Wantage Beer Festival and Pubs - a last weekend of normality?

The 10th Wantage Beer Festival, on Friday and Saturday 13th and 14th March, just managed to go ahead, creeping in before the current Covid-19 outbreak took a turn for the worse and even a visit to the local pub is being advised against.
Troubling times indeed.

Social Gathering.  Now frowned upon.

We received a warm welcome from the White Horse CAMRA representatives at the entrance to the Beacon Centre.
There were around a dozen members of the Oxford branch who'd make the trip here today, and it was a pleasure to get together and enjoy the ales, putting the doom and gloom of world news out of our minds for a while.

Wantage beer fest always manage to get a nice mix of local ales and a selection that you're less likely to see.
The 8% ABV Barley Wine from Corinium Ales proved to be a popular choice and was a fantastic tipple - albeit, just the third of a pint measure being advisable.
It's also been a while since I've seen anything by the Farringdon Brewery - their finely named 'Black as your Soul' being an enjoyable (very) dark mild.
Wiltshire was well represented, with Hop Kettle managing to throw in a contender for beer of the day, alongside a number of the counties breweries that I'm less familiar with.

Ready to serve.

Last time I wrote about this beer fest, we headed around the corner afterwards to the wonderful and highly recommended Royal Oak.
So this time I thought I'd cover a couple of other pubs that make a beer-drinking trip to Wantage well worth the effort...starting with this one:

The Shoulder of Mutton (38 Wallingford Street, Wantage, OX12 8AX - web)
I've always really liked this traditional Victorian street corner pub - full of character and reliable for a good pint of beer.
There's a left/right conundrum on the way in.  Heading to the right, service is from a small counter to the side of the bar, on the corridor leading to the rear yard and function room.

The lady behind the bar is not transparent in real life...

No idea how I managed that.

There's always been a robust choice of ales in the Shoulder of Mutton.  From the beer list below, I made a fine choice, picking the 'Heartbreak' stout, from Barefaced Brewing of Bournemouth.

Butt's Barbus tempting due to the artwork.

Between the two rooms of the pub is a great snug, with white wood panelling and cushioned seats around one large table.
We shared this with a trio of professional beer tickers, in their caps and t-shirts advertising Ealing Beer festival 1998 and such like, jotting down notes of the ales tried at the Beacon.
There's no music or distractions at the Shoulder of Mutton, just the gentle hum of conversation from contented ale drinkers.

Glasses emptied, we moved on, straight across the road to another of the town's Good Beer Guide pubs.

The Kings Arms (39 Wallingford Street, Wantage, OX12 8AU - web)

This used to be a neglected and run-down town boozer, but has been successfully resurrected in recent years.  With a make-over which just about manages to retain an historic feel, it was proving a popular spot this Saturday afternoon with a good crowd of customers.
There was a superb selection of beers on the bar on this visit.  A Dark Revolution session ale, 'Sonic', was my pick of the bunch, whilst I headed back a while later to try the murky, fruity, modern IPA from Elusive.

Leaving the pub, we walked up the road just in time to see an Oxford bus departing.
Which meant a 20-minute stop-off and an Arkells '3B' in the Bear.
We ALWAYS just miss a bus and end up in the Bear.

Back on the S8 a short while later, we pressed the stop button and jumped off in East Hanney.
There's a handy house locator for the villages of East and West Hanney, ideal for tragic people like me who can't use Google maps cause they've run out of phone battery uploading pump-clip pictures to Untappd.

We found a footpath, promising West Hanney was a half-mile away, and took a brisk stroll across the fields as dusk approached.  Ten minutes later, as the path took us through the churchyard, we could see the lights of The Plough Inn...

The Plough (Church Street, West Hanney, OX12 0LN)
This is one of nine community owned pubs across Oxfordshire, having been brought by a local group when Punch Taverns put it up for sale in 2015.
Dating back to the mid 17th century, The Plough is timber-framed with thatched roof and a great country-pub feel to it.
The furthest room looked to be set up for dining, although I didn't venture into it (half-arsed, pub explorer!).  The tables around the bar are on two levels, with cosy corners and a door through to a pleasant garden.

From four ales on the bar, I grabbed a 'Chapel Rock' by Skinners, which was in fine condition and an enjoyable pint.

A big thank you goes out to our friends Tim and Marta who unexpectedly came to pick us up from here, hence saving a stagger down the country lane in the dark.
And a big apology goes out to Tim and Marta for my subsequently falling asleep on their sofa.  I blame the Corinium barley wine!

I was gonna end this post with my jovial plans to get around all those remaining Oxfordshire Good Beer Guide pubs which have so far eluded me.
But due to the Perils of the Pandemic, it's questionable whether pubs can, or should, stay open.
We've an obligation to support our NHS by not acting in a way that assists the spread of the virus.  But on the other hand, I fear for the many businesses which, without significant government support, rely on our custom to survive.

Looking forward to a time when I can get back to planning nationwide pub crawling...
Take care.

Two Micro's, a Red Lion & a Black Horse in West Oxfordshire

It's about time I featured some local Oxfordshire drinking establishments.
So we set out on a Saturday morning with three destinations in mind in the West of the county.  The first was a pub that's not the easiest to get to and has eluded me for some time, the Red Lion in Northmoor.

To get there, we caught a bus out to Witney, then changed onto the number 19 service which runs through the nearby villages every two hours.
Alighting at Standlake, I made the quick discovery that tons of rain = flooded footpaths.  So we had to make do with a 1-mile traipse down the road to Northmoor.

The Red Lion (Standlake Road, Northmoor, OX29 5SX - web)
This village pub is owned by the local community, after Greene King failed to find tenants and put it up for sale in 2013.
Opening generously early at 11am on Saturday, we were the first customers in, but it gradually filled up with walkers in wellies popping in for a drink, a few diners, and a couple of locals perching on stools at the bar.

The beer range was local with Loose Cannon 'Abingdon Bridge', 'Old Hooky' and Brill 'Gold' on offer on this visit.  For what must have been the first pints served of the day, all were in great, tasty condition, which I guess is why the Red Lion keeps getting into the Beer Guide.

We stayed here long enough to have some food, from a menu of dishes all home-cooked using local produce.
This is a lovely old pub, with log fires burning, superb customer service and great ales.  Well worth making the effort to get to.

We walked back up to Standlake, where we'd spotted there was a pub, if time permitted, before the bus to Witney arrived.
Time didn't really permit, but I needed to make use of the WC's, so we dived in for a hasty half.

Black Horse (High Street, Standlake, OX29 7RH - web)
I'm sure this old country pub, which dates back to 1761, was once a brilliant rustic village local.  But it's marked as 'Gastropub' on the map, so we kinda knew what to expect.
The framed reading material in the Gents was a 2-page Jeremy Clarkson review of the Porsche Carrera.  Which says it all really.
Nice half of Goff's 'Cheltenham Gold' though, even if it was quaffed super-fast in order to race across the road and catch the bus.

Lookin' gloomy over the Black Horse, Standlake

Back in Witney, with only one pub-visit planned, our choice was the towns micro-pub.

Oxbrew (8 Langdale Court, Witney, OX28 6FG - web)
Opened in August 2018 in a unit that previously housed a charity shop, Oxbrew became Witney's first micro-pub.  With seating for around 30 folk inside and more outdoors, the pub is run by the brewery of the same name. 
Perusing the options on the bar, this was my first sighting of new Burford brewery Elements, whose 'Tropical Daze' was a satisfying fruity pale ale with bitter finish.

On cask was a delicious White Horse 'Luna Apollo 10' and Oxbrew's own, wonderful, 'Dark and Seedy' - what a line-up!

Despite a plethora of pubs in Witney, Oxbrew had drawn a good Saturday afternoon crowd and is an essential stop if you're passing this way.

We jumped back on the S1 bus, headed to the end of the line, Carterton.

I Googled 'what's it like to live in Carterton?
Howie Berry says "Absolute shit hole, needs knocking down and re doing."  But it does get a lot of praise for having ample good supermarkets.
Whilst a Ms Woodcock suggests "you get the odd twat but you do everywhere! Much prefer Carterton than Witney that's for sure."

Here's Trip Advisor's Top Attraction:

So, realistically, the only thing that's gonna bring me here is the Good Beer Guide entry.
Or Morrison's.

The Siege of Orleans (5 The Giles Centre, Alvescot Road, Carterton, OX18 3DH)
It's not the most photogenic micro-pub that I've ever encountered.
But it must be a delight for the ale and craft beer loving residents of Carterton to have this small bar with a respectable choice of beers.
There were a couple of brews from Ramsbury Brewery on offer, from which I picked a pint of light and refreshing 'Hopper'.
Amongst the keg lines were Siren and Wild Weather beers.

We had to scoot back to Oxford to meet friends in the Tap Social, hence just the one stop in Witney and no intrepid exploring of Carterton's other two boozers.
I was going to write about Tap Social, but everything became a bit of a blur from that point on...

Coventry Pub Explorations

An award-winning canal-side pub, a brewery bar, the cities oldest hostelry and some interesting looking city centre pubs together made up today's itinerary.
For me, Coventry is just 45-minutes away by train, but somewhere I've found myself infrequently.
So we set out to explore...

Lady Godiva helps lower the taxes.

Firstly, a trip through suburban Cov, to get to the furthest pub.  We took a bus up to Aldermans Green, then walked up Grange Road as it passed under the M6.  The pub sign, blowin' in the wind, confirmed that we were headed in the right direction.  

This way >

The Greyhound Inn is located a further five minutes down the canal path, at Hawkesbury Junction where the Oxford Canal meets the Coventry Canal.

The Greyhound Inn (Sutton Stop, Longford, CV6 6DF - web)
This striking, white-fronted pub has a pretty superb setting, where the outdoor tables facing the canal basin would be a prime spot in warmer weather.  The Inn dates back to the 1830's, when it would have been more picturesque without the towering electricity pylon behind it.

Dominant Pylon.

The streets were quiet and we didn't see a soul on the towpath, so it was a surprise to open the pub door and find it full of folk.
How Wasps were doing in the rugby and how we'd avoided the worst of Storm Jorge seemed to be favoured conversation topics, whilst at least half the customers seemed to have brought their dogs on a trip out to the pub.

Real fires, proper pub seating, chip butties for £3.50, and Draught Bass.
What more could you ask for?

A trek back along the canal seemed a good idea to walk-off any chip butty guilt.  But it'd definitely be nicer in the summertime.  Today it was wet and muddy, with the stormy winds giving us a thoroughly wintry pummeling.
But we persevered into the Foleshill area, finding our way to a quiet and dull-looking industrial estate where there happened to be a brewery bar.

Byatt's Brewhouse Bar (Units 7-8, Lythalls Lane Industrial Estate, Foleshill, CV6 6FL - web)

I was kinda hoping that Byatt's would be one of those taprooms where we were sat among'st the brewing kit, but instead it's a self-contained bar, with the brewery hidden somewhere behind a locked door.
The downstairs bar consists of a couple of high tables, a large leather sofa and a TV in the corner showing the news channel - all doom and gloom, of course.

The bar features six of Byatt's cask ales, from which I picked an 'All Day Foreign Extra Stout', followed by the 'XK Dark'.  Both decent beers in the fine condition you'd expect a few meters from the brewing kit.

They did seem to like their comedic notices and pictures at Byatt's.  Unfortunately, having a 'Beer - Helping ugly people have sex since 1862' sign leads to a 0.5 point deduction on the PropUptheBar pub scoring system.
I was much more appreciative of the picture below, showing happier days for the Sky Blues...

Moving on quickly - before anyone can point out that my own football team's glory days are equally historic - we caught a bus from the main road back to the city center, where we had a couple more Good Beer Guide entries to visit. Starting with this one...

Town Wall Tavern (Bond Street, Coventry, CV1 4AH )

Tucked down a side-street behind the Belgrade Theatre, the Town Wall Tavern is a great-looking traditional pub.

Between the Bar and the Lounge entrances, there's another door marked 'Donkey Box', so named because this snug is just large enough for a donkey.
We settled on window-side stools in the bustling bar, with a Robinson's 'Dizzy Twisted Sister', looking out across the road at the dull block of student accommodation.   It seemed to me that every other building we'd passed after getting off the bus had been student accommodation.

Three pubs in.
About the time I begin to spy things like pedestrian footbridges and fancy my artistic photography skills...

Next to the footbridge was our next pub:

The Gatehouse Tavern (44-46 Hill Street, Coventry, CV1 4AN - web)
The gatehouse is the one remaining bit of what was once the North Warwickshire Weaving and Spinning, Worsted and Woollen Mill, which closed in 1963.
Landlord Martin McKeown previously ran the Town Wall Tavern, before overseeing the conversion of this run-down building into a pub that's been a Coventry mainstay in the Good Beer Guide.

And what a cracker it was!
It consists of one rectangular, traditional pub room, with seating round the sides and a plethora of TVs for live sport.  I would've grumbled profusely were it not a weekend-off for the Six Nations.
The seven hand-pulls along the bar served up a fine selection, including another opportunity for Draught Bass.  But, turning it down this time, I opted for the one with the stand-out pump-clip. 

Picking the beer you've never heard of.

This was probably my personal pick of the pubs today - I thought the Gatehouse had a great feel to it and fine selection of ales to choose from.
Next up, and less than five minutes way...

The Old Windmill (22-23 Spon Street, Coventry, CV1 3BA)
In a 15th century building, this is possibly Coventry's oldest pub and was packed full of character.  It had all the necessary quirks of a historic boozer - low ceilings, uneven floors, wooden beams, and multiple little rooms and hideaways.
Sadly not the best choice of beers of the day, and I wasn't blown away by my North Cotswold Brewery 'Fosseway Flanker', a 3.8% ABV pale ale. 

And as so often seems to be the way, we ended up in Wetherspoon's...

The Flying Standard (2-10 Trinity Street, Coventry, CV1 1FL - web)
I'd snapped a photo of this picturesque 'Spoon's outlet earlier in the day, little suspecting we'd end up in there later.
It's a sprawling, multi-roomed place, on several different levels, with two bars.
Two CAMRA vouchers = 2 pints for a ridiculously cheap £3.30.  Pity I have such a bad habit of forgetting to put my vouchers in my wallet when we're going out..

Coventry had provided a decent day out, and I'm surprised I've never found myself in any of these central pubs before.  I'll be back to tick off Twisted Barrel and the pubs to the west of the city on a future visit.

Phantom Brewing, Reading

Reading has a new brewery hidden away in the side-streets.
And a relatively new central taproom for Berkshire brewer Wild Weather.
And a 2020 Good Beer Guide entry that I've never been to.
So on (yet another) wet and windy February weekend we hopped on the train to visit all of the above.

The Moderation (213 Caversham Road, RG1 8BB - web)
First things first, we headed to the 2020 Beer Guide entry.
The Moderation is a mix of pub and restaurant, with a fusion menu containing various SE Asian dishes alongside traditional pub fodder.
The front bar has Six Nations flags hanging from the ceiling and footy on TV.
Mixed in with some lesser seen pub decorations...

BRAPA was in the Moderation a few weeks ago, reporting how his chosen beer ran out, but they "still squeezed one out, which was pure 'cleaning lines fluid".  We were to get a repeat performance as the Bath Ales 'Gem' filled half the glass, before some determined hand-pull pumpin' commenced, the last dregs spluttering out of the barrel.
This left one ale on offer, an Otter 'Bitter', which was, well...just okay.

This seems to be a bit of a rogue guide entry by Reading CAMRA who do like to throw in a few curve-balls. 

Phantom Brewing is located in roughly the same part of Reading as the Moderation, north-west of the train station.  To get there we negotiated several streets of terraced housing, eventually leading into an industrial estate.

Are we going the right way?

It's safe to say you're probably not gonna stumble across it by mistake.
We had a moment of doubt about opening hours when we saw the big closed shutter, although the presence of the food van gave us the confidence to stride up to the small door.

Phantom Brewing Co (Unit 3, Meadow Road, RG1 8LB - fb)
Once inside, it's a pleasant surprise to find a reasonable number of folks in an intriguing venue.
At the far end is the 12 barrel brewery, which was up-and-running in November 2019.  To one side is the semi-enclosed 'The Haunt' where the bar stands, and you get the luxury of heaters, rugby on the TV and marginally more comfy seating than the German beer-fest benches elsewhere.

The folks of Reading get a pretty good choice of craft ales already, the lucky blighters, and The Haunt at Phantom Brewing further increases this.
With 13 taps, there were 6 of their own creations available on our visit, plus a good choice of top-notch offerings from the likes of Arbor and Neon Rapture. 

Too many DIPA's led to ADHD?!  No problem, as there's plenty to keep you occupied here.

There's Skee Ball in the corner, darts, table football (which we got quite hooked on), and it's not often that you come across a 22ft table shuffleboard.

Shuffle Board - harder than it looked.

Here's some practical stuff, on the off-chance that anyone's actually found this post and got this far down and wants practical stuff...
Opening hours are limited at present - Friday 3-10pm and Saturday 1-10pm & don't take a big wadge of cash as it's card only at the bar.

Setting out this morning, a visit to the Weather Station was intended to be the main reason to come to Reading.
But we may have a got a little waylaid in here...

Which means by the time we actually got to the Weather Station it was the point of the day where I'm struggling with my beer, taking some odd photos, and failing to recollect much about the place the next day. 
Hell's bells - how many times do I manage to do this?!

Weather Station (19 Eldon Terrace, Reading, RG1 4DX - fb)

Yep, I need to make a revisit here, ticking it off at the start of the day.
As I say, odd photos.  Nothing to actually show what the place was like, but there is one of the contents of the shelf next to where we were sat.

Everything you ever need.

Whereas the Eldon Arms (which this was previously) had traditional pub comforts, the Wild Weather crew have set this up in craft bar/taproom style, most notable with precarious stools around barrels as tables. 
The lighting is dim, there's hip music, and lots of WW's recognisable artwork.
And a fantastic beer list, of course.
From which I picked something ridiculously strong and hard work.

I'll be back, and I'll do it justice next time.  Cheers!

Rattlesnakes & Hillbillies - North London Pub Explorations

A bit of a North London pub crawl, including GBG pubs, brewpubs, taprooms and the inevitable visit to Wetherspoons.
Ultimately we were headed to Alexander Palace for some rock'n'roll from Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes, but here's how the pub visitations panned out beforehand...

The Duke's Head (16 Highgate Street, Highgate, N6 5JG - web)
We started the afternoon by catching the Tube to Archway, then getting the days exercise by walking up Highgate Hill.
The first pub was, judged on the fact that I'd picked it from the Good Beer Guide, a bit of a disappointment.  Seven hand pumps - every single one of the cask ales off at 1pm on a Saturday afternoon.  I'd discovered this by trying to order an Almasty beer, so plumped instead for one of the same breweries pale ales from the keg list. 
"It's just the same," said the cheery staff member as she poured it.
No, it's not.  It's colder and - most distressingly - it's £1.50 more expensive.

Some wouldn't have forgiven the lack of cask ales, but to be fair the crafty keg selection was great in the Duke's Head.
And we also enjoyed some tasty Bangladeshi street food from the pop-up kitchen that was resident at the time of our visit.

Storm Dennis was beginning to make its presence felt, a buffeting wind blowing down the High Street and the rain getting heavier.  We braced ourselves against it, heading down the road towards the Bull.

The Bull (13 North Hill, Highgate, N6 4AB - web)
It's been many-a-year since I've been here, at which point it was home of one of the first wave of new breweries in the capital - the London Brewing Company.
Since 2016 the pub has been run by Gorgeous, who've updated the brewing kit adjacent to the back garden and brew as the Gorgeous Brewery.

This is every bit the gastro-pub, with little tiles on the tables telling you that Quentin will occupy this spot at 7pm, whilst staff stop by to ask us if we'd like to see the menu.
This was a quiet and uneventful pub visit, sitting by the window supping a pint of malty 'Gunpowder', which called itself an IPA but didn't resemble one by any of my definitions.

From the Bull, we hopped on a bus for the 5 minute ride to East Finchley.
Sensible folk would settle down for the afternoon, away from the rotten weather, in The Phoenix watching Oscar winning South Korean movies. 

Proper Cinema.

But rarely being called sensible, I was instead getting wet standing opposite a pub with a stag on the roof, trying to take a picture.

The Bald Faced Stag (69 High Road, East Finchley, N2 8AB - web)
Inside it's spacious, with a dining room to one side, front bar with a varied clientele and a slightly separate rear room which was being readied for a 40th birthday bash later on. 

This is a Greene King pub - big sigh and slump of shoulders - but the Beer Guide does promise guest ales from local breweries, and so there were.
The Redemption 'Big Chief' ran out mid-pour, so I had to settle for a red ale from Wimbledon Brewery which wasn't my favourite of the day.

Another short hop on a bus took us one step closer to Alexander Palace, as we alighted in Muswell Hill.
One of the highest parts of London, it serves up some cracking views...

Probably better in sunshine.

So, where to?
Ah, that'll do...

Muswell Hillbilly Taproom (13 Avenue Mews, Muswell Hill, N10 3NP - web)
Tucked down the mews that runs behind The Broadway, this is a tiny brewery tap room.  I almost missed it, veering towards the bright lights of the neighbouring Can't Buy Me Love vintage store.

"They said they were going to do cask but no-one has ever seen any." says What Pub, quite grumpily, I thought.
We didn't see any either, but were content with the five keg lines serving up two of their own beers and three local guests.
My first pick was the 5.9% ABV 'Fortis Green Breakfast Stout'.
Musical fact of the Day: Fortis Green is the 'Green' of The Kinks' 'Village Green Preservation Society', with Ray and Dave Davies having grown up in Muswell Hill.

We went on to try an interesting sour beer and a collaboration brew with Oddly Brewery - an orange and liquorice brown stout.

Let us all gather round the mystical glowing light .

We spent longer than expected in the Muswell Hillbilly Taproom, thoroughly enjoying it.
Apart from the complicated trek to the toilet.
You had to collect a key, then head along the mews to the last, unmarked blue door at the end of the block.  I over-shot it and was half-way to Wetherspoons, ambling along aimlessly in the rain brandishing a big toilet key.
Interesting WC artwork once you do eventually find it get shown where to go by a kindly gent.

Speaking of Wetherspoons, that was the last destination of our pre-gig pub crawl.

The Mossy Well (258 Muswell Hill Broadway, Muswell Hill, N10 3SH - web)
Going right back to 1900, this building was the Express Dairy Tearoom, with a milk depot at the rear, which explains the quirky milk churn poseur tables by the bar.
It's been a 'Spoons since 2015 and this evening was stupendously busy with only a stroke of luck scoring us a table on the mezzanine level.

A pint of Salopian 'Echoes of Symmetry' along with a slightly under-cooked pizza would sustain me for the rest of the evening.

After five very varied beer stops throughout the afternoon, we made it to Alexander Palace just in time for the first support band taking the stage.
No craft ale in Ally Pally, however they try to brand the Maltsmith's IPA.

"Never mind Storm Dennis, what about Storm Frank?" bellowed Frank Carter, obviously over-the-moon to be taking to the stage in the largest venue the band have headlined to date.
It's a bit different to when he came to Oxford, squeezed into the tiny Bullingdon. 
His short festival sets are pretty raucous affairs, but given more time he took the opportunity to explore some of the slower, more heartfelt moments, particularly from 2019 album 'End of Suffering'.
Time for me to stop writing now, before I enter into the territory of failing miserably to review gigs.
A fine day out, good bit of music and wearisome journey home...Cheers!