Pubs - 5
Good Beer Guide Ticks - #699 to #702
A rich seam of Good Beer Guide Ticking in Chorlton - with 4 entries all a short stagger from each other.
Naturally, the best pint was in a non-GBG entry. I don't write this blog to be contrary. Just to record how I find things. Honest.
Chorlton Tap, Wilbraham Road, Saunter by Wander Beyond Brewing
Directly opposite the tram stop but still an adventure to get to. Four lanes of stationary traffic and safety barriers forcing you to cross where the council dictate.
Its a couple of shops knocked together and a tap room for the Wander Beyond Brewery. A chalk board with many exotic keg lines but I confirm to a sterotype both fitting of age and appearance and go for a cask bitter.
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| You are here |
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| Cask bitter and the promise of food |
More staff than punters on a Saturday afternoon, but they still manage to cock up service dramatically.
The menu more or less sums up in large text what is available to eat. Although for me, for a Full English Breakfast to be re-labbeld "Brunch" it needs to come with chips. These are the rules, founded in Sainsbury's cafes, where the small print for brunch listed all ingredients, along with "discreetly served on one plate".
You cannot order at the bar and have to scan a QR code, pay on-line - including a variety of suggested service charges - and sit back and wait. And wait. And Wait.
I'll spare you a lengthy story and summarise. The Internet is down in the kitchen.
I had a refund. Including service change.
And the cask bitter was far too cold.
Dulcimers, Wilbraham Road, Mosaic, Simcoe, Idaho 7 by Red Willow Brewery
A micro pub of some vintage.... since 2007. Were micros a thing then? Maybe in Kent.
I'd noticed it when plotting my route and it had been mentioned in a couple of on-line Chorlton pub crawl guides.
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| Micro before Micros |
And it was here that I received pint of the day. Red Willow brewery are continuing to impress and this lengthy to pronounce session IPA was in fantastic form.
The Sedge Lynn, Manchester Road, Leffe
An Grade II listed, architecturally stunning JDW that was a former billiard hall for the temperance movement.
I took advantage of their meal deal - even if there was no chicken in a basket available. We'll blame the French.
They also do brunch. And their app works.
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| A beaut of a JDW |
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| Inside and Out |
The Beer House, Manchester Road, Yarn by Salt Brewery
Another micro, with outdoor seating to watch the world go by. When the same father, pushing a pram with a screaming child, walked past me for the third time I had to comment. I think he appreciated my toast and wave of a deliciously thick and gloopy pint, recommended by a knowledgeable bar man.
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| Salt by Yarn - You've seen micro pubs before |
The Font, Manchester Road, Oude Gueze Vieille
The man with the screaming child should have come here. This is more creche than pub - with kids running free all over the shop. I'm starting to get curmudgeonly. I've been listening to the Moon under Water Podcast, where celebrities have to talk for an hour about their dream pub through standard questions. I may as well give my answers;
Two Draughts........ Bathams and Lowenbrau
Two Bottles............ St Bernardus 12 and Kwak
Two Spirits............. Lagavulin 12 and Hendricks
Music..................... Now that's what I call music, 1983
One Wildcard......... Black Country Scratchings
One thing banned... Kids
After confirmation that the price didn't run into double digits, I took my exotic Oude Gueze to the tranquility of a Manchurian main road and awaited Lucy's arrival.
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| A corked bottle |
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