SULBY HITS ME WITH ITS BEST SHOT

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Next up, my last Isle of Man GBG tick !  As long as that new law preventing micro pubs and gastro-taps is enacted at the next Tynwald, I should be fine for a few Guides now (famous last words).

Last up was the Ginger Hall , a real TipTop TT pub.

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As you can see, it’s not a gastro pub.  The Isle of Man would be high on any list of GBG “counties” with a low gastro, high Proper Pub quotient.

Sadly it was a bit quiet for a Saturday lunchtime.

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Classic pub seating. Just add customers

Several highlights here.

  • The epic collection of collection boxes, with the one for failed craft microbreweries sadly out of sight.
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How do you choose where to put your Manx pennies
  • A classic Castletown Ales mirror on a bar that simply wowed.
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Rare absence of Okells.  Oh, actually it’s hiding
  • The Two Pauls – Merson and Gazza on the telly entertained us all royally, even though we couldn’t understand a word Merse said.
  • Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” brought us firmly into the ’80s (a great place to be says someone who comments on this blog regularly).

Martin (2) became over-excited when he spotted Landlord, but that was more because the guest beer was hidden than because it was exotic Tim Taylors.  Mind, that was possibly the rarest guest beer we saw all trip, setting aside the Doom Bar of course.

Anyway, £2.75 a pint for the Bushy’s house beer, which was OK, even though it was clearly the first (and perhaps only) pint of the day.

And with that, the Isle was finished.

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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.

15 thoughts on “SULBY HITS ME WITH ITS BEST SHOT”

  3. “a real TipTop TT pub.”

    I had to look up TT. (blush)

    “Sadly it was a bit quiet for a Saturday lunchtime.”

    They’re all waiting for the racing to start. 🙂

    “How do you choose where to put your Manx pennies”

    Surely that’s where they keep them when not in use by the pumps.

    “on a bar that simply wowed.”

    Were you allowed to order a yard of ale? (I spy it at the top right)

    “And with that, the Isle was finished.”

    Well done!

    Cheers

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  5. Congratulations on completing the island! Among the more pleasant completions you’ve done, I gather.

    I will always have a soft spot for the 80s, but I confess teenage me regarded Pat Benatar as being in the “enemy mainstream camp.” Not sure my opinion has changed all that much in the intervening decades! She delivered some good tunes though, it can’t be denied. 🙂

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  6. What a fantastic pub, limited choice, beer only alright and no customers (on a Saturday dinner time???). No wonder it is in the GBG. Mind you with a population equivalent to a small town (appx. 87k), yet having a whopping 28 GBG slots to fill, the IOM will have to put a load of crap in just to use their allocation up. Yet again, for me, this raises the question of whether the GBG is fit for purpose and in urgent need of a review, nay complete overhaul, of the allocations and the whole shitstem of qualification.

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    1. Mr Meanwell it should be, readers. Just for context, the beer in Sulby was better than some of the stuff served up on a busy sunny Sunday the other month in central Leeds (pop about a billion plus Sir Geoffrey).

      IoM beer quality is more consistent than almost anywhere, based on my scores. 28 pubs for 87k is a bit generous, mind.

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      1. I will even offer to revise the system and edit the guide for them. Can’t remember where it is? Tyneside or Northumbria draw up a list from members nominations and then they go out on an unannounced day trip and score all the pubs using the same scoring system as used for CAMRA Regional & National POTY. The scoring system is clear and unambiguous and that way only the pubs/bars/micros/brewery taps attaining the standard are included. Big job to do Nationwide but it would be a better GBG for it. Remember, one of the criteria equates to CAMRA friendliness and the promotion (not discounts) of CAMRA – posters, leaflets, branch mags, etc.

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      2. The allocations between branches isn’t right. It hasn’t been right for as long as I can remember and I’ve no reason to believe that it will ever be corrected.
        The biggest problem with the book though is members voting pubs in on choice rather than on quality. The several pubs in a branch with the highest votes are those several pubs that have each got several beers on and there’s no way that every one of those several beers is better than the two superbly kept cask beers of a pub that has few votes and therefore no chance of getting in.

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  8. “one of the criteria equates to CAMRA friendliness and the promotion (not discounts) of CAMRA – posters, leaflets, branch mags, etc.” – but surely that’s for Pub of the Year, not the Good Beer Guide.

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