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!

The Passo Tonale Froggy Hops Hunt

Would there really be a valid blog-post in a trip to the Italian Alps with a snowboard?
No brewpubs, craft bars, or tap rooms...
But I'd discovered good beer in ski resorts before, and was hopeful to find something interesting on our visit to Passo Tonale, in the province of Brescia.
And it gives me an excuse to post some pictures of snowy mountains, with Forst delivery trucks in front of them.

Our first stop in the resort was the Magic Pub (Via Circonvallazione 4, Passo Tonale) - almost certainly not a 'proper' pub; possibly with no actual magical properties either.

The house beer at the Magic Pub was 'Menabrea Bionda', a bog-standard, super pale lager, which went down well as the first beer in the mountains, but which became increasingly dull on repeated visits.

You could venture onto German brews just next door at Redival, a modern bar and self-service restaurant looking out onto the slopes at the bottom of the Valena chairlift.

Hoffbrauhaus Traunstein at Redival 

Redival (Via Nazionale, 5, Passo Tonale) 

This place had a suntrap terrace, with a handy view of the snow-park, meaning I could sit there and plan fantastic routes over the jumps and obstacles, before deciding to lounge in the sun a little longer instead of landing on my bum and hurting myself...as usual.

Beers came from Hoffbrauhaus Traunstein of Bavaria, with Helles, Kellerbier, Dunkel and Weissbier available.  Good head on the Dunkel...

So, no craft beer so far...

But Untappd user Barry M was nearby, and he'd found something a bit more exciting - the "best I've had in resort", he claimed.
No location mentioned, so I took this as a challenge to find the 'Froggy Hops IPA' myself.

Passo Tonale was not looking a likely destination for craft beer bottles, so I extended my search to neighbouring Ponte di Legno. This is linked with pistes leading down the valley to take you there and a smart gondola to whisk you back again later.

Making my way across to Temu, the most westerly point on the piste map, I called in to Rifugio Roccolo Ventura, where, lo-and-behold, there was a fridge full of interesting looking bottled beers.

Rifuggio Roccolo Ventura - great terrace; great beer fridge! 

These came primarily from three breweries: Ballanders, Agricola and Melchiori, with a range of several styles from each. 
I sat happily in the sunshine on the terrace with 'Weissbier' brewed by Birrificio Agricola Pagus from Rogno in the Province of Bergamo.
 

Right in the centre of the Ponte di Legno mountain was Rifuggio Capanna Valbione, where we stopped for a superb lunchtime pizza. Happily the Balanders' Birrificio Camuno beers, brewed in Lomardia, were available here. Out of a few options, I tried the 'Monega' English-style porter, which was absolutely lovely. 

Back into Passo Tonale we'd spotted somewhere that described itself as a Birrarea - I was pessimistic, but figured it was worth calling into.

El Bait (Via Circonvallazione, 17/B, Passo Tonale - web)
Okay, a reasonable line-up here, with Pilsner Urquell dominating the place on numerous decorations and retro advertising. The Czech beer was available at the bar, alongside Gambrinus, Forst and Weihenstephaner.
As well as the regular pils from Forst, there was also the 6.5% Dopplebock 'Sixtus', which was my pick of the bunch.
A nice, rustic, homely kinda place - El Bait proved to be worth the visit.

But still no 'Froggy Hops'.
Damn you, Barry M, where did you find it?
I resorted to analysing his picture and trying to match it with any of the bars and restaurants on the piste map, and La Tana Dell'Orso came up a positive hit!

La Tana Dell-Orso - the Bear's Lair - was a stylish, modern restaurant and bar in an unlikely location which I'd imagine many holiday-making skiers don't pass.

Froggy Hops Search a Success! 

So, was it worth searching the whole resort for 'Froggy Hops IPA'?

It was full of tropical fruits, with just the right level of hoppy bitterness, a sturdy 3.5 stars if I was going to score it out of 5.  Not necessarily any better than the other bottled beers I'd found in resort, as all had been good.
But I did get a complimentary bowl of crisps at the Bear's Lair.  Which was nice.

Normal folks, of course, will just enjoy a week on the slopes in glorious sunshine, rather than prance around looking for Italian craft ales.
But who wants to be normal folk?

Exmouth Pub Excursions

Sampling the Good Beer Guide 2020 entries in Exmouth, which we visited on a drizzly, dull Saturday afternoon in January.
This was also a rare Prop Up the Bar appearance by my mum, who I dragged along to rate the cider.

Persistent drizzle dictated our decision to get straight inside the pub, so we didn't wander along the esplanade.  Apologies to Exmouth for not including any charming shots looking across the Exe to Dawlish or showing the nice sandy beach.
However, here's a dinosaur, signifying that we're at the gateway to the Jurassic Coast...

First stop, just a stone's throw from the main square, was a spectacular red-bricked Victorian corner pub.

Grapevine (2 Victoria Road, EX8 1DL - web)
Inside, the pub has had a modern make-over, with dark blue walls, local artworks for sale, shelves of old beer bottles and vases of flowers.
The Telegraph pub reviewer has been here, declaring it a "devilishly handsome prince of a pub".  Y'see, that's the kind of thing that I just can't come up with, which is why I'm an amateur league pub blogger.

Beer-wise, there were three Bristol Beer Factory cask ales, alongside two from Crossed Anchor, the on-site brewery.
For me, a delicious Crossed Anchors red ale, 'Red Right Hand'.
For my mum, I picked the most obscure looking of the three boxed ciders.  Pretty undrinkable and I noticed she didn't leave me to pick on her behalf for the rest of the afternoon.

The Grapevine has a residency by Ruby Diner Burger Specialists - 2017 Taste of the West gold medal winners - and the kitchen was doing a fine trade with a varied clientele tucking into their food.  Hefty prices though, for a skinflint like me, so we moved on looking elsewhere for a bite to eat.

We called into the Wetherspoon's Powder Monkey, but it was busy with all tables occupied, so we moved straight on.  This is a small, standard 'Spoon's that I've been to before, with a couple of beers by Bay's looking the most appealing of the current choice.
Interesting ceiling repairs though...

Perhaps best not stand under this bit of ceiling for too long...

After a cup of coffee and bite to eat in a cafe, we ventured around the back of the shops with our next GBG pub in sight.

First & Last Inn (10 Church Street, EX8 1PE)
I've gotta admit that I was sceptical about how good the First & Last was going to be as we approached.
Great old pub sign - less convincing 'F&L' lettering...

But once inside, this was a cracking, spacious bar, on three split levels, climbing towards the pool tables at the rear.
Sport dominated, with a number of local folk claiming prime spots in front of the big screen to watch Exeter Chiefs, whilst further TV's allowed you to keep track of the afternoon's football scores.

This was the second pub with a brewery tucked away at the back somewhere - Checkstone Brewery in this instance.  They usually have one of their own beers available, and I was chuffed to see the current offering was a 7.5% ABV Imperial Stout.

We got hooked on the Exeter Chiefs game, although sitting beneath a speaker booming out the commentary meant we couldn't really ignore it.
Business as usual, cursing the rugby, will recommence when the Six Nations starts next month.

The Imperial Stout was enjoyable, but I opted to revert to sensible strength when I went back to the bar, picking a gentle Teighworthy 'Neap Tide'.
Mum rated The First & Last for the cider - a fridge full of boxes and a friendly barman offering samples and leading her to the Sandford Orchards 'Devon Red'.

Table football and plenty of space in the First and Last Inn

A few minutes walk up Rolle Road, then a left-hand turn into Bicton Street and our third pub was a lovely back-street corner local.

Bicton Inn (5 Bicton Street, EX8 2RU - web)

"A Devonishly Friendly Pub" according to their website.  Nice word-play.  There was a lovely traditional feel to the Bicton Inn - the most pubby of pubs that we'd been in today.  Two rooms are served by one central bar, with more subtle sport on TV than in the First & Last.

Plenty of local ale choice from Hanlons and the Dartmoor Brewery, whose'Winter Warmer' I opted for.
The evening's entertainment, Graham Butterfield, began setting up in the corner, before his legions of fans (well, six of them) arrived and bagged the prime spots.  I'm sure Graham is great, but we had to drink up and catch our bus home, so we'll never know for sure.

The Epic Špindlerův Mlýn Brew Pub Hike

On Boxing Day we travelled away from Prague by bus to Krkonoše National Park and the resort town of Špindlerův Mlýn.
I accepted the fact that the impressive craft beer movement in the capital hadn't reached here. 
What I mostly drank was Pilsner Urquell...

Good Head.

The holidaymakers here didn't seem to be on the hunt for Matuska DIPA's, quite happy with their Kozel, Budweiser Budvar and Staropramen.
Or perhaps they'd all shunned beer to quaff cannabis energy drinks instead...

I'd purposely not held my hopes out for snow in the mountains, so as not to be disappointed.  But we'd arrived in Špindlerův with the white stuff falling and the main lifts and slopes open. We hired equipment, brought a 2-day lift pass and enjoyed some time on snowboards on the tree-lined runs.

Slopes.

On the bus journey from Prague, I'd spied a brew pub from the window, just outside the town centre of Vrchlabí.  And I couldn't let it go.

"You got fed up of brew pubs in Prague", Mrs PropUptheBar accurately pointed out.
"But that was four days ago - I'm definitely ready to do more brew pubs now".
Mrs PropUpthe Bar consulted Google maps - "It's not exactly close, it's 13km away".
"Okay, too far.  Doesn't really matter, I'm happy with my Pilsner Urquell."

But setting off in walking boots and woolly hat on a Sunday morning, we came across a trail map and realised that it was quite feasible to follow a route down the valley and come out quite close the the brew pub.  So off we went.

Early stages of our walk.

I wasn't wholly convinced we'd be able to find the right paths and make it all the way to our destination.  And we may just possibly have walked through a bit of the national park that wasn't technically open.  But 5km in, we reached the well walked and skied blue trail which we could follow the rest of the way.

The trail stayed high up on the hillside above the valley road, opening up from the trees to provide some grand views...

Walking in a winter wonderland.

Hitting a bit more civlisation in the form of small mountain villages the final stretch took us quickly downhill to the main road and - five minutes further along the road - there it is ....

Pivovarska Bašta  (Horská 198, Vrchlabi, 543 02 - fb)
Yep, I reckon a 13km walk to the pub showed dogged determination to reach this brewpub.
I wanted a friendly staff member to cheerily welcome me and ask me if I'd come far, but I don't think Czech brewpubs do friendly staff or cheery welcomes.

Turned out not to be an accurate depiction of brewpub clientele.

Beers brewed at Hotel Pivovarska Bašta are badged as Krkonošský Medvĕd.
There were five on the menu, of which we tried three (yes, I know, lame - all this way and we didn't even try all the beers, but we had to drink up to catch a bus back).
All were priced at between 42 and 48czk - £1.45 to £1.55 for a half litre.
'Hopbit 13', a 5.5% ABV India Pale Lager was easily drinkable and tasty, whilst the 'BrutWit IPA' was the most interesting style on this visit.

I'm a sucker for some shiny coppers.

I was feeling pretty proud of myself for getting to this pub.

BUT... snowboarding, mulled wine and Pilsner Urquell send me to sleep straight after dinner each day and I hadn't spent my time doing adequate research.
Later that evening, I found out that we'd been just a short walk away from two more micro-breweries on this trail.  Bah. 

Find a designated driver.

The choice of bars in Špindlerův Mlýn was limited, with the ubiquitous lively igloo bars at the bottom of the slopes, then a lot of places that doubled up as pizzeria's or restaurants rather than drinking spots.

Česká Hospoda - from whence came the Pilsner Urqual picture at the top of the post.

My favourite of the lot was Spindlerovska Hospoda (web), where there were four high tables with stools at them to one side of the room - you could almost pretend you were in Wetherspoons, except you don't generally get the ski-jumping on TV in Wetherspoons.
Here they served up the fine, lesser-seen Budweiser Budvar 'Dunkel' and a reasonable winter lager from Krakonoš - 'Vánočni Speciál 14°'.

Špindlerův Mlýn had been a great base for a few days and leaves me with fond winter memories.

🍻 Na zdraví!