Brew XI & Bass in a Northampton Micro

In which I write a load of old cobblers about pub visits in Northampton.

Picking up where I finished the last post, we had a brewery bar, micropub, a modernised back street boozer and Spoons remaining on our list.

First up: Phipps NBC.
Phipps began brewing in Northampton in 1817, although they'd started earlier in nearby Towcester in 1801.  The NBC was added when they merged with the neighbours Northampton Brewing Company in 1957.

But London giants Watney Mann took them over in 1960 and developed the scourge of real ale drinkers - Watney's Red Barrel - at the Northampton site, happily ripping out the hand pumps from their tied pubs because keg was king.
The long discontinued Phipps NBC beers were recreated in 2008 under supervision of some of the past brewers.  These were brewed at Oakham, until in 2014 a magnificent site was found to enable a return to Northampton.  Their new home was the Albion Brewery (formerly the Ratcliffe & Jeffrey Albion Brewery, which Phipps had swallowed up many years earlier).

Albion Brewery Bar (54 Kingswell Street, Northampton, NN1 1PR - web)
The brewing kit is behind glass at the back of the building, with a bar in front which has an instant wow factor.  With a high ceiling and large windows letting the light in, there is plenty of salvaged bits of etched glass, fancy carved wood and brewery signage, plus Northamptonshire skittles and bar billiards (both covered over and out of use at the time of our visit sadly).

The bar had a run of seven Phipps NBC beers available, all of which had a retro feel, many recreated from old recipes.
I picked the very tasty brown ale, 'Bison', before returning for a Gold Star, a punchy 5.2% ESB, both beers being thoroughly enjoyable, thank you very much.

Good to see a decent crowd coming in and most of the tables filling up during the time we were in the Albion Bar.  This is somewhere I'll definitely come back to when next in town and try the rest of the beer range.  For now, we had a town centre micropub to find.

St Giles Ale House (45 St Giles Street, Northampton, NN1 1JF)
Despite having had a run of hit 'n' miss micro's recently, denting my enthusiasm, I really liked the Ale House.
We had the drama of the dog and whether she'd be allowed to stay in the pub after committing the crime of barking at a couple of customers.
Then a young chap produced a large bouquet of birthday flowers for his girlfriend, who looked slightly embarrassed to be the centre of attention.
"Can you hide 'em now," said a fella at the next table, "the missus'll be in soon and be asking when I'm going to buy her flowers if she sees those."

Cripes.  Fair point.
I romantically asked Mrs PropUptheBar if I could buy her a half pint of Brew XI... 

Brew XI was brewed by Mitchells & Butler in Smethwick and advertised as 'For the men of the Midlands'.  Production moved to Burton as part of the Coors empire, before brewing of the beer for the men of the midlands switched to, erm, Cardiff, at Brain's.
To be honest, it was just OK - an inoffensive beer that it's been suggested is a shadow of it's former self.  If I ever had it as an East Midland's youth, I don't remember it.

The M&B pump clip caught my attention, briefly distracting from the fact that they were also serving Bass.
A beer selection that would certainly keep some beer bloggers happy.  Should neither of these ales take your fancy, pale ales from Framework and Ossett and a local stout were also on offer.

Moving on to our next destination, we undertook a bit if a walk out of the centre.

The Lamplighter (66 Overstone Road, Northampton, NN1 3JS - web)
This was a neatly refurbished backstreet corner pub, the chosen colour of the external paint-job giving away what you'd find within.
Comfy enough, with some nice breweriana on the walls.
And a decent range of beer, with several from the local Roman Way Brewery.  My 'Marc Anthony' amber ale was a delicious drop, enjoyed with some pretty super food.

Which just left one Northampton pub visit to bring the evening to a conclusion.

The Cordwainer (The Ridings, Northampton, NN1 2AQ - web)
Northampton's Wetherspoon's was buzzing on a Saturday evening - most tables occupied, lots of folk at the bar and the constant din of loud conversations over jugs of cocktails.

It's spread over two floors, with bars on each, plus a garden and outdoor terrace on the first floor.
I have no idea how good the ale choice was - I was stood at the bar in front of the Oakham 'Kaizen' pump-clip, so that's exactly what I ordered.  A decent pale hoppy brew, in good condition.

We must have arrived just before the security team came on duty, as by the time we left there were three burly guards staffing the door to keep out Northampton's ne'er-do-wells (or tipsy pub tickers).

The security team did the rounds, checking IDs of all the tables in the corner we'd sat in. I had my drivers licence to the ready, but was bypassed.  Dammit - I hate looking over 25.

Leaving 'Spoons, it was time to call it a night and return to our hotel.
We'd had a great day in the town, with some superb pubs visited and great beers drunk.  And I'm aware there are several that we missed as well - another destination to add to the 'must go back' list.

Northampton Pub Explorations

With a Bank Holiday weekend creeping up hot on the heels of Easter, we decided to head for an overnight visit to Northampton.

The best buildings of the town centre were looking superb in glorious May sunshine. 
I was still trying to take my best picture postcard shot of the Guildhall when Mrs PropUptheBar spotted a craft beer bar.  She has an in-built sensor for such venues, although we usually get to go to at least one pub on my list before making a craft beer diversion.

I was busy admiring the architecture...

...whilst Mrs PropUptheBar was ushering me into the craft bar

Maule Collective Taproom (4 Derngate, Northampton, NN1 1UB - web)
This proved to be a spacious, basic bar with comfy bench seating along one wall, sofas at the rear and a small garden out back.  Pictures featuring a range of Maule's funky artwork hung on the walls.  The handful of midday customers were equally divided between coffee and craft beers.

The white tiled bar back featured 20 draft beer lines, with beers available displayed above.

Tempting as the offerings from Arbor and Black Iris were, I figured I'd stick with their own brews, picking the enjoyable 'Dark Maule' oatmeal stout.
This proved to be a good little find and a fine start to the day.

Drinking up at Maule, we wandered around the corner and chanced upon the Northampton Museum, which was advertising a Star Wars Toys exhibition.
One of us was more enthusiastic than the other.

Here's the plan: I'm going to hit 'publish' on the 4th May, hence very topically be including Star Wars toy pics in a post on Star Wars Day.
I might even be able to tempt my old work-mate William to visit the blog - someone who has no interest in pubs but would be salivating over a 1979 Palitoy land speeder.

Not much nostalgia here for me, as I never had any of these toys as a youngster.  I seem to remember I was more excited by Herbie Goes Bananas in 1980 than the Empire Strikes Back.

But I still appreciated this exhibition, even though it waylaid us and we forgot to look at the galleries of shoes that the town is famous for.

Right - back to the original schedule. 
We walked south of the centre and found our way to the Malt Shovel Tavern, located on a main road facing the Carlsberg Brewery.

Malt Shovel Tavern (121 Bridge Street, Northampton, NN1 1QF - web)
This proved to be a fantastic pub with a beer festival in progress.
The Malt Shovel is open-plan, although the chunky brick columns sort of divide the front and back halves.  Breweriana rules, with mirrors, posters and brass signs advertising brewers of yore.

The festival bar was set up in the small back garden, offering some 30-or so beers from Yorkshire.
Outdoors had been taken over somewhat by the red and white striped shirts of Exeter City supporters.  They were in a cheery mood having being guaranteed promotion to League One earlier in the week, the fixture against Northampton being a bid to go up as Champions.

It also helped that Plymouth Argyle were being royally thrashed by MK Dons in the last game of the season, putting an end to their own play-off aspirations.
"Argyle get battered, everywhere they go!" sang the Exeter fans.
"There's only one team in Devon, one team in Devon..."

Of course there is...it's Torquay United, isn't it?

Once their taxis began arriving everything became much quieter and we were able to appreciate the pub soundtrack including the Beach Boys, Springsteen 'Dancing in the Dark', and the Blues Brothers.

I enjoyed a few lovely half pints of beer, a super-cheesy pizza and a marvelous pub visit.
The 'Dexter Milk Stout' from Kirkstall Brewery was my fave from the few I tried.
We had further Northampton explorations to undertake though, so couldn't get stuck drinking Yorkshire ales all afternoon.

Not far to go, just a short stroll down the road and across the River Nene to reach our next destination...

Wonder where the hefty turnstile takes you to?

Pomfret Arms (10 Cotton End, Northampton, NN4 8BS)
Oh look!  Cider festival!
The festival's were lining up in an attempt to derail our itinerary and provide me with a sore head the following morning.  I knew the sensible thing to do was stick to the beers, especially as the Great Oakley ales on offer here were something I don't see every day.  But I haven't mastered 'sensible' and fancied the local cider, in this case a Harefield's 'Coopers Barrel'.

The modernised and colourfully painted rooms of the Pomfret Arms were quiet, with almost everyone electing to sit in the large garden to the rear.   The outbuilding next to our table had the signage for the Cotton End Brewery which used to be in action here until early 2020.
In a wooden hut to the side, a chap in a straw hat spun the discs and DJ'ed to the assembled Bank Holiday punters, providing us with a bit of gentle electronica.

There's something lovely about sitting in a sunny beer garden with a pint of cider, even if it does involve listening to Groove Armada.

We were near to our hotel for the evening, giving us the chance to check-in and drop off bags.  I'd assumed we were staying nearby the University, but it turned out the Sunley Hotel was part of the University in the sleek, modern Riverside campus.
This proved to be a good choice of accommodation and not just because you're able to get Stella for £3 a pint from the Waterside Bar.

 

I was also chuffed to find the table football games dotted around the campus.  On our return later that evening we'd find ourselves hooked in a competitive game on one of these.  I'd try my best to recreate Sam Surridge's Forest hat-trick, but would ultimately have to fall back on lop-sided table excuses for being beaten by MrsPropUptheBar.

But that was later.
In the meantime we had several more Northampton pubs to visit, which I'll cover on the next post.

Craft Beer Brewery