27/4/2012 Friday night out in Camden...

Subject	Friday night out in Camden...
DateCreated	4/30/2012 11:54:00 AM
	Hmmm - tonight is another gig at The Barfly that doesn't happen for me - even though I'm there in plenty of time. Friday night, and the Jubilee Club at The Barfly follows the bands that play earlier in the evening at this well known Camden venue - the usual generic indie fodder. The Jubilee Club starts at 10.30 so this allows plenty of time for a visit to the BrewDog pub beforehand. Unfortunately they didn't have my favourite Paradox Jura in stock, but I did find some other satisfactory brews instead. The Hardcore IPA at a mere 9.2% was rather good. This was followed by one of their guest beers - 'Chris from Stones Stout'. This was slightly stronger at around 10% but was lovely! Then it was time to get serious. On my last visit the Holy Grail of beers was out of stock and I settled for BrewDog's Tactical Nuclear Penguin - once the World's strongest beer at 32%. This in itself was really nice and just melted in the mouth - much smoother than you'd expect. Then those pesky Germans went and brewed something stronger at 40%. BrewDog's answer to that is their 41% Sink The Bismark! Tonight I finally got to sample it. It's certainly something rather special - which is reflected in the price and the small shot measures. Like the Penguin, it's surprisingly smooth - nothing like as fierce as you might expect and goes down very nicely - if much too quickly! It's more like a spirit or liquer than a beer and not something I'd drink regularly, but certainly well worth trying at least once. So after trying the World's strongest beer it's time to head for the Barfly and the Jubilee Club. The place is still half full with indie kids so I take a look upstairs. There aren't many people up there and there is not much going on, or any sign of that changing anytime soon even though it's gone 10.30. I'm here to see two bands - Banjoey Ramone - an acoustic tribute act playing punk classics including many Ramones songs. The band are led by ex-Yo-Yo's, Sugarsnatch, and current Loyalties vox/bassman Tom Spencer on Banjo and also feature members of Plan A and The Urban Voodoo Machine. I've seen them before and they are good fun! Also on the bill is Noizee - a new pop/punk band from L.A. featuring Clare of AntiProduct on guitar. I know Clare is also a big Ramones fan so I've been looking forward to checking this band out. However, I discover that the first band isn't due on until half past midnight! That's six minutes after my last train leaves Camden Town tube - leaving two hours to kill in a venue with a shit overpriced bar and no one I know in the place. I sortof assumed that if the club started at 10.30 the first band would be on soon after - giving a decent chance of two bands playing by 12.30ish. I'm certainly not wasting two hours in the Barfly waiting for the first band - so it's back to the BrewDog pub for a while.... Contemplating my options over more delicious brews back in Bayham Street I decide it's really not worth going back to the Barfly and missing the last tube just to see a couple of bands play half hour sets and then endure multiple night buses and waits of indeterminite lengths at cold bus stops - it can take me a couple of hours to get home by Night Bus. Annoying as I'd paid to get into the Barfly, but a two hour wait for the first band after the club opened seems totally unnecessary. I decide on a change of scene anyway and head to The Dublin Castle hoping to sink some of their Weston's Old Rosie, but they are charging £3 just to get in for a drink after 11.00! So I give that a miss and grab a quick pint of Old Speckled Hen in the World's End before diving back underground for the last train home. Shame about the Jubilee Club, but at least I really enjoyed sampling a few different brews in the BrewDog place - and I had the satisfaction of drinking the World's strongest beer! So at least I didn't feel my evening was wasted - even if I was.