retiredmartin

May 2025. Tblisi. Georgia.

Your final post of holiday snaps; I’ll skip over the Vardzia cave network,

and return to good ol’ English BBB tomorrow.

I had to squeeze Randy in here somewhere; she’s a big fan of the Caucasus craft scene, particularly tomato gose.

Due to Independence Day our Uber into Tbilisi had to take a painful detour round the tight streets of the Old Town to reach our apartment on Lado Satiani Street, which the hordes of young Georgians quicky revealed to be the city’s Oldham Street.

You’ll want to see our £24 a night apartment, a spectacularly well-equipped and situated place,

with just the tiniest safety concerns about the stairs.

SMA Craft Beer had the scruffiest exterior,

so we went there first. A casual, pullover wearing place,

a Port Street Beer House sorta place, with Seahorse the Locale of choice.

The next night saw the first, and only, downpour of the trip, pushing us into the top floor of AXIOM, the edgiest bar on the strip, reminiscent of Manchester’s Peer Hat.

Soviet era cinema seating, Japanese cinemas, a Sushi pop-up, chess.

Oh, and those cans of (I think) Russian tomato gose. Or is that pepper ? Could YOU tell the difference between tomato and pepper gose.

A fair bit of Russian craft, but no welcome for the neighbours, particularly in the Black Dog,

which felt quite mainstream with its Bon Jovi and Cranberries soundtrack and burger trade, but their Number 8 Stout and Citra were superb, and the barman burst into life when Mrs RM asked to try the Cha Cha (basically grappa). “A Cha Cha too far far” I quipped.

All the beer was good quality, if entirely what you’d expect, as exemplified by Hopa near Liberty Square,

with its “Simple is best” beer board (top) and Iron Maiden fixation.

More on Duncan’s wonderful blog.