Huddersfield

So, a night out in Huddersfield was decided upon. Ten to eight train.

Arrived at the Railway in Greenfield with 15 minutes to spare - a swift pint of their ever-excellent Elland Beyond the Pale was quaffed in near record time before departing for the station where Nigel was just arriving on the platform.

The display screen said that the train was going to be 15 minutes late, so we walked back across the road for another swift pint. Another Beyond the Pale was downed. Hmm 2 pints in 20 minutes, not a good start!

The train arrived 2 minutes later than advertised with the front half in darkness and locked.We took our seats and awaited the guard so we could buy our hugely overpriced tickets to go through Standedge tunnel. Rumour has it that the 5 mile train journey from Greenfield to Marsden is the most expensive - on a £ per mile basis - in the country. Go Northern Rail!!

Luckily Northern Rail were being especially generous again this evening, and the Guard didn't appear. So we had a free journey. Cheers, Northern!

Once we arrived in Huddersfield we made straight for probably my favourite pub at the moment. The Grove. I, rather foolishly, went for a Thornbridge Halcyon (7.7%). a fantastic beer, but dangerously drinkable for that ABV.

Next up was a Brewdog Punk IPA - another great beer.

We then made a move into Huddersfield Centre to the Vox bar to sample their Erdinger Dark. They have an unusual downstairs room with some very tight booths - where we sat.

After our forcedly intimate pint in Vox we headed down the road to The Sportsman. this has fairly recently been taken over and reopened by the owners of The West Yorkshire Licensed Refreshment Rooms on Dewsbury Station. It is now a very nice pub - although never having been before I can't compare it to how it might have been previously.

They have taken the interesting move of having a small sample of each beer available in a shot glass next to the pump. I presume so you can see what colour the beer is.

A Roosters Jasmine IPA was sampled here. - Things were getting somewhat hazy by now. and I don't recall too much about this beer except that it wasn't as good as the Halcyon or Punk IPA from earlier.

We then moved on again to the Kings Head on the station for a swift pint before our train left. I chose the Elland's Top Of The Hops. So I'm told. After supping this it was time to catch the train so we crossed to our platform and boarded.

Those lovely people at Northern Rail very generously let us have another free journey back to Greenfield. As there's no available ticket offices at either end of the journey, and no conductor coming along the train to collect tickets, there is no way of paying. - Not that I'm complaining!

On arrival back in Greenfield, we decided that it would be rude not to round the journey off without another pint in the Railway. So across we went. I had another Elland Beyond the Pale.

As the pub was rather busy, we had to share a table with a very nice couple who were sampling the Railway's excellent range of bottled ciders. Talk turned to the draught Old Rosie scrumpy and it was decided that we should all have a pint. It was at this point I decided it would be best if I went home. Nigel stayed and had a pint.

I haven't heard from him since.

Manchester. A not so successful pub crawl...

Myself and the wife decided a nice night out in Manchester was on the cards for just the two of us. So everything was arranged and our lift to the station arrived in good time.

We were not so punctual in leaving home and consequently, we missed out on a swift pint at the Railway in Greenfield due to the train being in the station when we arrived. A quick run onto the platform and we boarded with seconds to spare.

On arrival in Manchester, we walked straight to the Black Lion, just over the border in Salford, only to find it closed. - on later investigation it looks like the old story of pub does well so pub company puts rent up to unaffordable levels. I don't see the logic in this other than stupid greed on the part of the pubco. Ridiculous.

Anyway, rant over. Back to the pub crawl.

As we had already walked a resonable distance, and the wife was complaining about walking too far. We decided to go up to Deansgate and the Moon Under Water. First pint of the evening was Thwaites Golder Wunder. An amber ale. Not too bad. This was followed by a Greene King Abbot Ale. It's been a long while since I last tasted Abbot and I've never been much of a fan of Greene King beers. This reminded me why.

We left here and went over the road and across St Annes Square to Corbieres. this has long been one of my favourite drinking places in Manchester. A small doorway leads down some narrow stairs to what is best described as the underground cavern that is Corbieres. They serve on draught ale - Bazen's Pacific. A pint of which was duly ordered and we sat and listened to a few tunes from their excellent jukebox.

In my head I had a pub crawl back to Victoria station planned out, so we left Corbieres and went to Sam's Chop House. Here I had a pint of Sam's Special Best Bitter, brewed by Coach House Brewery. on finishing this we had half an hour before the last train left for Greenfield, so the pub crawl was curtailed to another pint of Sam's Special.

In hindsight, this was possibly a mistake as we left Sam's Chophouse with 10 minutes until our train departed. It turns out that the walk to Victoria station platform 4 is actually 11 minutes, so we watched the last train of the night leave from halfway up the stairs to the platform bridge. With the train departed our chances of a pint at the Railway in Greenfield. Again. D'oh.

A quick, and expensive, taxi-ride accross town to Piccadilly ensued and we just managed to catch the last train stopping at Stalybridge. Phew I thought as the train pulled into the station as the Buffet Bar looked open. We headed there on exiting the train only to find it closed. D'oh again.

We gave up on getting any more beer at that point and waited outside the station for our lift home.

Dave's Stag Do, Leeds (and stations to Leeds).

Starting off with a seven mile walk to Marsden to work up a thirst. The sunny warm weather certainly helped us acheive this. Consequently, on arrival at the Riverhead Brewery Tap in Marsden, the first pint of Ossett Silver King didn't last long at all. A second pint was also despatched very quickly before it was time to catch the train to Huddersfield.

On arrival in Huddersfield Station, there was a connecting train bound for Leeds due in a couple of minutes. However, the [correct] decision was made to stop off at the Kings Head for a pint as there would be another train in 20 minutes anyway. A pint of Summer Marble was ordered. this is pale hoppy summer ale. And very nice too.

It was then a train to Leeds and straight to the hotel to shower and change, after the walk, in preperation for the evening's festivities.

I was washed and changed first and so headed off to meet everyone else in the hotel bar. Luckily (as there were only keg products available), no-one was there, so I quickly went round the corner to the Grove Inn to wait for everyone to arrive - and enjoy some proper beer.

First up was a pint of Leeds Pale. as the name suggests, a pale ale. not very hoppy but more of a creamy taste. OK, but not as good as the previous pints. As no one had yet arrived, I decided to get myself another pint. This time a Wharfebank Celtic Glory Stout. At 4% ABV, this is a fairly weak version of a Stout (Although it's similar in strength to that famous keg stout from Ireland). It was, however, a very nice pint indeed.

I was just coming to the end of this pint when the rest of the party arrived and another round was ordered. This time I had a Bateman's GHB (Good Honest Bitter apparently). I don't know whether it was as a result of just having a full bodied Stout, but this tasted a bit watery. Disappointing.

On from here and a Curry in the Shabab in a railway arch underneath the main city station. No ale, so draught Cobra was the order of the day in here (3 pints). A very nice curry it was too.

Over the road from here is the excellent Scarborough Hotel which was our next stop. A Nethergate Priory mild was the choice in here. I've not seen any Nethergate beers for quite a while so it was a nice surprise. It seemed to taste nice, but I was in a state of post-curry annihilated tastebuds.

It was a short walk round the corner to the Leeds Brewery Tap, an old shop converted into a bar with a range of Leeds Beers available. I had a Midnight Bell. That is all I remember.

The rest of the evening was spent in trendy (i.e. no real ale) bars and clubs. I vaguely recall some of them stocked bottles of Budvar - so all was not lost (although I did catch Paul drinking Corona at one point. The idiot).

Some 'creative' dancing rounded the evening off in the Cockpit.

27th August 2010. A Few Drinks In Marsden.

As there was a steam train due to pass at 8pm, we decided to go for a meal at Mozarellas in Marsden beforehand. I was pleasently surprised to find alongside the wine list, a quite decent beer list. Although the British beers on offer were a bit lacking (Black Sheep Ale and two flavoured beers from Meantime), there was a few interesting "micro brewery" ales from the U.S.
I opted for the Flying Dog Brewery Raging Bitch IPA (8.3% ABV) much to the consternation of the waitress who refused to say it's name when she brought it to the table (a bitch is a female dog isn't it? - I can't imagine what she might have been thinking of...).

After our meal, we watched the steam train pass (6201 Princess Elizabeth pulling the Scarborough Flyer) and I left the family to go to the Tunnel End Inn with DB.
Four ales are usually available here, Timothy Taylor Landlord, Black Sheep and a couple of guests.
I opted to start with a Landlord. Very nice - however, I'm yet to find one as good as used to be served in the Railway In Greenfield.
Second up was one of the guest ales; Phoenix Arizona. This was a very light (in colour) hoppy and refreshing ale. A very nice pint.

As we were meeting another friend from the train, we headed for the fairly recently re-opened Railway in Marsden. This had (I think) three ales available. Pedigree, Greene King IPA and Marston's Long Hop. We all had a pint of the Long Hop. This wasn't the best pint in that either it wasn't kept very well or the lines were not cleaned properly or something such. We only stayed for one pint here before moving on to the Riverhead Brewery Tap.
Unfortunately there was only time for one pint here - I had the excellent Osset Silver King - before we had to go for our train back to Greenfield.

A none-appearance from the guard made for another free journey courtesy of Northern Rail.

On Arrival in Greenfield we decided on one for the road before heading home and so went into the Railway. I (for a change) had a pint of Elland's Beyond The Pale. Once again in excellent condition.

Friday 6th August 2010. Marsden

Met at the New Inn. Fairly newly re-furbished and quite nicely, but obviously favouring the diners.

Three pumps, one of which was 'out of order'. Aparently they had had a tecnician in to look at it and he couldn't fix it. I'm not sure exactly how complex a beer engine is - i suspect not very......
Consequentially, Copper Dragon best bitter wasn't on, so we went for Timothy Taylor Landlord. Unfortunately the beer quality isn't the best at the New Inn. I'm not sure whether it's not conditioned very well or whether the lines aren't kept particularly clean, but I've only ever had mediocre beer from there. And knowing how great a pint Landlord can be, it's disappointing - especially so considering they charge £3.00 per pint of the stuff. If it was a great pint I could just about cope with the high price, but charging that for poorly kept beer is a rip off.
Having said that, we stayed for three pints here. Stuck with Landlord as the other choice, Black Sheep Bitter, appeared in even worse condition than the Landlord. (Cloudier in any case)!

So on to the Riverhead. This seems to be Marsden's most busy pub. And rightly so. It has its own brewery on the premises - associated with the Osset Brewery. About ten ales on hand pull, seven Riverhead brews. Two osset numbers, and a guest beer - always London Pride.

Started with an Osset Silver King. A light hoppy and refreshing ale. Very nice.
This was followed by a Riverhead Cupwith Special. A light coloured ale ( rated 'A' on their colour scale (A to E)). It was time then, to catch the train to the correct side of the Pennines - where electricity and colour television are the norm.

On the train were a gang of perhaps ten or twelve lads all singing rugby songs. This meant the guard stayed in his cab - thus a free journey back to Greenfield. Hurrah!!

On to the Railway in Greenfield - probably Saddleworth's best ale house. Certainly Saddleworth's best kept beer.

The landlord's favourite beer used to be Timothy Taylor Landlord, and having drunk it here on numerous occasions, it was by far and away the best pint of Landlord I've ever had. Unfortunately, it is no longer served here. Instead they now have Elland's Beyond the Pale. A lovely light hoppy beer and a very good replacement (although in my opinion, the Landlord was slightly better).
There's also five other beers on offer, but the Elland was the beer of choice tonight. Two pints were consumed before the taxi arrived to take me home.

The Bear Inn, Alderwasley. Visited on 24th July 2010

A great pub in the middle of some lovely Derbyshire countryside. we were visiting because it was a friend's 40th birthday celebration, so we were staying over in the pub's accommodation too.

Arrived at 3pm and checked into our rooms. First drink in the pub was a cup of tea in the guests' seating area upstairs...

After a short loop-walk around the area we arrived back with a bit of a thirst and started the nights drinking at about half five.

The bar has four? hand pumps, but seven or eight ales are available. The rest being served direct from the barrel in the cellar.

Available tonight were Blue bear, Crowning Glory and Blooming Blond from the Derby brewery. Whim's Hartington IPA. Taylor Landlord, Draught Bass and Thornbridge Jaipur IPA. We also had a special beer laid on for the party in the function room - This was Copper Dragon's Golden Pippin.

First pint I had was a Hartington IPA - a lovely refreshing pint which certainly hit the spot after our walk. It didn't last long!
So, the second pint followed soon after. Derby Brewery Crowning Glory. A copper coloured beer and a lot less hoppy than the IPA as you would expect. though still a very nice pint.

By the time I had supped the second pint it was getting on for half past six, and as the party was starting at half past seven, people were starting to disappear to get ready. I decided the best course of action was to let the wife go and have a shower while I stayed for a sneaky third before my turn to get ready.

I had a Derby Blue Bear. I think this is a special brew for the Bear and its sister pub The Blue Bell - Hence Blue Bear. The pump clip described it as "a pale ruby coloured beer". Holding it up to the light it was definitely ruby coloured, but it certainly wasn't pale. I would say it was almost black as you would expect a dark mild to be. It was, however, very nice. So I couldn't complain!

Having got showered and changed, it was downstars to the party. The function-room bar had two pumps on, one of them being the exclusive-to-us Golden Pippin, so a pint of that was had.

I knew at some point I would be forced to have a pint of Jaipur, and having done so, I would be drinking that for the rest of the night as once you've had that everything else pales in comparison. I therefore, decided to try the Derby Blooming Blond and have another Hartington IPA before I hit the Jaipurs.

So it was about half past nine when I finally broke and had to have my first Jaipur of the evening. It didn't disappoint. All the ales on offer at the pub were in excellent condition and were all very nice in their own right, but Jaipur is head and shoulders above the rest such a great ale that it is.

It all becomes rather hazy after this. I know I had nothing but Jaipur for the rest of the night though...