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.
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Monday, 6 September 2010
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.
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.
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