July 2026. Sawley.
You left me in the Steamboat (Pub 5), unaware that the queue averse crawlers had skipped Pub 4 due to a surge in demand for calamari and Madri.
Back at the Trent Lock, it transpired that Bass was indeed on, but being served through the Citra pump I’d picked half an hour ago. And you thought I was joking about knowing nothing about beer !
I was half tempted to have a pint of Bass and see if it scored better through the correct wicket (ugh), but even I have limits.
An advance search party had confirmed the absence of cask in the Golf Club, so we took the back street route to the Bell.
I’d popped in here quite recently, I remember the door handle that looks like a face,
and the photo of the works outing to Long Eaton’s micro pubs,
and the unchanging beer range.
I like CAMRA’s recent You Tube video, but I have reservations about an approach that confirms my son’s belief that CAMRA is all about weird beers you’ll never see again.
And as Paul will tell you, most folk want to see a beer they recognise on the bar.
Great to see so many pints being drunk here, and the Abbot was solidly in GOOD + territory, though it’s the sense of community local you come to the Bell for.
I’m sure someone from Leicester identified all 48 of those flags, you know.
retiredmartin 
There’s a potential difference between beers you’ve never heard of but have a good chance of seeing again and beers you’ve never heard of and will never see again. I’d never heard of Schiehallion until one day in the Castle Vaults, Shrewsbury in the early 90s, but I’ve seen and drunk it many times since.
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It’s having to choose from breweries I’ve never even heard of that makes me despair.
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The problem for breweries you’ve never heard of is not that you’ve never heard of them, it’s that the pub companies are trying to make it impossible for them to get their beers on the bar.
I visited the Alnwick Brewery Tap this week – their beers are tremendous, and they are available in several of the pubs I visited in the area. But they are specifically prohibited from the Coach Inn at Lesbury, about two miles from the brewery, which is owned by Heineken. The people running the pub want to support their local brewery, because they know the beers are good and that they would sell well, but they are not allowed to put them on the bar.
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The Halfway, just over the road from me, a Marston’s pubco ex-Brain’s pub, isn’t allowed to sell Brain’s SA Gold…
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So you had a pint of Bass, a pint of sulphur snatch, and a half of Bass masquerading as a half of Citra ??
Hmmm they are getting sneaky these pub landlords these days, I do love both Citra and Bass, and would hope I could tell if one was the other, but, after all that sulphur and waiting for the train for 8 (eight) minutes in the sun, who knows, a half would have been dispatched in 2 or 3 quick gulps, and would have been the uncooled bit of beer in the pipe from the cellar, so who knows…
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It wasn’t intentional, Richard ! The poor lass had attached the Bass line to the Citra pump, must happen all the time, I had tomato gose from a cappucino machine once etc etc
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I bet it was deliberate, they probably got wind there were Camra types in the area, and wanted to test your mettle….
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