Searching for Craft beer in Valletta

Having given up on waiting for summer to arrive in the UK in 2024, we headed out for a week in Malta where there was ample sunshine and shorts weather.
In fact, it was so hot that I found myself pining for the overcast skies and rain showers of Minehead.  Yep, never happy.

Our first proper excursion with 'craft beer' on the itinerary was to the capital, Valletta.
The hilly streets of the town are strikingly wonderful, a wealth of impressive architecture whichever way you turn.

 

Mrs PropUptheBar is a bit of a WW2 history buff so we had to visit the war museum in St Elmo's fort at the tip of the peninsula (great views from the Bastion, but swelteringly hot).  We were later guided through the fascinating war tunnels (swelteringly hot, even underground).

Here's the view from the bastion, looking across to the controversial modern developments of Sliema on the other side of the bay.  For movie location buffs, the old barracks in the foreground starred as the Turkish jail in Midnight Express.

The temps were such that I worryingly had little enthusiasm for beer.  But a healthy late lunch salad and lots of water put that right, and we headed to The Pub in the middle of the afternoon.

This lady hasn't followed my instructions to act naturally when I take my pub picture.

The Pub (136 Archbishop Street, Valletta)
This small side-street bar is infamous as the place that actor Oliver Reed met his demise.  Reed was filming scenes for Gladiator in Malta in 1999 when he dropped dead after a drinking session with a group of sailors in The Pub on the 2nd May, aged just 61.
The Pub seem quite morbidly proud of this beer bar fatality.

I was pretty underwhelmed by this place when I visited many years ago, but I really quite liked it this time around.  It's small with a total of six tables in the ground floor room, hugging the walls either side with the fabric well-worn on the bench seating.  The bar is decorated throughout with pictures of our aforementioned hellraising actor and insignia of various naval crews that have passed through.

Beers on offer were Farson's 'Blue Label', Cisk, Strongbow, Guinness, and - rather more interesting - Red Mill Brewing Co. 'IPA' and 'Golden Ale'.

Established in 2023, Red Mill aren't quite the micro they appear - they're a craft offshoot of the island's big brewery Farsons, producers of Cisk, alongside their own ales.
That didn't stop me really enjoying the IPA which didn't suffer from over-carbonation or chilling that puts me off keg so often. 

Mrs PropUptheBar realised that the Cathedral was due to shut soon, so I valiantly agreed to stay in the pub and tackle the beers whilst she whizzed away to tick off the Caravaggio.
Therefore, The Pub can legitimately put up one of those 'Husband Creche' A-boards.

We moved on to what was touted as the cities top craft beer spot, appearing most frequently on Untappd.

67 Kapitali (67 Triq l-Ifran Il-Belt Valletta)
This was a comfortable single room corner bar with an unusual counter in that the draft taps were on the outside of it on one side facing the door.
They served 11 lines of beer from Malta's best known independent brewery, Lord Chambray, covering styles ranging from a strawberry sour to stout.  The hot weather made me pick something I'd usually steer well clear of - 'A Toda Velocidad', a Mexican lager packed with lime zest and brewed in collaboration with To Øl.

Our final beer bar in Valletta was a fair way through the streets back towards the barracks and bastion at the edge of the city.

Wild Honey Beer and Bistro House (131 Merchants Street, Valletta)
This was very quiet customer-wise, as we interrupted the barman from tinkering on his phone on a table in the corner.  There were a couple of other people called in whilst we were there, but we really didn't visit when the party was in full swing.

But it's a must-visit when in Valletta, with a good design, great music, a fine beer selection, and friendly staff.
I picked the Lord Chambray 'San Blas' on tap, whilst Mrs PropUptheBar made an excellent choice from the bottle fridge with the Lord Chambray one-off coconut stout.

Then I decided to be decadent and return to the fridge for a bottle of Westvleternen 12.

 

At that point, we hadn't really taken the opportunity to sample the best of the regular Lord Chambray range.  A couple of days later, we traveled north and hopped on the ferry to Gozo, where a visit to the brewery taproom was on the agenda.

Being a bit of a fan of some ancient stones, I was excited by the chance to visit Ggantja on Gozo.  I'd done the stone temples on the SW of Malta back in 2005, and covered a couple more smaller places from Julian Cope's Megalithic European during this week.
But Ggantja is the big one, an awesome complex on a massive scale, of which I don't have a single picture doing it justice. 

We caught the bus from the village of Xaghra down to Victoria, the island capital: overly busy with coachloads of folk, hectic and hot.  The attempt to walk around the walls of the Citadel in the mid-afternoon heat just about finished me off.

Another short bus ride took us to Xewkija, a couple of miles south of Victoria, and home to Lord Chambray on a small agricultural park.

Lord Chambray (Mgarr Road, Ix-Xewkija)
The brewery was set up in 2014 as the first craft brewery in Malta and has since enjoyed a fair bit of success.  Originally a reception area and small tasting area, the front bar has been transformed into a smart tap room over the subsequent years
There is a handy map on the website showing everywhere on the island that stocks their beers, acting as a good guide, although I typically spotted that when I was coming home.

Between us we tried the American pale ale, white IPA, wheat beer, wittbier with local rosemary, and Fungus Rock stout.
All great stuff.  Enjoyed in the air conditioning with a contemporary soundtrack of music I didn't recognise.
The Lord Chambray beers were great, but there was more local craft to be had in Sliema, which is what I'll be waffling on about in the next post.

Pub Ticking in Minehead and Surrounds

July 2024.  The British summer is noticeable by its absence.
I'd rather hoped to spend a couple of days on the Somerset coast looking across the Channel at Wales with glorious blue skies and sunsets.  It didn't work out that way and I got rather wet instead.

This was a short trip to visit a few pubs in that western bobble of Somerset that includes Exmoor and the Quantocks.  The bit that's letting my Somerset pub-ticking down.

Let's start a couple of miles outside of Minehead at the picturesque medieval village of Dunster.
This is a spectacular place and an obvious tourist draw, with a National Trust castle on the hill, and a high street full of gift shops, galleries, and tea rooms.  Up at the top of the High Street, by the old octagonal market hall, is the Luttrell Arms Hotel.

The Luttrell Arms (36 High Street, Dunster, TA24 8SG)
Dating back to the 15th century, it's Grade II listed, originally three houses, one of which belonged to a Richard Luttrell who provides the current name.

The route to the bar - directing you away from the main door so as not to upset the hotel guests - is a convoluted one.  In through one door, out into a small yard, back inside, past some folks dining in a snug that isn't really a snug, turn right...by this point I was wondered if I'd ever manage to find the bar.

I'm glad I did.  It's a bit of a museum piece, with timbered ceiling, pewter mugs hanging from the high beams, and displays of brass, guns, swords, and antlers galore.
Early afternoon it wasn't very busy - just a couple of chaps sat at the bar drinking the Exmoor ale, a few folks eating, and a couple of people outside in a hidden outdoor courtyard - a mini George, Southwark, with galleried walkways looking down on it.

The cask choice at the bar was Exmoor 'Ale', Otter 'Bitter', or Quantock 'Glimpse of Summer' (a very apt name - I think the last glimpse was on a Thursday at the end of June).
Efficient service from the smartly attired staff, and I was soon settled on a big wooden table with the superb Quantock pale ale. 
A nice place, but not really very 'pub.

Minehead would provide my lodgings for the night but, before wandering the streets of the seaside town, I decided to travel further west along the coast to visit...

Porlock Weir turned out to be a mile and a half beyond Porlock village.  You can tackle this by walking down the lane towards the bay, then picking up a nice flat section of the SW coast path.
It's a pretty hamlet when you get there - a handful of cottages, a hotel, and the Ship Inn, along with some fine views across the Bristol Channel, even on this grey day.

The Ship Inn (Porlock Weir, TA24 8PB)
I really liked the Ship: everything I expect an old fisherman's pub to be.  It had a simple whitewashed frontage with plentiful picnic benches that it was too chilly to comfortably use.  Stepping into the bar there were thick stone walls, big fireplace, flagstone floors, and boxes of cider stacked precariously three-high on the bar counter.
I stuck with the beer, with RCH 'PG Steam', Exeter 'Ferryman', and three picks from Essex brewery Brentwood being available.  I don't see those Brentwood ales very often so opted for the porter, which suited the glum weather and was an excellent dark ale.

With no music and customers spread out, this was a very quiet visit, only livened up by laminating woes for the staff.  It seemed a page had gotten stuck in the laminating machine, which someone eventually noticed was smoking.  A young chap was duly dispatched to unplug it and deposit the machine in the back yard ("Nothing to see here"). 
It turns out that acrid burning plastic really doesn't enhance the rural pub experience in the same way wood smoke from a real fire does.

I departed as the young lady at the bar was on the phone to someone explaining why they hadn't quite finished preparing the laminated menus for the evening ahead.

The Ship at Porlock Weir is known as the Bottom Ship.
And that's to differentiate it from the Top Ship in Porlock village...

The Ship Inn (High Street, Porlock, TA24 8QD)
This is an absolute corker of a pub, which would only have been enhanced with a bit more trade, except I will insist on visiting places on rainy Monday afternoons.
The Ship is a sprawling place with with an L-shaped layout -  dining rooms leading at two angles from the bar in the corner.  And what a bar - it has a heritage feel with fixed wooden benches along the back wall, red and black tiled floor, and a big inglenook fireplace in the corner.

"Ooh, that looks like nice" the customers sat at the counter commented when my Exmoor 'Ale' was poured, the chap behind the bar replying that it was fresh on, before contemplating the clear golden nectar himself.  Stop admiring it and just give it to me!!!
Other cask beer on my visit was Exmoor 'Beast' (so tempting, but I was feeling sensible), Otter 'Ale' or 'Amber', St Austell 'Proper Job' or 'Tribute'.

 

The beer was a great form.
And the effect of sitting on a slightly uncomfortable hard bench in this characterful bar was only spoilt slightly by Heart Radio and half the other customers taking my arrival as their cue to leave.

Five in the afternoon and I eventually made it to Minehead.   Which was supposed to be the feature of this post but has ended up making a late appearance.
In Minehead, I had booked my second ever overnight in a Wetherspoon Hotel.

Duke of Wellington (Wellington Squarw, Minehead, TN24 5NH)
The Duke of Wellington is a grand three storey red-brick building in the centre of Minehead, first opened in 1820 when it served as a staging post for the coaches to Taunton and Bridgewater.
Being an old hotel gives it a bit of a different feel to those Spoons with one big room.  This is a large place with at least four distinct seating areas and 2 bars.
Bags dropped off and splash of water on the face, I headed back downstairs and picked a table in the front right bar.  Mangalorian Cauliflower Curry and a pint of Exmoor 'Gold', please.

My first 2024 Good Beer Guide entry in Minehead was a few minutes walk in the drizzle away from the Duke of Wellington and town centre.

Kildare Lodge (Townsend Road, Minehead, TA24 5RQ)
A "cracking local pub" according to Whatpub, although I'd call it a hotel bar.  After a quick snap of the foliage covered frontage, I headed through the door under the arch to the side, then gingerly through the corridor the length of the place, wary of finding myself in a residents only bit and being told off.

The bar was at the opposite end of the hotel from the door, seating in an unusual high-ceilinged corner room, with the bar up one step to the side.
The nice lady behind the pump clips apologised for lack of custom, with just one chap sat in the corner, although it filled up quite nicely with a selection of retirees and their four legged friends as I supped my pint.  

'Rev James', Butcombe 'Original', and Exeter 'Tomahawk', or Exeter  'Avocet' made up the cask choice. Despite being so quiet when I arrived, the Tomahawk was on good form, enjoyed whilst sat on the big leather benches next to the fireplace.

Drinking up, I strolled down to the seafront for the grey and wet July holiday picture.

The big top style roof of the pavilion at Butlin's is on the horizon.
I've seen Iggy and The Stooges under that roof, back when I used to come down for those great All Tomorrow's Parties festival weekenders.  Whizzing down the water slides and enjoying the wave pool alongside heavily tattooed hairy doom metal fans...those were the days.

I never ventured far into town on those weekends, so the walk along the quayside to the final two pubs of the day was new for me.  

The Quay Inn (Quay Street, Minehead, TA24 5UJ)
This proved to be my favourite Minehead pub without a doubt.  A nice place with a few locals and holidaymakers who'd become regulars and were treated like old friends by the landlord.
It had the best soundtrack of the day, featuring The Move, The Who, and The Small Faces.
And a very enjoyable pint of Nuttycombe 'Doonicans', a beer I didn't rate very highly when I last tried it, but picked because I've had far too much of the alternative 'Jail Ale' this year.

As comfy as I was in the Wetherspoon hotel, I kinda wished I'd stayed in the Quay Inn when I spotted the Channel 4 'Four in a Bed' winners award hung on the wall.
The landlord was a top chap too, popping over to ask how I'd found myself in this part of the world and chatting about Somerset pubs.

Just one more to go then-  five wet minutes along the road.

Old Ship Aground (Quay Street, Minehead, TA24 5UL)
It's in a great location and I'm sure the benches outside would be marvelous in different weather, looking out across the water from the quayside
But I'm afraid I didn't warm to the place much, mainly because all the tables were full with groups eating and there was little in the way of places to perch with a pint.  A Hall and Woodhouse pub, the three cask ales were Badger Best, Fursty Ferret, and Tanglefoot. 

Tanglefoot is a regular bottle on the supermarket shelf, but I don't think I've ever had it on cask before - to be fair it was much better than I expected.  And a seat at the end of the big table in the window became available which improved my mood.

It had been a long day and I was ready to brave the weather to get back to the hotel.  I must have been tired, as a plan to have a cider nightcap in the bar at Spoons was scrapped in favour of sinking into my bed.
I'd enjoyed the pubs of Minehead and surrounds, but I'd appreciate some sunshine next time please.

Bicester Pub Crawl

After a recent day out exploring the pubs of Didcot, I figured I'd make it a mission to visit the other towns of Oxfordshire this summer, delving in a little deeper than the regular real ale haunts and CAMRA favourites that I often stick to.

Which is what took me to Bicester on a sunny Tuesday in June.
A smooth bus ride up the unpredictable A34 got me to the town before noon, meaning I had to activate the early arrival action-plan and stride into Wetherspoon's.

The Penny Black (58 Sheep Street, Bicester, OX26 6JW)
Opened in 1997, this is located in what was formerly Bicester post office and sorting office.  It has a familiar Spoons design: bar midway into the building, high tables and games machines directly opposite, booths and tables to the rear, back doors opening onto a shaded patio area for alfresco pubbing.

Real ales available, beyond the regulars, were Vale 'Red Kite', Titanic 'Plum Porter', and Frome 'Funky Monkey'. I briefly considered diverting into cider/perry territory with the Pear Mania, except 7.1% before midday would be mighty decadent.

'Funky Monkey' was more sensible: a decent malty pale ale, which I took to a booth with bouncy cushioned seating toward the back of the pub.

There must be a Bicester baby-boom, as there were pushchairs and infants everywhere I looked.
A trio of different generation ladies tucked into breakfast on a table near me, occasionally stopping to squeeze the squeaky dinosaur to entertain the toddler in high chair.  Then they rested a napkin on the youngster's head and kept repeating "who's got a new hat" in silly voices.
Right...I'm outta here!

I strolled down the pedestrianised main street and steered into The White Hart.

McCafferty's at The White Hart (3 Sheep Street, Bicester, OX26 6TB)
This is a pub with a claim to fame that Pam St Clement (Pat Butcher in Eastenders) pulled a pint behind the bar earlier this year, as reported in The Mirror.
Disappointed I missed her, but at least the pushchairs of the Penny Black had been replaced by mobility scooters and a dozen or so early drinkers tucked into alcoves or sitting at the bar.

They were all on the Carling or Guinness.  The connoisseurs real ale choice was Greene King IPA or Doom Bar - not one for the ticker of rare Oxon microbreweries.  The IPA wasn't too bad and was competitively priced at £3.40 a pint. 

The odd thing about the White Hart - as the full name suggests - is that it's two bars merged into one.  The front room is traditional in design, with dark wooden floor and beams, a long bar counter, and sport showing on the TVs.  Once you reach the back of this, you're in the McCafferty's part with a second bar counter a few meters away from the first one.

The McCafferty's bar features a few more whiskys on the shelves, old Jameson's and Guinness adverts decorating the walls, and a lorry-load of 1990's pub tat strewn about on the route to the garden.
I don't think I've ever been anywhere in which I can straddle the gap between Irish theme bar and regular town pub.  So I sat on a stool betwixt the two, vaguely enjoying my IPA and a soundtrack which included Def Leppard, Pat Benatar, Lionel Richie, and a Journey track that remarkably wasn't 'Don't Stop Believing'.

There was rockier music to be found in the next pub...

The Bell (84 Sheep Street, Bicester, OX26 6LP)
Yep - great hard rock playlist, but no early afternoon custom to listen to it.  I had the whole place to myself.
Which is a shame, as this was a contender for pub of day and just needed a bit of life adding to it. 
An attractive old 18th century stone building, this was the Hobgoblin for many years.

Stroll in through the front door and there is a room with pool table and its own bar counter to the right, whilst the more characterful part is on your left hand side. Good chunky stone walls, inglenook fireplace, scuffed wooden floor, benches and settles to perch on.

A trio of real ales from which to pick...

I opted for the Wadworth seasonal 'Amarillo Gold', which I hadn't seen before, even though you should always go for the beer with the hand-made pump clip.
It was a really enjoyable summer pint, not suffering at all from the lack of trade, so I assume they must pick up the punters later in the day.
I settled into a sunlit seat by the front window, briefly visited by the pub dog, and entertained by Marilyn Manson, The Scorpions, Trivium, and Twin Atlantic...🤘

Pint finished at the Bell, I started to walk away from the town centre and decided I'd poke my head into the recently re-opened Plough.  This straddles North Street and Field Street, with ways in from both sides, although oddly enough, whichever way you approach, it seems like the back of the pub.

The Plough (63 North Street, Bicester, OX26 6NB)

This former Greene King pub looked like it may be doomed until a consortium of locals, under the Olive Tree Pub Co banner, came to the rescue in January 2024.

Sitting underneath it, I was going to be critical about the 'Your olive experience starts here' squiggly writing on the beam.  But I've had a change of heart because I want them to do well.

There was a choice of two cask ales on the bar: Timothy Taylor 'Landlord' or the local Vale 'Brill Gold'.  I went local - the golden ale from across the county border in Buckinghamshire was cool and crisp and in good condition.

There hasn't been a random picture from the toilets on the blog for a little while, so here's one.  I seem to remember the reason for taking it was being impressed by the giant retro light shades and extra wide sink.

Next: let's head to the Greene King estate pub to keep Life After Football happy, having not visited the Brewers Fayre closest to the football ground that I know he would have wanted to hear all about.

I made the ten minute walk up Buckingham Road, past the town's second train station (Bicester North), and into the streets of the housing estate.

White Horse (Churchill Road, Bicester, OX26 4UA)
Okay, there are a few negatives on arrival at this Greene King local. 
Firstly, the grim artificial turf area behind the wooden fence masquerading as a garden.

Secondly, the fact that everything seemed to be out of action: printed A4 signs stuck up throughout apologised that the kitchen was closed today; the Ladies WC was out of order; I was even denied the thrill of the Toy Podz machine... 

Out of order.

But let's look at the positives.  The spacious rear section of the pub was home to two pool tables and a back wall of great-looking competition-style dart boards. 
There was a decent crowd of local folk in for mid-afternoon, mid-week.
And someone from North Oxford CAMRA has visited, lobbying for the real ale discount and topping up the leaflets.

I ordered my second Green King 'IPA', of the day, even more reasonable than the first at £3.20 a pint.
Then took this to the far side of the pub in the quietest section, being the unsociable soul I am.

I set off from the White Horse and made the half-mile walk back to the centre of Bicester.  Where I poked my head into the King's Arms on the Market Square... with no cask, John Smith's Smooth, and one chap sat with his head in his heads, I gave it a swerve.
I figured I really should visit the second Beer Guide listed pub, the Angel (The Penny Black being the first), but I still had twenty minutes before this opened.
So I decided to pass the time in another 'no cask' option: The Lamb Inn.

The Lamb Inn (59-61 Sheep Street, Bicester, OX26 6LG)
Actually, despite the 'no cask ale' notice on WhatPub, they did have hand pumps with a turned-around Timothy Taylor 'Landlord' clip.  I guess that may have been an option on busier days of the week, but on this occasion I was on the draft Brixton 'Resilience'. 

Never mind Pat Butcher at the White Hart - Harry Kane's popped into the Lamb in between providing us with hours of exciting football (???) in the Euros.

The Lamb was given a big refurb in November of 2019 and it looks like the main remit was:
 'make sure there's absolutely nowhere you can sit and not see a TV'. 
The screens are everywhere, including built-in to the end of many of the tables that run down the length of the bar.
"Good for the football", said the lady at the bar, although I thought part of the joy of watching sport in the pub was everyone facing the same way rather than huddled around a small TV at the end of your table.

Glitter balls and flags too, what more do you need?
A quick half of the Brixton beer finished, it was time to make my way up the road for the final pub of the day.

The Angel (102 Sheep Street, Bicester, OX26 6LP)
The Angel is part of the local, much applauded, Oak Taverns group, whose pubs I've featured on the blog a fair bit in the last year or so.

This was always my go-to pub when passing through town and is somewhere I'm more familiar with the other places I'd been throughout the day.  So I can confirm that it is much more fun of an evening or weekend when there are a crowd of folk to liven it up.  Not so great for me, 10 minutes after the 4pm opening time, sat by myself, checking the times for the next bus home.

The beer choice was also reduced for early in the week, with several more set to come on later.  As it was I ordered the very chewy and enjoyable Chiltern 'Double IPA'.

Bicester had provided me with a pleasant afternoon in the sunshine, a reasonable choice of ales, all in good condition, and two more pints of Greene King IPA than I really needed.
It may not be the top town in Oxfordshire in for a pub crawl (that's coming up next) but it had been a good day out.