WARNING : CONTAINS CRAFT
5pm on a Friday night on the mean streets of central Aberdeen.
Mrs RM was still turning the University IT off and on again, I was lugging around my overnight bag (mainly phone rechargers), and I had no new GBG ticks to do, unless I jumped on the ferry to Orkney. Wish I had now.
Time for the Craft run for which the Granite City is world famous.
They’ve even produced a little leaflet (top). In kilometers !
In the suburbs you get your basic Tennent’s boozer, in the heart of Union Street you get the Victoriana, and The Grill.
In the West End you get Swizzels.
And Swizzels flavoured DIPA sours, probably.
I would have started at the chain that invented craft, but the queue for Tennent’s in the Archibald Simpson stretched to the door.
The queues were no easier in the Brew Dog over the road.
Nowhere to it to enjoy the Draught Bass Off Duty Clown,
so I turned A Different Corner and popped in Fierce.
Good grief ! Can you tell the difference ?
I won’t lie, I was missing Mrs RM, she’d have done this justice. Sipping a lovely half of Late Shift (as a homage to Mrs RM’s IT efforts) on my own wasn’t the same, however good the beer.
No cask, of course, ugh!
But there was cask in the next one, despite the big red T and the Brew Dog ownership of the Draft House aka Hop & Anchor.
When I left Aberdeen in Spring this place was just about to open.
It was a tad quieter than Fierce and the Dog, but ticking over and with a wide range of punters who’d nabbed the comfy chairs, leaving me a high table.
Excitingly, the cask from Stewart was also under £3 a pint on days with a y in them, and was certainly GBG standard (rich, smooth, NBSS 3). But the squid was the highlight, as so often.
That, and the men’s toiletries, the best range I’ve ever seen. No Brut though.
I’ll be gutted if it isn’t in GBG21, hopefully shutting the day BRAPA arrives in town.
retiredmartin 
Deep fried Swizzels ?
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Kilometres and craft. A post for Mudgie?
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Our next old codgers day out.
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Before or after Shifnal ?
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After. Next day.
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Sadly the “craft kilometer” was out of date within a month or so of publication when Brewdog#3 opened, followed by the Hop & Anchor and then an upmarket West End place that I’ve never worked up the enthusiasm to head towards.
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What is it with these people queing in pubs? It’s the only thing the British don’t queue for!
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I’m glad you didn’t decide to have a pint in all six “craft beer kilometre” bars. Best to leave such shenanigans to Simon.
That photo of the cask you ordered is that rarest of rare things on the RetiredMartin blog: a beer with no lacings whatsoever! Are you sure it wasn’t a glass of apple juice? 😉
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I know my place in the League Table of Competitive Drinking 😱
Good spot on the (lack of) lacings. The beer was drawn direct from the barrel rather than handpumped. Paul will be able to explain 😉
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Lacings are an unnatural Northern phenomenon caused by aerating beer with a sparkler.
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Unnatural sounds bad. Is it bad.
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Good beer no more needs lacings than a proper woman needs make up.
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Your “Thought For The Day”.
We will discuss further in Shifnal on the 22nd.
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Any well-conditioned beer should have a little froth from natural carbonation and leave at least a trace of lacings no matter how it’s dispensed, assuming clean glassware.
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EP,
Yes.
Unless beer has gone totally flat, in the sense of having lost all condition, it will have a trace of lacings no matter how dispensed.
The trouble is that nowadays too many drinkers judge beer by its appearance, a lifeless beer thrashed through a sparkler looking good but an excellent pint served by gravity despite being full of condition looking flat and therefore not good.
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You’re right as usual.
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Yes, I’d rather have an excellent but flat pint than a rubbish one that looks good.
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