484. Fri 21/9/18: The Brewery Tap, Luton

Beer: Skinners Knocker 4.5%

Sneaky post-work pint at the BT as I contemplate an early evening solo trip to Markyate, again, to try out The Local micropub. The Tap is a far better prospect at this time of day than it seems at night (see episode #446): no bouncers on the door – possibly busier (there’s probably around a dozen folk in the place) – and extremely helpful bar lady. Would I like to taste the different beers (there are two…can’t remember the other one)? Yes, thank you very much… mmm… I’ll have a pint of [the above] thank you”.

Bar lady is very careful over the pouring, and keeps the pint behind the bar as she accepts the money – so as to be certain it’s a full pint once fully settled. Fine. Good service. She’s then called away, before giving me the pint… leading me with a dilemma. Do I wait for her to return? Do I lean over and grab it? Luckily another colleague wanders past, and I ask her.

That’s the highlight of a one-pint visit. I play on the quizzer, I bemoan the fact that the music is a bit too loud – Billie bloody Jean… “the kid is not my son”… who’d have thought? I decide that, yes, I will attempt a trip to Markyate (do I get there though, dear reader? see episode #485… “The White House”).

480ab. Wed 19/9/18: Sankt Oberholz, Berlin

Beer: BRLO Pale Ale 6%, Augustiner Helles Lager 5.2%

Rosenthalerplatz is a vibrant Berlin intersection. An internet search reveals it is within 0.5 km of over 300 bars and restaurants - so 300+ good reasons to stay there. The nearest bar to our hotel is the St. Oberholz, which is always packed, day and night, so we give it a go.

On entering we’re met with an odd scene of about 150 young people with MacBook’s typing away. The floor is criss-crossed with electric cables with an admirable Germanic disregard for health and safety. No one inside is drinking, though - most un-German.

Apparently, they rent out space to young entrepreneurs who pay to use wifi, electricity, etc., which partly explains why it is so busy. I certainly would get no work done here with Augustiner beer mere inches from my workspace.

It is 31C so we order our (excellent) beers, negotiate the electric trip hazards and sit outside and enjoy the traffic chaos caused by a huge protest by thousands of cyclists.

The building opposite has names of obscure towns on its wall; Stockport, Tulsa and (I am delighted to notice) Reutlingen (home of a number of my freunds).

471e. Thu 6/9/18: The George II. 70 Bute St, Luton

Beer: Morland Old Golden Hen 4.1%

Post Utter! panic drink at The George. Which is its usual untidy, rambunctious self and quite a contrast from the Crush Bar. The George is the first pub from the station on the way into town and always has an outlaw feel and is always grubby.

Still, the opportunity to chat through what was a very decent night of spoken word (yes, they can happen) was grabbed and enjoyed. The evening's success and good vibes were almost turned on their heads when I purposefully stride into the ladies lav, but there are no ladies around, so I get away with it and spend some quality time yabbering with SW, LN and PA. Lee's plotting and scheming his next coup and in generally good spirits.

A few other waifs and strays drift by on their way to The Wheelies and are pleased to see us. Almost too pleased; I'm knackered.

486b. Thu 27/9/18: The Junction Tavern, London

Beer: Wye Valley Hereford Pale Ale 4.0%

Pre-gig drinks. Me and a couple of uni mates are off to see La Luz at The Dome in Tufnell Park and hopefully pick up AW at some point. I have a weird, painful foot condition, but manage to walk at a decent speed, as long as I don't mind looking like a moron.

The Junction's a perfectly acceptable alternative to the usually too-crowded Pineapple, the awful Bull and Gate or the godawful Assembly House.

There's some discussion between me and my uni mates about getting older and the dreadful-looking refurbishment of The Sir Richard Steele pub nearby. We've not been since its decor has been sacrificed, though pictures suggest a level of DIY most discerning folk would call "vandalism". The website now calls the place "pub and dining". We move onto music and specifically, something called Jazz Club, which, this evening, is only a crazy idea, but will probably turn into a club about jazz.

485b. Mon 24/9/18: Rei da Poncah, Funchal, Portugal

Beer: Madeira Brewery Coral 5.1%

We're having a pre-dinner drink at this small local bar just down the street from the restaurant. Coral beer is the only mass-produced beer on the island-it's everywhere. It's OK as pale bittery lagers go, the strength helps. The other local drink of the island is Poncho, an alcoholic fruit juice basically, the strong lemon version is the most popular. If you remember Hooch from the '90s and make it double the ABV you are about there. Definitely not a fan. There is a fledgling craft beer scene (all bottled) in Portugal/Madeira and I've had one so far which was the usual overhopped IPA variety. The TV screen outside the bar was showing MTV "Guess the Year" so we spent an enjoyable half hour arguing over the year each song was released. Interesting second-hand junk shop across the road (would be vintage in the UK).

480d. Thu 20/9/18: Augustiner Brauhaus, Charlottenstrasse, Berlin

Beer: Augustiner Helles Lager 5.2%

Another staple of the German drinking venue is the Brauhaus, which draw tourists and locals who yearn for the juxtaposition of seriously good draft beer and appalling, stodgy food. The Brauhauses (Bräuhausen???) are not really pubs but eating establishments in the main, which I usually tend to avoid, but I make an exception today as;

i) it is lunchtime,

ii) Augustiner is one of my favourite beers, and

iii) I am hot and thirsty.

My Spätzle is gooey and the onions atop it, inedible. Vast lumps of meat are put away by everyone else. Feels like a school canteen. (Albeit, a school canteen in an impossibly scenic location.)

472. Friday 7/9/18: The Wigmore Arms, Luton

Beer: Wychwood Hobgoblin 4.5%

At 06:25pm the place is packed. The clientele is 90% male, in a 20-50 age group, local and loud (although there are a few from the offices next door, with their TUI lanyards – lads and lasses, early twenties… loud). It must seem boisterously convivial to the folk assembled, but I don’t recognise any of ‘em. I used to be borderline regular in this place… maybe the Friday night crowd differs from that of the comparatively laid back weekend afternoon locals. Anyway, it’s very early – and some folk in here are well into their cups.

Good luck to ‘em.

The one relatively quiet spot is in the dining area, where no one is dining. Instead, on a table at the back, a nuclear family are sat. As I make my way to a nearby vacant table, the bloke starts berating his missus.

Back at the bar, the barstaff all seem very young and very tattooed. The lad who served me can’t be twenty yet. His arms are covered in individual little tatts – the selection appears somewhat arbitrary, the fecklessly bored choices of a child.

What Steph and I call “the top table” in the pub is higher than the others, and routinely reserved for regulars. Again, I recognise nobody. Someone spills a pint of San Miguel all over it. Everyone cheers.

My Hobgoblin is alright, over chilled maybe. The ale selection this evening is pretty uninspiring. It’s this or the ubiquitous GKIPA.

Autumn is coming on, low evening sunlight streams into the pub; blinding some, and affording my glass an attractive light – which my dubious photography skills largely fail to capture.

485. Fri 21/9/18: The White House, Luton

Beer: Exmoor Gold 4.5%

Around 5:30pm, and I was planning on getting the bus from Park Square to Markyate, to go to The Local micropub – and from there, using the Centrebus service, to Dunstable and back to Luton. There’s a £4.10 day ticket – I’d seen it advertised (see #457). Bargain. But… no, the driver informs, I couldn’t do that trip on a day ticket… I might be able to do it on a “Hip hop” ticket, let’s have a look… no, Markyate’s out of range. The driver is helpful and accommodating, eager to find me a ticket – but in the end can only suggest three singles totaling over £9. I’m also conscious that the queue behind is eager to pass the obstacle to their getting homeward bound that I’ve become. I thank the driver for his assistance, and tell him I’ll be giving the trip a miss. Next time – a simple return to Markyate…

Back in Luton – I meander somewhat aimlessly, get a pasty at Don Millers, and wander on to the White House.

 

Read previous reports on fluctuating feelings on the Wetherspoon estate, and the JDWWH in particular. It’s typically post-work busy here now – there clearly are still folk working in Luton town centre… they’re probably all LBC.

The service is pretty unexceptional, the beer is reasonably good. It’s a one pint visit – until I dig into my bag and pull out Boak and Bailey’s Gambrinus Waltz, the story of the rise and fall of Bavarian and Bohemian lager beer in Blighty from the late nineteenth century until the outbreak of the Great War. It’s an essay rather than a book – but a decent read. The White House, I’d suggest, mostly ‘cause one is usually here on one’s own, is a decent reading pub.

Anyway, that means it becomes a three pint visit, which allows plenty of time to finish the pamphlet.

487a. Fri 28/9/18: The Bricklayers Arms, Luton

Beer: Portobello Carnival Pale Ale 4.5%
A rather pedestrian night in The Bricklayers. Suits me and TPK fine, until the conversation and craic at the bar cut through, then rapidly gets a little overwhelming. As it can do at times.

PS is out, trying to round people up for The Bear Club. We decide, instead, to hit either The Great Northern, The George or The Wheelies, depending on which one looks less bad. PS advises the band on at The Bear has 'funk' in their name, but - surmises PS - 'they're not a funk band'.