Beer for Good

 One of the (many) things I like about Bristol Beer Factory is their commitment to supporting other local organisations - either via charitable routes or collaboration ones.

I'm not naive enough to think it's 100% altruistic, but the vibe I get from every touch-point I have with them is a good one.  It makes me want to support them more:  from the brilliant barstaff in the Barley Mow who make you feel valued (and who remember that you like a straight glass, even if it's been 6 weeks since you've been there), to the fact that their no-alcohol beer specifically supports a mental health initiative and their commitment to donate a specific % of profits into the community via various forms of support.  

Even better, this Social Value doesn't seem to come at the expence of the quality of their offering, unlike some things I've tried to support in the past (ethical coffee or whatever).  

It feels like a proper win-win-win.

So, naturally, when I found out, a good while ago, that the Hastings Project Brewery was a CIC I was keen to learn more.  The first beer of theirs I tried in Beerarama was OK, but not memorable - this was pretty early on and as I've remarked so many times before, even good brewers who have set up a new venture can take a while to get into their stride.

Hastings is half an hour away from Eastbourne by train (3 per hour), I'm a trustee of a charity there, and I do work with other charities in the town so I do find myself going there reasonably frequently.  

I learned that the brewery were taking on a pub in St Leonards (the western edge of Hastings proper) and it's just around the corner from another couple of nice placess there.  This part of St Leonards still feels a bit scruffy but the steady gentrification from the DfLs is definitely noticeable.

I'd been wanting to try the pub (The Prince of Wales) since it opened about 6 or 7 months ago but I haven't had to be in St Leonards and it still feels like a bit of an indulgence to get on a train, just to go to the pub.

Anyhow - this week I had a meeting with a bunch of colleagues related to poverty-support projects that we all collaborate on and the meeting was in CAB in St Leonards.  All the assembled company are female in the age band 40-something to 60-something - we probably cut a bit of a scary air about us when en masse.

We'd all agreed a swift pint would be in order and I suggest that we go to the Price of Wales which only one (another regular beer fan) had even heard of. We arrived at the pub at 5pm-ish and it was empty.  We were greeted cheerily by the lady behind the bar. I immediately ordered a pint of a 4%ish pale cask for me and one colleague gravitated towards lager (Helles).  Bit by bit we coaxed orders out of the the others (we don't pub together often) and sat down.

Blimey!  The beer was great, the lady behind the bar incredibly knowledgeable and encouraging - helping a couple of women to choose what they wanted. There were two cask guests as well as their own and some beers were offered on both cask and keg.

The layout of the pub is quite traditional for a corner-pub and has lots of small tables and stools to keep things flexible:  this was quite helpful since there were six of us plus a small thing in a pushchair.

I learned that they offer all their beers in 2/3rds and also learned that 2/3rds glassware is relatively expensive so might go some way to explaining why not everyone wants to sell that way.

I had to go and get a train (station about 200 yds away) but I could have sat there for much longer and tried more of their lovely beers.  I immediately felt at home and really want to engineer a chance to go back.  All the others agreed it was a great place and everyone enjoyed the beer - vowing to make this the default venue in future.

I really want to take the BBB there - I'm pretty sure he'll like it much better than Heist and Collected Fictions which we visited the last time we had to pass through.  It feels very "us".

Even better?  Being a CIC all their profits are used for community good.

Another great example of Social Value from brewing where the product doesn't appear to be a compromise.   

 

Good Chemistry

 On Friday we'd popped to Unwins.  We'd not seen the lass on bar before but soon got onto the obvious "were you working the EBBT?" question.

She was, and was staggered by how busy it had been -  she'd never seen so many people.  She was, apparently, also slightly horrified to learn there was also an "autumn" event. 

They had very little beer of their own - it all having been drunk the previous weekend (the best possible reason to be out of beer) but their cask 4% bitter (were I a pedant, I might call it a pale ale) was absolutely knockout.

I have to say the collaboration beer with Full Court Press (coffee roasters and cafe who I think are probably setting up in another arch nearby???) which was a Strawberry and coffee sour was really not our bag at all.  

Thankfully they still have the wonderful dark mild with which we finish.

Yesterday was warm and sunny so I suggested we pop round the new incarnation of Good Chemistry brewery which now has regular weekend opening times.

GC has never been a go-to brewery for us - the beers have always been restrained and "fine" but not something we've sought out.  I was curious whether the takeover by an organisation who, on the face of it, seem to have a less understated personality, might change our opinion. 

Again, this brewery is about a 7 or 8 minute walk from us (if you're counting, that means 4 breweries within 10 minutes on foot from our flat).

The main thing that seems to have changed at the brewery is their house graphic style - from precise, scientific-looking diagrammatic livery to bright, whimsical characters. 

After the "obligatory" exchange with engaging chap behind the bar (they were very busy last weekend, unsurprisingly) we settled on two 4% pale beers - me:  Kokomo Weekday, him something else (can't remember the name).  KW was a good, decent keg beer, his had more of a lager characteristic - nice, but not quite what we expected.

There were about a dozen people there when we arrived and the numbers ebbed and flowed - there was a nice hubbub on the whole.

Our second beers were in the 5.5 - 6% range (me a Canadian IPA, whatever that is, him Vienna Lager which was a colab with Little Martha) and both were really good.

Because it's a standard industrial estate unit, it's very much an "open fronted" affair and most seating is in the line of the open frontage. Not a place for inclement weather and, like a lot of taprooms like this - quite homespun in nature.  People stood in the street outside, people sat inside and I would guess we saw 30 or people during our visit.

Lasties was always going to be Kokomo weekend which I loved in the brewery's old incarnation.  It's lost nothing - hefty 7% but very drinkable.

We'll be back, I have no doubt.  The BBB, initially sceptical at the suggestion, was really pleased I'd suggested it and we both really enjoyed the session.

Only downside would be (like Unwins) the lack of 2/3rds measures but it's a small gripe, isn't it.

It's made me want to make the effort to find their other pubs (or maybe to give the Collie a second go).  But that's for next visit.

 

 

 

LHG

 On Wednesday we went for a bus/walk visit in the, aptly named, Magpie Bottom.  It's part of the city (sort of East Bristol towards the old suburbs) I don't really know at all.

It was a bit painful getting there because the roads were thoroughly rammed with traffic on all the main roads.  The bus was also very full at 2.30pm - I guess that shows that a lot of people move around the city at all times of day.

Still, after 25 minutes or so, we arrived at this quiet little green area and the sound of traffic receded almost immediately, to be replaced by birdsong.

We saw, well, magpies (obviously) but also wrens, robins and a greater spotted woodpecker and we heard blackbirds, chiffchaffs, tits and some sort of warbler, maybe.  It was quite the tonic.

The nice thing about the walk was that we could go the length of the greenspace, pop out at the other end and walk for less than 10 minutes through a quiet neighboourhood to Two Mile Hill which is a key bus route. We didn't have to wait very long until a suitable bus arrived to convey us back into town.

We decided to give the Old Castle Green another go.

We were greeted effusively and there were about 5 keg beers to choose from.  Most of them local.

We ordered a couple of pints and settled in.  It's a really good, inclusive, space and whilst not exactly understated, we didn't feel out of place at all.  Good trick to pull off.

We weren't inclined to try any of the other beers as they didn't appear to offer any contrast or progression from our first ones so we decided to head home.  It's a bit like the Old Market Assembly in terms of beer offering for us:  OK but we'd need a pressing reason to go there.

Yesterday I had to pick up an Amazon parcel so, naturally, we decided to pop into LHG's brewpub.  We rarely venture there on a Thursday and, sure enough, but 4.30pm when we approached it sounded pretty busy.

The usual groups of undecideds were lurking in the space between the door and the bar and, although the staff were effcient, quite a lot of customers weren't.  

On the bar was a choice of 4 different casks beers:  4% Bitter, LHG;  5% pale, LHG, 5.5% Porter LHG, Old Ale - Tileys.  I love this development - time was, there weren't casks at all and then it was Shroedingers cask now there are always casks.

Before too long we had two pints of a 5% pale cask beer in straight glasses and a pleasant seat.  Fresh as a daisy, clear as a Penzance beer and delicious. 

There was a small period of excess local noise when a couple of new mums loudly shared infant tips but that didn't last too long.  We were then joined by a couple of folk who were jolly but with better volume control.

Second pints were LHG Porter (Casks) for him and something pale and keggy for me.  I never remember their keg beer names since they're always new/different with only fairly subtle diffences between different brews.  That's not derogatory, exactly, since I will always choose one of the IPAs by strength but there's no point learning the name.  It was, however very nice indeed with a lovely bitterness and little obvious sweetness.  He adored the Porter and said "that's the sort of beer I would have really enjoyed 35 years ago, and still really enjoying it now" - that's high praise indeed.

Lasties were two shared drinks - 2/3rds of something pale and 6% as a collab between LHG and Verdant and something 1/3 and 8% LHG's own.  Both lovely, and shared nicely.

It was interesting watching the ebb and flow of people:  5.05pm huge groups in and then off to find a place to sit or stand.  Staff prioritise efficiency over engagement (fine by me) and the place swallows up more and more people.   Then you look up and realise that equilibrium has been attained.

Obviously there's nothing cosy about what amounts to a gigantic industrial building housing a brewery and a 100 or so seater venue but its very capacity is one of its virtues - it swallows up vast swathes of people and its atmosphere doesn't really change.  

For us it delivers a consistent offer, a range of beers and now, with the cask range, a great choice.  It's also nice and close to home - and that goes a long way too.

Nicely done. 

  

  

...and a Third

We wanted to make up for not being able to go to Martha's for boardgames on Sunday.

So we went yesterday instead.

We were greeted cheerily by the folk there and we spent a little while catching up with them to find out how their weekend had gone.

They'd sold 30% more beer this time than last which they said was a surprise since two arches is Unwins' taproom, also selling beer and, halfway through Saturday the heavens opened whereas last year it was sunny all the time.  They declared themselves really happy.

They're part of a campaign to make this row of railway arches more of a destination, I really hope they're successful because it would pay better respect to the quirky, rough around the edges history of this bit of town than the retail units in all the new shiny buildings that have been going up over the last 10 years or so (most of them empty, by the way).  I definitely prefer my urban development to be organic.

After catching up with the guys, we settled into a booth.  A large group (probably off the train colleagues for a conference or meeting or whatever tomorrow) came in and very noisily hung around for about 30 minutes - it was hard to resent them too hard because it was nice to see the place with a few people in on a Tuesday after a bank holiday.

We played our new birdy game, now starting to get the measure of it so it didn't feel like such hard work - he won.

The beer?  Oh, yeah - we had their house beers:  Halo Orbit, Mysterious intergalatic object and Neighbour we left behind - plus the newer pale one.  Nothing novel (they probably sold it all over the weekend) but beers we know and like.  It worked well

 

Two in a row

 Bank Holiday Monday - but still a Monday, right?

In this house (flat) that means Barley Mow.

We wondered whether it would be open because of a hectic weekend.  We needn't have worried.

We popped round around 4.15pm

The chap behind the bar looked...broken...

 "busy weekend?..."

He nodded wearily, but with a warm smile.

"We broke all our records"

We chatted a bit about it and he chuckled when I said we'd been avoiding the whole thing and had been worried about the rain for the success of the event.  It seems a lot of people took refuge in the BM.  

Still the pictures I've seen from a few of the venues look like it was probably chalked up as a success across the board.  I'm genuinely delighted.  

We settled down with our beers - I had Notorious, he had a 3.8% pale by Ashley Down - both were great.

The pub was perfectly peopled - folk were at "our" table but that didn't dent our spirits one bit.

Second beer was a 5% Red Willow pale, slightly hazy cask.  Cracking! He had a second one of those whilst I jumped ship to a 5% keg beer (brewery not remembered) - however, he liked mine more than I did so we swapped after a couple of mouthfuls (greater love hath no man, an' that).

We'd necked our beers quite fast, despite playing Regicide to slow us down,  so there was scope for a 4th - so we had halves of a Weekend Project 6% keg beer (again, name forgotten but) it, too, was great!

Great selection of beer and the busy weekend clearly meant a thorough turnaround of beers from the day we arrived so it was really nice to have a completely different selection to choose from.

Another reason we both like BBF venues is their glass selection.  They have standard 1pt conic glasses, but their 2/3rds, halves and thirds are the same style and there's something incredibly satisfying about that when one of you is drinking a pint and the other 2/3rds (or other variations).  Their enthusiasm to serve cask in all the different volumes make me order the amount I actually want according to strength and appetite - I think that may be an underrated thing (or, we may just be odd...).

So, that's two consecutive days in a pub with everything (even the things they can't control) perfect.  That's a hard act to follow... 

 

 

 

 

Goldilocks

 No place, no beer, no activity is ever ALWAYS perfect.

Most places, beers and activties can have instances of perfection.

So it was at the Kings Head yesterday.

Frequently too crowded, or too noisy because after-workers don't know how to use their indoor voices, the Kings Head hits highs and lows for us.  Never had a bad pint in there since it was reopened, mind.

In the pursuit of avoiding the EBBT (which does look as though it was pretty well attended, thank goodnees) we walked in the other direction and wondered how busy the Kings Head would be.

When we arrived there were no folk sitting at the bar or in the little bench inside the door.  So we grabbed a couple of (absolutely delicious) pints and headed into the Tramcar Snug.  There were about 10 people in there but a nice little space was available for us.  

Initially the larger group were a little noisy but they finished their drinks quickly and the noise level dropped to a perfect gently hubbub.

We looked up where our beers had come from (Abbeydale, Sheffield and the other was from Mallinsons, Huddersfield) and chatted about...actually I'm not sure, but it was that kind of relaxed chat that flows and then goes away.

Second beers were hazy and keggy:  me Burning Sky - Quench, him Deya.  Both hit the spot nicely.

Other punters came and went, no one imposed themselves too much on the space:  a couple of couples, a few blokes with a dog...all very convivial.

Last beer was always going to be the Black IPA they had on offer (still a style I absolutely love and what a treat to have it on cask).  It was Pangoltergeist (the troubled spirit of a mischevious pangolin, maybe?) by Tartarus (Leeds).  This is not a brewery I've seen in Bristol before but there's frequently a keg of theirs on at Beerarama. Blimey it was lovely - roasty, chocolatey, deep and bitter...but not too much.  It being cask (Kings Head don't do 2/3rds for cask beers) we shared a pint and a half.

Then it was time to leave.  I picked up the glasses and started to walk up the passageway towards the door to find one of the dog-owning blokes heading towards me with a couple of pints so (obviously) I stepped aside to let him pass easily.  "Thanks, my luvver", he said.

Like I said, sometimes it all comes together and it's perfect. 

It's not that I'm anti-social, but...

 Being in Bristol when the East Bristol Brewery Trail is scheduled you'd think we'd be keen to get involved.

As several bar staff hereabouts we've spoken to in the last few days would be able to tell you - "..god, no...".

I hasten to say that I think it's a great event, and it's really nice this year that Moor have rejoined, along with the new incarnation of Good Chemistry together with Unwins so the trail is 7-breweries strong.

Since the furthest from here is a tiny bit over a mile, you have to be impressed that in one corner of a city which isn't huge there are that many small breweries (Little Martha, Unwins, Moor, Good Chemistry, Left-Handed Giant, Arbor, Wiper & True).

You also wouln't have to stray too far off the trail to also take in Fierce and Noble, New Bristol Brewery and Basement Beer.  Actually, I've just measured it.  A circle of 1km radius, centred roughly on Wiper & True's new brewery & taproom would encompass 10 breweries with open taprooms.  All of the eminently walkable from Temple Meads station.

So why aren't we flocking along with everyone else?

Mostly because they'll be horribly busy which both of us find quite stressful.  But also because all of these taprooms have regular (usually weekend) operating hours.  

We have attended in the past mostly so we could go to Arbor, which at the time wasn't open very often.  The place was rammed - everyone was jolly and we made the best of it, but the walk back along the cycle track was a blessed, peaceful relief.

One time we made the mistake of thinking the Barley Mow would, as a result, be quite quiet - it was most definitely not. 

So when asked we enthuse about the event and tell the questioner we'll be going to the places when it's quieter.

Sadly, after what was a warmish, brightish start to the day it's turned really quite wet which will probably dampen the mood a little.  I know the two breweries nearest here had contingency plans in putting tables under cover so let's hope that it's not a complete bust for the breweries with limited inside space.

As it turns out, we've hunkered down in the flat as we don't fancy going to the nearest "will certainly be quiet" place.  

Tomorrow is another day...