Last day in Scotland, for now. But I’ll be back, I’ll be back, tipping warm beer down the urinal and queueing for fudge doughnuts like the CAMRA hipsters.
For now, here’s some posts from the Cotswolds, rarely a great bet for beer quality if I’m honest, but then the pashminas and corduroys don’t come here for the Bass, do they ?
Actually, they’d only recently left Cheltenham‘s annual horse betting extravaganza (why don’t folk go to Dundee and bet on CAMRA Special Resolutions ?), which meant I had it to myself on a balmy lunchtime. Aparts from the locals letting their dogs attempt to lick me, of course.
It’s one of those English towns you never tire of exploring, always finding new little treasures, which is something you can’t say about Maidenhead.
The last three times here I’ve visited the Sandford (National Pub of the Year, craft), Wild Beer (craft, keg) and the Brewhouse & Kitchen (dishwater, booted out of the Guide), which tells you a lot about the changes in middle-England GBG world.
This year Cheltenham gets an ordinary pub in the Guide, which is about as high a compliment as I can pay.
The Whittle Taps sounded quite crafty, but lunch offers and gentlefolk suggested otherwise.
Of course, you don’t get street dining in Stoke (do you ?), let alone euphemisms like “Light My Rocket“, which I’m told actually means “Light My Rocket” in posh Gloucestershire.
There’s a mix of diners in what used to be a Slug and Lettuce till someone thought that was a new form of hygiene rating. Frankly, the PubCo dining pubs are virtually indistiguishable these days with burgers and loaded fries, pizzas and brownies.
But the Whittle Taps has a curiously Old School beer range (ignore the keg).
Pleasant service, unpleasant R’n’B, dull seating, decent Proper Job (NBSS 3) as you can tell from the lacings.
BRAPA will have much more fun in the Spoons round the corner when he gets to “G” for Gloucs in 2024.
Only the 3 flat whites for me, but the gentlefolk either side were keeping staff fully occupied with bizarre complaints about their steaks, both of which were sent back to the kitchen to be re-cooked. What do people expect for £7.09 ?
retiredmartin 
Where would you rank Proper Job among beers? I love the name. It’s one I hope to sample someday, though I suspect it’s a bit hoppier than the “boring bitter” taste that I admire.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s a bit hoppier than the “boring bitter” taste that we both admire, but quite tasty (beer sommelier term there). If you like Oakham you probably like Proper Job but would be afraid to admit it.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Foreign question day. What is a decent Cotwolds’ beer town?
LikeLiked by 2 people
There isn’t one. Somewhere on the periphery like Banbury would be your best bet.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Spot on.
Cirencester would have been one 15 years ago, but I think both Mudgie and I have been very disappointed there of late.
LikeLike
After reviewing old posts I was thinking Banbury would be the suggestion. It’s too bad there aren’t many options because the area is good for getting to Heathrow.
LikeLike
Oh, I don’t know. We spent a week in Cheltenham not that long ago, and the Montpelier area, with the Rotunda, The Beehive, Harry Cook’s, and so on, was distinctly cheerful.
LikeLike
But Cheltenham isn’t strictly Cotswolds, is it ? Think that’s what Mudgie and I were saying.
LikeLike
No, you can see them though, and people do flock from the hills. Broadway is quite a pubby village, and a good bet during quieter periods for tourism. Then there’s Chipping Campden, Moreton-in-Marsh, etc. The Cotswolds aren’t much of a place for towns per se, however.
LikeLike
There’s Bath, of course. People, including me, often forget that it is in the Cotswolds.
LikeLike
That bit of hazardous warning tape does little to mask what is quite obviously an insurance claim waiting to happen.
Mind you that carpet is even more garish than the warning tape.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not sure a beer range including Proper Job and Purity Ubu really qualifies as “old school”. Now, if you replaced those two beers with Bass and 6X it certainly would be – and Mr Crilley would be happier 😋
LikeLike
Slight irony intended there, though both of those feel like they’ve been around all this century and at least look relatively familiar.
Bass will be cutting-edge by the time LifeAfterFootball has finished his tour of Midlands boozers !
LikeLike
I know that nowadays any beer you’ve actually heard of is “old-school” 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
👍
I feel we need a CAMRA motion to define “old school” at the AGM in York next year.
LikeLike
I’m sure it would be just as straightforward as the attempt to define “real cider” 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hard enough defining “real ale”.
LikeLike
Older school perhaps as both beers have been around for over a decade (probably longer but time becomes less distinct). Ubu is regularly sighted throughout midlands into Worcs and Gloucs. Nothing wrong with the pub but you did well to wring a post out of it (more than I managed).
LikeLike
Yes. I nearly skipped it (and the next) but you never know when I might want to refer back to posts as memory fades.
Purity, Wye Valley. Sharps and St Austell probably pop up more frequently in new Guide entries in the stretch below Brum to Land’s End than any other beers these days.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s true- they have become or are fast becoming (Wye Valley) strong, well established regional brands.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve never understood why Cheltenham was built so far from the railway station but that’s probably why I’ve not been there often.
LikeLike
To keep riff-raff from Staffordshire out.
LikeLike
Probably, but I got into the Cotswold pub there in June 1974 for my first ever pint of Wadworths.
Not long until the 45th anniversary !
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’ll have to have 45 pints of 6x at the Anchor to celebrate. I’ll drive you there if I can blog about it ;-o
LikeLike