It’s a long while since I went in a McMullens pub, and the Cambridge branch of Baroosh probably wouldn’t pass the Proper Pub test, anyway.
I much enjoyed Alec Latham’s gorgeous post on McMullen AK recently. So much so that I’d been looking for an opportunity to have a pint, even if it wasn’t in a Beer Guide pub and was on (cover your ears) cask breather.
So it was that on a wet Easter Saturday I headed to Buntingford, home of the strongest team in the Herts Senior County League.
A pre-match pint and a salt-of-the-earth scrap against mighty Lemsford sounded appealing. Sadly, the curse of the waterlogged pitch struck, the footballing equivalent of the closed micro pub.
Bunts, as no-one calls it, is an unpretentious town only weighed down by its proximity to Stevenage.
It’s had a fair share of earthy pubs in recent Beer Guides.
Sadly neither the Countryman or Brambles (both BBB strongholds) were taking advantage of potential Easter Saturday custom, which says a lot about the strength of the pub trade in 2018. The problem isn’t keg.
But some pubs were packing them in at lunchtime.
The Black Bull is what you’d call a typical market town locals pub, something Hertfordshire does rather well.
My vast GBG spreadsheet tells me I’ve never been here before, but I reckon I had one of those pub-ready Baltis which were all the rage for 6 weeks in 1992 here once.
It’s a pub full of locals, but I get the welcome you hope for in a pub;
“Hi ya !”
rather than,
“Yes ?” or “Will you be dining with us ?“.
There’s a cheery family of ten, all perched along one bench, watching Benteke miss a host of chances for Palace v Liverpool.
So I sit well away from the telly, and enjoy a frankly gorgeous creamy pint of AK with that touch of straw I still like.
If it is served under cask breather, I wouldn’t know the difference. I’d also say it tastes exactly the same as it did in the Farriers Arms in St Albans 20 years ago.
One of the Welsh dads was imploring Milner to hoof it up to Salah (see, I’m not bitter). If it ever got in the Beer Guide, I can see BRAPA being torn on this one; both very pubby and overrun by children playing with tinny toys..
The pub is clean (the barmaid clearing the tables of crisps when it’s quiet) and modernised with sensitivity, a bit like a Joules pub. The food trade is unobtrusive and simple, but mostly seems to be serving chips.
A bit of a throwback to a simpler time, and so good that I have to stay and enjoy another pint of AK, if only to admire these lacings.
So there is life outside the Beer Guide, and McMullens AK can be as good a drinkers’ beer as it ever was. Not that you’d know that reading Discourse.
retiredmartin 
To follow up on a string from Paul’s site, if pubs that served good beer like this one were included in the GBG, how many entries would likely be in the guide? I mean pubs that regularly server quality real ale, but get excluded by the selection process due to count restrictions. The guide would just include all of them if they make the grade. What count do you think that would be?
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You’ll sometimes see bubbles on the inside of your glass with cask breathers – excess carbonation coming out because it doesn’t have the same opportunity in the glass.
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“One of the Scouse dads was burping loudly to impress his young daughter” –This line is both funny and somehow rather beautiful, I thought. An honest, specific moment of real life, captured. 🙂
I liked how you described that “touch of straw.” I’m not sure I’ve encountered that before, but there is something nice about a quirky little extra taste that you get with some beers. I feel like I’ve tasted something almost faintly metallic in certain beers, but in a way that was pleasing, if that makes any sense.
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I come across a few traditional bitters with a straw like taste, not unpleasant. John Smiths has that metallic taste, again one I like.
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I love it but as for the family of ‘Scousers’ are actually from Caernarfon North Wales. Plus ‘The Dad burping was infact the Uncle’ im the father and im from Buntingford find this very rude as im sure you need permission to put photos up?????
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Sorry I’ve taken it down. And apologies for mistaking proper Welshmen for Merseysiders. Only went to Caernarfon last month, great place 👍
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With regards to the title; at first I thought you’d made a typo (A OK as opposed to AK OK), the I realised they have a beer called AK. Too bad they didn’t add the number 47 after it. 🙂
“Timber”
Phew! Good thing you didn’t put an exclamation at the end of that. Being from Canada I would’ve assumed it was falling down (a la lumberjack stuff). 😉
“(see, I’m not bitter)”
Well of course not; you had the AK. 🙂
Cheers!
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The origin of the name “AK” is one of the more interesting debates in the beer world.
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AK 47 actually comes from the average number of pints sunk in a session in 1973.
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There’s a beer that sums up much of what is wrong with Camra. The epitomy of good, British traditional cask beer, cast aside for railway arch grapefruit juice. Makes me wonder what all the fuss about keg was when there’s fantastic beer from family brewers being ignored because of the new shiny stuff, brewed by a hipster who did a week at Brewlab. I could go on…
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Oh, do…
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” railway arch grapefruit juice.”
That’s another new one for me that I like.
You have such erudite correspondents on your blog young Martin.
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Feeling very sleepy this morning I read that as crudites.
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The railway arch is a special variety derived to be used by hipster brewers who will only use locally sourced ingredients.
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That sir, Mr ElectricPics, is the best comment I’ve read on any beer blog ever..
You should join fellow-travellers on the Beer and Pubs Forum 😉
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Yes, he really should. The initiation ceremony is relatively painless.
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Pah,French muck.
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I went out of my way to do four McMullens pubs when i did a pub crawl round Hitchin last year all well worth the walk as i like McMullens beers, now done over 70 pubs in their tied estate.
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70 McMullen pubs must be a record ! Their pubs are good pleasant pub, and I’ve always liked their beer. Not many great pubs, though.
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I am not that bothered about great pubs.
I have always found McMullens pubs to be comfortable and smart inside, some may say a bit twee, but i like twee.
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I do like great pubs, even if I’m the only one who thinks they’re “great”. I think Crafty Crow in Nottingham is a great pub, but I couldn’t tell you why.
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I have been in the Crafty Crow about six times four times with my wife.
I do not rate the pub, not that comfortable and it has a cold feel to it with it having a modern look.
I would have thought the only reason to go there is for the choice of beer as they have loads of pumps on the bar.
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It would be a dull world if we all liked the same pubs, Alan ! What is your favourite Nottingham pub ?
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