retiredmartin

February 2024. Leeds Pub Crawl.

You left me in Whitelock’s, admiring the furnishings, and forcing a second half of Old Peculier on our group.

Yes, a real of Gang of Four, at home like a pub tourist as the song goes.

Oooh, a pint to finish, excellent work, and great company from Andy and Caroline all day.

As Caroline knows, a tourist must submit their beer scores when on holiday to maintain the integrity of the Beer Guide, or failing that make sure the entries are in brewery taps that never open when BRAPA turns up.

Will and I took the back route out of Turks Head Yard back to the station,

where you emerge from the 18th century into the 21st and bars called Alchemist and Botanist and Angelica.

We had 17 minutes till the train, but Angelica expected “smart dress“, a standard I sadly couldn’t attain, and we’re clearly saving up the Greene King IPA in the lovely looking Griffin for a special occasion,

so instead Will bullied me (possibly) into Tapped.

Great on first visit on 2015, cask lacking “zing” (beer smellier term) in 2018, and I’d actually popped in a few months back and again been disappointed with the keg, so this was a chance for Tapped redemption.

Let’s be honest, it might be part of the Pivovar family but it’s not competing with Sheffield or York in the beauty stakes.

Will had drunk enough, so perhaps buying him a pint of the house cask Mojo was a daft move,

particularly when I had to finish his before that rush for the train. But you know what, it was a magnificent end to the day. Cool, crisp, and (YES !) with “zing”. NBSS 4+ to end the day.

Not a lot of culture on the day, but as Leeds finest post-punks sang about pub tourism,

“He fills his head with culture

He gives himself an ulcer“

Anyway, I’ve just finished inputting my beer scores for the day. NBSS 3, 3.5, 4.5, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 4, 4. Blimey, Average of nearly NBSS 4 for the day. On a Monday afternoon. Far, far better than in 2018. Cask ain’t dead.