Category Archives: Beer

Gateshead

The nightlife in Gateshead isn’t great. There’re a few pockets of niceness, but a pub crawl of decent establishments is difficult.

However, we now have the By the River Brew Co. Which is by the river.

The right side of the river.

Belfast

As opposed to a day/evening in Belfast, we spent a couple of hours there yesterday morning.

A pub my second in command only saw from the outside.

So, while plans were a bit messed up, we kindof did still get to Belfast.

Liverpool

We’re in the Head of Steam in Liverpool.

For our second beer of the day here. Liverpool, that is.

We should actually been enjoying our fifth or sixth pint in one of the excellent old pubs in Belfast. Unfortunately, our flight was cancelled and the next available flight is first thing tomorrow. From Liverpool.

So we were packed off into a cab from Newcastle airport. After food in the hotel, we sought refreshment. And here we are.

We’ll try again in the morning, then, shall we?

Sam Smiths

I’ve previously mentioned my fondness for Samuel (not John) Smith’s beer.

I took this picture outside Saint Mary’s Vaults, yesterday.

Which is a lovely old pub.

In a lovely old town.

Anyway, it’s nice to see a Sam Smith’s bar being marketed as vegan/organic.

Distance

We’re trying to build up our cycling distance, with more cycling and less beer.

And we’ve made a pretty decent step towards that goal today.

After picking up a delivery from Team Valley, we headed to Swalwell, cycling up the Derwent Walk to Rowlands Gill.

After stopping off to eat in Derwent Park, we cycled (mostly walked) up the beast that is Busty Bank. Close to death, we stopped at Burton House for a well earned beer rest.

And then it was mostly downhill until we fell into the Marquis of Granby.

Where we had a couple of beers before calling a cab cycling home.

We’re now doing some gardening.

Pies

Today was the second day of our local’s pie festival.

The vegetarian choice is pretty good. Really good.

I quite enjoyed the two vegan pies I sampled tonight. I rate the aloo gobi highly, but the green-filled second pie was very nice too. I’m not sure what was in it, but it was tasty.

When I say green, I’m not referring to anything you can’t buy from Lidl.

Cycling II

I’ve found I can combine two favourite things. We’ve cycled to the Tyne Bar, then to the Ship for something to eat, then (walked) to the Cluny.

Afterwards, we cycled back along the quayside, folded-up the bikes, then caught a bus home to the Tuns.

Wish I’d bought one of these years ago.

The Ostrich and the Bumble Inn

The Bumble Inn, in Peterborough, opened a couple of years ago, but it has unusual and short opening hours. As a result, it’s taken me ages to catch the place open.

It was mostly populated by middle aged, real ale types. But there was a nice feel about the place and a choice of unfined beer.

And, over a year since our last visit, we called in to the Ostrich. It was already one of the best pubs in the city, it’s now made the full switch to craft beer.

Most impressive was the guest ale board, with a Buxton tap takeover.

Almost every one’s fish free too.