Day 2 in Wales, and the first of four (4) pints of Bass in 24 hours.. Sadly, two of them were to be denied me in my role as DES to the evil Pubmeister.
Ah, Beaumaris. Poshest place on Anglesey and childhood home of Wayne Hennessey, which is something the local TIC have so far failed to capitalise on.
Instead they bang on about the Menai view and the castle, which I suspect will detain young BRAPA even less (or is it fewer ?) than they detained me.
The Castle Court, new to the GBG this year, wasn’t bad. The Salopian Gold scored 1.5, no, 2.5, actually it’s a 3. Odd that.
A pubby atmosphere, a clutch of regulars clustered at the bar (a Welsh speciality, it seems), and were unavoidably drawn to the World Cup (boo, USA, boo).
“Good save, mate !” said one. Women’s football has arrived you know.
Having travelled to a new country, I checked WhatPub.
“Draught Bass” it said for the Bull. Well, what would you do ?
You may have noticed that my normal “Wow” moment is a scruffy boozer full of Hi-Vis, high drama and low prices, but the OBH was the exact opposite to that.
Quite a history here; Dickens and Dr Johnson stayed, possibly not on the same night. But I care little for that, or the £130 a night rooms named after Dickensian characters (Uriah Heep, presumably).
No, it’s the faded refinement I immediately love, a rare middle-class drinking house not given over entirely to pheasant pie. Not dissimilar to the Queen’s Head in Newton if I’m honest.
Enjoy the thrill of seats where your feet actually touch the floor.
It looked like the Cask Marque certificate had just expired, so I knew I’d get a good pint.
But would that be Draught Bass ?
High drama at the bar, where an order for two pints of Bass and a G & T hits the rock.
“THE BASS HAS GONE!” says the IT consultant, rather overdramatically, even though it is Bass.
“What’s so good about Bass ?” says the lady.
“Ahem, if I might interject at th”
“You’ve never had Bass !!!. If I ever need a blood transfusion they should just pump Bass straight in“.
“It’s virtually compulsory to drink it in here from eighteen”
“Eighteen ? Twelve more like“*
It takes ten minutes to change the barrel, another five to get my pint.
Could it be as good as they think it is ?
Almost. Magnificently creamy, NBSS 3.5+. Grief, Wales, what are you doing to me ?
Almost as excitingly, a bout of beer boring had broken out to my right.
“Have you tried Citra ? Have a smell. It’s…very…flowery”.
Wonderful free entertainment and a marvellous pub. Not in the GBG, of course.
*Spoiler: You don’t get banter like this in New York.
retiredmartin 
Wales or New York, I know what I would choose. Wait, I did, I have never been to New York City.
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“Dickens and Dr Johnson stayed”. Charles D got about a bit. He went to Brighton’s Royal York Hotel where I stayed last weekend.
That “Canister Draught Worthington E” sign with the rare usage of an old name for “keg” is proper old and definitely NOT from that factory in Wrexham.
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He was a ticker.
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We missed a good one not visiting the Bull when we were there. Chose Unicorn in the George and Dragon. Great beer but the pub is nothing compared to the Bull in your photos.
Side note. Those female footballers are the best thing we have going! In many ways not just football. Go go Rapinoe. A woman for the ages.
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She’s brilliant, isn’t she. The second goal was a great hit.
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A real no nonsense person. Very articulate and able to put our idiot into a box. Good footballer too:)
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Loved this phrase: “a scruffy boozer full of Hi-Vis, high drama and low prices”
So that pint of Bass you had would have been from a newly opened barrel; am I right that that sometimes affects the taste? Or is it down to the bar staff knowing how to pull things through properly?
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I never really thought about how the pull affected the beer till the tour guide at Banks’s brewery did it perfectly.
New barrel normally good but complex I think. Would certainly be worse at the end.
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Great stuff 👍 proper pubbery…is Citra aware his beer is “flowery?”
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“No, £130 not the price of a pint in Beaumaris”
I thought it was the price to purchase the pub. 😉
“Micropub protected by moat”
That’s one way to keep the ‘tickers’ out.
“1,938 people hiding from me”
Is that from that Monty Python sketch?
“The Salopian Gold scored 1.5, no, 2.5, actually it’s a 3. Odd that.”
Got better as you sipped?
“(boo, USA, boo).”
Me darling mum is in full agreement.
“Nice lacings”
There’s been a few of those lately.
“Enjoy the thrill of seats where your feet actually touch the floor.”
Or at least the carpet. 🙂
“It takes ten minutes to change the barrel, another five to get my pint.”
Phew! For a second I’d thought they’d run out completely!
“Not in the GBG, of course.”
Sigh. Of course.
“*Spoiler: You don’t get banter like this in New York. ”
Brooklyn can be quite entertaining. 🙂
Cheers
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15 minutes without Bass. I’ll take it off the permanent list.😉
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