Coaster Crisis in Košice

Yep.  They're really getting the maximum usage out of the beer mats at Corvus in Košice.
I scouted the other tables but all seemed to be in a similar condition.  Maybe there's a beer mat shortage.

Košice, in the east of the country, is Slovakia's second largest city.
Although the suburbs stretch out, everything the average tourist needs is in a compact old town with St Elisabeth's cathedral, gardens and fountains and the theatre at it's centre.

We climbed the narrow spiral staircase of the cathedral tower, explored, had some lunch and relaxed in the park before deciding it was an acceptable hour to seek out a bar... 

Luxor Brewhouse (Biela 3, Košice)

Centrally located, down a side-street, this isn't somewhere that would jump out at you if you weren't looking for it.  And it seemed no-one was looking for it on this Saturday afternoon as we had the place to ourselves on arrival.
Despite it being Luxur Brewhouse beers are brewed by Pivovar Šemrák, squeezing 'Lux' into the names.  Hence I tried a very nice and refreshing 'WiezenLux' and the mandatory IPA, the 5% ABV 'Ipalux '.

Luxor Brewhouse

Pivovar Corvus

A walk up the main central street, Hlvaná, then straight on as this turns into Komenského brought us to the orange frontage of Corvus.

Pivovar Corvus (Komenského1095/17, Košice - web)
It looked distinctly closed as we arrived, front door firmly bolted and shutters covering the windows. But an archway to the side led to the back-yard and beer garden, not exactly in "full swing", but with a few folk relaxing on a hot, sunny afternoon.

Looks like the operation moves outside in the warmer months.

The beer list stretched to around 15 ales, 5 brewed by Corvus with several other interesting Slovakian breweries besides.  In the hot weather I settled for a hoppy, light, 'Jantar IPA 13°'.

Beer garden life at Pivovar Corvus

Pivovar Hostinec (Hlavná 65, Košice - web)

Pivovar Hostinec

This brew pub has a prime location, just to the side of the theatre on the main street.  Through the doorway there is a cavernous corridor leading to the main bar, brewing kit and several other rooms beyond.  It's a big place, combining old and new styles in its design.
According to the info in their menu, the oldest brewery in Košice was located in this same building, which inspired this modern venture.  They brew in 5hl batches, with 12 tanks in the medieval cellar for fermentation and maturation.
The 'Hostinská 12°' is served straight from the tank and is a tasty, easy-to-drink golden ale.

We grabbed some food here, going for our second plate on this trip of fried cheese, alongside cheesy mashed potato and grilled veg.
Accompanying this, I ordered a second beer, with a great name -  'Slnko Seno Melony', a 7% NE IPA.

I'm a sucker for a bit of brew kit.

Trouble with the fried cheese is that it's very filling.
In a tragic set of circumstances I declared myself too full for another beer.

Popping to the Pub in Poprad

In which we discover Beer Baths, Brewpubs, AC/DC tribute bands and some great scenery.

Just over 300km east of Bratislava, a 4½ hour train ride, is the city of Poprad which we were making our base for the next four nights.
First impressions of the centre didn't blow me away.  

But Poprad had several things in it's favour...
1. It's the 'Gateway to the High Tatra's'
2. They have two brewpubs along the main drag.
3. They had an AC/DC tribute band playing on the stage in the middle of town on the day we arrived...

The Slovakian AC/DC entertain Poprad

Our first stop (of course) was one of the two brew pubs.

Minipivovar Tatras (Námestie svätého Egídia 60, Poprad - web)

But instead of grabbing a table outside and ordering the beer, we had something a little different planned here.  We'd booked for a beer bath in the small private spa above the pub.
Bathing in beer seems to be a popular pass-time in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Why do it?
Well apparently, "The Beer bath clears skin, improves health of hair, relaxes muscles and supports immune system".
Bugger me if I didn't come down with a stinking cold a couple of days after, so I'll dispute the last benefit on the list.

You have the luxury of being able to pour your own unfiltered pale lager from a tap over the bathtub.
Later we grabbed a seat in the bar to sample a couple of their different brews.

'Tmavák 13°' won 'Best Slovakian dark beer 2018', a deep malty lager with a hint of coffee.  Following which I tried the strong, hoppy 6.5% ABV 'Pana Beká' IPA.

On to the second brewpub in town...
Minipivovar Egidius (Námestie svätého Egídia 102/10, Poprad - fb)
At the quieter end of the main street, Egidius has plenty of outdoor seating on the pavement and three rooms within.  There's no brew kit visible, but several signs promote the '100% home made beer'.  I tried their staple 'Svetlá 11', then the two specials they had on offer - a tasty American IPA and a slightly less successful Irish dry stout.

Minipivovar Egidius, Poprad

We also visited a random local pub down a side alley, the Hokej Pub.
I asked the waitress about the choice of beers and a friendly regular stepped in to help translate.  He told us the many virtues of Staropramen, one of which was "you can drink a lot of it". 
I really can't.
The beer choice turned out to be 'big one' or 'small one'.
But after a long day, it was refreshing and a budget-friendly €1 for 500ml.

Taking empties back to the bar - good on you, sir!

Ratebeer showed two more brewpubs in the close vicinity, but attempts to visit these brought disappointment. 

We made for Salus in the mountain village Tatranská Lomnika. At the end of a days hiking we were tired and thirsty - only to find this brewpub was in the process of moving to a new location down the road and wasn't ready yet.
Next day I made a diversion to the next town of Svit where there was once a brewpub called Buntavar.  But alas, no longer.  The pub has closed and the site, adjoining the swimming pool, is now the God Times brewery, only open for pre-arranged tours.
Oh well, here's what it looks like:

Exciting, huh?

Not worth a 90-minute round trip to take this picture.
Although watching Forest over the years I'm quite used to completely wasting 90-minutes of my life and that cost a lot more than the €1.50 bus fare to Svit and back.

Turns out you can grab the God Times beers in the centre of Poprad at Dobry Časy.

Dobry Časy (Levočská 211/2, 058 01 Poprad)

Ah-ha - so we'd finally found the craft beer hub of the town.  Inside there's exposed brickwork, some cool street-art style murals and a few quirky decorations, whilst there is also a good garden with it's own bar to the side.
Sixteen tap lines serve up a range of beers, the majority seeming to be from Czech micro's, alongside two, on this visit, from the aforementioned God Times.  Over a couple of visits we sampled a fair few tasty ales from the list, plus they do a pretty superb 'shroom burger.

Just to finish then, a couple of pictures of some of the scenery that made our time in Poprad great - a day's gorge walking in the nearby Slovensky Raj...

 

...and some great scenery, following the hiking trails in the High Tatras...

Next stop - Košice.

Beat On The Brat

Brief Bratislava Brew Pub Explorations

Brief explorations as we'd only allowed ourselves one full day and evening in Slovakia's capital city.

Plus, the thermometer peaked at 37°C in the afternoon - not the most conducive weather for traipsing around bars.

After a trip to Devlin Castle and a wander around the Old Town, we made our way for a late lunch in the first brew pub on our list...

Bratislavský Meštiansky Pivovar Dunajská (Dunajska Ulicá 21, Bratislava - web)

A single-storey beer hall, this was a sizeable place; bar at the front, with lots of tables and booths and the brewing kit at the back.
Set in their own grounds behind railings, they also have a leafy, pleasant beer garden to the side.

Traditionally, beers on menu's in Slovakia don't show an % ABV, but instead the OG (original gravity) with many pilsners having a light 10° and a darker, stronger 12° version.  I asked for the 'Special IPA' which was advertised on our table, this turning out to be a red IPA weighing in at 15° - or 5.8% ABV.  Nice, but not a very appropriate selection in the hot weather.

I also had my first encounter with Vyprážaný syr - fried cheese - a vegetarian staple on most menus in these parts.  Filling.  And chewy. 

The bar and beer hall at Meštiansky Pivovar Dunajská

Next task of the afternoon was a trip to the train station to book tickets for the onward journey to Poprad.
Which gave us a chance to check out one of the cities more unusual buildings.

The Radio and Television building in Bratislava

From here a short walk took us to our next brewpub, which had a somewhat unassuming entrance...

 

But once inside this was a fantastic place!
Pivovarský Hostinec Richtár Jakub (Mostkovská 16, 81108 Bratislava - web)

There's no bar counter in the main room, with the taps and shelves of glasses lining one wall. 
The interior looked nice, but the staff ushered us into the back yard, a leafy enclosed garden.  They're busily connecting hosepipes to create sprays of mist to cool drinkers down in these stifling temperatures.
There were 12 beers listed on a blackboard, ranging from €2.10 to €2.50 for 0.4l.  I stuck to  'Jakub', one of their own brews, a pale easy-drinking lager.  Had we been staying in the city longer I'd almost certainly have been keen to settle here for longer and try some of the other interesting beers on offer. 

Tap room at Richtár Jakub

We walked back to Mickiewiczova street then along to the junction where it meets the busy Obchodna steet.

Mestský Pivovar Alžbetka (Mickiewiczova 2242/1, Bratislava - web)

Opened in 2017 this this bar has a smart, modern industrial style in a historic, cream coloured building.  From the outdoor tables (which, without shade we deemed far too hot to sit at today) a wide corridor with tables along it leads back to the main room and brewery.  Most striking is the run of shiny fermenting vessels on show.
This is twinned with Komin brewery in Ružino.  Around half the 10 beers on their menu are brewed here, with my pick being the 5.8% 'Komin IPA', alongside a jug of refreshing cool water with mint.

The fermenting vessels at Mestský Pivovar Alžbetka

Starosloviensky Pivovar (Vysoká 15, Bratislava - web)

In contrast to our previous pub, this was much more of a traditional hostelry, located along a quiet side street less than 5-minutes walk from Alžbetka.  The main room contains the bar and large rustic tables and benches, whilst there's a light, airy side room and pleasant enclosed garden beyond.

As the banner says - Starosloviensky Pivovar - Bratislava

They've been brewing since 2012, although (unless I didn't explore well enough and missed it) the brewing equipment is not visible in the pub. For me, a 'Pressburg 11°' accompanied a cheesy soup served in a bread.

Pivovar Shenk (Namestie SNP484/25, Bratislava - web)

Located in a room on the corner of a market hall, Shenk was a busy hive of activity this evening. It makes a nice change to be able to get served at the bar, which is located in front of four gleaming stainless steel tanks.  Deposits are collected for the plastic beakers you need if you wish to take drinks outside, but we grabbed a super-high table inside which would have benefited from step-ladders to assist you up onto the stools.

I moved away from the pils and IPA's here, picking 'Uršula 13°', a dark lager, possibly not the best pick of the 5 beers, but I don't always get it right.

Tank beers at Shenk.

As the sky darkened at dusk and the wind began to stir the tree branches we made a short walk to the Unothodox beer bar, where we settled inside by the window just before the rain began to fall for a summer thunderstorm.

Be Unorthodox Craft Beer Bar (Panská 245/13, Bratislava)
This is the Tap Room for the cities Unorthodox Brewery, with four of their beers available alongside guests from Mikkeller, Stu Mostow, To Ol and Oud Beersel.
I picked an Unorthodox 'Butcher of Blaviken', an 8% ABV Belgian ale brewed with sour cherries.  An interesting change of style on a day when we'd mostly seen light and dark lagers and IPA's.
Service at the bar again - not with a smile.  
No doubt the guest beers here were all from fine European brewers, but as a visitor I'd prefer to check out Slovakian beers wherever possible, which is why I'd stuck to so many brewpubs today.

I believe there are something like 14 breweries in Bratislava today, plus a ton of highly rated beer cafes.  I knew that we'd miss loads, but I figure we still tried a good variety in the six venues visited.
Next up, Poprad and the High Tatra's...
Na zdravie!

S4 Pub Tour

North Oxfordshire Pubs by Bus

The S4 is the Stagecoach bus that runs between Oxford and Banbury, serving a number of small towns and villages en-route.  £8.20 (or £14.50 for two adults) buys you an Oxfordshire Day Rider ticket, which I realised offered a fine opportunity for some hop-on hop-off pub explorations.
So on a sunny Saturday in June, first stop - 30 minutes ride from central Oxford - Tackley.

Looking picture-postcard perfect in the sunshine - the Gardiner Arms, Tackley

The Gardiner Arms (93 Medcroft Road, Tackley, OX5 3AH - web)
This weekend offered the added bonus of the 2nd annual Tackley beer festival taking place at the Gardiner Arms.
The staff were telling us that the Friday night had been a roaring success, with more beer being sold that evening than the whole festival weekend last year.  And this is great to hear, as it's obvious that a lot of effort has gone into putting on a great range of beers and gins alongside some good music at this event.
Beers were served in the function room across the car park from the pub, with a fine selection including 2018 Beer of Britain Siren Craft 'Broken Dream', local offerings from Animal and Church Hanbrewery and plenty more great ales.
The pub itself is a friendly and welcoming traditional village inn, well worth a visit at any time. Little Ox brew 'Tackley Bitter' and 'Tackley Gold' especially for the Gardiner's.

Early doors at the Tackley Beer Festival

We jumped back on the bus at 13:50 and travelled a few miles northwards to the small town of Deddington.
Here there was a choice of three pubs: The Deddington Arms which graced last years Good Beer Guide; The Unicorn, overlooking the market place; and the Hook Norton-owned Crown and Tuns, also known as the Pie Pub.
(A fourth, The Red Lion, was in the midst of a refurbishment on this visit).
For reasons unknown I had an old scribbled note pointing to the Unicorn on my map, so this is where we ended up.
Seriously, I can't believe there was a pub known as 'The Pie Pub' and I went somewhere else!

Deddington

The Unicorn Inn (Market Place, Deddington, OX15 0SE - web)
As we'd decided we only had time for one pub in Deddington I'm none the wiser if we picked the best or worst of the lot.
The Unicorn is an old coaching inn dating back to the 17th century.  
With a stone unicorn sitting on a flat roof on the pubs frontage - probably not an original 17th century feature.
And does being called the Unicorn really excuse the toilets being labelled 'Fairy's' and 'Trolls'?
 

The interior of the pub has been recently refurbished - all a bit neat and tidy, with modern pub furniture that I felt detracted a bit from the old inn.  Beers came from Charles Wells, including their guest 'Wandering Brewer' creation 'Copycat Pale Ale', which was a fine, refreshing ale.
Whilst supping our beers in the pleasant back garden, we consulted the map and opted to make the most of the fine weather and walk to our next destination, Adderbury.
So we headed across the fields, which went a little bit like this...

🕒15.10 - Marvel at the first real summery day that we've had in June.
                 "Lovely, isn't it?", "Bout time we had a bit of summer" etc etc.
🕝15.13 - Complain that it's too hot.
🕝15.30 - Negotiate safe passage past herd of cows diligently guarding their field.

🕓16.00 - Reach charming and peaceful village of Adderbury, where a pint of Hooky awaits.

The Bell Inn (High Street, Adderbury, OX17 3LS  - web)

The Bell is a marvelous village inn with a number of different rooms and a quiet garden to the rear.  The bar had an impressive line-up of six pump clips all dispensing Hook Norton beers - their full range plus specials, I do believe.
I picked the Mild, for rarity value, as I don't think you come across this on cask very often.

The pub is the base of several Morris dancing groups, with murals of these in the back room.

Heading just a few minutes eastwards along the High Street we reached the large village green with a choice of two pubs on different sides of it.  The Greene King Red Lion looked the busier of the two, but I wanted to try the 2019 Good Beer Guide entry, the Coach & Horses.

The Coach & Horses, Adderbury

The Coach & Horses (The Green, Adderbury, OX17 3ND - web)
This pub has a great location facing the green, with a run of picnic tables lining the front of it.
The first thing that strikes me is the blackboards advertising some frankly amazingly priced food.  And look on the bar - yep, roast dinner on a Wednesday for £4...

As the pump clips in the picture may give away, this is a Wadworth house.  Whilst they're okay, none of the above beers are what I'd call my favourites.  And how can an IPA possibly be just 3.6% ABV?
We visited at a quiet time - but I'd be intrigued to see how busy it gets when they're serving food and just how good a £4 roast can be!

At this point we changed direction to head back towards Oxford.  On the route back we hopped off the bus as we reached Steeple Aston.

The Red Lion (South Side, Steeple Aston, OX25 4RY - web)
This is another charming Hook Norton village pub at the northern end of the village.
The oldest part of the building dates back 250 years, whilst it's capacity has been increased with a modern conservatory extension to the rear.
The traditional bar room has a stone chimney and wood burner in the one corner, with casual seating and no TV's or music or modern distractions.

There's a more stream-lined range of Hook Norton beers here than we'd seen in the Bell - 'Hooky' or 'Hooky Gold', but who needs more when the Hooky was tasting as good as was on this visit.

From Steeple Aston we made out way back southwards, alighting in Kidlington.
Here there's a run of three (unexciting) pubs: The Black Horse, The Black Bull and Red Lion, although the Black Bull was in it's last throes, with an 'everything must go' closing down sale as we passed.
What had caught my eye though, was a micro bar a little further up the road...

Drunk Dry (12 Banbury Road, Kidlington, OX5 2BT - web)
This has been open since 2016 and has managed to somehow slip under my craft beer radar for the past 3 years.

Located behind a hair stylists and tattoo studio, it's a flat roofed building at the end of the back yard. To the right is a bar and bottle shop, to the left a small seating area, whilst there's plenty more outdoor seating in the yard.

There's no cask ale on offer, but if they don't have the call for it, hence couldn't sell it fast enough whilst in good condition, then they're rightly best to stick to the nitro-kegs.  Of which there's a pretty good choice.  My Dark Revolution 'Luminous' was a straw colored, piney pale ale, whilst the Wander Beyond 'Rising Embers' was an amazing stout, full of chocolate flavour - pudding in a glass.

Drunk Dry is well worth seeking out if you're a fan of craft ales.  It's open midday til 9pm (11pm on Friday and Saturday).

From Covent Garden to All Points East

Last week saw me heading to the capital for the All Points East music festival to watch some shouty, noisy blokes with guitars.

No, not Mumford and Sons.

Making an early start I'd hatched a plan to get around a few pubs in Covent Garden.
I'd arrived too early for the midday opening of the Salisbury, so headed instead to the nearby Good Beer Guide listed Nicholson's pub The White Swan.

The White Swan (14 New Row, WC2N 4LF - web)
It was incredibly dark and gloomy inside the White Swan, flatly in denial that it was a bright, summery day in the rest of London.
Being 11:45 on a Friday morning I was customer number 4, hence not much going on here.
I picked the beer I'd never heard of: Hadley Brewing Company's 'Moonstone IPA'.  Which was potentially a lovely beer, had it not been served quite a few degrees above an acceptable temperature.  
I guess in a location like this you've gotta please all those tourists who've been promised our famous warm beer.

Once the clock ticked past twelve I sauntered back down the road to the Salisbury.
Yeah, attractive pub, on the Heritage list...I'll get there and take a really pretty picture of the frontage, I thought...

...bugger.

The Salisbury (91-93 St Martins Lane, WC2N 4AP - web)
They were playing the Village People when I arrived.  At five-past-twelve on a Friday lunchtime the handful of punters who were settling down to order traditional English fish'n'chips sure weren't about to jump out their seats and throw their arms up in the air spelling out 'YMCA'.

Spectacular Victorian interior at the Salisbury

Not to be detracted by the music (Hot Chocolate next, followed by a bit of Beatles) I settled down to enjoy my Wimbledon Brewery 'Common', a pale ale which was okay without being over-exciting.  But the real reason to visit the Salisbury is the fantastic interior with etched mirrors and elaborate statuesque light holders.  Described as a 'turn of the century palace pub' on the heritage pub site, this is somewhere that is well worth a visit.

From the Salisbury I walked through Covent Garden, past the entertainers and the displays of greenery.

Tenuous Game of Thrones link.

The Cross Keys (31 Endell Street, WC2H 9BA - web)
From the floral displays around Covent Garden Market, to another spectacular bit of greenery outside the Cross Keys.

Looking good.

The pub had a striking colourful frontage and a dark interior.  Copper pots 'n' pans, coal scuttles, kettles and a divers helmet hung from the ceiling beams or sat on high shelving all around the single room. 

Bench seating around the walls; laminated menu's with felt-tip pen price changes; an old chap an the end of the pub who looked like he'd sat in the same place for the past 25 years; and precarious stairs down to the loo.
And to cap it all, above the bar amongst a gallery of music memorabilia, in pride of place is a napkin signed by Elvis!

Elvis signed my napkin!  Allegedly.

There were four hand pumps along the bar, two serving Brodie's ales.  I went for the 'Old Street Pale'.
It's been a fair few years since I've had Brodie's - I have fond memories of their Easter bunny bashes at the King William IV.

Emerging back into the light of day, I walked straight up to the top of Endell Street where a Craft Beer Co branch sat on the corner.

Craft Beer Co Covent Garden (168 Holborn High Street, WC1V 7AA - web)

Craft Beer Co shun beer blackboards or big displays and today there didn't appear to be any menu's anywhere.  Which meant going in blind on the price-front.  Dangerous.
My first choice was a collab between Hackney and Pressure Drop breweries, a 7% 'Guava IPA'.  Feeling I still had a bit of time to spare, I returned to the bar for an Evil Twin 'Art Is Anything You Can Get Away With'.  
£8.15 a half!!!
Cripes!  Getting caught supping this - on my salary - I was in danger of being the subject of an Unexplained Wealth Order!

So that was that for the lunchtime pubs of central London, as I had a festival to get to.
I made my way to Victoria Park for All Points East, which gives me the chance to stick a few pictures in my blog which aren't of pubs.  
Yep, instead of pubs I've gone for a picture of a man in underpants...

IDLES - brief(s) set

IDLES were great, the only disappointment being that they were given a slot of barely more than 30 minutes on the main stage.
Other than that, the most enjoyable bands of the day, for me, were on the two smaller stages: Talk Show, Crows and Black Futures all thoroughly entertained.

Black Futures rock the Firestone Stage

Since 'Craft Beer' was invented, we also no longer have to endure suffering crap over-priced lager at music festivals.  You could part with £6.50 of your hard-earned cash in Victoria Park for a Five Points 'Pale Ale' or Truman's 'Bow Bells'.  Both absolutely fine to sup in the sunshine whilst watching the bands, so why oh why I ended up with some Jagermeister Mohito nonsense at the end of the day, I've no idea.
Interesting pubs, rock'n'roll, signed Elvis napkins - a winner of a day out in London.

Architects on the North Stage, All Points East