A close shave across the Mersey: 22nd May 2012

Whilst in Southport on my 'staycation' it was an obvious decision to visit the great city of Liverpool. I'd been to some of the historic pubs around the Georgian Quarter (The Philharomonic, Roscoe Head, Grapes and others, see here for more information) fairly recently so this time I though I'd try the city's only brewpub, The Baltic Fleet, and then take the iconic Ferry across The Mersey to an interesting/bizarre new pub & barbers(!) of which I think there are only a few in the UK (and probably the world).


View Birkenhead in a larger map

Outward travel was as follows:-
  Train: Southport to Liverpool Moorfields
  Ferry: Liverpool Pier Head to Birkenhead Woodside

After spending a bit of time sightseeing we headed down to the redeveloped Albert Dock area where there are now masses of tourist attractions, hotels, restaurants and chain pubs. I wonder how many know that just across the main dual carriageway in a 'funny shaped' building is a great pub called the Baltic Fleet, home of the in-house Wapping Beers.

I really like the appearance of the building - it's somewhat reminiscent of a Mississippi steam boat with multiple funnels on the top and certainly very distinctive. Inside there are 2 main rooms - a lounge/seating area away from the road (quiet today at lunchtime) and the main bar area on the other side facing the road. There were a couple of workmen around the place today, sawing & drilling away, and there's definitely been some significant redevelopment on-going. The really friendly barmaid told us that the long sweeping bar top had only been in for about 8 weeks - it really looks the part - and that it was such a relief to see the end of the temporary bar. Still present were the Baltic Fleet life-boat ring, a huge bell for last orders, displays of knot types, loads of CAMRA and other awards and (last but not least) the 7 hand-pulls.

On hand-pull today were 'only' 5 Wapping beers, to which they normally add a couple of guests at the weekend, so I had the Baggy Wrinkle - a nice light citrus ale perfect for outdoor quaffing. Food is pretty basic, either pies of various types or Scouse ('beef' stew & tatties), so I went with the Chicken Tikka pie. The workmen had stopped for their lunch so we went outside and took a seat at one of the benches in the sunshine. The pie was really tasty, if a bit dry, but a bit of HP sauce got round that problem.

This was certainly a far, far more enjoyable and interesting place to have lunch than anywhere around the Albert Dock area and I really must come back in the evening at some point when I suspect the place will be quite busy.

It was then a walk back over the dual carriageway and past the rest of the Albert Dock area and the new Museum of Liverpool to the Pier Head ferry terminal. Outwith the main rush hour period (when you can take a direct ferry) you have to take one of the River Explorer Cruises which performs a loop out to Liverpool Bay, then docks at Seacombe and then Woodside before heading back to Pier Head - the whole excursion takes about an hour. What you get are great views of the Livepool skyline and the unmistakable Royal Liver Building.

We disembarked at Woodside Terminal, Birkenhead and walked the short distance up Chester Street to Gallagher's Pub and Barbers

This is almost next door to another pub, The River View, and on a different day we would probably have stopped there due to the outside benches and the views across to Liverpool. However Gallagher's had a couple of things going for it - firstly a little blackboard across the road stating 'CAMRA Wirral Pub of the Year 2011' and secondly that striped Barbers Pole. We headed inside and found a fairly darkly wooded, long narrow place with a couple of different seating areas before the centrally located bar.

Both the windows and the inside were bedecked with Union Jacks, pictures of royalty and lots & lots of military souvenirs - some were for the Jubilee celebrations but most were because the owner had previously served in the Irish Guards before starting up a couple of barbers shops and then combining these businesses with a pub - the place really looked festive & very welcoming. The owner's wife (co-owner!) greeted us and immediately booked me in for a beer and a shave (in that order). They promote local breweries and I had a great pint of Peerless Skyline bitter brewed about 500 metres away in Birkenhead, but it was also good to see Hawkshead Lakeland Lager on tap.

Whilst waiting for the barber we headed out to the beer garden at the back, a real sun-trap in the afternoon and which seemed to attract a lot of dogs (and their owners). There weren't any views of Liverpool but the high tower of Hamilton Square Clock Tower was impressive enough.

Finally it was time to head to the barbers, located just behind the bar.

This definitely isn't a gimmick, but a fully featured barbers shop. To give the barber the most difficult test possible I had deliberately not shaved for 3 days (giving me my best terrorist impersonation) so it was going to be a full hot towel and cut-throat razor shave for me (£15 for over 40 minutes). For those interested in the minutae of these things the barber went through a fairly impressive process for me - first off a trim with an electric trimmer, lather & hot towel(#1), an initial shaping with a cut-throat razor, lather & hot towel(#2), a shave with Mach 3 razor (I blunted this), lather & hot towel(#3), a final cut-throat shave, cool towel(#1), a trim of any missed bits, cool towel(#2), some essential oils, then a face massage - really great (I was almost falling asleep at some points).

By the time that I was finished there was a queue of 2 people waiting, so business must be pretty good. The barber did say that I had been his 2nd most difficult customer of all time - always good to know that I present a challenge in some respects. I felt great at the end and I don't think my neck area had ever felt smoother. The best thing about this was that my own next couple of shaves after this were so much easier and better. It was definitely worthwhile and I would certainly recommend it, especially as a beer is on-hand when required. (Sorry there was no after photo - well there was, but I'll be impressed if anyone can get it!).

All in it was a great visit to a great pub. The pub is interesting and friendly, serves well kept, great local & further-flung beers and the barbers just gives it that additional reason to visit. I'll definitely be back the next time I'm in the Liverpool area - this time for a beer and a haircut!

Return travel:-
  Train: Birkenhead Hamilton Square to Liverpool Moorfields
            Moorfields to Southport

The Inn Beer Shop and Southport Brewery: 23rd May 2012

It was to be another 'staycation' this month with a week long break in very sunny Southport, the up-market neighbour of Liverpool. There are some really nice pubs in the town (in particular the Guest House and Barons Bar), but from a beer point-of-view probably the 2 most interesting places are run by brothers from the same family - Peter Bardsley operates the fairly recently opened Inn Beer Shop on fashionable Lord Street and Paul the Southport Brewery on the outskirts towards Ormskirk.


View Southport Brewery in a larger map

The Inn Beer Shop is located at the very north-east end of Lord Street under one of the iconic Victorian glass topped canopies (unfortunately we were staying at the south-west end; damned inconvenient, but it was a nice stroll back!).

This is an interesting place with a slight twist on the 'standard' off-license/bottle shop or deli, since in addition to the great (and I mean really great) range of bottled beers there are also seated areas both inside and out on the pavement (just watch out for those pesky pigeons). This means you can sit in and drink one your many purchases (for an extra 50p) or have a tea or coffee (free refills) in some nice china along with one of the local pies. The place reminded me a bit of a Dutch Brown Café (minus any illegal substances, of course!).

It's quite narrow and cramped inside (maybe half a dozen tables at the front) whilst at the back is a bar area and a couple of additional tables. The bar is really quite small with only a single hand-pull (with a beer normally from the Southport Brewery) and a couple of foreign beers on tap (Augustiner Edelstoff and Jever Pilsner whilst I was there). The small bar area was always packed when I was in with people chatting away and beers being purchased - great to see.

The bottled beer choice was seriously impressive. I bought a load of bottles from the local George Wright Brewery (including some single hop Citra and Mount Hood specials), a few Prospect and Isle of Purbeck beers and an interesting beer with added port (Port O'Call - ouch!) from Bank Top Brewery. Prices ranged from under £2 to a more 'normal' £2.40-£2.60 and then over £3 for the more well-travelled bottles.

In addition there is also a great selection of German and Belgian beers, a good proportion of which will be served in the correct glass if you sit in. From Belgium I noted beers from Westmalle, Chimay (all colours), Floris, BFM Grand Cru, Kasteel, Rochefort etc...

I popped in on an almost daily basis and all the staff and locals were great. Peter and his wife Pamela wander about chatting to one and all, making sure everyone is OK, organising the tables etc... and the locals are more than happy to give advice on the beers and other pubs in Southport - it's all just very friendly and civilised and I liked it a lot.

In the middle of the week we headed to the only brewery in Southport, the eponymous Southport Brewery which has been going for just over 8 years. It's located over 2 units in a busy Industrial Estate on the outskirts of Southport.

I'd e-mailed beforehand to make sure we would be welcome and Paul, the owner/brewer, greeted us when we arrived. He runs the place with his step-son Jason who was out delivering in Liverpool today. Paul was really great company, showing us around the one unit with the brewery and chill-room with the other having the bottling equipment and 'all my junk' (Paul's words). It's a 5BBL plant and Paul now brews 3 times a week so the 3 Fermenting Vessels were all being used.

There are 5 beers in the core range with a number of seasonal and specials as well (especially if Southport FC manage to win anything!), see here. His latest beer is an Olympic-themed easy-drinking summer beer - he decided not to go for a Jubilee Beer as there seemed to be far too many on the go.

These vary in strength from 3.7% to 5.5% abv as that really is the core market around Merseyside/Lancashire - Paul has no inclination to brew anything stronger. Malt comes from Yorkshire (ha!), mostly english hops are used for bittering, but American, New Zealand and Slovenian hops are used for aroma, simply because the intensity of aroma they generate is far greater..

Because of the brewery tie system, he doesn't supply to that many places in Southport (a definite shame), really only the Guest House and Barons Bar (although there is still lingering ill-feeling for the latter from local brewers due to some loss of revenue from the recent takeover by Britannia Hotels), but supplies a number of outlets in Liverpool and the surrounding towns and also to independant pubs in the Lancashire countryside, beer festivals which seem to happen almost every week, as well as bottling a significant proportion of the beer nowadays.

His Golden Sands won Champion Best Bitter back in 2009 and I think that's when I must have tried it at a Scottish beer festival - the uptake after a such a win is considerable. Interestingly enough Houston Peter's Well is the current Champion Best Bitter and the 2 beers are quite similar - the Golden Sands is possibly lighter & slightly sweeter and the Peter's Well has more of a definite citrus flavour, but they are both really good 'classic' beers.

I'd picked up a dozen beers from local Scottish micros such as Loch Lomond Brewery, Fyne Ales, Ayr Brewing Company, St Andrews Ales and a Tullibardine 1488 Whisky Ale to swap for a dozen Southport Brewery beers. Paul really appreciated this and hopefully he'll enjoy those beers as much as I'm sure I'll enjoy his.

Kirkcaldy to the Glenrothes Beer Festival: 12th May 2012

I've been living on the West Coast of Scotland for some years now and so don't get (or take) as many chances to visit Fife as I did previously. St Andrews is probably one of my most favourite places on the planet, and I like visiting all of the Fife East Neuk villages and towns. Kirkcaldy is probably the biggest town, but although it may not have the charm of St Andrews, it's still got a great long beach & esplanade and also some tremendous buildings. This weekend my plan was to visit Kirkcaldy for the first time in a while on the way to the Kingdom of Fife Beer Festival in Glenrothes, just north of Kirkcaldy.


View Kirkcaldy in a larger map

Outward transport was as follows:-
  Train: Glasgow Queen Street to Haymarket
            Haymarket to Kirkcaldy
  Bus: Kirkcaldy to Glenrothes (Stagecoach East, X40)

The train station is slightly out from the centre of town, but there are some great buildings to crane your neck at on the way in. The Museum & Art Gallery was surrounded by scaffolding and not exactly at its most picturesque, but the Adam Smith Theatre was certainly impressive enough and attracts a lot of prestigious touring groups (I remember seeing the RSC here quite a few years ago).

My first port-of-call was to Mostly Wine to see if there were any local bottled beers available.

There's a door entry system there now at all times due to theft in the past, which is a real shame, but looking at the extent of wine bottles and straight from the cask wine I guess it's a sensible precaution. Beer wise there was only Williams Brothers, Coopers and (thankfully) the full-house of beers from the recently opened St Andrews Brewing Co - a nice set of branded bottles. I was hoping to also try a couple of these at the Beer Festival, but at least I now had some back-up.

By now I needed a beer and so headed down to Kirkcaldy High Street. There's definitely been a bit of money spent on the town centre - outwith the main shopping complex the place always used to look a bit drab and run-down but now it's a lot cleaner and modern. First off I headed to Betty Nicol's at the east end of the High Street (by coincidence also surrounded by scaffolding) which has had a licensed premises on site dating back to 1742.

The place has a bit of a schizophrenic nature with a nice old fashioned dark wood pub/bar area, partially tiled sections at the back and some interesting painted glass features and then there is also a trendy, modern lounge bar (called Bleu) out the back, mostly used in the evening. I stayed in the main bar and let my curiousity order me a Kozel, rather than a Deuchars IPA or a Bitter & Twisted. It wasn't too bad, a slightly bitter pils, with the beer choice further enhanced by bottles of Weihenstephan Hefe & Dunkel and Black Sheep Bitter. Also available were good value lunches (including the Betty's Hot Pot for £6.49) and some cracking well-filled, full slice sandwiches. It's a nice place - the staff were great and I really liked the chairs and long, high bench/table at the front windows so that you can look out at the passing trade.

Next a 2 minute walk east along the coast road brought me to the Harbour Bar, which although it may not look too inviting, once you get past the doorway it's a fantastic place to have a couple of great beers.

It's the home of the Fyfe Brewing Company which has been going for 17 years and I was hoping that there would be a couple of their beers on, but unfortunately not. The engaging owner told me that he now only brews a maximum of once a week and has also recently been having problems with his Nottingham yeast, so the in-house beers have been a bit less frequent. A shame, since I think I'd only ever had 2 of their beers (a long time ago), but I was more than mollified by the impressive line-up available that afternoon.

I think I'd only ever had a Buxton beer on cask down south, so the Kinder Downfall was a great surprise - some light citrus with a bitter, spicy hop kick at the end, and if anything the Brodies Hoxton IPA was even better - slightly hazy with an almost oily taste of deep bitter citrus hops - lovely, but lethal! The place wasn't busy at lunchtime (pies only for food) so I had a quick look around - the lounge is pretty basic but I liked the tables and benches at the back of the bar with books available and a view out to the back of the yard. When looking up the place up on the Internet I'd seen that it had seemed to be up for sale for some time, but the owner indicated that this was because of an on-going issue with the lawyers and that the price he was looking for was substantially more than that stated on the web-site (of course he would say that!).

After leaving the Harbour Bar I took a walk slightly further along the coast. On the way I encountered this enterprising piece of marketing for the pub at the top of the road called The Path Tavern - different!

Further along the coast, hidden away in the midst of a housing estate away from the main road, is something which looked a lot more inviting from the outside - the Feuars Arms, a Victorian gem dating back to 1859, although re-modelled in 1890 and 1902 in an almost quasi-Jacobean fashion.

If the outside hinted at something more interesting, the inside was just amazing. An incredibly long U-shaped bar with brown art nouveau-type tiling, these huge decorative lanterns on the bar counter, a tiled mosaic floor, stained, coloured and painted glass all over, a Laurieston Bar-style pie heater and an elaborately dark wood-paneled side-room - all told, quite stunning.

The barman came over, gave me a minute to pull myself together and then asked me what I wanted. I couldn't see a pump-clip on the hand-pull, but the barman explained that it had just been changed and went down into the cellar to make sure it was OK. After washing his hands he then poured a great pint of Scottish Borders Foxy Blonde making sure that the head was perfect, wiping the glass constantly to make sure there wasn't a single drop of beer or condensation on the outside of the glass - serious attention to detail! As I sipped my beer and contemplated the rest of the pub, the barman then wrote the beer name up on the back of a tray (!) and placed it above the till for all to see, and then got the pump-clip from the safe (a serious bank-style safe!, full of pump-clips!) below the till and attached the Foxy Blonde pump-clip to the hand-pull.

Traffic through the pub was certainly steady enough whilst I was there with good a mixture of couples, friends out for a chat & a few drinks and younger lads watching the TV tuned to the sports headlines (one of the few modern touches). I chatted away with the barman for a while about beer and breweries and mentioned the new St Andrews Brewing Company and he indicated that he would take a look at it since he already picks up some casks from the nearby Loch Leven Brewery himself on the way to work. As I left I headed to the Gents in the corner of the bar - now I don't normally take photos of toilets, but this had something I hadn't seen before - a Doulton glass cistern still with the "London, Paisley and Paris" markings.

Since I was still in a bit of a daze it was just as well that by chance (ha - good planning for once) the bus stop for the X40 bus to Glenrothes was less than a minute from the Feuars Arms. The route we took was perhaps not the most direct to Glenrothes Bus Station but it was only just over 20 minutes before I was walking around the outside of the Kingdom Shopping Centre to the Rothes Halls and the Glenrothes Beer Festival.

The Rothes Halls confounded my expectations a bit by being a bright, modern venue complete with art galleries and a classy cafe - I took a wander around for a few minutes and was most impressed by the place. Today the main hall was fairly full, but there was a considerably more relaxed vibe than the Paisley Beer Festival I'd been to a few weeks ago. I got my glass and was told that the St Andrews beers had all sold out (therefore a good decision to get the bottles beforehand) and also Ascot Ales Anastasia’s Imperial Stout, a definite shame. However there was still a great selection available and I chose local(ish) beers from Loch Leven and Deeside and others from more far afield breweries such as Saltaire and Black Iris. Probably my favourite of the day was the Wylam Galena which had a nice hint of almost sour blackberries from the Galena hops. I chatted away to staff regarding pubs in St Andrews & Kirkcaldy and also met Alan Lawson from Angus Ales who was quite happy to keep me informed regarding what was happening beer and pub-wise in and around Dundee. Although it had been a fair hike by public transport to get to Glenrothes (and it would be another couple of hours to get back) it had definitely been worthwhile trip - I enjoyed it a lot.

Return transport:-
  Bus: Glenrothes to Kirkcaldy (Stagecoach East, X40)
  Train: Kirkcaldy to Haymarket
            Haymarket to Glasgow Queen Street

Waterways and pubs in South-West Edinburgh: 5th May 2012

This Saturday I wanted to watch the FA Cup Final with some friends in Edinburgh so a walk in or around Edinburgh seemed a sensible choice. I therefore looked up the extremely useful Beercast Edinburgh Beer Weekly, found out that the Blue Goose on Lanark Road was having a May Day Weekend Beer Festival and decided I could work in a walk from Colington in the South-West of Edinburgh to the City Centre, around a visit to the Blue Goose.


View Edinburgh : South-West in a larger map

Outward travel was as follows:-
  Train: Glasgow Queen Street to Edinburgh Haymarket
  Bus: Lothian Road to Colington Village (Lothian Buses, 10)

The number 10 bus took me on a fairly mazy route through south-west Edinburgh, past Redford Barracks and the recruits on parade and then dropped me off just outside Colinton Village, a well-heeled part of suburban Edinburgh (which, in general, seemed very quiet today). Steps took me down into the main Bridge Street past the Colinton Inn (Deuchars IPA only) and then furthers steps brought me out opposite the Spylaw Tavern a nice sandstone terraced building with a great beer garden out the back with views down to Spylaw Park.

Just exiting the building was a group of 20 or so walkers who had stopped off for lunch, so the staff were somewhat frazzled but otherwise very friendly and very polite - great to see. On at the bar was Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted and Deuchars IPA, but I managed to get the last taste of the Adnams Sole Star - a malty low alcohol beer (2.7%), but with a decent bitter hop kick at the end, not bad at all. My soup and sandwiches came really quickly and I sat in the small bar/snug away from the main restaurant (with the TV off - it is possible!), looking at the pictures of the Water of Leith and Colinton Village.

Just down from the Spylaw Tavern I managed to find the entrance to Spylaw Park which led down to a footbridge over the river to join the Water of Leith Walkway. I'd walked the section from Balerno to Currie a couple of weeks ago (see here), but this section called the Dells was really stunning with a full-scale green canopy, numerous criss-crossing paths, quite a few weirs in full flow, and some impressive & secluded riversides houses - it really is a great piece of nature in the midst of a large city.

After meandering through the Dells for a couple of miles I left the Water of Leith Walkway at the intersection with the Union Canal.

The Water of Leith Visitor Centre, a converted schoolhouse is located here, and directly across the road is the Blue Goose Country Pub, which used to be known as The Dell.

The Beer Festival/May Day Holiday Party was in full swing in mid-afternoon in the beer garden with a BBQ sizzling away, some covered seating and live music about to go on. There were a number of Scottish beers on outside (including the lethal Orkney Skull Splitter) but I was intrigued to try the Blue Goose Cask Ale brewed by Tetley's (now part of the Carlsberg group) in Northampton (and sadly not Leeds any more).

To be honest it was 'just' OK, with the slightly bitter smoothness almost bringing back memories of the never to be repeated night I had on the Tetley's Smoothflow a long time ago, but to compensate the riverside beer garden was great, the funk/blues music pretty decent and the sun had started to shine - although some people were were in T-shirts, others still stuck to parkas.

I walked back up the steps to the Union Canal and started to walk towards Fountainbridge and the city centre. Both the canal footpath and the canal itself were quite busy with walkers, joggers, a couple of canal boats and even a single scull rowing boat.

I got off the canal towpath just after the Harrison Park Moorings and found the park really busy (perhaps that's where everybody goes in Edinburgh on a Bank Holiday) with football being played, frisbees thrown, kids on swings & roundabouts, and even an al-fresco student party/picnic. Towards the edge of the park the cherry blossom trees were in full bloom - really quite something.

Inhaling the great aroma from the nearby Caledonian Brewery I headed down to Angle Park Terrace and the Caley Sample Room.

It's been re-furbished in the last few years to become a bright, modern, open-plan establishment with one half setup mainly for drinkers on comfy sofas & wooden tables and the other set aside for the classy food. As well as a long list of coffees, wine and bottled beer, the 'craft' beer choice was really impressive today with a great selection from Williams Brothers (Joker), Tempest (Rye PA & Into the Light), Cromarty (Red Rocker), Black Isle (Export Scotch) and Magic Rock (Curious & Carnival) with the Carnival being a really full-on citrus flavoured beer, with some caramel malt, but if anything just slightly too bitter (I don't say that too often and would probably be willing to re-consider if I have it again outside in a beer garden!). They were also promoting their Summer Wine Brewery Dinner/Food and Beer matching evening - I've never been to one of these and really must try one sometime soon. I guess The Caley really is a cutting-edge contemporary pub/bar/restaurant, with something to offer a whole range of differing clientèle - so much so that it's been deemed to be worthy of a place in the 2012/13 The List Eating and Drinking Guide to Edinburgh - congratulations!

Just a short stagger from the Sample Room is the Athletic Arms, more commonly known as The Diggers due to the adjacent graveyards.

This is about as different from the Caley Sample Room as you can get but that doesn't detract from the fact that it's still a great place - a more traditional, old fashioned pub with large painted glass windows with the McEwan's logo, a wrap-around 3/4 style bar, small tables with enough room for a pint and a newspaper (and that's about it) and a great floor - partially wooden, partially chequer-tiled. I remember going here after a rugby game and having to drink Caledonian 80/-, just because everyone else was, but now it's Stewart Brewing that have their Diggers 80/- on a couple of the taps. Also available were Broughton Clipper IPA, their Coulsons EPA, and Caledonian Flying Scotsman and their 2point8. Since I'd had the Adnams 'lite' beer earlier in the afternoon I though I'd try the 2point8, especially since the beer miles involved from the brewery would have been minimal, but it wasn't too good, a bit bland and there was definitely some diactyl kicking about at the end.

(You might just be able to spot a large dog spread-out on one of the seats - this was definitely a case of 'let sleeping dogs lie')

From here it was just a fairly short walk up Lanark Road to Haymarket, with a slight detour into Appellation Wines (again) to pick up the new Stewart beer (Radical Road) and Tempest's Double Cresta Black, and then into William Street to meet my pals in Bert's Bar, now a Maclays pub.

Maclays have refurbished the place somewhat in the last few years so that there are more tables to have something to eat at (apart from their famous pies) in the side room, but the bar area's still pretty much the same (long and narrow) and can get really busy when there's a big sporting event on as per today. We quite happily had a few great pints of Fyne Ales Jarl, Stewart Forth Mist and Knops California Common (quite caramely today) watching the game come to life in the last 30 minutes - can't really ask for much better than that - except for the result to be different I guess!

Return transport:-
  Train: Edinburgh Haymarket to Glasgow Queen Street