retiredmartin

November 2023. Morton. Notts.

Slow progress through the new Beer Guide this year, but without the pressure of completion it’s like being “Sherpa” Tenzing after climbing Everest*, happy to tick castle mounds in Essex for the rest of his life.

I ticked my penultimate Nottinghamshire newbie just downstream of Newark, a brisk walk from Fiskerton.

Most of you know that the river leading from Newark towards Nottingham was actually created by an impromptu loo break by Simon in 2018. Luckily it didn’t flood the ornate gardens and topiary of Morton, a village that is unexpectedly smarter than its Scottish namesake by the Clyde.

The Full Moon is one of the hardest pubs I’ve ever had to write 300 words about.

I bet Simon will arrive (by raft) on a Friday party night and find it buzzin’. Blimey, he could turn up on my birthday (22 December, book the day off) for “an evening of cheek and charm” ! I haven’t had an evening like that since 1987.

You’ll recognise the pub style immediately.

Low tables all set for dining,

a few high tables for drinkers. I can’t tell you whether there were any of either as I was there at 11:30, and when I complimented the landlady on an early opening she delightedly told me they’d been open for an hour !

It’s often the smarter pubs that do open earliest, even if they look staggered to see you.

I enter to the sound of said landlady singing Hall & Oates;

a good start, and even better awaits at the bar.

She apologises that the guest beers (the ones that get a village dining pub in the GBG, presumably) are still being pulled through, but the Landlord is fine, because,

a) they’ve got that Tim Taylor Club plaque on the door and I’m a sucker for that and b) the Landlord test is still the best measure of beer quality.

And it was fine; creamy and rich, if a bit thin (NBSS 3+).

Perhaps it would have been even better if I’d tipped, but a pint was a fiver. EDIT : It was topped up without asking !

Not one for the conversationalist, and not a lot to prompt a conversation on the wall,

though plenty to offend the easily offended in the Gents.

Simon will love it/hate it/never have to visit it.

*Please don’t think I’m comparing the ascent of Everest with completing the Beer Guide. Everest is a doddle.