Day 2 of the Great Mini Scotland Adventure, and a chance to make an impression on “Argyll & The Isles”, a completely fictional Guide chapter invented by CAMRA to ensure Glasgow only had easy pubs to tick.
Watch me turn that page (largely) pink. Just watch me.
After that Greggs breakfast in Girvan, we took the high road through Kilmarnock, where I looked longingly at a Spoons I should have ticked in 2019 and now found didn’t open till tea-time (11am), past Paisley, and up Loch Lomond into the strange peninsulas near Loch Fyne (named after a popular chain of restaurants without cask).
It’s gorgeous. Misty and mysterious.
In that graveyard is buried the hopes and dreams of the Scottish football team, and next door is Fyne Brewery.
Or is it Farm Brewery, as I discovered in the Fat Cat last week ?
Whatever, it’s the one that does Jarl.
You might have heard of it. Rarely less than excellent, wherever you find it. We tipped up at 11am, just as Mrs RM decided that all Scottish beer was rubbish (come on Mrs RM, only 77.8 % of it according to my stats), and therefore she’d drive me and make up for with wine in the evening.
Thank you, Mrs RM, it was a good decision. Anyway, the Jarl at the tap in a tulip was a cool, foamy 3.5, “enjoyed” in the drizzle under the canvas. Don’t ask what happened to the Heaventeenth.
Is Jarl Scotland’s Landlord, or its Oakham Citra ? Discuss (5 points).
It would not be the last Jarl of the morning, let alone the trip.
retiredmartin 
Is that chapter sponsored by Caledonian MacBrayne?
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CalMac own Scotland, don’t they ?
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Had a laugh at “only 77.8 % of it according to my stats.”
I have my doubts about a bar that has the words CITRUS AROMA permanently etched into its side, but you know me, I won’t be fully satisfied until it’s carved from oak and has been there since 1478. 😉
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Agreed. If I want a citrus aroma, I’ll sniff a Jif lemon or some lemon barley water. I want beer to smell of beer.
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That “citrus aroma” was actually carved in the bar by William Wallace in 1477 after a drunken session at the Fyne tap.
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You can partly blame me for the weird and wonderful Scottish GBG areas, I chaired a group that tried to make geographical sense when the old regions like Strathclyde got scrapped, although I’m pretty sure they’ve moved about again since then.
If you want to do the local equivalent to Landlord, then do head for Orkney and have the same beer in 20 something cask outlets in a confined area. Jarl as Citra might be the better comparison.
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The old regions you talk about Scott, weren’t that old, as if my memory is correct, they replaced the much older, Scottish counties.
I’m sure Mudgie will be able to tell us exactly what happened, and when.😊
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The counties still exist as geographical entities, just not as administrative ones 😀
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They were first elected in 1974, and became active in 1975, perfectly timed for the first appearances of Scottish outlets in the GBG. Never quite sure why they were replaced, can’t personally remember much fuss about them one way or the other. A bit of a palaver when they disappeared in 1996, as some of the pre 1975 boundaries were messed about with.
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That chapter would be a challenge if you had to tick all the breweries too 🏝
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There are more breweries than pubs with good beer (outside the big cities, anyway).
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Jarl, the Prince Of Ales
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Re-instate Clackmannanshire, I say, and Flint (detached). They had proper counties in the good old days.
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Oakham Citra I reckon
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