DECEMBER STOCKTAKE

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I know it’s not the end of December yet, but I won’t be flying back mid-holiday to tick an identikit micro pub in Southport, so I’m calling it (as the Yanks say).

Here’s a couple of extracts from the giant spreadsheet.

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Don’t ask me what it all means.  Basically, I’ve been to about 80% of 4,517 Guide entries (a few have been kicked out already for having less than six beers on), and I need to do another 473 to get to my 90% target. Ho hum.

December can be a cruel month for pub tickers, but 32 new pubs in 12 counties will do me fine.  Finishing GBG chapters for Bucks, the last 3 bits of London, Norfolk, Essex, South Yorkshire, Worcestershire and Berkshire made this a productive month.

If I pretend the Beer Guide stops at Milton Keynes the map of completion looks rosy;

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Anyway, I’m sounding like a Beer Guide obsessive. Talking of which,

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Pint perfection

Clearly meeting Mr Protz, BRAPA and Richard in Sheffield was a highlight only diminished by Coldwell’s photography.  Those pubs were fantastic, a rare occasion when every pint was an NBSS 4 “Mmm, this is great” event.

But I’d done them all before, and so my New Pub of the Month is

“A Room With A Brew” in Nottingham, a micro pub for all ages that sells off its excellent beer for £2 on Sundays so it’s not soup on Wednesday.

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Beer of the Month is Stones Bitter, as modelled here by Mr Protz.

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Sorry, misread my notes. It’s actually Brodie’s Jamaican Stout, which I rated NBSS 4.5 in the Kelham.  Sorry if that sounds like the sort of thing you expect from “Golden Pints”.

 

Most read blog post of the month was Mrs RM’s guest appearance from the Oxford Bar, which may encourage her to start her own. It’s your fault.

 

Best Sam Smiths pub (new category) – the Malt Shovels, Altrincham

 

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Wonderful Sam Smiths

 

 

And last but not least, the best chips, from Charlie’s in Urmston. Better than that turkey sandwich you had yesterday.

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

20 thoughts on “DECEMBER STOCKTAKE”

  1. Yum, yum, pie, chips and gravy. Btw no turkey sandwich has passed my lips, this holiday (as the Americans would say). We dined out (at a relatives) on Christmas day, so no left-over turkey for us.

    There is a large ham to get through though!

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  2. Roast beef ” with all the trimmings ” as we say.
    But I got so pissed on sloe gin and poteen I forgot to eat it on Christmas Day so fried it up with an egg on Boxing Day.
    Or fried slops as the Yanks probably wouldn’t say but would eat.
    ( Our American friends on here are really not taking the bait.I expected a remark about bad teeth and terrible cooking from at least one of them by now. )

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      1. One of them has crooked teeth and likes your food:) The Pint Perfection photo is about as beery as I have seen RM get. Two connoisseurs smelling their pint!

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      4. “The man can pull off a lot of style.”

        To misquote a certain show*;

        ‘A man wears a scarf like that walking down the street you know he’s not afraid of anything’. 🙂

        Cheers

        * – Firefly

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      7. “Has Russ gone undercover?”

        Sigh, not exactly. For some reason some of my posts to Martin’s blog from my desktop browser are going down the memory hole (even though when I try to repost it says I’ve already done that!). So I switched to my phone but forgot to sign in. 🙂

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      11. “Know your place. Above America.”

        In that case I’m above everything; I’ve been to the top of the world (twice!). 🙂

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