Throwback Thursday - Throwing Muses - The Doghouse Cassette

This weeks throwback thursday looks at the remarkable demo cassette that launched the career of one of the most under-rated and influential bands of the 80s/90s - Throwing Muses.

Throwing Muses had built up quite a cult following throw their live shows in and around Long Island, with their weird and wonderful songs that came unbidden fully formed into the mind of lead singer and guitarist Kristin Hersh. The result of a trauma caused by being ran over by a car. The doghouse cassette was a demo formed of the songs that made up their early gig setlists and was the basis on which they were signed to the highly influential 4ad label.

To get your hands on the actual cassette nowadays is nigh on impossible but they songs were later released on the excellent In a Doghouse cd, the second side of which is the closest you'll get to the original versions of the songs. What is exciting about these songs are the energy, wildness of Hersh's voice set against the Tanya Donelly's sweeter vocals and the many tempo changes within songs, as well as some pretty interesting and sometimes disturbing lyrical imagery. The songs sounded like they were coming from someone one the edge emotionally.

The tracklisting for the cassette was:

Side One.

1. Call Me
2. Sinkhole
3. Green
4. Hate My Way
5. Vicky's Box

Side Two.

1. America/She Cant Say No
2. Fear
3. Raises The Roses
4. And a She Wolf After the War
5. Fish

I think this represents the best of their output as a band (though they did produce a lot of great moments throughout their career afterwards). Sinkhole was probably the most accessible of the tracks - being quite anthemic and it was their breakthrough hit on US college radio. Songs like Hate My Way, Vicky's Box and Fish showcased the disturbing side of Hersh's lyrics and the best of her shouty ragey vocals. Green showcased the fact the Tanya Donelly (half-sister of Hersh and future Belly frontwoman) was also capable of producing some excellent songs too and perhaps a bit more tuneful and accesible than Hersh's songs.

I recommend a lot of people to read Hersh's book Paradoxical Undressing (Rat Girl in the US) which gives a great account of her personal story and that of the band from the time this cassette came about.

I managed to catch Hersh reading from the book and performing some of the songs in January 2011 as part of her book tour and it was a fantastic experience to hear these songs live after living with them as recordings for so long.

Spotlight On.........Eden Brewery

One of the most exciting smaller breweries in Scotland at the moment is Eden Brewery which is located at St. Andrews, Fife. I was introduced to their beers when i received a gift pack of their beers from my brother-in-law at Christmas. The gift pack contained 2 bottles of their 19th Brew, and 1 bottle each of their Clock Brew, St Andrews Blonde, Rum Barrel Oak Wood Aged beer, and Shiwreck IPA (all 330ml bottles) along with a lovely Eden Brewery branded 330ml capacity glass (perfect as i only had pint glasses which always look wrong when a 330ml is poured into it) and a t-shirt. The goodies didn't end there though, there was a voucher for £5 off when i spend £25 or more at Eden Brewery and a voucher for a free brewery tour as well.

I managed to drink all 6 of those beers before the end of boxing day and all of them had gone down really well - a nice variety of styles but every single on of them well crafted and incredibly tasty. Most impressive to me had been Rum Barrel beer from the oak wood series. I've tried a number of beers down the years that have sought to gain flavour from the process of  using spirits barrels but found a lot have been far too strong tasting and too much like the spirit rather than a beer. This rum barrel beer though was perfectly balanced. I've since heard a few friends mention that they've tried Eden Brewery beers and the feedback is always 100% positive - it seems the word is quietly getting rolled out about them and the future is bright for this brewery.


I got in touch with Siobhan Macleod, tour coordinator who along with Head Brewer Scott Gowans answered some questions about their operation and their beers.

Q1: How long have you been brewing and how did you get started?

Outside The Brewery

Our head brewer Scott Gowans started his brewing career studying Brewing And Distilling at Heriot Watt University, graduating in 2004. His first job was a summer placement working at Scottish & Newcastle in 2003 in Fountainbridge Brewery.

 

Q2: How much do you produce and where can people get your beers?

We do 4 800 litre brews per week which is both bottled and racked (our maximum capacity!). Our beers are widely available in the St Andrews and East Neuk area but also in bars and bottle shops in Dundee, Perth, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Recently we have just started sending 18 casks per month down to London which is sold on to various pubs and bars and we also send beer to Aberdeen once a month as well. We have an online shop on our website www.edenbrewerystandrews.com where people can buy our beers and we do use this to shop internationally as well. We do our best to announce new stockists via our Facebook and Twitter.

Bottling Line

 

Q3: What brews are your most popular and have you noticed any changing trends in demands from consumers?

Our Oak Wood Series is the most popular speciality brew that we do – this involves ageing beer in Rum, Bourbon and Whisky barrels for between 2-3 months and each batch is unique which our customers really like and those batches tend to be the ones that sell out quickest.

Generally we find that our lighter beers sell best – our 19^th Brew, St Andrews Blonde and Shipwreck IPA are very firm favourites and are asked for most often. Our Porter does have its own following though and more and more people seem to be turning towards darker beers, particularly in the colder months.

 

Tour Room Set Up

Q4: How do you approach the creation of a new beer? Is there a characteristic that is typical of your brews?

Usually we approach a new beer by discussing with the entire Brewery team (a team of 7) and decide what we want to brew for eg. Event or style of beer eg. IPA, barley wine. Our brews vary a lot as we try to do something different so that we can offer our customers a variety of beer styles to help inform them of the many flavours, styles and complexities of beers on offer.

Q5: Do you brew for what you feel there’s a market for or do you create for your own palate

A bit of both is involved in creating new beers. Often we will create for what there is a market for but we will adjust this for our own palates and what we enjoy.

 

Q6: Where do you see your brewery in five years time?

Spent Grains Being Picked Up

We are in the process of developing an expansion plan for the brewery at the moment and aim to go from a 5 barrel brew plant to a 20 barrel brew plant within the next 2 years. In 5 years time it would be great to see us with a wider distribution network nationally and internationally.

 

Q7: Have you had any brewing disasters?

Cleaning Out The Mash Tun

Brewing here (having only been brewing 18 months!) we have been quite lucky and have not had any major disasters. We carefully monitor new brews and keep an eye on them closely as they develop in conditioning tanks. Last summer we did have one exploding Bourbon barrel which was affected by rising temperatures ( a rare thing in Scotland!) while ageing in our warehouse.

Scott - During time spent at larger breweries I have seen a few disasters where automatic valves have opened up and dropped beer down the drain or even dropped caustic into the beer. It’s always scary when something like that happens.

Q8: Do you have any tips for home brewers?

Keep all your tanks and equipment sterile and take your time, never rush a beer and give it time to mature. Brewing can be much like cooking and choosing your ingredients to compliment each other is key to creating a good beer.

I'm looking forward to seeing what beers they produce in the future and also looking forward to drinking all the beers i bought from their stall at the Farmers Market at Castle Terrace, Edinburgh on Saturday there. I recommend anyone around on a Saturday or at Stockbridge Market on a Sunday to go along and have a look. They had an excellent deal where you get 5 beers for £10 (2 19th brew and 3 others) with a free glass. I got two of those and two £2.50 beers on top of that to get to the £25 mark so i could use my voucher from that Christmas gift pack. I also look forward to perhaps going on the brewery tour sometime in the summer.

My purchases from the Farmers Market

Look out for my review of all those beers n the coming weeks and for more information about the brewery and their beer club and the online shop at their website.

You can also get their beers here

Home Brew Talk - Brewing software.

In the next few weeks i'll be talking about the bottling of my first batch which i've just completed and also how it's turned out and the brewing of my first part mash brew. Today though i'm going to quickly share with you some software i have discovered which i find helpful in making recipes for brews.

As you know from my last home brew blog post, i based my recipe for my first part mash brew on that of one i found in a book i'd been given for my wife as a present. That recipe was for a weizen and called for 1.35kg of wheat malt (grain), 1 tbsp gypsum, 1.5kg liquid amber malt extract, 1.35kg light dry malt extract, 42g Hallertuer hops, 9g, Willamette Hops, 11g Ale yeast, 140g cane sugar (for conditioning). I decided to ue that as a bade and just change some ingredients based on the taste notes provided elsewhere in the book and based on what was available in the brew store.

The changes to that where to use a wheat malt extract instead of grain - with the theory being that as it's a wheat beer i'd rather have a reliable source of wheat malt in case my use of grains went wrong. I used vienna malt then as my grain because of its subtle taste and caramel aroma. I also changed the Willamette hops to Chinook based on it s flavour profile and used a different yeast as the brew store had a specific hefeweizen liquid yeast that would produce a hefeweizen style beer.

I shall give details of how i brewed this in future blogs but after i had brewed it and before placing in the cupboard to ferment, i took a reading with my hydrometer of the gravity of my brew (its original gravity) and got a result of 1.040. I decided to look online and see if this was a figure consistent with the typ of beer i was brewing. There were various responses on various home brew forums from people that had asked similar questions before but also a referral to use a brewing software which apparently would give you details of how your brew should work out and what readings to expect. So i downloaded one called brewtarget which was free.

When you open up the software there is a simple layout, with a menu of existing beer recipes down the left side of the page (your own recipes will add to that list when you make them) and an area to input your own details on the right hand side. So i decided to use this to see what should happen with my recipe.

Inputting ingredients is easy enough and is split into fermentables, hops, miscellaneous, yeast and mash. I ignored the mash section as this gives you an opportunity to adjust the method for mashing that you've used - ive still to properly learn all about this area and improvised a mash with my brew so just left it at default settings. So i entered my other ingredients as below (entering is easy and user intuitive, using drop down menus for ingredients and methods and allowing free typing for volumes)

The result of all this is give the overview in the top right hand side of the screen.

Here you name your beer, choose the style of beer, brewing method (all extract, all mash, part mash etc) and size of batch. I didnt quite know what to do with boil size and efficiency as im quite new to this too. What i can glean information form is what's on the right hand side and the figures there and the very handy graphic which gives the overall characteristic of your beer.

The blue figures at the expected figures and the middle figure and to the right is what you can expect from the ingredients and methods chosen -the middle is the expected result and im not quite sure what the right is at the moment. So you can see from the overall picture that my beer is extra malty - this i feel is because i used another liquid malt rather than dried malt as asked for in the base recipe (this is my fault for skimming the recipe and not reading thoroughly) and is going to be extra bitter (this is because i noticed that the hops i changed for had a higher bitterness rating so i know in future to keep an eye on these figures for more balance. The colour is darker than expected and thats because of the malt changes i made swapping out the light malt extract which would;ve lightened the colour somewhat. Where i have lucked out though, and im its from a low efficiency with my improvised mashing technique producing a weaker wort from my grain - is that the OG of my beer is actually under the 1.044 required and not the 1.050 expected. This means that i probably have a lower malt content as well which should help bring it closer to a balance.

So, whilst i may need to learn more before i can finally use this to its full potential -i have already learned something regarding balancing beers and making a recipe that should work well. Other features i can use later on will also tell me how much sugar to use in priming and as i understand the jargon regarding mashing, i should be able to get more realistic figures.

Answering my original question though about my OG, it seems im not too far away form where i should've been and if my final gravity (FG) is also around 1.010 or under i should have a decent beer and ABV also.

Monday Playlist - 24th February (so tired)

This weeks playlist is based on sleep. I asked my wife what it should be this week and she wearily looked at me and said 'so tired' - so that set the tone.

1. Ultravox - Sleepwalk

2. Thomas Tantrum - Sleep

3. Suede - Sleeping Pills

4. The Smiths - Asleep

5. School of Seven Bells - Half Asleep

6. REM - Daysleeper

7. Belle and Sebastian - Sleep The Clock Around

8. Chapterhouse - Autosleeper

9. The Chemical Brothers - Asleep From Day

10. The Dandy Warhols - Sleep

11. Evans The Death - Sleeping Song

12, Fad Gadget - Sleep

Sunday Beer Review - Belhaven Twisted Thistle IPA

Name: Twisted Thistle IPA

Brewery: Belhaven

Style: Indian Pale Ale

Origin: Dunbar

ABV: 5.3%

Appearance: Amber and Fizzy.

Aroma: Spicy

Taste: Refreshing and citrusy with a neat slightly bitter after taste.

Rating - 8/10

Saturday Album Review - The Notwist - Close To The Glass

This weeks best and most eagerly anticipated album for me was The Notwist's - Close To The Glass. I've been a fan of this German band for a couple years now after i discovered them during a little search online for some European bands to follow. They've always sounded a little different to the norm, always very easy to listen to with albums veering from electro, the guitar to progressive jazz. So what have they give us this time?

It starts with a very sparse electro sound with some chilled out vocals and continues on that vein through the first half of the album except for the excellent lo-fi anthem Kong at 3 which is an excellent lead single. It's all very pleasant but all very safe and just as you;d expect from the band if you've heard them before. Then 7 Hour-Drive kicks in finally injecting some energy in with a pulsating bass and a magnificent free form jazz break down half way through. This ushers in a much more interesting second half of the album with a fabulous lo-fi and sparse but excellent Lineri as the penultimate track. Overall, its a lot more sparse but an great listen expecially on the headphones. This is the sound of a band that know what they do best and are happy to get doing it and long may they continue.


8/10

Read More about them here, buy the album here

Catch the on tour in March in the UK. Im tempted to head to Mono in Glasgow on March 16th to see them too.

Worth mentioning this week also is Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire For No Witness

Friday Football Preview and Predictions

SPFL PREMIERSHIP

Dundee United 3 Motherwell 0

Hearts 0 Celtic 1

Kilmarnock 1 Hibernian 1

Partick Thistle 1 Aberdeen 2

Ross County 1 St Mirren 1

St Johnstone 2 Inverness 0

In the SPL, its friday night action for Dundee United as they entertain Motherwell. Well have an excellent record at Tannadice and its a game that i always look forward to with trepidation but today i expect an easy victory with Uniteds improving form against a Well side hit by injuries. Elsewhere i expect Celtic to keep another clean sheet and do just enough to get past Hearts. My game to watch is St Johnstone v Inverness and i think the saints will start to reign in Inverness and overtake them in the league - and theres one reason for that and that's this weeks:

Player to Watch: Stevie May (St Johnstone)

I think his goals are going to make St Johnstone a force to be reckoned with in the remainder of the season and a side that could compete for Europe. Stevie was unlucky to not be included in the Scotland squad this week and i expect him to get the goals to see of Inverness this week to further hammer home his case for a cap call.

FA PREMIERSHIP

Chelsea 1 Everton 0

Arsenal 1 Sunderland 0

Cardiff 1 Hull 1

Man City 4 Stoke 0

West Brom 2 Fulham 2

West Ham 2 Southampton 1

Crystal Palace 1 Manchester United 1

Liverpool 2 Swansea 1

Newcastle 1 Aston Villa 1

Norwich 0 Tottenham 2

Its one of those weeks where there are no games that really jump out in the self proclaimed 'greatest league in the world'. It'll be intriguing to see how Arsenal and Man City bounce back from their midweek European defeats. Elsewhere it'll be interesting to follow the latest chapter in Man Utd's rollercoaster season and i can see a struggle against Palace and another result that raises questions about Moyes leadership. The big game for me is the relegation tussle between West Brom and Fulham and the

Man To Watch - Felix Magath (Fulham)

A man with a reputation for being a hard task master and widely regarded as perhaps being a bit old fashioned for modern football, how will the surprise appointment fare in trying to keep Fulham up, the game at the Hawthorns will give some indication.

Throwback Thursday - Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister

Starting off a series of throwback thursdays where i look at the most important albums of my lifetime, i am looking at Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister. The album that served as my introduction to the band and timed because they've been announced as being the winner of an outstanding contribution to music award at the forthcoming NME awards.

I first heard about this mysterious Glasgow band in 1997 when i was at uni. I'd while away the hours between lectures and tutorials by sitting in the computer lab (being a software engineering student these were always open to me) and making my first tentative steps into exploring the internet. The NME website and it's angst message board (named after the letters page of the magazine at the time) where other students up and down the country discussed there musical tastes. I'd never heard Belle and Sebastian on the radio or read much of the them in the music press but there was a small band of fans constantly talking about them on the angst board and this roused my interest. I went straight to the Jeepster website and ordered their second album, though first widely available album If You're Feeling Sinister and awaited the postman to let me in on the secret of this band.



When the cd arrived i was struck by the cover, the arty picture of a girl (i imagine on a train) with a novel at her side, black and white on a red background, was somewhat reminiscent of the kind of covers The Smiths had on their records. The first track started quietly and the words were the first thing i noticed - The Stars Of Track and Field went it's business quietly but with rhyming couplets such as 'now he's throwing discus for liverpool and widnes' and from that moment i was hooked. The album offered up ten songs, or ten stories even, in a gentle but incredibly infectiously melodic manner that sounded so different from all the britpop that was being churned out elsewhere.

I loved that face that they augmented that indie guitar, bass and drum sound with more old fashioned instrumentation such as trumpets and pianos. I also

Another part of the charm was that they were Scottish and quite intelligent and not afraid to putting beauty prose and little vignettes that resonated with me and people like me. Especially as there was a lot of mentions of school life and I'd just left school and my word they even mentioned my place of work at the time (and in a way still is my place of work) Safeway in songs (though not from this album). Particular highlights from this album for me were the trio of The Fox In the Snow, Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying, and If You're Feeling Sinister. The album then closes on the most poppy song from the album the wonderful Judy and the Dream Of Horses - a precursor to some of the great moments that were to come.

What turned my curiosity into what's now been a 17 year fandom is that they've always done things their way and always been able to evoke the same emotions and feeling of comfort and belonging in their later work as i felt when i first listened to this.

If you don't have it - get it here

And here's a fantastic documentary about the album that pitchfork did and put on you tube....well worth a watch.

Wednesday Boozer/Brewery Review........looking back.

Wednesdays are going to be all about boozers and breweries. Throwing the spotlight on the best people who make beer and the best places to drink them. I'm kicking off the series to look back at two pubs i loved that no longer exist. The Copper Tun in Livingston and The Raconteur in Stockbridge, Edinburgh.

The Copper Tun

Many of the good points about this pub are from factors beyond the actual walls of the pub. Mainly the fact that it was staggering distance from both my place of work at the time and to my home. Also the fact that many of the people i knew at the time drank in there. It also for a long time had a decent ale on tap (such as tennants velvet, calders cream or caffreys) at a really low price. From the checklist of what makes a great boozer - the tun ticked quite a few boxes. It had a jukebox that was normally set at a decent volume (although fri and sat night did raise the spectre of the dj, and a karaoke on a sunday), which had a great variety of selections to choose from. It was a little on the dark side and had many little areas to hid in and booth type areas in the lounge that were always good to hide away in and it did look a little old fashioned inside.

The Raconteur

This is totally the opposite end of the spectrum from the copper tun. Part of its charm was that it was set up a side street and so wouldn't attract passers by - you needed to know its there to go. It had a continental table service set-up which was nice for a change, not having to get up to the bar every time you wanted to freshen your drink. The drink selection was very good and the bar staff where very knowledgable. It's biggest selling point was a cracking sunday night pub quiz that was always a bit different from the norm. As you'd expect with all this the prices are a lot more than in the copper tun but it was probably worth it. It was a small place so not really many alcovey places to hide out but there was a variety of seating and it was small dark and cosy and was never too busy.

Tuesday Home Brewing Update.

Okay, I've decided to do a regular weekly feature on home brewing. It seems to me that there's a real lack of plain talking (no jargon) brewing blogs or help sites out there and it may be useful to anyone interested in brewing to follow the exploits of a complete novice. Especially as i've noticed that there's a lot of snootyness from some brewers on the forums online. I've searched many times online for answers to what i assumed where simple questions, only to be forwarded to forums where someone has asked the same question and either been mocked or been hit with daunting jargon. I'll also be interested to field any questions people may have and even more happy to listen to any advice seasoned brewers may be able to impart.in simple terms,

So as you might've read already, I've started my first home brew adventure by using a simple start-up equipment set i got for christmas from my wife and a golden ale brew kit i ordered from the Wilkinsons sale online. I've been through the fermentation process and my beer is currently, conditioning in my barrel and is a week away from being ready to bottle up and drink.

Out of curiosity, i opened the tap to take a little sample of my beer last night to taste to check on it's progress. I'm not sure if doing this will affect the finished product and that it would be better to leave it alone, but anyway the signs were encouraging. The beer is indeed a nice golden colour and the taste was not too bad - a little bit chemically tasting still (I'm assuming that's because it still needs a week to condition), and a little bit flat but definitely drinkable and definitely beery. Woo hoo - i haven't completely ruined it.

The flatness is something that i expected because i know that co2 needs to be added to the barrel to encourage carbonation but i had no idea how to do that. Sadly, my starter equipment kit, was a little bit lacking in labelling and explaining what each element does. A search online and some reading finally showed me that the little red nozzle thing and silver weighty thing that were in my kit was a tap and gas canister for the very purpose of carbonating my barrel (there being a screw on the barrel lid to attach the tap and canister too). Unfortunately, no instructions were present on how to put the thing together and in playing about before attaching to the barrel - i managed to let the gas out of the canister. I did work out though that it all come together by screwing straight into the barrel lid. What I'm unsure of whether the entire contents of the canister (which is not much to be fair) are to be released into the barrel at once or if it can be done in stages. This is because I've read blogs suggesting that co2 needs to be added at various stages when bottling your beer and also the barrel has a warning not to exceed a certain amount of pressure. It's be annoying to come this far and go gung ho adding co2 and lose the entire batch though an exploding barrel. Good i wish I'd paid attention at science in school.

Anyway, i am visiting the Brew Store at the weekend for a look around and ill pick up another canister then and try the carbonation before bottling on Tuesday - as i feel the beer would be lacking without it. The brew store is the largest shop for home brew equipment and ingredients in Edinburgh and as my hobby takes hold i think it's going to become almost a second home for me. So next week ill be able to let you know how the finished beer pans out. Exciting times.

There's a secondary purpose to my Brew Store visit at the weekend and that is to source ingredients for my first non-kit brew. I've got a brewing book (which my wife also got me at Christmas 2012) with some recipes and that also gives descriptions of the taste characteristics of different malts and hops. So using a Weizen recipe from the book as a base, I've concocted a recipe for a wheat beer that should have a balance of caramel, spice and bitter flavours and that recipe is:

42g Hallertauer Hops - A Bavarian hop, used in many German beer styles. Has a mild spicy flavour and gives a pleasant aroma.

9g Chinook Hops - Piney, Herbal and spicy flavours with hints of grapefruit.

11g Munich Wheat Beer Brewing Yeast

140g Caster Sugar (for conditioning)

1.5kg Wheat Liquid Malt Extract - Well it is a wheat beer

1.35kg Amber Liquid Malt Extract - ~Biscuit, bitter and toasted flavours.

1.35kg Vienna Malts (grain) - Subtle grain flavours and caramel aroma.

1 tbsp Gypsum - Is used for raising the acidity level of the water


The process for this will require a longer fermentation and conditioning period so that beer will be ready 2 months from brew day, instead of the 3 weeks that a kit takes. So in order to keep beer supply constant, i shall be likely getting a second barrel so i can continue making kits while this brew is conditioning.

I'm also currently researching ways of adding different flavours to the beer, such as fruit flavours or I'm interested in perhaps adding a slight aniseedy hint to a beer so something may be added to that recipe in the future to give more depth.

It'll be intriguing to see how it turns out and of course I'll give full details of how i go about the whole brewing process for this - so you can see my mistakes so you can avoid them.

Monday Playlist: Week 2 - Underappreciated Tunes by Underappreciated bands

This weeks Monday playlist showcases 12 songs by 12 bands that should be/ should've been bigger.

1. Shrag - Tendon in the Night

2. Tiger - Friends

3. Art Brut - Direct Hit

4. Los Campesinos! - Miserabilia

5. Broadcast - Minim

6. Eux Autres - You're Alight

7.  Ballboy - I've Got Pictures Of You In Your Underwear

8. The Notwist - Consequence

9. Jack - Dress You In Mourning

10. Harveys Rabbit - Is This What You Call Change?

11. The (International) Noise Conspiracy - (I've Got) Survival Sickness

12. The Faint - Agenda Suicide

Beer Review: Krombacher Weizen

Name: Krombacher Weizen

Origin: Kreuztal

Style: Wheat Beer

Brewery: Krombacher

Alcohol Content: 5.3%

Taste: A little bit tarte and a little bit sour but well balanced with citrusy tones and a smooth slightly bitter after taste. A very enjoyable pint.

Aroma:  A little bit herby.

Appearance: Light and Cloudy

Rating: 8.5/10

What makes a great boozer?

I shall shortly be starting a series of reviews of pubs that i've been to, so you know where the enjoy the beers you love out and about, without being blasted by nightclub noise levels of music, a crowd that makes a rush hour train journey seem serene or a drink selection that is about as exciting as drinking tap water all night. So what components make up a good pub. I've decided to look at 5 areas to come up with the ideal pub type. The outside appearance, the layout, the internal appearance, the ambience, and the drink selection/prices.

So first up, the appearance from the outside. Does it look like the kind of place you'd want to enter. I think the more a pub looks like a house and a the less it looks like a shop or a club, the better. Therefore brick walls and smaller windows rather than a large full windowed exterior. You want a place to go and shut out the outside world and either have a good night out or a quiet contemplative pint to while away some time. You don't want people looking in and you want a choice of whether you look out onto the outside world or not. A good old fashioned sign - no neon, something says this is an old and established establishment. The presence of some outside seating is another bonus for those 2 days of the year where its pleasant enough to sit outside for a pint.

The layout of the pub is important as to how you'll enjoy your visit. You want a good bar position and set up so that it i still possible to get served with ease even when there's a large number of barfly's its still not too difficult to get to the bar to be served. You also want the bar to be in a position where you no matter where you are sat you don't have to far to walk to get served. I also like a pub that has little corners to hide in and keep out of the way, rather than one conventional shaped room. This usually means a central bar with seating arranged around rather than the bar against a wall.

The internal appearance encompasses many decor choices that will decided if whether once you've come in - you want to stay. The first thing i notice is the lighting level - i think you want it to be a little bit darker, candlelight from some tables help and the flicker of flames from an open fire is also something that helps to make the pub cosy. The decor needs to be a bit old fashioned - lots of wooden tables and chairs, exposed internal brickwork and as mentioned above - an open fire place is always an added bonus. You want the feel of having entered a home, rather than a business. I like Scandinavian design and clean lines and all that but i don't feel it is right for a pub. and big bright open spaces just don't fit the pub ideal for me.

The ambience i find to be ideal is that of a quieter pub than your typical city centre chain pub with its loud music and screens everywhere. I like a jukebox to provide the music, so you can chose what you want to hear and i want the proprietor to set the volume of that jukebox at a level where you can hear it but also still hear your friends as well. In terms of the busy-ness of the pub. Those running the pub probably won't like it much but i don't want it to be heaving, you want to know that if you go in - you will probably get a seat and be able to enjoy the company of your friends in comfort. On the flipside though, you don't want it so quiet that you are the only people there - otherwise it feels like its no different from having jut stayed in for a few drinks. If sport is shown, you want one screen in one corner so you can choose to watch or not as well.

The drink selection and prices is right up there as the most important factor n making a pub great. You want a good range of guest ales on tap for when you want to try something different and a decent range of continental bottles (one on tap too would be nice also) as well. You don't always fancy the same thing so a choice is always good. You don't them to be too pretentious with it though. Pretentiousness gives too much scope to price you out of spending too long in the pub. The pricing structure should be such that the average punter can easily afford to drink there compared to other places, but not be so dirt cheap that it encourages the wrong crowd. The drink selection normally dictates the prices.

The weekend football preview.

A look forward to the weekends fixtures in England and Scotland, and those predictions. Think you can beat me - submit yours below.

Scottish Premiership.

The Predictions

St Mirren 1 Aberdeen 2
Dundee United 3 Kilmarnock 0
Hibs 1 Ross County 1
Inverness 0 Hearts 1
Motherwell 1 Partick Thistle 0
Celtic 1 St Johnstone 1

The weekend after a round of cup games is always very interesting. So many stories came out of last weekend and it'll be interesting to see how clubs move on from what happened. The big story was obviously Celtic's exit at the hands of Aberdeen. How will they bounce back and motivate themselves with only the already won (if not mathematically) league title left to play for. Is it time for experimentation or will they be able to focus on trying to finish the season unbeaten in the league. St Johnstone are a bit of a jekyll and hyde side this season but recently they have managed to get some decent results against Celtic. So i'm thinking they'll take the lead only for Celtic to get the point with a late equaliser.

On the flipside to that, Aberdeen will look to build on their success and kick on to secure 2nd place in the league in a bid for an outstanding acheivement of 2 cups and their highest league placing in decades. You have to think their squad is strong enough that they should continue against a St Mirren side who may be a little low on confidence after their cup defeat at Tannadice.

Elsewhere, there were sides that Dundee United were working towards playing the kind of football that earned so many plaudits at the end of last year and should get a first league win of the year against Killie. I think Hearts could surprise an Inverness side who stumbled to a replay against Straraer and continue their bid to make a late surge towards possibly staying up. Motherwell should see off Partick to stay on Aberdeen's tail and a share of the spoils at Easter Road as Butchers revival of Hibs continues to falter - it'll take a summer transfer window for him to get the side together he wants.

Player to Watch - Garry Kenneth and Derek Riordan

Okay not involved in the Premiership but both are players that were tipped for big things and had the footballing world at their feet and are now plying their trade at lower levels after this week signing for Brechin City and Alloa respectively. Garry Kenneth was a Scotland international not long ago and left Dundee United expecting to go on to bigger things but i fear his cavalier defending style has been found out since his move and moving down to league 1 may be the kick up the arse he needs to work on his game. He's still got time to turn his career around again. Derek Riordan however, is running out of time. A prolific scorer at Hibs and possessor of a cracking left foot - he should've played at the highest level and won trophies and caps galore. However, his attitude has always stank and he's always been more interested in going out in and getting barred from Edinburgh night spots and you have to feel that pretty soon he's going to look back at his career and kick himself at how its gone. Can he still redeem himself? even if it is at a part-time Championship club.

FA Cup

Sunderland 2 Southampton 1
Cardiff 0 Wigan 1
Sheff Wed 2 Charlton 0
Man City 2 Chelsea 1
Everton 1 Swansea 0
Sheff Utd 1 Nottm Forest 1
Arsenal 1 Liverpool 2
Brighton 1 Hull 0

Its the opposite way round down south. Its a cup weekend on the back of what was an intriguing week as the top clubs continue to do their best not to take advantage of being top of the league. Those same clubs will be playing repeats of recent head to heads. Most notably Arsenal take on Liverpool a week on from being ripped apart by them in the league at Anfield. A midweek draw against Man Utd at least gave the defence some confidence again with a clean sheet and i'd expect a closer run thing this week. However, Liverpool are really starting to look the business and i still take them to edge the Arsenal as they will have their usual stumble out of all trophy contention in the new year.

The other big one is Man City playing Chelsea. It was only a couple of weeks ago that Chelsea defeated the sky blues to open up their league challenge and they have stuttered a bit since then. I take them to narrowly edge a tight game against Chelsea. Elsewhere, i think Sunderland will edge Southampton and continue to edge towards a second place at Wembley this season. Wigan's defence will continue with a surprise win at Cardiff. Everton are my tip to win the trophy and win Martinez a place in history by winning two finals in a row with two different teams and they'll just see off stuttering Swansea. Brighton to edge out Hull in another shock and Sheff Utd to earn a replay against Forest.

Player To Watch - Mesut Ozil

He's done little of late to live up to his large transfer fee of late after the early bounce he gave to Arsenal. As their season reaches a critical stage in their bid to finally wrap up some silverware again, the fans will be looking to see him step up and help their side pick up some results from the big games to come.




German game to watch - Bayer 04 Leverkusen v Schalke 04. 4's in the name - what price a vier - vier draw?