Liquid Light Brewery, Nottingham

A second Nottingham post, this time heading over to the east of the city centre and a few drinking establishments around Sneinton Market.

We'd previously visited the Mist Rolling Inn micro pub which disappointed a little in respect that I'd thought it would be a bit more football orientated.

The micro on this side of town won't let you down on that front...

Partizan Tavern (13-15 Manvers Street, Nottingham, NG2 4PB)
Opened in July 2021, this pub is the work of former electrician Tony Perkins who has followed the Serbian football club Partizan Belgrade ever since he saw them play Notts County in a youth team competition in 1990.
Have a look around the walls and the picture frames contain ticket stubs, programmes, newspaper articles, and more, as well as there being a couple of football shirts hanging above the window.

The cask choice on the bar covered the south coast: Staggeringly Good 'Prehistoric Creatures'; Lancashire:  Farm Yard 'Sheaf'; and Northumberland: First & Last 'Chime IPA'.
But I opted to stay local with a Black Iris 'Madagascan Porter'.  A quite superb beer on top form.

Should those not take your fancy, the kegs aren't half bad and the Partizan has been crowned cider pub of the year by the local CAMRA folk.

Just a few steps away, on the edge of the market, is a Castle Rock pub that I hadn't yet managed to make it to.

Fox & Grapes (21 Southwell Street, Nottingham, NG1 1DL)
Previously run by Banks's and called Peggers (the old pub sign now hangs inside, next to the bar) Castle Rock refurbished and reopened this market-side boozer in 2017.
They reverted to its original name and opened up an old two room layout into a single, pleasant, L-shaped bar. 

Castle Rock always serve up a strong cask selection, providing us with a choice of four of their own beers alongside Abbeydale 'Wanderer' and a Kernel IPA.
I chose the Castle Rock ' Screech Owl', a lovely bronze strong bitter.

Sat on a table at the side of the room, we were entertained by a nineties grunge soundtrack, heavy on Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains.
After a while a chap sauntered over and said, "I know you!  I was trying to work out where I know you from and now I've got it."
Well, I grew up in Nottinghamshire, returned to watch many a live band and many a football match at the City Ground, so it's vaguely possible this fella may know me.
But no.
"You're that bloke from Metallica!"

That's the first, and last, time I've been likened to anyone in Metallica.  No idea where he got that idea from, or how strong what he was drinking was.

Here's a shot of me outside the Fox & Grapes...

Sneinton market was originally made up of rickety sheds around some pretty run-down housing and factory buildings.  Growing in popularity, the council marked the area for redevelopment in the 1930s, building the blocks of open-fronted units that we see today and naming the streets between them Avenues A, B and C.
They in turn fell into a state of disrepair before being given a new lease of life in 2013, creating a home for creative types, a beer hall, boutiques and bakeries.  

And a brewery which, or course, was where we were heading.

Neon Raptor Taproom (Unit 14a, Avenue A, Sneinton Market, Nottingham, NG1 1DT)
Neon Raptor founder and head brewer Adam Henderson started creating beers on DIY equipment in his kitchen before winning a 2015 Brewdog home brewer competition.  Joining forces with a couple more folk, the brewery on Avenue A of Sneinton market opened in 2018.

The taproom consists of a few picnic tables and precarious stools around barrels, of which we got the last available one.

There was a pretty stunning selection of 12 beers on tap at the bar.  Sensible folk can pick from the first three options and stick to the sub 5% offerings; whilst there's nothing under 10% on the last four taps - the ones I'm looking at with a mischievous grin. 
Peanut butter, chocolate and caramel imperial stout?  Oh yes please!  £5 for a third of  the 2023 release of 'Centaur Army' - a big, bold, decadent pudding of a beer.

Moody lighting and a fine demonstration of propping up the bar

It was just a short walk from Sneinton Market to reach another tap room.  We headed up Carlton Street, branching into the dark, quiet side streets where you just about decide you must have taken a wrong turn before seeing the beer barrels stacked up outside unit 9.

Oh dear - that's not my best brewery picture

Liquid Light Taproom (Unit 9, Robin Hood Industrial Estate, Alfred Street South, NG3 1GE)
Come in the summer months and it'll all be a bit more obvious with outdoor tables and the shutter wide open.  In the winter though, I tried the door with some trepidation, pleased to find that it opened and that there was the sound of music coming from somewhere within.

I'm unsure quite how my entrance has caused the reaction from the two guys in the middle of the picture.
Perhaps they think I'm the bassist from Slayer.

Or more likely this was their first encounter with the kind of odd individual who bowls through the door snapping pictures of a brewery tap room.

There were four hand pumps on the bar, two in use when we visited, plus seven taps on the back.
Let's make a sensible beer choice this time, Prop Up the Bar.
Ooooh...what's that?!....

What it was, was a Liquid Light 'Interstellar Hyperdrive - the heart of the sun 2023 2YBA'.  The cheerful fella in his beanie cap at the bar explained that just a small amount had been set aside in wooden barrels for the last two years, decanted into a couple of casks and limited number of heftily priced cans.

It was delicious, although it tasted every bit its 12.5% and needed tackling with slow sips.

This was a place I didn't mind loitering and taking my time over a beer.
The large speakers in elegant wooden casing were fantastic, the playlist projected onto the wall above the shiny brewing kit. 
Hendrix, Black Sabbath and the Beatles featured heavily.
Sabbath had never sounded so good.

This part of Nottingham city centre is well worth a visit and I've only scratched the surface here - there's a few more pubs within staggering distance of Sneinton Market which are worth adding to any pub crawl.
And I also hear that Neon Raptor have ambitions to expand into larger premises, which will give me another reason to come back and explore some more.
Cheers 🍺