Taprooms and Technology

 We've been here, in our Bristol base for 4 days now.  Obviously, we're catching up with our favourite watering holes and entertaining the idea of new places.

The improving weather makes it feel comfortable (mostly) to sit outside and that also makes us feel a bit more comfortable about mixing with other people.

It being a bank holiday weekend, we've avoided the usual hell-hole places (like King Street) and gone a little further out of the way.  As a result we've only drunk in one pub - but have majored on tap rooms (and a failed attempt to go to the Cider Box in a nearby railway arch).

Naturally, the Moor Tap was comfortable and welcoming although their attempt at online beer list and ordering proved to be an irritation as you had to put home address in order to get beer to the table.  Thankfully, the bar staff were a bit more pragmatic and came to the table (or accepted a distanced request) at the bar and brought a card machine and the beers to us.

At Tapestry (after the failed attempt at a heaving Cider Box) there was a QR code menu but ordering and paying was in person.  We really enjoyed our time here.  The staff really friendly and their beer has become far more to our taste than it used to be.

Yesterday (Sunday) we decided to try the much newer Newtown Park brewery which has put their brewery in LHG's old place and opened a joint taproom with Falmouth-based Verdant.

We walked around and as we entered the industrial park where they're based we noticed that LHG haven't moved out - they've moved over to what appears to be a bigger unit just around the corner from Newtown and their taproom was also buzzing.

We squeezed onto a table at Newtown and were directed to the QR code for ordering and paying.  The shopfront on the webpage worked really well, but the payment was a real irritation as they only accepted shoppay (Shopify's payment processing platform).  I didn't want to set up an account which meant putting address details, card details, etc, etc every time I ordered.  This was a bit of a pain and it would have been useful to know in advance and/or details added to the notices on the table.

Still, once the irritation had died down, we really enjoyed the beer and the sitting (mostly) in the sun.  But there was still time for a quick cask pint at the Barleymow on the way home.

We're finding this switch to drinking in other-than-pubs quite odd but can't deny that it means there's something for everyone in a city with countless brilliant breweries.

I think my only complaint is the lack of current/consistent information on places' website and selection of social media feeds - it made finding out who was open, and when, quite painful.

Still - there are still many places to try and we're here for another week.

Welcome Home

 We decided to make the trip to Bristol by train.

We timed the departure date to be a little later than the "drinking inside with others" open-up date so that we might avoid the initial rush.  We also have physical meetings in the diary for the first time in a while.

This included a trip to St Leonards/Hastings which, naturally, culminated in a visit to the wonderful "Brewing Brothers at the Imperial" in one of Hastings' less fashionable streets.

This visit itself culminated in a total of 7 miles walking which is further than I've walked for months and months and quite the test of my post-sprain knee's resilience.  Oh - and what I'm pretty sure was a full day hangover.

Anyhow...

The Best Beer Buddy suggested that he might be happy to plan to travel by train (with driving as a backup).  So, we walked to the station an boarded 12.06 to Victoria.

Neither of us are fans of the necessary masks but we got used to it.

The Eastbourne train was busier than I expected but the Gatwick stop was astonishing:  only 3 people on the platform.

All in all, the trip was pretty relaxed and the buddy said he found it less stressful than driving so that's big result.  Naturally, after dropping bags, watering the orchids, putting the water heater on we headed to the Barley Mow.

It was a little later than we'd anticipated (points problem outside Swindon) but as we arrived we were greeted cheerfully by Harry who settled us into a little table and took our order.  For all the world, it was like never having been away (it's been about 8 months).  Four cask beers on the bar, a nice range of food, a good sociable hum in the pub and even though we chatted about our work, it was a perfectly blissful and relaxing time.

I was really glad to learn that their clientele had been steadily building since opening again the previous week.  The good weather meant that the seats out front and in the garden at the back were fully stacked out well into the evening and most of the tables inside, too.  For their sake, I hope this continues.  They're folk who work really hard to make an atmosphere that means that we don't have to and that's a big thing for me.

Thank you!

Back in a pub...

 ...to complete the beery week we went to our Eastbourne local, yesterday.

It was busy with only a table in the back room available to us, squished up against the empty casks and kegs, in a darkish corner.

But with Kent Brewery Prohibition in perfect condition, it was perfection.

...and just like that...

 ...it all felt back to normal.  Well, obviously not, but close enough that we could overlook the remaining gaps in normality for now.

On Wednesday we met with a couple of members of the community group we work with and we'd decided to meet in the pub.  We went to the Dolphin which was OK but they're not confident enough yet to ensure there's a variety of beer on the bar.  As a result there was Harveys and Longman best.  It was lovely to meet the friends but the pub experience still lacked that something.

On Thursday, we'd arranged a meeting with a potential client for the same community group project.  I'd already decided to make it an afternoon one for obvious reasons.

The meeting gave us a buzz (and something of a thirst) so we decided to "head somewhere".  Best Beer Buddy suggested the new enterprise of the landlord of our Eastbourne local, Andy.  So we headed to Ninkaci to see how it was doing.

We knew not to expect cask and it's tap and bottle room, not a pub. We were greeted by Andy in a cheery fashion, we ordered a couple of schooners (2/3rds, to the rest of us) and found a couple of stools to perch on.

It amused us to see that a chap we frequently meet when there's good beer to be had, was sitting with a pal.  He also greeted us cheerily.

Jo, the landlady, delivered the beer to our seats and we asked how things were going.  It was great to hear that, after 3 false starts, they were happy with how things were.  

On our second beer we remembered that Andy had asked for recommendations of breweries we liked, so we messaged him a list and he appeared suddenly, and chatted to us about them all - and confirmed that serveral were already on order.  We're really expecting good things.

It's our sort of place even though it's not a pub.  It closes at 8 or 9pm which suits us down to the ground.  Andy even promises cask in future.  I mean, what's not to like?

We left just ahead of 8pm, having been there since about 4.15pm.  We walked home and picked up our first take out meal for about 6months on the way.

Simple things, but utter delight.

Total Joy

 So, the pubs are open inside now.

I saw so many social media posts from pubs excited and the latest restriction relaxation, and then thanking people for coming back it was heartening and although we're not heading inside a pub until later this week (it's all planned - seeing friends with a particular purpose in mind) it has made me really quite excited.

So it was with some trepidation I checked out the status for my absolutely favourite pub - our Bristol local, The Barley Mow.

This is a pub that the best beer buddy and I have spent so many lovely times - with friends, with strangers, just as couple and even on our own that its lack in our lives over the last 6 months or so has been a yawning, gaping whole.

It's the pub we go to first in Bristol.  Typically within an hour of arriving in the city - no matter by what means.  When we can't be arsed to go far but want a pub, it's our natural destination.

Even though, for me, the pub is somewhere to forget the responsibilities of my work - we have done so much really important and good work there (we've written a conservation plan for a Martello Tower, we've written funding bids and project plans) that it's even a part of our working lives despite being in a different part of the country from where that work typically takes place.

Oh, yeah, I was checking the status with trepidation...

...the brewery website says it's opening tomorrow and it was all I could do not to put on a pair of shoes and jump on a train there and then.

If you have those pubs in your life then welcome back!  If you have don't have them yet - do try and find one.  If you think I'm idiot for feeling like this about a place to drink beer then you probably won't ever understand so leave me alone and go back to wherever you feel most relaxed and leave me to my beer!

Soon, Barley Mow, soon.

The Low-key Return

 Spring weather continues to be...well...springy.  That is to say, when it's sunny the air is rather fresh and when it's less windy it's overcast with a lower general temperature.

A knee-sprain early in the year has meant I've been quite careful about how and where I walk to get some exercise but we have got into the habit of having a stroll most days.

It had been a busy and intense week and on Thursday I also had to vote.  So I suggested that we combine a visiting to the polling station and our afternoon "knee physio" amble.

Having exercised my democratic right, we went to a local small park to see how spring was treating it.  Then the boy said "I wonder what the Crown garden is like at the moment"...

...and so we went for our first cask beer since...well, I guess it's last October?

The garden was lovely, if a bit chilly.  We had a chat with Andy, the landlord, to see how his pubco was treating him and he was quite upbeat.  He said he'd fared a lot better than other pub tenants he knew.

We had two pints of Gun Extra Pale and I felt quite buzzy by the time we left.

Once again, an unplanned pub visit gave pleasure in a way much more complicated than the mere consumption of alcohol.  I seriously can't wait for the next visit.