(Klein, centre-left, and members of the club.)
While perusing the Times last week, we were intrigued to read the story of fashion designer Stanislassia Klein and her crusade to ensure French women could “enjoy a beer without being derided as a social outcast”.
Her Paris-based “Club for Women Beer Drinkers in High Heels” now has more than 2,000 members. “The club has really struck a chord,” she said. “There are lots of girls out there who like beer but say they can’t drink it because they get strange looks.” (The Times article is behind a pay-wall, but you can read a syndicated version here.)
Despite recent advances, beer drinking in the UK remains male-dominated (although, thankfully, to a lesser extent than across the channel). Sadly, this is particularly true when it comes to real ale. It seems a shame that many women miss out on enjoying one of Britain’s greatest products, purely because they feel uncomfortable drinking it.
When we relaunched Truman’s, we were adamant that we wanted it to be a beer for everyone, everywhere. So if the Club for Women Beer Drinkers ever launches a London branch, the first pint is on us.
Truman’s is very proud to be supporting the award-winning Hackney Podcast on Friday night for their launch of their new iPhone app.
For those who are new to the Hackney Podcast, it is a fantastic local institution that records the life and times of the borough, covering everything bus drivers to the rise of the Olympics. As local residents, we are big fans and looking forward to Friday.
The details of the night are here. If you’re in the area and fancy some Truman’s then be sure to drop in and celebrate all that is Hackney.
With Truman’s now firmly back in East London’s pubs, we’ve been trying to get out and chat to our new customers as much as possible. Despite our best efforts, its seems that not everyone has fully understood the Truman’s story. We’ve found that some people think that the beer is a brand new launch, while others (particularly those with longer memories) hadn’t realised that it had ever disappeared at all.
So when it was time to produce our new beermat, we decided it was a good chance to tell the history of Truman’s in as few words as possible.
Established 1666; closed 1989; re-estabished 2010.
There you have it.
And what’s on the other side? You’ll have to visit a pub selling Truman’s to find out. [Clue: it flies and has feathers.]
A few of the eagle-eyed have pointed out that someone has cleaned up and painted the Truman’s sign on the old ‘Crown & Shuttle’ pub at 226 Shoreditch High Street.
We’ve no idea who it was or why they did it, but we love it.
Let us know if you see their handiwork anywhere else.
Designboom wanted to know how you go about reviving a 300 year old brand, how you make it contemporary and where our eagle came from (it came from the eagle above).
The answers that made the story are here – look out for the sneak preview of our first bottle…..
Sharp-eyed Truman’s fans will have seen that we have a special winter ale on the pumps. It is a porter called Three Threads.
Truman’s owes a lot to the creation of porter as it was on the back of the Porter Boom that Truman’s became great. The name Three Threads is a reference to the origin of porter, it pays tribute to the role it played in our past (even if our version is not strictly a blend).
Originally, the drink was a blend of ‘ale, beer and ‘twopenny’ (a mild malt liquor of dark colour)’, which was mixed at the bar. Truman’s folklore claims that the it was the landlord of the Old Blue Last who, in 1722, first asked a brewer named Harwood to produce a brew that was a mix of three. The landlord named the drink ‘Porter’ in honour of the market porters who drank so many pints of ‘Three Threads’ at this bar.
It was a big moment in the history of British brewing because porter was the first beer which could be brewed in industrial quantities without any deterioration – a discovery that changed the brewing industry forever.
Three Threads is our first special since we re-established and you can find it at the Ten Bells, The Water Poet, The Carpenters Arms and The Peasant. Enjoy.
We were lucky enough to spending an October morning drinking tea with Tony Jack – war hero, black cab driver and one time Truman’s chauffeur.
Talking to Tony was part of the third installment of Spitalfields Life’s Truman’s series. Prior to meeting him, all we knew was that he was a former chauffeur to the old Directors. By the end of the morning, we understood that Tony has lived the life of several men and achieved remarkable things. We don’t want to give too much away, so read the full story here.
One further tale of interest to those of the beer world was of Cavendish Square. Every year the heads of all the country’s breweries would gather at a house on the square to resolve matters of industry and set beer price for the coming year. Tony could not tell us when this particular tradition fell out of practice.
Thursday the 28th of October marks the opening of autumn edition of The Peasant’s Best of British Beer Festival 2010.
In it’s 4th year, The Peasant scours the country for great beers from a wide range of breweries – some large, some micro.
We’re proud that ‘Truman’s Runner’ will be on tap for the week and we’ll be down there to help celebrate the event next Thursday.
Come join us.
The Peasant – 240 St John Street, Clerkenwell, London, EC1V 4PH
We’ve been quiet for a few weeks and part of the reason is that we’ve been writing elsewhere.
The Brewery History site was a great resource for us when tracking down old Truman’s pubs, so we were happy to write an article for them about our return.
For all those who subscribe, look out for it in the latest issue. For everyone else, we’ll link to it as soon as the new issue is online.
It’s long and comprehensive, so sure to get yourself a drink before you sit down to read it.
Pie Week is on.
The Water Poet on Folgate Street, E1, is putting on a festival of fine pub food. At the centre of it all is Truman’s Pie of the Day. Today was Beef & Onion, but there is still Wild Boar, Game, Venison and Steak to come.
As part of the celebrations, the Poet are offering a special lunch deal of a Pie & a Pint for £9.50.
Don’t worry if you’re not a food person because ‘Truman’s Runner’ is on at the special price of £3 a pint all week. So, there is something for everyone.