Crawling
I'm not sure if the Barbourne Run is really thing. It might be now that I have blogged it. A random post on FaceBook's Great British Pub Crawl group alerted me to the joys and dangers of pub crawling.
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| Danger, Danger, Pub Crawling |
I've neither 13 mates nor 9 hours, but I am up for a new adventure. I'll make a rule - halves only if it's rubbish beer. Or excessively strong beer. Or Perry. This route has it all.
My start is the Talbot. A Greedy King with only their IPA and the lions rugby on. Let's be positive, it had a nice covered outdoor area and the egg chasers seemed to be enjoying themselves, clapping tries between mouthfuls of full English.
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| Black and White |
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| "Rubbish Beer Rule" put into immediate action |
I felt a little sorry for the Coach and Horses they neither had the rugby on nor any customers. The landlord was watching the world go by, drinking tea outside from a massive Sports Direct sized mug with "Boss" on it. Everyone knows the only people you call boss are kebab shop owners and Turkish barbers. In the town I live in - and I kid you not - these are the same person.
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| Coach and Horses |
Dates from the 1700s and has definitely had a recent makeover. I'm guessing tied somehow to Marstons, so another half of Brooklyn Pilsner.
The Feathers has always intrigued me when driving past, advertising itself as a Live Music and Sports Venue. We're getting to the crux of the Rugby now and a last minute try encouraged exultation. I don't know much about Rugby but I am guessing the Lions adhere to the Arsenal school of coaching. Even I was shouting "shoot".
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| Freehouse |
I learned little from my visit. I could not see where the live music is held. The front room seemed too small. They had no cask on at all, so my pub crawl (so far) has been a cheap day out. To be fair, Cruzcampo is one of the better louts available.
I used to work (could stop sentence here) opposite the Lamb and Flag. At that point in the mid-nineties, it was the very definition of an "Old Man's Pub". Run by an Irish Landlord and I learnt very early on how a Guinness has to be left to "build". Kay's Catalogue only provided 45 minutes for lunch but most Fridays we used to manage three and somehow program in dBaseIII.
It's completely changed now - the two rooms knocked into one and the central bar moved. Still loving nods to the old landlord, with the new owners honouring him with a photo.
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| Lamb and Flag |
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| Best pint of Guinness in Worcester |
This won't be my last visit. The Timothy Taylor Landlord was as good as I have had anywhere. And I have holidayed in Yorkshire.
A couple of old favourites coming up. The Dragon is perfect for a certain type of drinker, myself included. Comfortable, homely, a nice outdoor space and if you want to be reminded of good cheap times a lá Wetherspoons, upstairs toilets.
It's home to Church End Brewery and the ales are always spot on. Today I ventured for the Reset in Peace and sensibly opted for a half. 7% and pub crawls end in the way of the unfortunate gent at the top of the blog.
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| Goat's Milk recommended in Pints |
Directly opposite, Black Country Ales continue their quest for world domination starting from the Midlands. The Saracen's Head recently bought back from the dead, I had seen some quite psychedelic photos posted on Social Media. I can only summise that someone was messing with both filters and my mind.
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| Revived |
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| The BCA Blue Print |
15 (!) real ales on. Too much choice, but two real ciders on hand pull. That's if you can class Bee Sting Perry as a cider. Delicious and dangerous at 6.8%.
Hats off to BCA for keeping the original pub name. They could have pandered to wokery. Worcestershire never forgets a pub name, do we The Bewdley Inn?
To round off the day - a couple without photos. I really like the beer selection in Tonic. Its always changing and usually has a couple of interesting German beers on. Today was no exception. I did not know that Hofbrau do a 3.8% beer. Apparently only in the summertime.
Finally - and only because I had an hour wait for the bus - Weavers have brought their blueprint honed at Kidderminster, Malvern and Stourbridge to Worcester.
I fully expect it to be in the Good Beer Guide when they have passed the necessary probation period.
The bus was on time and I (and my bank account) returned home relatively undamaged.
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