Quinno and I pressed on through the mean streets of Bethnal Green,
stopping only to admire Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium. I doubt that Pub Curmudgeon will be relocating from Stockport to Bethnal Green, but E2 has more cat cafes than micro pubs. In fact, it has more Cereal Cafes than micros. #Depraved.
Not a great choice of pubs for Quinno, a strict craft keg man, but the King’s Arms had impressed Mrs RM and me last year, and has one of the great pub doors. We arranged to meet Sir Doris there.
I reckon it’s a lovely pub, not just a hipster den (they’ve all moved on to Brewhouse & Kitchen). On a second visit, with a bit more light, a bit more space, and some prior awareness of the unlabelled handpumps, it just worked. Tables were being wiped regularly, hardly any food served and it has one of those machines on the bar that I presume turns undercooked broccoli into sour DIPAs.
We know a bargain when we see it, and both had the £4 (5.5%) Big Chief.
And, maintaining the standards set at the Dispensary, it was a cool and chewy pint pushing NBSS 4.
Then Sir Doris turned up, bright and cheerful, and started ordering keg. I fear one of them may have been a 6.7% Porter, which was gorgeous.
It was all downhill from there, as I began to imagine a world where Pubmeister actually hadn’t been here and seen the moth collection.
Talking of moths, the MOTH club in Hackney promised greatness,
offered little beer wise,
but delivered a night of neo-punk that BRAPA would have enjoyed.
Sir Doris took the best shots of FiveHead, a sort of wonderful, incoherent mess, and Prolapse, a sort of coherent Fall, so I’ll copy her tweets. Dustbin man (1st tweet) licked Quinno’s shoes. It’s a Leicester thing.
Great day, great night, great company. No new GBG ticks.
“Possibly not technically a moth”
Correct. While they are both of the Insecta Class a moth is of the Lepidoptera Order while the Lantern Bug is of the Hemiptera Order (or so says Wiki). 🙂
“offered little beer wise,”
Well, they covered most of the basics; pale ale, lager, IPA and Stout. 🙂
“He paid £8 for that haircut in Romford market”
I was going to say judging by the hair the experience was *cough* electrifying. 😉
“Dustbin man (1st tweet) licked Quinno’s shoes.”
Something for everyone; half frontal nudity, Dustbin man looks like he’s taking a break from the Broadway play Stomp, and the band itself is bracketed by what appears to be balaclava clad terrorists?
“Great day, great night, great company. No new GBG ticks.”
Three out of four ain’t bad. 🙂
Cheers
PS – “Mrs RM likes beer lisys”
Is lisys one of those newfangled overhopped beers?
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You’re scoring London beer a lot higher than most places this summer. Kind of interesting.
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Sample of two, Dave, both known good pubs. Don’t get excited.
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You had me going back!
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It was indeed the Anspach and Hobday The Porter. There was also a tiny glass some 13% imperial stout which was gorgeous.
Very honoured to have my tweets featured!
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There’ll probably win some sort of annual award too. The video of Dustbin Man was just what I wanted, I’m sure he was licking Quinno’s shoes; hope he doesn’t need therapy.
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” it has one of those machines on the bar that I presume turns undercooked broccoli into sour DIPAs.” Thanks for clearing that mystery up Martin. I always wondered.
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It’s a pleasure. I come from the Fens where we can turn any unloved vegetable into craft beer,
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As I was scrolling down I thought Kevin Rowland was Ivor Cutler.
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You’re absolutely right ! Bit of Gilbert & George, too.
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I’m struggling with the concept of a coherent Fall.
I can only imagine yer man coming out to kick the F out of the bucket, just because.
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That’s it. In a nutshell, Scott.
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Rather like Beermoth in Manchester, the Moth Club is clearly an erroneous name. As Russ points out the Lantern Bug has no place there. On behalf of the mothing community, i register my protest in the strongest possible terms. It’s not so hard- I found a gorgeous Yellow Shell in the toilets of the Bay Horse, Sudbury, presumably attracted by the vinegary beer. Yours A. Mother
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I’ve seen Mother, weirdest film ever made.
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We had a hummingbird hawk-moth in the back garden last year but it didn’t stay long.
Now we’ve got a sparrow hawk gradually making its way through our garden birds but, without half a tin of meat each day, it’s probably got more reason for doing so than the neighbour’s cats.
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Ooh nice sightings. We get a sparrowhawk now and then but it’s not as successful a hunter as yours. Think it’s a young one. Cats and birds certainly don’t mix. I am forever trying to protect our feeders.
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Nice sightings, except that since the sparrow hawk has been about we’ve not seen ‘our’ nuthatch.
The sparrow hawk has had a bird yesterday and another the day before but there’s so little left that we don’t know which ones.
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Interested by the comment ‘not a hipster den’ – can you tell us what a hipster den is and where we can find one?
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Small villages either side of Wetherby.
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no hipsters here mate, they only come out for Clifford Champion Beer Festival – Sat 29th June 2018. Might be worth a ‘Pubs and Beer’ Forum outing. My mate does B & B, only £95 for a double (en-suite of course). The Penguin (Ramada? Whatever it’s current guise is) in Wetherby is only £60 – 65 room only.
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