Pretty much zero interest in these foreign posts, of course.
“When you going to report on the uncontacted peoples of east Goole ?” you ask.
or
“Go back to finding pubs closed. We like that.”
or
“But did you find any cask in Romania ?”
Oh, yes. On the last night of our mammoth two night trip.
First though, more craft.
No, not Bastards Club, sadly.
No, a place called “The Urbanist” where you sit in wicker rocking baskets and sip beers called Crowd Control out of oversized jam jars while listening to bubbling house music. It make Brew Dog Shoreditch seem like a Stockport Sam Smiths.
We particularly admired the slightly rude looking pot plants.
Obviously, Mrs RM chose this (over Mikkeller), mainly as it was selling skate gear out the back and huge chocolate cake at the bar. Deptford will look like this next year.
On to Craft & Draft, whose sign I rather liked, though it was a bit refectory and high tables compared to the Urbanist.
Again, an entirely Romanian crowd paying £3-4 for their local (and excellent) craft, slightly more for their burgers. Mrs RM and I shared one, not being greedy.
And there were loads of places like that, as well as some more garish places heading back toward the seedy bit (the Old Town is tiny).
“Go in there” said Mrs RM, as we passed 100 Beers.
I didn’t want to; places called 100 beers are normally just imported mainstream bottles.
“You know you want to“. I sort of did.
And there they were. Two handpumps; the one you may have guessed and the Ouster Stout you didn’t.
And they were playing Echo & The Bunnymen (“Back of Love“, Mark).
I wanted to sit at the bar and watch the drama of the pour, but Mrs RM had already gone off down the corridor to the seating area, beers to follow.
The corridor led to a couple of drinking areas full of students with pints, It felt a bit like one of the old bars near Liverpool’s Wig Wam, or anywhere in Dusseldorf. Quite pubby.
I’ve mentioned the liberal application of 500ml measure in Romania. Here’s my stout. I’d had a bit, to be fair. If this had been the Bull’s Head in Manchester I’d have scored it NBSS 3. Not that it would be called Oyster Stout, of course.
Two locals were having an earnest discussion about 18th century peasant poetry, which I interrupted to ask the immortal question.
“Excuse me, is the Pride drinking well“
“Yes”
retiredmartin 
I would jump at that stout, too!
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Was the Pride drinking well ?
And is it a beer that travels well ?
For the last couple of years I’ve only Marstons Oyster Stout on keg.
Silly me, I should have been looking a bit further afield.
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You really need to get out and about more, Paul, visit a few pubs.
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Time to throw a spanner in the works. Is that Oyster stout actually cask? Looks suspiciously nitro to me and I don’t recall it being available in cask. You can do more with an Angram and a non return valve than serve warm, flat pong, as Cookie would say…
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I spilt some on my jeans. I’ll get it analysed by the Cask Validation Team at St Albans. #22.4%
Frankly, I had the Stout under sufferance. Mrs RM had the local IPA on tap, which I preferred.
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I hardly ever come across cask outside the UK. Sometimes there’s a handpump only for there to be a tap underneath fizzing out some over priced home brew. Bottle conditioned beer, on the other hand, is available in many countries.
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Dunno. The Oyster Stout was creamy but I’d believe it was cask, but then I don’t really care about cask/keg/nitro distinctions. The difference between flat Bass in the Star and banked Bass in the Sun, both cask, is night and day.
I definitely had Brew Dog Alice Porter on cask in Brescia 4 years ago, and Milan had some cask as well.
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But
(a) It was “beers to follow” and you didn’t “watch the drama of the pour”,
(b) Kegs are in the background behind that London Pride handpump,
(c) Keg “Unfiltered” London Pride is on in most Fullers pubs alongside the cask,
(d) For the last couple of years I’ve only seen Marstons Oyster Stout on keg,
(e) Romania might not have a Trading Standards Department,
(f) Fake handpumps might be commoner abroad than in Britain,
(g) Something that looks too good to be true invariably is too good to be true,
(h) That bar isn’t in the GBG.
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Trading Standards and regulation are overrated, apparently.
Point h) is key.
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Now if it had been so bad you poured it into a plant pot you’d know for sure it was cask. Pride is probably the most common cask to head into Europe,but the stout does seem a bit unlikely.
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Good point. I suspect those weirdly shaped pot plants in The Urbanist had seen some Scottish cask.
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I’d say that the pot plant has all the qualifications necessary, for membership of the ERG.
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I’d say you’re trying just a little too hard this week.
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As you once said prof, everyone loves a trier.
But you never did answer my query about Florida, and I was really interested to know.
That was, did Mr. Trump also threaten to withhold federal money to them on account of their hurricane unpreparedness, as he did to California over the wildfires and their forestry?
If not why not?
But back on topic, I’m surprised by the prices in Romania TBH. I understood that a major reason for which our fellow European Romanians flocked to the UK was because of the exchange rate, and this would suggest that – post June 2016 at any rate – some things at least cost about the same.
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I’m always surprised that places never seem really cheap any more. That said, we spent under £150 over 3 days so with flights, parking and hotel all-in it was still under £400 for a good short break.
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And that £150 included an Aimful Picker (anag) ?
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This may be an odd question (most of mine are) but do you know how this whole “The Pride’s drinking well” thing came about? As far as I can tell, it’s a phrase reserved solely for London Pride, and if so, I can’t help wondering if it originated in an ad campaign or something.
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I suspect it was esteemed ale sommelier and award winning beer writer S, Everitt Esq.
(I don’t know. I may ask Boak & Bailey).
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“The Pride’s drinking well today” as an advertising campaign would have seen London Pride outselling Doom Bar by now but, no, it was the unsolicited advice given by an elderly CAMRA member to one of Tim’s younger customers pondering what to buy while stood at the bar of the Horsham venue.
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I like the familiarity, with the use of “Tim” alone.
It reminds me of jazz enthusiasts when I was at UCL, who used to say “Yeah, I like that bit too. Ornette sometimes does that when the mood takes him”
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#FACT
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Etu,
Maybe it’s that Tim is my middle name or that, within three days, he’s the same age as me or that I’ve seen him in Liverpool and Wolverhampton.
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I genuinely liked it Paul, whether quaint or not.
As you would expect, I may opt to vary, when that name is “Nigel”, however.
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“No, not Bastards Club, sadly.”
I bet they have some really great names for beers in there!
“a place called “The Urbanist””
Don’t they also sell clothes?
“Weird”
That left knee looks dodgy. 🙂
“Mrs RM on her phone”
Probably ticking off another country. 🙂
““Excuse me, is the Pride drinking well“”
Ah. That explains the title. When I first read it I thought there was a magical well full of London Pride where you dipped the bucket in to get some to drink. 🙂
Cheers
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Last line made me laugh !
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🙂
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