At the weekend we rarely stray to the busier drinking places - neither of us are fond of large crowds, ever, and crowds of large groups of people even more so.
We've noticed how we're comfortably settled at our chosen drinking "after work" timeslot (roughly 4.45pm - 7.30pm since we don't do late nights and we prefer to drink ahead of eating dinner) with a pleasant hubbub of small groups nattering, maybe a with a smattering of background music - but then a noisier group comes in and it raises the stress levels a bit. By the time we need to leave, there's a degree of relief in leaving the noise behind rather than regret of leaving that lovely pub.
On the other hand, this Goldilocks household really doesn't like places to be too quiet. We feel bad for the folk running the place and also feel a bit on display.
This, together with our fairly picky definition of the beer we like to drink can mean we can be quite hard to please - and yet, we're pleased remarkably often.
I was flattered and amused, that fellow Bristolians, Boak and Bailey, had referred to one of my earlier posts this week in their weekly roundup, where we were disappointed when we went to the Swan with Two Necks.
We had also wondered whether their apparent disagreement with Moor (I don't know, and don't want to know the whole story - I think I know roughly the basis and that's enough, ta) had contributed to "different" beer availability on the bar at the Swan.
Yesterday, we had decided to go up to Moor Brewery Tap - I really like their beers and the staff we frequently come across (James, and the lady that usually runs the bar on a Friday). I checked the webiste and it indicated that the bar would be open until 8pm both Friday and Saturday.
It was quiet when we arrived but a few people came and went during our visit - but it dwindled to just us after about an hour.
No cask on, sadly, but we had 2/3rds of an opener (one Live, one Radience, I think). I'd seen (courtesy of Insta) that they'd started brewing the original Hoppiness again and we were delighted to see that on keg. Second beer, no competition at all. The Hoppiness was absolutely wonderful. At 6.5% it's pretty hefty but very drinkable indeed. It was the Hoppiness I remember.
We noticed an amount of cleaning happening and "putting to bed" of the taps. It was around 6.15pm. She was clearly packing up. We would probably have had another Hoppiness to be honest, but instead I bought some cans to put in our fridge. I also asked about opening times only to find that they plan to close at 7pm on Friday and 5pm on Saturday.
I've suggested that the website might be updated.
It's never been a really busy taproom but it feels like they're struggling to get people in. Is it the stuff from earlier in the year? Is it the time of year? Is it something else? It's a shame, for sure.
I plan to grab more Hoppiness in cans when we get back down south - I just hope they find a way through this.
Meanwhile - excitement is rising as another brewery/taproom is shortly to open two doors away from Martha. It means Moor drops to our third-closest brewery...
No comments:
Post a Comment