For this leg of the journey, we decided to get a hire car, which Tracey had volunteered to drive. Although I was very grateful and more than happy to have her do the driving duties, it was a little disconcerting that she went to get in the car on the wrong side when we set off 🙂 It was almost 300 miles to Pittsburgh so most of our time would be spent travelling today.
It was gone 10 o’clock before we got on our way. We made a stop at Brecknock Township in search for something to eat at around 2ish. Asking for recommendations in a ‘gas’ station proved fruitless, but one of the other customers overheard our request and offered to show us to ‘the best diner in town’. He got in his car and proceeded to lead us around a couple of blocks, where he indicated for us to stop. He even got out of his car and opened the door for us to go in. What a genuinely nice man!
The Hilltop. Thankfully, Bates wasn’t in residence.
About five hours later, we reached our destination – The Hilltop Inn, our first taste of an American Motel. And it was everything I expected! Tatty magazines, stale cakes and broken coffee machine in the reception. Peeling woodwork outside, grimy tobacco-stained walls and frayed curtains in the room, and a television which looked like it was made in the ’60s, with a coat hanger for an aerial. All that was missing was an Anthony Perkins lookalike. But it was cheap and comfortable and although some of the residents looked a bit scary, they seemed chatty and friendly enough. We booked in and freshened up and as time was marching on – it was about 19.30 by this time – it was beer o’clock.
An eight-mile taxi ride took us to the Grist House Craft Brewery – 10 E Sherman St, Pittsburgh, PA 15209, and it was busy here tonight. The tap area was a wooden built lean-to off the main brewery building, spilling out onto the yard, where there were several marquees and a food van selling British ‘FISH & CHIPS’. ‘Yes, we DO mean fries’ read a sign attached to the van! After queueing at the van for half-an-hour to get some nosebag for the girls, I was finally allowed some beer. It was worth the wait: pints of Hazedelic Juice Grenade 6.4% NEIPA and Space Cactus 6.8% NEIPA, both brewed on-site, both spectacular. One of the locals told us about another brewery that was literally a few minutes’ walk away, and what a contrast that was!
Great atmosphere at the Grist House.
Strange Roots Experimental Ales – 501 E Ohio St, Pittsburgh, PA 15209, a small, one-roomed bar set back off the street was empty when we got there, which we thought odd for this time on a Friday night. When we tasted the beer though, it became apparent why! Now, I’m all for experimentation, but I’m not so keen on being the guinea pig. I tried two here: Desert Wolf 5.1% IPA, which was just about neckable, but the Summer Ghost 5.1% Farmhouse Saison was undrinkable and hands-down the worst beer of the whole trip. In hindsight, I wish we’d stayed for another one at the Grist House, but no matter, onward to the next stop.
Another 8-mile Uber ride and we were dropped off at Hitchhiker Brewing – 190 Castle Shannon Blvd, Pittsburgh, PA 15228. This was a bijou town-centre tap room (although the brewery is in another part of town) which, though busy, wasn’t overcrowded. I tried a flight of three in here: a 15th & Canal 5.8% APA, 7.1% Spatial Influence NEIPA (which was superb) and an Into the Fade 8% Double NEIPA. Much needed after the shite we’d just suffered back at Roots.
Superb NEIPA at Hitchhiker.
Time was getting on now, but we had to make up for a lost day’s drinking due to the car journey! Another short cab ride took us to the Korner Pub – 4 Bower Hill Rd, Pittsburgh, PA 15228. Looking like a supermarket from the outside, with a big neon-lit Coors sign in the window, I wasn’t expecting much. It turned out OK. Stepping through the doors to find it rammed with customers, we managed to find some table space, sharing with some locals, and I ordered a pint of Hop Knife 6.2% IPA by Tröegs Independent Brewing which was a very tasty nightcap before calling it a night. It was nearly half-past midnight by now and it had been another very tiring day. Tomorrow we were going to explore the city.
Saturday’s route.
SATURDAY 1/9/18
A little sightseeing this morning, starting at the PNC Park, home ground of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team, followed by brunch (it’s like a cross between breakfast and lunch, apparently) at Nola on the Square, 24 Market Square, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, a New Orleans-style restaurant. It appears to be another venue that has closed since our visit which is a real shame as it had excellent table service and some really delish food here, accompanied by a 7% Two Hearted Ale IPA from Bell’s which wasn’t anything special but started the day off nicely.
Our bit of non-beer culture for the day was the Andy Warhol Museum, where we spent an interesting hour-and-a-half before getting all pop-arted out and having to find more beer, this time at Mike’s Beer Bar AKA Beerhead – Boggs Building LP, 110 Federal St, Pittsburgh, PA 15212. An amazing beer supermarket-cum-bar with over 500 beers, 80 of them on tap, plus a great food menu. Beerhead is one of a franchise of specialist beer bars springing up around the NE of the States. A great concept, I wonder where they got the idea from? Anyway, back to the beer. We sat out on the street and I ordered three: Strawberry Mango Smoosh 7.8% Milkshake DIPA from Separatist Beer Project, 6.2% Victorious IPA #2 NEIPA from Victory and a 6.3% Misfits & Misanthropes #13 from Helltown, which was totally wowsers!
A small section of the menu at Beerhead.
Suitably refreshed, it was time for a bit more sightseeing and me and Chris decided we’d take the girls up the funicular, fnar fnar! The Duquesne Incline has a 19th-Century wooden cable-car running up and down every few minutes. There were fairly long queues and the short ride cost $5 but, once at the top, the sweeping views of the city below were totally worth it. By the quaint little payment kiosk (built in 1877), we found the Coal Hill Steakhouse, where we sat on the balcony sipping glasses of ice-cold Pepsi (no comments, please) and taking in the views below. Without a doubt, Pittsburgh was the most picturesque city we had visited on the whole tour so far.
On the way back into town, we passed The Tap Room, 555 Grant St, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, and thought we’d pop in for one. We shouldn’t have bothered. A very lacklustre choice in here. We should’ve left but we all needed a rest and some respite from the sun. I opted for a 6% 60 Minute IPA from Dogfish Head, which was decidedly average. Move on there…
Next was a quick one at Sharp Edge Bistro – 922 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, where I wasn’t expecting much of the 6.8% Samuel Adams NEIPA from Boston Beer Company, but it was surprisingly good. Just the one here before we made the two-minute walk to the Proper Brick Oven & Tap Room – 139 7th St, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, where we spent another hour and I had a pint of 7.5% Jal Alai IPA from Cigar City, which was OK, at best.
Grand views over Pittsburgh.
We all elected to finish the evening back at Beerhead where we spent another hour until 10 o’clock, when we decided to call it a night. I chose a 6% Wild Sour Series: Synchopathic from Desthil, which was stupendously good and the perfect end to our short stay in Pittsburgh. Tomorrow was a long drive toward the Canadian border and our next stop, Erie.
Saturday’s route.
Pittsburgh was, from the little we saw of it, a lovely, safe and well-organised city with lots of green and community space and a thriving craft beer scene. Highly recommended for a visit.
We boarded the 10.20 Greyhound bus bound for Philadelphia, another four-hour journey including a 20-minute stop-off in Baltimore. It was on this bus that we encountered the only miserable person of the entire holiday. The driver was a surly and downright rude man who could obviously do with some lessons at Charm School. When Tracey made a call on her phone, he shouted back that she was endangering the bus as he was being distracted from his driving. Tracey ended her call and soon after, he spread out a whole picnic across his knees and proceeded to eat his lunch whilst driving on the highway!
Arriving at the Philadelphia Greyhound Terminal I was, as you can imagine, bostin’ for a pee, so I immediately went off to find the ‘bathroom’. When I got there I had to navigate around a uniformed security guard who was in the doorway shouting into the room: “Come out of there! You’ve had long enough!” This continued whilst I stood against the wall doing my own thing, until the guard came in and started hammering on a cubicle door “COME OUT, COME OUT!”
The trap door eventually opened and a skinny, shirtless youth darted out, obviously high as a kite, carrying a shirt covered in blood and with three perfectly round (bullet) holes in his torso. “Sorry Sir,” he said to the guard “I don’t mean to be any trouble”. He dodged the guard’s attempt to grab him, pushing past me in his dash to the door. He then did a 180 spin and raised his thumbs. “Cool hair dude!” he said to me before he disappeared into the crowds outside! What an exciting introduction to Philadelphia!
After finding our AirBnB, we explored the locality on foot for a bit and found the Roy Pitz Barrel House – 990 Spring Garden St, Philadelphia, PA 19123. We popped in for a bevvy and something to eat. Roy Pitz is a light, airy and modern bar with a glass frontage, trendy artwork murals to one side and tiers of oak ageing barrels the other. The back wall houses the bar, equipped with 15 taps, all dispensing their own beers, plus one hand pump.
I tried a taster flight with five beers: Truly Honest 6% American amber, Cherry Hound 6% sour, Das Pretzel Gose 4.5% sour, Berlina Blue 4% sour blueberry Berliner Weisse, and the superb 5% NEIPA Step Up your Game – their flagship beer. The later was so good, I decided to take a can home for fellow BeerHeadZ colleague, Lincoln Beer Baron to review on his Instagram feed. I think he was suitably impressed.
Flights at Roy Pitz.
We’d had a pretty long day and I think the heat, travelling and previous eight days of intense drinking were starting to get to us. After a nice relaxing three hours, we elected for an early finish and walked back to the flat (via an off-license we had spotted on the way). Chris and I picked up a couple of cans each, mine being 6.3% Live Transmission Milkshake from Flying Monkeys which I sipped back at the flat with my feet up watching Netflix whilst the girls did the washing. Happy days!
WEDNESDAY 29/8/18
29th August 2018, and today I was 60 years old. This was what all the holiday was about and I didn’t care what we did today, as long as it involved beer! After breakfast, we did some general walking and sightseeing, including the Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary Soldier. Just after midday, we decided to look for a pub and seemed to be wandering aimlessly. Undecided whether to take a left or right turn, we chose right… and bumped into my great pals from California, Mark & Sue! Well, you could’ve knocked me down with a lump hammer.
Unbeknownst to me, Mark and Sue had secretly been talking to the rest of the gang about meeting up in Philly for a birthday surprise and had planned to meet up at a nearby pub. Before we made the rendezvous, we bumped into them in the street by chance! Despite the random meeting, it was a brilliant surprise and lovely gesture from Mark and Sue, who had travelled the breadth of America to be there.
Less than 30 minutes later, we were in Monk’s Café – 264 S 16th St, Philadelphia, PA 19102, a Belgian beer bar. My first beer at 60 was a 6.5% mono.tone.citra IPA by Tonewood. Followed by a 5.5% Monk’s Cafe Flemish Sour Ale from Brouwerij Van Steenberge and a 7.5% Confluence American wild ale from Allagash. Great beer with fantastic company. Cheers!
Birthday beer with wonderful friends.
We decided to move on. Yards Brewing Company – 500 Spring Garden St, Philadelphia, PA 19123, was a 20-minute cab ride away. Another tap with an ultra-modern, industrial feel to it. I sampled four of their beers in here: 4.6% Grapefruit Philadelphia APA, 7% Signature English IPA, 5% Sons of Ben Belgian pale, and a mighty 9.3% Cape of Good Hope DIPA. A couple of hours in here before a revisit to Roy Pitz for a quick last pint of Step Your Game Up before Mark and Sue had to catch a train back to New York. It had been a wonderful and memorable 60th birthday and thanks to Chris, Tracey, Mark, Sue and Mrs Belvoir for making it happen.
Wednesday’s route.
THURSDAY 30/8/18
We decided to separate into couples again this morning to do our own thing for a few hours. Mrs Belvoir and I made for the Independence National Historical Park to do the Independence Hall and see the Liberty Bell (for the compulsory selfie). Tracey and Chris went to visit a local prison. Hopefully, they would get released. Most of the museums and historic attractions around the Independence National Historical Park are free to enter, but you still need to queue to get a free ticket and allotted time slot. Nobody tells you this, so take note if you ever visit!
By early afternoon, we were all Independence Day’d out and it was beer time. We passed the Rittenhouse Square and found the Tria Taproom – 2005 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19103. Another long, deep bar with a small frontage to the street, offering no less than 24 taps. Just the two for me here. 6.9% Citra by Funk and a 5% Action Bronson’s 7000 fruited sour from Stillwater Artisanal, both excellent.
Quiet inside the Belgian Cafe.
Back out onto the street, right turn and a mile’s walk was the Belgian Cafe – 601 N 21st St, Philadelphia, PA 19130, another bar which has sadly permanently closed since our visit. It had a very similar layout to Monk’s Cafe, visited yesterday. There was no one inside the pub so we elected to sit under the awning outside whilst we waited for Chris and Tracey, who duly turned up a few minutes later. I sampled four here: 6.6% County Line IPA and 5.2% J.A.W.N, both by Neshaminy Creek, 7% Grapefruit Sculpin IPA by Ballast Point, and a 7.5% Racer 5 IPA from Bear Republic. We spent a lovely couple of hours here. The waiter was very chatty and helpful, giving us a long list of recommended craft bars in town. Alas, it was too late – we were leaving for Pittsburgh tomorrow. However, we made one of his tips our next destination.
Bottle Bar East – 1308 Frankford Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19125, was a hell of a recommendation and Christ on a bike, am I glad we went! I immediately warmed to the place when we stepped through the door as Slayer was playing on the sound system. Then we saw the seemingly endless row of fridges – apparently over 600 beers to choose from in here – where to start? It was our last night in Philly and I was gonna make the best of it!
600 beers at Bottle Bar East.
First, The Fujiwhara Effect, a 7.5% IPA from Captain Lawrence. Followed by a 6.2% My Name is Citrus Maximus by River Horse, Tart ‘n Juicy 4.5% sour IPA by Epic, The Flava Influencer 7.8% Milkshake IPA from Evil Twin, Saison Aux Baies Ameres 6.8% Farmhouse from Left Hand, Jenny Says 7.7% DIPA from Singlecut Beersmiths, and finally an 8.5% Fresh IIPA v5 NEIPA from Hubbard’s Cave. Wow! Just WOW! It was the perfect end to our Philly visit. It was only a mile back to our digs, but I don’t think any of us would’ve made it so, we ordered an Uber.
Thursday’s route.
Again, three days is too little time to see even a fraction of this city, but what I did see, I enjoyed. A surprise meeting and drinking beers with great friends made my 60th birthday really special and I’ll treasure the memory forever.
After getting the obligatory eggy breakfast, we boarded a Greyhound bus at 10 o’clock bound for Washington. We were scheduled to cover the 200 miles or so in just over four hours. Sho nuff, we arrived at Washington Union Station – another fine piece of architecture – at just gone 14.00. We grabbed a cab to take us to our hotel, which was over eight miles away. After a quick freshen up and another cab, we were dropped off at the National Mall back in town and standing on Jefferson Drive in front of the Whitehouse for a selfie opportunity by 17.30.
It had been hot today – about 36 °C – and the gentle evening breeze was welcome. After having a quick nosey around and getting the lie of the land, we decided it was beer time. Capitol City Brewing – 1100 New York Ave NW #710W, Washington, DC 20005, was about 25 minutes’ walk away.
Capitol City Brewing.
Capitol City was a large, modern bar situated on a busy street corner and looked about as American and commercial as you can get, devoid of any real character. But we wanted a beer and some much-needed sustenance, so we decided to stay for just the one. As feared, the 6.6% Cap City IPA I ordered was nowt to shout about and after we finished the food we swiftly moved on.
A 20-minute walk brought us to ChurchKey – 1337 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20005. When we found the place, it looked like a fine dining and wine venue and actually walked out. When we doubled-checked the address, we asked one of the waiters who directed us out the door and up some steep wooden steps which led to their craft beer bar. It turned out to be a hidden gem. A single long and deep room with drinking area to one side and bar along the other, sporting no less than 48 taps, plus five hand pumps.
ChurchKey – worth finding!
There was a printed beer menu here, so I suspect that most of the beers were permanent offerings. Nevertheless, it was a pretty decent selection. I chose six from the list: Peeper, a 5.5% IPA from Maine, On the Wings of Armageddon, a 9.2% DIPA from DC Brau, an 8% Double NEIPA Hollow Horse from Bluejacket, Kodachrome Dream(ing), a 4.5% Radler (I didn’t realise when I ordered it!) from Right Proper, a Hoof RARted 9% DIPA from RAR and one of the cask choices, the 5.9% Ghost IPA DDH+Grape from 3 Stars. It was the first cask I’d tried since arriving in the States, and this one was a belter! It was nice in here, but the air conditioning was making Mrs. Belvoir cold, so we felt obliged to move on after a couple of hours.
Next on our list was the Bier Baron Tavern, but when we got there it was just closing, being a Sunday an’ all, so we went in search for another place. Unfortunately, in spite of being keen rambler, Tracey managed to stumble on an uneven paving stone and fell over (nothing to do with the beer, honest) and ripped off the end of her big toe. Ouch! Luckily there was a pharmacy on the other side of the road, where we went to buy some first aid supplies. On inspection though, it was evident that the wound would need more than a plaster, so we asked a police officer who was parked up in his car where the nearest A&E was.
The Two Sergeants!
Being a Sergeant in the British Police Force herself at the time, Tracey quickly struck up a conversation with the officer, and within minutes there was an ambulance in attendance for some curb-side treatment. It could only happen to Tracey. Amazing! By the time all the excitement was over, it was time to call it a day and we got another cab for the twelve-mile ride back to the hotel.
Sunday’s route.
MONDAY 27/8/18
In the light of morning, it became apparent how bad Tracey’s wound was and it was obvious a lot of walking was not practical today. So it was decided that her and Scary would split from the Belvoirs today and we would do our own things. A cab dropped us all off back at the National Mall where we arranged to meet up again later that day. Tracey and Chris decided to do an open-top bus and water tour, whilst Mrs. Belvoir and I decided to start with the nearby Smithsonian Institute tour. This place is split up into several sections along the length of the Mall and is so extensive you could spend all week exploring. We decided to do the National Museum of American History.
This alone is a massive place, and I’m sure we only saw a fraction of it, but to be honest,after an hour we’d seen enough. So back out into the sun and along the Mall away from the Capitol Building and past the Washington Monument (which, unfortunately, was closed due to refurb) toward the World War II Memorial, where we stopped for a few minutes to pay respects and take on some water. It was baking hot here today, about 38 °C, and there was absolutely no shelter around. We walked the length of the reflecting pool and eventually reached the Lincoln Memorial. By the time I had climbed the steps, I was that hot I thought I was going to pass out! Still, we got our obligatory selfie.
Sightseeing in DC.
After a bit of a sit down in the shade we recommenced our walk, jinking right behind Lincoln’s statue and continuing adjacent to the Potomac River, and through the Georgetown Waterfront Park. There was some lovely green space here and I bet the real estate prices were at a premium. Our intended destination was actually the steps that featured in the 1973 film, The Exorcist. After much searching and asking three locals (the first two didn’t know!), we found the steps at the intersection of M Street NW, Canal Rd NW, and Whitehurst Freeway NW and boy, are they steep! When we got there, a lady was jogging up and down the flight for fun. Every time she completed a cycle, she put a pebble on a window sill at the bottom. We counted 21 stones and she was still going strong! Just watching her was making me feel thirsty, so I decided I needed beer!
The Tombs – 1226 36th St NW, Washington, DC 20007, an aptly-named cellar bar, was close by and the air conditioning was a welcome relief from the heat outside. For a Monday lunchtime in a hidden underground bar, it was pretty busy in here. Despite this obviously being a foody place with only a limited beer choice, we settled on some stools at the bar and perused the menu. I opted for a 5.2% Vienna Lager by Devils Backbone, which was bog-standard and sickly sweet (as expected, being an Anheuser-Busch sub), accompanied by a plate of hot wings (which were very nice). Nice bar, shame about the peeve. No matter, it was a welcome oasis in a time of need. Time now to start the walk back to meet our travel pals.
We caught up with Scary and Tracey at Stoney’s on L – 2101 L St NW Suite #103, Washington, DC 20037, another smallish modern bar, this time with 24 beers on tap. I had a 4.4% Blood Orange Gose by Atlas, which was very acceptable and a perfect quencher in this weather. We were getting a bit peckish by this time so it was off for some din-dins.
A two-mile hike took us to the Right Proper Brewing Company – 624 T St NW, Washington, DC 20001. We found space on one of the benches on the street outside and got a tray full of beers, which we sipped while we waited for our food to arrive. Some proper good beers here: Ravaged by Wolves – a 6.5% Brett, New Weird America – 5% APA, Humulus Lycanthropus 6% APA, Eno – 5.1% Saison and a Vintage New Weird America 5% APA, all brewed on-site. Suitably fed and watered, we ordered an Uber to take us to our final stop of the day, back to the Bier Baron to make good on our aborted visit from last night!
Proper good beer here!
The DC Comedy Loft and Bier Baron Tavern – 1523 22nd St NW, Washington, DC 20037, to give its full name is, as you may have guessed, a bar with a resident comedy club. Or is it a comedy club with a bar? Either way, a fantastic setup with almost daily comedy performances in a separate area from the bar by amateurs and professionals alike. Tonight there was a ‘comedy school’ where new hopefuls took a five-minute spot on stage overseen by a professional comic, who would interrupt the routine to comment on their technique in order to improve their material and/or delivery. It was fascinating to watch and we sat there sipping a beer for half an hour or so before we returned to the bar area for some serious drinking.
Sourtastic!
Great selection in here, and tonight it was sours all the way! 6.4% Queen of the Seven Kingdoms from Ommegang, 8% Crimson Tart from Uinta, 5.2% Mr Kiwi from Highway Manor, 5% ChiChi 5% from Denizens, and finally a 2015 sharing bottle of 10.3% Tangerine Dream from the mighty Cascade, which was about $35 but worth every penny. We had a great session here and were the last ones to leave at gone 11 o’clock when the Uber arrived to take us home.
Monday’s route.
And that was the end of our stay in D.C. I was aware that in two days we didn’t really see much of it and I know the city has had its troubles in the recent past, but I liked what we’d seen and done and would definitely go back. Next stop – Philadelphia.
Around 08.30 we boarded a BoltBus bound for New York, a journey of about four-and-a-half hours and 200 miles. The bus was comfy enough and the ride smooth. On the roads there didn’t seem to be any lane discipline, vehicles swapping lanes on a whim, but it all seemed to work well enough. I’d be interested in what it says in the US Highway Code (if there is one?). The bus dropped us off at a road-side terminus somewhere between the Lincoln Tunnel and the Theater (sic) District and, obviously, by this time we were bustin’ for both a pee and a beer, so we decided to find the nearest bar whilst we figured out where we were in relation to our pre-booked AirBnB.
Rounding a couple of corners, we found Hellcat Annie’s Tap Room – 637 10th Ave, New York, NY 10036. Two banks of 10 taps each in here, but I must’ve been so excited I forgot to make a note of what I drank in here. How remiss! Suffice to say I enjoyed it. Suitably refreshed, we upped again to find our digs.
We duly found our flat, where we unpacked, freshened up, and then off out again, this time toward ICONYC Brewing – 43-63 11th St, Long Island City, NY 11101, which was a mere 20 minutes’ walk away. This was a tiny space that served as the tap for the brewery just across the road. Only ICONYC beers in here, but we tried them all! As you can see from the bill, it was a hell of a session. Three hours later, we were the only customers left and we sensed our host wanted to get home, so we called it a day. A great little place and well recommended.
Flights at ICONYC.
FRIDAY 25/8/18
Breakfast, and I’m feeling I will soon look like an egg. We decided to walk into town today. It was a fairly long one – four miles – but it gave us time to look round and get a feel for the city. Plus the traffic was that busy it was going nowhere quickly. We had the day part-planned and were going to do the touristy thing today, starting with the water tour. So we set off toward the Gantry Plaza State Park, where we could board the boat.
En route, we stumbled upon the Fifth Hammer brewery. The shutters were up but the brewer was too busy to come and talk to us, so we made a mental note to go back later to get some beer (we didn’t make it!).
No entry at Fifth Hammer 🙁
We started the boat tour, which took us down the East River, under the Brooklyn Bridge and into the Upper Bay, giving us great views of the city, Brooklyn, Jersey City and of course the Statue on Liberty Island. The trip lasted about an hour, so we had time to visit the onboard bar and get a beer! It was only Goose Island IPA served in a plastic beaker, but hey, it was better than nowt!
We disembarked where we got on and the next stop was the 9/11 Museum. We all voted to walk it and stop off somewhere at random for a midday beer or two. We ended up in the Irish American Pub – 17 John St, New York, NY 10038. In hindsight, it was a bit of a mistake, as it was probably the naffest pub visit of the whole holiday. Never mind. At least it offered shade and had a modest selection on the bar. I opted for a 6.3% Bronx APA, followed by 6.2% Lagunitas IPA. Both were really average, like the pub.
Onward with the sightseeing and we reached the 9/11 Memorial and Museum at about 13.15. The queues were only modest and we had done the whole thing by about 15.30 so it was off to the next drinkie station. This time, it was a recommendation from my American pal, Mark. It was a fair walk to get there – but we were still going faster than the traffic. But what a pub we were rewarded with! The Blind Tiger – 281 Bleecker St, New York, NY 10014, was rammed to capacity and you could immediately see why it was so popular. Proclaiming itself as ‘N.Y’s Premier Craft Bar’, it’s difficult to disagree with them. A modest selection of 12 taps here, but what a selection! Grimm, Trillium, Equilibrium, Other Half and a ‘House Beer’ from KCBC!
I tried Bloomerang, a 6.4% NEIPA from Two Roads, a Holy Icon 8% Sour from Hudson Valley, and Mmm… Fruit (w/ Plum), a 4.2% sour Berliner Weisse from Other Half. Outstanding! The food was great too. Everybody we spoke to in here were obviously beer connoisseurs, and one chap gave us a list of places to visit during our stay. Unfortunately, we only had one more day so wouldn’t be able to visit. If you’re ever in NY, the Blind Tiger is a must-visit.
We still had to make use of our pre-booked Empire State Building tickets, plus we wanted to find the building depicted on the album cover of Led Zeppelin‘s ‘Physical Graffiti’ album, which is located in the Ukrainian Village area (the building, not the album). We eventually found the building, happily seeming not to have changed one bit. Strangely, we couldn’t find any mention of the building’s significance anywhere around. Anyone not knowing would just walk past. There was, however, a little cafe situated on the ground floor which calls itself ‘The Physical GraffiTea Shop’
Anyone for tea?
Then it was off to find the Empire State Building, which we did easily (it was that tall mofo on the horizon), only to find that we couldn’t secure a time slot for the tour for another couple of hours. So back out onto the street, we killed a few minutes calling into the Grand Central Station to have a gander at the architecture and went to look at the Rockefeller Centre, which we also had tickets for, but alas no time to do the tour. A few hundred yards later, we happened upon the Flatiron Hall – 38 West 26th Street, New York, NY 10010, which is the Heartland Brewery Tap. It would’ve been rude not to call in, so we did, where I sampled a 5.5% Summertime Apricot Ale by Heartland. It was very average, but no matter, we had to get a move on.
Back to the old Empire to do the tour. The place was absolutely bustling with tourists and to be honest, it’s not something I’d generally do but hey, when in Rome (or NY…). By the time we got to the top of the tower, night had fallen but the 360-degree views from the outside parapet over the neon-lit city made the effort totally worth it.
Time for one more stop before home on what had been an utterly exhausting day. Our final call was The Ginger Man – 11 E 36th St, New York, NY 10016. A charming English-style bar of mainly wood construction, with over 20 beers on tap, from which I tried two; a Robot Fish #12 Optic/Centennial 6% APA from KCBC, followed by a Super Stario, an 8% DIPA from Peekskill. Both were absolutely superb and a great end to a very busy day. We were all so tired that we couldn’t face the four-mile-long walk home, so for the first time, we ordered an Uber.
Friday’s route.
SATURDAY 25/819
A lot pre-planned again today, so we set off early at 07.30, opting this time to make the journey uptown on the Subway (that’s a train, not a sandwich). Taking in, amongst other stuff, Central Park, American Museum of Natural History and USS Intrepid floating Air and Space Museum, it wasn’t until about 18.45 that we got our first beer, but man! it was worth the wait. Another 45-minute Uber ride dropped us off at the Other Half Brewing Company – 195 Centre St, Brooklyn, NY 11231. In my opinion one of the best craft brewers in the World today, Other Half are at the top of their game. Basically, just an industrial hangar in a run-down part of town, this place is about as hip as you can get. Hip-hop music blasting on the speakers, tattoos and baseball caps a-plenty, the place was heaving with customers.
Like a kid in a sweetie shop here with around 20 tap choices. We’d come a long way for this, so I was determined to make the best of it! I had six; DDH Double Mosaic DIPA 8.5%, Simcoe Daydream IPA 6%, DDH Cheddar DIPA 7.9%, DDH Double Citra Daydream 8.5% DIPA, DDH Hop Showers (w/ Eldorado) IPA 7.4%, and a Go With the Flow IPA at 6.5%. As with the Trillium guys, if you haven’t checked this brewery out yet, you really should!
Take-away menu at Other Half.
We were a fair way from base, so we ordered another Uber and decided to break the journey at another of Mark’s suggestions; Mugs Ale House – 125 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211. Sadly, from researching this article, it appears that after 27 years, Mugs‘ closed its doors for good in June 2019. I’m glad I got to visit it. To be honest, as soon as we entered the place, I thought it was noticeably quiet for 9ish on a Saturday night. With hindsight, this ‘old-timey’ (their words, not mine) pub was obviously already in decline and missing out to the trendier places in town. It just shows how you must keep on top of your business and adapt to survive.
Despite being quiet, it was a lovely place, with a homely ‘English’ pub feel to it and a strong beer line-up, including cask choices. We spent a couple of hours in here, during which I sampled three beers: Splish, an 8% IPA from Grimm,Mercury Rising 6.8% IPA by Foreign Objects and Money, a 7.3% IPA from Barrier. All were very enjoyable and the perfect wind-down to another exhausting day before we took the final four-mile Uber journey home. Tomorrow we set sail (on a bus) for Washington.
Saturday’s route.
I found New York too manic and busy for me. The traffic was crazy, the crowds in some places (like the Empire State) overwhelming. I prefer things a bit quieter. Maybe spending a little longer there and being able to do things at a more leisurely pace might have made a difference. But it truly is an amazing city and I’m glad I’ve been.
As I said in the last post, lockdown has enabled me to catch up on loads of things I’ve not really had the time or inclination to do. One of them is to record my 2018 visit to the USA with Mrs Belvoir and two great pals, Chris (a.k.a. Scary) and Tracey.
This trip had been a long time in the planning – about two years to be precise – and was timed to celebrate my 60th birthday. None of us had visited the States before so we decided to make it worth our while and stay for three weeks, taking in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Pittsburgh, Erie and Buffalo then over the border into Canada taking in Niagara and Hamilton, ending the tour in Toronto. As usual, I had researched the trip extensively and came up with a list of visits beforehand.
Of course, the trip was all about the beer as usual and that’s what I’ll be concentrating on here. To be honest, most of the beer was excellent, so I’ll not waffle on about tasting notes unless they were extra good or exceedingly poor. As it was a long tour with many stops, I’ll split this report up into several parts, generally three days/one city’s worth, and link to the separate reports at the bottom of the page.
MONDAY 20/8/18
We made the eight hour flight from Manchester, arriving into Boston Logan International Airport at around 15.30 local time. After a laborious one and-a-half hour’s queue to get through customs, we eventually caught a bus outside the terminal which dropped us off in Downtown Boston. It was a further 45 minute (a bit further than we’d anticipated) walk to find our AirBnB, where we finally arrived at about 18.45. After dropping our bags and looking around the place (it was to be home for the next three nights), the girls decided that they wanted to crash. Scary and I, however, were gaggin’ for a brew so it was back out to search for a bar.
We were drawn toward some bright lights in the distance, which turned out to be Fenway Park – the ground of Boston Red Sox, and tonight was a home game. We turned left onto Brookline Avenue, adjacent to the ground, where we found a string of bars both sides of the street. The first one we tried was Bar Louie – 121 Brookline Ave, Boston, MA 02215. The place was deserted and the barkeep told us that everybody was at the match. So we perched on barstools and watched the game on a TV above the bar. I reckon we had the best seats!
This was a big bar and, to be honest, we were too tired to look around, but they had a decent selection of taps. I chose Be Hoppy, a 6.5% IPA from Wormtown plus a Voodoo Ranger by New Belgium 7% IPA and a Strawberry Rhubarb 6.4% sour from Great Divide. I was certainly ready for these and they all hit the spot.
Menu at the Yard House.
Next we tried the Boston Beer Works, a little further down the road but we were turned away as it was hosting a private party and asked to come back later. So over the other side of the road to the Yard House – 126 Brookline Ave, Boston, MA 02215, which we initially thought was closed because of the particularly dark window glass it was fitted with. To be honest, once inside it did feel a bit dark and dingy, but wow! what a selection. Around 100 taps! Just the three again in here: The Juice 5.8% pale by Peak Organic a Tangerine Hop Nosh 7.3% IPA by Uinta and the 6.6% Half-Stack APA by SingleCut Beersmiths. Fantastic stuff! If this was a preview of what was a head, then Hey, Hey, USA!
Now back to Beerworks Brewing Co. – 61 Brookline Ave, Boston, MA 02215 and we were duly let in, as promised. Again, three were sampled, all brewed on-site: 6.6% Man Da Man APA, 5.8% Fenway Pale and a 4% Watermelon Ale. They were all pretty average, but we’d had our fill by now so decided to make our way back for some well-earned kip.
TUESDAY 21/8/18
Nice ‘n’ refreshed in the morning, we set off on foot into town for our first full day’s exploring, calling in at a diner on the way for some much need brekkie. Looking at the extensive menu, it looked like you you could have anything, as long it was eggs. Anyway, suitably egged up we were off to do a bit of history at the Massachusetts State House before making the obligatory visit to the world-famous Cheers – 84 Beacon St, Boston, MA 02108. Strangely, even though we’d never been here before, everybody knew our name.
Despite it being before midday, the place was absolutely rammed with folk, many of them obviously not drinkers, but only here for a touristy photo-op and to buy overpriced, tacky merch. We managed to get some stools along the wall and tried to squeeze between the people sat at the bar in order get the barkeep’s attention which we eventually did and were duly served by a surly woman who obviously hated her job. Our choice was a pint of 6% Harpoon IPA from the local brewery of the same name. It was worth the effort. To be honest, although I’d watched Cheers back in the day, there was nothing here recognisable to me as being an original part of that TV series, apart from the approach to the pub from the street. Whether the place has been re-jigged since the series finished or was never used to film inside I don’t know. Suffice to say I found it a somewhat disappointing experience. Still, I can at least say I’ve been.
Back at the State House, we were talking to one of the attendants about local history and, of course beer, and he told us to visit Green Dragon Tavern – 11 Marshall St, Boston, MA 02108, Boston’s oldest pub, so we made it our next stop. This place supposedly dates back to 1795, although I suspect it’s the the site of the original tavern, not the actual building. Nonetheless, it was a charming place and we found seats inside next to the open window where we could get some respite from the baking sun whilst people-watching outside. We were served at the table by a very pleasant lady (maybe she should go and have a word with the woman at Cheers), who took our order for a tray full of 6.1% Green Monsta IPA from Wachusett. Just the job.
Beer at Boston’s oldest Tavern.
Time for a bit more history and so we trekked through the Boston National Historical Park to the Bunker Hill Monument. Built to commemorate the Battle of Bunker Hill of 1775, this monument stands 67m high. Of course, we had to climb it and by the time I reached the top, my thighs were on fire. The view we were rewarded with from the top was worth it though.
We all thought we now deserved more beer, so we made for the Sommerville Brewing Company – Slumbrew, 15 Ward St, Somerville, MA 02143, and what a find this was! A 45-minute walk brought us to an anonymous-looking car park, where we saw a lady unpacking the boot (or should I say trunk?) of her car, who looked up, greeted us like life-long buddies and told us to ‘go inside, I’ll be with you in a minute!’
We duly obeyed, settling at the bar. I ordered a taster board with five beers, all brewed on-site; 6% Message in a Bottle NEIPA, 4.9% Gose the Destroyer Sour, 9.5% Hop Angel TIPA, 7.3% Luma Luma IPA, and 5.8% Garden Grove – a ‘White’ IPA. They were all delicious. The lady from outside came in and introduced herself as the owner (sorry – lost the name) and gave us a brief history and insight into the Slumbrew ethos. As well as a brewery, the place acted as a community centre, hosting things such as bread-baking classes and suchlike. She also gave us a brief tour of the brewhouse and told us of its amazing history.
Beer flights at the Slumbrew.
She told us that before it became a brewery, the building was a research lab belonging to the Dept. of Defense (sic) and it was here that scientists had invented the material that was used to manufacture the heat-proof tiles on the American Space Shuttle. After the lab was closed and became a brewery, the top scientist chappie (who was apparently a beer fan) came back to visit and brought with him a beer mat-shaped section of tile which he had made especially. The owner still has it and showed us it back at the bar. Great story, even if it’s not true. Which I’m sure it is. Probably.
Anyway, it was a great finish to the day, and seeing as it was now around 20.30 and we were still two-and-a-half miles from base, we decided to call it a day and started a slow walk home over the Charles River. A lovely start to our American Adventure, perfect balance between history, culture and beer.
Tuesday’s route.
WEDNESDAY 23/8/18
For breakfast today, we stumbled upon the Trident Bookstore and Cafe, a novel place that was actually a book store but also had a food bar. Our selection, chosen from another eggy-orientated menu, set us up for the day ahead. Then it was another walk down to the harbour to visit Abigail’s Tea Room where we learned about the Boston Tea Party and had a chance to taste all the types of tea that were thrown overboard on that historic day. A taster flight of teas! How awfully civilised.
Anyone for tea?
But tea’s not really my bag (see what I did there?) man, so we set off to find the brewery of the mighty Trillium, which we duly did, half a mile away at 50 Thomson Pl, Boston, MA 02210. We didn’t realise though, that the brewery doesn’t have a tap, only a takeaway shop. But were informed that they run a ‘pop-up’ garden bar, located over the other side of the harbour. We pocketed that info for later, and carried on our walk along Seaport Boulevard to the Harpoon Brewery, 306 Northern Ave, Boston, MA 02210.
It was only 14.00, but this place was rammed already. A big, modern bar area with rows of benches and expanses of windows affording a sea view (if you craned your neck). Small groups of people were being called in for brewery tours every twenty minutes or so. This place must’ve been raking the money in!
Busy at Harpoon.
I had a flight with four of their beers; Camp Wannamango, a 5% APA, the House Golden at 4.7%, Lime-y Vice, a 4.7% Gose and Take 5, a 4.3% Session IPA. I enjoyed them all. I also tried a 9% Space Cake DIPA from the fantastically-named Clown Shoes brewery, which was out of this world (geddit?). After a couple of hours, we decided to move on to find the Trillium beer garden we had been told about earlier. We set off back down the way we had come.
Looking out to sea we could see some very ominous clouds and lightning flashes. It was very obvious that a cloudburst was imminent, so we made an unscheduled stop and darted into a Sports Bar called Tony C’s – 250 Northern Ave, Boston, MA 02210, just before the heavens opened up. Now I’m no expert, and I realise this was a sports bar an’ all, but I reckon they could have squeezed a few more TVs in here – I only counted 34 of them! Anyway, the beer selection was decent – 20 taps in all – from which I chose a Life 4.5% Session IPA from Lord Hobo, which was pleasant enough, and sipped whilst we waited for the rain to abate, which it did about an hour later.
Back out into the evening sun and after a twenty-minute walk, we reached the Trillium Garden on the Greenway – Atlantic Avenue &, High St, Boston, MA 02110. This was literally a cordoned-off area (no door control) situated between two busy roads with a beer van selling some of the best beers in the world. This is a fantastic concept, but with all the red tape and licensing restrictions we have, I couldn’t see it taking off in the UK. Shame.
Trillium on the Greenway.
The place was extremely busy despite the recent downpour (there was no shelter here apart from some flimsy foliage) and we ordered some fantastic Trillium beers: Permutation 55, a 5.7% fruited gose, DDH Summer Street (aptly named!), a 7.2% APA and a 5.7% Launch Beer APA. All superb. If you are a craft beer fan, you really have to try these guys. They are the bollocks! We stood drinking and talking to the locals. One chap told us that there was another beer garden in the city and luckily it was on our way back to base. So after a couple of hours, we decided we should start the long walk via the other garden, of course!
We didn’t reach the Night Shift Owl’s Nest Esplanade – Black Bay East, Boston, MA 02116, until about 21.30. Unfortunately, they closed at 22.00 and we’d ‘just missed’ last entry, but after Tracey sweet-talked the guy at the entrance and explained that we’d travelled over 3,000 miles to get there, he kindly let us in for last orders! I sampled just the one; The 87, a massive 8% Double NEIPA by Night Shift brewery, which I savoured for the last half-hour. Again, a simple roped-off area, this time situated on a grassed area adjacent to the Charles River, with a pop-up van serving fantastic beer. By this time it was dark and the rope lights in the trees made for a wonderful atmosphere and lovely end to the day.
Great atmos at the Owl’s Nest.
And that was it. The end of the first leg of our American Adventure. Tomorrow it was bye-bye Boston and off to New York. I loved Boston. It was clean, felt safe, the people were friendly and, being New England, it had that homely feel about it that you could feel comfortable in. If I were to recommend anywhere from our journey to a first-time visitor to the States, Boston would be top of the list.
Lockdown has given me lots of time to catch up on things, so I’ve finally been able to get around to writing up about our 2019 visit to banging Barcelona. Only eighteen months later. Oh well.
Because it’s so long ago now, I can only recall vague detail although I can tell you that Barcelona is a vibrant, bustling city with something for everybody. Compared to some other European cities I’ve visited, Barcelona is clean, organised and just a very nice place to spend time in. As well the as culture, shopping and architecture, it also has a fantastic craft beer scene, which is what I’ll be focussing on here of course!
Before we get into the boring old beer stuff, here’s a little video montage I made of our visit.
In stark contrast to my report on Rome, Barcelona is quite the opposite! It is clean, the traffic behaves and all road and track users are considerate and courteous with drivers, cyclists, scooterists (is that a word?), skateboarders, Segwayists (??) and pedestrians all using the same space and getting along just fine. Rome – watch ‘n’ weep!
Before we left the UK, I researched first and made a map of all my intended beery destinations. Any sightseeing in between would be a bonus!
Mrs Belvoir and I travelled out on Tuesday 4th June, arriving tea-timish. We had booked an Airb’n’b in the El Poblenou area to the north-east of the city. The airport shuttle dumped us mid-city at the Plaça de Catalunya, and we opted to walk the couple of miles or so to our digs, giving us ample time to take in the sights and sounds around us.
The AirBnB was duly located in a characterless block of flats, but it was clean, reasonably priced and, although a couple of miles from the city centre, it was literally yards from the beach. More than that, I would soon discover, there were two cracking little craft beer bars nearby!
After fucking about trying to connect to our WiFi (our hosts had given me the router’s serial number, not the password), I gave up after 20 minutes and we decided to explore before the main heat of the day had gone. We walked along the promenade for a mile or so and found a little cafe where we had our first taste of authentic paella. It was only lukewarm (is this the way it’s supposed to be?) and a bit disappointing, truth be told. The beer choice here was piss poor, so I decided to hold off, hoping to find a bar on the way home. And what a winner I found!
Hoppiness – Ramón Turró, 180 Barcelona, Cataluña is on an unassuming back-street corner that could easily be overlooked, but a bar frontage that stood out from the other buildings and the bustling crowd spilling out onto the street encouraged me to stick my nose inside. A small (compared to other establishments we were yet to visit) selection of twelve taps and two handpumps, serving a fantastic choice of craft goodies, from which I sampled three.
The twin handpumps at Hoppiness were both redundant.
Flor De Llúpol, a 6% IPA by La Vella Caravana. I was ready for this after a tiring day so far! It tastes of cannabis. Apparently. Second up was the 8.5% Lupulus Tripel by Brasserie Lupuluswhich was good, but the best came last. Patrons Project 17.02 Ethel Tropical IPA at 7%, a collaboration brew between the UK’s Northern Monk, Sweden’s Stigbergets and Garage, which was situated here in Barcelona. What a beer! This would set the scene for the rest of the holiday and was just what I needed to end the day. I loved this little place, and I would return several times over the next few days.
So here’s a breakdown of our beery travels over the next week or so.
WENESDAY 5/6/19
Refreshed, we started off the day by walking down the promenade again. Apart from the beach having well-kept sands, the stretch is interspersed with communal areas such as skate parks, volleyball nets and public exercise areas kitted out with various gym equipment, all available at no cost. Even at this early(ish) hour on a Wednesday, all the spaces were being well used.
A thirty-five minute stroll brought us to Ciutadella Park, a wonderful green space in the heart of the city, where we found a bench and took in the early morning rays and a sandwich before contemplating the rest of the route. We continued along to end of the promenade until we reached the entrance (or exit, depending upon your view) to the world-famous La Rambla, a bustling thoroughfare of shops, stalls and street entertainers that runs for over a mile toward the city centre.
We walked the length of La Rambla, taking in Virreina Palace and Font de Canaletes before reaching the Plaça de Catalunya again, full circle from where we began yesterday. Mrs Belvoir agreed I had earned enough Brownie points by this time, so I informed her it was now gone 1.30 and was therefore pub o’clock.
A lot of the bars didn’t open until around 4pm. Luckily I had researched this in advance and the nearest open watering hole was a fifteen minute walk away, the oddly-named CatBarCAT – C. Bòria, 17 Barcelona, Cataluña.
Mrs Belvoir uses the toilet at the CatBarCAT.
The Cat Bar is a quirky little bistro/cafe/bar selling a reasonable selection of beer, from which I just tried the one; Cyro IPA by Cerveza Fort, a delicious 6% IPA, which I drank as gracefully as possible, being that we had a toilet seat as a table!
Another short walk south(ish) took us to Craft Barcelona – Carrer del Paradís, 4, 08002 Barcelona, Cataluña, another small foody-led place with beer that becomes a music venue in the evenings. The beer I tried – La Rumbera by Cerveses Almogàver wasn’t very NEIPA-ish as advertised, but was tasty nonetheless. Continuing our route in the same direction for another few minutes, past the Basillica of Santa Maria del Mar and into the Gothic Quarter brought us to our third stop, and what a gem this was!
CraftBarcelona.
Kaelderkold – C. Cardenal Casañas, 7 Barcelona, Cataluña has a long bar with no less than 24 taps on the back wall serving a plethora of world-class beers. It was difficult to know where to start, but confident that I’d be back, I opted for a taster board with five selections.
Purp – a 5% fruited sour from Danish brewer Gamma. Glow – a 5% Session IPA by Basqueland, which was lemontastic. Slayer – a 6.6% thrashtastic American IPA brewed by local boys Garage. Dankey Kong – a delightful 6.5% NEIPA from Swedes Spike. Cartoons – another by Garage Beer, this time a whoppa DIPA at 8.6%. My cheeks (upper) were now glowing.
Magnificent choice at Kaelderkold.
We decided to reverse direction and start a slow walk back to our flat and half a mile later we hit our final stop, the Ale&Hop – 10 Carrer de les Basses de Sant Pere Barcelona, Cataluña. This was less a pub, more a bottleshop with a small bar sporting a modest six taps plus two handpumps (which were not in use). Time was marching on and the heat was getting to me so I just had the three!
Patrons Project 10.06 – a 6.4% Yuzu IPA colab by UK’s Northern Monk and New Yorkers Finback. Splendid! Saison 5.5% by Cyclic Beer Farm. I thought his was OK, but I’m not a real Farmhouse style fan, so I may have been doing it an injustice. The Sunglasses Story 4.8% APA from Twisted Barrel Ale, who are located in Coventry UK. By now, the future looked so bright, I thought I’d better buy some shades.
…and that was it, end of day one. A thirty-five minute walk and we were back at base camp by 9 o’clock. Indecently, the city nightlife doesn’t really get going much before ten, but as we’re old duffers we prefer it a bit quieter. Night night.
Wednesday’s route.
THURSDAY 6/6/19
If I included all the places we visited in this report, you’d be scrolling from here to Hades, suffice to say there is a lot to see and Barcelona truly is a beautiful city. On Thursday we walked about 12 miles in total, taking in some wonderful sites on the way. But this is all about the beer, so here goes.
First stop was Bar Centro – 55 Carrer de Casp Barcelona, Cataluña. Again, an unassuming frontage leading to a long, thin bar. It was all about the burgers in here, but they did have a good selection of beers. Indeed, there’s a sign in the window encouraging you to ‘DRINK CRAFT NOT CRAP’! I savoured just the one; Halloncinationer by Good Guys Brew, another Swedish brewery, and what a belter it was! A mere 4.5% sour fruited Berliner Weisse, but bursting with flavour. Sourcraftastic mate.
A bit more sightseeing and then for our second stop, this time the Ølgod – Hospital 74 Barcelona, Cataluña. A ridiculous amount of taps here – 30 of them – offering a bewildering choice. I tried two: Xino Xano a 4% DH sour by Cyclic Beer Farm which was pretty average TBH, unlike the stupendous Patrons Project 13.04 – Omega Vortex 8%, another Northern Monk DDH DIPA collaboration, this time with US breweries Other Half and Equilibrium
Beer and olives at the Ølgod.
The third stop was unscheduled and unlisted, but we happened upon the Barcelona Beer Co – C. Muntaner, 7 Barcelona, Cataluña, so thought it would be rude not to call in. A nice enough bar, but the 5% Barcelona APA I sampled was nothing to write home (or here) about, so we swiftly moved on. Very average.
Barcelona Beer Co.
Much, much better was our final walk break of the day, the mighty Garage Beer Co. – C. del Consell de Cent, 261 Barcelona, Cataluña. These guys are brewing world-class beers ATM, IMO (why all the abbreviations?) And why is abbreviation such a long word? Anyways, as time was drawing on and certain I’d be back, I selected just two stonking NEIPAs; Gold on Blue at 5.7% NEIPA and Soup at 6%. It was a three and-a-half mile walk back to base, but by this time I didn’t care.
Thursday’s route.
FRIDAY 7/6/19
Another long walking day – about 11 miles in all. We decided to trek up to the Gaudi-inspired Park Güell. We started a slow 4-mile walk toward the Carmell Hill and arrived around 1 o’clock. The last bit is a fairly steep climb, but is absolutely worth it to see the wonderfully laid-out gardens and views back over the main city. There is a little village of Gaudi-designed buildings, which I thought reminiscent of Portmeirion in Wales, that you could walk around for an entrance fee. Being that I’m a tight arse, and hating queues, I chose to sneak peeks through the gaps in the trees where I could. I’m sure it was very nice.
After about an hour taking in the sites, it was time for a walk back into town via a totally random route. Mrs Belvoir needed some sustenance so we stopped at what seemed to be a little cakey shop on the corner of a lazy village square, but wow! What a corker we lucked upon!
La Rovira – Plaça Rovira I Trias Barcelona, Cataluña seemed like a small bistro from the outside, but behind the cakes and pastries on the counter was a row of sixteen taps, serving a fantastic range of craft beers, some breweries I hadn’t even heard of!
I had a 6.7% Batsquatch, an NEIPA from US brewers Rogue Ales for starters, which certainly hit the spot, but couldn’t prepare me for the brilliantly-named Boogie Till You Barf, a stunning 10% TIPA from the German Sudden Death Brewing. Superb. I wish all our cafes and bistros back home were like this! I couldn’t even find a website or Facebook link to this bar, which shows how anonymous the place was. Well worth the walk out of town though.
Back out into the afternoon heat and another mile and-a-half brought us to La Menuda – C. Provença, 318 Barcelona, Cataluña, basically another burger bar with a ‘modest’ (only nine) selection of beers. I had three here; Nebula a 6.5% NEIPA by Spain’s Castelló Beer Factory, which was good. Galactic Sunrise another NEIPA, this time 7% by Cervecera Península from Madrid, which was faaab. Glory a massive, massive 10.5% TIPA by Northern Monk, which was nom nom noms. Northern Monk seem to have a good foothold in the city. Maybe because of the number of collab’s they’ve done over the years. It seems to be working!
Massive choice at the CocoVail.
The next stop – CocoVail Beer Hall – Carrer Aragó 284 bis Barcelona, Cataluña, 24 taps in here, but I just had the one because me chaps were still laughing from the Northern Monk I’d just had. Vulcano by Cerveses La Pirata was a 6.8% Sour IPA. Not the best of class but pleasant enough.
It was all getting a bit fuzzy now, so we decided to find somewhere nearer to base for the last couple of scoops. The Cerveseria L’Alternativa – Pallars, 294 Barcelona, Cataluña – wasn’t originally on my radar but we just happened upon it on the way home, just two corners away from our digs. How fookin’ fortuitous was that?
Again, a modest selection of eight taps but put to good use! I finished off the day with a Patrons Project 17.02 from Northern Monk, which I’d already tried at the Hoppiness on our day of arrival. It didn’t disappoint! The last of the evening was Engorile Bcn, a 6.4% APA from Engorile by U-hops, a nano brewery sited somewhere in the city. It was the perfect end to another lovely day.
Friday’s route.
SATURDAY 8/6/19
By an amazing coincidence, we found out that Mark and Sue, our great friends from San Francisco, were on a European tour and were actually in Barcelona at the same time as us! We duly arranged to meet them for a fleeting half hour or so and managed to find them among the throngs of folk gathered in front of the magnificent Sagrada Familia (it’ll be nice when it’s finished) for the obligatory touristy selfie. It was lovely to see them again. We are due to visit them in the States in October 2021, but with all this Covid malarky it looks increasingly doubtful.
Friends reunited!
Our brief encounter was over all too soon, no time for a beer, but I made sure Mark had a can of Garage in his palm before we waved them away on the coach. Mrs Belvoir and I continued our day’s random sightseeing and it was almost 3 o’clock before we hit our first beer stop, HomoSibaris. – Plaça d’Osca, 4 Barcelona, Cataluña. Basically a small bottle shop with a few benches but a decent selection from fifteen taps. I chose the 5.5% Vanilla Milk Shake and 6.3% Gierzo DDH APA, both by Azimut Brasserie, which is located in the Bordeaux region of France. Both hit the spot.
Tap menu at the HomoSabiris.
I’m not really a BrewDog fan – they have lost their ‘punk’ roots and become the Corporation IMO, but seeing as we were passing, we called into BrewDog Barcelona – 69 Carrer de Casanova Barcelona, Cataluña, where I tried the Sheena 6% APA collab brew by BrewDog X Verdant which was very enjoyable. Just the one here, not wanting to give the Corporation any more Euros.
Next up was BierCab – C. Muntaner, 55 Barcelona, Cataluña. Another cracking bar with 30 taps and rows of bottle fridges. They were playing metal on the sound system, so I requested some Rammstein, which came on immediately. To get me fully into the German groove, I ordered an Anaconda Harmonica, a superb 8% TIPA by Fuerst Wiacek. These guys are rapidly becoming my favourite German brewers and if you haven’t checked ’em out yet, you really should. I followed up with Mind Control, a 7% IPA by Spain’s Naparbier which couldn’t really match the quality of the TIPA I’d just had but was nonetheless enjoyable.
Bangin’ at the BierCab.
It had been a long, hot day so we decided to head back home and revisit Cerveseria L’Alternativa, the local bar we had discovered a couple of days ago, for a nightcap. I wasn’t disappointed with my choice; Primavera by Cerveses La Pirata. A piddling 3.5% but very tasty hazy pale ale. Over and out.
Saturday’s route.
SUNDAY 9/6/19
Our Sunday morning started with a walk down to Ciutadell Park then through the Gothic Quarter and down to the marina area of the Maremagnum shopping mall, where one could see the Telefèric de Montjuïc cable car which runs from the Montjuïc Park to the Montjuïc Castle on the summit of the hill. Again, as with much of Barcelona, even if you’re not into the shopping thing, it was just a nice place to just sit for a while, taking in the rays and people-watching. Continuing the walk down to the end of quayside we passed an area where street traders spread their wares over the pavements and entertainers er, entertained. Big crowds and a lovely atmosphere.
Working our way through the throng then jinking right and to the rear of the imposing building that now faced us, we arrived at BlackLab – Plaça Pau Vila, 1 Barcelona, Cataluña. Being a brewery tap, they only sold their own beers, so I opted for a taser board with five selections; Punto De Rocío 5.7% Session IPA, Claudia 7% IPA, Drupe, a Sour Berliner Weisse, plus a Little Sister 4.3% session. They were all good, but the clear winner was the 6.5% Strawberry Shakedown Milkshake IPA nom noms.
Beer board at the BlackLab.
Fábrica Moritz Barcelona – Rda. de Sant Antoni, 41 Barcelona, Cataluña was on my list but when we arrived it was quite evident it was going to be a disappointment. It’s a pretty impressive place (the building is cavernous inside) but it was obvious to me they didn’t get the ‘craft’ thing. This was confirmed when I tasted my Moritz BaPA 6% APA, which was decidedly mediocre. Nice building, average beer. Move along there!
Final one of the day was a re-vist to Hoppiness near base camp. I opted for the North X Jakobsland collaboration Double NEIPA at 8%, which was so good I went back twice for it. Yaaaaaaaw Nanna!
Sunday’s route.
MONDAY 10/6/19
To be honest, in five days, we’d probably exhausted the sightseeing potential of the city, and it was a getting a little repetitive but there were still pubs on the list to visit!
The first one today was Beer’linale – C/ Del Carme, 7 Barcelona, Cataluña. An impressive selection here with no less than 30 taps. Not being shy, I chose the 10.9% Hay-Z-Daze from Czech brewers Pivovar Raven which was not an NEIPA as advertised but still good.
Take your pick at the Beer’linale.
Next up was the already visited Kaelderkold, where I sampled the Outlier 4.8% session IPA by Garage which was fab and The Prep from Barcelona’s Wylie Brewery, a 5.4% NEIPA which was not quite so fab but tasty enough.
Ølgod Craft Beer Bar followed, another second visit. This time trying the 5.5% Phenomena, again by Garage Beer Co. Wow! It’s sour! it’s coffee! It’s fab! I followed this with another Wylie beer, Rocky Rolla Coasta a 6% APA which was equally as good.
The first ‘new’ bar of the day was Abirradero – 77 Carrer de Vila i Vilà Barcelona, Cataluña, a craft beer and tapas bar sporting no less than 40 taps. Unfortunately, I was less than impressed by the beer menu and thought I’d try a couple of their ‘House’ beers, which I was told were brewed by Fermun Beers. I couldn’t find much gen on these guys, so I suspect they are a fake brewery. If you can enlighten me, please leave a comment! Suffice to say that neither the 6% CitraMango Juice IPA or 6% MosaicPassion Juice IPA did anything for me. I assumed by the names and ABV that they were just ‘syrupping’ up versions of the same beers. Let me know if I’m wrong.
And that was it. Disappointingly, a somewhat lacklustre end to to the day.
Monday’s route.
TUESDAY 11/6/19
RAIN! And lots of it. After sitting in our room for two hours waiting for it to abate, we decided to brave it and find somewhere to buy an umbrella. This was easier said than done but we did eventually find a shop which had some ‘in the back’. I’m sure I paid a hell of a premium for the thing, but hey! Mrs Belvoir was now happy(ish). A least sightseeing was off the cards and today would be a pub crawl. Yay!
En route, we popped into the La Boqueria Mercat, a massive food market. Extremely busy here with venders selling virtually everything you could name that’s edible. Mrs Belvoir tried another (lukewarm) paella. I tried a pot of locally produced pork scratchings followed by chocolate-covered strawberries on a stick.
Fast food at Boqueria Mercat.
Lunch out of the way, we soon arrived at Garage Beer Co where I sat and savoured a selection of their beers, whilst we watched through the widow at the rain-sodden, miserable looking folk pass by. Every beer in here was a winner; The 4% Session IPA (good), 6.2% Trouble NEIPA (wooot!), 5.7% Loose NEIPA (good), 5.6% Michael’s fruited Berliner Weisse (melonsourtastic) and old dependable 6% SOUP NEIPA (fab). These boys really know how to brew craft beer.
Then onwards, back to the BierCab where I had another beer from Fuerst Wiacek, the stupendously delicious Subtopia 6% sour IPA. But even this didn’t prepare me for the taste sensation that was Zoetrope, an 8% TIPA by Spanish micro brewers Gross. Wowsers!
Ale&Hop was next and another two crackers; C.R.E.A.M. 6.8% Milkshake IPA by Basqueland Brewing (superb) and Sine Qua Non 4.5% session IPA from Twisted Barrel Ale. Unsurprisingly, things we starting to get a bit fuzzy now so we decided to make our way back.
Ale&Hop. Small on the outside, beautiful on the inside!
Last call was back at Hoppiness where I enjoyed a Rangers Things 6% NEIPA by Cerveza Malandar. An excellent finish to a very soggy day.
Tuesday’s route.
WEDNESDAY 12/6/19
Our last full day today and, to be honest, just over a week and we’d had enough. Nonetheless, this turned out to be the ‘walkiest’ day we had… 14 miles! The rain had stopped and we were determined to make the best of it.
We started the day again with a nice leisurely walk down the length of the promenade to the marina and shopping area, and onward to the Columbus Monument. We turned back toward the Gothic Quarter ,where we passed the tastefully-named Bollocks, a burger/cocktail and rock ‘n’ roll bar. It didn’t open until 7pm, but to be honest I think we’d have given it a body swerve anyway.
Mmmm. Niiice!
Not too bothered about not being able to access Barcelona’s Bollocks, we carried on our aimless stroll, reaching the BlackLab at just gone 1 o’clock. A new beer had appeared since our last visit, so I tried the 7% Claudia Passion IPA, along with the fab Strawberry Shakedown I’d already had previously. It was hot today and I kept having to shift my position under the parasol in an attempt to stay in the shade. Eventually all angles were exhausted and we were forced to move on.
Brewplant at BlackLab.
The next bar was again found by accident, and I would’ve kicked myself if I’d missed it. Mikkeller Bar – Carrer Valencia 202 Barcelona, Cataluña, is situated a little out of town, but again worth the walk. As seemed to be the norm here, there was a small, almost anonymous frontage, leading in from the street to a long, deep bar area. The modern interior wasn’t what I’d describe as homely, but here it’s all about the beer. We chose to sit in a sheltered area just outside the door, where I sample three excellent beers;
Splat, a 6.8% IPA and a Bean Geeks Hazy NEIPA at 4.7%, both by Danish brewers and hosts Mikkeller. Rød Grød med Fløde , a 6% fruit beer by fellow Danes To Øl followed, which was truly splendilicious.
In the shade at Mikkeller bar.
By this time it was about 6.45 and as it was our last day and we still had to pack for tomorrow’s flight, we decided to call it a day and start walking the 3 miles or so back, taking the last one in my favourite bar of the holiday, Hoppiness.
Once there, I found the North X Jakobsland NEIPA that I’d sampled a couple of days ago was still on so I took full advantage and had three of them. Last of the holiday and a sooooperb end to a fab break in a cracking little corner bar.
Wednesday’s route.
Barcelona, quite apart from the beer scene, is a beautiful place to visit and I can’t wait to go back again once all this Covid shit is over. We had a smooth flight back on the 13th and then it was onward to the Nottingham Craft Beer Festival on the 14th. But that’s another story.
Find me on Untappd Some tinnies wot I have necked. And some further pics from Barcelona below.
This Brittany visit report was originally written for the Newark CAMRA newsletter in July 2005.
Mr & Mrs. Belvoir had a short visit to St. Barthlemy, a lovely quiet village in Brittany. Our hosts were Mike and Lynda Carrie, Newark branch CAMRA members, who moved out there about two years since and now try to earn a few Euros by letting out rooms.
Mike was a perfect host, showing us the sights around the area and introducing us to the culture, especially the bars!
The traditional drink in Brittany is cider, either still and cloudy similar to those made here or, more commonly, slightly sparkling and clear, although the sediment remains in the bottle.
Available either dry (brut) or sweeter (doux), they are made on the farms where the apples are grown, the flavour obviously differing with type of apple, growing conditions, and the way in which the juice is treated after pressing.
Cider, or cidre was available in every bar, café and supermarket we visited, although it was much more fun visiting the farms where they are made and purchasing them directly from the farmer. I won’t bore you with tasting notes; suffice to say all those sampled were very drinkable, especially from a cup and saucer, which is the traditional way in these parts!
The Bretons are fiercely proud of their product and apparently some Breton cider-producing areas are even pressing (see what I did there?) for their own Appelation D’Origine Controle (AOC) to guarantee authentic, high-quality local production, as with French wines.
Not so easy to find, but made from the same apples is Eau de Vie or ‘Water of Life’, a throat-ripping poteen-type brew still made by some farmers. Not sure whether this was legal, but we were served some from under the bar. I was assured that it was a really smooth sample. If it was, I would hesitate to try the rough stuff!
A lot of Brittany’s cider history can be seen at the farm at Pleudihen whose outbuildings house the Muse de la Pomme et du Cidre (Apple and Cider Museum), which we also visited and where we pictured the antique still that was used to make the Eau de Vie.
We also found some very good bottle-conditioned Breton beers, but I’ll save that for another day. Our short stay in Brittany was very enjoyable, big thanks to Mike and Lynda.
The second of my archive ramblings from Newark CAMRA’s newsletter is from July 2003.
After several weeks of unseasonably warm weather, it was finally time for our planned long weekend trip south to Poole. No surprise, then that the weather broke the day I drove down to Wiltshire, raining torrentially for almost two days without stopping. Never mind, most of my holiday was spent in pubs, so it didn’t really matter!
The first stop was to break the journey and I chose a pub from the 2003 Good Beer Guide, the Earl of Normanton in Idmiston, Wiltshire, situated about three miles away from Stonehenge.
This was a marvellous country pub with a raised-terrace drinking area at the rear of the pub with excellent panoramic views of the surrounding Wiltshire countryside. Alas, it wasn’t much use this wet July evening, except for a few pigeons and care-free sheep. Instead, we chose to sit inside the large horseshoe-shaped bar and sample the beers.
Although a free house, the pub had a tie-in with Cheriton brewery and beers on offer were Cheriton Pots Ale, Village Elder and Best Bitter. Also on was Hopback Summer Lightning. I tried them all, and although they were all in excellent condition, the Village Elder stood head and shoulders above the rest and I settled on that for the rest of the evening.
After six pints and a very good home-cooked supper, we retired to our B&B which was a recently converted barn across the courtyard from the pub. Thanks to the half-dozen I’d consumed, I slept soundly and didn’t hear the intruder trying to get in, who was consequently chased away by the landlord at 3 a.m.
I did, however, hear our early-morning call, which took the novel form of a car leaving the bend and smashing into a wall about six inches away from our chalet and two feet away from the rear of our parked car! Over breakfast I was assured that not all guests receive this special treatment!
Friday morning we continued on to Poole, our B&B situated on the road, about central to our planned pub crawl and only ten minutes walk from the town centre. Some more sightseeing took up the afternoon, and then on with the all-important bit, exploring the pubs. The 2003 GBG lists eight, plus an Inn Brief, and I intended to do them all, bar the one out-of-town.
Friday evening we walked down to the quayside and found a charming little boozer, the Poole Arms. Cosy and one-roomed, its narrow frontage is completely covered in green tiles. Although it wasn’t GBG listed, I couldn’t pass it without going in, and was rewarded with an excellent pint of Ringwoods Best, which was enjoyed sitting outside on the quayside, people-watching for half-an-hour.
Apparently, the pub is up for sale and the owners want to be very careful who they sell it to, lest it falls into the hands of someone who doesn’t care about pub tradition and turns it into less than it deserves. It is only too easy to see how this could happen along this trendy stretch of the waterfront. Let’s hope they get the right buyers.
The next three pubs were all in the GBG. First the Blue Boar. This pub is split into two levels the Lounge Bar and the Cellar Bar. We chose the latter. The cellar bar was very reminiscent of the (now sadly closed) Cornhill Vaults in Lincoln. The walls were covered with nautical items and relics from the now demolished Poole Power Station. Here, I chose a pint of Cottage Southern Bitter, again very good condition. There was a band set up for live entertainment, but we left before they came on.
One thing that I had never seen before was that the necks of the beer engines were extended above the bar, allowing the glass to sit on the bar under the nozzle and beer dispensed into it. This was of course possible because the beers were not served with a sparkler and therefore didn’t have the unnecessary one inch of unwanted froth on the top.
It is also worth pointing out that beers served in this way (usually) don’t need topping up. Indeed, we went all holiday without seeing any beer wasted over the side of the glass, or having to ask for a top-up. Lined glasses? Certainly not around here. Nor are they needed!
Next up, the Royal Oak and Gas Tavern. Situated on a back street, just three or four minutes from the Boar, the Gas Tavern was my favourite pub of the whole weekend. No frills, no gimmicks, just a great, unspoilt, welcoming local serving another great pint of Ringwood’s Best.
Final call of the evening was back around the corner, onto the Old High Street, and into the Brewhouse. Until recently this was the site of the Poole Brewery, which I was told has relocated. Another no-frills pub, probably catering for the younger drinker, with TV, two pool tables and loud music. Strangely, in comparison to the Gas Tavern, which was heaving with customers, the Brewhouse was pretty quiet. A good selection of beers, though, from which I chose Mermaid, and though I can’t remember who brewed it, I can still taste it! Great stuff. Then it was back to base via the Tandoori Nights curry house.
Saturday morning – no let-up in the rain, and another five GBG pubs to fit in. After a good full English, we started the long walk up Parkstone, onto the Bournemouth Road, and reached the Branskome Railway Hotel at just gone noon.
The frontage of the Branskome is magnificent and inviting, with its strong Victorian architecture adorned by blossoming hanging-baskets. Alas, step into the bar and you stand in a dingy, smoky, run-down, establishment that is not at all welcoming or enticing. Sticky-topped, rickety old tables, ripped upholstery with its stuffing spilling out, tobacco-stained walls that haven’t been painted for years, and the wall behind some furniture or something that’s been pulled out that hasn’t been painted at all!
Add to this a very dodgy pint of Hampshire Brewery Strongs Bitter, and I can’t think of one reason to return there. Shame, because this has the potential to be a great establishment.
Next, back up towards the Ashley Road to the Hogshead. Nothing exciting here. The usual Hogshead layout, décor and standard beer range. I settled for an OK pint of Boddingtons and waited for the rain to abate, with no luck.
Back out into the rain, reversing the way we came and we found three GBG pubs, quite literally within (if you are very good at it) spitting distance of each other. The Bermuda Triangle is situated perhaps a hundred yards from the main road, but could have been in the middle of a village. A pub of real character with little snugs and annexes. The walls and ceiling are decorated with maps, news cuttings and memorabilia of the Bermuda Triangle, including part of an aircraft wing. Four constantly-changing beers are available here.
I asked for Wye Valley Dorothy Goodbody Summertime Ale. It was in good condition, but slightly warm, perhaps because there weren’t many drinkers in and I had the first one out. But you could tell that this is a serious drinkers pub, and I would like to go back when its busier. A strange thing; As I left the Bermuda, I turned to take a snap of it. When looking at the photo later on my PC, a ghostly grey shape could be made out in the left upstairs window. Spooky, eh?
Directly opposite is the Bricklayers Arms, our next port of call. Another basic pub, lacking any real character, but serving a fine pint of Ringwoods Best. Ringwoods seem to have a good foothold in this area, the brewery being situated at just over the Hampshire border in nearby, er, Ringwood. Fortunately they produce a good range of traditional beers.
Out of the Bricklayers, turn left, back past the Bermuda, and the Central is located on the corner to Commercial Road. The Central is Hall & Woodhouse owned, another large traditional boozer. A fine interior with large potted plants, spectacular marble fireplace, brass fittings, etched windows and grand curtains. My pint of Badger was OK, but nothing to write home about. Very nice surroundings, though.
And that was it! Id cracked my list of GBG pubs, and it was only about five o’clock. But this little chappie wasn’t ready to retire yet. Oh, no! We took in four more pubs – the Britannia: a plastic pub serving an average pint of Ringwood Best; In and out of the Conjurer’s Half Crown (no real ale); A good pint of Tetley in the Shah of Persia and finishing up at The George. A large, bustling town centre pub serving a good drop of Hampshire Romsey Bitter.
Poole, especially the old town, has some great pubs and is well worth a visit. In fact, considering the proximity of Bournemouth, it might be worth taking in both towns next time.
For the next few posts, I thought I’d reproduce some beery ramblings I wrote for the local CAMRA newsletter. The following appeared in Newark CAMRA’s Beer Gutter Press and was from April 2001
India doesn’t immediately spring to mind when a real ale enthusiast thinks of heaven and they’d be right! In fact, its a beer desert, as BoldBelvoir discovered on a recent trip to the Indian state of Goa.
India does, however, have a large and thriving beer-making industry with several large breweries such as Kingfisher, Impala and Arlem. All the beers produced here are bottled, but sadly not of the conditioned type and usually in the Pilsner style. The most popular varieties in Goa seemed to be Kingfisher, Belo, San Miguel and Kings.
The popular Kingfisher, produced by United Breweries in Bangalore, claims itself to be the ‘King of good times’. Belo, brewed by the Impala Brewery at Assolda Quepem, states on the label that it is brewed with spring water, choicest German hops and specially selected malt. The strength of both these beers is stated on the label as alcohol content less than 5% which I suppose could mean anything from 0 to 4.9%! My guess is, though, that they are around 4.6 – 4.8%.
In bars, the beers will sell for around 40 to 50 Rupees (61-76p) for a 650ml bottle. In supermarkets they are considerably less, thanks to Goa’s low taxation. All the mentioned beers are fairly dry, crisp and clean, but sadly lacking any form of flavour!
In his quest for knowledge of all things beery, BoldBelvoir arranged a visit to the Arlem brewery at Raia, North Goa. After some haggling over price, we set off by taxi on the 50km ride to the brewery, or ‘beer factory’, as the locals call it.
Road travel in India is not to be undertaken by the faint hearted. One needs a couple of beers even to dare setting foot in a cab! However, after about an hour-and-a-half and ten near-accidents later, we arrived at the gates of the Arlem brewery, to be met by a uniformed guard sitting in a sentry box behind a barb-wired fence. Our cab driver negotiated for us, and after a while and a bribe of 20 Rupees, we were allowed in and directed toward the reception entrance.
After walking the length of the beer factory, which more resembled an Iraqi aircraft bunker than a brewery, we arrived at the doors, where we were greeted by a bewildered looking chap who informed us “Sorry, brewery broken down. No production. Can you come back in six weeks?” “Can we just look around?” we asked. “No, all doors locked” we were told. “Have you any publicity materials we can take please? We’ve come a long way”. “No!” We persisted – “Please can we just take some photos, then?” “No photos, strictly prohibited” (presumably this was to stop people seeing the dilapidated state of the building!).
Eventually, after much haggling and a few sycophantic comments about the Indian cricket team, we were invited to sit for tea (the man had apparently attended a test match at Trent Bridge). The chap then disappeared and returned about twenty minutes later with a selection of bottle labels and then proceeded to explain them all, one-by-one. They were all lagers, ranging from the 8.75% Pilsner Beer to the 5% Arlem Diet low-calorie beer. A few more words about cricket and that was it. Our visit was over without even getting past the reception!
So, India a beer paradise? Not really. All the beer tastes the same and it is served so cold that it anaesthetises the tonsils. But to be honest, in this place where the sun shines constantly, the leaves of the coconut trees rustle in the breeze as if applauding each other and curries burst with flavour, it doesn’t really matter.
…so go the lyrics of the REM song. It’s a long time since I’ve posted on this blog, so I thought I’d do an update now I’ve a bit of time owing to the enforced ‘holiday’ most of us are having at the moment.
Surreal times indeed! Who’d have thought, only a month ago, that most of the world would be shut down and the global economy imploding in on itself? This is only the start of day 4 of ‘lock-down’ in the UK and my household’s doing OK, but many aren’t and but it’s hard to predict what people’s attitude to society will be when we get through this. I’m trying to stay positive, as I always do, but for sure the world will be a very different place when the all-clear is given.
There are positives already: No-one has turned into zombies – Yet. The air is fresher – Pollution levels have dropped drastically as planes are grounded and vehicles stay off the road all around the world. This must surely demonstrate what is achievable to combat global warming if we all act collectively. Nature is reclaiming itself – Within days of lock-down, animals have started to enter cities looking for food and, for the first time in living memory, the canals of Venice have cleared and wildlife is coming back to the city. This must make us think again how we co-exist with nature rather than trampling everything under foot. They were here first and will surely outlive us! Attitudes will change – The world has never seen anything on the scale of what is happening now and it will hopefully make people realise how fragile the human race really is. We are not invincible. This will not be the last virus to sweep the globe. Hopefully lessons will be learnt and next time we will be more prepared for it. People will come together – This crisis should make people realise we are all the same, regardless of race, politics or religion. I sincerely hope that people will come to appreciate all the things that we take for granted – a visit to the pub, going to a concert or football match, sharing a meal with friends. I hope they will become more grateful of what they do have and society in general becomes less materialistic and kinder to each other.
Maybe I’m being a bit naïve here, but I’d like to think a lot of people’s fundamental outlook on life will change, at least for a generation or two.
I was reading an article a couple of weeks ago in which scientists are saying that the first human to live to the age of 1000 years has already been born. 1000 years! Can you imagine that? The world is on the verge of being over-populated now. How could the the planet possibly survive if everybody was living to 1000? I’m glad I won’t be part of it.
As Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) in Blade Runner said “The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long”. Let’s all be happy with our lot.
Right, this isn’t a normal GOTBlog post as it’s about my recent visit to Rome. As it’s supposed to be a grumpy blog I’ll get the whingy bits out of the way and then post some nice bits for a change!
First up, Rome is old, old, old. A bit like me. And needs a bit of TLC. A bit like me. It’s a dirty city. Lots of the streets, roads and buildings are just mucky and in disrepair. And they stink. Of piss. A bit like…
The drivers are maaaaad! They don’t indicate, cars and bikes chop each other up like it’s a sport. They don’t stop at pedestrian crossings – even when the ‘man’ is on green, and they park everywhere. Every street is jam-packed with parked vehicles on both sides of the road. Thousands and thousands of cars and bikes parked every conceivable way. Nose-to-tail (with no possible way of exit), sideways, crossways, double-parked, triple-parked, parked on corners, on crossings and at traffic lights, you name it. There seems to be no parking control whatsoever, although like pedestrian crossings, there might exist some kind of system I couldn’t fathom.
Right let’s get one thing straight. Rome is a big city. By that I mean the buildings are fucking HUGE! There are absolutely no small buildings in this town. No Sireee! It’s as though the council, when considering new building applications look at the blueprints and go ‘Well it’s nice enough, but we’re only going to pass the plans if you add another two million bricks and 120 feet to the height’. It’s big. Consider the Colosseum, built almost 2,000 years ago before JCB and Wimpey’s (the building firm, not the burgers) had been invented. The scale of it is breathtaking, as is a lot of the more modern architecture in this city. There is some BIG shit in Rome! It’s B-I-G, geddit? Now, having got the bigness over to you, it is a big city in size but also fairly compact. It’s very easy to get around by bus and tram, including a hop-on, hop-off service but I’m not writing this as a travel guide, so you can piss off to the Lonely Planet website for that.
Despite its bigness, it is easy enough to get around by foot (minding the maaaad motorists on the way) and we elected to walk everywhere, preferring to explore all the back streets (of which the are hundreds) on the way. Don’t bother with maps, just use Google. Forget about your personal privacy and giving Google all your data. Give ’em everything, including your car, old dying granny and your inheritance. They’re worth it! Just punch your destination into Google Maps and follow the arrow!
Now on the subject of the post; We were only here for the beer! Italy has a surging craft beer scene that has been emerging over the past few years (they have gone from about 70 breweries eight years ago to around 650 today) and several bars are spearheading the revolution by supplying domestically brewed and imported craft beer on draught (including brew-pubs), plus imported bottled beers and even some local and British real ales served on hand pump.
A short period of research on Google – love them guys 🙂 – Gave me a short list of no less than nineteen pubs to find and visit:
Baguetteria Del Fico – Della Fossa, 12, Roma
Bir & Fud – Via Benedetta, 23, Roma
Birra Più – Via del Pigneto, 105, Roma
Blind Pig – Via Gino Capponi 45, Roma
Brasserie 4:20 – Via Portuense 82, Porta Portese, Roma
BrewDog Roma – Via delle Terme di Tito, 80 (Via del Monte Oppio), Roma
Brigantino – Via San Martino ai Monti 50a, Roma
Domus Birrae – Via Cavour, 88, Roma
Donkey Punch/Nel Buco del Mulo – Via della scala 33, Roma
Emporio Alla Pace – Via della Pace, 28, Roma
Fass & Cask – Via Fanfulla da Lodi 3A, Roma
Hopificio – Piazza Cesare Baronio, 2, Roma
Hopside – Via Francesco Negri, 39, Roma
Knick Knack Yoda (Dal Papa) – Piazza Risorgimento, 11, Roma
Ma Cha Siete Venuti a Fà – Via Benedetta, 25, Roma
My Ale – Via dei Cappellari 79, Roma
No. Au – Piazza di Montevecchio, 16, Roma
Open Baladin – Via Degli Specchi, 6, Roma
Sinister Noise – Via dei Magazzini Generali 4a, Roma
Here’s a breakdown of our beery adventures.
WEDNESDAY 31/08/16
Having spent most of the previous day travelling, this was our real first day in Rome. As we’d pre-booked tickets on-line to avoid queues at the Colosseum, we thought we’d get this obligatory visit out of the way. What a day! A massive and absolutely torrential thunderstorm caused everybody to take refuge inside the Colosseum arches and we were packed like sardines. The resourceful street vendors outside swapped their goods from selfie-sticks and hats to ponchos and brollies, selling them through the railings to the drowning people inside. Being a right tight-arse, I decided to drown.
The beerheightometer at BrewDog Roma.
After a soggy visit we found the very near-by BrewDog Roma [6] in which to sit and dry off in. If you’ve ever been in any other BrewDog bar, you’d be in familiar surroundings. Standard BrewDog offerings in here, plus some Italian and American craft cousins on draught (tap). Sampled on this occasion were BrewDog – Ace of Citra at a piffling 4.5%, Vento Forte – Session 20 at an even more girly 4.1% and an Oude Beersel – something or other at 9%. I’ll not bore you with tasting notes as it’s a very personal matter, suffice to say all were enjoyable other that the eye-watering price of €5.50 for a (questionable) 2/3 pint measure.
One thing I did mention after we found this place was the lack of a prominent (‘swinging’ or otherwise) sign outside, as we had walked past once and not noticed it was a bar. This was to become a common feature (or lack of) in other bars we visited. Maybe it’s a condition of planning in these parts, along with the 2 million bricks and 120 foot high rules.
Massive bottle selection at Domus Birrae.
Anyways, having dried off somewhat and with the rain almost having abated, we went to explore the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, adjacent to the Colosseum and included in the ticket price. There is so much to see here it’s just bewildering, too much to take in for my tiny little brain. So after about three hours we went hunting for beer again. We found it at Domus Birrae [8], not a bar but a bottle-shop in which you can sit and drink the beer you’ve purchased, albeit out of a plastic cup. The choice here was staggering. At least four (maybe five) double fridges packed with beers from around the world, including several from the UK. There was also a warehouse with stacked shelves at the back. Selected beers here were a Dugges / Stillwater collaboration – Tropic Sunrise, a superb mango/pineapple/raspberry sour at 4.5%, followed by a Brewski – Passion Feber IPA at 7% which was totally hoptastico, mate. The young chap behind the counter was wearing a baseball cap the wrong-way round (I never understood that) and seemed more interested in selecting a choice of punk/metal crossover music he was playing from his laptop but seemed pleasant enough. I showed him my pub list and he marked his recommendations and told us that Brigantino [7] and Sinister Noise [19] had closed, so they were duly crossed off.
One of the pubs that reverse-cap man had recommended was the Fass & Cask [11] so we thanked him and set off for that, not realising how far a walk it was. Having recently sold my neighbour’s dog to them, I referred to Google again, who told me it was a 40-minute walk. Well, we either walk very slowly or Google are lying bastards, because it took us nearly an hour. It was a L-O-N-G walk through some very dodgy-looking areas. By this time it was getting dark and although we were never approached or felt threatened it was a bit unnerving. After passing it twice, due to no sign outside (again) we finally found the F&C down a side street and entered an empty pub. The two blokes behind the bar seemed happy enough to see us and although they told us their English was ‘not-ah too good-ah’ they seemed genuinely passionate about the beer they sold.
Handpumps and (very frothy) beer at Fass & Cask.
On the end of the bar there were three hand pumps, evidently two in use serving a ‘Stout’ and a ‘Pale Ale’. Because their English was not-ah too good-ah, we couldn’t get any more details from mein hosts. We ordered one ‘pint’ of each and they landed on the bar with a lovely three-inch head so we probably only got two-thirds measure. But hey, when in Rome…
It was at this point when half a dozen folks came in and it was apparent they had good English, so I asked them about the beer. The chap I got talking to was Gabriele Monteoluro a freelance brewer, formerly of Birrifico Pontino, and who was obvious in his passion for beer. He told us that the beers in our glasses were from Hilltop – Gallagher Stout and Pale Ale, and to be honest they weren’t half bad. Not the best cask beer I’ve had, but very acceptable. We had a good chat about beer styles and brewing before we supped up and left. The conversation was so engrossing that it wasn’t until we were half way to the next pub that I realised we hadn’t paid! It was a long way back so I contacted the Fass & Cask through their Facebook page to own up and apologise and offered to send them the money via PayPal. The next day they got in touch and said ‘No problem, the beers are on you when we visit your pubs’. Result!
Bar at Birra Più. The ‘cellar’ is the silver cabinet on the left.
Next stop was Birra Più (or Birra +), another small place, just off the main road. All keg taps here, but what a choice! First up: L’Olmaia – Brown Sugar, a DIPA at 6.5% which was absolutely superb, even if it did cost €5. The next up was Sixpoint – Double IPA, this time at a mere 9% and the last of the night. The keg ran out whilst pouring this one and it was given free. Brucie bonus! We watched the barman change the keg, located in a tiny cabinet beside the bar containing maybe three or four other KeyKegs, which made me aware of how little space you actually need for a set up like this.
Time for the long walk home, this time via a different route (and less dodgy – or maybe I was so spannered that I didn’t give a toss by this time?), courtesy of my mate Google.
Wednesday’s route.
THURSDAY 1/9/16
Frontage of Bir & Fud.
After recovering from the previous day’s walk (8 miles – according to me bezza mate Google), we set off on foot again to do a bit more touristy stuff – Trevi Fountain, The Vatican to see the Pope (he was out, despite us being in town. I’m assuming nobody let him know), Pantheon and all that kind of thing, and it was soon time for beer. We headed off over the River to the Trastevere district of Rome, a cobbled maze of medieval streets which hosts numerous cafés and bars. First on our list was Bir & Fud [2]. Guess what they sold? Yep! The long and narrow room opens out to the street. Along one side, a bar takes up the whole length of the wall, on top of which sits 30 taps for the craft offerings and six hand pumps for the casks at the back. Enormous choice here, but I only sampled two: Reichenbrand – Original Ritterguts Gose at 4.7%, and Brewfist – 2Late, a stupendous 9.8% DIPA. We also ordered fud – tip: don’t order chips, you get crisps.
Beer menu at the Ma Cha Siete Venuti a Fà.
Literally across from the B&F is another fantastico little bar with the snappy and memorable name of Ma Cha Siete Venuti a Fà [15], which, I was told by the barkeep, means ‘What the hell have you come here for?‘ Again, tiny in size but big on choice, this time with 13 taps and three handpulls. Here I only had time for one so I opted for another Italian craft brew; Montegioco – MC Mummy, a 5% peculiarly tasting peated sour beer. It was like a cross between a Rauchbier and a Lambic and nothing I’ve tasted before, but enjoyable nonetheless.
Table for two at the Donkey Punch.
Next on the hit-list was the fantastically named Donkey Punch (Nel Buco del Mulo) [9], which basically is a sandwich shop with a fridge full of fabbo beers. This place was tiny but full of character and had brilliant mural painted on the wall opposite the counter depicting rock heroes past and present. I selected a bottle of Plureale – India Pale Ale 7%. We sat at the tiny table for two outside and sipped from our plastic cups people watching and waiting for the heat to drop a little. The sun was getting lower, the day a little cooler, so it was time for the next pub, which was a half-hour walk.
Great service and selection at Brasserie 4:20.
We trudged down a long and pretty characterless road, which appeared to be the motorcycle-shop centre of Rome and eventually arrived at Brasserie 4:20 [5] around 6.30 and although the doors were open, the pub didn’t until 7pm (Google told me it opened at 6. What does he know, useless twat!) However, the very friendly barchap welcomed us in and served us anyway. Another amazing selection here, 17 taps and no less than 12 hand pumps. Here I sampled two, both from Vento Forte – Follower IPA 7.1% and DIPA at 8.5%. I also felt compelled to sample the food menu as they served ‘hopburgers’ – a Chianina beef burger, cooked to perfection, with a sprinkle of hop flowers on the top. Very tasty nom noms. It was a fair walk back to the hotel so we decided to call it a day.
Thursday’s route.
FRIDAY 2/9/16
I found the White Horse at the bottom of one of my pints.
After some more obligatory sightseeing we searched out No. Au [17]. After circling the block several times and finding no trace (which we didn’t find surprising, due to lack of signs outside), we asked a very nice young lady in one of the adjacent offices, who told me it was permanently closed. Poo. On to the next one, which was only two minutes away, Emporio alla Pace [10]. To our surprise, this wasn’t a bar at all, but a patisserie (that’s a cakey shop to you) that sold beer. No apparent outlets behind the counter, but we spotted a fridge which was stocked with a small but interesting range of bottled beers including BrewDog, Buxton and Adnams from the UK. I went for an Alta Quota – Principessa, a farmhouse/saison style at 5.8% which was a little on the thin side but tasty enough.
We had to have a compulsory gelato (ice cream) – well, it was a blistering 33 degrees by now – on our 15 minute walk to the next bar. This ice cream was apparently made from pig’s milk and was supremely thick and creamy. But at €5 a tub I should frikkin’ expect so! I half-expected two trotters sticking out of it for that price but all I got was a sodding little plastic spoon. We set off to find My Ale [16], but when we found it, it was a tiny food shop (selling beer) with nobody in there, so we gave it a body-swerve and headed onward.
Jaw-dropping selection at the Open Baladin.
Next beer stop was Open Baladin [18], a BrewDog-like bar situated on the corner of a quiet, faceless street, again no signs outside and we walked past it without noticing and had to double back. The exterior of the Baladin held no clue as to what lies within. You walk into this place and are immediately faced with a long bar containing no less than 35 – yes, 35! taps, three hand pumps and an entire wall lined with bottled goodies.
I tried three from the tap in here: Lucky Brews – Apollo 4.9%, golden and hoppy, CR/AK – Mundaka pale ale at a mere 4.8%, which was darker than I expected, but tasty nonetheless, and Free Lions (on me shirt) – Lo Straniero, an absolutely superb 7.7% American IPA with a fantastic nose and citrus flavour. Pinch me, I must-ah be in Heaven-ah! Whilst I was in Open Baladin, I was Facebooked by me mate Stuart of the superb North Riding Brewery, tipping me off about a pub that wasn’t on my list, the curiously named Tree Folk’s (their apostrophe, not mine!). Time was again marching on so we decided to make a move and give it a visit on the way back to the hotel.
Array of hand pumps at Tree Folk’s. And another reverse-cap man.
A half-hour walk past the Colosseum and other most awesomely impressive architecture (did I mention Rome’s buildings are fookin’ HUGE?) and we arrived at Tree Folk’s [20] and this time we spotted it from the end of the street as it actually had a swinging sign. These things could catch on! As soon as we entered we saw that they had eight hand pumps and were actually selling British cask ale! On our visit they were only four cask beers featuring one brewery – Celt Experience – and I tried all of ’em: Castro Mosaic 3.8%, Dark Age 4.0%, Battle of the Trees 5.9% and Galaxy Equinox at 5.6%. To be honest, the quality was pretty average and they all tasted tired, but as they were playing Metallica and Pantera on the sound system, I felt quite at home and enjoyed the visit.
Cask beer alive and well in Rome.
One thing that was a very apparent problem with cask beer in Rome was the dispense. One of the beers in Tree Folk’s took about ten minutes to serve a half (or ‘small’) beer. The barman must have pulled the hand pump at least thirty or forty times, beer was fobbing all over the place and he scraped the head off with a spatula three or four times, letting it settle in between scrapes. How much he lost in the drip trays to dispense a half, I can only weep at. Finally after getting a half(ish) glassful, he sponged around the outside of the glass (including the head!) and handed it over. Nice!
The problem of fobbing and poor dispense seemed common in all the bars where I tried the cask beers, so it seems to me they need some technical advice. It wasn’t coming from me – I was on holiday and I ain’t a busman.
Friday’s route.
SATURDAY 3/9/16
I think the GBG’ gang beat us here.
By Saturday we had done most of the sights – it’s difficult not to – you just ‘happen’ upon them, there’s that much to see. So we decided to revisit the Trastevere area and of course the best thing to do in 34 degrees of heat is climb to the highest mother flippin’ point in Rome, the Gianicolo Hill. Did I mention it was hot? The views from up here are spectacular though and we rewarded ourselves at the top with a nice sit down for ten minutes before trudging down again. To the pub! Our proper reward was waiting at the aforementioned Bir & Fud, where I had an Eastside – Sunny Side, another superb 7% Triple IPA. Take it from me – the Italians are brewing world-class beers!
Rock ‘n’ Roll hall of fame at the Donkey Punch.
Back to the riverside and walking adjacent to the Tiber and past St Peter’s Square in Vatican City – there were literally tens of thousands of people walking around. It’s mind-boggling to think how much money is going into the church on a daily basis and to me it smacks of hypocrisy – brought us to the delightfully named ‘Knick Knack Yoda‘ [14], again with a tiny frontage and no sign outside. This isn’t a bar per se, it’s actually a burger/pizza joint that brews its own beer. I asked for details of the brews, but again the chap’s English was not ah too good ah. I was offered IPA, Pils or Weiss. I opted for IPA which was full-bodied and maltier than previous Italian IPAs I had tasted, but it was nothing more than OK. I couldn’t glean any other information on the beers other than my IPA was 6.8% so if anyone can enlighten me on KKY beers, please leave feedback in the comments form below. Evidently KKY also runs a record label specialising in electro/punk crossover music, so there’s a lot going on with this small business. Good luck to them.
Just a side note, it wasn’t until we arrived back in the UK that I read that Mother Teresa had been canonized this day, so that’s why there were so many people around. We had been part of it and not even realised!
Frontage at the Tree Folk’s. Oooo look – a sign!
A short detour on the way back to the hotel took us back to Tree Folk’s for another half of Celt Experience (I think he was still pulling it from the evening before). Then onwards and into BrewDog Roma for our second visit of the holiday to end the evening. It was HOT in here. I needed something to cool me down so I opted for an Eastside – Sunny Side 7% (already sampled at the Bir & Fud), Rurale – 3° Miglio, an American Pale at 5.8% and to cap the night off, Dugges – Tropic Thunder a stupendously good 4.5% mango, passion fruit and peach sour. Perfect 10! Nighty night.
Saturday’s route – I think that ‘spike is a Google fuck-up.
SUNDAY 4/9/16
This is how they deliver wine in Rome. No messin’.
Last day here and we had to leave for airport at about 5 o’clock so we planned a lazy day trying to keep cool before the flight. Yeah, right! Despite it now being a scorchio 34 degrees, we decided to make the long walk back to Trastevere to take lunch at one of the numerous (and reasonably priced) restaurants there and then some beer whilst we watched Lewis Hamilton win the Italian Grand Prix. We found a nice little eatery, La Casetta di Trastevere, where I tried a spag bol which was very tasty and there was so much that I couldn’t finish it. Then around the corner to Ma Cha Siete Venuti a Fà once more for beer whilst watching the race.
Well, Lewis muffed the race but that didn’t stop us sampling some great beers: Rurale – Seta Special 5%, a refreshing Witbier; Eastside – Sera Nera 6.5%, a fantastically hoppy Black IPA and finally a Cantillon – Rosé de Gambrinus 5%, a beautiful Lambic Framboise from Brussels topped the afternoon off nicely before a slow walk back to the hotel to pick our bags up and then catch the bus to the nearby Ciampino airport for the flight home.
Sunday’s route.
A wonderful and welcome break and a city I will definitely revisit some day (I still have four pubs on my list left unvisited!). All-in-all a fantastico break, if a bit tiring. Rome, quite apart from the beer and smelling of piss, is a splendid, vibrant city and highly recommended. If you’re a bit of a beer geek then it’s even better. If you’re a beer geek and into architecture, you’ll cream yer pants. Probably.
Thanks to Steve Westby for some pre-visit gen and for a bit more serious reporting of the Italian craft beer scene, read this article.
Find me on Untappd Some tinnies wot I have necked. And some further pics from Rome below.
Well, I noticed a lot of the press reported last week about local councils getting together to persuade the multi-million pound chewing gum industry to help clean up its own filth from our town’s streets. I had a moan about this on this blog nearly four years ago. Finally, someone’s caught on!
It ain’t gonna make any difference though. Apparently Wrigley’s have responded saying it ‘takes the issue of littered gum very seriously’. Yeah, right. No evidence of that in my town, mate.
