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Outward transport was as follows:-
Train : Glasgow Central to Milliken Park
Milliken Park is really only a commuter halt, so it was a short walk over the main A737 road into Kilbarchan, a conservation village where weaving was once the dominant industry.
The first pub I came to was The Trust Inn (Facebook page).
It's a large single room pub and a bit of a barn of a place when quiet, but the staff were efficient and friendly. There were 3 real ales on today - Deuchars, Old Speckled Hen and Strathaven Fiery Cauldron - I had the latter (nice, but needed a bit more in the way of fire/spice, sigh...), and left all my change in the Poppy Appeal collection 'box' (good to see them in pubs).
I then hiked up a steep incline to the Glenleven Inn which I'd never been into before.
The place was totally deserted when I first went in and the barmaid and I chatted away for ages (she must have been really bored). On hand-pull were Tetley's Cask (I struggle with this after a night on the smoothflow many years ago) and Sharp's Doom Bar - it's a decent enough bitter but I'm not quite sure why Molson Coors paid so much money for it earlier in the year.
Inside the Glenleven's a nice place - a separate restaurant area and a pool table at the back - hooray - don't see many nowadays, and they have music on Sundays (trying not to conflict with the Trust Inn).
It was then a bit of a walk to Houston via Brookfield and Crosslee. The lovely clear weather had allowed the farmers to work all hours - this was towards the end of the day just outside Brookfield.
After Crosslee there's a new path around the modernised primary school which takes out a few bends and a roundabout, so it was only after 45 minutes or so before I came to the Fox and Hounds, an old coaching inn on Houston Main Street.
I've always liked the place since I first came here close on 15 years ago. OK - it's by no means Scotland's best beer bar, but it's a nice pub (better than nice - it's a great pub) doing all the basics right (beer (5x Houston, 1x guest), food, multiple bars/restaurants, live music, beer festivals), and sometimes you just have to go with financial and customer-base realities. I must admit the place would be great to have as my local.
Today the downstairs Vixen Lounge was mobbed with people looking for a pint before the presentation and others hoping to win (stuff of some sort) during the draw for using Houston's Ale Passport scheme.
After the ceremonies a number of us trooped into the brewery for a pint (Killellan - v. nice) and a look around. I don't think it's changed too much in the 15 or so years, possibly a few more fermenting vessels.
Carl Wengel (the owner, head brewer and generally nice guy) came in, accepted our congratulations for Peter's Well, chatted for a bit, and showed us the next batch of Pioneer, fermenting away nicely in FV4.
Houston have a core range of all-year round beers and also a new range of space-themed monthly beers with new pump-clips. Image-wise it's a real improvement on the almost sea-side humour of the previous monthly range of beers, but they've still left some toe-curling puns in there! I've felt that some of the lower abv beers can be a little bland, but the Juno I had at Troon Beer Festival was really good, lots of chocolate and fruit, and quite spicy. Hopefully some of the others can be just as good.
Return transport:-
Bus : Houston to Glasgow Bothwell St (X7 - McGills Transport) - a long, long journey with a breakdown stop somewhere in Linwood
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