21/03/22 - The Good Beer Guide Pubs of Warwick

Are these the best pubs in Warwick?  CAMRA think so.

Good Beer Guide Ticks - #786 to 789

Enough Good Beer Guide Pubs in Warwick to justify letting the train take the strain for the latest leg of the Centenary Way. 10 miles walked in sub zero temperatures and I am ready for refreshment.

The Old Post Office just outside the West Gate City walls is the first port of call.

Micro Pub Ahoy!

It's a micro, where they haven't spared a penny in trawling bric a brac shops for furnishings. The theme? Mounted heads. The quirky - comedy false legs breaking through ceilings.

Boars, Rabbits, WWI German Fighter planes.  A leg.

All these nick nacks are designed to take your mind off the pricing structure. Have I really just paid £6 for a 4.2% Keg Salt brewery Jute? 

It would appear so and this seems expensive when compared with the higher ABV and not insignificantly cheaper cask.

Keep it simple.  All keg - even Irish Stout - is a whopping £6

Just around the corner lies the Four Penny Pub, a Georgian building with an unusual name.  It comes from the cost of a coffee and tot of rum charged to the C19th Navvies building the Grand Union Canal, undercutting the competition by 50%.

Source of the name determined

A pleasant enough pub, with a front drinking room, an elevated narrow bar and a back room setup for dining. The customers in front of me asked for a menu, so it seemed a good place for lunch. If the competitive pricing cut still extends, other Warwickshire restaurants charge £35 for steak and chips. With exploding tomatoes on the vine.

A rarely seen Hobson's Postman's Plum Porter inoffensively not offering the challenge I usually find imbing a Titanic.

There's usually a joker in the pack of any CAMRA Pub Crawl and Warwickshire's entry is The Oak. The only new addition in the last couple of editions.  I didn't check, pre-plague.

What to make of a rough around the edges pub that you need to keep your eyes peeled to spot.

Brave advertising.  Its -2 and foggy.

If it wasn't for the recommendation, I wouldn't have considered it a source of comfort and quality real ale. Through the door and met with bright lights and a cacophony of noise, where a jukebox is vying with BT Sport to scramble your brains.

To a man - and they are all men - everyone is on Carling.  A St Austell Tribute was hardly likely to get the pulse racing but it was in decent condition. Enough to convince the Warwickshire Beards to add some variety to Warwickshire County town. 

Carling A-Plenty

File under outlier.

The pick of the bunch - and handiest for the railway station - to either make your escape or herald your arrival - is the Wild Boar.  A tap room for the previously unknown (to me) Slaughterhouse brewery.

End of Terrace Boozer

At last, some comfort. Proper pub seating next to a coal fire. I was able to remove my mittens.

Friendly owner, asking after my day, friendly punters also engaging and a pub dog that sits on the windowsill, keeping guard over the Warwickshire cats.  Like Daily Mail Royal observers, he hates the gingers.

The craft (and ABV) has gone up to £6.50 and 6% but I also tried Poking the Bear, a decent in-house brewed Blonde.

Heat.  Northern Monk New World IPA.... Bliss.

The next leg of the Centenary Way takes me to Leamington Spa.

They too have enough boozers to warrant another train trip.

Tune in next month for a comparison.