On to my last Lincolnshire Beer Guide pub, always a bittersweet moment. Something to do with the diacetyl, I guess.
Not a great county, for pubs or beer, but that’s not really the point of all this, is it ?
In Lincolnshire, it’s often about windmills.
This is Burgh-le-Marsh, a pretty village 5 miles and 5 billion light years from bracing Skegness, which I so enjoyed last year.
It’s now bypassed, so greebos from Grantham don’t stop and litter kebab wrappers on their way home from the coast at weekends, leaving Burgh bucolic.
I wasn’t exactly mown down in the rush for the Bell Hotel.
So what gets the Bell in the beer Guide, when, say, Manchester’s Hare & Hounds isn’t.
Perhaps it’s the George Formby night.
Or the ultra-rare pool/darts/jukebox combo.
Or the excellent collections of charity boxes.
Or the extensive range of beers brewed under a Skegness railway arch.
You can imagine how thrilled I was to see a lone XB handpump, though if I’m honest there’s been a few too many tired pints of Batemans over recent years. It was good in the Brewery Centre, mind.
And it was good here too, cool and fresh (NBSS 3+). And only £3, so a nice symmetry.
The Landlord was a jolly type, astonished I’m come from Cambridge on a Sunday just to visit his pub. Wait till Duncan turns up. The lovably nosey locals will be entranced.
With the bypass meaning little passing trade, and a taxi from Skeggy costing £15, trade comes late (10pm late) and locally.
The Landlord told us to expect a regular on the dot of 5pm for his pint of XB and packet of dry roasted.
On the dot.
retiredmartin 
Hope the beer was cheap with a head on it like that, but then I am a bitter and twisted southerner.
LikeLiked by 1 person
£3 a pint !
LikeLike
Bargain.
LikeLike
A pub with a Sooty charity box is always a winner in my book 😀
Are those two different-coloured XB pumpclips?
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think they’re the same, just different shade and angle. If you want to see the same beer with different pump clips, there’s a Youngs pub in Bristol near the Cathedral with 4 Bitter pumps spanning the ages.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not a huge fan of Batemans beers (the Dark Mild excepted), but I can forgive them absolutely every chewy bittersweet pint for putting ‘craft brewers since 1875’ on the glassware.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The Dark Mild is the only one I’ve seen in a Spoons, and that was probably Grantham which is a high volume cask outlet. I reckon Batemans, along with Elgoods, Arkells and others, have seen a sharp downturn in average turnover per pump this century. Wonder why ?
LikeLike
Do you ever find yourself wanting to like a regional brewery’s beer so much that you convince yourself to like it? I have an affinity for brewers like Batemans and am often favorable towards their beers. Kind of a weird backwards prejudice…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I guess so, probably more that I’m keen to find out if I can still find a good Bateman/6X/Arkells in a pub with high turnover.
In 1997 I had a pint of XB in the Horse & Trumpet in Medbourne, Leics that was nirvana, NBSS 5 stuff. Never got anywhere near since, though I think the Bateman pub at the south wall in York is reliable.
LikeLike
See Donnington.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll leave Donnington to you if you don’t mind, Mudgie !
LikeLike
The Yella Belly is ohhhhhh-k-ish, but since the Hand & Heart was demolished in Stamford I have almost no reason to avoid their beers round here anymore.
LikeLike
Good point. Stamford would definitely have had some high volume pubs selling family brewery beers 15+ years ago.
Boston had some basic XB strongholds years back too.
Genuinely intrigued to know if there’s any Lincolnshire pub selling more than, say, 50 pints of XB a day.
LikeLike
One ale on and it tastes good …you might be on to something here…less is more the 2019 mantra
LikeLiked by 2 people
“Something to do with the diacetyl, I guess.”
(slow golf clap)
Well done. A bitter beer with the buttery flavour from the diacetyl. 🙂
“Craft buried here”
Blimey. Looks like the setting of a zombie movie or some such.
“How the residents want it”
All that’s missing is some tumbleweeds.
“Note proper street bench seating”
And Batemans! I have a soft spot for them from Michael Jackson’s Beer Hunter series.
“Or the ultra-rare pool/darts/jukebox combo.”
Could be tricky on a busy night.
“National and local charities a good sign”
Shouldn’t the blindness bear be wearing dark glasses?
“Or the extensive range of beers brewed under a Skegness railway arch.”
Pfft. Arch? It’s all railway crossings around there. 😉
“Wait till Duncan turns up. The lovably nosey locals will be entranced.”
Or wait till Si shows up!
“The Landlord told us to expect a regular on the dot of 5pm for his pint of XB and packet of dry roasted.”
I can relate to that.
Cheers
PS – “but I’ve got touse the photo”
Is ‘touse’ some sort of slang? 😉
LikeLike
It’s French Russ. Aren’t you all part French or summat 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
True but for us it’s Quebecois French, not that hoity toity Parisienne French. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person