Bier

December's visit to the "vampires" provided an opportunity to try out Bier, the former Old Rope Walk on a side turning between Bold Street and Renshaw Street. In its old guise it was an ordinary street corner boozer, purveying only keg beer, decorated in standard pub style.

Bier, on the other hand, aims to specialise in beer. They have six handpumps, and I selected Ringwood Boondoggle, which was very nice. The barman had some difficulty getting anything near a pint into the dimpled mug, apologising that they're all like that today, we've just changed the gas. Hmmm. They also serve unusual draft lagers, and have a beer menu full of imported bottles.

The singular interior decoration consists of white ceramic tiles on a couple of walls, with the rest of the walls and all the woodwork painted battleship grey. Sounds awful, perhaps, but I like it.

Research in Bebington

A quick trip across the water to examine a couple of pubs I've not visited before, starting with the Three Stags in Bebington. This turned out to be a standard member of the Ember Inns chain, doing a good lunchtime trade. They had about five handpumps and I enjoyed a pint of Thwaites' Wainwright.

Next I headed down to Lower Bebington village where I was very pleased to discover a pub I didn't even know existed, a fairly rare bonus nowadays, making The Chronicle number 1,756 in the database. A member of the Smith & Jones chain, it's another place concentrating on food but still managing a decent pint of Bombardier.

My third and final call was to Wetherspoon's John Masefield in New Ferry, a medium size member of the chain in a converted shop, serving the usual good value food and real ale. It opened in November 2007 so it's only taken me four years to get there. I had something very nice from Heywood's Phoenix Brewery.

Two In Town

Back to Blood Donors again yesterday, so I had to replace lost fluids! I started in the Cross Keys which I haven't visited for ages. Nothing much has changed here, and it was busy with office workers on their lunchbreaks. Only one real ale was available, and I enjoyed a spot on pint of Deuchars IPA.

I needed to visit the Chinese supermarket on Upper Duke Street (Unfortunately they were out of Erguotou.) so a good opportunity to go to the Grapes on Knight Street, another one I haven't been in for a few years. Here once again I found little change, a tiny street corner pub serving excellent ales. One thing has changed though, last time I was there they had three or four handpumps, this time it was nine! I'd not got half way along the bar when I spotted the superb Two Tone Special Chocolate Stout from Northern Brewing in Northwich. No need to examine the rest of the options! What a wonderful beer, a very creamy dark stout, highly recommended. The pub was quiet on a Thursday afternoon, in fact at one point I was the only customer in the place. I'm a little surprised such a small place can keep nine hand pumps going, but if this sample is anything to go by they're doing a great job. Highly recommended, but I think you might be out of luck looking for a seat if there's more than a dozen people in there.

Another New Wetherspoon's

I am told that Wetherspoon's have bought the Everest in Maghull, although there's nothing on their web site at the time of writing.

Prescot Wetherspoon's

Latest news from the unstoppable pub chain is that they plan to open The Watch Maker on Eccleston Street in Prescot in early December. See you there!

A Dash to Southport

Imagine my annoyance when I realised that one of the new entries in this year's Good Beer Guide was a pub in Southport which I had never visited. Time for an urgent train trip.

The Volunteer is just a short walk from the station. Outside it is a rather impressive building which looks like it dates from the 1920s I guess. Inside it has been knocked through to make one large open bar area, plainly decorated but well looked after. On a wet Wednesday lunchtime it was ticking over nicely with a number of regulars sitting at the bar. I got a slight feeling of the music stopping and everyone looking round as I went in, but they soon got back to their chit-chat while I settled down to a fine pint of Thwaites' Wainwright. I'm not entirely convinced that two real ales (The other was Lancaster Bomber.) is enough to merit a Good Beer Guide listing but the ale was spot on so who's complaining.

I moved on in the blustery wind to re-visit the splendid Baron's Bar in the Scarisbrick complex. Fun fake "baronial hall" decor and about ten real ales on tap. There comes a time in every man's life when he must admit that he will never again be the youngest person in the pub. I can report that I haven't reached that stage yet! (Technically, the barman was definitely younger than me so maybe this doesn't count!)

Next it was time to choose a pub at random so I selected the Oast House which I haven't visited simce 1998 when my notes grumbled about the poor quality of the real ale. No danger of a repeat of this problem, because they don't sell any any more. A plain back street boozer with Sky Sports on the telly and just a few regulars in. Unusual sight of the day was the regulars and the barman playing snakes and ladders, for money!

Good Beer Guide 2012

The new edition of CAMRA's Good Beer Guide arrived today. In Merseyside eight pubs have been dropped from the guide, and there are fifteen additions.

Which pubs are they? You'll have to buy CAMRA's book to find out!