Misleading advertising already. There is no cask at the week old, long-awaited Cambridge BrewDog.
The Nine to Five Wizard sold on the Saturday it came in, or so a delightfully cheery barman told me. That sort of occasional cask availability won’t get BrewDog in the Beer Guide, and I bet the BDs are devastated about that.
Yes, two days in and I’m already veering off the Guide to visit keg bars. Sloppy ticking.
Actually this was just an excuse to get James out of the house in between shifts at Pizza Hut. He’s back at Sheffield Uni next week so he needs feeding up.
James knows about as much about beer as I did at 20, though then it was a choice of Greene King IPA or Snakebite.

Bit different now.

At 20 he can appreciate the styling, and the quality of service, and the video games.

But he’s here because BrewDog run a good diner. Like 5 Guys with craft. They’d hate that description.


I had the spicy salad, washed down with the non-alcoholic Punk IPA, which is at least better than Nanny State, and a Cherry Sour from Connecticut Valley, because #IamCraft.
Three days in, it was interesting to observe the lunch-time custom.
Very mixed.

A chap wearing a leather jacket and not much else came in and asked if they did stout. He was recommended the 9.5% Russian Imperial Stout. He seemed to have about a tenner’s worth of tasters before slipping out. I’ve never seen so many folk asking for tasters. Is this what the world has come to ?
Anyway, magnificent food, setting us up for the cultural bit.

Yes, the tower of St. Mary’s, the college church.


There’s not many places you can climb in Cambridgeshire, one of my main problems with the place, and James had never been up here before.
It’s not Cologne or Ulm, two of many German towers we’ve climbed, but it’ll do.



Not many Cambridge students and residents climb the tower, I think. It’s quite steep.
Unlike the 1830’s, when Cambridge undergraduates in their hundreds stopped halfway to leave some very elegant graffiti in the wood.

Along with the anatomical clock, the Blue, and a Mill Road kebab, this should be on everyone’s Cambridge schedule.
NB Ideas for towers we can climb, before or after a BrewDog burger, more than welcome.
Castle Hedingham? Layer Marney?
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Spectacular views…and not just the Brewdog!!
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That pub looks terrifyingly space age. Like the set of the Crystal Maze. Its all got to be tried but I’m sure I’d find something in Cambridge more to my taste.
Is the market below the tower as good as it looks? I’m going to climb it just to etch the words Allam Out alongside the posh graffiti. I like towers,just as long as I don’t get locked up in one. I suggest the Monument in London as a good value one to climb, although I haven’t a clue whether there is a Brew Dog nearby. I assume there might be some other form of public house available though.
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Yes, the Monument is a good suggestion, Tom. There’s always a Brew Dog nearby.
Is there nothing to climb in Grimsby?
Cambridge Market is quite small and best seen from the Tower. It’s good for Quinoa.
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Tom,
Climb whatever towers you can before you knees fail you.
“Climb every mountain” sang Julie Andrews and that made Scotland popular for the Munros.
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A bit late to this one, but I do know a thing or two about climbing bell towers!
If you haven’t been to the top of Durham Cathedral (325 steps, great view of the Station House) then you’re missing out. No BrewDog though, unless you smuggle your own in.
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Really helpful Chris, will do that when I visit that micro next to Durham Station (oh).
Boston stump is the steepest I’ve climbed, and the parish church in Rye last year was good, but be interested to see a compendium of towers you can climb.
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