Tuesday is not the best day for an afternoon survey as in these post-COVID times lots of places will be shut, but with so many targets in the city centre overdue for a tick I'm sure I can find somewhere.
I started in the Caledonia:
Three pump clips were visible and I chose Urban Shaker which was a delicious creamy stout from Carnival Brewing, just a mile and a half away. How's that for beer miles!
Only two other customers at two o'clock, and I think they were having coffee. Then they left, so it was just me and two staff - Or the one my side of the counter could be a customer after all?
The plain but pleasant enough interior hasn't changed since my previous visit, nether has the high quality of the ale.
I noticed one of the handpumps was offering a 1.8% pale ale, I've never had a beer like that before, too strong to be "low alcohol", too weak to be any good? I suppose I shouldn't knock it 'till I've tried it. So I won't knock it.
This would have been a peaceful relaxing pint except that the builders outside were making a terrible racket. The beer was great, though.
It's downhill now both topographically and, I suspect, beer-wise as I head back towards Lime Street and home.
I wandered down Hardman Street, first passing the Florist. This one was in the guide database, but research this morning revealed that it is a restaurant with no draft beer, so I decided to delete it. My guide, my arbitrary rules.
I came to the alleyway that used to lead to the long lost Flying Picket, a music venue and bar which closed back in 2004. This is now Buyers Club:
Another restaurant but this time they have ten keg taps and my "am I OK to come in for a drink?" was answered favourably, "just order at the bar when you're ready". I chose a pint of Shipyard, always a favourite.
I sat in the bar room which has a bare brick sort of industrial vibe, rather good, I thought. There were no other customers in here with me, I had seen a few dining groups sitting outside as I made my way in. The extensive "beer yard" looks very good, with lots of greenery and flowers to soften the stone floor and brick walls. Inside, as well as the bar area I was sitting in there is a restaurant room which I didn't visit.
I tried to connect what I was seeing with my recollections of the Picket, but twenty two years is a long time to think back and I suspect it has changed quite a lot.
Just a little further down Hardman Street is Beer Engine:
Back in the depths of history this was a regular Friday night call for me, when it was a night club called Plummers.
More recently I think they actually had cask ale, there is no sign of that now but the beer engines still decorate the end of the counter.
One of the signs of getting old: I thought "why is this child asking what I want to drink"? Of course, it was the barmaid, and she quickly poured me a pint of Erdinger (In an Erdinger glass, naturally). Later someone ordered a cocktail of some sort, which she prepared with aplomb, clearly a skilled barmaid whatever her age.
The bare brick decor in here is well done, with lots of breweriania, is that how you spell it?
A handful of customers were in at three on a Tuesday (I hadn't even expected it to be open). It was the pool players who had ordered cocktails, not what one expects for pool players but anyone who suggests they shouldn't drink whatever they want is an idiot. They also ordered some food which, I must say, looked tempting.
I had a look at the menu on my table, it appears rather good; pizzas, wraps, burgers and so on, very reasonably priced. The note at the bottom "£1 increase on all prices from 2:00am" perhaps indicates the market this place is aiming at. I don't remember the last time I was in a bar at 02:00, let alone eating!
I continued to monitor the counter: Hobgoblin IPA came in that chunky Hobgoblin glass, Neck Oil also came in a branded glass, this seems to be the standard nowadays. Mind you, yesterday I had some White Rat in the Big House and it came in a dimple; I know they've got a stock of White Rat conics but I'm not going to complain when the beer is gorgeous, am I.
I skipped the Fly In The Loaf since I ticked it in 2022 and carried on down the hill. Never visited Bock Bar was shut despite Google saying it was open from 10.
I carried on homewards and with a supreme effort of willpower resisted the wonderful Dispensary and went into Danny Macs:
Last time I was in here, in 2019, it was called "Roscoe Arms". Since then it has been Butterfly and Grasshopper and then more recently Danny Macs, but not much has changed, it is still a comfortable friendly boozer, now with something of an Irish theme.
I had a Guinness and sat in the lower part of the pub (It is on a slope to match the street.) on a comfortable leather bench seat along the wall.
I looked somewhat longingly out of the window at the Dispensary across the road where I could be enjoying Plum Porter. (It was in the Dispensary that I first tasted this wonderful ale, way back in 2011.) The suffering I go through for the guide!
I think that's enough for a Tuesday, let's go home.
Beer of the day: Carnival Urban Shaker
Miles walked: 1.8
Maybe coming soon: Greasby, Southport, Cantril Farm
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