Fullers London Pride, Holgate Hopinator and the Ashes

Two of BotF members have been playing in an irregular game of 35 over a side cricket between some Australians and some English called the Mad Dogs for some years now. Today was the 9th encounter since 2004. Score was Australia 4, Mad Dogs 3 and 1 no result. Each game has panned out in its own way but the common theme of every game has been that they have been played in ridiculous heat. Whilst nothing came close to beating the “Extreme Cricket” game of 2009, today was still oppressively muggy and hot.

Australia batted first and they reached 213 off their 35 overs. illiards and bladdamasta represented BotF well and scored 34 and 35 not out respectively. All was going well with the Mad Dogs struggling at 7 wickets down, but two of their gun batsman had retired and could come back in the event of no batsmen left. That’s exactly what happened and the Mad Dogs batted extremely well to get the runs with 5 balls to spare. It was a pretty depressing feeling at the end, particularly as the heat had sapped any ability to express any sort of emotion at the end of it all.

Even the contest between the admittedly two very dissimilar beers was a close one. Both were outstanding but in the prevailing conditions, one had to give the nod to the London Pride. Both were tasty, but for a mad dogs and english type summer’s day, the Fuller’s London Pride was the session beer. London Pride has a fair bit going on taste wise, but it was smooth to drink and nice and malty. The Holgate Hopinator did not let you down from a bitterness sense. Great hoppy taste both during and after. It was quite heavy and you could almost taste the extra alcohol. You’d be struggling after three of these, whereas the London Pride would have been an all nighter.

The next game and drink should be a beauty.