel confirmed my suspicions that this is a seriously good restaurant. Berlin style beef liver and marinated, braised beef with raisin sauce, apple sauce and some great parsley dumplings launched this bar into the realms of places where you wouldn't want to eat anywhere else in town. Not only is this culinary alchemy of the highest order, but the prices are reasonable too. Marvelous. I...